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Published by Vero Beach 32963 Media, 2019-08-23 11:01:14

08/22/2019 ISSUE 34

VB32963_ISSUE34_082219_OPT

2 more beach replenishment
projects set for 2020. P7
Bruce Colton to oversee
Epstein probe. P8
Local employers having

trouble finding skilled workers. P10

For breaking news visit

MY VERO Rendell said to
hide info from
BY RAY MCNULTY School Board

Centennial Place not likely BY FEDERICO MARTINEZ
to give Vero a tax windfall Staff Writer

Money isn’t everything. PHOTO BY KAILA JONES Former Superintendent Mark
So, what you’re about to Rendell faces the prospect of
read should not in any way Courts rebuff Jones’ bid for pretrial ‘religious fast’ a lawsuit for withholding fi-
give pause to Vero Beach resi- nancial information from the
dents and community leaders BY LISA ZAHNER eating the veggies, accused new 10-page complaint under Indian River County School
who are excited about the fu- Staff Writer killer Michael David Jones the Florida Religious Freedom Board that could cost the dis-
ture of the lagoon-side prop- likely won’t be conducting a Restoration Act after Circuit trict hundreds of thousands of
erty that contains the city’s Unless he contents himself vegetarian “religious fast” as Court Judge Janet Croom ruled dollars and place future con-
shuttered electric utility and with pushing the meat aside his October trial for first-de- against Jones in a prior lawsuit. struction projects in jeopardy.
still-operating sewage-treat- on his dining tray at the Indi- gree murder draws near.
ment plant. an River County Jail and just The matter arose in Febru- According to documents ob-
Transforming that 35-acre Last week Jones re-filed his tained by Vero Beach 32963,
parcel into Centennial Place – CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 the district’s financial advisor,
a park-like gathering place for Ford & Associates, Inc., sent a
dining, shopping and nightlife letter to Rendell on April 4 no-
– should remain the city’s pri- tifying him the district’s credit
ority. It would provide a much- outlook had been downgrad-
needed waterfront destination ed from “Stable” to “Negative”
on the mainland and create, by Fitch Ratings, one of three
perhaps, a couple of hundred watchdog agencies that rate
jobs. the district’s creditworthiness.
Does it matter, really, that
such development wouldn’t The letter noted that the
produce for the city the tax- downgrade was due to “recent
revenue windfall some might weak operating performance”
anticipate?
It shouldn’t. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 3 more St. Edward’s graduates
heading to Harvard this fall
Vero Beach airport
seeking go-ahead
for customs facility

BY NICOLE RODRIGUEZ Omar Shareef Katherine Alarte Ivor Zimmerman BY FEDERICO MARTINEZ were surprised when they
Staff Writer Staff Writer discovered three 2019 gradu-
ates were headed to Harvard
Local officials last week Saint Edward’s School has College this fall, an amazing
rolled out the red carpet for produced plenty of outstand- accomplishment for such a
U.S. Customs and Border ing students over the years, small school.
Protection agents at the Vero but even school officials
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

August 22, 2019 Volume 12, Issue 34 Newsstand Price $1.00 Special Olympians
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Books 38-39 Health 45-49 Style 51-53
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Editorial 34 People 13-24 CALL 772-226-7925

© 2019 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved.

2 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

My Vero that amount was less than 1 percent In fact, the 10 properties with the which is always welcome and certain-
of the taxable assessed value of all of highest taxable assessed value in Vero ly would help, but no one should think
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 property in the city – an amount total- Beach had a combined value of $109 that’s going to balance our books,”
ing slightly more than $2.7 billion. million, which was only 4.1 percent of City Councilman Harry Howle said.
Truth is, no individual privately- the total assessed value of property in “It’s not going to happen.
owned piece of property in Vero Beach With a municipal millage rate of the city in 2018.
– not the Piper Aircraft complex, not $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, “Remember: Only 12 percent of the
the Vero Beach Hotel & Spa, not Quail Piper paid only $53,000 in property It’s unrealistic, then, to think com- tax bill you get from the county goes to
Valley’s two lagoon-front campuses – taxes to the city, which had an operat- mercially developing Centennial Park the city,” he added. “That’s not a lot of
generates enough in ad valorem tax ing budget of just under $23.4 million. would generate enough tax dollars to money.”
revenue to significantly impact the offset a meaningful portion of the an-
city’s finances. “When you have $3 billion in tax- nual revenue stream lost when the city The largest percentage of our prop-
able assessed property in the city,” Vero sold its electric utility to Florida Power erty-tax bills goes to the school district,
For instance, in 2018, the Piper Beach Finance Director Cindy Lawson & Light for $185 million earlier this which receives $7 for every $1,000 of
complex had a taxable assessed value said, looking ahead to 2020 when as- year. assessed value, while the county gets
of $20.9 million, considerably more sessed value is projected to hit $3 bil- $3.40 per $1,000.
than any other property in the city. But lion, “the tax revenue from one prop- “Developing that property on the
erty is not going to move the needle.” river would generate some revenue, Vero Beach’s tax rate continues to
hover around $2.50 per $1,000.

So, it’s fair to ask: Is the city’s tax rate
too low?

Howle warned that, in the coming
years, Vero Beach might need to raise
its tax rate to continue to provide the
services residents want.

“We’re fine for a year or two,” said
Howle, who has announced he will
not seek re-election. “But I don’t know
if it’s going to be sustainable three or
four years from now.”

Even raising the property-tax rate,
though, wouldn’t bring in as much
money as some might think.

As now-retired City Manager Jim
O’Connor explained: “The total ad va-
lorem taxes paid to the city last year
was about $7 million. If you increase
taxes by 10 percent – which isn’t going
to happen – you’re only getting an ad-
ditional $700,000.

“So developing those two pieces of
ground on the river,” he added, “won’t
have that much of an impact.”

The city could create a special taxing
district with a higher rate on the Cen-
tennial Place property, but O’Connor
said those revenues must be desig-
nated for specific purposes related to
the site.

“That money can’t go into the gen-
eral fund,” O’Connor said.

As for any sales tax generated by
restaurants, bars, shops and any oth-
er commercial ventures that might
be built at Centennial Place, the city
would see only a small percentage of
that money.

The state sales-tax rate is 6 percent.
The county adds 1 percent. Florida cit-
ies don’t have a sales tax.

“Eventually, we see a little of that
state sales-tax money, but only after
it takes a circuitous route to Talla-
hassee and back,” Lawson said. “Any
given year, though, the total sales-tax
revenue included in our general fund
budget averages $3.5 million.”

That’s roughly 14 percent of the
city’s budget.

If a hotel is built at Centennial Place,
the county would benefit there, too –
because, in addition to its 1 percent
sales tax, the county also collects a 4
percent tourism tax on all short-term
lodging.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 3

NEWS

Vero Beach continues to receive are fine. Our finances are stable,’” Zorc percent – well below the state-man- board in January, while still declining
none of that money, despite a decade- told Vero Beach 32963 last week. dated level of 3 percent and only half to provide them with any documenta-
long quest to convince the county to of the 5 percent reserve demanded by tion to back up his claim.
share a percentage of the tourism tax “But they weren’t ‘fine.’ He lied IRC School Board policy – but Rendell
revenues. about it. This is just more proof that disputed the figure. The discovery of the concealed docu-
we made the right decision to get rid ment raised the ire of other board mem-
“The city brings in a majority of the of him.” “I am very confident that we will not bers, as well, including Mara Schiff, who
tourism taxes,” Howle said. “We should be below 3 percent, not reporting any- wrote in an email to Moxley that she
be entitled to some of that money.” As early as November 2018, former thing to the Commissioner of Educa- was “shocked” by Rendell’s failure to in-
Finance Director Julianne Pelletier tion, or the state, and my goal is to be form the board of the downgrade.
From a tax-revenue perspective, it’s warned board members that the dis- above the 5 percent,” Rendell told the
possible – if not probable – that devel- trict’s fund balance had dipped to 2.5 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
oping Centennial Place would benefit
the county more than the city.

“That,” Howle said, “is what usually
happens.”

The city should do it, anyway.
Thoughtfully developing Centenni-
al Place into a waterfront destination
for the entire community would make
a Vero Beach better while preserving
what makes it special.
So what if it doesn’t fill the city’s cof-
fers with tax dollars?
Money isn’t everything. 

Rendell said to hide info Exclusively John’s Island
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
A boater’s paradise! Commanding one of the most scenic river views in JI is this
and a “reduction in fund balance,” desirable 4BR/5.5BA residence sited on 1.42± acres. Offering 135± feet of
and warned the change “indicates a Intracoastal Waterway frontage, revel in breathtaking sunset and river views while
declining trend in credit quality” that entertaining on the poolside terrace. The 6,646± GSF home features gracious living
could “cause the district’s outstanding areas, large island kitchen, ample storage, spectacular refinished pool/spa, private
debt to lose value” and “increase the master suite, newer roof, 3-car garage, 2BR/2BA guest cabana, and a boat dock.
cost of future borrowing.” 185 Sago Palm Road : $4,500,000

The email that accompanied the three championship golf courses : 17 har-tru courts : beach club : squash
letter said very specifically, “We are health & wellness center : pickleball : croquet : vertical equit y memberships
sending this letter to you ... for distri-
bution to the Board members,” but 772.231.0900 : Vero Beach, FL : JohnsIslandRealEstate.com
Rendell, who at the time was angling
for a contract renewal and telling the
board that the district’s finances were
in “good shape,” did not share the let-
ter with board members.

The district’s new Chief Financial
Officer Ron Fagan recently discovered
the concealed letter while poring over
financial records trying to sort out
the district’s tangled finances, and in-
formed the board and Interim Super-
intendent Susan Moxley.

“I’m so furious, I can barely speak,”
said board Chairman Laura Zorc, after
learning about the letter. “The board
needs to discuss this publicly.

“We need to discuss the possibil-
ity of filing a lawsuit against Dr. Ren-
dell for malfeasance. It also raises the
question of what else is going to sur-
face? What else don’t we know about
that the former superintendent did or
didn’t do?”

Rendell did not return calls or
emails seeking comment.

Rendell, who resigned under pres-
sure on May 24 after the board voted
not to renew his contract, was fre-
quently criticized for refusing to share
financial information about the dis-
trict with the board.

“Anytime we asked him if there was a
cashflow problem, he’d say, ‘No, things

4 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Rendell said to hide info postponed depending on how high without a chief financial officer for and is a vital part of Florida’s growing
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 interest rates are, officials said. nearly one year, left the district’s fi- economy,” Scott wrote McAleenan on
nances in chaos. Fagan, who joined the Nov. 19, 2018. “Allowing direct interna-
Moxley, a veteran superintendent, School districts sell bonds to inves- district on July 15, has been charged tional flights into the airport will sub-
said she has never before seen another tors when they want to raise money with sorting out the district’s finances. stantially enhance the airport’s role in
superintendent withhold such impor- to pay for new construction projects, the city of Vero Beach and the state of
tant information from a school board. explained Fagan. Districts that have Fagan said the decision to pursue Florida as a critical link in our global
a poor credit rating can have trouble legal action against Rendell is in the transportation system.”
“I was a little taken aback myself that selling their bonds, because buyers board’s hands.
you were not aware,” Moxley respond- may consider the risk too high, or the Corporate Air Inc., which caters to
ed to Schiff, in an email thread ob- district will have to pay a higher inter- “I’m not sure this warrants legal ac- private flights with a ramp large enough
tained by Vero Beach 32963. “I never est rate on the bonds to attract dubi- tion,” he said. “It’s not a major level de- to handle a Boeing business jet and a
want to bring surprises to you as board ous investors. fault. It would be a different story if we 4,200-square-foot private terminal, has
members. had bond holders knocking on the door offered to pay for the customs facility –
The district’s financial advisor noted and asking for all our assets.”  which could cost upwards of $2 million.
“I have not experienced a [credit in its letter to Rendell that the other two
outlook] drop like this before, so I, too, watchdog agencies that rate the dis- Vero airport customs station “My customers are inconvenienced
am concerned. It is complicated and trict’s creditworthiness, Moody’s and CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 by flying from other countries and
hard for most people to understand Standard & Poor’s, “may share Fitch’s landing in Fort Pierce,” said Corporate
in the school context, but it definitely concerns about the decline in liquidity.” Beach Regional Airport in an effort Air founder and owner Rodger Prid-
does not help in supporting the level to convince the federal government geon. “It’s very costly to start up a jet
of trust we are trying to establish with Fagan noted that the district still has to approve a customs facility there – and fly from Fort Pierce to here. Fort
the general public.” reasonably good AA- credit ratings with an addition they say would make life Pierce is distant from hotels and it’s
Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s and said more convenient for Vero-bound in- an inconvenient area. They’d rather
CFO Ron Fagan said the downgrade Fitch will review the district’s finances ternational travelers arriving on pri- come into Vero.”
will not have an impact on current in one year to reevaluate its view. vate jets and could attract more air-
projects that are already funded but lines and international flights. He added that Corporate Air would
could cost the district in the future Rendell’s tenure was plagued by nu- like to run its own scheduled flights to
when it needs to sell bonds or other- merous controversies, including sev- Right now, travelers headed to Vero and from the Bahamas, which can only
wise borrow money for new projects. eral audit discrepancies and an em- Beach who are flying in from abroad happen if a customs facility is built on
barrassing investigation by the state have to land at Treasure Coast Inter- the premises. Roughly 30 to 40 jets visit
For example, school officials recent- Department of Education, which in national Airport and Business Park in Corporate Air each day during season,
ly announced a planned $11 million January threatened to withhold $1.8 Fort Pierce – the closest airport with a while around a dozen visit daily in the
expansion project at Sebastian Middle million in transportation funds from customs post – and then take off again summer, Pridgeon said.
School next summer that includes the school district for inflating the and fly to Vero, a procedure that adds
construction of new classrooms. The number of kids carried to and from time and expense to each trip. If built, the facility would vet Amer-
project may have to be scrapped or their classes each day by school buses. ican citizens returning from foreign
Vero Beach is the lone regional air- counties to confirm their identities,
Rendell, who operated the district port in the area to lack a customs fa- charge duties on certain merchandise,
cility, officials said during the Aug. 15 and look for agricultural and narcotic
tour with two CBP agents. Stuart, Fort contraband, according to Jennifer
Pierce and Melbourne all have cus- Connors, a CBP official from the West
toms facilities. Palm Beach office of field operations.

