VB32963_ISSUE27_070716_OPT

Local tennis pro re-arrested
on battery charge. P9
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sold on sailing. P20

Lofty literacy goal inspires
Moonshot Moment summit. P16

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MY VERO Former Vero man
files lawsuit over
BY RAY MCNULTY Baker Act arrest

A lonely day of riding
around Central Beach

As GoLine's Beachside Cir- An empty GoLine Beachside Circulator making its way down Ocean Drive. PHOTO BY PHIL SUNKEL BY LISA ZAHNER
culator celebrated its first an- Staff Writer
niversary last week, I did some- Few passengers, so shuttle now plans shift to trolley
thing I hadn't done before. Former longtime Central
BY ALAN SNEL hour shift, but the bus opera- shuttle service from Riverside Beach resident Larry Wilke
I rode the Central Beach Staff Writer tor is forging ahead with plans Park last July 1, primarily to has challenged in federal
shuttle. for a new trolley in hopes of carry Ocean Drive hotel work- court the legality of the Vero
The Ocean Drive shuttle beefing up ridership. ers from an off-street parking Beach Police Department’s
For nearly nine hours – I bus that was supposed to area to their jobs and free up handling of a 2014 incident
took breaks only for lunch relieve the parking crunch GoLine launched the free parking spaces for customers in which Wilke was taken into
and a couple of restroom along Ocean Drive is averag- of retailers along the beach- psychiatric custody under
visits – I sat in the air-condi- ing a somewhat dubious 15 The case of unusual side shopping street. Florida’s Baker Act.
tioned, 12-seat bus as it re- passengers during its daily 12- rash of burglaries on
peatedly circled the two-mile CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Wilke, 72, who filed suit last
loop that services the beach- week in Florida’s Northern Dis-
side business districts along trict federal court as his case
Ocean and Cardinal drives. also includes a subsequent
Baker Act hospitalization in
Too bad I didn't bring a Tallahassee, is acting as his
book. Or need a nap. Or feel in- own legal counsel and says he
spired to do some deep think- will persevere until the case is
ing. Because it might've been a heard. “I will not go away,” he
fine way to spend a lazy, sum- said Friday on the telephone
mer day. from Troy, Alabama, where he
now lives.
Not only did I have plenty of
time to do any, or even all, of The former Dahlia Lane res-
the above. I had the necessary ident says he has spent his ca-
solitude, too. reer building and working on
water and wastewater utility
Most of the day, in fact, I plants and that at the time of
was the shuttle's lone pas-
senger, accompanied only by CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
the driver, a friendly woman
named Connie.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Diesel power plant sale closes; verdict island seems solved County turns to California hired gun to
in lawsuit now expected by Labor Day help enforce short-term rental ordinance
BY RAY MCNULTY
BY MICHELLE GENZ Judge John Galluzzo, a vis- Staff Writer BY SAMANTHA ROHLFING BAITA properties and assist in enforc-
Staff Writer iting circuit judge from the Staff Writer ing a tough new ordinance that
small city of Oviedo, in Semi- The case of a highly un- features costly consequences
In a driving rain last Thurs- nole County, wanted to see usual rash of burglaries on the Indian River County is bring- for non-compliance.
day, a trio of pick-up trucks the inside of the building that north barrier island that took ing in a hired gun from theWest
pulled up to the rear of the prompted an epic dispute place over a three-week pe- Coast to help identify under- Besides quieting down
historic Diesel Power Plant. riod during season may have the-radar, short-term rental party houses and complain-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

July 7, 2016 Volume 9, Issue 27 Newsstand Price $1.00 Burgers & Brews
bash helps
News 1-10 Faith 47 Pets 48 TO ADVERTISE CALL fight poverty. P12
Arts 21-26 Games 49-51 Real Estate 63-72 772-559-4187
Books 44-45 Health 27-32 Style 53-55
Dining 56 Insight 33-52 Travel 46 FOR CIRCULATION
Editorial 42 People 11-20 Wine 57 CALL 772-226-7925

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

2 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Baker Act have not seen it,” O’Connor said. “This port with FBI agents in Ft. Pierce, Wil- portions of the report to be true, the
is a liability issue and our insurance ke alone filed a duplicate report three two agents suddenly and unexpect-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 company handles these matters. We days later with FBI agents in the Mel- edly stated ‘they had heard enough,’
would refer this to our insurance com- bourne field office. stood up and walked out.”
the 2014 incident, he was employed by pany and to their attorneys.”
Poole and Kent Construction, a South “The contents of these reports Daly, Wilke says, had worked as a
Florida environmental design-build In his nine-page complaint, filed pro impacted not only some extremely maintenance man at the hotel and
firm with offices in Vero. Wilke said se or on his own behalf in the federal wealthy and influential people in the had observed “a number of situations
city officials are more than familiar court, Wilke details a narrative that he Vero Beach community, but encom- he deemed to be of interest to federal
with him and with his dispute. “They says began on Jan. 27, 2014, when he passed questionable involvement by law enforcement.”
all know me well,” he said. and another man named John Daly the City of Vero Beach’s Administra-
lodged a report with the Federal Bu- tion as well as the city’s Police Depart- “The hotel had a checkered past and
Vero City Manager Jim O’Connor reau of Investigation about suspected ment. The report centered on possible was known to be problematic by both
confirmed that he and his staff have criminal activity at the now-demol- money laundering, drug running, ille- local and federal law enforcement,”
had numerous interactions with Wilke ished Surf Club hotel on A1A a half gal immigration and prostitution.” Wilke wrote in page 3 of his complaint
at City Hall, but said he was unaware mile north of Jaycee Park. filed on June 24.
that he’d finally filed a lawsuit. “We As Wilke tells it, his statements to
have not been served with anything, I Citing what Wilke calls “irregulari- federal agents were not well received. The night after filing the second re-
ties” with the process of filing the re- “After listening to, and acknowledging port with the FBI, Wilke said, “Around
midnight, the Plaintiff (Age 70) hav-
ing never had any mental problems
in his entire life, awakened suddenly
from a deep sleep with a panic attack.
Perceived as a heart attack, 911 was
called. The Vero Beach Police Depart-
ment responded.”

Wilke said he pleaded for onlookers
to call the state police as he was afraid
of reprisals for having implicated local
cops in his statements to the FBI. At
that point, instead of receiving medical
evaluation, Wilke said he was assaulted
by officers “throwing him to the ground
and double handcuffing him severely
abrading the Plaintiff’s arms.”

Wilke was then taken to Indian River
Medical Center, where he says his in-
juries were photographed and X-rayed
and he was initially released to go
home, but instead, police invoked the
Baker Act and he was admitted to the
hospital’s Behavioral Health Center.

Under certain circumstances, citi-
zens who display signs of mental ill-
ness or the desire to harm themselves
or others may be involuntarily held for
72 hours in a behavioral health facility,
according to state law.

After being released from the hospi-
tal, Wilke said his life got even stranger,
as he traveled to Tallahassee with his
wife and his son, Dr. RyanWilke, on Feb.
4, 2014, to obtain what he hoped would
be an objective second opinion about
what caused the midnight panic attack.

After waiting 15 hours at Tallahassee
Memorial Hospital, Wilke said a doc-
tor there invoked the Baker Act again,
and he ended up being hospitalized
for 27 days and involuntarily medicat-
ed, while he protested and made pleas
to everyone he could think of, up to
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi,
to be released from the facility.

Wilke is also suing the Tallahassee
hospital and its board and parent com-
pany, claiming he was held against his
will, in violation of his civil rights.

“The Plaintiff is the first to ad-
mit that the recounting of this event
sounds bizarre,” Wilke wrote on page
5 of his complaint.

“This curious fact only serves to
make its investigation employing
the Freedom of Information Act, its

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 3

NEWS

revelation to the courts and its pros- als legally entrusted to its use (police, Wilke says he has attempted sever- the Orlando federal courts.
ecution more challenging. While these doctors, et al),” he said. al times to negotiate a fair settlement He has petitioned for $250,000 in
two events concerning first, the City of with the parties, but “negotiations
Vero Beach, and secondly Tallahassee “In both instances the Baker Act, collapsed when they played games,” damages, plus he wants the case to
Memorial Hospital Behavioral Health an otherwise intended noble piece of he said. As legal remedy, Wilke is be considered as a class action suit to
Center, on first glance appear to be well-meaning legislation designed to seeking an injunction against “the represent all the Floridians who have
only tenuously related, they are in protect the public interest as well as City of Vero Beach, its employees and been, as he puts it, “falsely and mali-
fact tenaciously bound by a common patients, was effectively used by dis- associated hooligans” from harassing ciously Baker Acted.” For the class ac-
denominator: the deliberate misap- honest professionals employing well him by electronic or other means. He tion part of the matter, he stated he
plication of the Baker Act by individu- thought-out schemes of deception,” is also seeking a change of venue to believes $70 million would be reason-
Wilke said in his complaint. able compensation to the victims. 

Burglaries seem solved Exclusively John’s Island
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
In a setting designed to afford maximum privacy, this timeless 4BR/6.5BA
been indirectly solved, according to lakefront home enjoys beautifully landscaped grounds and a tropical pool with
police. fountain and spa. The gracious living room opens onto the expansive, sunlit
lanai accessible by all principle rooms. Features include 8,878± GSF, handsome
A man detectives say they believe paneled library, updated island kitchen, family room with wet bar, office, A/C
is responsible for the series of Or- 3-car garage and a 2nd floor with ample storage rooms, and bonus guest suite
chid-area burglaries is currently in- with kitchenette. 150 Sago Palm Road : $3,900,000
carcerated at the Indian River County
Jail on multiple criminal charges not three championship golf courses : 17 har-tru courts : beach club : squash
connected to those break-ins. health & fitness center : pickleball : croquet : vertical equity membership

"We have a suspect in custody on 772.231.0900 : Vero Beach, FL : JohnsIslandRealEstate.com
other charges," Sheriff's Office spokes-
man Lt. Eric Flowers said Friday, "and
we haven't had any burglaries since he
has been in custody."

The suspect was not named be-
cause he hasn't been charged with
any of the four burglaries – one in
the town of Orchid, three in nearby
neighborhoods in an unincorporat-
ed area of the county. Flowers said
the break-ins formally are still under
investigation.

The Feb. 8 burglary of a home on
Sea Spray Lane was the town's first
such crime in more than a decade,
according to Orchid Police Chief Phil
Redstone.

"We've had some reports of thefts,
but there have been no forced-entry
cases here in about 15 years," Red-
stone said, adding that a burglary is
"very unusual" in Orchid.

"This town has a unique makeup
in that we control access," Redstone
said. "Somehow, whoever did this got
through the gate."

The three other break-ins in the
area occurred in the three weeks
before: on Indian Summer Lane
in the Seasons at Orchid ( Jan. 21);
West Island Club Square in Island
Club Manor ( Jan. 23); and Live Oak
Drive, off the Wabasso Causeway
( Jan. 29).

Flowers said an undetermined
amount of jewelry was reported sto-
len in three of the four burglaries,
and that electronic equipment was
taken during the break-in on Live
Oak Drive.

Flowers said in February that sher-
iff's detectives were investigating a
"strong person of interest" whom
they believed could "move about in
these communities without being
noticed." 

4 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Ocean Drive shuttle “Change is difficult,” Deigl said, ex- son said it’s a common ploy for hotel erty, re-park their cars along Ocean
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 plaining why the shuttle had so few workers to move their cars slightly in Drive or behind her building, and then
riders its first year. the same parking space to conceal the sneak back inside.
But merchants interviewed by chalk mark left on the tire by parking
32963 last week report hotel employ- She said the county and the trolley enforcement workers. Next door, John Stringer, co-owner
ees are still parking along the Ocean vendor are finalizing documents for of the J.M. Stringer Gallery at 3465
Driver corridor. They say some cus- the new trolley. Ocean Drive merchant Melinda Ocean Drive, said hotel employees
tomers become frustrated looking for Cooper walked out of her women’s park in spaces behind his building
a space – particularly during season Don’t expect Ocean Drive business clothing store, Cooper & Co. at 3435 that are reserved for the building’s
– and leave without shopping, costing owners to be too impressed. Ocean, strolled a few steps on the commercial tenants.
their businesses needed revenue. sidewalk and pointed across the street
“It’s a waste of money,” Davidson at the place she said Vero Beach Hotel “We have so many clients who say
“If you can’t park, you won’t shop,” said of the funds spent on creating and & Spa workers exit and re-enter when they can’t find parking,” Stringer said.
said Ron Davidson, co-owner of Ex- running the shuttle. moving their cars.
clusively Coastal, a gift shop at 3119 Developer George Heaton, who built
Ocean Drive. Vero Beach parking enforcement She said waitresses, bartenders and the Vero Beach Hotel & Spa, professed
marks the tires of cars parked along other workers leave the resort prop- surprise at the shop owners’ comments.
And both Karen Deigl, CEO of In- Ocean and tickets those that remain
dian River Transit, which runs the Go- more than two hours, but David- Heaton said workers at his hotel are
Line bus service, and Vero Beach City required to use the shuttle and those
Manager Jim O’Connor admitted the who park on Ocean Drive will be fired.
number of people using the Route 16 He said he thought the bus service
shuttle has not met their expectations. was going well, but acknowledged
that “some workers might be” parking
“Owners of the businesses have along Ocean Drive.
concerns about having workers take
spaces from good-paying customers,” Heaton said if the hotel finds out
Deigl said. they are taking up parking spaces on
Ocean, “we will terminate them.”
Despite the low ridership numbers,
GoLine is giving the Ocean Drive shut- The shuttle makes a 20-minute
tle another crack. It will cost about loop, with users parking their cars in
$160,000 to operate the service for an- a lot behind the Riverside Park tennis
other year. Vero Beach Hotel & Spa will courts. The Route 16 service is avail-
kick in $40,000 of that amount. The able 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the
hotel contributed $40,000 last year to GoLine signs installed in the park.
start the shuttle.
The lack of parking along Ocean
Drive is more pronounced during
the busy winter months when Vero
Beach’s oceanfront draws thousands

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 5

NEWS

of tourists and seasonal residents. elry of Orchid Island, said many of the son some “people don’t want to come But he noted that during peak sea-
During summer, the parking crunch spaces in front of her store are filled. here because they don’t find parking.” son, not every Ocean Drive shopper
eases up a bit, with a few open spaces Grimshaw said hotel workers should can park in front of the store of his or
here and there. be required to park at Riverside Park or O’Connor said some employees do her choice, even if no hotel or restau-
some other location besides the Ocean use the shuttle. rant workers take up slots. He believes
Even in summer, though, Anastasiya Drive corridor and said during the sea-
Grimshaw, co-owner of Estate Jew- “The hotels are doing what they can, CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
in my opinion,” he said.

