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Published by Vero Beach 32963 Media, 2016-12-15 13:43:08

12/15/2016 ISSUE 09

MB32951_ISSUE09_121516_OPT

MELBOURNE BEACH County OKs $21.5 million for
lagoon cleanup. P2
Brevard's South Barrier Island Newsweekly Melbourne Beach
www.melbournebeach32951.com
awash in holiday fun. P8
Town residents still have time
to apply for Commission seat. P2

MY TAKE EVEN SANTA LOVES THE BEACH! Ongoing violence
at jetty prompts
BY WILLIAM SOKOLIC A long-standing Melbourne Beach tradition was renewed on Saturday morning as the town held its annual Holiday Parade, which tighter security
was organized by the volunteer fire department. The parade went up and down a spectator-lined Ocean Avenue, and was high-
We may be in Brevard, lighted by a visit from Santa. MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 4. BY GEORGE WHITE
but We are Penn State! Staff Writer
New luxury subdivision coming to the island
We are . . . Penn State. Escalating Wild West-like
When the Penn State Nit- Dan Winkler and Jeff Parker of CBC have built 300 homes on the barrier island. BY STEVEN M. THOMAS violence between anglers
tany Lions came from be- Staff Writer and boaters at the reopened
hind to beat Wisconsin and North Jetty fishing pier in
win the Big 10 championship The surge in new home Sebastian Inlet State Park
on Dec. 3, alumni like me construction on Brevard’s has prompted a call for new
could hardly believe what barrier island continues to rules and increased security,
we were seeing. After getting accelerate with the launch and raised the possibility of
demolished by Michigan and of Matanilla Reef, a new gat- charging admission for en-
starting the year 2-2, no one ed subdivision at Aquarina try to better control a vola-
could foresee the team win- Country Club. tile situation.
ning nine straight games,
including one that handed Developed by longtime “There’s one thing that’s
Ohio State it’s only loss. Now island builder CBC, the lux- very clear to us: The presence
it’s on to the Rose Bowl for a ury enclave will feature 15 of security there is absolutely
cherry on the top of a tasty necessary on a consistent if
sundae of a season. CONTINUED ON PAGE 35 not permanent basis,’’ said
Because I moved south to Marty Smithson, Adminis-
Melbourne this fall, I was trator for the Sebastian Inlet
unable to attend a game this Taxing District, which owns
year. I am now a lot further the jetty and has responsibil-
away from State College than ity for maintaining it.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 The situation had got-
ten so bad earlier this year
High drama: County – weights thrown at boaters,
to choose marijuana hooked lines cast onto boats,
dispensary locations fights between anglers – that
a heavy custom-made metal
BY WILLIAM SOKOLIC gate was installed to close the
Staff Writer jetty from dusk until dawn
starting Oct. 7. Ironically that
A month ago, voters in Flor- very day the area was hit by
ida approved Amendment 2 Hurricane Matthew pass-
by a landslide, permitting ex- ing offshore that damaged
panded use of medical mari- the jetty so badly it had to be
juana for a host of debilitat- closed around the clock for
ing conditions. safety reasons.

If you live in Brevard Coun- The new gate was not dam-
ty, what now? aged by the storm but 15-foot

The state and the county CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

December 15, 2016 Volume 1, Issue 9 Newsstand Price $1.00 Saving sea turtles
inspires litter
News 1-6 Editorial 22 People 7-10 TO ADVERTISE CALL picker-uppers. P9
Arts 11-14 Faith 24 Pets 33 772-559-4187
Books 23 Games 25-27 Real Estate 35-40
Calendar 34 Health 15-18 Style 29-30 FOR CIRCULATION
Dining 31 Insight 19-21 CALL 772-226-7925

© 2016 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved.

2 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

War on muck: County OKs $21.5M for lagoon cleanup

BY WILLIAM SOKOLIC tax dedicated to fixing the waterway. improve? Does the abundance and the remaining sand, silt and clay are
Staff Writer Most of the $21.5 million will pay diversity of marine life such as oys- trucked away for use as a soil additive
ters, clams, fish and crabs, improve? for landfills or highway medians and
Score one for the war against muck, for dredging the toxic, goopy muck Has the amount of nitrogen and others general uses,” Trefry said.
one of the primary culprits in the eco- that lays 5 feet thick on the bottom phosphorus released from muck sed-
logical decay of Indian River Lagoon. of the lagoon in some places. But $1.5 iments decreased? But not all dredge material can be
million goes to the IRL Research In- placed on such sites. Trefry said an-
The County Board of Commission- stitute at the Florida Institute of Tech- “We also look for better ways to other option uses a barge to process
ers on Dec. 6 approved spending $21.5 nology for a scientific assessment to dredge [and dispose of dredged ma- the muck on board, returning clean
million in state funding to continue determine environmental benefits terial],” he said. water to the lagoon while retaining
cleanup of the lagoon. This funding is from the project. solids that are later placed on trucks
in addition to funds that will flow from At present, dredge material is piped for disposal.
the recently approved half-cent sales “We still have to get the paperwork to specified, permitted areas. “For ex-
signed,” said Matt Culver, boating & ample, the Turkey Creek dredged ma- “Ongoing studies are underway
waterways program coordinator with terial was piped to a site west of U.S. 1 at FIT to be sure we have a range
the Brevard County Natural Resources and south of Robert Conlon Boulevard. of approaches for muck removal or
Management Department. “Hopefully, The solids are allowed to settle out and scientifically sound reasons for not
we’ll have the funds in early January,”
Town residents have until Friday to
The dredging than has to go out to apply for vacant Commission seat
bid. The county expects to complete
the project in three years. BY CHRIS BONANNO been held would have been in
March. That delay, which would
“The state does not want us to sit Staff Writer have left the town without a full
on the money,” Culver said. “We are commission for months, and a
ready to jump in as money becomes The Melbourne Beach Town cost to the town for the election
available.” Commission will appoint a town that Town Clerk Gwen Peirce and
resident to fill a vacant seat left af- the Brevard County Supervisor
The latest funding is allocated for ter former Vice Mayor Margot Dor- of Elections says would be more
dredging Sykes Creek on Merritt Is- fman resigned. than $4,500, pushed commis-
land and Grand Canal in Satellite sioners towards the appointment
Beach. It also covers the permitting The remaining four members option.
process for future sites. Dredging ac- of the commission reached that
tivities are also planned or underway decision at a special meeting on “I voted in agreement with
countywide at Mims boat ramp and Dec. 7, and urged all candidates the unanimous vote,” said Town
North Cocoa Beach. Dredging in Tur- for appointment to apply by noon Commissioner Tom Davis, who
key Creek just concluded across the on Dec. 16. had previously said he favored a
river from Melbourne Beach. special election as fairer than ap-
Each applicant will then be al- pointment. On Wednesday, he said
This funding approval marks the lowed three minutes to address he had not been aware there would
third – and largest – allocation for la- the four commissioners at a meet- be “a three month delay to hold a
goon cleanup by the county in three ing on Dec. 21. Following that, special election . . . so, upon due
years. In 2014, the board authorized a commissioners will vote on their consideration, I say appointment .
grant agreement with the state for $10 choices and the candidate they . . The three-month delay was my
million for fiscal year 2015 to initiate choose will be sworn in to the big problem.”
the Brevard County Muck Dredging commission that night.
Project. In January 2016, the county Simmons added that a new com-
authorized an amendment to the ini- “I want to look for somebody missioner appointed in December
tial grant agreement for an additional who approaches the task with will “be well-versed by the time we
$10 million for fiscal year 2016 to con- a fact-based background,” said got to budget time.”
tinue the project. Mayor Jim Simmons. “They look at
the numbers and not the ideology Davis said having a full com-
The current $21.5 million raises the and they make decisions based mission as quickly as possible is
total the county has invested in muck on facts and research. They do re- important to avoid potential 2-2
cleanup so far to $41.5 million. search and are forward thinking, deadlocks. “It’s very difficult oper-
and by forward thinking, I don’t ating with [just four commission-
As with the current round, some mean growth or anything like ers] because a 2-2 vote is a no-vote .
of the earlier funding went to FIT that, but a long-term vision . . . [for] . . [meaning we could face] impor-
to pay for scientific monitoring that Melbourne Beach.” tant issues over that period that
will rate the ecological effectiveness could not be resolved.”
of dredging. Coming into the Dec. 7 meeting,
the commissioners had a choice Whoever is appointed will serve
Florida Institute of Technology to either fill the seat either by ap- until late 2017, when another elec-
Professor of Chemical Oceanography pointment or by holding a special tion will be held for the seat.
John Trefry said the studies being election, which law required to be
conducted by FIT can play a major done within 30 days of Dorfman’s Contact Bonanno at ChrisBonan-
role in the restoration of the Indian resignation on November 28. [email protected] and follow him
River Lagoon by providing evidence on Twitter @FTChrisBonanno. 
of program effectiveness to legislators However, as it turns out, the
and guiding and refining restoration earliest an election could have
efforts to make them more beneficial.

According to Trefry, FIT research-
ers aim to answer these questions:
What are the best places to dredge?
Does water quality in the area of
dredging, and surrounding areas,

Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™ Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 3

NEWS

dredging at a particular location,” place a 10-year, $302 million lagoon storm-water clean-up projects and it does not take into account rising
Trefry said. repair and protection plan based on public education. costs or additional work that will
revenue expected from the sales tax. need to be done.
The latest round of funding comes The plan, which begins in January, The tax, funneled to a dedicated
shortly after voters in the county ap- includes dredging, reintroduction of trust fund, is anticipated to generate “We’ll look to the legislature for
proved a half-cent sales tax dedicated oysters, wastewater treatment plant $32 to $34 million a year, according to more funding to help with this plan.
to restoration of the Indian River La- upgrades, septic system upgrades, proponents. While that figure more What we have does not do all the work
goon. Last month, the county put in than pays for the 10-year proposal, we could possibly do,” Culver said. 

4 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 NEWS

PHOTOS BY JULIAN LEEK

My Take our events that are not even Penn that we can all relate to,” he said. Where we are now is a team set to
State alumni,” Bloch said. That thread is Penn State. play Jan. 2 in Pasadena, the California
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “And because we are a smaller town known for its speeding little old
Carol, my wife, fits that description. ladies and famous parade. Alas, the
I was at my former home in New Jer- She belongs to the Penn State Alumni group, everyone becomes familiar cost of flight and lodging in Los Ange-
sey. If I want to go to a game for the Association and is a Penn Stater by with each other,” Bloch said. Part of les bars the chapter from organizing
weekend, the car is out. I have to fly choice. Or osmosis, if you will. that familiarity takes place when the a trip. It also bars me from attending
now – which would put a crimp in my association holds events such as foot- the game.
budget. Bloch said the Brevard alumni have ball viewing parties at local watering
a loyal and dedicated core. “We are holes. But expect to see a Rose Bowl view-
But the Penn State Nation can come not a huge chapter compared to larger ing party somewhere in Brevard when
to me even here in Palm Bay. The metropolitan areas like Orlando and Bloch, like myself and so many oth- PSU squares off against USC.
Penn State Nation is legion across the Tampa, but we have a more diverse er alumni, was pleasantly surprised
country, and there is a Space Coast group that range from more recent by the Nittany Lions success this sea- “Last year, our chapter organized a
alumni association to bring Penn graduates to retirees.” son. bus trip to the TaxSlayer.com Bowl in
Staters together in Brevard County. Jacksonville to see Penn State face off
According to Bloch, a lot of alums “I hoped we would improve on last against Georgia. If we had gone to one
Alumni like Darren Bloch and his move to the area for tech or science year’s record, but didn’t expect such of the Florida bowl games, we would
wife, Class of 2002. Bloch said the jobs, sometimes associated with the a large turnaround so quickly,” Bloch have definitely made an attempt to
chapter currently has around 300 space program, sometimes with oth- said. “We also had a rash of injuries attend the game.”
members. er companies. throughout the season that we were
able to overcome to make it where we So would I. After all . . .
“We have members that come to “Alumni seek us out when moving to are now.” We are . . . Penn State. 
the area looking for a common thread

Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™ Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 5

NEWS

Marijuana dispensing organizations, three of approve medical marijuana laws “Results are in line with national
which are dispensing product to pa- on Nov. 8, along with Arkansas and polls showing record-high support
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 tients,” said DOH Communications North Dakota. California, Maine, for making marijuana legal. Con-
Director, Mara Gambineri. “At this Massachusetts and Nevada voted gress must take action to ease the
both will have a voice in answering time, these are the only entities that to end marijuana prohibition. Eight tension between state and federal
that question; the county’s main role can legally sell medical marijuana in states have now adopted laws that marijuana laws.”
will be to determine where marijuana Florida.” legalize, regulate and tax marijuana
dispensaries are allowed to operate. for adult use, and 28 states have ad- Florida remains a work in prog-
None of the dispensaries are locat- opted comprehensive medical mari- ress. Several cities and counties
“Amendment 2 does not spell out ed in Brevard County. Indeed, only juana laws. have passed ordinances that give
every detail of how it works,” said one physician in the county – Josse officers the discretion to replace
Kate Bell, legislative counsel for Mazo-Mayorquin of Melbourne – “This is the most momentous arrests for possession of under 20
the Washington-based Marijuana completed the training required to election day in history for the move- grams of marijuana with citations,
Policy Project, whose mission is to dispense marijuana, according to ment to end marijuana prohibi- among them Miami-Dade Coun-
help states to determine their own DOH records. The doctor did not re- tion,” Rob Kampia, executive direc- ty, Tampa, Key West and Orlando.
marijuana policies without federal turn a call for comment. tor of the Marijuana Policy Project Brevard County has not made that
interference. said in a statement. change. 
Florida was one of three states to
In Florida, that job belongs to the
state Department of Health, which
has six months from the amend-
ment’s effective date of Jan. 3 to cre-
ate regulations for dispensaries, de-
termine how much marijuana can be
prescribed at one time and figure out
how to distribute qualifying patient
cards.