An estimated 25 percent of air traffic Non-U.S. citizens would be required
that clears customs in Fort Pierce goes to provide proper documents proving
on to Vero Beach, Indian River County their identities and that they have no
Commissioner Tim Zorc said during legal issues barring them from enter-
the visit. ing the U.S.

Vero Beach Councilman Harry The approval process for a facility
Howle – who was present for the tour, could be complete in months or take
along with City Manager Monte Falls years, Connors said.
– first reached out to then Gov. Rick
Scott in October 2018 requesting state “It all goes through the U.S. Customs
support for the addition. The facility’s and Border Protection vetting process
absence has hindered growth in the and our safety and security designs,”
area and inconvenienced internation- Connors said during her visit.
al charter flights, Howle told Scott.
Local officials believe a customs fa-
“The lack of a customs facility is a cility would bring economic benefit to
great deterrence to potential business Vero Beach, leading to more air traf-
and leisure travel opportunities to Can- fic and visitors. The airport currently
ada, the Bahamas and Latin America,” has one airline – Elite Airways – with
Howle, who served as mayor at the time, scheduled flights to three domestic
wrote on Oct. 11, 2018. “It also impacts destinations, said Eric Menger, airport
charter and private flight operations director. Around 200 aircrafts are based
that are based at VRB because there is a at the airport, which handles roughly
significant cost associated with landing 120,000 flights a year, he said. 
at another location to clear customs be-
fore returning to Vero Beach.” St. Edward’s

In response, Scott penned a letter to CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
then Customs and Border Patrol Com-
missioner Kevin K. McAleenan sup- The three students starting Har-
porting the city’s request. vard on Sept. 3 are Omar Shareef, 17,
Katherine Alarte, 18, and Ivor Zim-
“The Vero Beach Regional Airport merman, 18. Two other Saint Edward’s
currently serves the Treasure Coast graduates already attend Harvard in-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 5

NEWS

cluding Shareef’s sister, Sana, who will berg, Upper School Academic Dean nity or in a particular outside activity. has started a nonprofit to help distrib-
be a sophomore this fall, and Alarte’s at Saint Edward’s. “The expectation is “Each of the three students attend- ute the glove.”
brother, Zach, who will be a junior. that these students need to be near
perfect in the classroom – straight ing Harvard this fall is bright, hard- Katherine Alarte, an accomplished
“The standards for students to be A’s – have perfect or near perfect test working, creative and interesting. One musician, dancer and student, hasn’t
accepted at Harvard or any of the most scores, but on top of that, have made excels on the stage as a leading actor, decided on a major yet, and admits
highly selective schools are almost a significant impact on their commu- one is a musician and dancer, and the she’s feeling a little intimidated about
hard to believe,” said Michelle Stern- last invented a glove for the blind and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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6 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

St. Edward’s “On the other hand, I’ve done well Zimmerman, Shareef and Alarte wonderful for those students, but no
at Saint Edward’s. I’m highly motivat- credit their parents and the education more satisfying than students we have
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 ed and ready to take on the world. Vero they received at Saint Edward’s for helped to create great matches at the
Beach is kind of like living in a bubble. helping them excel. likes of the University of Michigan,
attending the prestigious Ivy League Most people here tend to think and Wake Forest University and the Uni-
school. look at the world the same. It will be Small class sizes allow teachers to versity of Florida.” 
nice meeting people with different work more closely with students. The
She also confesses that she fre- ideas and perspectives.” school has high academic expecta- Accused slayer Jones
quently puts too much pressure on tions for students and provides them CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
herself to do well academically. She For Zimmerman, attending Harvard with the resources to meet them.
and brother Zach, the Harvard junior, is a family tradition. His father and ary when Sheriff Deryl Loar rejected
are very competitive, which can be other relatives are Harvard alumni. “A significant part of the mission of an internal jailhouse request, so Jones
both good and bad. the school is to create lifelong learners filed hand-written pleadings appeal-
Initially, Zimmerman looked at other as graduates,” said Mike Mersky, Head ing to the civil court for relief. A Uni-
“For the most part it’s a friendly ri- schools “to see what else is out there.” of School at Saint Edward’s. versity of Miami law school graduate,
valry,” said Alarte, who begins to laugh But after checking out several universi- Jones is acting as his own attorney.
after finishing her sentence. “I get re- ties, he decided Harvard was the best “The school provides each student
ally nervous about things, so it will be choice for him as he pursues a career with a world-class liberal arts educa- The merits of Jones’ case, the way he
nice to have my brother there. I may as a chemist or history teacher. tion, where students learn to think crit- originally filed it, just were not there,
get on his nerves, but I’m glad he’ll be ically, collaborate with others, question Croom wrote. “The petitioner has not
there.” The idea of following in his father’s theories, and advocate for themselves established that he has a clear legal
footsteps and attending an Ivy League in a mature, respectful manner.” right to a vegetarian or vegan diet or
Shareef is arguably the most accom- school is exciting, but nerve-wracking, that the respondents have an indis-
plished of the three Saint Edward’s Zimmerman admits. That educational strategy prepares putable ministerial duty to provide
students. He has already received students not just for college, but for him with said diet.”
national accolades for inventing at “It is intimidating,” said Zimmer- life, Mersky said. He also notes that
the age of 16 an electronic glove that man, a talented actor and avid board “the class of 2019 was a very strong In her July 31 order, Croom ex-
helps blind people be more aware of gamer. “Omar is truly brilliant. He’s academically. plained that Florida Statute regarding
their surroundings. But he is nervous, already made a glove that helps blind the protection of religious freedom
too, about plunging into the elite and people. I know I’ll be surrounded by “Quite honestly, I am proud of all of is even broader that the rights guar-
highly competitive Harvard scene. people like him. our students, each year,” Mersky said. anteed by the U.S. Constitution, but
“College admission is not an award that Jones failed to demonstrate that
“There is some trepidation,” said “It’s scary, but also exciting to think to be won, but more of a match to be
Shareef, who hopes to pursue a career I’ll get to associate with these people. made between the student and the
in medicine. “Maybe I won’t be as ca- Not only will it push me to do bet- college or university.
pable as the other students there. ter, but I think it will provide me with
more opportunities to try new things.” “Having five students currently ma-
triculating at Harvard University is

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 7

NEWS

his proposed “vegetarian fast” met the duct that his religion requires,” Croom “without prejudice” left the door open to the Buddhist or Hindu faith. He told
requirements of “religiously motivated wrote on page three of the four-page for Jones to re-file, which he did after the Croom his devotion to certain principles
conduct” under the law. order dismissing the case. The Bible Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected and mandates of Christianity compelled
verses about fasting or abstaining from his “Request for Emergency Treatment,” him to deny himself meat in prepara-
“A substantial burden on the free meat that Jones had cited, she said, did asking the higher court to take anoth- tion for the legal battle for his life.
exercise of religion is one that either not establish that a vegetarian diet is a er look at his case before October.
compels the religious adherent to en- “religious mandate” of Christianity. Prosecutors plan to seek the death
gage in conduct that his religion for- In his requests to Loar and Croom, penalty should Jones be unanimously
bids or forbids him to engage in con- Croom’s dismissal of the lawsuit Jones did not claim to have converted
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

Two more beach replenishment projects to start late next year

BY NICOLE RODRIGUEZ beach park near the Carlton condomin- up in April 2021 but completion could Cope, the county’s coastal resources
Staff Writer ium, an area the county calls Sector 3. be delayed to November 2021 if work coordinator, told Vero Beach 32963.
isn’t complete by the time sea turtle “The county will continue to monitor
Critically eroding segments of bar- It will put an additional 250,000 yards nesting season begins. The nesting all grant opportunities available and
rier island shoreline, a victim of hur- of sand on south beach in what is called season runs from May 1 to Oct. 31. request funding from state and federal
ricanes Matthew and Irma, will be re- Sector 7, the area which stretches for 2.2 sources as available.”
plenished with hundreds of thousands miles from Seagrove to the Moorings. The combined price tag for the proj-
of cubic yards of sand starting late next ects is $19.5 million. The county re- The county sets aside 1.5 cents out
year, county officials said. “Hurricanes Matthew and Irma ceived $1.2 million in grant money from of the 4-cent tourist tax it collects for
have impacted both of those areas, so the Florida Department of Environ- beach restoration, which is the prima-
Indian River County plans to start we’re moving forward with the permit- mental Protection and expects $9.7 mil- ry funding source for renourishment
two multimillion-dollar beach renour- ting and design,” County Administra- lion from the Federal Emergency Man- projects. The jurisdiction also uses a
ishment projects in November 2020. tor Jason Brown said. agement Agency, county officials said. portion of the 1-cent sales tax for proj-
The projects will place 400,000 cubic ects as needed, officials said.
yards of sand along a 6.6-mile stretch The two sectors have lost roughly “It will be necessary for the county
of shoreline between the north island one foot of shoreline a year since Hur- to make up the difference in funding Sector 3 and Sector 7 were last re-
community of Seaview and Turtle Trail ricane Matthew brushed the Treasure between the project cost and any grant plenished in 2010 and 2007, respec-
Coast in 2016. or reimbursement funding,” Kendra
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
Both projects are expected to wrap

8 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Accused slayer Jones penological interests, the petitioner STATE ATTORNEY BRUCE COLTON PICKED
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 has not alleged or shown that the diet TO OVERSEE FLORIDA’S INVESTIGATION
he requests is essential to his sincerely OF JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S 2008 PLEA DEAL
convicted by a jury, as prescribed by held religious beliefs or that the re-
state statute. Jones is accused of kill- spondents’ refusal to provide them is BY RAY MCNULTY added. “Certainly, we’re ready to as-
ing his girlfriend, 26-year-old Moor- not reasonably related to valid peno- sist with the investigation, if need-
ings resident Diana Duve, by stran- logical interests,” Croom wrote, citing Staff Writer ed, whether it’s to do interviews
gulation and leaving her in the trunk case law as precedent. or research, but we’re just getting
of her own car in a Melbourne Publix Bruce Colton, the longtime Vero started.
parking lot in June 2014. Undersheriff Jim Harpring, who Beach resident who has served as
served as Loar’s legal counsel in the the 19th Circuit’s State Attorney for “Let’s see what we come up with.”
To bolster his cause in civil court, civil case, said about Croom’s ruling, more than three decades, can add Local law-enforcement agen-
Jones claimed he had regularly at- “I can only comment that the Judge another high-profile distinction to cies in Palm Beach County began
tended weekly religious services at the based her decision on the prevailing his campaign literature when he investigating Epstein in 2005, be-
jail, but he did not include any letters status of the case law in this area and runs for re-election next year. fore referring the matter to the FBI,
of support or explanation from clergy we are pleased it is resolved.” which built a case that resulted in a
members who conduct the ministry to Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed 53-page sex-trafficking indictment.
inmates. Requests for special religious diets at Colton to oversee a Florida Depart- However, former U.S. Attorney
the jail are rare, but since Jones’ peti- ment of Law Enforcement criminal Alexander Acosta – then the top fed-
The civil case regarding the religious tion, other inmates had been inspired investigation into the secret plea deal eral lawman in South Florida – in-
diet has no direct bearing on the crimi- to seek special food. Harpring said and cushy work-release arrange- stead negotiated a deal that enabled
nal proceedings against Jones as they previously when asked about Jones’ ment offered in 2008 to Palm Beach Epstein to avoid federal prosecution
are two separate matters running on case that vegetarian diets must be pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. by pleading guilty to two lesser state
parallel tracks in the court system. The procured from special vendors, which charges, one of which was “procur-
argument that Jones can’t eat meat in comes with a price tag. Fresh produce, Epstein, a hedge-fund billionaire ing a minor for sex.”
jail after doing just that every meal dur- Harpring said, is a valuable commod- who was arrested again in early July The terms of the agreement also
ing his past five years of incarceration ity that can be bartered with other in- on child sex-trafficking charges in granted immunity to the other men
did not fly with Croom. She pointed mates and each dietary request must New York, is believed to have hanged who participated in Epstein’s sex
out that Jones could have filed in feder- be scrutinized to avoid inmates abus- himself in his Manhattan jail cell parties with underage girls.
al court but did not give him any bright ing the system. where he was found dead on Aug. 10. Fierce criticism of Acosta’s actions,
hopes of prevailing there with only the which were exposed in November
arguments and facts on the table. “While we have received a few ad- Despite his apparent suicide, after a year-long investigation by
ditional requests for religious meals, Colton said the FDLE’s investigation the Miami Herald, forced him to re-
“Although prisons are required to I have reviewed them in light of the will continue. sign last month as President Donald
protect inmates’ First Amendment prevailing law, and they have been Trump’s Secretary of Labor.
rights if they do not contravene valid denied. None have been appealed,” “It doesn’t impair the investiga- Acosta came under fire for fail-
Harpring said last week.  tion at all,” Colton said last week. ing to notify Epstein’s victims be-
“We’re not looking at him. We’re fore signing off on a plea deal – a
The Law Offices of Jennifer D. Peshke is pleased to announce looking at the plea deal and the cir- step required by federal regulation
that Brittany A. Beatty is associating with the Firm. Ms. Beatty cumstances surrounding his work- – and for the plea deal itself that ul-
will focus her practice on: probate and trust administration as release privileges.” timately required a child molester
well as guardianship and family law matters. to serve only a 13-month sentence
Colton, who was notified he in a private wing at the Palm Beach
She may be reached at 772-231-1233 would serve as the case’s lead pros- County Stockade.
or [email protected] ecutor only 90 minutes before De- The Herald’s reporting also ex-
Santis’ executive order was made posed Palm Beach County Sheriff
LAW OFFICES OF public, said he anticipates the FDLE Ric Bradshaw’s decision to grant
will do the “bulk of the legwork” Epstein extraordinary work-release
JENNIFER D. PESHKE, P.A. during the investigation. privileges.
After three months in custody,
www.peshkelaw.com • Tel. No. (772) 231-1233 Colton, 72, said he has assigned Epstein was permitted him to leave
4733 North Highway A1A, Suite 303 • Vero Beach, FL 32963 two of his Fort Pierce-based pros- the stockade – six days each week,
ecutors – Lev Evans and Anastasia for up to 12 hours per day – alleged-
Norman of the State Attorney’s Of- ly to work in the West Palm Beach
fice’s major crime unit – to work with office of a foundation he formed
the FDLE and provide legal counsel while behind bars.
as the investigation progresses. “It’s not unusual for a State Attor-
ney to be taken off a case and have
Although his chief investiga- it transferred to a neighboring cir-
tor, Nora Pfeiffer, attended an ini- cuit,” said Colton, who has worked
tial meeting with FDLE agents last in the 19th Circuit’s State Attorney’s
week, Colton said she has not yet Office since 1974 and assumed the
been assigned to the case. top job in 1985.
“This wasn’t something I asked
“We’ll be there to consult with the for. We have plenty to do here in our
FDLE during the course of the in- circuit, but the investigation is lim-
vestigation, just as we would be for ited in scope.” 
any law-enforcement investigations
here,” Colton said, referring to the
19th Circuit, which is composed of
Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and
Okeechobee counties.