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6 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Ocean Drive shuttle My Vero gers, but she also knows the beach- ership numbers – even during the busy
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 side workers who prefer to drive their winter season here – justify the cost.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 own cars.
GoLine’s new trolley will increase the A full year after the service was intro-
number of riders and hopes shoppers Just once during the long ordeal was As the day rolled along, Connie duced, most beachside hotel and restau-
and other visitors, as well as Ocean I joined by another rider. pointed out the cars of several hotel rant employees still don't take the bus.
Drive workers, will begin to use the and restaurant workers who parked
shuttle service. Otherwise, I might as well have been in the public spaces on Ocean Drive, And they're not alone.
rolling through a latter-day episode of from the south end of the boardwalk Rarely, if ever, do beachgoers, shop-
It doesn’t appear to be used by many the "Twilight Zone." to Humiston Beach Park. pers or diners board the bus, which,
people at present. For example, 32963 for most of its daily, 12-hour run, op-
visited the Riverside Park parking lot To be fair, I was informed four other "I know their cars," she said, "be- erates without passengers and does
behind the tennis courts and did not passengers had jumped aboard for cause I see them go to work." nothing but burn gas.
see a single car at 8:15 a.m. Thursday. short, one-way rides – from the south "After 9 in the morning and until
Later that day at 3 p.m., there still were end of the beachside boardwalk to the The only round-trip rider on this about 3 in the afternoon, I know I'm
no vehicles parked by the circulator Vero Beach Hotel & Spa – in the early- day was Mary Moore, a regular shuttle not going to get anybody, so I can do it
shuttle signs. morning hours before I began my seem- passenger who said she takes the bus quicker," Connie said of the 20-minute
ingly unending tour of Central Beach. because her boss encourages it – and route she regularly completed in less
Even if 15 a day are riding the shut- because it's convenient. than 15 minutes because there were
tle, the ridership trend is headed in the But even the most enthusiastic no passengers waiting at a dozen des-
wrong direction. shuttle proponent would have dif- "I leave home a half-hour early just ignated stops. "Without traffic, I could
ficulty finding reasons to be optimis- so I can get the bus," Moore said. "I make it around in 10 minutes. But that
Last summer GoLine said 25 passen- tic about the bus service launched to don't want to worry about having to would throw off the schedule."
gers were using the shuttle each day. By ferry Ocean Drive hotel and restaurant move my car, and I don't want to get Not that anyone would notice.
November that had dropped to 20 per workers to their jobs as a way to ease a parking ticket." "There have been times when I've
day. Now that reported number has fall- the parking shortage along the beach- had six or seven people on the bus,"
en another 25 percent. side's busy retail and dining strip. As was the case with the day's oth- she said, "but it's not going to get bet-
er four passengers, Moore said she ter until all the employers make their
Deigl said the current shuttle wrap- "A lot of people don't like to ride the worked at the Vero Beach Hotel & people ride."
ping makes it look to some people like bus," Connie said. "Most of the work- Spa, which put up $40,000 to cover Until that happens, don't board the
a Vero Beach Hotel & Spa bus. So, the ers still park their cars on the street." the local share of the $160,000 it cost shuttle expecting to meet new friends
new trolley – expected to be in service to operate the shuttle in its first year or experience a busy, mass-transit feel.
by Sept. 1 – will have more of a GoLine She ought to know: Working three 12- and has done so again. (The rest of the You'll be disappointed.
brand presence “so people will rec- hour shifts and one half-day stint each funding comes from a Florida Depart- But you won’t have any problem
ognize it as a bus in the [free GoLine] week, Connie has been driving this par- ment of Transportation grant.) finding a seat. 
system,” Deigl said.  ticular route since GoLine introduced
the free shuttle service last July. To this point, however, it appears to
be money mostly wasted: It is hard to
Not only does she know her passen- see how the Beachside Circulator's rid-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 7

NEWS

Diesel power plant lawsuit well. The city was counter-suing for The timeline the city gave develop- The downtown, just west of the
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 back rent totaling around $130,000. ers: two years, and with luck, only one. diesel plant, was finally getting its act
together. Galleries were beginning to
over its stalled redevelopment. The trial had started with a com- But the all-clear designation was open on 14th Avenue, and restaura-
Galluzzo will now digest everything ment by John W. Frost, a highly re- not made until 2013, eight years later, teurs started going into old shoe repair
spected trial lawyer hired by the city. when results from all monitoring wells shops and insurance agencies as rents
he saw and heard during five long days He called the case “a pretty vanilla reached target levels. on the beach went through the roof.
of testimony in the non-jury trial just breach-of-contract suit,” a remark Beachside’s Blue Starfish owner Kitty
ended, plus what he’s read in the vo- belied by briefcases the size of cinder- According to the city, despite the Wagner had opened Undertow in full
luminous pleadings and what he will blocks walling in the attorneys’ tables. delay in final cleanup certification, de- view of the plant; right behind it, Black
read in the summations and case law velopers had free rein to do their work, Pearl’s Ian Greenwood had opened
that attorneys will submit over the The professorial, soft-spoken Frost but for some very small restrictions. French Quarter; nearby, Roger Lenzi
next month. He’s expected to rule by burnished the city’s panel of lawyers. opened Avanzare.
Labor Day. But it was Eugene O’Neill who head- The developers and their lawyers ar-
ed the team, along with John Mickley. gued the opposite. When Barth hired Croom Construc-
Meanwhile, responsibility for reno- O’Neill has spent his entire career at tion to rehab the diesel plant, with
vating the property shifted to an out-of- Gould Cooksey Fennel; he has a civil Vocelle and his team, Alexandra Mc- David’s son Charles Croom as project
town developer, Michael Rechter, who engineering degree, and specializes in Gee and Paul Berg, stressed that not manager, the Crooms became one-
over the past decade has been invest- construction law. O’Neill’s stern-faced having the all-clear on the site was a sig- third partners with Block and Barth.
ing millions in commercial real estate monotone plowed forcefully through nificant impediment to the “horizontal” (Block would exit six years later after
here. The 1920s-era diesel plant is his the claims made by the folksier Louis development of the project – parking some legal troubles, and the Crooms
latest purchase at $500,000. He plans B. “Buck” Vocelle, lead attorney for the lots, landscaping, retention ponds, util- and Barth became 50-50 partners.)
to turn it into a craft brewery and gas- developers who, at one point, wheeled ity lines – everything but the plant itself.
tropub. He and the City of Vero Beach around in his chair to give his clients a A start date of Nov. 5, 2005, was
closed on the property last Thursday. happy thumbs up. So arduous were those restrictions, eventually filled in on the lease and,
so onerous over time, that the devel- with that in effect, the developers went
That was the easy part. Divested The suit and countersuit were filed opers were not able to complete their to the bank in summer of ’07. With the
of its albatross, the city was now in in late 2013, but the case goes back to site development, they claimed. leasehold as collateral, valued at $2.4
court arguing it should not have to 2001, when developer Phil Barth and ar- million, they got a $1.5 million line of
reimburse three Vero developers who chitect Charlie Block decided to rent the O’Neill countered it was a collapsing credit from Marine Bank, where David
signed on to transform the plant in the 9,000-square-foot brick shell of a plant economy that derailed the developers’ Croom is a director.
midst of the real estate bubble. from the city. The 45-year lease had its plans. The Great Recession and real
start date left blank, to be entered when estate collapse made tenants scarce Part of that loan process required
Those developers, Phil Barth, David the city provided proof that all environ- and the developers never found one, signing a form that swore the borrow-
Croom and David’s son Charles Croom, mental cleanup, needed after decades the city said. ers had not “received any notice or had
were having to defend themselves as of toxic diesel emissions, was complete.
In the beginning everyone was anx- CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
ious to get the project going. The real
estate market was hot and property
values were rising.

8 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Diesel power plant lawsuit By the summer of 2010, for whatever the developers claimed to have had ance and they never received it; that’s
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 reason, both sides were getting antsy enough. They couldn’t possibly rent when the breach occurred,” said Vo-
about the plant. In five years since the out a chronically dirty site, the court celle, knowing the 2010 date is within
any knowledge that any government au- lease began to run, developers had was told. the timeframe for legal action allowed
thority has determined that or suspected sunk $1 million into the brick shell; in by the statute of limitations.
that there is any unlawful hazardous or the same five years, the city hadn’t col- Croom wrote a letter dated August
toxic substances at the premises.” lected a dime of rent. 2010 demanding that the lease start But, O’Neill pointed out on Barth’s
date be amended and a month later cross-examination, the developers
That was a key point in the city’s case. And in the same five years, the city took informational packets to City had already eliminated site work from
“Barring any misrepresentation to would later maintain, the statute of Hall with documentation of ongoing Croom Construction’s contract more
the bank, they didn’t believe there limitations on any breach of contract contamination at the site. than a year earlier.
were any issues,” said O’Neill. “They was running, too.
could develop, and there was no rea- Croom testified he hand-delivered “At the end of ’08, a conscious deci-
son to flag or tell the bank.” Eventually, passers-by stopped rub- demand packets to the city clerk for sion was made to remove the site work
Over the next two years, passers-by bernecking. Nothing was happening each of the city council members. from the protocol,” said O’Neill. “This
heading east through downtown saw with the diesel plant. was when the economy was tanking
the diesel plant get a serious makeover. “Later that day, I got a call from [City and you had not found a tenant.”
A new roof was installed. Missing pieces That was above ground. Below Manager] Jim Gabbard,” Croom testi-
of stucco cornice were replaced and ground, not much was happening ei- fied. “The very first question Jim asked “I don’t know if that had anything to
painted. Bricks that matched the build- ther. Pressed for an update by develop- me is, are we going to sue the city? I do with the economy tanking,” testi-
ing’s historical style were tracked down ers, the city provided a written summery said it wasn’t our intent to sue the city. fied Barth.
and used to fill in various holes. And the of conditions “affecting development” It was our intent to let the city know
whole south wall of the building that had at the diesel plant. Conditions included what our issues were and maybe we “Why did you take it out?” O’Neill
been chain link fence – one wide pigeon the same residual contamination in the could work them out.” persisted.
perch – was filled in with metal. All was ground, except that “the area impacted
done under the supervision of a histori- for petroleum contaminants of concern Croom said that later the same day, “I don’t remember,” said Barth.
cal architect hired by the developers to has decreased in size due to natural at- he got the documents back from the O’Neill then took Barth back to the
preserve the handsome structure’s place tenuation.” city clerk “so they would not be a part 2005 lease start date. “Did you com-
on the national historic registry. of the public record.” plain to anyone prior to commence-
While all that was going,Vocelle asked That area formed a triangle along the ment date of the lease in ’05? Did you
Barth whether, during 2008 and 2009, railroad easement, from midway down That, according to Vocelle, was when put anything in writing, ‘Hey, I don’t
the state of the economy impacted the the building to the rear property line. the city’s breach of contract occurred. have a certification delivered to me’”
developers’ commitment to go forward. That zone was now the only zone where The city couldn’t ask developers to per- that clean-up is complete?
“No.” Barth replied, as if unfazed. digging required testing. Any water pro- form on a contract that the city itself “No,” responded Barth.
duction wells affecting that area were had breached, Vocelle said. “If the breach is a failure to have a
also banned; from the start, developers certificate of completion and com-
knew irrigation wells were not allowed. “After acting in good faith, trying to pliance – if there was a breach, that’s
comply with what the city wanted, in when it occurred . . . in 2005,” O’Neill
With contamination still present, September 2010 . . . [the developers said. 
demanded] a certificate of compli-

Short term rentals bring more short-term rental opera-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 tors to light, the county will collect
even more tourist tax cash.
ing citizens, stepped-up enforcement
may have some monetary advantages The company has already identi-
for the county. fied 615 short-term rental operations
in the county, included a startling 277
County Commissioners were sur- active rentals in Vero Beach alone.
prised to learn recently that short-
term rentals represented about 34 per- These numbers lent weight to
cent of County Tourist Development County staff’s tough new short-term
Tax collections for the quarter ending rental ordinance proposal, brought
March 31 2016, bringing in $282,773, before the Board of County Commis-
second only to the Hotel/Motel cat- sioners in late June.
egory, according to a staff report.
Commissioners approved the plan
If California consulting firm Host 5-0, finally giving the county an ordi-
Compliance LLC/One Compass can nance with some teeth in it, after years
of conflict and controversy over the
short-term rental issue.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 9

NEWS

Where the county’s efforts focus property as they see fit against neigh-
on unincorporated areas such as the borhood associations’ and individual
north and south barrier island, the homeowners’ rights to a reasonable
City of Vero Beach last year beefed level of peace, quiet and security.
up its code enforcement staff and re-
assigned them to Police Chief David The new county regulations, which
Currey to work with uniformed of- cover only the unincorporated ar-
ficers in a seven-day-a-week quest to eas of the county, will go into effect
produce evidence of transient rental “almost immediately,” according to
activity in residential neighborhoods. Community Development Director
Stan Boling, and require a local license
Both Vero and the county have had that will only be granted with proof of
to be creative, as local governments all a state license and must be renewed
over Florida are hamstrung by a 2011 annually; a limit of two visitors per
law preempting the power to regulate bedroom, plus an additional two per
vacation rentals to the state, except for property; a cap of 10 visitors in any
pre-June 1, 2011, local laws already on one rental property; and, a set of fines
the books. Efforts to control unregu- for non-compliance that Commis-
lated short-term vacation rentals were sioners hope are heavy enough to get
further hobbled by a watered-down the attention of property owners.
bill passed by the 2014 Legislature.
The number of visitors allowed for
Deputy County Attorney Bill De- each property will also be based on
Braal says the contract with Host the capacity of the property’s septic
Compliance is in the final stages of ne- system, which could lower the 10-visi-
gotiations. Once hired, the company, tor cap.
for $10,000 a year, will analyze data
from 20 top short-term rental websites The most complicated issue ad-
and provide the county with updated dressed by the ordinance was disrup-
owner names and addresses, allowing tive, outdoor noise.
county staff to determine which op-
erations are in compliance with local Commissioners couldn’t figure out
and state laws how much was too much, how best
to gauge noise levels or how to en-
Code compliance officers will work force regulations. Agreeing it is “new
with the Sheriff’s Office to force com- ground,” the Commission decided to
pliance and handle offenders. With take the plunge and forbid any ampli-
Host Compliance technology effi- fied sound equipment outside (which
ciently identifying short-term rental could even include a portable radio,
properties, the County expects to save if someone complains), and consider
money and resources by working with ordinance adjustments as needed,
more accurate and up-to-date data. based on individual complaints and
circumstances.
Over the years, the vacation rent-
al battle has pitted short-term (less The Vacation Rental Ordinance
than 30 days) vacation rental property document and the registration ap-
owners’ rights to use their residential plication are available on the County
website, www.ircgov.com. 

Tennis pro arrested again on
more serious battery charge

BY RAY MCNULTY "He was scary, ranting and rav-
Staff Writer ing the way he was," Armstrong said.
"He must've dropped the F-bomb 50
Shortly before 5 p.m. on May 23, times. I didn't know if he was on drugs
Gary Armstrong left his office at Dar- or mentally unstable or what."
ling Construction and, while driving
along Azalea Lane, noticed a man The man, still visibly and vocally agi-
standing in the road and trying to flag tated, was at the scene when the police
him down. arrived. But as Armstrong explained to
the officer what had happened, the
"I thought he needed help," Arm- man walked away, apparently headed
strong said, "so I stopped and rolled for his nearby apartment.
down my window."
According to the Vero Beach Po-
Armstrong said the man approached lice Department's report, the officer
his car and began screaming at him – stopped the man, who "would not
punctuating his verbal assault with answer any questions about the inci-
obscenities – then reached through dent."
the open window and slapped him in
the face, breaking his sunglasses. Instead, when asked for his version
of the incident, the man responded:
Armstrong immediately called 911.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

10 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Tennis pro re-arrested Armstrong is 70, prosecutors in- for confronting the driver. The Long The arrest affidavit also states that
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 creased the charge to battery on a per- Island, N.Y., native said he believed Colloca hurled harsh obscenities at
son age 65 and over – a third-degree Armstrong was a private investigator others in the vicinity while the officer
"You know what happened. You know felony punishable by a sentence of hired to follow him, and that a private was questioning Armstrong. It does
what's going on. You know who they five years imprisonment and a $5,000 investigator has been following him not, however, include what Armstrong
are. Whatever you say is what hap- fine. Colloca, 51, was re-arrested June around for two and a half years. said led to his incident.
pened." 23 and released from jail the next day,
after posting a $2,500 bond. He didn't say why. Armstrong said another man, who
That's when Michael Colloca, a lo- Armstrong, who lives on a sailboat did not want to be identified, caught
cal part-time tennis instructor who Colloca's next court date is set for docked at the city marina, said he's Colloca trying to break into his truck
has worked at some of the Vero Beach July 27, and Armstrong plans to be not a private investigator and has "no in the parking lot of the Wells Fargo
area's premier clubs, was arrested and there to tell the rest of the story. idea" why Colloca would think he was. Bank at Beachland Boulevard and
charged with misdemeanor battery. "Until that day, I had never seen – Mockingbird Drive.
He was released from the Indian River "Not everything is in the police re- or spoken to – the guy before," Arm-
County Jail on $500 bond. port," Armstrong said. strong said, adding that he is a general When the man came out of the
contractor who has worked in con- building, Armstrong said, Colloca
A month later, after realizing that The arrest affidavit states that Col- struction for years. "started running away and turned
loca was being transported to the jail down Azalea."
when he finally offered his reason
That's when Armstrong, who had
just pulled out of the parking lot at his
office, noticed Colloca flagging him
down.