The DOH has nine months to begin
registering Medical Marijuana Treat-
ment Centers and issuing the cards,
according to United for Care, the
organization that spearheaded the
amendment.

What the state will not do is de-
cide where these operations can be
located.

“The state will be addressing and
regulating medical marijuana dis-
pensary operations,” said Robin
M. DiFabio, director of the Brevard
County Planning & Development
Department.“The authority that is
granted to the county is to address
the zoning issue – where such uses
may be allowed to be established.
County staff has been directed by the
Board of County Commissioners to
develop an ordinance relating to zon-
ing requirements.”

The ordinance will be drafted no
sooner than January for review by
the Local Planning Agency, DiFabio
said.

Qualifying medical conditions
include cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma,
HIV, AIDS, post-traumatic stress
disorder, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Par-
kinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis
and similar ailments, United for
Care states.

The state has a template to work
from thanks to the Compassionate
Medical Cannabis Act, approved in
2014. That law limited use to a non-
euphoric, low-THC strain for people
suffering from epilepsy, cancer and
seizures. Despite passage two years
ago, the first dispensary of low-THC
cannabis didn’t open until July. The
legislature expanded the law this
year to allow terminally ill patients
to access other more potent forms of
medical cannabis.

“Currently, there are six approved

6 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

Sebastian Inlet jetty NEWS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

waves blew out 45 of the 254 alumi-
num grates that comprise the pedes-
trian walkway. Some railings were
bent, too, and several signs destroyed.

Repairs were done by the Inlet Dis-
trict and all but 125 feet of the 754-foot
jetty was reopened 24/7 at the end of
November. The remaining damaged
or lost grates are being fabricated and
will be replaced as soon as possible so
that the rest of the jetty is accessible.

Security has been stepped up with

live video surveillance, including in- “The state park had sworn officers
frared capability, that is viewable by as part of their park rangers. They
District officials. were park police and had arrest pow-
ers. That capability was taken away
Since the reopening, “I would say in 2012 when those guys were rolled
it’s been OK but we’ve heard that into the Florida Fish and Wildlife
some boaters have been thrown at Conservation Program for govern-
with lead sinkers and there have been ment streamlining. That’s a huge dif-
some issues of people challenging ference,’’ he said.
each other. It’s still kind of an unsa-
vory situation,’’ Smithson said. And while FWC has stepped up en-
forcement since the jetty reopened
The agreement to re-open requires: after the storm, problems reemerge
– The Florida Fish and Wildlife whenever security is not around,
Commission to continue providing Smithson said.
more security presence on the jetty
– More coordination with the state “Those people who fish there all
Park and Brevard County Sheriff’s Of- the time are like pros. They know
fice to provide additional security when [officers] are present. So when
– Jetty rules refined so that, when they are not present it’s the Wild Wild
enforced, the jetty will return to a West.”
more family-friendly and safe envi-
ronment A survey of 1,600 similar piers was
An agency workshop on the ongo- conducted by district staff showed
ing problems and new rules, includ- that fulltime security is a key to re-
ing the possibility of an admission solving conflicts, Smithson said.
charge, is being planned.
“We want FWC, state park officials, “What we found was those that
boaters and anglers to come up with had fulltime security, they had no is-
a specific rule can we implement to sues. If you paid a fee and entered a
improve the environment. We need pier or jetty that had fulltime moni-
to reduce the bad behavior and make toring, there were no problems. If
it family friendly,” Smithson said. somebody breaks the rules they are
The prospect of night closure, asked to leave. That would be the
which was announced ahead of time ideal situation.”
in September, resulted in an immedi-
ate outcry, a protest petition with 600 The question is if visitors have to
signatures and arrests. pay, how many would that eliminate?
When the gate was locked after
the storm because the jetty was “It would probably eliminate a lot,
unsafe, “people went crazy and we but if you look at the situation like
had several arrests for trespassing. that, an entrance fee could support
We even had one guy who hid out having somebody to keep an eye on
there at night and we had to go get things. We need more enforcement
him. [The planned policy of closing presence. If we have 80,000 using
at night] has been suspended while this jetty, that’s like a city. It screams
we take steps to make it better. Our for more dedicated security,’’ Smith-
number one goal is as simple as this: son said.
we want to make it a family-friendly
environment because that’s what District officials reserved the
fits with the state park,’’ Smithson right to implement future gate clo-
said. sures if conflict and violence gets
The situation started deteriorating, out offhand before new security
Smithson believes, when park po- procedures are in place. Smithson
lice who carried guns and had arrest said the jetty is strictly a navigation-
powers were reassigned to the Florida al structure,” controlling water and
Fish and Wildlife Commission. sand to keep the inlet open. Fishing
is not its primary function, and not
a right, but a “secondary use” and a
privilege that, he emphasized, can
be revoked at any time by the Inlet
District. 



8 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly

PEOPLE

Melbourne Beach awash in fun holiday festivities

Public Works Director Dan Rocque sets up a display. Mayor Jim Simmons and Santa’s helpers pull the switch to light the tree.

BY CHRIS BONANNO also provided refreshments. Santa is greeted by his fans.
Staff Writer “I want to be part of the community
On Saturday morning, a long- punctuated by a visit from Santa.
Four days of activities last week and I have a 3-year-old that we love standing tradition was renewed as To conclude the weekend’s events,
helped Melbourne Beach residents get and she can see Christmas,” said Kevin Melbourne Beach held its annual
into the holiday spirit, beginning last Santos, a retired Army veteran whose Holiday Parade, organized by the Santa made yet another appear-
Thursday when the town held its an- presence was applauded by attendees. town’s volunteer fire department. ance in town, this time stopping by
nual holiday tree lighting ceremony. the porch of the Ryckman House on
On Friday night, over 100 people The parade went up and down Sunday where he greeted and took
The tree itself isn’t a traditional gathered in Ryckman Park to watch the Ocean Avenue and, as was the case photos with youngsters and listened
Christmas fir tree, but according to holiday movie classic, “The Polar Ex- with Thursday’s activities, was to their Christmas wishes. 
town commissioner Tom Davis it has press,” starring Tom Hanks. Vendors
become popular with local residents sold a variety of refreshments and one
over time. local business even donated free pizza.

“Because it was so deformed, our “We haven’t had movies in the park
town has worked over the period of in several years so we thought it would
eight or nine years shaping it to look like be fun to have this and it’s a little chilly
a Christmas tree,” Davis said. “It’s with- so it actually feels a little bit like Christ-
stood 2004 storms when it was younger mas,” said Elizabeth Mascaro.
and this year little or no damage.”
“I’m just here to support the commu-
Prior to the actual lighting of the nity. You know, get out here and make
roughly 15-foot tree, students from it work for all the kids and the families
Gemini Elementary sang a medley and just have a good time,” added hus-
of holiday songs. And after the light- band Steve Mascaro.
ing the crowd of at least 200 received
a very special visitor as Santa Claus Organizers indicated that the turn-
rode in on a fire truck to greet ev- out would determine whether the town
eryone. Members of the Melbourne would host similar movie nights going
Beach Volunteer Fire Department forward and, after seeing Friday night’s
attendance, it appears that future
movie nights will likely be planned.

Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 9

PEOPLE

Saving sea turtles inspires beach litter picker-uppers

The Allred family.

Emy Lee Gosa. The Medina family. Magnus Gosa.

BY WILLIAM SOKOLIC For Shawn, participation earns “A lot of families come. High are chosen by a formula that takes
Staff Writer him community service points at school and college students too,” into account the number of volun-
school, but involvement goes be- said Geraldine Burke, beach clean- teers and the number of bags collect-
Shawn Knapp found a shoe on Sat- yond racking up points. up coordinator. ed, not just at such events, but also
urday morning; a single, ratty shoe from individual efforts unrelated to
on the beach at Coconut Point Park, “It’s fun and I like to help sea tur- Satellite Beach resident George the monthly cleanups.
just south of Melbourne Beach. tles thrive,” he said. Allred brought his two daughters,
Caitlyn, 13, and Lauryn, 5. This In addition to beach cleanups, the
“I found a shoe last time, too,” said Indeed, this is more than just an marked the third cleanup for the STPS has a number of other func-
the 13-year-old from Melbourne. exercise in symbolism. family, who this time retrieved tions:
Knapp was participating in his sec- straws, a beer can, fishing lines and
ond beach cleanup on behalf of the “It’s not about esthetics. The even a pair of pliers.  Maintain the Sea Turtle House,
Sea Turtle Preservation Society. trash is a danger to sea turtles and where visitors can view and discuss
other wildlife,” said society volun- Noting that picking up the trash sea turtle displays and learn more
Coconut Point Park has served as teer Donna Simons. is good for wildlife, Caitlyn said about how to protect them;
an STPS location for the Keep Bre- ruefully, “There’s a lot of trash on
vard Beautiful Adopt-a-Shore proj- Nikia Rice, STPS education direc- the beach.”  Reduce disturbances and harass-
ect since the early 1990s, and its tor, explained that if a sea turtle in- ment of nesting sea turtles and in-
volunteers pick up all kinds of litter gests a plastic bag, the turtle could Her father added that not only crease hatchling survival rate by edu-
– including shoes. choke on it or the bag could obstruct are cleanups good for the wildlife, cating the public about the hazards
the gastrointestinal tract. clean beaches are also a benefit to of nighttime beach activities, habitat
“The shoe must have washed out tourism. destruction and beach lighting;
to sea,” said Shawn’s mother, Caro- “Turtles cannot vomit. The plas-
line Knapp. Equipped with a trash tic will not be digested and is dif- Commenting that their beach-  Rescue hatchlings, post-hatch-
bag and arm-length tongs, they ficult to pass naturally. The plastic cleaning program received second lings and adult sea turtles and trans-
were among some 15 people who sitting inside of the GI tract can place in this year’s Keep Brevard port them to rehabilitation facilities;
cleaned up the beach Dec. 3. The cause the turtle to feel full and will Beautiful competition, Burke add-
mother and son also collected bot- stop eating or can cause nutrient di- ed, “For several years we were No.  Contribute data to the Sea Turtle
tle caps, cigarette butts and small lution.” 1.” Stranding and Salvage Network;
pieces of plastic, Styrofoam and a
Publix bag. In short, Rice said it would die The STPS added Cheri Down Park  Conduct a nest survey project.
a slow and painful death. It was a in Cape Canaveral in 2015, which For more information, visit www.
prospect that helped bring out the finished in third place. The winners seaturtlespacecoast.org or call 321-
trash patrol. 676-1701. 