“If they feel they have enough for
a criminal charge, then we’d look at
it and make a determination,” he



10 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Local employers having trouble finding skilled workers

BY RAY MCNULTY ganizations in neighboring counties ter the work force – a program Casel- the company also pays the apprentices
Staff Writer again are partnering with area busi- tine’s office already has implemented. an hourly wage and offers the same
ness leaders, educational institutions benefits package offered to employees.
Helene Caseltine’s conversations and CareerSource Research Coast – the “Not everyone is meant to go to col-
with local employers these days usually employer-driven regional workforce lege,” said Jackie Carlon, spokeswom- “Finding trained people for our
begin with a request – from them. resource agency – to reassess the chal- an for Vero Beach-based Piper Aircraft, workforce has become more challeng-
lenges of finding qualified candidates. the county’s largest private employer. ing,” Carlon said, adding that Piper cur-
“The first thing they say is, ‘Find me “That’s why we started our apprentice- rently has 1,039 employees and “will be
some workers,’” said Caseltine, who is To do so, these groups are urging ship program.” hiring for the foreseeable future.”
economic development director for employers along the Treasure Coast to
the Indian River County Chamber of participate in the 2019 Skills Gap Study Piper announced in October it was Piper is among the area employers
Commerce. 2.0, a follow-up to the 2017 study that partnering with Indian River State Col- participating in the Skills Gap Study,
recommended: lege to create an apprenticeship pro- which can be found at indianrivered.
To be more specific: The owners and  Industry-sponsored scholarships to gram designed to address the shortage com – click on “Site Selection” for a
managers of local businesses are seek- encourage students to enter training of workers trained in the trades needed drop-down to “Workforce Training” –
ing workers already trained to do the programs for high-demand fields. in the aviation-manufacturing industry. until Sept. 6.
jobs they have available.  Externships that encourage educa-
tors to experience different work envi- The two-year program, which wel- The results of the online survey, which
“A lot of employers throughout the ronments to increase their knowledge comed its first 10 students earlier this Caseltine said takes 10 minutes to com-
Treasure Coast, not just here in our of career options. month, provides 4,000 hours of on-the- plete, and follow-up interviews will be
county, are struggling to find work-  Tax incentives for companies to job training, plus classroom instruction, made public in October.
ers with either the experience or skills provide educational funding for staff- both of which are designed to prepare
needed to fill their open positions,” ing and/or materials needed to teach the apprentices for work as a “journey- “The study will help us determine
Caseltine said last week. “With the un- industry-specific skills. man” in aircraft assembly. the skill gaps we need to fill to provide
employment rate down to 4.3 percent,  Internships and apprenticeships local employers with the workers they
it’s getting tougher to find those people. for high school and college students. Not only does Piper cover the stu- need,” Caseltine said. “We’re hoping
dents’ college tuition, Carlon said, but for as much input as we can get.” 
“And we’re not talking about just The study also recommended
manufacturing or healthcare or the weeklong “boot camps” to provide SCIENTIST: TOXIC ALGAE BLOOMS
trades,” she added. “It’s a problem that rapid training to prepare students NOT ‘GOING AWAY ANYTIME SOON’
crosses all industry boundaries.” with the basic skills they’ll need to en-

For that reason, Caseltine’s office
and other economic development or-

LIFE BY SUE COCKING the northern lagoon, cause plenty of
WELL damage by clouding the water and suck-
PLANNED. Staff Writer ing up oxygen.

Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. While the Indian River Lagoon is rel- Toxins produced by algae pose a di-
Pelican Plaza atively free of toxic algae blooms right rect health threat to people, Sullivan
now, residents shouldn’t get too com- said. They include microcystin, which
4731 N. Hwy A1A fortable because more are bound to damages the liver; red tide (breve-
772-231-5800 occur in the future – including blooms toxin), which causes respiratory and
of some algae we haven’t seen before. skin problems; saxitoxin, which causes
www.raymondjames.com/verobeachwealthmanagement paralytic poisoning if consumed in fish;
"This isn't going away anytime soon," and ciguatera, also a type of neurotoxin.
Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Dr. James Sullivan told a large audience
member FINRA/SIPC. Investment Advisory Services are offered through at the Emerson Center. "Worldwide, Sullivan said there’s an emerging
harmful algal blooms are increasing in threat of a new harmful algal bloom
Raymond James Financial Advisors, Inc. type, frequency, duration and severity. just spotted along the U.S. east coast
There are a whole bunch of algae that that could make its way into the la-
were never there before ... [and] Florida goon, and a large-scale microcystin
is the most impacted state in the U.S." bloom in Lake Okeechobee that so far
has been held back from the St. Lucie
That was also the gist of a talk Sul- estuary by floodgates, but that could
livan, executive director of Harbor enter the lagoon south of Vero in the
Branch Oceanographic Institute and event of more heavy rain.
member of the state’s blue-green algae
task force, gave at a public meeting of "Microcystin is becoming a scourge
the Clean Water Coalition of Indian Riv- across the world," Sullivan said "It is
er County in Vero Beach last Thursday. very good at exploiting nutrient-pol-
luted waters."
Algae blooms are caused by nutrient
pollution from phosphorus and nitro- Sullivan said the state of Florida is
gen due to fertilizer runoff and leaking working on the problem through its
septic systems; warming waters due recently formed blue-green algae and
to climate change; and other human red tide task forces, which he said may
impacts related to land use practices, merge in the future. The blue-green task
stormwater management and dredg- force will hold its fourth meeting this
ing, according to Sullivan. month and issue its first set of recom-
mendations to the governor and the De-
The scientist said not all algae pro- partment of Environmental Protection
duce toxins, but even some that don’t, in September. 
such as the "brown tide" that plagues



12 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

County furious with Waste Management over trash contract

BY NICOLE RODRIGUEZ notion of mandatory trash pickup after county to curb contamination of recy- The commission tentatively agreed
Staff Writer tempers flared during a recent board cling bins after the county’s recycling to add a $51 mandatory garbage-ser-
meeting. “Our relationship with Waste vendor reported a 34 percent contami- vice assessment to next year’s tax bills
Indian River County’s plan to in- Management is broken at this point nation rate, with dead animals, soiled to cover the first six months of a pro-
stitute mandatory garbage pickup to and I don’t know how we move for- diapers and chicken bones ending up gram that would have started April 1.
stop people from putting garbage in ward,” Commission Vice Chair Susan in the blue bins.
recycling bins ended up on the trash Adams said. But Waste Management then pro-
heap after county commissioners and That figure should be lower than 20 posed new terms to its existing con-
staff clashed with the county’s waste The conflict was set up when com- percent, and county officials said the tract with the county that was inked
hauling contractor. missioners discussed implementing excess contamination was a threat to in 2015.
mandatory garbage pickup for house- the county’s entire state-mandated re-
Angry commissioners scrapped the holds in unincorporated areas of the cycling program. The new provisions included an ex-
emption from fines if it failed to pick up
trash during any program rollout, per-
mission to use older vehicles, and what
the county characterized as a contrived
rate hike from $10.14 per month to
$14.54 per month for residents outside
of the Urban Service Area.

A representative from Waste Man-
agement, however, claims the com-
pany needed a defined plan and more
time to roll out a mandatory program.

Commissioners vehemently ob-
jected to Waste Management’s inter-
pretation of the contract and accused
the company of using the moment to
renegotiate the 2015 deal.

The county was willing to work with
Waste Management on the rollout,
allowing them more time to order
trucks and trash bins, but rejected the
company’s arbitrary pricing, County
Administrator Jason Brown said.

“I’m mystified by the response we’ve
gotten,” Brown said. 

Beach replenishment
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

tively. Hurricanes Matthew and Irma
accelerated the need for a fresh infu-
sion of sand, county officials said.

The County Commission at its Aug.
13 meeting hired Coastal Tech, a local
engineering firm, to perform the en-
gineering work for Sector 7 at a cost
of $256,435. The commission also
approved a $258,489 contract with
Texas-based Aptim Environmental &
Infrastructure Inc. to perform the en-
gineering work for Sector 3. The coun-
ty expects to select a contractor in late
September 2020 to perform the work.

It is still undetermined where the
sand used to replenish the beaches
will come from, county officials said.
There will be some access restrictions
in the immediate vicinity of the beach
during the renourishment projects
and the public will be notified ahead
of time, officials added.

The 2020-2021 rebuilds will follow
a 155,000 cubic yard project slated to
begin in November to repair the beach
from Tracking Station Park to Cast-
away Cove. 

SUPREME COURT CAMARADERIE
AT CROSSOVER/SHERIFF HOOPS P. 18

14 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Spiking the fundraising ball at ‘Scholarship’ Classic

PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

PHOTOS: KAILA JONES

BY KERRY FIRTH port their favorite high school football Indian River County. fulfill my dreams.”
Correspondent team. Since the first pigskin was tossed Their mission has continued to offer “Now is the time to start applying for
13 years ago, the Football Classic has
Football fans flooded into the Sebas- garnered more than $190,000 to fund hope, encouragement and scholarship federal and state money as well as lo-
tian River High School Stadium on Fri- scholarships for local college-bound opportunities to Indian River County cal grants and scholarships,” said Gaye
day night, proudly wearing their school students. students. Since its inception, the SFIRC Ludwig, SFIRC board chair. “With the
colors for the 14th Annual Scholarship has awarded more than $12.4 million average yearly cost to attend a state
Foundation of Indian River County “Between a portion of the ticket in need-based scholarships to 2,968 school approaching $22,000 and Ivy
Football Classic. sales and the VIP BBQ, we’ll raise close deserving students. Last May, at the League schools approaching $80,000 a
to $10,000,” said Sam Block, a SFIRC 54th annual award ceremony, SFIRC year, we want to help students choose
The stadium was awash in a sea of board member for more than 44 years. awarded 94 scholarships for a total of a school that is right in terms of the
blue and red as fans cheered on the “But most of our funds come from pri- $610,000 to 48 students who will be at- amount of finances they have and the
Sebastian River Sharks and Vero Beach vate donations, gifts and endowments. tending 18 colleges and universities in assistance they can obtain. Our goal is
Fighting Indians and, in the end zone, This community believes in the future seven states. to have them graduate from college as
Scholarship Foundation VIP support- of our youth and power of education debt-free as possible.”
ers feasted on BBQ while merging blue and has been most supportive.” “The Scholarship Foundation liter-
and red for one unified cause – to make ally changed my life,” said Courtney The powerhouse Vero Beach Fight-
college dreams come true for students The SFIRC was founded by Dan K. Jensen, a 2009 scholarship recipient ing Indians coasted in the rivalry
of Indian River County. Richardson and the Vero Beach Rotary and University of South Florida gradu- game, winning 41-0.
Club in 1965. Initially aligned with the ate. “I was able to focus on my cur-
The Football Classic has been a national Dollars for Scholars program, riculum without worrying about the Scholarship applications are avail-
yearly tradition since 2006 as a com- the organization disaffiliated from the costs of my education. I now teach at able now for 2020 awards; the applica-
munity-supported event where all of national group in 2013, calling them- Osceola Magnet School and love giving tion deadline is Jan. 30, 2019.
Indian River County gathers to sup- selves the Scholarship Foundation of back to the community that helped me
For more information, visit sfindian-
river.org. 



16 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

PHOTOS: KAILA JONES

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 17

PEOPLE

Camilla Wainright, Sam Block and Gaye Ludwig. Paul and Rosie Pickel. PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE Mary Silva with John Replogle and Mary Ellen Replogle.

Isabel, Natalie and Bobby Sexton. Donna and Jim Brewer.

Sandy and Bob Brackett with Carol Lynn and Nancy Eairheart.
Wiz Cook, Kathy Sharp, Joan Cook and Jeff Sharp.