"After he attacked me, there was an-
other SUV that drove by with an older
couple in it, and he started screaming
at them, too," Armstrong said. "He
started yelling, 'That's the other guy.
That's the attorney.'

"Maybe he's schizophrenic," he
added.

"I don't know, but there was defi-
nitely something wrong with the guy,”
he added.

Colloca has worked – only when
needed and on a contract basis – on
the tennis courts at several local clubs,
including Quail Valley and Grand Har-
bor.

He also has worked as a waiter at lo-
cal restaurants.

He has a history with police and the
courts.

He was arrested on a charge of pos-
session of drug paraphernalia in Mar-
tin County in 2004.

In that case, he entered a plea of no
contest and was placed on probation
with the court opting to withhold ad-
judication of guilt.

Another arrest came in Dade Coun-
ty in 2005, when Colloca was charged
with purchasing cocaine, possession
of cocaine, possession of drug para-
phernalia and resisting arrest without
violence.

The two cocaine-related charges
and the drug paraphernalia count
were eventually dropped, and he en-
tered a plea to the resisting arrest
charge, paid a fine and, again, adjudi-
cation of guilt was withheld.

"It's kind of ironic, because I moved
back here to get away from all the
crime in Baltimore," Armstrong said
of his previous home, where he lived
for 13 years.

"I lived here 25 years ago and always
enjoyed coming back to visit. Now I'm
back for good.

"I love the whole Vero Beach scene,
and I'm not going to let this guy ruin
that," he added.

"My only problem is that I was a
Good Samaritan." 



12 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

An appetite to fight poverty at Burgers & Brews bash

1 23

BURGERS & BREWS CAPTIONS

1. Vero Beach Charter High School Theatre Troupe
members Tevin Brown, Christian Anderson
and Josh Lucas. 2. Best Burger winners Elise
Hyatt, Don Benson, Bill Brown and Marcela del
Solar from The Patio. 3. Megan Merrill and Alex
Waddell. 4. Elsa and Robyn Hjalmeby visit with
Eli. 5. Officer Casey Myers with Erika Huddy.

PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE

BURGERS & BREWS PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

45

BY CHRISTINA TASCON The day’s festivities began with that the burger prepared by The Pa- freshment trucks were set up for ev-
Correspondent the Ride Against Poverty, a biking tio had been judged Best Burger. And eryone to enjoy.
event held early in the morning, and the Popular Vote title went to Osceola
Events are relatively scarce dur- continued with a Best Burger in Vero Bistro for its juicy burger served with The coolest guys on the block were
ing Vero’s sizzling summer months, Competition and a Chef’s Slider Lun- a sweet bacon onion marmalade, aru- the ones in the celebrity dunk tank,
which made the Independence Day cheon at the Heritage Center that gula and crispy Italian ham. who taunted and teased folks into
weekend the perfect time for a new drew a sold-out crowd. purchasing chances to hit the target
festival. Crowds came out in full force “The Patio’s was definitely the best and catapult them into the water.
Saturday, beating the heat by enjoy- Gourmet burgers from 14 Bones, and one of the only ones not over-
ing icy cold beverages and cool music 21st Street Taphouse, Beef O’Bradys, cooked,” said attendee Rebecca Ches- “We thought doing an event and
at the inaugural Burgers and Brews: Citrus Grillhouse, Cobalt, JJ’s Sports ley. street festival would introduce us to
An American Heritage Celebration to Bar, Osceola Bistro, Patio Seafood the 14th Avenue community and a
support United Against Poverty of In- Tavern and Planet Yum deliciously “I can’t have gluten so I ate mine burger contest would be a lot of fun,”
dian River County. competed for bragging rights to the without the bun and got a more pure said UP Executive Director Anna-
title. flavor of the burger,” she added. bel Robertson, who hoped the event
United Against Poverty (or UP), pre- “Theirs had caramelized onions, aru- would raise roughly $25,000 to help
viously known as the Harvest Food Each restaurant had also provided gula and mushrooms.” with their capital campaign. “Vero
and Outreach Center, is getting ready an abundance of sliders for ticketh- Beach needed a great summer event
to move its facility to the north end of olders to sample and pick their own Outside, with temperatures soaring and who doesn’t love a burger?”
14th Avenue and felt that utilizing the favorites from among the many cre- into the 90s, attendees took full ad-
Historic Downtown Vero Beach area ative choices. vantage of the oak tree-shaded bench- “We are going to have this as a
was a great way to get to know their es along 14th Avenue as they listened kick-off to Fourth of July each year
new neighbors. UP programs help to The blind-taste competition – in to a live concert featuring the Ladies from now on. We are very grateful
“inspire and empower people living which judges had to taste burgers of Soul and the Crooked Creek Band. that the community came out and
in poverty to lift their families to eco- and then fill out forms in a matter of got together to help support fami-
nomic self-sufficiency.” seconds – resulted in a fair bit of con- Others strolled along the many lies; helping them achieve their
fusion. vendor booths, which even included American dream,” said UP Presi-
a small petting zoo. And along 21st dent/Founder Austin Hunt. 
But at the end, it was announced Street an assortment of food and re-



14 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

78

BURGERS & BREWS PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 9 10

6 11 12
BURGERS & BREWS CAPTIONS

6. Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey. 7. Nancy Forlines, Barbara and Dennis Lowry, David, Beth and Sherry
Brown, and Kip Forlines. 8. Bridget, Maureen and Alan MaGuire. 9. Jack Harris. 10. Kristi and Matthew
Challenor with Jeanne and Drew Fallis. 11. Misael Marzo and Chris Budlong from Osceola Bistro. 12. Annabel
Robertson and Martin Lavander.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 15

PEOPLE

15
13 14 16
17 18 19

20

BURGERS & BREWS CAPTIONS

13. Debbie and Tom Hughes with Linda and Bob
Belcher. 14. Carmen Stork and Shelley Luther.
15. Scott Varrichio from Citrus Grill House.
16. Kelly Clemenzi and Callie Hughes. 17. Best
Burger Competition chefs. 18. Bob Boeschen with
Matthew, Deborah and Percy Lopez. 19. Annabel
Robertson with Best Burger winners Elise Hyatt,
Bill Brown and Don Benson from The Patio. 20. Bri
Fowler, Officer Anthony Schnur and Ariana DeCosa.

16 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Barbara Pearce, David Griffin and Susan Del Tufo. Brooke Flood, Marshall Adams and Nate Bruckner. PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE Chris Ryall, Heidi Sparkes Guber and Beth Hofer.

Lofty literacy goal inspires Moonshot Summit

BY MARY SCHENKEL citizens packed McAfee Hall at First meet this aspirational goal. It really from the 2008 general recession,”
Staff Writer Presbyterian Church to learn how is all of us. The citizens have to own said Hammond.
they might help the Indian River the goal of educating all of our kids,”
At the recent Moonshot Moment County School District achieve the said TLA Executive Director Barbara Event moderator Heidi Guber reit-
Community Summit hosted by The lofty Moonshot Moment goal of hav- Hammond, stressing that third grade erated the importance of community
Learning Alliance, close to 300 com- ing 90 percent of all third grade stu- marks the transition point between partnerships, saying, “Communities
munity and business leaders, edu- dents reading at grade level by 2018. learning how to read and reading to are the nexus of social change. This
cators, politicians and concerned learn. “A Moonshot community fol- is not just about literacy. It relates to
“It’s going to take a lot of us to lows up on that aspirational vision everything we want to achieve. We’re
with action and collaborative learn- not the only ones dealing with this
The Art & Science ing and doing whatever it takes to get issue. This is a national issue and
us into that goal.” people are looking for solutions. You
of Cosmetic Surgery already are on the map nationally for
Hammond founded the organi- what you’re doing; you are a national
SPECIALTIES INCLUDE: zation six years ago with Liz Woody model.”
• Minimal Incision Lift for the and stated that studies show school
Face, Body, Neck & Brow reform efforts take seven to 12 years She stressed the difficulty of at-
• Breast Augmentations & Reductions to take hold. She noted that an as- tempting to achieve an ideal situa-
• Post Cancer Reconstructions tonishing number of families in our tion without knowing how to do it;
• Chemical Peels • Botox community are struggling just to recognizing that breakdowns in the
• Obagi Medical Products • Laser Surgery meet basic daily needs. Sixty-eight process are often doorways to the
• Liposculpture • Tummy Tucks percent of families are on the free/re- next solution. “Your plan is always a
• Skin Cancer Treatments duced lunch program, an increase of hypothesis. It’s not the right answer;
50 percent since 2008, and the stress there’s room for many,” said Guber.
related to that increased poverty is
just now showing up in classrooms. Michael Kint, United Way of In-
dian River County CEO, spoke about
“We need businesses to have the significance of the ALICE (Asset
healthy jobs. We have not recovered Limited, Income Constrained, Em-
ployed) Report, representing work-

Celebrating Over 25
Years in Vero Beach

3790 7th Terrace
Suite 101

Vero Beach, Florida

772.562.5859

www.rosatoplasticsurgery.com

Ralph M. Rosato
MD, FACS

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 17

PEOPLE

1 23

4 56 MOONSHOT CAPTIONS

ing families living below the house- look shows improvements in some ognized as the “originators of social 1. Bruce Green, Judi Miller, Elizabeth Thomason,
hold survival level of $48,323 who are areas. For example, there have been change” in Indian River County, with Shannon Maitland and Liz Woody. 2. Kristen
struggling to meet basic necessities proficiency improvements among Kerry Bartlett noting, “As a result of Redner, Martha Redner, Caroline Barker, Roxanne
such as housing, food, healthcare, the same groups of students, and the their contributions, the community Decker and Kathryn Redner. 3. Denny Hart,
childcare and transportation. In In- district has seen an overall 12 percent was ripe to catapult the Moonshot Christine Jacobs, Mary Silva, Brian McMahon
dian River County (based on the 2013 literacy growth in K-3 classrooms. Moment forward. Our job is to take and Kerry Bartlett. 4. Diane Fannin, Barbara
U.S. Census for families of four), 14 Students who attended two Moon- it to the next level. They have set the Hammond, Jennifer Croom and Jenn Faber.
percent live below the $23,050 federal shot Academy sessions (14 weeks) bar very, very high.”  5. Kimberly Garcia, Carl Fetzer, Suzy Feeney and
poverty level and another 30 percent saw a 65 percent literacy proficiency Charles Croom. 6. Frances McDonough, John
represent ALICE – meaning close to improvement, reinforcing the need Kim, Annabel Robertson and Megan Kendrick.
half the population are walking a fi- for additional extended learning op-
nancial tightrope. portunities for students and teachers.

“The ALICE population is impor- “More and more students are com-
tant and it matters to all of us,” said ing to school with greater challenges
Kint. “We need ALICE to succeed. and less resources, facing challenges
When we ignore ALICE we risk the fu- that we couldn’t have imagined 12
ture well-being of our communities. years ago when the free and reduced
When any part of the community is lunch rate was under 40 percent.
struggling financially, it affects the And now it’s moving quickly to 70
prosperity of all.” percent,” said Green, adding that
in addition to academics, teachers
Hammond said data show profi- must also meet the social and emo-
ciency rates of 43 percent for children tional needs of those students.
from impoverished families versus
73 percent for families with resourc- Crediting former school superin-
es. National studies show kids whose tendent Fran Adams with embracing
families are struggling to make ends the support of the entire commu-
meet hear 30 million fewer words nity, Hammond said, “The relation-
by the time they’re 3 years old. They ship between the community and
come in not ready for kindergarten the school district is looked on with
and our schools aren’t set up to pro- envy across this nation because
vide the extra time after school to school districts do not open up their
catch them up currently. So there’s arms and say ‘come on in and let’s
a lot of work going on here on how work on this together.’ A Moonshot
to break that, with afterschool and Community is one that holds the
summer programs to help those kids goal and ensures that the goal sur-
catch up.” vives through superintendent turn-
overs and elected official turnovers,
Indian River County School Dis- and that’s truly remarkable and his-
trict Assistant Superintendent Bruce toric.”
Green spoke about Moonshot class-
rooms building 21st century skills for The day-long summit continued
today’s workforce by teaching critical with stories from a number of educa-
thinking, creativity, collaboration tors and collaborative partners, and
and problem-solving. ended with round-table discussions
among breakout groups.
Green said that while the recent
2015-16 student performance data is Additionally, Ellie McCabe, Alma
discouraging at first glance, a closer Lee Loy and Bob Brackett were rec-

18 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Kids prove Bubble Wrap Explosion is tops for pops

1 23

4567

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

8

9

BUBBLE WRAP CAPTIONS

1. Dad Nick and son Jordan Casiello visit the

Book Center together. 2. Kids of all ages enjoy the

bubble wrap explosion. 3. Kids and parents make

crafts together. 4. Anapei Rahilly pops bubble

wrap with her mom, Michelle Rahilly. 5. Kayden

Morgan pops the bubble wrap. 6. Gabriella

Cerritos jumps on bubble wrap. 7. Jonathan Lopez

plays with toy cars. 8. Clara and Lillie Hale wait

their turn for crafts. 9. Erin Rich reads a story to

the kids. PHOTOS: LEAH DUBOIS

The air was peppered with the
sounds of “fireworks” as children
jumped up and down with glee as
they popped piles of bubble wrap
saved up throughout the year
at the Vero Beach Book Center’s
annual Bubble Wrap Explosion.
Owner/manager Chad Leonard
has continued the time-honored
tradition started by his parents,
store founders Tom and Linda
Leonard, which featured children
clapping and singing to patriotic
music, showing their creativity at
craft tables and listening intently
to stories before the moment they
had all eagerly awaited – the great
bubble wrap stomp. 

20 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Water good time! Youth campers sold on sailing

1
2

3

1. Grant Stromberg 2. Juliette Richroyall,

Kaitlynn Nappo and Raelyn Macera. 3. Jack

Karpring slides the keel into place on one of the

small sailboats. PHOTOS: PHIL SUNKEL

Members of the Sebastian Boys
and Girls Club were treated to a
week-long Youth Sailing Founda-
tion Camp, held at the Moorings
Yacht and County Club, thanks
to scholarships granted by gener-
ous donors. “We had a wonderful
group; the kids have done excep-
tionally well. The instructors were
very pleased with their progress,”
said board member Chris Pope
of the campers, a mix of boys and
girls ages 9 to 11. It was the first
time sailing for each of them, but
all gained confidence on the water
in the colorful Optimist dinghies.
“They were very well behaved and
wrote the nicest thank-you notes,
with beautiful artwork,” Pope
added. To register for free begin-
ner classes during the school year
visit www.ysfirc.org. 