EVERYBODY’S
ALL AMERICANA:
ROCK THE PORCH JAM
CELEBRATES GENRE

12 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

Everybody’s all Americana: Porch jam celebrates genre

BY GEORGE WHITE It feels like an old-timey porch in Any-

Columnist where, USA. Everyone gets comfort- John “Boo” Ferris playing a walking dulcimer. PHOTO BY GEORGE WHITE

Americana music has found a home able immediately,’’ she says.
in a circle of chairs on the porch of the
Old Town Hall History Center in Mel- Zander and Ferris used to live in
bourne Beach, thanks to Bee and Boo
leading the Rock the Porch Jam at 1 Marshall, N.C., where important Ap-
p.m. each Saturday.
palachian music was played similar
The former duet from North Caroli-
na, Bee Zander and John “Boo” Ferris to the type that had been discovered
work together as a tag team, alternat-
ing Saturdays, with the jam founder by Cecil Sharp, who was born in 1859
Zander leading the more experienced
players on the second and fourth Sat- and died in 1924. He was considered
urdays and Ferris leading a group on
walking dulcimers on the first and the founding father of the folk-song
third Saturdays.
revival in England.
Americana is a relatively new term
for music that incorporates elements “We played with some of those folks
of various American roots music
styles, including country, folk, blue- and learned licks and songs. I would
grass and blues.
describe it as Appalachian music. It’s
Americana has become one of the
most buzzed-about genres, pulling a pure music. I think it’s all within a
the spotlight away from the indie folk
movement during the early 2000s. grouping of all sorts of things. Every-

The theory for the increased popu- thing I play is Americana,” she says.
larity is that the Internet generated
increased accessibility to numerous “It’s very enriching (to have this
genres at once, causing more and
more artists to be influenced by a wide jam), not only for the community, but
range of quintessentially American
musical styles. also for individuals who choose to go

Zander is driven to share – and back to music or try it out for the first
help others create – Americana mu-
sic. She says the covered porch, com- time in retirement,’’ she says.
plete with restrooms, is the perfect
setting for a jam. “It’s very heartening that it’s done

“This is ideal. We are 1,000 feet from so well. Some of the best players in
the ocean. You feel the ocean breezes,
you can see the sky and the greenery. the area have been popping in lately.

People who like to listen, listen and

people who like playing, we welcome

you. I founded the Rock the Porch

Jam because we need to have a musi- NeedCaption. PHOTO BY GEORGE
cal community.

“When I lived in Western North Car-

olina I loved how people played with

each other. In the Appalachian moun-

tains people weren’t standing around

thinking of what movie they are going

to see or staring at the TV. People were

educating themselves together doing

things we see as cultural, like music,” mer songs. The group originally met han, Janet Peller and Kathy Carlson.

she says. many years ago as students from a Already with several songs down on

Ferris shares being a musician with class with Shepherd Center Beach- dulcimer, Ferris said they are going to

beginners by teaching walking dulci- side: Jan Allen, Pat Lawson, Judy Ro- try electric guitars as a group next.

“My mother was a torch singer in a

cowboy swing orchestra in New York

City. She made sure that all her kids

knew how to sing, how to dance and

how to play. I’ve been playing since I

was a boy so it meant a lot to me. In

many places I lived music was just a

part of the community life. I had a lit-

tle log cabin and I would have as many

as 30 people. Most of them had never

played on stage so you know it was re-

ally pure music, the best music. I do

it because I have to. The world needs

characters just itching to play music,”

he says.

History center docent Carol Kill-

ingsworth says the music has added

life to the facility and has brought in

visitors.

“I’ve had people come in and say

they were just going by and heard

that music and turned around to find

where that music was,’’ she says.

Old Town Hall History Center, 2373

Learning walking dulcimer as a group at the porch jam are, from left, Judy Rohan, Pat Lawson, Oak St, Melbourne Beach. 321-952-
Janet Peller, Jan Allen, Kathy Carlson and John “Boo” Ferris. PHOTO BY GEORGE WHITE 7322. 

Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™ Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 13

ARTS & THEATRE

Coming Up: ‘Carol’ at King, and more Christmas classics

BY MICHELLE GENZ 2 The Galmont Ballet is staging its The Pritchard House.
Staff Writer own “The American Nutcrack-

If you’re used to the moody, er” at the Cocoa Village Playhouse,
melancholic version of Charles
1 where the Galmont is the resident bal-

Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” there’s let company. Founded in 2003 by the

a slew to be found on Netflix or Ama- now-retired, Cuban-born dancer and

zon. But if you’re in the mood for a big choreographer Frank Galvez and bal-

Broadway-style production with a lot let mistress Lucia Montero, the Gal-

of Christmas carols, this Saturday at 7 mont Ballet Centre for Dance Educa-

p.m. Melbourne’s King Center is host- tion formed a youth company run by

ing a touring version interlaced with Montero that since 2008 has presented

songs of the era – Greensleeves, Was- a season of dance at the Playhouse.

sail Wassail – giving a big dose of daz- For its 12 years of “Nutcracker,” the

zle to what Dickens called his “ghostly company has brought in professional

little tale.” dancers for principal roles. This year

The show is staged by Nebraska they include Cuba’s Josue Justiz Brito

Touring Caravan, a professional arm as the Cavalier and Puerto Rico’s Ga-

of the Omaha Community Playhouse. briel Roman as the Nutcracker Prince.

Since 1979, the tour has been taking “A Performances are Friday, Saturday and

Christmas Carol” across the country in Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

what is likely the most-seen produc- 3 For a real-world sense of stepping
back in time, the Pritchard House
tion of the Dickens classic. They claim

to reach an annual audience of 100,000 Museum on Washington Avenue in Ti-

in 60 cities. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

SEE THESE AND OTHER FINE THINGS AT VERO’S FINEST
COLLECTION OF AMERICAN-MADE ART AND JEWELRY

The Galmont Ballet. THEL AUGHINGDOGGALLERY.COM 2910 CARDINAL DR.
VERO BEACH, FL
7 72 . 2 3 4 . 6711

14 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 style banter between songs. Shows are have filled 40 seasons of reality TV.
Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2
tusville is probably the best-restored p.m. Tickets are $25 at the door or on- An American In Paris.
historic home in the county, and it’s line at the theater website.
been decorated for the holiday sea-
son. The Queen Anne-style home built 5 This is the last weekend to see
in 1891 can be toured with docents in another Christmas classic, albeit
period costumes. The tours, at $10 per
person, are available by advance res- more modern. “A Christmas Story –
ervation through New Year’s Eve. Call
321-607-0203. The Musical” at the Henegar Center.

Directed by Hank Rion and choreo-

4 Also in Cocoa, at the Surfside graphed by Amanda Manis, this adap-
Playhouse, the nationally tour-
tion for stage of the 1983 movie stars

ing songfest of standards “A Rat Pack Ron Landers and Brenda Sheets as the

Christmas” is on stage this weekend. parents of Ralphie, the BB gun-ob-

The trio of tribute performers – doing sessed boy played by Aidan Holihan.

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sam- A Rat Pack Christmas. Aidan played Michael in “Peter Pan”

my Davis Jr. – includes a boozy Vegas- last year at the Titusville Playhouse. In

May, he was Young Will in Henegar’s

“Big Fish,” and played Pugsley in “The 7 The national tour of the musical
version of “An American in Paris”
Addams Family” in 2014, with Michael

Halvin as his little brother. is in its final weekend at the Dr. Phillips

Center in Orlando. Miami City Ballet

6 As any Christmas baker knows, soloist Sara Esty has the lead in the na-
you need a little salt with your
tional tour. The 2015 Broadway musi-

sugar. After all the saccharine holiday cal choreographed by ballet world icon

shows, you might be craving a taste Christopher Wheeldon featured Esty

of rock. The Outlaws are playing at in the lead on Broadway and in Paris.

Orlando’s Plaza Live Saturday night; It won four Tony awards last year. Garen

spawned in Tampa and soon known Scribner, who trained at the North Caro-

to fans around the world as the Florida lina School of the Arts and Boston Ballet

Guitar Army, their 40 years of Southern before dancing with the San Francisco

rock were interspersed with enough Ballet, stars as Jerry Mulligan, the role

tragedy and troubles with the law to Gene Kelley immortalized on film. 

The Outlaws. 6



16 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly

HEALTH

Scan-do: New 3-D imaging spots early breast cancers

BY TOM LLOYD
Staff Writer

What you can’t see can still hurt Dr Heather Nagel. PHOTO: DENISE RITCHIE
you. Worse, it can sometimes kill
you.

That’s especially true when it
comes to breast cancer, and efforts
to detect this deadly disease go back
a good deal further than most peo-
ple realize.

What we now call “modern” mam-
mography didn’t become commonly
available in this country until the
late 1960s, and the American Can-
cer Society didn’t officially endorse
its use until 1976. But the very first
steps in detecting breast cancer in
its earliest stages actually date to
1913 when a German surgeon, Dr.
Albert Salomon, published a study
on using X-rays to detect “malignant
entities” hidden inside breast tissue.

Today, Dr. Heather Nagel knows a
thing or two more about detecting
those malignant entities than Dr.
Salomon probably ever imagined.
After 23 years with Vero Radiology

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524 Ocean Avenue Laura Clark positions a patient for a Tomosynthesis 3D mammogram.
Melbourne Beach, FL 32951
Associates, she has witnessed major breast scans.
(321) 725-6565 technological leaps, including one “The Achilles Heel of [traditional]
of the most recent developments:
melbournebeachdentistry.com Digital Breast Tomosynthesis, or 3-D screening mammography,” accord-
ing to the National Institutes of

Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 17

HEALTH

Health, “is the detection of cancer been in full operation at VRA since 40 percent additional invasive can- curate information while helping to
in women with radiographic dense October, but Nagel says she is more cers with 3-D versus 2-D alone.” reduce her patients’ anxiety level.
breasts. than pleased with the results so far.
This same technology, according Digital Breast Tomosynthesis or
“While nearly all cancers will be “It’s basically been two months to Massachusetts General Hospital 3-D breast scanning is currently
apparent in fatty breasts,” NIH con- since we went live,” Nagel states, in Boston, the co-developer of this available at Vero Radiology as well
tinues, “only half will be visible in “and in that time period we’ve been particular General Electric version as in Melbourne and Rockledge
extremely dense breasts. This re- collecting several cases of lesions of 3-D mammography, can lead to through Health First Diagnostic
sults, at least in large part, from the that we might have missed on the earlier detection of very small, be- Centers. In St. Lucie County, both
masking or camouflaging of non- old 2-D system. We’ve had, I think, ginning-stage cancers while requir- Radiology Imaging Associates and
calcified cancers by the surround- about three cases now where the ing fewer biopsies and fewer patient the St. Lucie Medical Center offer
ing dense tissue.” 2-D [scan] did not show the lesion, call-backs for additional screening. 3-D breast scans.
but the 3-D did.”
And while it may seem somewhat And while Nagel freely admits Dr. Heather Nagel is the Director of
inappropriate to refer to a woman’s Nagel then adds, “Studies have that even this hi-tech software the Women’s Imaging Center at Vero
breasts as being either “fatty” or shown – large studies at major aca- doesn’t make 3-D mammography a Radiology Associates, 3725 11th Circle.
“dense,” Dr. Nagel steps in to offer a demic centers where they’re look- “perfect crystal ball,” she does say it The phone number is 772-562-0163. 
medical definition. ing at this – that you can find 30 to offers much more detailed and ac-

“It’s not a derogatory thing,” she
explains. “It’s just a description of
the composition of the breast. Ev-
ery woman is a little bit different as
far as how much glandular tissue
and density she has in her breasts.
When we look at a mammogram we
usually quantify it, or kind of quali-
fy it, and put them in categories.

“It’s a standard part of an imaging
report,” says Nagel. “We state what
their density is. In the old days we
used to say mild, moderate, fatty
and dense. Now we say fatty, scat-
tered, heterogeneously dense and
dense. The American College of Ra-
diology came up with standard ter-
minology that we all stick to it.”

Too much creativity in descrip-
tions, Nagel warns, “can create a lot
of confusion.”

Density descriptions aside, the
Journal of the American Medical
Association reports that 3-D mam-
mography finds “significantly more
invasive cancers than a traditional
mammogram.”

Still, not everyone has embraced
3-D mammography. While Medi-
care approved it in 2014 and agreed
to pay for it in 2015, many insurance
companies still call it “not medi-
cally necessary” or “experimental,”
and will not pay for 3-D scans.

Fortunately for those with stingy
insurance companies, Vero Radiol-
ogy charges only $64 for such a scan,
which seems quite reasonable con-
sidering the group invested roughly
$1 million in this new technology.

What might surprise people is
that the aforementioned $1 million
didn’t buy any flashy new scanners
or massive pieces of equipment. It
bought algorithms. Software. Soft-
ware which takes the image from a
2-D mammogram and converts it,
layer by layer, into a 3-D image.

Or, as Nagel explains it, “When
you do 2-D, it’s like putting a book in
for the mammogram. You’re seeing
all the pages superimposed on one
image. When we do 3-D, it allows us
to look at all of those little individual
pages that make up that book.”