18 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Supreme court camaraderie at Crossover/Sheriff hoops

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF
Staff Writer

Crossover Mission youth basket- Antoine Jennings. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES
ball players left it all on the court last
Saturday during games preceding port. Their legacy has inspired others, fice Capt. Milo Thornton, because of the day, we are all people. Civilians
the fifth annual Sheriff Exhibition like Antoine, to step up as role models the interaction helps to bring the have to know that law enforcement
Basketball Game held in the Gifford for these kids.” community together. “We are work- genuinely cares and aren’t only in
Youth Achievement Center gymna- ing to bridge the gap between the the community to harass or arrest
sium. “Our goal was to get the kids off Sheriff’s Office and our community. everyone. On the opposite end, civil-
the streets and keep them busy with The program that Antoine and Cathy ians have to accept that law enforce-
Before the Indian River County something positive. Once we hooked have built from the ground up is a ment has a job to do and give respect
Sheriff’s Office team suited up in a them on sports, they kept coming great opportunity for the Sheriff’s Of- to those who take on that responsi-
challenge against Crossover coaches back and made sure to follow the rules fice to build a relationship with our bility.”
and volunteers, Coach Larry Staley so they could continue to participate. youth, and to let them know that the
and Coach Libby Page were honored Just like Crossover Mission does. Sheriff’s Office is here for them. It’s For Jennings, “the best way to
as this year’s recipients of the Cross- These aren’t bad kids, they’re just kids not a case of us against them. It’s a break down walls is to build rela-
over Mission Unity Award for their that need to be held accountable for partnership.” tionships through interaction on
unwavering support of youth in the the choices they make,” added Staley. neutral ground where we can all be
Gifford community through athleti- “We believe that it’s important to equal. In the end, we all want a com-
cism for more than 30 years. During the exhibition game, the continue to work together and allow munity that is safe for our children.
teams went head to head with Cross- both law enforcement and everyday It starts with us, the adults.”
Staley and Page were the fourth re- over enjoying a 51-40 victory. But the civilians see each other in a differ-
cipients of the award and joined an real winners are the kids, according ent light,” said Jennings. “At the end For more information, visit cross-
impressive crew, including John and to Indian River County Sheriff’s Of- overmission.com. 
Stephanie Smith, Freddie Woolfork
and the Community Church of Vero
Beach.

Page and Staley developed pro-
grams for Gifford youth long before
the county recreation department be-
came involved. The pair has helped to
raise generations of children through
respect and an unwavering sense of
community.

Staley pointed out several adults
in the crowd that he and Page men-
tored when they were younger and
noted that Antoine Jennings, Cross-
over Mission co-founder and coach,
was among them. While honored by
the award, Staley was proud to see
that men like Jennings were living by
example as he and Page had modeled
for their young charges years before.

Cathy De Schouwer, Crossover Mis-
sion co-founder, noted that “these
two gentlemen worked miracles out
of a small shed with no financial sup-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 19

PEOPLE

Libby Page, Antoine Jennings, Brad Lorimier, Cathy De Schouwer and Larry Staley. PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
Linda Knoll and Brad Lorimier.

Louis De Schouwer and AJ Jennings.

Keisha Lawson, Lisa Segroves, Kim Hanley and Rhonda Minter.

20 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

Cathy De Schouwer and Antoine Jennings. Henry Smith.

Maj. Selby Strickland and Maj. Eric Flowers.



22 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Sebastian’s ‘Grill Out Night’: Peace, love and pineapples

Bill Penney with Amber Batchelor. PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE Lorelei Carlson and Pamela Stubbe Holmes. Debbie Ford and Stacie Slazes.

Shaun and Serena Brennan with Jamie Clark and Joshua Clark. Lisa Gehin, Tim Miller and Ed Sakowski.

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF ing on liquid libations featuring the “The idea began as a homegrown and stocked up on discount offers.
Staff Writer fancy fruit, adults were able to chan- way to encourage our tourists and res- And the Learning Alliance parked
nel their inner Jimmy Buffett along idents to shop local during the slow- the Moonshot Moment Rocket Bus at
The Sebastian River Area Chamber the way as the weather enticed them er tourist season,” noted Batchelor, the Tax Collector’s office to “collect”
of Commerce invited residents to join to sing about “... drinking piña coladas adding that more than 10,000 people words for the Moonshot Word Wall, a
them for an “outta-sight night” fea- and getting caught in the rain.” make the trek during the summer- roving arts literacy installation.
turing all things pineapple during the time event.
ninth annual Grill Out Night last Fri- The dark skies didn’t deter folks The chamber turned up the fire on
day evening. who for most of the evening carried For Pete and Lynn Anderson, own- more than the grills this year with
on through a light rain. Undeterred by ers of Pareidolia Brewing Co., the several new features, including a free
The night overflowed with joy as a brief downpour, patrons settled in event gives them a chance to meet Hot Summer Deals Coupon Book, a
business owners – adorned in tie-dye and compared notes on favorite pine- and greet people who haven’t sipped Sizzle Down Ceremony to close out
shirts, peace signs, bell-bottoms and apple delights and newly discovered suds at their establishment in the the night, and as patrons traveled
beads – emitted a happy, hippy vibe businesses until the storm passed. past. “Last year we had a lot of people along the Pineapple Expressway they
as they served up specialty concoc- stop by that had never been here be- were tasked with learning facts at
tions featuring the sweet, prickly fruit “Grill Out Night is a special event fore. It’s a fun way for them to come in each of the businesses to earn stamps
that once grew aplenty along the sand opportunity customized to the needs and check us out,” said Pete Anderson on specialty passports for a chance to
ridge – pineapples. of our businesses,” said Amber Batch- as he served up cold, frothy samples win a two-night cruise for two to the
elor, Sebastian Chamber president. of their Aloha beer, infused with pine- Bahamas.
Patrons nibbled from one business “With the city of Sebastian boasting apple and coconut.
to the next on pineapple-infused ice the largest population in Indian River The Sebastian River Area Chamber
cream and smoothies, sliders and County, we want to ensure that our Families had their pick of more than of Commerce will host the 26th Annual
meatballs topped with pineapple tourists and residents know the re- 40 businesses to visit where they par- Media Auction on Sept. 24. Visit sebas-
sauce and grilled pineapples. Imbib- sources they have available to them. ticipated in raffles, games, giveaways tianchamber.com for details. 

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 23

PEOPLE

Bennie and Curtis McFall. Mariner Pete with April Lesperance.

Kelly Bergstrom and Kyle Bradford. Jameson, Jason and Anne Ellig with Cindy Schmidt and Jefferson Ellig. Kathy Hainey and Katie Peltner.

Janet and Bob Lapre with Lori and Vincenzo Adduci and Rita D’Amico.

Bob Kenney, Jessica Francis and Sherri McCormick.

24 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Special Olympians pool their talents at 10 Aquatic Games

Dave Smith with Brandon Smith and Holly Mullen. Rachel D’Agostino, Darin Homer and Riley Dingnan.

Julie Poteat and Elaine Jones.

Tony Anunziato and Tom Berger.

Caitlin Schaller and Jackie Pomisel. PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE Josh Post, Jennifer Stambaugh, Gabe Post and Amy Post.

More than 200 athletes representing five counties made a big splash at
the North County Aquatics Center in Sebastian last Saturday during the
Special Olympics Area 10 Aquatic Games.

The mission of Special Olympics Florida is to encourage physical fitness
while helping athletes build skills and friendships, enabling them to grow
and share their gifts. The nonprofit provides year-round sports training and
competition to children and adults 8 years of age and older with intellectual
and developmental disabilities. In Indian River County more than 500 ath-
letes participate in 11 sports annually, including basketball, bocce, bowling,
cheerleading, cycling, equestrian, golf, sailing, soccer, softball, stand-up
paddle, surfing and swimming.

During the competition, participants swam their hearts out in 76 differ-
ent races ranging from 15 to 1,500 meters as they were cheered on by coach-
es, family and friends.

A first-place win qualifies swimmers for the upcoming State Special
Olympics Aquatic Championship on Oct. 5-6. Volunteers are needed; for in-
formation, call the Indian River County Recreation Department at 772-581-
7665 or visit specialolympicsflorida.org/indian-river. 

Chris, Isabella, and Shelly Pernice with Scott Ferguson.

SPOSATO’S ‘ANGELS’ ENRICH
TALENTED KIDS THROUGH MUSIC

26 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

Sposato’s ‘Angels’ enrich talented kids through music

Linda Sposato.

PHOTOS BY KAILIA JONES

BY KERRY FIRTH ‘I know how much music enriched my is so empowering it carries through
Correspondent life and I have been very fortunate, all aspects of your life.”
so I wanted to give back, especially to
Linda Sposato believes in living life underprivileged children.’ Sposato initially raised funds for
to the fullest, accepting new chal- Music Angels through a couple of
lenges and career changes with gusto. – Linda Sposato intimate parlor concerts; one at her
Two years ago, she embarked on her home and the other at the home of a
newest passion, the Music Angels Ed- how much music enriched my life and dren and if they don’t have the right friend. Talented members of the Gif-
ucation Fund, which provides music I have been very fortunate, so I want- connections or vehicle, that potential ford Youth Orchestra entertained the
lessons to talented, committed lower- ed to give back, especially to under- can be missed. Children of struggling guests and all the proceeds were do-
income students between the ages of privileged children. families often don’t have the oppor- nated to the GYO.
6 and 12. tunity to develop their talent. Music
“There is so much potential in chil- The number of interested support-
“I’ve had a burning desire to help ers quickly outgrew their parlor spac-
children through music for a very es, with more than 70 guests attend-
long time,” Sposato professes. “It’s ing their third concert, this time held
kind of like a dream that just pops at the First Presbyterian Church.
into the forefront of the mind. I know
Determining the importance of
reaching individual children not al-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 27

ARTS & THEATRE

Sposato had visited Vero Beach in and moved down permanently.
1985, but when she opted to retire to While she still owns that property,
Florida she initially settled in Pompano. she found her forever happy place in
an oceanfront home in Oceanside,
Drawn back to Vero’s small-town east of the Moorings.
vibe, she says, “Believe it or not I think
Vero is a lot like suburban Philadelphia On Nov. 2 Music Angels will host
in the sense of community. It’s not a a little jazz band concert during the
big city and it’s comfortable and safe.” First Presbyterian Church’s annual
Car Show.
In 1997 she bought an investment
property in Sea Oaks, explaining, “I “It’s a bit unconventional but it will
fell in love with the old Florida feel give some new exposure and contacts
and the huge oak trees. It seemed like that we wouldn’t normally encoun-
a tropical forest on the beach. What ter,” Sposato explains.
more could one ask for?”
For more information, visit www.
A year or two later she purchased MusicAngels.net. 
one of the beach villas at Sea Oaks

ready involved in music programs, As a result, she changed careers
Sposato joined the Cultural Council and transitioned into real estate, suc-
and set up a booth at their yearly Cel- cessfully marketing residential and
ebrate the Arts event in Riverside Park commercial properties in the Phila-
to present her Music Angels dream to delphia/New Jersey area, while con-
the public. tinuing to perform at clubs on the
side, even once to thousands at the at
“People loved the idea and donat- the Steel Pier in Atlantic City.
ed generously,” she says. “I was ap-
proached by a woman who knew of “I was making money selling prop-
a 9-year-old child being raised by his erty but making myself happy by
grandmother who yearned to play the singing,” she explains.
guitar. I introduced him to a guitar-
ist who determined his aptitude and After coming across a small com-
he became our first individual ben- mercial property, she changed gears
eficiary. He is now taking lessons and again and opened up a coffee and
advancing beautifully.” cheese shop, despite knowing noth-
ing about running a café.
In addition to funding music les-
sons, Music Angels finds homes for “I signed a lease with the landlord
recycled instruments. Youth Guid- and my girlfriend and I set up shop,”
ance recently started a music pro- says Sposato. “We quickly learned
gram as a result of a generous dona- that if you first attracted the women,
tion of several instruments to their they would end up bringing in their
organization. husbands. And if the husbands liked
it, they would bring their friends and
“We need to get the word out that if business associates. The key to our
someone has an instrument sitting in business was attracting the women
their closet, that we can put it to good first.”
use,” says Sposato. “Just call us and
we’ll find it a home.” Business snowballed after a local
restaurant reviewer gave her an eight-
Sposato knows from first-hand ex- star review.
perience that music can add value to
life. She sang in clubs in the Adiron- “That’s when the restaurant really
dacks as a starry eyed, 20-something took off,” Sposato recalls with a laugh.
in the 1960s and at just 23 worked at a “Once again, I learned that if you love
TV station located directly above the something and you are willing to stick
Dick Clark studios. with it, it will come to fruition.”

After a friend took one of her demos That success led to an expansion
to Clark, he said it was good enough into a much larger building and,
for air play, but by the time she was through savvy business acumen and
able to cut a record, Clark was being excellent culinary skills, their Conti-
investigated in a payola scandal and nently Restaurant thrived for many
that opportunity fell by the wayside. years. At the same time, Sposato host-
ed a cable television show from 1983
Undeterred, “I continued singing to 1985.
in clubs and peddled my 45-demo
record on my own to local radio sta- “It was so much fun because I got to
tions, and it did get a little air play, but interview local celebrities and jour-
not enough to make it big,” she says. nalists as well as stage a wine and
Still, she made a living as a vocalist for cooking show. I was one of five fe-
five years before realizing that fellow male chefs in the area and I was com-
club singers in their 40s and 50s were pletely self-taught,” she says. “I loved
making the same amount of money as cooking since I was about 12 and just
she was. learned it along the way. Fortunately,
I was good at it!”

28 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

COMING UP! Classical music concert’s ‘Chamber’ made to order

1 Space Coast Symphony Orchestra concert Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Vero Beach.

BY SAMANTHA ROHLFING BAITA
Staff Writer

1 Under the hot, wet blanket that
is a Florida summer, you are in-

vited to enjoy some cool, free clas-

sical music, courtesy of the Space

Coast Symphony Orchestra: “Tchai-

kovsky and Brahms: A Chamber

Concert” this Sunday, Aug. 25, at

First Presbyterian Church of Vero

Beach. Leave the sizzling afternoon

heat outside, as the orchestra’s six-

member chamber ensemble plays

for you a pair of popular chamber

works – Johannes Brahms’ “String

Quartet No. 2 in A minor” and Pyotr 2 Carl Guerra and Chris Z! at Comedy Zone Experience this weekend. Souljam plays Live In the Loop on Friday.

Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s much-loved

string sextet, “Souvenir de Flor-

ence.” The rhythmically compact orchestra’s goal of bringing classical guitar and – waa-laa. Guerra has ap-
music to everyone. Time: 3 p.m. Ad- peared on TV and in concert with Ju-
and high-spirited Brahms work, mission: free, no tickets required. As lio Iglesias, Paul Anka, Debbie Reyn-
always, donations are greatly appre- olds and Joan Rivers. Z! started as
shares the orchestra promo, is “ideal ciated. (A 10-spot would be great.) a columnist for the Central Florida
855-252-7276 or www.SpaceCoast- Future newspaper, and tried actual
for sharing the program with Tchai- Symphony.org. stand-up for the first time in 2003.
Apparently, it went well, because
kovsky’s neo-classical and sunny he’s now performed in 16 countries
and done five USO tours. He’s been
‘Souvenir,’ originally sketched while in the cast of BET’s hidden camera
show “SOB,” hosted a Sirius radio
the composer was visiting Florence, show and appeared in numerous TV
commercials. Arrive before show-
Italy.” Brahms’ work was one of two time to catch some of the all-eve-
ning-long outside fun. Bringing the
string quartets completed in Ba- 2 A pair of comics giving their music to Live In the Loop this Friday,
all to make you laugh; live mu- Aug. 23, will be SoulJam, a five-piece
varia during the summer of 1873, jam band that plays “folksy rock”
and more. Saturday, Aug. 24, brings
published as Op. 51. Brahms con- sic and full outdoor bar and grill, in Minglewood, a Grateful Dead trib-
ute band. As always, don’t BYO food
sidered the string quartet an espe- the Loop all evening, and a couple or drinks. Or pets. There will be all
sorts of food and drinks available.
cially important genre, so much so, hundred friendly folks just like you Showtimes: Comedy Zone – 7:30 3 Are you a “Prairie Dog?” Fans
p.m. and 9:30 p.m.; Live in the Loop of the all-American country
it is said, that he destroyed some 20 ready to enjoy the weekend: Yep, it’s – 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tickets: Comedy
Zone – side seats, $12; table seating,
string quartets before allowing the Riverside Theatre’s crazy popular $14-$18. Live in the Loop – free. 772- rock band Pure Prairie League will
231-6990.
two Op. 51 quartets to be published. weekend frolic. Inside this weekend be at the Lyric Theatre in Stuart this

The Russian Tchaikovsky dedicat- it’s the Comedy Zone Experience Wednesday, Aug. 28, for sure. After

ed “Souvenir” to the St. Petersburg with Carl Guerra and Chris Z! taking almost 50 years, the band that pro-

Chamber Music Society in response the stage. Guerra, says Riverside’s duced such hits as the classic “Aime,”

to his being named an Honorary promo, joined the stand-up circuit “Two Lane Highway,” “Let Me Love

Member. Performing these wonder- fresh out of college. He worked the You Tonight,” “Falling In and Out of

ful works for you will be Joni Roos Improv, Dangerfields and other such Love,” and “Early Morning Riser” still

and Jim Leda, violin; Michael De comedy clubs, and now performs packs their concerts, with a sound one

Jesus and Daniel Cortes, viola; and all over the place, on land and at reviewer called “strong as Kentucky

Paul Fleury and Lorraine Hogle, sea. His comic recipe: take every- moonshine” and “sharp as a straight

cello. A wealth of talented “depth day life observations, add relation- razor.” Whether you’re a prairie dog or

on the bench,” says Maestro Aaron ship humor, sprinkle some topical a newcomer, you’ll love the sound of

T. Collins, allows the orchestra to event comments, a few characters, music played “the way it used to be.”

provide several free concerts dur- a couple of jokes, blend with some Time: 7 p.m. Tickets: $47. 772-286-

ing the season, to further fulfill the spontaneity, fold in a few likes on the 7827 or www.lyrictheatre.com. 



30 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT COVER STORY

Rising seas are eating away Roy
Carpenter’s Beach in Rhode Island.

Before climate change thawed the winters of New Fred Crater opens the ice fishing season in the early Insulated trains, such as this ice
Jersey, Lake Hopatcong hosted boisterous win- 1920s with “a fine big pickerel in Lake Hopatcong.” car from around 1910, brought
tertime carnivals. As many as 15,000 skaters took In the lake’s heyday, thousands gathered on the the ice from New Jersey to
part, and automobile owners would drive onto the ice for fishing competitions and winter festivals. New York City.
thick ice. Thousands watched as local hockey clubs
battled one another and the Skate Sailing Associa- 48 whose average temperature rise has eclipsed 2 Little Nicki’s Italian restaurant, across the street from
tion of America held competitions, including one in degrees Celsius. Other parts of the Northeast – New Lake Hopatcong, is usually jammed in the summer,
1926 that featured 21 iceboats on blades that sailed Jersey, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts – trail but this year, the state warned people to avoid the
over a three-mile course. close behind. water, putting a damper on the restaurant’s business.

"These winters do not exist anymore," says Marty While many people associate global warming Celsius. But that’s just an average. Some parts of the
Kane, a lawyer and head of the Lake Hopatcong with summer’s melting glaciers, forest fires and di- globe – including the mountains of Romania and
Foundation. sastrous flooding, it is higher winter temperatures the steppes of Mongolia – have registered increases
that have made New Jersey and nearby Rhode Is- twice as large. It has taken decades or in some cases
That’s because a century of climbing tempera- land the fastest warming of the Lower 48 states. a century. But for huge swaths of the planet, climate
tures has changed the character of the Garden State. change is a present-tense reality, not one looming
The average New Jersey temperature from De- ominously in the distant future.
New Jersey may seem an unlikely place to measure cember through February now exceeds 0 degrees
climate change, but it is one of the fastest-warming Celsius, the temperature at which water freezes. In any one geographic location, 2 degrees Celsius
states in the nation. Its average temperature has That threshold, reached over the past three decades, may not represent global cataclysmic change, but
climbed by close to 2 degrees Celsius since 1895 – has meant lakes don't freeze as often, snow melts
double the average for the Lower 48 states. more quickly, and insects and pests don't die as they
once did in the harsher cold.
Over the past two decades, the 2 degrees Celsius
number has emerged as a critical threshold for glob- The freezing point “is the most critical threshold
al warming. The United Nations Intergovernmental among all temperatures,” said David A. Robinson,
Panel on Climate Change warns that if Earth heats New Jersey state climatologist and professor at Rut-
up by an average of 2 degrees Celsius, virtually all gers University’s department of geography.
the world’s coral reefs will die; retreating ice sheets
in Greenland and Antarctica could unleash massive The uneven rise in temperatures across the Unit-
sea level rise; and summertime Arctic sea ice, a shield ed States matches what is happening around the
against further warming, would begin to disappear. world.

But global warming does not heat the world evenly. In the past century, the Earth has warmed 1 degree
A Washington Post analysis of more than a century
of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion temperature data across the Lower 48 states and
3,107 counties has found that major areas are nearing
or have already crossed the 2-degree Celsius mark.

Today, more than 1 in 10 Americans – 34 mil-
lion people – are living in rapidly heating regions, in-
cluding New York City and Los Angeles. Seventy-one
counties have already hit the 2-degree Celsius mark.

Alaska is the fastest-warming state in the coun-
try, but Rhode Island is the first state in the Lower

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 31

INSIGHT COVER STORY

it can threaten ecosystems, change landscapes and “Basically,” he said, “these hot spots are chunks of warmed significantly since the late 1800s is the
upend livelihoods and cultures. the future in the present.” South, especially Mississippi and Alabama, where
data in some cases shows modest cooling. Scientists
The nation’s hot spots will get worse, absent a Nationwide, trends are clear. Starting in the late have attributed this “warming hole” to atmospher-
global plan to slash emissions of the greenhouse gas- 1800s, U.S. temperatures began to rise and contin- ic cycles driven by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans,
es fueling climate change. By the time the impacts ued slowly up through the 1930s. The nation then along with particles of soot from smokestacks and
are fully recognized, the change may be irreversible. cooled slightly for several decades. But starting tailpipes, which have damaging health effects but
around 1970, temperatures rose steeply. can block some of the sun’s intensity.
Daniel Pauly, an influential marine scientist at
the University of British Columbia, says the 2-de- At the county level, the data reveals isolated 2-de- Those types of pollutants were curtailed by envi-
gree Celsius hot spots are early warning sirens of a gree Celsius clusters: high-altitude deserts in Ore- ronmental policies, while carbon dioxide remained
climate shift. gon; stretches of the western Rocky Mountains that unregulated for decades.
feed the Colorado River; a clutch of counties along
Tim Clancy helps the northeastern shore of Lake Michigan – home to Since the 1960s, however, the region’s temperatures
run the Knee Deep the famed Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore have been increasing along with the rest of the coun-
near Traverse City. try’s.
Club’s ice fishing
contests at Lake Along the Canadian border, a string of counties The Northeast is warming especially fast. An-
from eastern Montana to Minnesota are quickly thony Broccoli, a climate scientist at Rutgers, de-
Hopatcong. heating up. fines an unusually warm or cold month as ranking
among the five most extreme in the record going
Before the widespread use of refrigeration, workers The topography of warming varies. It is intense back to the late 1800s. In the case of New Jersey, he
harvested ice from Lake Hopatcong, cutting it into at some high elevations, such as in Utah and Col- says, “since 2000, we’ve had 39 months that were
blocks for use in shipping or for iceboxes. orado, and along some highly populated coasts: unusually warm and zero that were unusually cold.”
Temperatures have risen by 2C in Los Angeles and
three neighboring counties. New York City is also Scientists do not completely understand the
warming rapidly, and so are the very different areas Northeast hot spot. But fading winters and very
around it, such as the beach resorts in the Hamp- warm water offshore are the most likely culprits, ex-
tons and leafy Westchester County. perts say. That’s because climate change is a cycle
that feeds on itself.
The only part of the United States that has not
Warmer winters mean less ice and snow cover.
The lake used to freeze over by Normally, ice and snow reflect solar radiation back
Thanksgiving. Now, it rarely into space, keeping the planet relatively cool. But as
does so before January. the ice and snow retreat, the ground absorbs the so-
lar radiation and warms.

NOAA data shows that in every Northeast state
except Pennsylvania, the temperatures of the win-
ter months of December through February have
risen by 2 degrees Celsius since 1895-1896. And U.S.
Geological Survey data shows that ice breaks up in
New England lakes nine to 16 days earlier than in
the 19th century.

This doesn’t mean the states can’t have extreme

CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

New Jersey closed Lake Hopatcong after the state
Department of Environmental Protection detected a
toxic bacteria caused in part by one of the warmest
springs in the past century.

32 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31 INSIGHT COVER STORY

winters anymore. Polar vortex events, melting of Arctic ice, has pushed the spot, helping to boost water temper-
in which frigid Arctic air descends into Gulf Stream closer to the East Coast, atures by 2 degrees Celsius or more in
the heart of the country, can still bring bringing more warm water and, per- some regions.
biting cold. But the overall trend re- haps, hotter temperatures onshore.
mains the same and is set to continue. Offshore, it has become its own hot If the slowing continues, seas could
One recent study found that by the rise farther and faster. That’s because
time the entire globe crosses 2 degrees Tony Loura bought his cottage when the current slows, water it was
Celsius, the Northeast can expect to nearly 15 years ago. It used to driving toward Europe drifts back
have risen by about 3 degrees Celsius, across the Atlantic to the U.S. coast-
with winter temperatures higher still. be 1,000 feet from the water. line. Scientists are trying to determine
Now, it’s only about 150. whether the Gulf Stream is already
Climate change plays havoc differ- contributing to rapid sea level rise on
ently in different places. the East Coast.

In Rhode Island, Narragansett Bay Along the shoreline, the hotter and
has warmed as much as 1.6 degrees higher sea is shuffling the lineup of
Celsius in the past 50 years, and for oceanfront homes.
want of cooler water, the state’s lobster
catch has plummeted 75 percent in the Roy Carpenter’s Beach is a col-
past two decades. lection of summer cottages along a
quarter-mile stretch that is eroding
With 420 miles of coastline, Rhode faster than any other part of the state
Island is particularly vulnerable to the – an average of 3.3 feet a year. Rob
vagaries of the Gulf Stream, a massive Thoresen’s great-grandfather bought
warm current that travels up the East the property nearly a century ago,
Coast from the Gulf of Mexico before and residents living in 377 cottages
making a right turn toward Greenland there now lease the land from the
and Europe. family business.

The Gulf Stream is enormous, en- About a decade ago, the family tried –
compassing more water than “all of in vain – to persuade residents to move
the world’s rivers combined,” ac- away from the encroaching ocean.
cording to NOAA. It is one part of an Their reluctance was no surprise; the
even larger global “conveyor belt” of back of the property features a view of
currents that transport heat around cornfields.
the world.
But then the coast took an indirect
A slowing of these currents, which hit from Hurricane Sandy. It damaged
scientists think is caused by the 11 homes in the community’s front row,

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 33

INSIGHT COVER STORY

with three of them washing out to sea. 1,000 feet away. The community is and prepare new locations, laying out rocking chair. He estimates that he used
The surf laps over the remains of con- planning to move another 20 houses. new roads and sewer pipes. to be 1,000 feet from the water. Now, the
crete foundations and wooden pylons, ocean is only about 150 feet away.
knocking over construction fences. It is expensive. Homeowners pay to Tony Loura, who has summered in
physically move their cottages or de- Roy Carpenter’s Beach for 15 years, is “I’m hoping that I’m back far enough
In 2013, 28 families in the first and molish them and rebuild. Matunuck philosophical about his predicament. that I won’t have to move to the back,”
second rows started moving to the Beach Properties, the management He is on the fourth row, where he has an said Loura, 66. “Every time they say
back of the development – roughly company, must survey the properties unobstructed view of the ocean from his there’s a storm, I get worried.” 

34 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT OPINION

Is ‘back-loaded’ hurricane season bearing down on U.S.?