22 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

A space-art odyssey blasts off at Vero Museum

It was a packed house for the lecture about the
new NASA exhibit at the Vero Beach Museum

of Art last week. PHOTOS BY LEAH DUBOIS

BY ELLEN FISCHER And the curatorial staff at the Ken- ago, when “Out of this World: The Art Apollo mission blast-off; Wilson Hur-
Correspondent nedy Space Center “didn’t say no to and Artists of NASA” was just a twinkle ley’s conceptual views of space probes
anything,” he marvels. in the curator’s eye. Williams says that approaching Saturn and Mars.
Talk about a kid in a candy shop. Mangold, who has an art history de-
When Vero Beach Museum of Art cu- “They gave us everything we asked gree as well as a talent for packing and Even the most hopelessly left-
rator Jay Williams was asked to select for.” installing art, was a boon companion brained among us will appreciate the
works for a new exhibition from the in the initial selection process. painterly skill and you-are-there drama
NASA art collection, he found it hard to “We” refers to the museum’s chief displayed in every one of those techni-
make up his mind. preparator, Matthew Mangold, who ac- The two spent eight hours poring cal masterpieces.
companied Williams to Cape Canaver- over the 300 to 400 pieces in storage at
al. That trip took place about two years the Space Center. The entire collection, Art lovers of all stripes will be amused
the lion’s share of which is at the Na- by the William Wegman 2001 photo-
tional Air and Space Museum in Wash- graph “Chip and Batty Explore Space”
ington, D.C., comprises 3,000 artworks. that greets visitors just outside the
entrance to the Holmes Gallery. Some
“We wanted to cover NASA’s history, patrons will remember that Wegman’s
as well as various styles of art NASA had large-scale photos were featured in the
commissioned, ranging from very con- same gallery five years ago.
temporary and almost abstract work, to
work that is documentary and realist in Celebrated for using his pet Weima-
style,” says Williams. Seventy-one art- raners as actors in his artistic mus-
works made the final cut for the show. ings on the human comedy, Wegman’s
NASA-themed offering shows a space-
And don’t expect a room of render- suited Chip floating away from a space
ings of obscure rocket parts. Sure, the station where Batty, Chip’s real-life
air and space buffs among us have mother, gazes forlornly after him.
plenty to swoon over: the meticulous-
ly detailed paintings of experimental Other contemporary works on ex-
rocket planes soaring above the clouds hibit include Annie Leibovitz’s solemn
by Stan Stokes, Ren Wicks and Michael 1999 photo of Colonel Eileen Col-
Machat; another Stan Stokes of a fiery lins wearing a vivid orange pressure
suit. There is Robert Rauschenberg’s

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 23

Lecturer Francis French. ARTS & THEATRE

Suit-Up,” made in 1981, is a view from self, isolated in a compartment of blue
the site reserved for the media dur- sky. While Hoffman’s ostensible sub-
ing launches. It presents a drab land- ject is the prosaic side of news gather-
scape whose foreground is taken up ing, he offers us the pure delight of his
by audio equipment, a cold cup of picture-painting prowess, including
coffee and TV monitors that transmit masterful drawing and sensual, often
identical images of an astronaut being dimensional, paint handling.
strapped into his suit by a pair of dis-
embodied arms. Like a proud parent, Jay Williams is
reluctant to reveal his favorite artwork
His “Launch Window” painted the in the group.
same year is compositionally divided
into three parts. From left to right they “All of the artworks are of equal qual-
show a temporary TV studio where two ity, they’re very, very good,” he says.
news anchors face a camera; the blank
expanse of stretched canvas that forms “If I had a gallery twice this size, I
one side of the studio, and the lift-off it- would show more.”

The space art exhibition runs
through Sept. 25. 

six-and-a-half-foot-tall lithograph John Pike, popularly remembered for his
“Hotshot” from 1982, Andy Warhol’s painting school, how-to books and line
“Moonwalk (Pink)” from 1987, and of eponymous art supplies. His “Moon
Elizabeth McGrath’s “Moon Mission” Jewel” (1969) shows the nighttime
from 2008. launch preparations of the manned
Apollo 10 spacecraft. In the embrace of
The last is a humorous take on as- a spot-lit launch tower, a gleaming rock-
tronaut Alan Shephard’s Feb. 6, 1971, et is readied for takeoff. Behind it looms
stunt of driving a golf ball on the moon. the moon, looking for all the world like
McGrath’s mixed-media construction a gigantic meteor about to crash into
bears the legends “Lords of the Lu- earth. Not that much farther out, Mars
nar Links” and “Ham and Enos Jr.” in glows enticingly.
carnival-type script above and below
a window that reveals a two-headed, The other painting in the exhibi-
google-eyed bipedal creature. Depict- tion that approaches “Moon Jewel” for
ed standing on the moon’s cratered spectacle is an operatic composition
surface (in a plaid golf sweater, no less), painted by Hungarian-born Attila Hejja.
the little alien is posed at the top of a “The Cape Winds” (1983) depicts a vast
backswing in anticipation of its own landscape in which a colossal crawler-
moon shot. transporter bears a space shuttle and its
rockets to the launch site. The sky that
Works by artists that were names dominates the scene is filled with storm
back in the day occupy a corner of the clouds that theatrically part just above
gallery devoted to NASA in the 1960s. A the launch tower, flooding the shuttle’s
cubism-inspired watercolor of a rocket slow path with light.
on its launch pad is the subject of Lamar
Dodd’s “Saturn Structure” (1969). Below Martin Hoffman, a Florida native
that is an impressionistic watercolor of who resided in Vero during the last
the same subject by Peter Hurd, “Pre- dozen years of his life (and is the sub-
launch Activity” (1973). Known for his ject of a 32963 obituary by this writer
murals and paintings of the American following his death here in 2013), is
West, Hurd also happened to be An- represented by two paintings in “Out
drew Wyeth’s brother-in-law. of this World.” An artist of both regional
and national note, Hoffman simulta-
Wyeth himself begged off doing a neously juggled two artistic careers. As
commission for NASA in favor of his an illustrator, he created art for movie
son, Jamie Wyeth, whose 1965 water- posters, record albums and print ad-
color “Waiting” depicts a lull in the vertisements; as a fine artist, he exhib-
Gemini program’s launch schedule. A ited contemporary realist paintings at
lonely palm tree dead center in that O.K. Harris Gallery in New York City.
composition is flanked left and right by
two distant launch towers. Hoffman’s paintings in the current
exhibition are sly takes on the report-
The tour de force of the section, how- age of the Space Program. “Sunrise
ever, is the acrylic on board painting by

24 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

Dance star steps into ‘Evita’ choreographer role

BY MICHELLE GENZ who slept her way to power. Dance instructor Karren Walter. partnership with Bui on the competitive
This weekend, Walter will conduct a pro-am circuit.
Staff Writer PHOTO BY DENISE RITCHIE
two-day Latin dance workshop at the The duo’s crowning achievement
For years, ballroom dance instructor Vero Beach Theatre Guild in prepara- family back home to Vermont every was performing at the 1999 Super
Karren Walter kept a full-size poster of tion for auditions for “Evita.” summer. “They were social dancers,” Bowl halftime show in Miami. The Vero
Vero physician Glenn Tremml in her Walter recalls. “In Vermont, they had pair, among 40 couples picked from
spare bedroom. And her husband nev- Unlike the Dancing with the Vero social dances in a big barn, and my fa- nationwide auditions, swing-danced
er cared. Stars timeline – which includes months ther and my uncle Morris would dance on the 50-yard line as the California
of preparation, post-workshop prac- with me, the foxtrot, the polka. My un- swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
“All my guys are great, and I’ve loved tice time is tight: Auditions are sched- cle Morris used to knock my knees, but performed “Go Daddy-O” – followed
every one of them,” she says. “They’re uled for July 17, 25 and 26. that’s how I learned to follow. By the by Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan,
good sports. They let me do what I time I got to Fred Astaire, I could follow who chose the couple for even more
want with them.” Wygonik, who is directing “Evita,” very naturally from the start.” airtime: They were one of 10 couples
has chosen Walter as the show’s cho- chosen to join her on the stage for
For seven years, Walter has part- reographer. She has previously cho- That was in 1990. Walter was work- “Oyé,” the Spanish-language hit from
nered – outside her bedroom – well- reographed “Oklahoma,” “Disney’s ing as a sales clerk at Anthony’s when a her 1998 dance album, “Gloria!”
known Vero professionals in the char- Beauty and the Beast” and performed customer who was the secretary at the
ity fund-raising Dancing with the Vero as a stripper in “Gypsy,” directed by Jon Fred Astaire studio convinced Walter to “They said we were the most animat-
Stars annual event at Riverside The- Putzke. “He was fabulous,” she says. come in for a lesson. “She told me, ‘You ed,” says Walter proudly, dashing off a
atre. She convinced Northern Trust’s “He was very patient.” gotta come meet Eddie. You’re gonna few poses from her night in the spotlight.
Andy White to dress in a shiny shirt and love Eddie.’” That was Eddie Buitrago,
dance pants for a number to Michael “I’d never done any acting or sing- who went by Eddie Bui. Today, Walter works as a reception-
Jackson’s “Bad” – and at one point told ing on stage before,” she says. “I wore a ist at Kimley-Horn and Associates. Af-
him, “Grab your crotch. No really. Grab little gold body suit and high red suede Walter went for a couple of lessons, ter years of working at Victoria’s Secret
your crotch.” He finally did. boots. I looked like Wonder Woman.” and started working the refreshment in the mall, and briefly as a bank teller
table at their Tuesday night dance par- on Miracle Mile – where she was held
And she transformed the normally As she began to work out her dance ties in exchange for more lessons. She up at gunpoint and locked in the vault
shy Tony Donadio, a Vero architect, by for “Gypsy,” she asked the set designer took a job there at the front desk, and It
ordering him to grow his beard scruffy, for a pole, which he gladly provided. “I wasn’t long before she earned her certi-
don a cowboy hat and go shirtless un- can be a little risqué,” says Walter coyly, fication as instructor, and began a long
der a shiny black vest. “He’s got a cute offering two beats of grind as proof.
little body,” Walter says analytically. “You want risqué, I got risqué.”
She found that out in a hurry: When
Donadio on first meeting confessed to A certified Fred Astaire instructor –
having a tattoo on his biceps, Walter she passed an eight-hour exam of the
barked: “Take your shirt off. Let me see 10 major dances, both leading and
it.” He obliged. following – she taught for years at the
franchise’s studio in the Kmart plaza.
“They say I’m tough,” says Walter. When the studio closed, she followed
“But I make it fun.” one owner, Robert Scott, when he
opened Indian River Ballroom. “Right
As a woman who can make powerful behind Arby’s,” Walter says as if by rote.
men drop to one Spandex-clad knee, it
is fitting that director Mark Wygonik of Other than an age requirement – 15
the Vero Beach Theatre Guild has asked or over – the workshop is wide open,
Walter to choreograph this fall’s pro- even to dance novices. Walter is certain-
duction of the ballbuster – uh, make ly sympathetic – she didn’t start dancing
that blockbuster – musical “Evita!” until the age of 36.
Written in the style of a rock opera by
Tim Rice and with music by Andrew Walter grew up on Long Island, one
LloydWebber, the work is loosely based of two sets of twins – she remains very
on the life of Eva Perón, the charismatic close to her twin sister, a banker in Mi-
wife of Argentine president Juan Peron ami Lakes. In childhood, Walter’s par-
ents, who worked on different wards at
the same psychiatric hospital, took the

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 25

ARTS & THEATRE

– she decided answering the phones at Arby’s,” as she sums up by rote. all he did,” she says, smiling. Another The Latin dance workshop for both
Kimley-Horn leaves her with the most In Vero, she teaches “whenever any- had a prosthetic leg. He came in without days costs $10 and runs from 10 a.m.
time for dancing. She has worked there his wife, who dropped him off. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
11 years. body needs it,” chiefly on Saturdays. Her Sunday at the Theatre Guild, 2020 San
clients range from couples preparing for “After a couple of months, I told him Juan Ave. The only requirement is that
She gives private lessons in ball- their wedding to people looking for ex- he’s ready, ask your wife. She came in dancers be 15 or over. “Evita” will run
room dancing at the Indian River ercise. “One elderly gentleman wanted and they danced,” she recalls proudly. Nov. 10-27. 
Ballroom near U.S. 1, “right behind to do the foxtrot for exercise, and that’s “His wife cried, but he was so happy.”

26 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

Coming Up: String Camp sounds … and Howls of delight

BY MICHELLE GENZ is part of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensem- polish they need, but
Staff Writer ble, launched the Vero Beach Interna-
tional Music Festival a few years back, the business savvy to
an ambitious-sounding proposition
that is increasingly becoming a real- survive.
ity. Not only has Block continued to
1 Saturday night is the student attract stellar talent to his faculty, he This inaugural year,
concert and barn dance of the has finagled a way to add novice pro-
fessionals to the mix. The camp’s Flor- the String Camp fac-
ida Band Incubator is intended to give
Mike Block String Camp. Then, next new bands not only the performance ulty will be coaching

week, the second string arrives – but the Sound Accord, a

that hardly applies, since this is the group of six fiddlers

advanced section and includes a new and cellists who met

effort called Florida Band Incubator. – of all places – at fid-

Block, the Juilliard-trained cellist who dle camps. Longtime

Vero camp instructor

Hanneke Cassel wrote

a positive blurb on the

group’s website, so we

can assume they’ve al-

ready been vetted by

more than an audition

tape. The chamber-folk

string sextet has per- One of Shotsi LaJoie’s paintings that’s currently on display at the Indian
formed mostly in Ari- River County Courthouse.

zona, but opened for

a recent performance in Cambridge, year, the group put out its first full-

Mass., for Natalie Haas, another regu- length album of new songs since 2007.

lar on the String Camp faculty. As for Brand New, they’re old news as of

Sound Accord will join the camp’s this tour: They just announced they’re

advanced students at the String Camp breaking up.

Extension Week. They all will perform Anybody rememberY2K? Next Satur-

along with faculty next Thursday and day, July 16, the My2K Tour comes to the

Friday nights, July 14 and 15, at 7:30 same amphitheater, featuring boy band

p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. 98 Degrees; the girl band Dream; Ryan

And of course, Wednesday, July 13, is Cabrera; and O-town, the group formed

the concert of the second week’s faculty in an MTV reality show.

on its own, with five new string players Then, in quick succession, the leg-

joining Block and Cassel. That concert, endary Snoop Dogg and the news-

too, is at 7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian. making Wiz Khalifa (he’s being sued by

his label) perform on Wednesday, July

2 Riverside Theatre’s new Howl 20. On Friday, July 22, the Counting
at the Moon event returns this Crows and Rob Thomas, the Orlando-

weekend with different musicians and, reared songwriter and lead singer from

of course, a different audience – un- Matchbox Twenty, kick off a 40-city

less the same crowd that was there two tour. The following Wednesday, Gwen

weekends ago packs the place again. Stefani plays with her early-2000s com-

This time, the pianists are Rob Volpe plement, Eve, on July 27. And on Aug.

and John Kenney. It’s a gig that for me 5, the ’90s punk-pop band Blink 182

would seem more like waterboarding takes the stage.

than keyboarding, having to take au-

dience requests and deliver to a crowd 4 While a new exhibit at the Vero
from 28 to 88. The Howl franchise Beach Museum of Art features

somehow figures out how to recruit, art inspired by space exploration

based on the last performances: These (more on that in this section), art in

are polished performers with memo- public places offers a boost where you

ries the size of search engines and the least expect it, and in this case, may

ability to turn on a dime from Frank need it most.

Sinatra to Sinead O’Connor. The Indian River County Courthouse

may not be tops on your list for a culture

3 If you’re interested in a more ho- fix, but for the lawyers, judges, would-
mogenous music mix, a summer be jurors and would-rather-not-be fam-

outdoor rock concert might be just the ily members, the stately halls have been

thing and there’s a string of them com- hung with some pretty spectacular

ing up at West Palm’s Perfect Vodka Am- paintings lately. Shotsi LaJoie, one of the

phitheatre (formerly Cruzan). founding artists at Tiger Lily downtown,

Friday night, Modest Mouse co-head- has been at work on the large abstracts

lines with Brand New. Modest Mouse for several years now, having turned

worked hard at an off-beat indie-rock from sculpture and ceramics. Her works

sound through the early 2000s, then are throughout the building this month

went mostly dark in 2007. Then last and next. 