This new 3-D technology has only

18 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly

HEALTH

Kids and food allergies: New research on prevention

BY MARIA CANFIELD Food allergy symp- Dr. Michael Wein. duce results quickly – usually within
toms are caused by the interaction 30 minutes.
Correspondent between a food allergen and an anti- PHOTO: DENISE RITCHIE
body known as IgE (immunoglobulin Positive results (indicating that a
Most parents have some level of E). During the test, the allergist will food allergy may exist) are indicated
concern about how a food allergy place a drop of solution containing by a “wheal,” a raised white bump
could impact their child’s health and To diagnose a food allergy, the al- the food allergen on the child’s fore- surrounded by a small circle of itchy
quality of life. Now comes a study lergist will likely use a skin prick test arm, and will then gently scratch the red skin.
from the United Kingdom that con- (SPT) to measure the presence of IgE skin to allow a tiny amount of the so-
cludes prevention may lie in the very antibodies for the suspect food. lution to enter the skin just below the Specific to peanut allergies, Dr.
first months of life. surface. Wein cited a 2015 article in the New
England Journal of Medicine which
Michael Wein, MD, a board-certi- In a reassurance to parents, there is says that if the results of the SPT are
fied pediatric and adult allergist with very little pain and no bleeding asso- negative, the child should be started
offices in both Vero Beach and St. Lu- ciated with SPTs. on a diet that includes 2 grams of pea-
cie West, is familiar with the study. nut protein three times a week for at
He says “this is a very important sub- And an advantage is that they pro- least three years.
ject, and more complicated than it
may seem.” If the results of the SPT are positive,
but show only mild sensitivity (the
Researchers from Imperial College wheal is less than 4mm), the child
in London analyzed data from nearly should undergo a “food challenge,”
150 previous studies that involved in which some form of peanut is ad-
upwards of 200,000 children. ministered and the child’s response
observed by a physician experienced
Those studies examined at exactly with this type of test.
what age eggs and peanuts were in-
troduced to children during their The article says, “Children who are
first year of life, and the impact it had nonreactive should then be started
on the development of allergies. on the peanut-containing diet.”

The results showed that kids who In the not-too-distant past, doc-
were first fed eggs when they were 4 tors recommended that children who
to 6 months old were 40 percent less were at high risk for food allergies
likely to develop an egg allergy, com- should avoid risky foods such as eggs
pared to kids who were introduced to and peanuts until they were at least 2
eggs at an older age. years old.

Even more dramatically, kids who But in a 2015 turnaround, the
were fed food that contained American Academy of Pediatrics is-
peanuts when they were 4 to sued interim guidance that “health-
11 months old were 70 per- care providers should recommend
cent less likely to later develop introducing peanut-containing prod-
a peanut allergy compared ucts into the diets of high-risk infants
to kids who were not fed such between ages 4 and 11 months.”
foods until later.
The National Institute of Allergy
An important note of cau- and Infectious Diseases is expected
tion: Babies who already have to soon release similar guidelines.
a peanut or egg allergy, or who
have another allergic condition While this is a complicated issue,
such as eczema, should not au- one thing is clear: Parents should con-
tomatically be fed eggs or pea- sult with their child’s pediatrician be-
nuts. fore giving either peanut or egg prod-
ucts to babies at high-risk for food
Rather, parents should speak allergies.
with their child’s pediatrician
before introducing these foods. The Imperial College researchers
(Dr. Wein says this also holds true acknowledged that additional studies
if there is a sibling with food aller- are needed to validate the findings,
gies, or a strong family history of noting that estimates of how much
this type of allergy.) the early introduction of eggs and
peanuts lowers the risk of developing
And, of course, babies and tod- allergies could change.
dlers should not be fed whole nuts,
because of the risk of choking – The study also looked at – but did
peanuts should be served in the not come to any conclusions about
form of smooth peanut butter. – whether the early introduction of
milk, fish, tree nuts and wheat was
In addition to consulting with the tied to a reduced allergy risk later in
child’s pediatrician, Dr. Wein says an life.
evaluation by a board-certified aller-
gist is beneficial for babies at high- Dr. Wein’s Vero Beach office is located
risk for food allergies, and that the at 3375 20th Street; the phone number is
evaluation should take place between 772-299-7299. His St. Lucie West office is
the ages of 4 and 8 months. located at 320 NW Bethany DR # 322; the
phone number is 772-621-9992. 



The West and the Sunni Muslim world are impotent
in the face of Russian support for Syria’s dictator

hen rebel forces surged into the Their defense of the city has crumbled faster After four years of grinding urban combat that
city of Aleppo, then Syria’s larg- than many expected. The Old City, whose winding has killed thousands of civilians and destroyed
est, in the summer of 2012, they alleyways were supposed to be well defended, fell large parts of the ancient city, the rebels face a stark
hoped to establish an alternative quickly last week as pro-Syrian forces, including choice: die fighting or surrender the enclave and
seat of power that could rival the Shia militias from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, crashed hope to fight elsewhere.
government’s in the capital, Damascus. But those through rebel lines on December 7th. Cornered by
hopes quickly faded as the operation to seize the city pro-government forces, defeat is inevitable. In public, rebel fighters and opposition politicians
stalled. The rebels could only capture half of Aleppo, remain belligerent, vowing to fight to the last man
splitting the city in two. A lethal stalemate ensued. rather than surrender to a government they despise.
The rebel’s hopes of ever breaking the deadlock They have called for a five-day ceasefire to evacuate
are now dead. In July, forces loyal to the Syrian gov- civilians and hundreds of wounded before discussing
ernment cut the last remaining road into the east, the future of the city, but fighting continues.
imposing a siege that has slowly strangled life there.
Russian and Syrian warplanes have relentlessly In private, rebel officials have been meeting Russian
bombed hospitals, schools and marketplaces, crip- diplomats in Turkey to discuss a full withdrawal from
pling civilian infrastructure. With the east on its Aleppo. With Ankara mediating, the rebels have been
knees, the regime launched a devastating ground offered two choices: they can either head south to the
offensive on November 15th to drive rebel forces rebel-controlled city of Idlib, taking only light weapons
out of the city. with them, or they can head north with heavier weap-
Since then, the rebels have lost more than three- ons to join other rebel units fighting alongside Turkish
quarters of their enclave, their last big urban strong- troops against Islamic State and Kurdish forces.
hold anywhere in the country.
Similar deals in recent months have seen rebel fight-
ers evacuate other besieged areas. Russia’s foreign min-
ister, Sergei Lavrov, says diplomats and military experts

from America and Russia are meeting in Geneva to rebel enclave is to collapse, the White Helmets have The West and the Sunni Muslim world remain
flesh out the details of the rebel’s exit from Aleppo. begun to destroy their rescue equipment to prevent paralyzed, unable or unwilling to help the civilian
it falling into the regime’s hands. population or the rebel factions they support. Rus-
Without a deal, civilian deaths will rapidly mount, sia and China last week again vetoed a UN Security
as people are squeezed into an ever smaller space. While talks over the fate of the city continue, con- Council demand for a ceasefire.
Russia and the Syrian government have repeatedly ditions inside the shrinking rebel enclave have rap-
said they will continue to bomb Aleppo until rebel idly deteriorated. Doctors there say they can only When Russia dispatched its warplanes to prop up
forces withdraw. carry out basic first aid. Aid workers from the Red the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad two years ago,
Cross operating in areas recently captured by the Barack Obama warned Moscow that its Syrian ad-
The rebels remain deeply suspicious of a regime regime have found dead bodies trapped under the venture was doomed to fail. Russia will get “stuck in a
that has routinely detained, tortured and executed rubble and orphans who haven’t eaten for two days. quagmire and it won’t work”, Mr Obama confidently
those it accuses of helping “terrorists,” including doc- Bread is in short supply. predicted in October 2015. Russia’s air force has since
tors and teachers. The UN says that hundreds of men proven the American president profoundly wrong.
have already gone missing, having fled into govern- As the rebel enclave crumbles, hopes that Presi-
ment-held territory with tens of thousands of others dent Bashar al-Assad will seek to negotiate an end to America, its allies and the UN have all repeat-
desperate to escape the fighting. the broader conflict appear dimmer than ever. edly failed to stop the slaughter or alleviate the
suffering in Aleppo. Ceasefires have broken down
“Given the terrible record of arbitrary detention, Assad has repeatedly vowed to recapture the entire and peace talks have collapsed. Russia and Syria
torture and enforced disappearances, we are of course country. While large chunks of Syria remain outside continue to block UN requests to allow aid into the
deeply concerned about the fate of these individuals,” his authority, the fall of Aleppo would give the presi- besieged east.
a UN spokesman on human rights said last week. dent control over all the country’s major population
centers and move him one step closer to achieving Assad’s government says it wants to retake Alep-
Hundreds of activists, aid workers, councilors, res- his aim. “Even if we finish in Aleppo, we will carry on po, once Syria’s largest city, before Donald Trump
cue workers and doctors who have received support with the war against them,” he said last week. takes office. Once it falls, Assad will control all the
from the West remain trapped among the 100,000 country’s main urban centers. Pro-regime forces
or so civilians left in the east. The White Helmets, an will then be able to turn their guns on the pockets
organization that pulls the dead and wounded from of resistance around Damascus, the main highway
the rubble after air strikes, has given up and request- from Homs to Aleppo and the rebel-held province
ed the immediate evacuation of its workers. of Idlib.

“If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face tor- With Obama, soon to leave office, showing no in-
ture and execution in the regime’s detention cen- clination to intervene, the loss of Aleppo is immi-
tres,” the group said in a statement. “We have good nent. 
reason to fear for our lives.” In a sign of how close the

RATING HOSPITALS: PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS tion, staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, surveillance for
How can you be sure a hospital provides quality care? recurrent disease, support services and end-of-life care. Pursu-
ing accreditation by the CoC requires rigorous performance re-
Last week, we discussed how government agencies per- views, plus on-site surveys every three years.
form mandated reviews. This week, we will look at a second
category – professional medical associations. To make sure they provide top imaging and laboratory/pa-
thology services, hospitals look to accreditation from the Amer-
Most physicians, nurses and other clinical professionals join ican College of Radiology (ACR) and the College of American
organizations that establish standards for healthcare providers Pathologists (CAP), respectively.
to follow to assure patients receive “best practices” in their
specialty. Members volunteer their knowledge and expertise Like physicians and clinical professionals, hospitals also join
to help achieve positive patient outcomes. peer organizations to share information, benchmark perfor-
mance, and continuously improve quality. For example, mem-
So when hospitals develop specific programs and want to be ber hospitals of the Florida Hospital Association (FHA) volun-
the best in those fields, they turn to these professional orga- tarily participate in ‘blind studies’ conducted by the FHA to
nizations. Meeting stringent guidelines to become accredited, determine best practices for hospitals to emulate.
certified or rated by these societies and associations helps as-
sure top quality care. Other not-for-profit organizations, such as the American
Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, also
For cardiac services, one such organization is the Society certify, accredit and rate healthcare providers based on quanti-
of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Cardiothoracic surgeons, and the tative, objective data.
hospitals in which they perform surgery, voluntarily submit key
information to STS on every heart, lung, chest and esophagus Likewise, academic medical centers such as Duke Univer-
surgery they perform. By benchmarking themselves against sity School of Medicine affiliate with select hospitals that are
their peers, surgeons and hospitals strive to continuously im- seeking oversight to ensure they provide the highest levels of
prove and maintain quality. care. Hospitals may also partner with specialty hospitals, such
as Nemours Pediatric Hospital, to provide access to care that’s
Other cardiac professional medical associations that create not locally available.
guidelines for hospitals are the American College of Cardiology
(ACC) and the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pul- Does your hospital provide top quality care? You can tell a lot
monary Rehabilitation (AACVPR). about a hospital by the organizations it voluntarily turns to for
accreditations and certifications.
For cancer care, programs seek accreditation from the Amer-
ican College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC). The CoC Your comments and suggestions for future topics are always
recognizes hospitals and treatment centers that are concerned welcome. Email us at: [email protected].
with cancer prevention, early diagnosis, pretreatment evalua-
© 2016 Vero Beach 32963 Media, all rights reserved

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Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™ Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 23