Don’t be lulled by a quiet June and Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station on Sept. 10, 2018 rologist with Weather Underground,
July. The real Atlantic hurricane sea- an IBM business.
son is about to kick off. tate along the coasts, as well as some Florida is the world’s second-largest
of America’s most valuable commodi- producer of orange juice after Brazil. The first is the so-called Madden-
The hurricane season generally runs ties. More than 45% of U.S. refining Julian Oscillation, a ripple of rising
from June 1 to the end of November. capacity and 51% of gas processing There are two other factors that and sinking air that swirls through the
But the next six weeks – “the season is along the Gulf of Mexico coastline. could spur on storms in September, atmosphere about every 45 to 60 days
within a season” – is regularly the most according to Bob Henson, a meteo- that can spark typhoons and hurri-
dangerous and active time for storms canes when combined with other fac-
to develop in the Atlantic, said Dennis tors. It could affect the Atlantic in late
Feltgen, spokesman for the National August or September, Henson said.
Hurricane Center in Miami.
The second is a fast-moving atmo-
Two-thirds of all annual hurricane spheric system known as a “convective-
activity takes place in the six-week pe- ly-coupled kelvin wave” that’s affected
riod between Aug. 24 and Oct. 4. by the earth’s rotation. When one runs
into a tropical wave moving off Africa,
Only two named storms have devel- it can give it a speedy boost to swirl into
oped in the Atlantic so far this sum- a hurricane or tropical storm. There is
mer. Dry, dusty air from Africa’s Sahara one now moving across the Pacific on
robbed potential storms of moisture, its way to the Atlantic, Henson said.
and wind shear spurred by the El Nino
climate systems ripped apart budding All of this doesn’t mean the Atlan-
storms. Now, those brakes on hurri- tic will pop to life in the final days of
cane development are gone. August. The next two weeks should
extend the streak of drifting doldrums
The result: “A big change in the pat- across the basin, Henson said.
tern over the Atlantic, going from a very
lackluster quiet weather pattern to a Once they do start rolling, though,
much more active one,” said Dan Kot- look out. There is a deep pool of warm
tlowski, the lead hurricane forecaster water tucked into the Gulf of Mexico,
at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, across the western Caribbean and along
Pennsylvania. “We are thinking this the U.S. Southeast coastline, according
season will be back-loaded.” to Jim Rouiller, chief meteorologist at
the Energy Weather Group outside Phil-
Last week, the U.S. National Weather adelphia. Any storm that reaches those
Service forecast 10 to 17 named storms areas could explode in power, he said.
in the Atlantic. Last year, there were 15,
including hurricanes Florence and Mi- “This is high-octane fuel that is all
chael that killed a combined 96 people waiting in the wings for the first storm,”
and caused more than $49 billion in Rouiller said. “This is all untapped, and
damage. A storm is named when it it will really intensify storms.” 
reaches tropical storm strength, with
maximum sustained winds of at least This column by Brian K. Sullivan
74 miles per hour. first appeared on Bloomberg. It does
not necessarily reflect the views of Vero
At risk is $17 trillion in U.S. real es- Beach 32963.

ORTHOPEDICS, PART III probability of having a major osteoporotic fracture of the © 2019 VERO BEACH 32963 MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
spine, forearm, hip or shoulder over the next ten years.
DIAGNOSING OSTEOPOROSIS (continued) Developed in 2008, FRAX integrates clinical risk factors and
bone mineral density at the femoral (thigh bone) neck. The
An estimated one in two women and one in five men will models used to develop the FRAX diagnostic tool were de-
experience an osteoporotic fracture during their lifetime. rived from studying patients in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin
Fractures put a person at risk for a higher degree of mor- America and North America.
bidity and mortality. For example, a woman’s lifetime risk of Parameters in a FRAX assessment include:
dying from a hip fracture is approximately the same as her  Age
risk of dying from breast cancer.  Alcohol intake of three or more standard drinks per day
Last time, as part of our discussion on diagnosing osteo-  Bone mineral density (BMD) of the femoral neck
porosis, we closed with information about biochemical  Country
marker tests of the blood and urine which can sometimes  Disease strongly associated with osteoporosis
help estimate how fast you’re losing or making bone. Bone  Glucocorticoid treatment
is a dynamic tissue which undergoes constant remodeling  Height
throughout a person’s life span. It is broken down (bone  Hip fracture in the subject’s mother or father
resorption) and then rebuilt (bone formation) at specific  Previous fracture
rates so bone mass does not change. Normally, bone re-  Rheumatoid arthritis
sorption takes place in around ten days and bone forma-  Sex
tion takes about three months. Up to 20% of a person’s  Smoking
skeleton may be replaced by remodeling every year. Bone  Weight
disease occurs when the resorption and formation rates Sometimes a patient’s FRAX score is included with his or her
become askew. bone density test report. If it isn’t, the healthcare provider
Other diagnostic tools include bone density scans and FRAX. can input information into a web-based computer app to
determine the FRAX score.
BONE DENSITY SCAN The FRAX tool is especially useful to guide decisions about
treatment for people who meet the following three condi-
A bone density scan is often used to diagnose osteoporo- tions:
sis and help doctors assess a patient’s risk for fracture. This  Postmenopausal women or men age 50 and older
exam measures bone mineral density (BMD) using low-level  Low bone density (osteopenia), and
“dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry” (DXA or DEXA) or bone  Have not taken an osteoporosis medicine
densitometry. During this safe and painless test, you lie Next time we’ll complete our discussion on diagnosing os-
on a padded table as a scanner passes over your body to teoporosis and move on to treatment options. 
determine the proportion of mineral in your bones. While Your comments and suggestions for future topics are al-
bone density testing can be done on different bones of your ways welcome. Email us at [email protected].
body, in most cases only the hip and spine are scanned

FRACTURE RISK ASSESSMENT TOOL (FRAX)

FRAX is a diagnostic tool used to help ascertain a person’s

95 Properties Sold/Under Contract Since January 2019

John’s Island

It’s your lifetime. Spend it wisely.

John’s Island is the place where everyone wants to be. A private, luxurious seaside community full of people who–like you–have a zest
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the active and legendary social lifestyle and world-class amenities including three championship golf courses, 17 Har-tru tennis courts,
pickleball, professional squash, croquet, an abundance of water activities, and a health & wellness center. A picturesque seaside
landscape and near perfect climate complement the outstanding calendar of social and recreational activities for all ages. Savor our
fresh, seasonal dishes available at any of the three renovated clubhouses, including the spectacular Beach Club overlooking miles
of sparkling shores. We invite you to discover life at John’s Island.

Bob Gibb, Broker : Judy Bramson : Jeannette Mahaney : Ba Stone : Michael Merrill : Kristen Yoshitani : Susie Perticone
Open 7 days a week : 1 John’s Island Drive : Vero Beach, Florida 32963

All information herein has been supplied by third parties, and is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed. We cannot represent that it is accurate or complete. Buyer is advised to verify information to their satisfaction. This offering is subject to errors,
omissions, change in price or withdrawal without notice. Rendering and floor plans are for marketing purposes only and are approximate. All rights reserved, duplication in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. © 2019 John’s Island Real Estate Company.

Exclusively John’s Island

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38 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BOOKS

Don’t let the title “Beethoven: The Relentless Revolu- BEETHOVEN a 1980 interview. “Beethoven’s senses of structure, fan-
tionary” throw you off. This is not one of those Marxian tasy, variety, thematic continuity, harmonic propulsion
screeds that evaluate the work of an artist by perceived BY JOHN CLUBBE | 505 PP. $39.95 and contrapuntal discipline were absolutely – miracu-
progressive leanings: There is nothing of Trotsky and REVIEW BY TIM KING, THE WASHINGTON POST lously – in alignment.”
very little of Adorno in this volume. Rather, John Clubbe
has written a thoughtful cultural history that takes into ern German city of Bonn. Clubbe calls the compos- But Beethoven the revolutionary would soon be in
account the times in which Beethoven lived and worked er’s father, Johann, a court tenor, his “first and worst” ascendance. Take the abrupt – and, for its time, deeply
– and they were times of revolution. teacher: “His pedagogy was unremarkable, his method shocking – opening of the Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”),
cruel, his behavior – influenced by a growing addic- written in 1803: There is no formal introduction what-
Clubbe calls the two decades from 1790 to 1810 “the tion to alcohol – abominable. He often beat his son.” soever, only two bluntly explosive chords and then the
beginning of a new stage in the history of mankind.” Beethoven’s hostility toward authority may be traced in great first theme. Even five years earlier, in one of his
“New and strange ideas, cheering to many but highly part to such unfair treatment. In any event, the young finest piano sonatas, Op. 10, No. 3, Beethoven followed
upsetting to others, infiltrated Europe. This creative man was often dismissed as ill-mannered and intem- a joyful opening movement with a long Adagio of such
spirit, as later historians have observed, produced a tre- perate, and he burned bridges with many who would unprecedented tragic intensity that we can only imag-
mendous flowering in science, technology, literature, art gladly have helped him. Still, his genius prevailed – a ine the effect it must have had on its first audience.
and music, and reforms of all kind. Poets and musicians strong pianist, an inspired improviser, a violinist, a con- Thereafter, Beethoven would leave the rules behind –
differentiated and refined the language of the inner life.” ductor, Beethoven also wrote hours upon hours of mar- content would dictate form, rather than the other way
velous music, bursting with energy and invention, and around.
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 in the west- was famous before he was 30.
There is a long-standing tendency to treat the early Clubbe knows his 19th-century history – he has ed-
works as though they had somehow been composed by ited the letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle and
Beethoven before he became the titanic Beethoven of written full-length studies of Byron and Thomas Hood.
legend. In fact, the steady and radiantly good-humored He traces Beethoven’s love for the work of Goethe and
early piano sonatas and string quartets are no less wor- Friedrich Schiller, and his profound early admira-
thy for having been written in a classical mien than, say, tion for Napoleon (to whom the “Eroica” was origi-
“The Firebird” is minor Stravinsky because it predates the nally dedicated). A chapter on the creation of “Fidelio,”
savage ferocities of “The Rite of Spring.” Indeed, Glenn Beethoven’s only opera and an ode to human freedom,
Gould found Beethoven’s early music his most satisfying. is especially comprehensive. Clubbe also makes note
“Almost all of those early piano works are immaculately that Vienna, for all of its undoubted musical great-
balanced – top to bottom, register to register,” he said in ness – Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert spent
most of their careers there, with Brahms, Mahler and
Schoenberg, among many others, to follow later in the
century — was in most ways a hidebound, purse-proud
and restrictive city.

As W. Jackson Bate observed of Samuel Johnson
in his magnificent biography, whatever we experi-
ence, we find Beethoven has been there before us,
and is meeting and returning home with us. It was
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 that was led by the con-
ductor Wilhelm Furtwangler to reopen the Bayreuth
Festival at the end of World War II. And, when the
Berlin Wall fell in the glorious autumn of 1989, Leon-
ard Bernstein conducted an ensemble made up of
residents of both sides of the city, long divided by the
Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Instead of the
cry of “Freude!” (“Joy!”), Bernstein asked the chorus
to shout “Freiheit!” (“Freedom!”). Somehow, one sus-
pects Beethoven would have approved. 

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 39

INSIGHT BOOKS

In December 1921, at the height of his reign as THE GHOSTS OF EDEN PARK in horror. This done, he calmly made his way to the
America’s “Bootleg King,” George Remus threw him- central police station to turn himself in. “This is the
self a lavish New Year’s Eve party – so lavish, in fact, BY KAREN ABBOTT | 405 PP. $28 first peace I have had in two years and a half,” he
that Jay Gatsby himself might have found it a tad REVIEW BY DANIEL STASHOWER, THE WASHINGTON POST announced.
excessive. High rollers and social elites came from
as far away as San Francisco to fill the 31 rooms of wholesale drug companies under his control. He Abbott, whose previous books include “Sin in the
Remus’ Cincinnati mansion, with its leather fur- even arranged to hijack his own trucks, “thereby di- Second City” and “Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy,”
nishings, marble statues and solid-gold piano. verting all of that technically legal, curative whiskey crafts a gripping narrative from this previously ob-
As the guests sat down at the banquet table, each into the illicit market,” where it could be sold at an scure chapter in the “noble experiment” of Prohibi-
place setting featured a $1,000 bill tucked beneath enormous profit. Prohibition officials were bribed tion. Her research is exemplary, and she lays out the
the dinner plate. As a further token of their host’s accordingly, and soon Remus could boast that he details with a novelist’s deft touch. She makes par-
esteem, each male guest also received a gold watch had greased the palms of “everyone and his broth- ticularly good use of trial transcripts during a rivet-
and a diamond stickpin. And for the ladies: the keys er” in Washington. “He called this massive octopus ing courtroom sequence. Remus, serving as his own
to a sparkling Pontiac sedan. Tales of Remus’ extrav- of an enterprise ‘the Circle,’” Abbott writes. “Within counsel, finds a strange purchase on legal history
agance would be told for generations to come, as the year, Remus would own 35 percent of all the li- as “the first person to act as his own attorney after
Karen Abbott relates in “The Ghosts of Eden Park,” quor in the United States.” pleading insanity.”
a gripping true-crime narrative. “In a gesture em-
blematic of the times,” she writes, “Remus lit guests’ At the center of this elaborate Circle, “the fulcrum Understandably, Abbott puts most of her focus
cigars with $100 bills.” that would allow him to pivot and rise” was Remus’ on Remus and his star-crossed marriage, but she
wife, Imogene. A few years earlier she was a “dust also gives a bracing portrait of Mabel Walker Wil-
Remus, it seems, literally had money to burn. He girl,” sweeping the floors of Remus’ downtown Chi- lebrandt, “the most powerful woman in the coun-
was 44 years old and “had spent the first half of his cago law office. She was the “kind of woman who try” at the time. As the assistant attorney general of
life gathering momentum for the second,” first as a made you think of Turkish harems,” a friend said the United States, Willebrandt had the unenviable
licensed pharmacist and then as a criminal-defense of her. “Her every glance seemed a caress.” Having job of attempting to enforce the Volstead Act, a task
attorney. His training and professional experience succumbed to her charms, Remus insisted that she made nearly impossible by widespread corruption
left him uniquely well-positioned to exploit a loop- become his partner in every sense. He dubbed her and political machinations. “The dominant real-
hole in the Volstead Act, ratified in January 1920, the “Prime Minister” of his operations and placed ity,” Willebrandt wrote, “is that the whole problem
which prohibited the manufacture, sale or trans- many of his assets, including the mansion, in her is one of getting the right men in places of power in
portation of alcohol to, from or within the United name. He came to regret the decision, as Abbott enforcement – men of creative thought, of courage,
States. As Prohibition took hold, Remus found him- relates, especially after Imogene began a dalliance those not slaves to political ambition. And by men
self defending a number of small-time bootleggers, with Franklin Dodge, one of the Prohibition agents I also mean women – lots of them.” Abbott makes
who appeared to be making a killing with very little assigned to investigate Remus’ operations. canny use of Willebrandt’s quiet, steady resolve as a
effort. counterpoint to the wild extremes of Remus and his
The affair sent Remus into a paranoid spiral. “He chaotic empire. “If Mabel had worn trousers,” one
“A plan took shape in his mind,” Abbott explains. rambled incessantly about love and betrayal and admirer remarked, “she could have been president.”
With a physician’s prescription, Remus discov- revenge,” and the manner in which Imogene “had
ered, it was legal to buy liquor for “medicinal pur- razed his world to the ground.” Soon, as Imogene During the Prohibition era, wrote F. Scott Fitzger-
poses.” Accordingly, he set up shop in Cincinnati, initiated divorce proceedings, the aggrieved Remus ald, “America was going on the greatest, gaudiest
within easy reach of the warehouses where much of decided to settle the matter with a pearl-handled re- spree in history and there was going to be plenty to
the country’s pre-Prohibition whiskey was stored. volver, shooting his errant wife in Cincinnati’s Eden tell about it.” He would undoubtedly have appreci-
Next, he acquired thousands of gallons of this high- Park while his 19-year-old stepdaughter looked on ated this heady cocktail of murder, intrigue and Jazz
quality liquor through a network of distilleries and Age excess. 