28 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

New scanner an ‘essential tool’ in battling cancer

BY TOM LLOYD or science girl wouldn’t want an awe-
Staff Writer some new tool that’s – at least in part –
regulated by the International Atomic
A positron emission tomography– Energy Agency, and that combines two
computed tomography (PET-CT) scan- kinds of images to give doctors a much
ner might not be everybody’s idea of clearer look at the interior of the hu-
the perfect present, but don’t try to man body than any single-scan device.
tell that to Dr. Jon Glazer, certified di-
agnostic radiologist at Vero Radiology Manufactured by General Electric
Associates. and named Discovery IQ, the scanner
has earned rave reviews from medi-
After all, what kind of science guy calphysicsweb.org, which praises its

Dr. Jonathan Glazer with the Discovery IQ PET/CT Scanner. PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE

“outstanding image quality and intel- continues, “we went down almost half
ligent quantitation in helping physi- in radiation. Right now our average
cians deliver the best possible patient dose is in the 7-8 milliliter range and
outcomes.” it was more like somewhere between
15 to 17 milliliters, so it’s about half as
Indeed, the site goes on to call the much now.”
Discovery IQ “an essential tool in de-
livering personalized patient care” “The second advantage,” accord-
that enables physicians like Glazer to ing to Glazer, “is the time spent in the
see much smaller lesions deep within scanner. It’s now 20 minutes a patient.
the body that could signal the begin- Previously it was 35 minutes, so it’s al-
ning stages of a variety cancers much most half as well, which helps the pa-
earlier than previously possible. It also tient.”
makes its scans faster and emits lower
doses of radiation while still producing The third advantage, continues
improved image quality. Glazer, “is the quality. The sensitivity
is better, so we can see smaller abnor-
Glazer says he sees four primary malities.”
advantages to the new million-dollar
scanner that was recently installed at Finally, Glazer points to the actual
his 11th Circle offices. physical length of the Discovery IQ.

“The biggest advantage, in my book,” Glazer says with older scanners, “we
the University of Maryland Medical had to actually stop mid-way and turn
School grad explains, “is it reduces the patient around” in order to get a
radiation.” For the PET scan alone, he full body scan, which “was a pain for
the patient and a pain for us.”

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 29

HEALTH

Developed over a three-year period Then there’s the International
at a cost of over $15 million in Ban- Atomic Energy Agency which, by
galore, India, this GE device not only federal statute, is charged with
scans for pre-cancerous lesions, it can helping provide patient safety stan-
also help monitor the progress of a pa- dards and guidelines for such de-
tient’s cancer treatments, including vices.
targeted radiation and chemotherapy.
The IAEA says that while PET and
Another endorsement of the Discov- CT scans are different, they are def-
ery IQ comes from Sebastian resident initely “complementary.”
and breast cancer survivor Judy Jones.
“A PET scan,” says IAEA, “shows
Jones’ oncologist, Dr. Noor Mer- areas with increased metabolic
chant of the Sebastian River Medical activity, while the CT scan shows
Center and Florida Cancer Specialists, detailed anatomical locations. A
ordered her Discovery IQ scan, as she combination of these two images
puts it, “just as a precaution thing. Just together enables a doctor to tell
to make sure everything’s OK.” whether a region with high meta-
bolic activity is significant” or of
Precautionary or not, Jones minces concern.
no words in her review of the new de-
vice. Moreover, the IAEA says that
combined PET/CT scans can help
“This machine,” she exclaims, “is monitor the effectiveness of treat-
awesome. It’s big. I have more room. ments for a variety of diseases in
More air. And it’s comfortable. And

Technician Ken Klein monitors a scan.

quicker. Much quicker than the old addition to cancer.
one.” So far both Glazer and the new

Jones’ praise then quickly spills scanner have been busy.
over to the Vero Radiology Associates Says Glazer, “It’s only been here
staff in general, and lead PET scan
technician Ken Klein in particular. since about March or April, about
three months, and we have done ...
“They’re wonderful. All of them, 300 to 400 scans” already.
I have to say, and Ken, he’s the best.
They’re all nice but he treats you like Dr. Jon Glazer is with Vero Radi-
he’s known you forever and he’s your ology Associates at 3725 11th Circle
best friend. He’s very helpful. A great in Vero Beach. The phone number is
guy.” 772-562-0163. 

Still, there is more to consider
when judging a medical diagnostic
tool than patient satisfaction, and the
Discovery IQ seems to be delivering on
that front, as well.

The American Society of Clinical
Oncology says doctors nowadays often
use PET/CT scans to “see how well can-
cer treatments are working.”

According to Imaging Technology
News, post-cancer treatment explor-
atory surgeries now are mostly unnec-
essary given the high-resolution im-
ages these scans can deliver.

30 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

ER ‘reservations’ available at Sebastian hospital

BY TOM LLOYD most people, it might seem as though
Staff Writer you are standing behind most of
them whenever you head to the hos-
According to the Centers for Dis- pital for emergency care.
ease Control, over 136 million people
show up at their local emergency The Sebastian River Medical Cen-
rooms each year seeking medical ter and ER Express, a privately-held
care. Atlanta-based company, have come
with a partial solution. They are cur-
That’s roughly 43 percent of the to- rently rolling out a program they
tal U.S. population and, if you’re like hope will mollify would-be emergen-

SRMC’s emergency department director Brad Guffin. PHOTO: LEAH DUBOIS

DR. ARLEY PETER

is pleased to announce his
new locations in Vero Beach

and Sebastian are
NOW OPEN.

The practice will provide ONE STOP care with comprehensive cardiology
services including consultations, preoperative evaluations, preventive
care, Echo, Stress tests, EKGs, Pacemaker Checks, personalized hospital
care, and convenient follow up visits. We accept most insurance plans.

If you are a new patient or a current
patient, please call 772-999-3996
for more information or to schedule
your next appointment.

VERO BEACH LOCATION:
787 37th Street,Suite E260
(same building, but new Suite)

SEBASTIAN LOCATION:
13230 US-1, Suite 2

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 31

HEALTH

cy room patients who, simply put,  EMERGENCY tion from our records; however, it may
“just hate to wait” by allowing them be impossible to remove your account
to make “reservations.” “There is actually a push from corporate without some residual information
headquarters to roll this out in all their being retained. If you would like to
By using the ER Express software emergency departments. Everyone that’s used it request that we remove your personal
platform, participating hospitals has loved it.” According to SRMC’s emergency information from the website, please
such as SRMC make it possible for contact us.”
patients to use their smartphones, department director Brad Guffin
computers or tablets to “book” a time Still, if you’re one of the millions
to be seen by the emergency room and millions of Americans who “just
medical staff. hate to wait” at the ER, concern about
residual information may not loom
According to SRMC’s emergency very large.
department director Brad Guffin,
“There is actually a push from cor- The Sebastian River Medical Center
porate headquarters to roll this out is at 13695 U.S. Highway 1 in Sebastian.
in all their emergency departments. The main number is 772-589-3186. For
Everyone that’s used it has loved it.” life-threatening situations, call 911. 

In the early 2000s, another tech
company launched a somewhat
similar program in response to ER
wait times. However, that compa-
ny charged would-be patients a fee
ranging from $12 to $24.99.

That didn’t end up being a winning
strategy, as consumers soon discov-
ered their reservations were contin-
gent. By law, all ERs in the United
States must see the most seriously
ill or injured first, so even after pay-
ing $25 for a quick trip, patients still
ended up waiting in the vinyl chairs.

Happily, SRMC’s ER Express charg-
es no fee for its service and those
who log on to the website – www.Se-
bastianERNow.com – are expressly
told, “Because our emergency room
staff must treat patients based on the
severity of illness or injury, your ER
Check-In time is not guaranteed.”

Nonetheless, Community Health
Systems, SRMC’s parent company
since 2014, is instituting ER Express
at all its hospital locations. The past
few weeks have been something of a
“soft opening” at the Sebastian facil-
ity, but a major marketing push will
begin shortly.

“It is the wave of the future,” ac-
cording to Guffin. He added that
SRMC had to “meet certain criteria”
in order to participate in the pro-
gram.

The reservation system comes
with some built-in safeguards. For
example, when people are filling out
the online registration form, certain
key words such as “chest pains” or
“shortness of breath” will trigger an
automated response telling that pa-
tient to immediately call 911 or his
or her nearest emergency room by
phone.

However, there is also a caveat that
should be mentioned in this age of
digital data-mining and high-profile
hacking incidents.

The privacy disclaimer on the ER
Express website states: “We store
all personal information until you
request that we modify or delete it.
Upon your request, we will make
commercially reasonable efforts to
remove all your personal informa-

32 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

Biden: Report clinical-trial data promptly or lose funding

BY LAURIE MCGINLEY Biden has repeatedly prodded re- Biden also tackled cancer-drug “We’re on the cusp of breakthroughs
Washington Post searchers to share data as he cam- costs. He said that some prices “are that can get us there.”
paigns for his “cancer moonshot” astronomical,” with treatments
An impatient Vice President Joe effort. Last Wednesday, he cited a costing far more now than they did Timothy Turnham, executive di-
Biden threatened last Wednesday December story by STAT, a Boston- when they came on the market years rector of the Melanoma Research
to cut funding to research facilities based news organization, that found ago. Foundation, said he was pleased
that fail to report clinical-trial results many top medical research institu- that Biden talked about cancer-drug
quickly enough and took a swipe at tions were too slow to report clinical- “Tell me, tell me, tell me,” he said. costs, a topic of growing concern as
drug companies that jack up the pric- trial results or failed to ever do so. “What is the justification for that?” companies develop expensive com-
es of cancer drugs. bination therapies. Overall, he said it
Under a 2008 law, data is supposed The event at Howard University would be impossible to know the real
At an all-day cancer summit he to be submitted within a year of a had the star power of emcee Carol impact of the meeting for at least an-
convened at Howard University in trial’s completion to ClinicalTrials. Burnett, who introduced Biden. The other year, “when you see what gets
Washington, Biden showed flashes gov, which is run by the National In- actress said her “heart soared” when done.”
of anger as he expressed concern stitutes of Health. But the law lacks President Obama announced the
that many medical institutions that enforcement mechanisms, NIH Di- moonshot effort earlier this year, and Before the meeting started, Biden’s
receive millions of dollars in govern- rector Francis Collins said following that she called Biden immediately to office announced dozens of new
ment grants weren’t reporting results Biden’s comments. offer her help. initiatives in the anti-effort cancer.
to a publicly accessible database in a Many involve novel collaborations
timely fashion. Collins said the administration She noted the “unfortunate bond” between federal agencies; for ex-
is close to issuing a final rule with connecting them: Burnett’s daugh- ample, the Department of Energy is
“Doc, I’m going to find out if it’s “teeth.” Under the proposed rule, for ter, Carrie, died 14 years ago of cancer teaming up with the Department of
true,” he said. “And if it’s true, I’m go- example, NIH could withhold grants at age 38, and Biden’s son Beau died Veterans Affairs to use supercomput-
ing to cut funding. That’s a promise.” from institutions if their research- of cancer last year. ers to better understand the genesis
ers didn’t submit the required data. of cancer.
Biden addressed the hundreds of And drug companies could be fined While at times he expressed frus-
researchers, oncologists, data ex- $10,000 a day for not complying with tration about the pace of progress, Other commitments include
perts, and patients who gathered the requirement to submit the re- Biden mostly cheered on his audi- pledges from cancer charities to
for lengthy brain-storming sessions sults. ence, who spent hours in closed-door raise more money for research or
at Howard. Thousands of people at- meetings trying to develop new ways from businesses and philanthropies
tended 270 regional summits around “This issue is going to be solved,” to attack the cancer problem. to create lucrative prizes to reward
the country. he said. breakthroughs. 
“Look at what you have done on
HIV/AIDS,” he said, and added:



34 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT COVER STORY

Three years ago, Silicon Valley de- “What appears in the next 5 to10 headquarters to a two-story office
veloped a fleeting infatuation with a years will be incredible” building on the end of a tree-lined cul-
startup called Zee.Aero. The company de-sac about a half-mile away from
had set up shop right next to Google’s his personal fortune to build the fu- space, too, and engineers looked on in Zee’s offices.
headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., ture of his childhood dreams. awe as GUS’s paintings, exercise gear,
which was curious, because Google and rocket engine were hauled away. Kitty Hawk’s staffers, sequestered
tightly controls most of the land in the The Zee.Aero headquarters, lo- from the Zee.Aero team, are working
area. cated at 2700 Broderick Way, is a Zee.Aero now employs close to 150 on a competing design. Its president,
30,000-square-foot, two-story white people. Its operations have expanded according to 2015 business filings,
Then a reporter spotted patent filings building with an ugly, blocky design to an airport hangar in Hollister, about was Sebastian Thrun, the godfather
showing Zee.Aero was working on a and an industrial feel. Page initially re- a 70-minute drive south from Moun- of Google’s self-driving car program
small, all-electric plane that could take stricted the Zee.Aero crew to the first tain View, where a pair of prototype and the founder of research division
off and land vertically – a flying car. floor, retaining the second floor for a aircraft takes regular test flights. The Google X. Page and Google declined to
man cave worthy of a multibillionaire: company also has a manufacturing fa- speak about Zee.Aero or Kitty Hawk,
In the handful of news articles that bedroom, bathroom, expensive paint- cility on NASA’s Ames Research Center as did Thrun.
ensued, all the startup would say was ings, a treadmill-like climbing wall, campus at the edge of Mountain View.
that it wasn’t affiliated with Google or and one of SpaceX’s first rocket en- Flying cars, of course, are ridicu-
any other technology company. Then gines – a gift from his pal Musk. Page has spent more than $100 mil- lous. Lone-wolf inventors have tried
it stopped answering media inquiries lion on Zee.Aero, say two of the people to build them for decades, with little
altogether. Employees say they were As part of the secrecy, Zee.Aero em- familiar with the company, and he’s to show for their efforts besides disap-
even given wallet-size cards with in- ployees didn’t refer to Page by name; he not done yet. Last year a second Page- pointed investors and depleted bank
structions on how to deflect ques- was known as GUS, the guy upstairs. backed flying-car startup, Kitty Hawk, accounts. Those failures have done lit-
tions from reporters. Soon enough, they needed the upstairs began operations and registered its tle to lessen the yearning: In the nerd
hierarchy of needs, the flying car is up
After that, the only information there with downloadable brains and a
that trickled out came from amateur working holodeck.
pilots, who occasionally posted pic-
tures of a strange-looking plane tak- But better materials, autonomous
ing off from a nearby airport. navigation systems, and other techni-
cal advances have convinced a grow-
Turns out, Zee.Aero doesn’t belong ing body of smart, wealthy, and appar-
to Google or its holding company, ently serious people that within the
Alphabet. It belongs to Larry Page, next few years we’ll have a self-flying
Google’s co-founder. Page has person- car that takes off and lands vertically –
ally funded Zee.Aero since its launch or at least a small, electric, mostly au-
in 2010 while demanding that his in- tonomous commuter plane.
volvement stay hidden from the pub-
lic, according to 10 people with inti- About a dozen companies around
mate knowledge of the company. the world, including startups and giant
aerospace manufacturers, are working
Zee.Aero, however, is just one part on prototypes. Furthest along, it ap-
of Page’s plan to usher in an age of pears, are the companies Page is qui-
personalized air travel, free from etly funding.
gridlocked streets and the cramped
indignities of modern flight. Like Jeff “Over the past five years, there have
Bezos and Elon Musk, Page is using been these tremendous advances in
the under¬lying technology,” says
Mark Moore, an aeronautical engi-
neer who’s spent his career designing
advanced aircraft at NASA. “What ap-
pears in the next 5 to 10 years will be
incredible.”

Northern California in particular has
had a long fascination with flying cars.
In 1927 a now mostly forgotten engi-
neer named Alexander Weygers first be-
gan thinking up the design for a flying
saucer that could zip between rooftops.

In 1945 he received a patent for what
he described as a “discopter,” a vertical
takeoff and landing (VTOL) machine
with room inside for passengers to
walk around, cook, and sleep. He de-
picted smaller versions landing in pods
atop buildings in downtown San Fran-
cisco. No discopters were built, though
it’s believed that the U.S. Army, which
paid visits to Weygers’s compound in
Carmel Valley, Calif., tinkered with a
prototype.