INSIGHT BOOKS

When Harvard business school pro- murdered or robbed the way we as a company defined suc- es. “Every CEO before me” had used
fessor Eugene Soltes set out to discov- anyone, and their vic- cess was incorrect,” Fastow said. company funds in a similar way, he
er what motivated white-collar crimi- tims were not right in argued.
nals, he unearthed something quite front of them. “None of Enron had a problem, and Fastow
telling – and troubling – about self- the former executives I found an “anomaly” in the law that Of all the criminals Soltes inter-
perception. For his book, “Why They spoke with saw himself he thought allowed him to fix it. And viewed, Madoff is the most irredeem-
Do It: Inside the Mind of the White- as a fraud,” Soltes writes. when regulators and the company’s able and most difficult to understand.
Collar Criminal,” Soltes spent years “Some, of course, clearly auditors didn’t push back, Fastow did His crimes have been well chronicled
trading letters and phone calls with recognized that they had it again and again, until, finally, En- in at least half a dozen books, and
dozens of former business executives committed a crime, but ron was forced to file what was then Soltes doesn’t come any closer to ex-
turned convicts, including Ponzi- the person they saw in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. plaining one of the greatest Ponzi
scheme legend Bernard Madoff; the the mirror was success- Fastow, once one of the most respect- schemers in history. For five years,
former chief financial officer of En- ful, entrepreneurial, and ed corporate executives in the coun- he corresponded with Madoff, who is
ron, Andrew Fastow; and the former ambitious.” try for his seemingly brilliant ability serving a 150-year sentence for bilk-
chief executive of Tyco International, to keep Enron’s profits steady and ris- ing billions of dollars from investors.
Dennis Kozlowski. Many of the cases ing, is now clear about the cause of At no time did Madoff express re-
Soltes chronicles have his undoing. But at the time, he told morse; he dismissed the financial dis-
In many cases, Soltes finds, the already been examined Soltes, he was driven by a desire to be tress of his victims as overblown. “It’s
perpetrators struggle to understand extensively in movies the best at his job. “If I had the char- not like going into a bank with a gun
their wrongdoing even after spending and books. But he takes acter I should have had, I would have and saying ‘give me your money’ and
years in prison. After all, they hadn’t a unique approach, look- said time out … but I didn’t. But the running out. All I did was make rich
ing for the connections reality is, if at any point in my career I people richer and I made some rich
between what motivated said ‘time out, this is bull----. I can’t do people poorer, but not poor. … When
these men – and yes, they it’ … they would have just found an- I was generating all these profits, a lot
are all men – and asking other CFO, but that doesn’t excuse it. of these clients were throwing caution
not what they did but It would be like saying it’s OK to mur- to the wind,” Soltes quotes Madoff as
why they did it. The for- der someone because if I didn’t do it saying.
mer executives said they someone else would have,” explained
were largely driven by Fastow, who served six years in prison. Madoff’s inability to empathize
their instincts and didn’t with his victims is bad enough, but
see the criminality of their actions. In his interviews with Soltes, Ko- his disregard for the pain he caused
Soltes creates some fascinating zlowski appears needy and insecure. his family is stunning. When his son
portraits. Some of the men appear He wanted the “rock star status” of Andrew died of cancer, Madoff called
stunned that their actions were in fact Jack Welch, the legendary chief ex- Soltes and asked him to read the obit-
criminal. They had been boardroom ecutive of General Electric, and began uary. Soltes, feeling the weight of the
celebrities, backed by the confidence to emulate him. Kozlowski built Tyco moment, says he read Madoff the arti-
of shareholders and employees, and into one of the world’s largest com- cle and did his best to be compassion-
they believed they could do no wrong. panies through acquisitions across ate. But Madoff was soon distracted.
That is certainly the case with Fas- various industries, including under- “Shortly after finding out his son had
tow, the former star CFO of Enron, sea telecommunications systems and died, Madoff wanted to discuss inter-
who was a key player in the complex electronic security. He ultimately be- est rates. … In some way, it almost
web of off-balance-sheet special- came a symbol of corporate greed, seemed as though I was more person-
purpose entities the Houston energy exemplified by the $6,000 shower ally moved by the death of Andrew in
company used to conceal massive curtain in his Fifth Avenue home in those moments than his father. 
losses. Fortune magazine had named New York and the $2.2 million party
Enron America’s most innovative he threw for his wife on the island of WHY THEY DO IT
company for six straight years, and Sardinia. Even after he was convicted Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal
Fastow was CFO of the year in 1999. of grand larceny, conspiracy, securi-
“My intentions were good. I was try- ties fraud and eight of nine counts of By Eugene Soltes
ing to do what was best for Enron, but falsifying business records, Kozlowski PublicAffairs. 448 pp. $29.99
continued to look outward for excus- Review by Renae Merle The Washington Post

RECOMMENDED CHILDREN’S BOOKS AND VERO BEACH BEST SELLERS

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON TOP 5 FICTION TOP 5 NON-FICTION BESTSELLER | KIDS
DISCOVER SHOPPING 1. The Whistler 1. A Life Well Played 1. Give Please a Chance
AS YOU’VE ALWAYS
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WISHED IT WOULD BE!
2. Night School 2. Brothers at Arms 2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #11:
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3. The Littlest Bigfoot
The Latest & Greatest Books 3. No Man's Land 3. All the Gallant Men
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The Cards, Wrap and BY DONALD STRATTON
4. A Gentleman in Moscow 4. Fantastic Beasts and Where to
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BY AMOR TOWLES
BY DAVE BARRY 5. Furthermore
Ribbon are Here... 5. The Whole Town's Talking
5. Cooking for Jeffrey BY TAHEREH MAFI
The Calendars, Puzzles and BY FANNIE FLAGG
BY INA GARTEN

Gift Certificates are Here...
SOMETHING FOR
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26 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT GAMES & CO.

SOLUTSIOOLNUSTIOTONSPTROEPVRIOEVUISOUISSSISUSEU(ED(EDCECEEMMBBEERR 88)) OONNPPAAGGEE3476

ACROSS DOWN
7 Harvester (6) 1 Make payment to (10)
4 Debris (6) 2 Independent (10)
7 Part of bed (8) 3 Channel link (8)
9 Hunting dog (7) 4 Got up (4)
12 Forbidden actions (23) 5 Haze (4)
13 Root (5) 6 Mineral vein (4)
15 Cuban dance (5) 8 Impale; attempt (4)
16 The cream (5) 10 Unbeatable (10)
17 Mad; raging (5) 11 Inexorable (10)
19 Racecourse (5) 14 Urgent warning (3,5)
20 Bliss (7) 18 Purchases (4)
24 Gather (8) 21 Bivouac (4)
25 Field; globe (6) 22 Steal (4)
26 Tension (6) 23 Strongbox (4)

The Telegraph

How to do Sudoku:

Fill in the grid so the
numbers one through
nine appear just once
in every column, row
and three-by-three
square.

The Telegraph

Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™ Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 27

INSIGHT GAMES & CO.

ACROSS 65 Folded entrée Orleans?) “unraveled” it
67 Figurative fog 14 Pays or Plummer 77 Randy Newman
1 Alan, Cheryl, or 69 Laugher 15 Big-beaked bird
Diane 70 Ruinous insects 16 Tin Pan and hit
71 Crunchy goodie 78 Author Gay
5 Ending meaning 74 “Devil or Angel” others 79 Ogling one
“eaters” 17 White-collar 80 “___ shabby”
singer Bobby 81 Works by Gluck
10 “... three men in 75 Understanding worker?
___” 76 Tarzan transit 18 Workplaces for or
77 Suburban suffix? Glinka
14 ___ turning point 80 Editor’s aside desk sgts. 82 Type of job
17 1962 Grammy 83 Burgundies 19 Pre-AA affliction security
84 Coup ___ 22 Ranjit Singh was 83 Get one’s wind
winners 85 It’s fair or foul 84 Declined a bit
20 Water, for one: 86 Cool shoes? one 85 Quantum theory
89 Old Italian capital? 23 “Magic Moment” unit
abbr. 90 1959 Sinatra film, 87 She played
21 Accomplished preceder Marnie
___ in the Head 27 Matching dryers? 88 Great ratings
nothing, in a way 91 Bowling game 89 Intentionally
23 Clothes moths 92 Riant riposte 28 Rampaging mislead
24 Guinness and 94 “That’s all, folks” 29 Type of armadillo 90 The Jetsons’ dog
96 Marching band 92 Certain chess
Watney that sounds like pce.
25 Wide, ornamental member’s body art 93 Customer
froufrou, perhaps 31 Bogged down 94 ___ de France
ruffle 100 Homophone of 32 Hamlin’s 95 Lean (toward)
26 Brinks job, e.g. 56 Across caveman 97 Doc Savage
27 Craggy peaks 101 Jeff, for example, 33 “Under” state portrayer
29 Six ways ___ on The Donna 34 Droplet 98 Start of many a
Reed Show 37 Biblical cattle question
(completely) 102 Sugar suffix 39 Soviet lake 99 It offered Hope,
30 “This ___ 103 Culp agent series 40 Joke target often
104 Drive through 41 Bold Ruler, to
happening” Beverly Hills Secretariat The Washington Post
31 Mars has two 105 Spanish lady 42 Memphis
33 Type of girder residents TWO-SAINT OVERTURE By Merl Reagle
35 Murray and DOWN 43 Subscription
1 Catlike continuance
Peerce 2 Optimally 44 True blue, to a
36 Sault ___ Marie 3 Something owed Scot
37 Plains Indian 4 He was a slave to 45 French star
38 So far 46 Bottle for a new
39 Org. for Scott the Supreme mom
Court 47 Noted platter-
Turow 5 Non-nutritive food lickers
41 Noted painter- for thought 48 Jubilation T.
6 Shade Cornpone’s
diplomat 7 Sacrificial sites creator
48 Take ___ to 8 Ossian’s 49 Navy builder
followers 50 One who digs
(grow to like) 9 Concerning your jive, perhaps
51 Certain Acura 10 Member of a 55 Insulation
52 “... can’t get popular material
Latin trio? 58 Down-home dad
enough 11 Appoint to 59 Expose
of that stuff” (a job or post) 60 Quite
53 Looked wolfishly 12 Continent- 62 Driver’s warning
54 Decline dividing range 63 Actress Velez
55 Jitterbugger’s 13 “How’s ___?” 65 ___ d’art
drink (most common 66 Low sounds?
56 Three-time NHL greeting in New 68 Happy hour’s
MVP end, often
57 Fear or Horn, e.g. 69 Hightailed it
58 Anagram of this 72 Luau instruments
puzzle’s two 73 Watson and Crick
theme words
60 Plastic option
61 Nightline network
62 Lacking pizazz
64 DeVito-
Schwarzenegger
comedy

The Telegraph

28 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BACKPAGE

Her money’s being squandered, but she can still be saved

BY CAROLYN HAX allowing her to practice her self-advocacy skills
Washington Post early – with support, since those guilt-trips appar-
ently work. Self-advocacy is not only critical to an
Dear Carolyn, empowered existence, but also (presumably) not
being taught by parents who are literally setting
My brother and sister-in-law her savings on fire.

have notoriously poor money- This is where you come in. Self-advocacy is more
skill than instinct, and it is teachable. You can help
management skills and compul- teach it. Financial literacy also needs to be taught
when parents aren’t modeling it for their kids. You
sive spending habits. After many can help teach her those skills, too.

years of helping them with gifts My colleague Michelle Singletary, a personal
finance columnist, recommends the FoolProof
and loans, their immediate fami- Foundation, a not-for-profit financial education
resource (foolproofme.com), as well as the follow-
lies now refuse to lend them money. ing books: “O.M.G. Official Money Guide for Col-
lege Students,” by Susan and Michael Beacham
When their 17-year-old daughter was visiting and their daughter, Allison; “Get a Financial Life”
by Beth Kobliner; and the aptly titled “How to Be
recently, she mentioned that her parents pressure Richer, Smarter and Better-Looking Than Your Par-
ents” by Zac Bissonnette.
her to lend them money, which they are slow to pay
If her family is chaotic, then your niece will need
back, if at all. Her parents tell her it is the least she abundant support to gain her independence – but
you also can’t overstep your boundaries. She has ap-
can do considering they support her, provide a place proached you about the money situation, so stick to
that, for now at least. Have a look, buy one or three
to live, etc. She says they use the money for grocer- books as gifts to your niece, and offer this: If she’s
willing, you’ll help her learn how to budget, save,
ies and gas. With her parents’ combined annual in- invest, ask tough questions and, most important,
say no. Family is complicated, but the role of money
come of $150,000, one would think such essentials management in a secure and orderly life is as basic
as it gets. 
would not be a worry.