40 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PETS

Bonzo says with this trio, fun runs in the family

Hi Dog Buddies!

This week I had a nice innerview with have the Pick of the Litter.” “That’s true. But I am ackshully a Total PHOTOS: KAILA JONES
two Labradors anna Jack Russell – Nash, “I think I see where this is going,” I Daddy’ Girl. I go EVERYwhere with him,
Nellie an Punkin Pie Koppelman. Pun- like the camp. That’s the BEST. I practice and lets us out to Do Our Duty. She also
kin Pie’s the Jack Russell. She’s the old- ventured. my Pawsome Retrieving Skills, an ride in gives us treats, but don’t tell Mom an
est, 15 anna half, and she’s kinda blind “But of course. But when he called Dad’s buggy.” Dad, OK? Grammy Judy’s Cool Kibbles.
an doesn’t hear so good either. But she Me an Nellie play in the yard together.
gets around fine an she’s the boss. Next Mom she was like, ‘weeelll, I don ‘t “She’s a total tomboy,” said Pie. “Plus, Nellie hunts lizards. Pie basks. An I play
is Nellie, a 4-year-old Yellow Lab; and KNOW. I mean, I’m reeeel busy with the guess what? She ackshully Moos when Frisbee. Watch!”
Nash is a Champagne Red Fox Lab, just kids an all, maybe we should …’ Finally she lies down. We call her Moo some-
2. Good lookin’ bunch. Dad just said, ‘She’s already in the truck.’ times.” Their Mom hurled the Frisbee and
And that was that. Of course, Mom was Nash leapt up an snatched that Frisbee
The whole crew answered the bell, for super excited when she saw me. I fit in “Thanks for sharing, Pieface,” Nellie right outta the air before his paws even
welcomes an Wag-an-Sniffs. Well, Nellie the palm of her hand and I was, well, retorted. touched the ground. PAW-some!!
sorta stood back an sized me up. irresist-tubble. Me an Abby got along
right away, too. She put up with the new “I’m gonna tell about ME,” said Nash, “I bet you two love to swim, right?”
“Welcome to our home,” Punkin Pie silly puppy, even let me lick her face, all excited. “Mom an Dad weren’t look- They were Labs, so, duh.
said. “Call me Pie. I’ll be the Spoke- which I did a lot, cuzza bein’ a puppy. ing for another dog. But one day Dad
spooch. This is our Mom Rene.” An she watched over me. Stephen an was talking to a biz-nuss man who had “Ackshully, I’m the swimmer, Nash
Lindsay were also kinda puppies back, this real beautiful dog, a Labrador, who not so much,” said Nellie.
“Are we gonna get our PICK-shur in then, so we grew up together. Then one came from a champion line. Dad said,
the PAY-per?” Nash asked, wagging day, about eight years ago, it was time for ‘THAT’S THE BEST DOG I EVER SAW!!’ “He even had swimmin’ lessons at the
and drooling a liddle. “Our Dad Kevin’s Abby to cross the Rainbow Bridge. I was The man said Dad could have POTL Canine Country Club. But NO. Me an Pie
at work. He’s in SIT-truss. Our human very sad, even though I knew she was in soon as she had puppies. Well, when my tell him, ‘Just jump in, for Lassie’s Sakes.’
brother an sister are Stephen an Lindsay. The Best Place Ever.” litter came along, Dad called Mom. An You swim, right Bonz? You tell him.”
They’re Totally Crispy Dog Biscuits. My Mom said, ‘NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! WE
kennel papers name is Takota’s Notori- “It’s always hard losing someone you HAVE ENOUGH!’ Dad went back a few “I sure do,” I said, turning to Nash.
ous Nash, but just call me Nash. Let’s love,” I said. weeks later when me an my sibs were old “Dude, you’re a Re-TREE-ver. Re-tree-
go sit down, OK? Hey, Grumpy,” he ad- enough for our own homes, picked me vers LOVE the water.”
dressed Nellie, who was still staring at “It was. About 4 or 5 years went by an right away and brought me home. Bing.
me. “Bonzo’s fine. He’s our guest.” Mom was lookin’ for a Lab again.” Bang. Boom. Now, ironically, I’m pretty “Not this one,” he said firmly.
much Mom’s Dog. I usta go to school Headin’ home, I was thinking, “That
“Well, you just can’t be too sure these “I’ll tell this part,” Nellie spoke up. “She with her when I was liddle. She’s a TEE- is one happy family.” For some reason,
days,” she said, daintily trotting over for called around an finally found some chur.” I couldn’t wait to stash my notebook an
a Wag-an-Sniff. “You can call me Nellie.” puppies, picked me right out of an all- take a liddle dip in the pool.
female litter of 11, if you can believe it.” “Things always seem to work out,”
“Miss Nellie, Miss Pie, Nash, it’s my I observed. “So, what’s your daily life The Bonz
pleasure to meet you. So, as Official “Woof!” like?”
Spokespooch Miss Pie, why don’t you tell “I KNOW. Well, as you probly noticed, Don’t Be Shy
me how you found your wonderful for- I’m not the Cuddly, Wuddly type. I guess “We get long walks. Well, mostly Me
ever famly.” I can be a teeny bit grumpy on occasion. an Nellie. Pie doesn’t go that far any- We are always looking for pets
So it took me liddle while to get used to more. An every day, when Mom an Dad with interesting stories.
“Well,” Pie began. “Mom an Dad had Pie.” are workin,’ Grammy Judy comes over
just moved here, an they hadda Yellow “But I won her over,” Pie interjected. To set up an interview, email
Lab named Abby, who was gettin’ up [email protected].
there. Mom loved Abby, but she’d always
wanted a Jack Russell. (Of course, who
wouldn’t?)”

“Who wouldn’t?” I quickly agreed.
“So anyway, Dad hadda fren who
hadda Jack Russell who was gonna
have puppies. An he said Dad could

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 41

INSIGHT BRIDGE

EATING LOSERS IN A TRUMP CONTRACT WEST NORTH EAST
J954 10 8 3 KQ72
By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist 9 10 6 5 2 QJ8
K 10 7 6 3 94 QJ
Craig Brown, an English critic and satirist, said, “Everyone must know by now that the aim of Q J 10 AK72 8653
Scrabble is to gain the moral high ground, the loser being the first player to slam the board
shut and upset all the letters over the floor.” SOUTH
A6
Once, an opponent of mine almost tore his cards in two when his partner removed a penalty AK743
double of a vulnerable four-spade contract (which would have cost 1,400) to five clubs. A852
94
More often, though, when we discuss bridge losers, we are talking about tricks that we
might concede. Often, our job is to eliminate a loser or two. In this deal, for example, how Dealer: South; Vulnerable: North-South
should South play to make four hearts after West leads the club queen?
The Bidding:
Three diamonds was a help-suit game-try, asking North to look at his red suits. Here, North
was rightly optimistic. He had two sure tricks, a diamond shortage and four trumps. SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST OPENING
1 Hearts Pass 2 Hearts Pass
When this deal was played in a social game, South won the first trick, drew two rounds of 3 Diamonds Pass 4 Hearts All Pass LEAD:
trumps and gave up a diamond trick. But East won and cashed his high heart. The contract Q Clubs
could no longer be made.

Declarer started with five losers: one spade, one heart and three diamonds. He had to play
to ruff two diamonds in the dummy.

Some variation in this trick sequence is all right, but South should play the ace and another
diamond (or duck a diamond). Suppose East wins and shifts to the spade king. Declarer
plays low, takes the next spade, cashes his high hearts and the diamond ace, then ruffs
a diamond on the board. East overruffs, but declarer trumps the next spade, ruffs his last
diamond and claims.

42 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™
SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (AUGUST 15) ON PAGE 60
INSIGHT GAMES

ACROSS DOWN
1 Agriculturist (6) 1 Horrify (5)
5 Understands (4) 3 Eyeglass (7)
8 Frank; unobstructed (4) 4 Out of practice (5)
9 Sudden mass rush (8) 5 Pigment; cuttlefish ink (5)
10 Courageous (6) 6 Back, sanction (7)
11 Insubstantial (6) 7 Thrash; gavel (6)
12 Test cricket ground (5,6) 12 White ant (7)
15 Correct (6) 13 Head-covering (6)
17 Informal (6) 14 Scorn (7)
19 Sobriquet (8) 16 Card game (5)
20 Soon (4) 17 Board game (5)
21 Noble; equal (4) 18 Ring-shaped reef (5)
22 One by one (6)

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.

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 43

INSIGHT GAMES

ACROSS 100 A long time follower? 54 A hard ___ follow The Washington Post
101 Teach anew 56 River shallows
1 Wooden pin 103 First name in deseeding 57 “Whadja do, rob ___?”
4 “___ bleu!” 105 First Arabic letter 59 Star Wars droid
9 Ersatz: abbr. 107 “KEEP 60 Daughter of Agamemnon
13 She played Iris in 114 OUT!” 61 Losing vigor
115 Undoes the change 62 “Adam and Eve on a raft,”
Taxi Driver 116 TV
18 “WELCOME TO 117 Fry, fancily e.g.
23 CLEAR RIVER” 118 Darn things 64 Fire, to a French chef
24 Sony founder Morita 65 Mags, largely
25 Riled (up) DOWN 66 And the like: abbr.
26 Some theaters 1 Network with foundation 67 Pharaoh’s snake
27 Utmost 75 Headline approvals
30 Physicist Fermi sponsors 76 “Sorry!”
33 Spicy dips 2 Time classification 77 NPR reporter Totenberg
35 Twain’s pauper Canty 3 Mousse 79 Singer Morrison
37 Hit the stores 4 Arson evidence 80 Handful, perhaps
39 Sophia contemporary 5 Storefront shade 81 Wager too much
40 Gloomy guy 6 With hydro, an acid 82 Notre planète
41 Mountain lion 7 “Road picture” destination 83 Most acute
42 Of whales 8 Greek letter 85 TV titan Turner
44 Complain 9 Mame tune, “___ Walked Into 86 Acupressure
46 Ye Olde Boar’s 88 Corporate VIP
My Life” 90 Allowed access (to)
Head, perhaps 10 Niagara features 92 Most like a couch potato
47 Idolized 11 Ology relative 95 ___ horribilis (grizzly bear)
49 60 Minutes regular 12 “Join ___” 96 Depilatory brand
51 Lock horns (with) 97 Like some dog-food bags,
53 Pre-owned (“You’re not
54 From ___ Z the first”) wt.-wise
55 Rights figure Parks 13 Green gems 98 Lo-cal, supposedly
58 Tin organ? 14 Egg 99 Wedding walk
59 Kitty feed? 15 “Our country, right 102 Mediator’s asset
60 Jima starter or wrong” utterer 104 As it happens
63 “SWIM AT 16 Vexatious 106 Winter bug
68 YOUR OWN 17 Priest’s conclusion? 107 Mornings: abbr.
69 RISK” 19 Docs’ org. 108 Old French coin
70 East, in Essen 20 Stairwell effect 109 I-V checkers, at times
71 Extract venom from 21 Sheer joy 110 ___ disadvantage
22 Sicilian spewer 111 Asner, Harris
(a snake) 27 Secret org. that advises the
72 Mugful for Murphy Pres. or Wood
73 Fairy-tale plug-ugly 28 Inge play, The Dark at the 112 Improve, as cheese
74 Bonn-born: abbr. Top of ___ 113 Morning moisture
75 Champion’s chow 29 Antsy
76 Synthetic fiber 31 ___ way CRY ME A RIVER By Merl Reagle
78 Number of Holst’s 32 Actress Irene
34 Chills
“Planets” 36 Neuman’s magazine
80 Like Kuralt’s approach 38 Ms. Zadora
83 Flattened 41 Pea coat
84 Tantrums 43 The present time
87 Financial crisis 45 Journalist’s ID
89 Actress Le Gallienne 46 “The ___ a man is to love a
90 Rally quest woman” (lyric from the 1965
91 Short-sounding hit “Game of Love”)
47 “Let’s assist them, for our
soft-drink brand case is ___” (Shak.)
93 The happy cloud 48 Dead-to-the-world state
94 Just washed 50 Atlantis, for one
95 Fighting 52 Monthly utility missive
98 Annie Hall’s pet 53 Clear, as a drain

expression

The Telegraph

44 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BACK PAGE

An empty-nester worries about the grand(motherly) plan

BY CAROLYN HAX My tickled-pink husband is already buying baby life’s blueprint for you instead.
Washington Post equipment for our house. I am at a loss for where to To be clear: That happens to all of us, to some de-
start dealing with the ambivalence and angst I feel,
Hi, Carolyn: Maybe you can sug- while also wanting to support my daughter through gree. Life gets the last word. But it’s still OK to have
gest some ways I could shake myself this special time. feelings about that, to be disappointed over a sacri-
out of ambivalence regarding the fice, ecstatic about a wanted change, fearful about an
birth of my first grandchild. I have – Luffing Sails unwanted one.
observed friends ecstatic over such
news, and I wish I felt the same way. Luffing Sails: You have excellent reasons to be am- That’s where you start: by not beating yourself up
My daughter and son-in-law are just starting out, bivalent, so, be ambivalent. for having mixed feelings.
with much financial juggling and career exploration.
They live in a third-floor walk-up rental 300 miles To force yourself to feel otherwise – assuming that’s Then, summon as much reality as you can to offset
away that they contentedly share with my son-in-law’s even possible – would be to deny the, what, 20 years? your fears.
brother. All three are very pleased with the pregnancy, 25? you set aside your Plan A while you worked off
which was planned. I know people joyfully raise chil- Your “many hardships” are imagined, not certain –
dren in such circumstances, but I cannot help seeing that’s your biggest emotional asset here.
many hardships ahead.
Even worse: I am pretty sure I am projecting my own And if hardship does visit this new family, then it
difficult time as a young mother with very little support. won’t be the same as yours. You and your husband
Add to that my joy since gaining my empty nest, fi- were the first line of care when your child’s health is-
nally finishing a long-anticipated degree and starting sue emerged. This time, you’d be one of four grand-
my own cherished career trajectory very late in life: parents (yes? give or take?) on the second line of care.
Health of one of my children prompted my decision to Plus the brother-in-law. Huge difference.
be an at-home parent and put my goals on hold. I feel
a sort of grief over the very real possibility I might have Even if you become first-line, then you still needn’t
to give up (or gear down) my newfound agency to help remake your old choices. A “tickled-pink” Grandpa
care for this child. can take charge this time. Why not.
I longed for my children to have engaged, helpful
grandparents, but I lost my parents fairly young and Talk to your husband about your fears – and/or a
my in-laws still had children at home when ours skilled therapist, if appropriate. Follow the outlines of
came along. my thought process here toward a more comprehen-
sive look at what’s real, what’s imagined, what you and
your husband might be called upon to do and what
preparations you can do now to make sure your Plan
A has sound levees around it.