Today, the world’s premier flying-car
enthusiast is Paul Moller, 79, a profes-
sor emeritus at the University of Cali-
fornia at Davis. Fifty years ago, when
he was teaching mechanical and aero-
nautical engineering, he developed a
specific vision: an aircraft you could

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 35

park in your garage, drive a few blocks INSIGHT COVER STORY
to a small runway, then take skyward.
neer and entrepreneur who had stud-
He tested his first prototype, the ied under Moller at UC Davis. Another
XM-2, in 1966. The XM-2 resembled a was Ilan Kroo, an aeronautics and as-
flying saucer with a seat at its center tronautics professor at Stanford. And
protected by a plastic bubble. It man- another was Page.
aged an altitude of 4 feet, while gradu-
ate students held it steady with ropes. Although it initially looked as if they
“We were worried if the machine got might all team up, Kroo and Page broke
out of control, we might kill a few peo- off to start Zee.Aero. Alone, Bevirt
ple,” Moller says. founded Joby Aviation, a company he
hopes will beat Zee.Aero to market and
In 1989 his M200X made it to 50 prove that his efforts with Moller – and
feet above the ground. Then came the older man’s life’s work – weren’t in
the M150 Skycar, the M400 Skycar, the vain.
100LS, the 200LS, the Neuera 200, and
the Firefly, all variations on the same Bevirt owns a 500-acre compound
Jetsonian idea. near Santa Cruz, Calif. To get there,
you turn onto idyllic California State
In January 2000, Moller gave a speech Route 1 and drive past the boardwalk,
on flying cars at the Palo Alto Research a few blocks of strip malls, and 15 miles
Center (PARC), the birthplace of the of undeveloped, windswept coastal
graphical user interface and, for nerds, dunes. Then you turn onto a dirt road,
sacred ground. Afterward, an engineer pass a lake and a grove of towering
in his late 20s walked up and said he redwoods, and walk through gardens
was interested in the concept but was overflowing with lavender and roses.
skeptical that streetworthy personal It’s here that Bevirt has built a series of
aircraft were technically feasible; at the workshops, plus housing for about half
time, Moller didn’t recognize young of his 35 employees.
Larry Page.
Bevirt grew up nearby on an elec-
Moller kept trying. He says he tricity-free commune where his mom
burned through more than $100 mil- worked as a midwife and his father
lion developing his designs and de- built custom homes. From a young age,
clared personal bankruptcy in 2009. he learned his way around toolboxes
and construction sites, and was an avid
That same year, Moore, the NASA reader. After consuming the sci-fi clas-
researcher, published a paper describ- sic The Forever Formula in elementary
ing a concept plane called the Puffin. school, he decided he wanted to build
Moore’s big idea was to use electric the kind of personal aircraft the book’s
motors, which are quieter and safer hero flew and persuaded a friend to
and have far fewer moving parts than help. “We built lots of prototypes, but
internal combustion engines or con- they always crashed and burned,” he
ventional turbines. says. They shifted to custom bikes.

“By going to electric propulsion, you The flying-car dream stuck with Be-
get rid of the vast majority of the com- virt as he entered UC Davis in 1991 to
plexity, cost, and unreliability,” Moore study mechanical engineering, and
says. “This is why companies looking he quickly found himself working for
at this area aren’t insane.” Moore cred- Moller, building one prototype after
its Musk’s Tesla and other automak- another. Bevirt eventually concluded
ers with advancing the technology. their shared dream wouldn’t be fea-
“Electric motors were mostly used in sible until battery and motor technol-
industrial settings where they were sta- ogy improved. He figured he’d need to
tionary, and no one cared about their wait 20 years. “Paul had been working
weight that much,” Moore says. “It on this for 30 years, and he was 50 years
wasn’t until the automotive industry ahead of his time,” he says.
got interested that they started to get
more lightweight.” Bevirt got his bachelor’s, and then
a master’s in mechanical engineering
Carmakers invested in other areas, from Stanford. He worked in biotech
too, that are helpful for building small after graduation, co-founding a com-
electric planes, particularly batteries pany called Velocity11 that built robots
and the semiconductors that control to sequence DNA. His next company,
them. Self-driving systems, like the kind called Joby (his childhood nickname),
Google uses in its Koala cars, are per- sold camera accessories such as flex-
haps a decade away from mainstream ible plastic tripods.
use on the roads, but they may already
be good enough for the skies.“Self-flying Joby turned Bevirt into a multimil-
aircraft is so much easier than what the lionaire. In 2008 he started Joby En-
auto companies are trying to do with ergy, a maker of airborne wind tur-
self-driving cars,” Moore says. bines whose technology Google later
acquired. The 20-year mark was ap-
Moore’s paper circulated, rekindling proaching, so in 2009 he also used
excitement. Sometime in 2009, a small some of his wealth to buy the 500 acres
group of engineers had begun meet- and start Joby Aviation.
ing in Silicon Valley to discuss funding
an electric-plane project. One of them Its headquarters is an engineer’s
was JoeBen Bevirt, a mechanical engi- fantasyland. The focal point is a large

CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35 INSIGHT COVER STORY

wooden building where two dozen pellers high into the air so engineers like a plane-helicopter hybrid packed built a two-seater prototype at its Sili-
workers sit at a few rows of desks can perform wind tests while driving with propellers, about eight mounted con Valley labs, say two people familiar
jammed with computers. Aside from down a road at high speed. Robotic on the wings and tail. For takeoff and with the designs.
the clusters of large black monitors, prototypes buzz around. landing, the propellers hang horizon-
the place feels more like a barn than an tally like a helicopter’s and rotate for In 2013, Red Bull held one of its Flug-
office. Aircraft prototypes hang from Bevirt funded Joby Aviation by him- forward propulsion once in the air. tag competitions in Long Beach, Calif.
the ceiling, as does a thick climbing self until last year, when he was joined Flugtag is a televised spectacle where
rope for exercise. In the open kitchen, by Paul Sciarra, one of the co-founders Joby Aviation has already built hobbyists see how far they can launch
abutting a long redwood dining table of Pinterest. Sciarra grew up in New smaller prototypes and has models of their homemade flying machines off
in one corner, a cook uses ingredients a dock. It’s more about entertainment
from the nearby gardens to prepare “Self-flying aircraft is so much than sustained flight – the contrap-
three meals a day. While the smell of a easier than what the auto com- tions generally dive straight into the
Malaysian curry fills the room, a banjo water, and everyone laughs.
twangs from speakers overhead. panies are trying to do with
self-driving cars” At this one, though, a group called
The manufacturing happens at a se- the Chicken Whisperers stunned the
ries of buildings about 100 yards down- Jersey, taught himself to code, hit it big the plane’s body, wings, and propel- assembled crowd. Dressed in full-body
hill, past gardens and an outdoor clay with Pinterest, then went looking for lers scattered about the manufactur- baby-chick outfits, the team pushed
pizza oven. One of the buildings is an something new to throw himself into. ing facilities. Bevirt and Sciarra see the its glider off the dock and watched as
airy warehouse with a giant oven inside He, too, concluded that electric motors vehicle taking off from parking garag- it cruised 258 feet, breaking the previ-
– but this one isn’t for pizza. It’s used to and batteries appeared to have appli- es, roofs, or areas alongside highways. ous record of 229 feet. The chickens
cure the ¬carbon-fiber bodies of the cations well beyond the auto industry. They want to offer flights as an Uber- danced. They clucked. They took a
planes and looks like a Quonset hut. “The goal is to build a product that im- like service – summon a plane when swim in the water. They were all Zee.
pacts the lives of lots of people,” Sciarra you need it. Aero employees in disguise, having
Former members of Oracle’s Amer- says. “Not just folks that are amateur fun, trying out some designs.
ica’s Cup sailing team, some of the pilots or wealthy, but everyone.” The Joby aircraft looks similar to
world’s leading materials experts, other vehicles being built around the In the six years since its founding,
oversee the curing process, baking the Sciarra and Bevirt hope to begin fly- world. In May the German company Zee.Aero has hired some of the bright-
carbon fiber at about 194F. In another ing a human-scale prototype plane later E-volo conducted manned flights of its est young aerospace designers, soft-
building, engineers build cantaloupe- this year. They won’t give the exact spec- Volocopter, a two-seat aircraft powered ware engineers, and experts in motor
size electric motors; in a third, they test ifications but suggest that it could hold, by 18 propellers. Other flying-car start- and battery hardware. They’ve come
electronics; in a fourth, they put the say, a family of four and travel 100 miles ups include AeroMobil, Lilium Avia- from places such as SpaceX, NASA, and
finishing touches on wings and other or so on a full charge. The vehicle looks tion, and Terrafugia. Even Airbus has Boeing, and they’re all chasing after the
parts. Out back, there’s a large truck goal presented succinctly on Zee.Aero’s
with an extendible arm atop its trailer spare website: “We’re changing per-
like a cherry picker, which hoists pro- sonal aviation.”

At its outset, Zee.Aero was led by

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 39

INSIGHT COVER STORY

Kroo, the Stanford aerospace professor. plane to handle the VTOL work. There’s byists sitting in the parking lot at 2700 with the rate of progress. In 2015, Kroo
He wrote the original Zee.Aero patent, also a wing at the back with two more Broderick Way. None of the prototypes returned to teach at Stanford full time
No. 9,242,738, which shows a strange- propellers that add forward thrust. were big enough to fit a human. but continued to advise Zee.Aero as
looking one-seater aircraft with a long, “principal scientist,” while the com-
narrow body. Behind the craft’s cock- Zee.Aero worked on this design for Over time, the company realized pany’s engineering chief, Eric Allison,
pit, rows of horizontal propellers run a couple of years. Small, computer- this might not be the best design, ac- took over as chief executive officer. Un-
along both sides of the body of the controlled versions of the aircraft were cording to three former Zee.Aero em-
photographed by reporters and hob- ployees. Page also grew dissatisfied CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

40 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39 INSIGHT COVER STORY

der Allison, the company began work young kids, so I would like them to be
on a simpler, more conventional-look- safe. I’d like for pedestrians to be much
ing design, now coming to life at the safer. I’d like for blind people and
Hollister Municipal Airport. old people and young people to get
around.”
Hollister is a city of about 35,000
nestled among garlic and artichoke The former Zee.Aero employees de-
farms. Its airport is popular among scribe the company as a fun place to
amateur pilots because of favorable work but don’t downplay the serious
winds and a lack of commercial air expectations from Page. He wants the
traffic. There’s a flight school, a sky- flying-car future, and he wants it now. If
diving business, and a few run-down the atmosphere grew tense with Kroo’s
buildings. The least shabby structure departure, it didn’t lighten up when the
is Building 19, which has been taken Kitty Hawk team arrived.
over by a dozen or so Zee.Aero work-
ers. Kitty Hawk has about a dozen engi-
neers, including some Zee.Aero vet-
The airport is open for business erans. Others came from Aerovelo, a
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, startup whose claim to fame was win-
but Zee.Aero employees frequently ning the $250,000 Sikorsky Prize in
run test flights when no one else is 2013, for building a human-powered
around. Nonetheless, people working helicopter that could stay aloft for
at the airport have caught glimpses of more than a minute. Kitty Hawk em-
two Zee.Aero craft in recent months. ployees include Emerick Oshiro, who
Both have a narrow body, a bulbous did self-driving car work at Google,
cockpit with room for one person up- and David Estrada, who handled le-
front, and a wing at the back. In in- gal affairs for Google X. They all listed
dustry lingo, the planes are pushers, the company as their employer on
with two propellers in the rear. One of LinkedIn until they were contacted
the prototypes looks like a small con- by Bloomberg Businessweek, at which
ventional plane; the other has spots point they erased any mention of Kit-
for small propellers along the main ty Hawk from their profiles.
body, three per side.
Page has drawn a line separating
When the aircraft take off, they his two flying-car teams, employees
sound like air raid sirens. say. It’s common for the Zee.Aero en-
gineers to speculate over lunch about
The people at the airport haven’t what their Kitty Hawk counterparts are
heard Page’s name mentioned, but up to. The former Zee.Aero employees
they long ago concluded Zee.Aero’s think Page wanted to see if a smaller
owner is super rich. Zee.Aero employ-

People working at the airport
have caught glimpses of two Zee.

Aero craft in recent months

ees receive catered lunches – some- team could move faster, and the added
times $900 worth of barbecue from Ar- pressure on Zee.Aero didn’t hurt. Two
madillo Willy’s, a local chain. Recently, people say Kitty Hawk is working on
the company purchased a $1 million something that resembles a giant ver-
helicopter to fly alongside the planes sion of a quadcopter drone.
and gather data.
There’s no guarantee that Kitty
For Page, this project is deeply per- Hawk’s or Zee.Aero’s or anyone else’s
sonal. He’s been known to spend eve- flying cars will ever take to the skies.
nings with Musk, both men thinking There are still technology problems
aloud about ways to fundamentally to solve, regulatory hurdles to cross,
change transportation. Musk wants to and urgent safety questions to an-
build an upscale electric VTOL jet; Page swer. Page once vowed to a colleague
wants the down-market version. that if his involvement in the sector
ever became public, he might pull
In an interview with a Bloomberg support from the companies.
Businessweek reporter a couple of
years ago, Page confessed that he Here’s hoping that’s not true. If noth-
longed to take more risks like his ing else, these projects show that bold,
industrialist friend. He wanted to some might say far-fetched, inven-
dabble with new forms of investment tion is alive and well in Silicon Valley.
outside the confines of Google and The place that spent the past decade
back projects that focused on atoms, focused on social network apps has
not bits. trained its engineering powers on ro-
bots, cars, and now aviation. “We were
“There’s a lot of money going into promised flying cars, and instead what
internet startup kinds of things, which we got was 140 characters,” a local ven-
is great,” he said. “But for some of the ture capitalist once put it. Page and his
real problems we face, I think we need cohorts are trying to get us both. 
other kinds of investments, too. I have



42 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT EDITORIAL

What would have happened if Joe Biden had run?

It’s the first thought that enters Vice Fundamentally, this question is im- to possible Biden backers during a bad guide, or how many each would have
President Biden’s head every morning, possible to answer. So much changes month and how much she got during a gotten if we used the polling for gen-
the moment his bedroom windows at and evolves over the course of a cam- good month. der.
One Observatory Circle grow light from paign that it’s hard to simply imagine
the sun. “What if,” Joe Biden thinks. a realistic counterfactual that incorpo- Let’s now assume that those figures If Biden had only pulled as much
rates every possible scenario. didn’t change much. One of the things from Clinton and Sanders as he did in
“What if I had run?” we know is that margins of support October, Clinton would still have won
The race for the Democratic presi- But if Biden had stayed in and not from demographic groups remained a plurality of the pledged delegates
dential nomination was never sup- shot himself in the foot, there would fairly consistent for Clinton and Sand- at stake. But if Biden had pulled from
posed to be as close as it ended up. clearly have been a shift to the dynam- ers even as Sanders gained. As he im- the two candidates at the rate he did
Last spring, Hillary Clinton led her pos- ics – especially in one important way: proved, he improved across the board, in September, the contest would have
sible opponents by a country mile; by Clinton’s margins of victory (if not her but the gap between male and female been much closer.
July, 12 months ago, she still led Bernie victory itself) were due to her massive and between white and non-white
Sanders by nearly 50 points. advantage with black voters. That’s a didn’t change much. It’s critical to note that the exit poll
But over the summer and into the voting bloc with which Biden also did figures here don’t include a number of
fall, her lead narrowed, and by the time well. So: What if? So let’s assume that the percentage large states in which exit polls weren’t
Biden announced that he wouldn’t of support Biden drew from Clinton conducted. If Clinton and Sanders
run in late October, Clinton’s lead over We can try to answer that question by and Sanders was also somewhat con- ended up close in states with exit poll-
Sanders had been as small as 13 points. looking at how polling last fall looked sistent. ing, once we include Biden, it’s hard
Then Biden made his announcement with and without Biden in the race. The to know who might have come out
and, as expected, Clinton saw most of Post and ABC News polled in Septem- Exit polling conducted in primary on top. It wouldn’t have been Biden, if
the benefit. ber and October, and we can look at and caucus states gives us a sense of these numbers hold, but it might not
Why? Because Clinton and Biden the results of those two polls through how demographic groups voted over have been Clinton.
shared similar bases of support: Those two lenses: How support broke down the course of the Democratic nominat-
without college degrees, those earning among all three candidates and how ing process. We can use exit poll figures That’s based on September polling,
lower incomes and, most importantly, it broke down if we reallocate Biden’s to approximate the breakdown of del- of course. Those September numbers
non-white voters. Once Biden declined support to voters’ second choices. egates won by each candidate, thanks didn’t even last until October, so it’s
to run, it was fair to assume that was it. to the Democrats’ relatively simply unfair to assume they would somehow
For her clear path to the nomination, In that September poll, Clinton proportional distribution process. have stuck around until May. Maybe
Biden was now offering Clinton a ride. earned the support of 42 percent of Biden would have surged past Clinton.
But then Sanders kept closing. the Democrats and Democratic lean- How? By taking the support Clinton Maybe Sanders and Biden would have
As voting began, thanks in part to ers that were surveyed. Take Biden out, and Sanders got in exit polling by gen- allied. Maybe Biden would have un-
Clinton’s decision not to take the gloves though, and her support jumped to der, race and partisanship – the three dercut Sanders’s support with young
off against Sanders in a number of con- 56 percent. Which means that Biden categories that overlap well with our people.
tests, Sanders caught up. By April, the not being in the race gave Clinton a poll data – and taking out those chunks
two were nearly tied nationally. It was 14-point boost – and that one-third, that would otherwise have gone to None of this is captured in our rough
too late for Sanders to catch Clinton in 33 percent, of her support in a one-on- Biden. So if we’re basing this estimate calculation. All we can say is that if
delegates, but it showed that there was one contest with Sanders came from on the figures from the September Biden pulled from Clinton and Sanders
still a big appetite for a non-Clinton in people who would otherwise have poll, one-third of Clinton’s statewide as he did in September and if nothing
the contest. backed Biden. support would be sliced off and put in else had changed, then maybe Clin-
So: What if? What if Biden had stayed the Biden pile, along with 17 percent of ton wouldn’t have won a majority of
in? What if voting in Iowa and New We can do a similar calculation for Sanders’s. pledged delegates.
Hampshire kicked off with Biden join- all of the demographic groups with
ing Clinton and Sanders on the ballot? large enough sample sizes to be sig- We can do that calculation in each We can put that another way: The
nificant. And we can do it for both Sep- demographic category; that is, how answer to the what-if question that no
tember and October, to get a sense of many delegates Clinton, Sanders and doubt plagues Biden is: Who knows? 
how much support Clinton got thanks Biden would have gotten if the poll-
ing for whites and non-whites was our This column was written by Philip
Bump of The Washington Post.