My niece works several jobs and is saving money

for college application fees and expenses. When I

asked, she said she didn’t want me to mention this to Dear ‘Uncle’:
Definitely don’t drop it, no – she needs you. You’re
her parents, a wish I would like to respect. Yet I won- right that she’s asking for help, just not in the form of
speaking on her behalf to her parents.
der why she mentioned it if she doesn’t want help. Even if she wanted you to, I wouldn’t recom-
mend that anyway. She is 17, not 12, still a minor
I’ve thought through several scenarios of how a but only months away from being the captain of
her own little academic, social and time-manage-
conversation might go if I brought this up with her ment ship in college. Her parents’ irresponsibility
might as well work to her advantage for once by
parents, and none of them end happily. Yet I hate

to see a young person bullied into parting with her

hard-earned savings. Should I drop it? What advice

should I give my niece?

– Uncle

Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly Style Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 29

Underestimate the shrewd & stylish Trump women at your own peril

BY CELIA WALDEN – making her very much involved. vegetable gardens, dancing outland- could, but most first ladies recognize
So why the smokescreen? And what ishly to Uptown Funk, or relishing the the power of their position and the
The Telegraph chance to wear (whisper it) high-street good work they can do.”
can we expect from these two dia- fashion. Although she will be living
When The Donald takes office next metrically opposed but equally deter- in the White House sooner than she I don’t see either Melania or Ivan-
month, the Trumps will become the mined people? thinks, says Kate Andersen Brower, au- ka as reluctant – just a little reti-
most powerful family in the world. So thor of the bestseller “First Women.” cent. Which is partly why, although
what exactly do we know about the “Both Melania and Ivanka have al- Trump’s daughter has said that she is
shrewd, stylish women who brought ways prized privacy,” says one source “However sympathetic people are passionate about issues such as wage
him this far? who has worked with them. “Sure, Me- about the difficulties of raising young equality and childcare, she will ini-
lania loves socializing and she’ll enjoy children in the White House, most tially play down her role. “But you can
Female handshakes tend to fall into the ceremonial side of being first lady, Americans would like the first family be sure that she will be incredibly in-
one of three categories: the limp noodle but when she said she and Barron were to be living there together,” she tells me. volved,” Brower explains.
– no energy, no shake and a character to going to stay in New York, that was her
match; the two-handed clasp – denot- announcing her intention to remain “We have had reluctant first ladies “Ivanka is an intelligent business-
ing warmth, sincerity and occasionally her own person. before, namely Bess Truman, who woman and she has defended her fa-
superiority; and lady fingers – when the returned to Missouri every time she ther so stridently. In return for that
woman is under the impression that “And you’ve got to remember that she seems to have been given a seat
she is an 18th-century debutante. In Ivanka had a lot of attention as a kid, at the table.”
the whole of my adult life, I’ve only met growing up with the golden couple of
half a dozen women with firm hand- New York [Trump and his first wife, Both women are bound to be un-
shakes, and two of those are Donald Ivana] as parents. So being paraded derestimated because of their looks
Trump’s women. His wife Melania’s – around holds very little appeal for her.” – something I get the impression
at my husband’s book launch in 2013 – they’ve used to their advantage over
was more of a statement of intent than The DOPOTUS (daughter of the pres- the years.
a handshake. This person, I thought to ident of the United States)-elect admit-
myself, is unbreakable, unshakeable. ted to a certain guardedness when we One thing we’re unlikely to get
And she smells good: expensive. met, explaining she only got involved in from either Ivanka or Melania is a
her father’s TV show, “The Apprentice,” litany of faux pas. Ivanka’s too clev-
When I met up with his daughter because she knew what she “should er, Melania’s too poised, and both of
Ivanka the following year on the 25th and shouldn’t do that would give too them have been on display for too
floor of Trump Tower, I found hers to much access to [her] life.” long to mess up in any really globally
be equally formidable: This was the entertaining way. 
handshake of a dealmaker. Right now “It was very important for me to
these two women – the caryatids po- maintain a barrier,” she said, speaking
sitioned to support Trump’s White for herself and her children.
House – are busy drawing up the most
important deals of their lives. These “I don’t think everyone cares if their
deals are both formal and private, writ- kids get photographed, but for me, for
ten and implicit, and they concern the safety reasons and in order to give them
nature of their roles for the next four the option to preserve a little bit of ano-
years. Because whatever you heard or nymity, I think it’s good to allow them
read over the course of the presidential to make those decisions themselves.
campaign, neither one of them really
knows what kind of first lady and first “Our parents didn’t parade us in
daughter they’re going to be yet. How front of the press. They wouldn’t do
can they when they’re still in waiting, shoots that prominently featured us;
and when the man they will be uphold- we were never utilized like that. And I
ing doesn’t – can’t – know what kind of don’t think it’s a coincidence that me
president he’ll be? and my brothers have a very solid side:
I give my parents a lot of credit for that.”
But Trump’s women have dropped
a few clues. We’re told 46-year-old Me- Where her son is concerned, the
lania won’t be moving into the White new first lady may try to erect the
House with her husband in January, same barrier, but in other respects
because they are concerned about Melania is naturally showier, I’m told.
pulling their 10-year-old son [Barron] And not nearly as severe as she looks.
out of school in the middle of the year, She’s actually got a very good sense of
for example. Good parenting or anoth- humor – but quite a dry one.
er statement of intent?
Just maybe don’t expect to see her
And despite assurances from Ivan- kneeling, in cream Ralph Lauren, in
ka that she will have no formal role
within her father’s administration, we
know that since he was made presi-
dent-elect, the 35-year-old executive
vice president of development and ac-
quisition at the Trump Organization
has sat in on two official meetings (a
call with Argentina’s President Mau-
ricio Macri and a sit-down with the
Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe)

30 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Style Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly

Christmas party this weekend? Here’s some inspiration

If you’re tired of resorting to the same LBD or pair of wide
leg trousers time and time again, and are in need of a little
inspiration for party season, then fear not, because we’ve
compiled a style file of inspiration to help see you through the

festive period.
From Cate Blanchett’s elegant white trouser suit (note how the
black heels give the look modern edge) to Alexa Chung’s opulent
pajamas, here are lots of ideas for switching up your outfits ...

Why a brooch is the unexpected accessory you need now

BY OLIVIA BUXTON SMITH
The Telegraph

Whether you’re wondering if you can Topshop mize the need for serve of the
recycle your slightly tired black blazer blazer bright colors. 50+ age bracket,
for the office Christmas party, looking as every- they actually look fabu-
for unique stocking fillers, or simply one else, They’re versa- lous on all ages.
searching for interesting ways to ac- a sparkly tile
cessorize: The brooch and its cooler embellish- Maximum impact for
cousin, the pin, might be just the an- ment strate- You can wear a minimum effort (and ex-
swer you’re after. gically placed on brooch on every- penditure)
the lapel, will ensure your jacket thing from an evening dress or a A brooch immediately grants a
“Brooches and pins are part of the stands out among its counter- tuxedo jacket, to a T-shirt or knitted piece of clothing an interesting edge,
growing trend for personalization,’’ parts. “It’s a more modern take on sweater, and it’s an accessory that and can transform simple office at-
Dominic Jones, Creative Director of the classic idea of the charm brace- easily bridges the day-to-night di- tire into opulent eveningwear.
Astley Clarke, says. Not only to they let – the personal touches that are vide. “The popularity of our pins is This trend won’t break the bank
bring originality and newness to you unique to you,’’ agrees Jones. due to their versatility,” Jones contin- either. According to Lyst, the average
go-to pieces, but they also look chic ues. “Women wear them one at a time order value for a brooch is just $25 – a
and have the ability to add a touch of They pep up a black ensemble or in a row or cluster, and place them figure which is kept low by the popu-
eccentricity to you look. If you naturally gravitate toward on everything from crisp shirts to larity of inexpensive pin styles over
50 shades of black for evening, then coats, or even bags and bobble hats.’’ elaborate brooches; searches for pin
Here’s why we think you should em- a brooch will add another (welcome) What’s more, while brooches might brooches have increased 60 percent
brace the brooch ... dimension to your look. Try adding once have been considered the pre- in the last six months, proof that this
a collection of pins or a statement is a trend on the rise. 
They add originality to your outfit brooch to the pocket of a shirt or the
“Brooches are a great way to person- front of a dress, instead of dangly ear-
alize an outfit,’’ Natalie Kingham, Buy- rings or a weighty necklace. It will
ing Director at MATCHESFASHION. offer a similar effect and will mini-
com, tells us. “I have one on just about
every jacket I own.’’ A brooch or a pin is
a very effective way to add originality to
your look. If you’ve purchased the same

Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 31

& Casual Dining

Vero Prime: Superior steaks that are hard to beat

BY TINA RONDEAU Twin lobsters tails and brussel sprouts
Columnist with bacon.
PHOTOS BY DENISE RITCHIE

Last Thursday night, we found our- Rack of lamb with a minted au jus, Filet mignon and asparagus wine could range
selves craving steak – so we headed and cheddar hash browns au gratin. with bearnaise sauce. from $90 to $150
to Vero Prime, the chophouse on 21st
Street. before tip.

Arriving around 7:30, our party of Whether you
three was ushered past several empty
booths to a rather cramped table in are in the mood
the rear. “Any chance we could have
a booth?” my husband asked. No, re- for steak, or wind
grettably they are all reserved, was the
reply. Well, so be it. up ordering some-

Vero Prime has the right atmo- thing else, Vero
sphere for a steak house – dark and
hushed, black ceilings, burnt sienna Prime is delivering
walls, a lot of brick. Everything about
it says steak. And as we perused the tastes and dining
menu, we were thinking steak, steak,
steak. deals that are hard

After taking our drink order, a bas- to beat.
ket of warm pretzel bread and dinner
rolls appeared on the table. Our only quibble

On this visit, two of us ordered the would be to note
evening’s specials. I opted for the
14-ounce prime rib ($34), and our that during our vis-
companion went for the steak tidbits
($24) served with whipped potato. My it, anywhere from
husband, though, stuck with an old fa-
vorite – the prime dry-aged New York two to five of those comfy booths were
strip ($48).
open at all times – and as we walked
Before getting to these, however, we
started with appetizers. past them on the way out, two remained

On this visit, I began with the house empty. Would have been nice.
salad ($7), my husband ordered a
wedge salad ($7) and our companion I welcome your comments, and en-
opted for the French onion soup ($7).
steak dish on the menu would turn courage you to send feedback to me at
My salad was an array of greens
with goat cheese, candied walnuts, out to be one of the best? [email protected].
onion and tomato in a tomato balsam-
ic vinaigrette dressing. My husband’s On previous visits, we also have en- The reviewer dines anonymously at
romaine wedge salad had creamy blue
cheese dressing, and chunks of dou- joyed dishes other than steak here. restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach
ble-smoked bacon. The onion soup
was an excellent rendition of this clas- My husband particularly liked the 32963. 
sic French dish.
pan-seared calves liver, and I had one
While we were enjoying our first
course, the manager stopped by the of the best pot roasts I have had any- Chocolate Vero Prime
table. where. Paradise.
Hours: Monday through
“We have a really good bone-in ri- A big plus for Vero Prime is you also
beye,” he said. “It’s one I recommend get a choice of two steakhouse sides Saturday, 5 pm to late
to all out guests.” So my husband
switched from the New York strip to with your entrée at no additional and you quickly realize that what you
the ribeye (also $48).
charge. On this visit, I had the mush- are getting here is quite a bargain.
It turned out to be a very good deci-
sion. The ribeye, prepared Pittsburgh rooms and the mashed sweet pota- We were way too full on this most Beverages: Full Bar
style (seared on the outside and rare on
the inside), turned out to be a luscious, toes, and my husband had a very good recent visit for dessert, but we previ-
juicy piece of steak. My medium-rare
prime rib also was tender and flavorful. deconstructed baked potato and the ously have enjoyed the bread pudding Address:
901 21st Street, Vero Beach
But the surprise of the night was the lemon garlic spinach. and the caramel cheesecake.
steak tidbits, pieces of seared steak
arrayed around mashed potatoes Check the price of the sides and sal- Vero Prime has an impressive selec-
and topped with a wonderful mush-
room and onion au poivre sauce. Who ads at the big city steakhouses, where tion of wines that are very well priced. Phone: 772-226-7870
would have guessed the lowest-priced a single veggie can run into the teens, Dinner for two with a modest bottle of

32 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly

& Casual Dining

ebrate A Special New Year’Come Cels Eve At

At the Surfcaster Inn
Italian Grille • Great Old World Pizza • Fine Wine

New Year’s Dinner
$29.95 per person
5 Course Dinner including a glass
of wine or other beverage
Seatings at 4PM, 6PM & 8PM

• Reservations Required •

5395 S. A1A, Melbourne Beach, 32951
DeAngelosByTheSea.com • 321-723-0383

Brevard’s South Barrier Island Newsweekly Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 33

PETS

Bonzo jibes with Juneau, don’t you know!