It’s not perfect, but it might uncomplicate your feel-
ings enough for you to fall for your grandbaby in the
simplest possible way. 

STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS:
IT’S SNEAKY, AND POTENTIALLY LETHAL

46 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

Staphylococcus aureus: It’s sneaky, and potentially lethal

BY TOM LLOYD estimates up to half of all adults are or
Staff Writer have been colonized by this particular
pathogen at some point in their lives,
Many seemingly healthy adults you with the germ living in people’s noses or
come into contact with in your daily life on their skin.
are carrying an unpleasant secret – one
you definitely do not want to share. Oddly, those who carry this bacte-
rium often show no obvious symptoms
It’s “Staphylococcus aureus” – what of a problem.
Merck Manuals calls “the most danger-
ous of all of the many common staphy- Why is that important?
lococcal bacteria.” Because while most of the infections
this particular bacteria cause are, ac-
The National Institutes of Health cording to the Mayo Clinic, “relatively

Dr. Jorge Requena-Penenori.

PHOTOS BY DENISE RITCHIE

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 47

HEALTH

Staphylococcus ies. The bacteria tends to accumulate from person to person by direct contact, And, like most infections, the earlier
aureus ‘can in those areas and create a biofilm, through contaminated objects such a Staphylococcus aureus infection is
spread from become very sticky and create a pro- as gym equipment, telephones, door- diagnosed, the greater the odds it can
person to tection versus antibiotics. And most of knobs, television remote controls or el- be cured.
the time when one of these devices gets evator buttons, or by the inhalation of
person by direct infected, the only solution possible is to infected droplets dispersed by sneezing If you are concerned you may have
contact, through take the device out.” That’s a prospect or coughing.” picked up this kind of staph infection,
no one who’s had a successful hip re- consult your primary care physician or
contaminated placement wants to imagine. All that said, the calm and collected contact an infectious disease specialist.
objects ... or by Requena-Penenori isn’t about to panic.
the inhalation of Perhaps the most galling aspect of And neither should you. Dr. Requena-Penenori is now accept-
infected droplets Staph aureus is that we now know your ing new patients at two locations: Cleve-
dispersed by mother or grandmother was right. You Instead, Requena-Penenori urges land Clinic Indian River Hospital’s Health
actually can pick up this nasty “bug” people to watch for symptoms. “I would & Wellness Center located at 3450 11th
sneezing or simply by turning a doorknob. say fever is very common – you can have Court in Vero Beach and Primary Care
coughing.’ a cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea North at 801 Wellness Way in Sebastian.
Merck Manuals confirms that by stat- – but if I had to pick the one most com- The phone number is 772-794-5631. 
ing Staphylococcus aureus “can spread mon symptom, I would say fever.”

minor skin infections,” it can lead to far
worse problems.

How much worse? According to
Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospi-
tal’s newly arrived infectious disease
specialist Dr. Jorge Requena-Penenori, a
whole lot worse.

Pneumonia, heart valve infections,
septicemia, food poisoning, toxic shock
syndrome, septic arthritis and death
have all been linked to Staphylococcus
aureus infections.

As Requena-Penenori puts it, “It’s un-
believable how many types of infection
you can get with the same bacteria. I
would say [Staphylococcus aureus] is
probably the most scary one. There are
other really bad microorganisms that
cause infections and even have a high-
er mortality, but you don’t see them
very often. You see one case every 10
years or less. Staph aureus you see ev-
ery day. People get sick every day with
it and people die from Staph aureus in-
fections every day.”

The highly approachable Requena-
Penenori looks back to his training to
add, “One of my professors in fellow-
ship said, ‘You know when a physician
is in infectious diseases because he is
very scared of Staph aureus and no-
body else is.’”

Requena-Penenori says those with
implanted medical devices such as ar-
tificial heart valves, replacement hip or
knee joints, pacemakers and such are
even more susceptible to serious Staph
aureus infections that the average per-
son without an implant.

“Staph aureus,” Requena-Penenori
explains, “is like many other bacteria.
It is, I would say, smart. It looks for the
places where it cannot be found and
killed.

“In prosthetic devices there are no
blood supplies. There are no leuko-
cytes, which is the type of cells we have
to defend us, so there are no antibod-

48 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

HEP A INFECTIONS SURGING
TOWARD EPIDEMIC LEVELS

Dr. Ron Robinson BY TOM LLOYD es, jaundice,” but it also says those
Staff Writer symptoms “usually resolve within
Peter Wernicki, M.D. and Marcus Malone, M.D. are two months of infection.”
pleased to welcome Ron Robinson, M.D. to their practice. Florida has declared a public health
emergency over the rising number of The key words there are “most
Dr. Robinson is a Board Certified orthopaedic surgeon Hepatitis A cases in the state. people.”
with 25 years of experience. He graduated from
Up north, the city of Philadelphia For those with existing liver prob-
UCLA Medical School and completed his orthopaedic has done the same thing, while the lems. Hepatitis A can hit much hard-
residency at Stanford University Medical Center. Minnesota Department of Health er and sometimes be fatal.
has declared an official “outbreak” of
Dr. Robinson specializes in Total Joint Replacements the disease in multiple counties, and Knowing how the infection spreads
Sports Medicine • General Orthopaedics states like Ohio, Kentucky and West is not pleasant either.
Virginia seem poised to do likewise.
While the Harvard Medical School
What is going on? Why all the fuss? politely tries to explain the trans-
After all, the disease is not typically mission of the Hep A virus by saying
fatal. The Centers for Disease Control these infections “most often occurs
says most people who contract Hep A from the ingestion of contaminated
will have flu-like symptoms includ- food,” that’s actually a super-sugar-
ing “fatigue, low appetite, stomach coated version of what happens.
pain, nausea and, in extreme cas-
In simple terms, the primary way
the Hep A virus is spread is by ingest-
ing traces of human fecal matter.

New Patients Welcome. Same Day Appointments. Dr. Aisha Thomas-St. Cyr.
To Make an Appointment with Dr. Robinson Call
Pro Sports and Elite Rehab at 772-978-7808 PHOTO BY DENISE RITCHIE
1355 37th Street, Suite 301 Vero Beach, FL 32960

www.prosportsandeliterehab.com.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 49

HEALTH

Infectious disease specialist Dr. been hit too hard, with just five cases Hep A vaccine, though Medicare will reports, “are hearty. They can live out
Aisha Thomas-St. Cyr with Steward reported, according the state health pick up the tab for its enrollees and the of the body on surfaces for months,”
Health Care’s Sebastian River Medi- department, but neighboring coun- vaccines are in good supply, accord- and remain fully capable of infecting
cal Center confirms that less-than- ties are seeing larger numbers, with ing to Thomas-St. Cyr. She adds that you that whole time.
appetizing prospect. 77 infections in Brevard County and in Florida, “a lot of the [county] health
32 in St. Lucie County. departments are giving free vaccines.” And the vaccines? According to the
Hep A, she says matter-of-factly, CDC, “if you were recently exposed
“is fecal-oral transmission. The other “It has definitely quadrupled what In this part of the state many of the to the hepatitis A virus and have not
hepatitis viruses [B, C, D and E) might it usually is,” says Thomas-St. Cyr of new Hep A cases have been linked to been vaccinated, you might benefit
be blood-borne or mother-to-child or in the statewide outbreak. restaurant workers failing to wash from getting the hepatitis A vaccine.”
other ways, but this one is fecal-oral.” their hands thoroughly after using
The level of infection in Florida has the toilet, though Thomas-St. Cyr But you might not.
In practice they usually means not reached the CDC’s technical defi- also cautions that “anal-oral sex is The CDC also says “the vaccine is
Hep A spreads because people do not nition of an epidemic, but Thomas- also a very huge factor.” only effective if given within the first
wash their hands after using the toi- St. Cyr strongly advises getting the two weeks after exposure,” and if you
let and then handle food or put their Hep A vaccine because “unfortunate- And if you thought the Hep A story were exposed while out to dinner last
hands in their mouths, and because ly, it’s already becoming an epidemic couldn’t get much worse after read- month, the best you can really hope
of sexual activity. The virus can also in certain counties.” ing that, you’d be wrong. for are merely mild flu-like symp-
be spread when someone with con- toms as it runs its course.
taminated hands touches a surface or Insurance coverages vary on the “These viruses,” Thomas-St. Cyr If you start to feel those flu-like symp-
object such as a counter or cellphone toms coming on, you should probably
and someone else then touches the contact your primary care provider and
same thing and somehow transfers let him or her help chart a safe course
the germ to their mouth. for you, your liver and your life.
Given the burgeoning numbers
Worse, this highly contagious virus of Hep A cases being reported, get-
has also been spreading rapidly. ting the vaccine before you’re infect-
ed should be job one, according to
As recently as 2015, fewer than 1,400 Thomas-St. Cyr.
cases were reported nationwide. But
by 2018, Florida alone had 528 cases Dr. Aisha Thomas-St. Cyr is an in-
of Hep A, and so far this year nearly fectious disease specialist at Sebas-
2,200 infections have been reported tian ID Care at 7955 Bay Street, Suite
in the Sunshine State. The numbers in 2 directly south of the Sebastian River
Minnesota, Kentucky, Ohio, West Vir- Medical Center. The phone number is
ginia and as many as 18 other states 772-388-9155. 
are also beginning to skyrocket.

So far, Indian River County has not

50 Vero Beach 32963 / August 22, 2019 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ON FAITH

Let there always be light in our lives ... and let it shine

BY REV. DRS. CASEY AND BOB BAGGOTT
Columnists

How does the Bible begin? You prob- the dawn of creation God made light the why light imagery plays such a promi- ing in our world, we might argue.
ably know the opening words of the star of the show. Ever since, of course, nent role in spiritual conversation. We Where is God’s light as terrorism lurks
Bible’s story of creation by heart. Accord- we’ve been reliant upon the light, devot- express our growth in love and hope and to strike when least expected? Where
ing to “Goodreads – Quotable Quotes,” ed to the light, hungry for the light in all wisdom and faith with comments like: is God’s light when children go hungry
comedian Ellen DeGeneres made a hu- its forms: sunlight, moonlight, starlight, “I’ve seen the light.” and diseases take precious lives? Where
morous observation about it when she candlelight, firelight, incandescent, fluo- is God’s light when grief, sadness, and
said, “In the beginning there was noth- rescent, neon and halogen. We modern folk are not the originators loss make futures look bleak and dim?
ing. God said, ‘Let there be light!’ And of the imagery that links light and spirit.
there was light. There was still nothing, Nothing and no one seems to thrive It’s clearly as old as the first creation sto- Well, according to the ancient stories
but you could see it a whole lot better.” long without the light. Light and life go ry and as tender as the linkage of light of light born among us, we have a role
hand in hand, which helps to explain to the baby Jesus. Recall the Wise Men to play in bringing light to bear upon
We had never quite thought of it that of the east who saw an unusual star in the dark corners of our world. We don’t
way before, but DeGeneres makes a good the western sky and followed it to Beth- have to be the light, of course. God has
point. Any way you look at it, whether lehem of Judea. There, they discovered provided that.
anyone was there to witness it or not, at the child the Church would come to call
the Light of the World. The Wise Men But we are encouraged to search for
saw the light. They followed the light. the light until we find it ourselves. And
They discovered more light. Light is tru- then we are capable of absorbing and
ly the star of the story. It shines through reflecting the light.
and through it all.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one day,
Perhaps our treasured scriptures the world in its stubborn darkness were
from across the ages have been trying to simply and fully lit by all the reflected
tell us something in all this discussion light of God’s love and concern for us –
of light. Perhaps they have been trying one person, to the next, to the next? Do
to convey a comforting certainty to us – you think it’s possible? The poet Goethe
that it is God’s will, from start to finish, hoped so, when he said: “Someday per-
to dispel the darkness and gloom of our haps the inner light will shine forth from
world, and to shine the light of love and us, and then we’ll need no other light.”
hope and goodness among us.
Nothing flourishes long without
But there is ample darkness remain- the light. Let’s find a way to let it
shine. Amen. 


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