RISK FACTORS FOR HEART DISEASE CORONARY HEART DISEASE  Preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy)
(CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE)
Are you at risk of a heart attack or sudden cardiac ar- Heart attack and SCA both come under the umbrella SOME “MALE” STATS
rest? of what is called coronary heart disease or coronary 1. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in men in
artery disease. Coronary heart disease is a group of the U.S – that’s one in every four male deaths.
HEART ATTACK (MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION) diseases that includes: stable angina (chest pain), un-
A heart attack (myocardial infarction) is caused by stable angina, heart attack (myocardial infarction) and 2. Half of the men who die suddenly of coronary heart
“plumbing” issues, when blood flow to a portion of the sudden cardiac death. disease have no previous symptoms. Even if men have
heart is blocked, usually due to a build-up of plaque (fat, no symptoms, they may still be at risk for heart disease.
cholesterol and other substances) in the coronary arter- RISK FACTORS FOR CORONARY HEART DISEASE
ies which feed the heart. The interrupted blood flow For Men and Women 3. Men are two-to-three times more likely to
can damage or destroy part of the heart muscle. The  Age (increased risk for men starting at age 45; experience cardiac arrest than females.
severity of a heart attack can vary; fortunately, not all women starting at age 55)
are fatal.  Diabetes, pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome 4. Between 70 and 89 percent of sudden cardiac events
 High cholesterol, high triglycerides or high blood occur in men.
SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST (SCA) pressure
On the other hand, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is due  Overweight and obesity PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
to “electrical” problems, when the conductive wiring  Fatty diet Having a heart attack puts you at greater risk for
of the heart malfunctions and synchronized heart-  Sedentary lifestyle a subsequent heart attack and sudden cardiac ar-
beats that keep the blood circulating are interrupted.  Smoking and long-term exposure to secondhand rest (especially within the first six months after the
Most abnormal heartbeats are momentary and harm- smoke heart attack). Additionally, having a sibling, parent or
less. But if the heart’s rhythm doesn’t rapidly return  Excessive alcohol use grandparent suffer an early heart attack (by age 55 if a
to normal, sudden cardiac arrest can result. When  Stress male; 65 if a female) puts you at increased risk.
sudden cardiac arrest lasts more than eight minutes,  Depression
survival is rare.  Autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid Talk to your doctor about creating a personalized plan
arthritis, lupus, etc. to lower your risk of heart disease. 
While a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest are two  Use of illegal drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines,
distinct medical conditions, in some cases a heart at- etc. Your comments and suggestions for future topics are al-
tack can trigger an electrical disturbance within the Also for Women ways welcome. Email us at [email protected].
heart that can lead to cardiac arrest.  Using birth control pills
© 2015 Vero Beach 32963 Media, all rights reserved

44 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BOOK REVIEW

The fireball candidacy of Donald Trump has the spotlight when they unfolded are dealt with the financial crisis of 2008, recognizing that
created shock waves of nostalgia for an ostensibly only when their ramifications become clear. Thus, while Bush remained for too long oblivious to the
moderate, reasonable Republican Party of yore. Bush’s housing policies – from his promotion of an dangers of an under-regulated mortgage market,
Trump’s vulgarity, anti-intellectualism, mendac- “ownership society” to the 2008 mortgage-market he did step up when disaster struck, bucking his
ity, mean-spiritedness and brawling, bullying crash – are shoehorned into the book’s penultimate party’s fears of government intervention and fol-
style have been deemed unprecedented and un- chapter, not laid out at the earlier moments when lowing the advice of Treasury Secretary Hank
paralleled. he was making or acquiescing in the steps that en- Paulson to stanch the hemorrhaging. Smith is
abled the crisis. also quite willing to credit Bush’s rhetoric about
But anyone prone to romanticize the old GOP “compassionate conservatism” as a sign of a
should take a bracing shot of “Bush,” a hefty biog- Structuring the book this way is legitimate. It genuine moderation on his part, even though
raphy of our 43rd president by the prolific and ac- has the virtue of recalling how events flowed from the signature policies of his presidency – the sur-
claimed biographer Jean Edward Smith. Written one to the next during those tumultuous, mean plus-squandering tax cuts, the bid to privatize
in sober, smooth, snark-free prose, with an air of years. But it deprives readers of the opportunity to Social Security, the scuttling of environmental
thoughtful, detached authority, the book is none- glimpse events in a fresh light – to learn unexpect- protection efforts, the intermingling of church
theless exceedingly damning in its judgments ed backstories or note juxtapositions that are re- and state – reveal that Bush was in practice more
about George W. Bush’s years in office. It reminds vealing only in hindsight. Some deeply consequen- conservative than even Ronald Reagan.
us anew of Bush’s own arrogance, recklessness, tial developments, such as Iran’s bid to acquire
scorn for ideas and strong-arm politics – and of the nuclear weapons, get almost no ink because they Between the lines, Smith traces Bush’s failings
apoplexy he provoked from liberals and Democrats didn’t dominate the news until after Bush left of- as president to character flaws. The book is, after
who felt powerless to rein him in. fice. Yet part of what historians ought to do is to call all, a biography, and the president’s upbringing
attention to significant events or actions that were and family life are duly covered. (One pet peeve:
On top of the scores of reported books published neglected by the press or the public in their day. Smith constantly refers to Bush’s twin daughters,
during his tenure, Bush has already been the sub- Smith ably crystallizes and confirms the prevailing Jenna and Barbara, as “the twins,” rather than by
ject of several post-presidential studies, most nota- understandings of the Bush presidency rather than their names. Often he writes about them as a sin-
bly Peter Baker’s “Days of Fire.” Unlike Baker’s vol- forcing a reappraisal. gle entity, failing to explore, say, differences in the
ume, whose footnotes disclose original interviews girls’ relationships with their father or in their poli-
with government officials, Smith’s deft synthesis Because Smith dwells on what was in the news, tics. In an age of heightened sensitivity to groups
mainly rests on information gleaned from the li- his book is – appropriately – dominated by the wars like transgender people, we would all do well to be
brary of first-wave accounts. His notes abound undertaken in response to the terrorist attacks of more aware of the separateness of twins.)
with citations of enduring works by Jane Mayer, Sept. 11, 2001. The invasion of Afghanistan to top-
Thomas Ricks, James Risen, Charlie Savage, Ron ple the Taliban, and especially the more dubious In sizing up Bush’s character, Smith is plainly
Suskind, Bob Woodward and other reporters, as choice to invade Iraq and depose Saddam Husse- put off by his subject’s swaggering manner, his un-
well as of the protagonists’ memoirs and periodi- in, will almost certainly define Bush’s presidency reflective style and his illiberal attitudes. Perhaps
cal journalism. In a few places, Smith draws un- for decades to come. It’s hard to imagine a better most displeasing to Smith – and, more important,
critically from questionable sources, such as Kitty overview than this volume of both invasions, their most detrimental to wise leadership – is Bush’s
Kelly, who has been widely criticized for traffick- troubled occupations, their political fallout, and mixture of pious righteousness and gut-level de-
ing in gossip, but overall “Bush” reads as authorita- their implications for civil liberties and executive cision-making. Time and again, he writes with
tive and trustworthy. power at home. dismay of how Bush “dismissed” prescient warn-
ings or thoughtful advice, or took big steps without
If Smith’s narrative feels familiar, it may also be On Bush’s conduct of these wars – and indeed proper consideration.
because he closely tracks the headlines of the day: on most aspects of the man and his presidency
Proceeding chronologically, his account show- – Smith is relentlessly critical and may strike He doesn’t buy into the fiction that Bush was
cases whatever was prominent in the news at a some readers as hyperbolic. “Rarely in the his- somehow a puppet of Vice President Dick Cheney
given moment. Events or decisions that escaped tory of the United States has the nation been so or other aides (though Smith does endorse foul
ill-served as during the presidency of George W. theories about the undue influence of “neocon-
Bush,” his book begins, and the judgments rarely servatives,” whom he accuses of having too much
soften. Several hundred pages in, Smith, with no “chutzpah”). Rather, Smith acknowledges that
less surety, declares that “George W. Bush’s deci- Bush regularly made the key calls, even if at times
sion to invade Iraq will likely go down in history that meant following Cheney’s or Paulson’s or
as the worst foreign policy decision ever made someone else’s recommendations. If anything, as
by an American president.” And in his conclu- Smith sees it, Bush was altogether too much “the
sion he shows only a flicker of uncertainty, writ- decider,” as the president once inelegantly de-
ing that “whether George W. Bush was the worst scribed himself. While professing to take seriously
president in American history will be long debat- the burdens of his office, he made choices that af-
ed.” But if these judgments are stark and in some fected millions of lives and wrought havoc around
places too strong – the Vietnam War, for what the globe without giving them the thought they re-
it’s worth, was hands-down a bigger catastrophe quired – before or after.
than Iraq – they are buttressed by pages of coolly
presented evidence. In this year’s election, Trump’s rise has been
chalked up to his brassy, unreflective style – the
Smith is equally harsh in weighing the policies bluntness, the contempt for liberal niceties, the
that flowed from the war on terrorism, especially swagger. Smith’s fine biography reminds us, if in-
those that infringed on the rights of people sus- directly, that while there are many dissimilarities
pected of abetting America’s enemies: the whole- between Bush and Trump, in this key respect they
sale surveillance, without the necessary court are more alike than different. And even if one re-
warrants, of some suspects; the limitless impris- jects the extreme verdict that Bush’s presidency
onment of others; the use of military tribunals to was among the worst ever, the example of his un-
evade constitutional protections of their rights; questionably troubled tenure suggests that while
the use of torture to try to wrest information from indecision in a leader may have its costs, so too
them. Smith, again with ample justification, deems does the instinct for deciding things too quickly. 
all of these violations of civil liberties to have been
unnecessary responses to the threat of violence BUSH
from al-Qaeda or other Islamist groups that were By Jean Edward Smith
targeting America. Simon & Schuster. 808 pp. $35
Review by David Greenberg,
Smith isn’t incapable of offering praise of The Washington Post
Bush. He is charitable toward the president on

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 45

INSIGHT BOOK REVIEW

If someone had asked me to choose figures in na- ferences were stark and revolved around the very rights for African Americans or equality for women
tional security, dead or alive, to include in a small meaning of civil defense in the run-up to World – both of which she championed – but also the en-
dinner party, Eleanor Roosevelt and Fiorello La War II. Roosevelt was convinced that the best actment of a broader social contract in which even
Guardia probably wouldn’t have jumped to mind. way to defend America was to ensure that a fifth the poor and working classes would feel that the
To be sure, there are plenty of other reasons to column could never get a toehold. As she saw it, government was caring for them.
include the two of them at the table, but before I if citizens were housed, clothed and fed, they’d
picked up Matthew Dallek’s immensely readable never consider embracing fascism. La Guardia, Roosevelt believed the solution lay in having
“Defenseless Under the Night,” I wouldn’t have said for his part, thought such an enterprise was too Americans simply live their values. One of her most
that national security was one of them. soft. The best defense against Hitler, he reasoned, controversial proposals of 1940 was for Congress to
was to militarize ordinary Americans and create pass New Deal-type legislation that mandated na-
“Defenseless” is a meticulous account of an epic a citizens’ army that could protect the home front tional service for all Americans. These social sol-
battle that set Roosevelt, the first lady, against La as a fourth military branch. diers, Dallek writes, would acquire “new skills, do-
Guardia, the mayor of New York, as the two cre- ing work that benefited their communities.”
ated the country’s first Office of Civilian Defense Long before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dallek
(OCD), the precursor to what we know today as writes, the U.S. military was agitating for a battle- La Guardia, from his perch inside New York’s
the Department of Homeland Security. Their dif- ready America. The argument at the time was that City Hall, saw civil defense as an extension of what
Hitler was able to march across Europe because its cities – including his – were already doing. By his
citizens were complacent. La Guardia vowed and, reckoning, to fight the enemies goose-stepping
to a degree, President Franklin Roosevelt agreed their way across Europe, America needed to cre-
that America could not afford to make the same ate a government-civilian partnership that essen-
mistake. Military leaders began recruiting thou- tially militarized the lives of ordinary Americans.
sands of farmers, housewives and shopkeepers to “He proposed training big city workers as volunteer
run invasion drills up and down the Eastern Sea- firefighters and teaching them to handle a chemi-
board, and dispatching ordinary citizens to stand cal weapons attack,” Dallek writes. “He recom-
in hundreds of watchtowers along the Atlantic and mended distributing gas masks to 50 million civil-
to record and track planes buzzing the hills around ians, putting a mobile water pump on every city
them. The Army started running air-raid drills, block, and establishing five volunteer fire brigades
Dallek writes, to make clear that “the contagion of for every city brigade.”
European war could spread to communities long
thought safe from such microbes.” As a result, La Guardia’s vision for the OCD – like
the mayor himself – was bold. Among other things,
Eleanor Roosevelt was convinced that her re- he wanted the head of the new office to have the
markable relationship with the American people – authority to establish a national police force, some-
a kind of soft power on steroids – would prevent that thing he thought could serve “as a fourth military
from happening. She encouraged them to write her branch.” La Guardia envisioned millions of civil-
letters so she could solve their problems. The poor ians enlisted in a quasi-army. Mayors and gover-
wrote to her about needing winter coats or medical nors would need to adopt civil defense plans set out
care or better housing, and then were surprised to by the OCD.
discover that the first lady not only read their let-
ters but responded to them as well. Ordinary citi- Eventually, it was less their competing visions for
zens asked her to find them roles – paid and unpaid civil defense than good old-fashioned politics that
– to help protect the nation. led to the unraveling of the Roosevelt–La Guardia
partnership. In 1942, the president relieved them
It was in those letters that she saw the basis of a both of their jobs at the OCD. 
grand bargain: If Americans were willing to create
a bulwark against Hitlerism, as she called it, then DEFENSELESS UNDER THE NIGHT
the government was duty bound to provide Ameri- The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Security
cans with tangible evidence that confirmed why
democracy was better. That meant not just equal By Matthew Dallek
Oxford. 340 pp. $29.95
Review by Dina Temple-Raston,

The Washington Post

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46 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT TRAVEL

Long airport lines? Don’t join ’em … beat ’em!