Hi Dog Buddies!

This week I had a great yap with a nocent. The whole place was Juneau the Siberian Husky. PHOTO BY DENISE RITCHIE
poocheroo who could be a model: you
know, like those dogs in TV dog food com- sorta covered, too. I thought Mummy’d be You’re in great
mercials, who bound across fields and
leap over fences – in slow mo. Way cool. MAD, and she was really trying to make her shape!”
Anyway, Juneau Radecke (named for the
capital of Alaska) is a white Siberian Husky face look Serious. But then she said, ‘I’m SO “That’s true! Us Huskies are used to wor- I hear Mom open the cheese
with ice-blue eyes, pink nose and freckles. sticks bag, I’m Right There! And I practice
He lives with his Mom and Dad, and he’s glad you don’t know what I’m sayin,’ because kin’ hard. I grew up exercisin’ with Mum- good oral hygiene with a daily Denta-
Big Brother to three human sibs. Stick.”
I’m tryin’ not to laugh.’ my. She’s a Runner! Ten miles is nothin’ to
He was at the door for the Wag-and- “Do you sleep with your Mom an Dad?”
Sniff, all suave and fluffed up. “Welcome! “Then Mummy and Dad had their own us. Now we run mostly on the beach, cuz “Back when I was a puppy. Now I have my
It’s a pleasure. Come’on in. This is my own bedroom, and my own king-sized bed.”
Mummy, Jenna. My Dad’s Jason. He’s at puppies. I was real interested in the teeny its easier on our joints, Mummy sez. And “Shut the Doghouse Door” I blurted.
work. And I have human sibs Coleson, “Every night, after dinner, I participate
Camden and Charlesten, they’re kinda little humans they brought home, soft an she KNOWS, cuz she and Dad are Medical in the kids bathtime. WAY fun! After that, I
still puppies. They’re Pawsome!” And he sprawl on my bed and nod off.”
let out one deep, impressive howl. pink an wiggly. I’d sniff ‘em and give ‘em Professionals. Dad’s a DOCtor an Mum- Heading home, I was thinking about
Juneau, with his Far North heritage, going
“Delighted to meet you! I’m eager to kisses. I was always real gentle. We get my’s a speech pathologist.” from snow dog to beach pooch. And won-
hear how you found your Forever Fam- dering what my chances are of Santa brin-
ily! By the way, great voice you got there!” along great, ‘specially me an Coleson.” “Ah, yes,” I said, making a note to Google gin’ me a king-sized bed.

“Thanks! I don’t bark much. Just the “Was it hard gettin’ used to Florida, co- when I got home. “Any pooch pals?” Till next time,
occasional howl, like my ancestors did.
I’m ackshully pretty laid back. Get along min’ from Up North an all?” “Yup. There’s Breeze, a Portuguese Water The Bonz
with most everybody. Mom calls me The
Mayor cuz, she says, I meet someone, “Not too hard. Back in Baltimore, when Dog; Ziggy, a Labradoodle; an my BFF, Sam, Don’t Be Shy
shake hands, say hello, then I’m gone.
the whole inner city’d be shut down cuz a German Shepherd. We have a play date We are always looking for pets
“I’m One Lucky Dog, Bonz! Mummy with interesting stories.
and Dad were livin’ in Baltimore and of a snowstorm, me and my dog buddies every Sunday; and Jake, he’s not a pooch,
visitin’ his folks in South Carolina. To set up an interview, email
They hadda friend who was a Siberian would RUN all over the snowy streets mak- tho, he’s a cat. We’re kinda Frenemies, we [email protected].
husky breeder with some puppies still
waitin’ to get adopted – ME and two lit- ing pawprints and rollin’ in the snow! Dog! met when his Mom and Dad came over to
termates – three goofy little fluff muffins.
WELL, Mummy and Dad decided to go see That was Totally Cool Kibbles! our place during the hurry-cane.”
us. Dad said just to browse. Mummy said
they’d probly go home with a puppy. “When we moved down here in 2012, I no- “Cool Dog Biscuits, Juneau. I have sev-

“The other two scooted over, bouncin’ ticed you guys don’t have a lotta snow. I was eral cat pals, too. Gettin’ to know ‘em’s re-
and woofin’, doin’ their Adorable Puppy Rou-
tines. I just sorta held back and assessed the bummed till Mummy and Dad took me to ally changed my World View.”
situation. Even as a pupster I knew those two
humans were Special and might be making The Beach. It was like – whaaaat? I LOVED it “I hear ya,” he nodded.
a Big Decision that would Change My Entire
Life. Turns out, I was RIGHT. Mummy some- right away. I don’t swim but I wade. I’m still “Do much travelin’?”
how knew I was figuring stuff out and she re-
alized I was Very Smart. So, when they went tryin’ to catch a fish. I chase the birds and “Some. It’s lotsa fun but kinda a produc-
back to Baltimore, I was with ‘em!”
crabs, too. Ya know, Bonz, much as I loved tion with six of us. I get the back seat or in
“Brilliant!” I exclaimed.
“I was an Only Dog for three years. I had snow, I love the beach more. It’s my Special between the suitcases. And, when we stop at
a BFF in Baltimore, Roxie, a Boxer. We had
lotsa adventures. Like, one time when we Place. Sometimes I just chill-lax and think McDonald’s, I get My Own Cheeseburger!”
were pupsters, Mummy and Dad were do-
ing some work on the house. One day, me about World Peace. And cheese sticks.” “Is that your favorite treat?”
and Roxie were just hangin’ out by ourselves,
and we happened to notice this BIG bag la- “Well, you obviously get lotsa exercise. “Pretty much any kinda cheese. When
beled G-R-O-U-T. It looked real interesting.
We thought maybe it was food, so we very
carefully nibbled holes in the edges. And
the top. And the sides. It wasn’t food, but it
was still pretty fun: soft an powdery an kinda
floaty. Mummy got home and opened the
front door and there we were, covered with
G-R-O-U-T tail to nose, and tryin’ to look in-

34 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

CALENDAR

ONGOING 17 Satellite Beach Christmas Boat Parade hosted 6-8 Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse 20 To February 26 - Melbourne Civic The-
by Banana River Sail & Power Squadron, with presents Gibson’s dramatic play, The atre presents Calendar Girls, by Tom
Henegar Center for the Arts - A Christmas boats assembling 6 p.m. at north end of Satellite Miracle Worker. 321-636-5050 Firth. mymct.org
Story: The Musical thru Dec. 18. henegar.org Beach Grand Canal and traveling south, circling
Lake Shepherd clockwise and disbanding just 7 Cops and Robbers 5K Run, 8:30 a.m. at 21 Brevard Symphony Orchestra presents
Melbourne Civic Theatre - A Tuna Christmas, north of Mathers Bridge. 321-220-7775 Wickham Park to benefit Melbourne Po- The French Connection, 2 p.m. and 8
weekends thru Dec. 24. Mymct.org lice Foundation, with ‘robbers’ given a one-min- p.m. at King Center for the Performing Arts, show-
17 Star Wars: A Musical Tribute presented ute head start before ‘cops’ give chase. $25; $20 casing cellist Cicely Parnas performing Saint-Saens
Space Coast Lightfest, 6:30 to 10 p.m. night- by Space Coast Symphony, 7 p.m. at students. Uprunningracemanagement.com Cello Concerto No. 1. brevardsymphony.com
ly at Wickham Park in Melbourne thru Jan. 1. the Scott Center featuring John Williams’ music
Spacecoastlightfest.com from Star Wars films. $20. 8 Space Coast Jazz Society presents Grammy 21|22 Brevard Renaissance Fair:
winner Robert Navarro, 2 p.m. at Cocoa The Time of Excalibur, 10
Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts at FIT - 17|18 A Rat Pack Christmas, Sat. Beach Country Club to benefit SCJS Student Jazz a.m. to 6 p.m. at Wickham Park, Melbourne,
Transformers: Re-contextualizing Our Material 8 p.m. and Sun. 2 p.m. at Workshops. $20. Spacecoastjazzsociety.org with 34 acts on 5 stages, jousting, food, drink,
Culture exhibit thru Dec. 17. 321-674-8313 Surfside Playhouse, Cocoa Beach. $25. 321-783- artisan booths and craft demonstrations to sup-
3127 11 Atlantic Classical Orchestra conducted port arts and education programs of local non-
by David Amado features soloist Vy- profits. brevardrenaissancefair.com
Foosaner Art Museum – Radiant Messenger: 18 Christmas through the Ages holiday acheslav Gryaznov performing Tchaikovsky Pia-
Drawings by China Marks exhibit, thru Jan. 7. concert, 3 p.m. at Eastminster Presby- no Concerto No. 1, 6:40 p.m. lecture; 7:30 p.m. 21|22 Sebastian Riverfront Fine
321-674-8916 terian Church, Indialantic, performed by Chan- concert at St. Edward’s School’s Waxlax Center Art & Music Festival, 10
cel Choir, bell choirs and musicians from Brevard for Performing Arts, Vero Beach. 772-460-0850 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Riverview Park, with 100+ pro-
EGAD First Friday in Eau Gallie Arts District, symphony Orchestra. Free will offering. 321- fessional artists, craftsmen and musicians show-
5:30 to 8:30 p.m. every first Friday; and Mel- 723-8371 12 Indian River Symphonic Association casing their talents. Sebastianartshow.com.
bourne Main Street Friday Fest, 6 to 10 p.m. ev- presents Prague Philharmonia, featur-
ery second Friday. 20 Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse ing violinist Sarah Chang, 7:30 p.m. at Commu- 25-30 Space Coast Birding and Wild-
Broadway Bonus Series presents Mi- nity Church of Vero Beach. 772-778-1070 life Festival at Eastern Florida
Free Science Cafés hosted by Brevard Zoo and chael Law, The Holidays Unwrapped. 321-636- State College, Titusville, with world-class speakers,
FIT, every second Wednesday thru June at Duran 5050 13-29 Henegar Center for the Arts field trips, workshops and exhibits. scbwf.org.
Golf Club’s Tradewinds Restaurant. Free. in Melbourne presents the
24 Eighth annual Surfing Santas event, 8 romantic comedy, It Shoulda Been You. hen- 27 Indian River Symphonic Association
DECEMBER a.m. at Minuteman Causeway, Cocoa egar.org presents National Symphony Orches-
Beach, with hundreds of Santas riding the waves tra of Ukraine featuring pianist Alexei Grynyuk
14|15 Melbourne Municipal and live entertainment to benefit the Grind for 14 League of Women Voters of the Space performing Schumann Piano Concerto in A mi-
Band Winter Wonderland Life nonprofit and the Florida Surf Museum. Coast host Senator Bob Graham and nor, 7:30 p.m. at Community Church of Vero
Concerts, 7:30 p.m. at Melbourne Auditorium. Chris Hand, authors of ‘America, the Owner’s Beach. 772-778-1070
Free, but unwrapped toys and nonperishable 31 New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner and Dance, Manual: You can Fight City Hall and Win’, 11:30
food items will be collected for South Brevard 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Holiday Inn in a.m. at Radisson Resort at the Port. $28; ad- 27 To February 12 - Historic Cocoa Village
Sharing Center. 321-724-0555 Viera hosted by Melbourne Municipal Band, vance purchase required. lwv-spacecoast.org. Playhouse presents the musical, On
with hors d’oeuvres, sit-down dinner, dancing to the Town. 321-636-5050
16 Christmas in the Park, 6 to 8:30 p.m. 20-piece Swingtime band, floorshow by Swing- 14 Friends of Sebastian Inlet State Park
at Gleason Park hosted by Indian Har- timers Vocal Trio, balloon drop and champagne Night Sounds concert series features 28|29 Brevard Renaissance Fair:
bour Beach Rec. Dept., with refreshments, live toast at midnight. $100. 321-339-7705. Four Shillings Short, 7 p.m. at Coconut Point pa- The Time of Excalibur, 10
entertainment and Santa’s arrival, about 7:30 vilions. Standard park entry fee. 321-984-4852 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Wickham Park, Melbourne,
p.m. Free. 31 The Classic Albums Live Rockin’ New with 34 acts on 5 stages, jousting, food, drink,
Year’s Eve Party, 10 p.m. hosted by 15 The Aladdin Society presents Play- artisan booths and craft demonstrations to sup-
16-18 Historic Cocoa Village Play- King Center for the Performing Arts and the house 101, a pictorial walk through the port arts and education programs of local non-
house Broadway Bonus Brevard Music, listening and dancing to hits of Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse. 321-636-5050 profits. brevardrenaissancefair.com
Series presents Galmont Ballet’s The American Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Rolling
Nutcracker. 321-636-5050 Stones. BrevardMusicGroup.com 17 To February 5 - Riverside Theatre pres- 31 To February 19 - Riverside Theatre
ents An Empty Plate in the Café du presents Noel Coward’s Private Lives
17 Running Zone Foundation Jingle Bell JANUARY Grand Boeuf on the Waxlax Stage. 772-231-6990 on the Stark Stage. 772-231-6990
2-Miler, 5:45 p.m. at Satellite Beach
Library to benefit Satellite High School Running 3-22 Riverside Theatre presents the 20 Melbourne Chamber Music Society FEBRUARY
Programs, with appearances by Santa and Zippy. Broadway musical Chicago on presents the Lysander Piano Trio, 7:30
$15 children; $30 adults. 321-751-8890 the Stark Stage. 772-231-6990 p.m. at St. Marks United Methodist Church in In- 1|2 Jazz 4 the Soul presented by Mel-
dialantic. melbournechambermusicsociety.org bourne Community Orchestra, 7:30
p.m. at Melbourne Auditorium. Free. 321-285-6724
Solutions from Games Pages ACROSS DOWN
in December 8, 2016 Edition 7 HIDE 1 LIKE 3-5 Brevard Renaissance Fair: The Time
8 DWELLING 2 DECIDE of Excalibur at Wickham Park, Mel-
9 FELINE 3 EDGES bourne, Fri. 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day; Sat/
10 SENSES 4 DESSERT Sun 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with 34 acts on 5 stages,
11 SCREW 5 PLAN jousting, food, drink, artisan booths and craft
13 CRACKER 6 INTEREST demonstrations to support arts and education
15 BENEATH 12 CLERICAL programs of local nonprofits. brevardrenais-
16 PARTY 14 STILTON sancefair.com
19 DISMAL 17 AFRAID
21 UPROAR 18 QUIET
23 BACKBONE 20 MAKE
24 IDEA 22 AGES

Sudoku Page 5226 Sudoku Page 2573 Crossword Pagee5226 Crossword Page 5237 (A CURRENT AFFAIR) 3-18 Melbourne’s Upstairs at The
Henegar presents Lady Day at
Emerson’s Bar and Grill, with show-stopping Bil-
lie Holiday songs. henegar.org



36 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

REAL ESTATE

New subdivision coming to Aquarina Country Club

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 and three homes have already been
sold, according to Winkler. He says
homes with both ocean and golf buyers can expect to move into a new
course views, ranging in size from home about eight months after sign-
2,738 square feet to 3,153 square feet, ing a purchase contract.
with starting prices around $650,000.
Winkler and his partner Jeff Parker,
“We are doing a lot of cool things at vice president of CBC, have built ap-
Matanilla Reef, bringing Vero Beach proximately 300 homes between the
quality to Brevard,” says CBC Presi- Sebastian Inlet and Indialantic, in-
dent Dan Winkler. cluding some 175 in Aquarina ,where

A model home is nearly complete

Artist rendering.

the partners have been active since mer customers all around, you have
the mid-nineties. to be outstanding to pull that off.”

“It is noteworthy that Dan and Jeff Brown, executive vice president
have achieved most of their success and chief lending officer at Harbor
in a small, close-knit community,” Community Bank in Fort Pierce,
says Mike Brown Jr., a banker with 25 calls the developers “innovative and
years of experience in development passionate,” and says they “have a
financing who has funded a number great partnership – Dan as the de-
of CBC projects. “With so many for- sign innovator and Jeff as the guy

Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™ Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 37

REAL ESTATE

that brings CBC’s ideas to reality.” Jeff Parker and Dan Winkler. P HOTOS BY DENISE RITCHIE a golf course before selling the devel- Aquarina has about 360 homes
“Lots of builders do single homes opment in late 1990s. The community at present, including single-family,
Cramer with the idea of building 1,600 now belongs to the homeowners and townhomes, villas and condomini-
in existing subdivisions, one-offs, but high-rise units. That plan was later is run by Aquarina Beach Homeown- ums, with room for a couple hundred
Dan and Jeff have a stellar track re- modified and Cramer eventually be- ers Association.
cord of developing fine, architectur- gan the current development, build- CONTINUED ON PAGE 38
ally-themed communities,” says Mi- ing single-family homes, condos and
chael Thorpe, co-owner of Treasure
Coast Sotheby’s International Realty,
who is handling marketing and sales
for the new subdivision.

Matanilla Reef is CBC’s seventh sub-
division within the master-planned
Aquarina Country Club community.
Earlier projects included oceanfront,
riverfront and golf-course subdivi-
sions. The partners recently sold out
Maritime Hammocks, which consists
of 24 single-family homes priced be-
tween $500,000 and $700,000, and built
Aquarina’s new ocean clubhouse.

“The Aquarina community loves
our product. They love our qual-
ity, and they trust us to manage their
money,” says Winkler, who grew up as
a foster child in California where he
was mentored by Roy Rogers and Dale
Evans at their Double R Bar Ranch in
the San Fernando Valley, the pictur-
esque locale where many episodes of
the Roy Rogers Show were filmed.

The 250-acre property where Aqua-
rina is located was first purchased
for development in the early 1980s
by German brewing magnate Albert

38 Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™

REAL ESTATE

Real Estate Sales on South Brevard island: Dec. 5 to Dec. 9

Real estate activity in the two South Brevard island zip codes, 32951 and 32903, was quiet this
past week, with just 1 property sold in Melbourne Beach and 6 in Indialantic.

The featured sale of the week in 32951 was of an oceanfront lot in Sunnyland Groves. The
property at 7833 Highway A1A was placed on the market Feb. 1 with an asking price of
$489,000. The transaction closed Dec. 6 for $427,500.

The seller in the transaction was represented by Patricia Stay of Melbourne Beach Properties.
The purchaser was represented by William Taylor of Treasure Coast Sotheby’s.

SALES FOR 32951

SUBDIVISION ADDRESS LISTED ORIGINAL MOST RECENT SOLD SELLING
ASKING PRICE ASKING PRICE PRICE
$427,500

SUNNYLAND GROVES SUBD 7833 HIGHWAY A1A 1/31/2016 $489,000 $489,000 12/5/2016 $157,000
$225,000
SALES FOR 32903 $440,000
$307,800
CASA DEL SOL BY THE 110 DEL FLORA 10/18/2016 $165,000 $165,000 12/7/2016 $329,000
OCEAN SHORES SUBD OF 1252 BEACHSIDE LN 8/3/2016 $242,500 $239,000 12/6/2016 $204,000
WESTVIEW ESTATES SEC 800 BROOKSIDE DR 5/17/2016 $449,900 $449,900 12/5/2016
INDIALANTIC SEC G 210 12TH 10/24/2016 $315,000 $315,000 12/5/2016
OCEAN SANDS NORTH CO 2727 N HIGHWAY A1A 203 6/30/2016 $335,900 $329,900 12/1/2016
PARADISE BEACH CLUB 290 PARADISE BLVD 38 7/8/2016 $229,000 $209,900 12/1/2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

more at build-out. The community
is loaded with amenities.

“It is the only place between
Vero and Indialantic that has all
the ideal amenities buyers are
looking for – ocean access with a
brand new beach club, river ac-
cess with a pier and boat launch
for boating, an 18-hole golf course
and clubhouse, and a very active
tennis club,” says Thorpe.

“It is a great lifestyle and the price
point is a fraction of what it might be
in other places. If you compare it to
any community in Vero with a golf
course, the difference is clear. Buy-
ers coming here from Lauderdale or
Connecticut are impressed by the
value proposition. They know what
they would have to pay for a large,
luxurious home on a golf course
right across the road from the ocean
in those markets. Matanilla Reef of-
fers the best amenities with a very
affordable carry. Prices are afford-
able and there is no big equity mem-
bership required to move in.”

CBC is also building several spec
homes at Aquarina and is in the
process of entitling a small single-
family home project in Melbourne
Beach, which will be located on
Ocean Ave. west of A1A in the heart
of town. 

Brevard’s South Beach Newsweekly ™ Melbourne Beach 32951 | December 15, 2016 39

REAL ESTATE

Mortgage firm ditches escrow account requirement

BY KENNETH R. HARNEY lender’s security interest in the event with or without escrow accounts, he can vary widely month by month
of a fire or severe damage. told me. Paul Skeens, president of because it’s based in part on com-
Washington Post Colonial Mortgage Group in Waldorf, missions or seasonal factors? Maybe
Giant mortgage investor Fannie Md., says cost-free waivers of escrow you’re self-employed and having con-
If you’ve got a home mortgage, you Mae strongly advocates use of escrow accounts are “a great idea,” although trol over your monthly cash flows and
probably also have an escrow or im- accounts. “We think they’re a good he finds that “most people prefer to expenses is crucial?
pound – a savings account incorpo- idea,” said Fannie Mae spokesman have an escrow account” because
rated into your monthly payment and Pete Bakel. “They give borrowers a “they don’t want to manage tax and In these situations, you may be
managed by your loan servicer so that scheduled way to pay” bills without more likely to want to dispense with
your annual property tax and hazard insurance payments themselves.
insurance bills get paid on time. Most worrying about due dates. Fannie ac- So where do you stand? Do you have an escrow account – ideally without
lenders require them and will allow a cepts mortgages without escrows but a penalty charge. And if United’s new
waiver only if you pay a higher inter- requires lenders or servicers to have the discipline to save up enough to option begins to pull in significant
est rate or a fee. written policies governing the cir- pay annual property taxes when they new loan business to participating
cumstances under which accounts come due? Are you a do-it-yourself brokers – that’s Ishbia’s marketing
But do you really want or need that can be waived. Fannie’s internal type financially – and want to have goal – you just might find that your
quasi-parental helping hand from guidance says the company “espe- control of your funds until the bills bank or mortgage company is now a
your bank? After all, you pay lots of cially” recommends them for “bor- come due rather than ceding that job little more open to the idea of escrow-
other bills on time. Why would you rowers with blemished credit histo- to a bank? Do you have income that free home loans. 
forget to pay taxes or insurance pre- ries” and first-time homeowners.
miums on your biggest asset? And by
the way, don’t the steadily accumu- Banking industry experts say mort-
lating funds in your escrow account gages without escrow accounts carry
provide your bank a low- or no-cost higher risks when the economy slows
pot of cash to use for its own purposes down. Bob Davis, executive vice presi-
unless restricted by state law? dent of the American Bankers Associa-
tion, says those elevated risks, plus the
Now comes the escrow-account need for banks to check on due dates
buster: In a major break with indus- for taxes and insurance and to remind
try tradition, one of the country’s customers, justify extra charges when
largest independent mortgage com- loans have no escrow accounts.
panies wants to free the masses from
mandatory escrow accounts and let Ishbia disputes the idea that es-
borrowers go DIY. Michigan-based crow-free loans are riskier.
United Wholesale Mortgage, which
has a network of 7,000 participating Based on its own servicing records,
brokerage firms nationwide, has be- “there is no difference” in delinquen-
gun offering mortgages with no re- cies or losses between mortgages
quirement for escrow accounts – and
no penalty for the privilege.

“We don’t think it’s right to charge”
more – typically a quarter of 1 percent
(0.25 percent) of the loan amount
– “for something most borrowers
can handle” on their own, says Mat
Ishbia, United’s president and chief
executive. “On a $400,000 loan, is it
right to charge an extra $1,000? We
don’t think so.” Even more costly: Set-
ting up an escrow on a new mortgage
often permits the lender to collect
months’ worth of advance payments
toward upcoming tax and insurance
bills, adding thousands of dollars to
closing expenses.

United allows borrowers to waive
escrow on all conventional loans
with down payments of at least 10
percent. On loans with less than 20
percent down, borrowers need FICO
credit scores above 720. With 20 per-
cent down, a minimum 640 FICO
score is required.

Escrow accounts have been stan-
dard practice for years and have a
solid purpose: They avoid situations
where borrowers neglect to pay prop-
erty taxes or hazard insurance premi-
ums, opening the door to a govern-
ment lien on the house or a loss of the

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