BY CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT Baggage fees translate into 27 per- a year at hotels,” he says. “So I’ve found including passports,” she says. “This
cent more carry-on bags, according to a number of small tricks over time that can create greater waiting and lines
Washington Post the TSA. Two U.S. Senators – Richard really help me while traveling.” during the programs if we don’t have
Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward all the ducks lined up in advance.”
Mad about long lines? Take a number. J. Markey (D-Mass.) – and Homeland His first stop in Los Angeles with
More than 1 in 5 Americans will Security Secretary Jeh Johnson have his two kids, ages 6 and 8, was a large- If you want to avoid summer lines,
cancel their summer travel plans or asked airlines to temporarily stop ly lineless Universal Studios. “Satur- no matter where, it helps to consult
find other means of transportation charging luggage fees to ease the con- day through Monday are peak times,” an expert. That’s according to Scott
because of long airport lines, accord- he notes. And to avoid the bumper- Koepf, a senior vice president of sales
ing to a recent study by the U.S. Travel gestion. So far, they’ve refused. The at Avoya Travel, a consortium of in-
Association (USTA), a trade group. reason is obvious: Airlines collected to-bumper Memorial Day traffic in dependent travel agents. “Using an
The lines are lengthening for a $3.8 billion in luggage fees in 2015, Southern California, he drove to San agent can help travelers navigate and
number of reasons, including a sea- statistics from the U.S. Transporta- Diego at night, which shaved hours prepare for expected delays when
sonal influx of air travelers, height- tion Department show. off his transit time. traveling,” he says.
ened terrorism concerns and staffing
shortages at the Transportation Secu- In the meantime, travelers are You don’t have to be an expert to get Travel agents have access to the
rity Administration. doubling down on their time-saving through any line faster. Sometimes, all most up-to-date information on
The prospect of facing a crowd at strategies. Raghu Murali, a frequent it takes is a little common sense. Travel what airlines, cruise lines, hotels and
the airport is endlessly frustrating to air traveler based in Edison, N.J., de- businesses are doing their best to pre- transportation companies are doing,
travelers like Annette Kleier, a retired cided to travel anyway, and on Me- vent congestion by offering customers including which ones are likely to
accountant from Louisville. She has morial Day weekend, no less. But as important, necessary reminders. have the longest lines. They’ll also tell
watched the finger-pointing between an experienced road warrior, he knew you that if you fly often, you should
the TSA and Congress over who is to where the lines were to be found. He Katherine Dayton, the director of consider applying for Global Entry,
blame for the lines, while other guilty took a transcontinental flight the Visions Service Adventures, a tour op- the government’s trusted traveler
parties hardly get a mention. Thursday before the holiday to avoid erator that offers community-service program, which also gives you access
Kleier is so weary of the blame a crush of vacationers. programs for high school and middle to the faster TSA PreCheck lines.
game playing out in the media (and, school students, based in Bozeman,
ahem, in stories like this) that she “I was a management consultant for Mont., is overlooking no detail. Oh, and pack less. A lot less.
echoes the USTA’s findings: “You can many years, logging in 100-plus nights “Carry-on luggage has a lot to do
always stay home.” “Many wait until the last minute to with the wait time, so checking bag-
Vacationers who haven’t opted provide important documentation, gage will help with the security lines,”
to ground themselves this summer Koepf says.
are coping with lines in one of two Others are reading stories like this
ways – devising clever workarounds and making their vacation a stayca-
or avoiding them altogether. And, by tion. The lost travel spending will
and large, it’s working. total $4.3 billion for the three-month
Kleier recently watched a family of summer peak season, according to
five board a flight to Orlando, and she the USTA study. To put these figures
thinks she has found one overlooked in perspective, the USTA says, the
culprit: the airlines. longer airport lines are costing more
“All their luggage was being carried than 12,000 jobs every month.
on,” she says. “My first thought was, I “Unfortunately, we’re well past the
was glad I was in front of them – not point when any single measure is go-
behind them. My second thought ing to provide enough relief to com-
was, ‘Of course they had to carry all pletely save the summer travel sea-
that.’ Airfare for a family of five was son,” USTA President Roger Dow said.
likely $1,500. Baggage fees average Dow may be right, but with just a
about $30 per bag, so add another few strategies you can avoid most of
$300 to that.” this summer’s longest lines. And that
may be a good enough reason to stick
with your summer plans. 

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 47

INSIGHT ON FAITH

Sinking under stress? Here’s how to right your ship

BY REV. DRS. CASEY AND BOB BAGGOTT cargo somewhere, they were turned is deceptively simple but, we think, in- behalf, but by thinking every day of
Columnists away from every port. Finally, having credibly wise. He suggests these three some way to help someone else.
exhausted all options, the owners of faithful remedies to apply in the face
Not long ago we ran across the cu- the Pelicano were at wits’ end. They of paralyzing circumstances. We may feel we have little to offer
rious tale of the ship Pelicano. As au- simply sunk the ship in the sea. others, and yet a tiny gift of hope, love
thor Max Lucado tells it, from 1986 First, when you find yourself at wits’ or friendship could make all the dif-
to 1988 the Pelicano sailed the seas Now, we may never be ship owners end with nowhere else to turn, get ference to someone else. And when
in search of a port, but no one al- with such undesirable cargo, but many back to meaningful work. Life was not we effect such a change for someone’s
lowed her to dock. Why? The prob- of us probably have experienced the created by God to be stagnant. When life, our lives are blessed, too.
lem lay in the fact that her cargo was feeling of being overloaded, bogged we humans set to work, every fiber
15,000 tons of trash. This was the down, overwhelmed and encumbered in us, mental, spiritual and physical, Finally, when we reach our wits’
trash which had accumulated in the by a mess not even of our own making. stretches, strengthens and grows. But end, we can embrace faith more ful-
summer of 1986, when Philadelphia’s We may even feel we have been going let us become idle, and we begin to ly. True, religious devotion is often
municipal workers went on strike. from port to port, seeking help to get decline. A dependable antidote to de- called into question in difficult times.
The trash piled higher and higher, rid of the mess, but no one is willing or spair is purposeful activity. But our belief is the clearest way back
and all domestic sites refused it. So it able to relieve us of it. Like the owners from wits’ end. Or as one patient and
was burned and placed in the belly of of the Pelicano, we may find ourselves Secondly, when we are wits’ end trusting believer put it: “If your knees
the Pelicano. Though the ship’s own- at wits’ end, and fear the only solution and don’t know what to do for our- knock, kneel on them!”
ers thought they could unload their is to go down with the cargo of con- selves, we can get busy doing some-
cerns we carry. thing for someone else. The great Remember, even when we think we
psychiatrist, Alfred Adler, used to tell are at wits’ end, no problem of ours is
Well, before we sink under the stress his depressed patients that in a short beyond the wisdom and the power and
of the situation, we might consider two weeks they might be cured, not the love of the God. So don’t go down
some of the timeless insights Rev. by medication, not by therapy, not by with the ship … get to work, help some-
Raymond Holcomb offers. His advice any other active intervention on their one else, and trust in the God you know
and love to see you through. 

48 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT PETS

Bonz says hey to PeiPei, an amazing service dog

Hi Dog Buddies! knows Everything About Dogs It was hard finding my
– horses, too.”
I love my job – learning new stuff, voice. Finally I asked,
making terrific new poocheroo pals! “I’m honored to meet
Like this week. You know how, when you and all your family and “Whaddya do when you’re
you think of a Service Dog, you pic- friends, Miss PeiPei.” Shadow,
ture a German Shepherd or Labrador a good-lookin’ black Lab, was Off Duty?”
or some other big, take-charge looking On Duty, so he just smiled
breed? I know I do. Or did. and nodded, then settled “I’m always by Dad’s side.
back down next to his Dad.
So when I scheduled an interview But I have fun, too. Like run-
with a Hearing and Post-Traumatic “I know you have an amaz-
Stress Disorder Service Dog, PeiPei ing story,” I said to PeiPei. ning around the house ma-
Taylor (PayPay), that’s what I was
thinkin’. We planned to meet at Crack- “I sure do. My Daddy’s kin’ clicky noises with my
er Barrel and, at first, when me and my Mom and Dad were vol-
Assistant went to the table where her unteers at H.A.L.O. rescue toenails. And I do my crouchy
Mom and Dad and some friends were up in Sebastian. They were
sitting, I thought PeiPei had forgotten unloading a bunch of res- football stance so Daddy’ll
to show up. But when we were settling cue pooches, including me. I was
in, I heard this sweet little voice from just a puppy. My (future) Daddy and play with me. But, guess what
under the table. “Hello, Mr. Bonzo. It’s Mommy were on the way to pick up
me, PeiPei. I’m down here. I’m really their daughter at the airport and had Bonzo, I’m a total Girly Girl. I
glad you’re gonna do my story. Do ya stopped to help unload. Even though
want some toast or something?” I’m a purebred, my breeder couldn’t have more than 200 dresses.
sell me cuz I had a very bad eye. I was
I looked down and there, on a color- almost totally blind. I kept bumping I love getting all Dolled Up.
ful blanket right next to her Dad’s feet, into stuff, and my eyes were all boogly,
was this little Pug, wearing an Official going every which way. Then, Bonzo, PeiPei. PHOTO BY LEAH DUBOIS Then I’m a Mommy’s Girl. I
Vest with Patches. one of the most amazing moments can even say, ‘I love you, Mom-
in my life happened. I’ll never forget.
“A PUG?” I thought. “Seriously?” Mommy and Daddy saw me and Right for Veterans program. My Daddy was my,’ in Human. Wanna hear?”
“Oh, er, no thank you. I, um, I was, Then and There they decided to adopt
um, expecting ...” I stammered. me as a Best Friend and Helper for in Iraq with the Army and saw hor- “Sure!”
She laughed. “No worries, Mr. Bon- Daddy. They took me to a dog surgeon
zo. Happens all the time. The first time in Miami who did a big operation on rible things I can’t even imagine. After And, by Snoopy, she did! It was
my trainer met me even she said, ‘It’s my eye for Half Price. Three days after
a PUG?’ But Service Dogs come in all my surgery, my bandages came off, I he got home, he thought he was OK, like, “Aaaar woooove ooooo, Mom-
sizes. We may be small, like me, but opened my eyes and I could SEE my
our hearts are BIG! This is my Mommy, Mommy and Daddy for the first time. but 18 months later, he was at Disney meeeeeeaarf!”
Dawn, and my Daddy, Jim, I’m his Ser- And I don’t bump into stuff anymore.”
vice Dog, and these are our friends: World with his daughter and he totally PeiPei wants me to remind all my
Shelly, she’s our trainer, and Lisa, they’re I had to stop writing and wipe my
with Dogs for Life; and this is Shadow eyes with my paw. freaked out. He had what humans call Dog Buddies that, if your human puts
Santos and his human, Tony. Shadow’s
a Balance Dog; and this is Kathi, she’s “So,” PeiPei continued, “I started Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which a vest on you and tells other humans
a BIG Dogs for Life supporter and she regular obedience training, you know,
sit, stay, shake, that stuff. Then Mom- means your mind keeps pulling you you’re a Service Dog when you haven’t
my heard that Dogs for Life was look-
ing for veterans to be in their Dogs back into those horrible places and been trained or anything, that isn’t

you can’t get out. Daddy gave up on right. It took PeiPei a year and a half

life. When he was in a bunch of peo- to get fully trained, for Lassie’s Sake. It

ple, he felt like he had to either fight makes it harder for all the actual Ser-

’em all or run away, so he never went vice Dogs, and it’s not fair to you, ei-

out and didn’t want anybody to visit. ther. It’s a Big, Serious Responsibility!

When Miss Shelly came to visit, to see

if I qualified for the program, it was the Till next time,

first time Daddy had let anybody in.

“Thank Lassie I made it and, 668 The Bonz
hours of training later, I was fully
qualified, even got my own photo ID.

Now, even though Daddy says, ‘I live Don’t Be Shy
in Iraq every night. I can still smell the
sand,’ I’m right beside him to help him
be calm. When we go out, I make sure We are always looking for pets with
people keep a comfortable distance interesting stories.
away to keep his stress down. Me and To set up an interview, email
Daddy have a special bond. He says [email protected].
me and Miss Shelly saved his life.”

Crying at night can be more So what conditions cause pain? One of scratched around the face or chin. Cats another alternative. This uses acoustic en-
than just a cry for attention the most common is feline arthritis. Sen- that respond with slaps to touches around ergy to stimulate tissue repair and regener-
sitivity when a particular area is touched. the abdomen can have urinary issues like ation and accelerate healing. Like laser ther-
As cats get older, they may have drastic reluctance to jump onto a favorite spot— stones or cystitis. apy, it is non-invasive and does not require
shifts in behavior. One of the most frus- like a windowsill, and limping are common anesthesia. We also offer stem cell therapy.
trating things is restlessness and crying at signs. Another condition that can indicate Since there are very few safe and ef-
night. There are several conditions we see pain is stomatitis (painful inflammato- fective pain medications in cats, all of the We are thrilled to be able to provide cut-
this associated with including pain, hyper- ry condition affecting mouth) or dental above conditions may be treated by inno- ting edge, safe pain management options
thyroidism, and cognitive dysfunction. disease. Sometimes pets with oral pain vative pain management options we offer! for our feline patients.
become head shy and reluctant to be Class IV Laser Physiotherapy triggers tissue
repair and regeneration. Acoustic therapy is We’re here to keep your best buddies
healthy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 49

INSIGHT GAMES BRIDGE

HOW CAN I GET ACROSS THE TABLE? WEST NORTH EAST
865 10 9 2 K4
By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist 5 9742 A63
10 8 7 4 2 653 KQJ
Kin Hubbard said, “The election is not very far off when a candidate can recognize you K Q 10 3 854 AJ972
across the street.”
SOUTH
In this deal South needs to get across the table. How can he do it? AQJ73
K Q J 10 8
South is in four hearts, and the defenders begin with two rounds of clubs. A9
6
The South hand was a tad light for a two-club opening. But after East balanced with a
takeout double, it was reasonable for South to jump to four hearts. Yes, if North were Dealer: South; Vunerable: Both
short in the majors, it would have backfired badly, but such pessimism almost never
works at the bridge table. The Bidding:

East was tempted to double for a second time with his 18-pointer, but he was worried SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST OPENING
that if partner ran to, say, five diamonds, that would turn a plus score into a minus. (Note 1 Spades Pass Pass Dbl.
that five diamonds will go down one, but five clubs by East is unbeatable. If East had 4 Hearts Pass Pass Pass LEAD:
doubled again, and West didn’t pass, he should have moved with four no-trump, which King Clubs
would have shown a two-suiter.)

South must hope that the spade finesse is working, so that he can collect these 10
tricks: five spades, four hearts and one diamond. But how can he get to the board to
take the finesse? Only via the heart nine. Declarer must be careful to ruff the second
club high and to continue with a top trump.

Suppose East wins and leads another club. South ruffs high, cashes his last top trump,
overtakes the heart eight with the nine, and runs the spade 10 to get home.

Then East will ruefully regret not passing out one spade!

50 Vero Beach 32963 / July 7, 2016 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT GAMES & CO.

SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (JUNE 30) ON PAGE 62

ACROSS DOWN
5 Seethrough (11) 1 Safe (8)
7 Homestead (4) 2 Flightless bird (7)
8 Lawful (8) 3 Canal boat (5)
9 Protection (7) 4 Nuisance (4)
10 Modifies (5) 5 Commerce (5)
13 Wring (5) 6 Faith (5)
15 Deteriorate (7) 11 Harangue (8)
18 Dainty (8) 12 Under (7)
20 Gown (4) 14 Puppy (5)
21 Fit to be seen (11) 16 Cavalry sword (5)
17 Bet (5)
19 Article, object (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