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Published by Vero Beach 32963 Media, 2021-03-25 21:09:27

03/25/2021 ISSUE 12

VB32963_ISSUE12_032521_OPT

New COVID-19 cases continue
trending down. P12
Bartlett named to
Hospital District. P12

Funding is doubled for
addiction treatment center. P14

For breaking news visit

MY VERO New oceanfront
development off
BY RAY MCNULTY to blazing start

School foundation has
big hurdle to overcome

School Board Chairman Bri- Downtown Fridays: Another step on road back BY STEVEN M. THOMAS
an Barefoot has been trying in Staff Writer
recent weeks to figure out how BY STEPHANIE LABAFF the monthly street fair on 14th vived the pandemic mostly
to create a privately funded, Staff Writer Avenue known as Downtown intact, according to Susan The island’s latest luxury
not-for-profit foundation to Fridays resumes at 5:45 p.m., Gromis, executive director of oceanfront development is off
raise money for major school Another mainstay of Vero with food, drinks, music and Main Street Vero Beach, which to an extraordinary start.
programs and projects in our small town life is making a vendors. puts on the street fair.
county. welcome return this week after New developments typical-
a long pandemic shutdown as The downtown art gallery “We had a few closures along ly take years to sell out, some-
A former college president and dining district has sur- times decades, but eight of 21
with extensive philanthropic CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 units at Indigo already have
fundraising experience, Bare- been reserved less than two
foot seems the perfect guy to months after sales opened.
lead such an effort. And he has
the backing of School Super- “We expect to be sold out by
intendent David Moore and the end of the year,” says Fer-
the rest of the School Board, nando de Nunez y Lugones, ex-
which voted unanimously at ecutive vice president and chief
its March 8 meeting to approve economist at ONE Sotheby’s
a policy authorizing Moore to International Realty, the bro-
organize the foundation. kerage handling sales at Indigo.

But there is a hurdle to over- Developer Yane Zana goes
come before the foundation further. “At the current pace, we
can become a reality and start could very well be sold out by
funneling money from island the time we break ground this
philanthropists to the schools summer.”
for things the school district
“The level of interest has
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 been exceptional,” says Kris-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Skyborne has big plans in taking over FlightSafety Academy Simon Caldecott, driving force behind
resurgence of Piper Aircraft, retiring

BY RAY MCNULTY BY RAY MCNULTY It was a reminder of how Pip-
Staff Writer Staff Writer er nearly lost its way.

Skyborne Aviation will Piper Aircraft’s announce- Even though he was only in-
focus on attracting Ameri- ment this week that President terim president and CEO when
can students who want to and CEO Simon Caldecott will he arrived in 2011, Caldecott
work as commercial pilots retire on April 2 didn’t merely didn’t hesitate to make a major
for U.S.-based airlines when mark the departure of the driv- course correction in the com-
it takes over Vero’s larg- ing force behind the decade- pany’s flight path.
est flight training school, long resurgence of the county’s
largest private-sector employer. Correctly reading industry
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 trends in the midst of a reces-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

March 25, 2021 Volume 14, Issue 12 Newsstand Price $1.00 Firefighters Fair
makes triumphant
News 1-16 Editorial 40 People 17-34 TO ADVERTISE CALL return. Page 18
Arts 49-55 Games 43-45 Pets 56 772-559-4187
Books 42 Health 57-63 Real Estate 79-92
Dining 70-75 Insight 35-48 Style 64-69 FOR CIRCULATION
CALL 772-226-7925

© 2021 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved.

2 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Downtown Fridays “You can’t do this [type of fundrais-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 ing] in public or you’re going to fail,”
Barefoot said. “There will be donors
14th Avenue, but we had new busi- who might want to contribute to a
nesses coming in too. And a couple specific project, but they won’t if their
that did close had already been talk- names are going to be mentioned
ing about closing before COVID,” said publicly.
Gromis, who says she has seen a vis-
ible uptick in foot traffic along Main “We’re hoping the legal experts will
Street in recent weeks. find a way in which we can separate a
privately run foundation from a pub-
The first Downtown Friday in lic entity,” he added. “If we can’t do
many months comes in the wake of that, then I’m out. But there are foun-
a successful First Friday Gallery Stroll
in March. “We had over 100 people School Board Chairman Brian Barefoot outside of the
come through during the recent County School Board building. PHOTO BY BRENDA AHEARN
March stroll,” which is only 50 fewer
than pre-COVID, Gromis reports. dations affiliated with other school
districts, and they’re set up outside of
If you decide to head out to the down- the Sunshine.
town street fair this Friday, you’ll find
things much the same as in the past, “So, I think we’ll get there.”
but with fewer vendors and food trucks Let’s hope they do.
to allow for more social distancing. Our school district needs the money.
“The superintendent has a strategic
“If you’re ready to come out, we’re plan for the district, but not every-
ready to have you here,” says Gromis. thing in his plan can be funded with
“If you don’t think it’s time for you, taxpayer dollars,” Barefoot told Vero
please wait. We’re planning on having Beach 32963 last week. “We have the
events throughout the rest of the year. money to fund the things we need to
So, when you feel comfortable coming do, but not the things we’d like to do.”
out, we’ll be here for you.” Barefoot currently serves as vice
chairman of the Cleveland Clinic
Meanwhile, the Oceanside Busi- Indian River Foundation, which he
ness Association, the island’s version said has transferred $120 million to
of MSVB, is holding off on restarting the county’s hospital since 1998 and
its signature Sunset Saturday open-air could serve as a model for the school
concerts. district’s foundation.
“The way it works there is: The hos-
The association reopened its beach- pital decides it needs to upgrade its
side farmers market months ago, and cancer facility or heart program, so it
that has been thriving on Saturday goes to the foundation, makes its case
mornings. But the group plans to wait and the foundation signs off on it,”
until October when most people will Barefoot explained.
have been vaccinated to bring back “The donors know exactly what
the sunset concerts. they’re investing in,” he added. “The
school district needs that same type of
The group also plans to hold off on funding source.”
The Taste of Vero, a popular summer According to Barefoot, an indepen-
culinary event that typically sells out
in days, until more people have been
vaccinated and restaurants are ready,
willing and able to serve up samples of
their specialties, according to Al Ben-
kert, OBA treasurer and vice president

of events. 

My Vero

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

doesn’t have the money for.
The problem is, the policy ap-

proved by the School Board requires
that the superintendent and school
board chairman serve on the founda-
tion’s board of directors.

That seems to set up a situation –
since Barefoot is an elected official – in
which the foundation board’s meet-
ings would be subject to Florida’s Sun-
shine Law, and its records to the state’s
public records statute.

That would be a deal killer for Bare-
foot, who says the foundation he has
in mind can’t operate that way.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 3

NEWS

dently managed foundation would ering sufficiently and quickly enough ship product – and expanded its of- of his first initiatives, and it was abso-
raise money to enhance academic, to allow us to continue developing the ferings in the now-burgeoning trainer lutely the right decision,” Piper spokes-
athletic and artistic opportunities for program under the economic circum- aircraft market. woman Jackie Carlon said of Caldecott,
the county’s public school students stances we face.” who spent the final 10 years of a 47-year
and provide funding for major capital During his tenure, Piper also em- aviation industry career overseeing the
projects in the district. Instead, under Caldecott’s direction, braced Garmin’s Emergency Autoland Vero Beach-based company.
Piper turned its focus to its M-Class technology, a major safety upgrade
Programs could include housing line of single-engine, cabin-class busi- that can completely take over land- “And shifting our efforts to the M-
assistance or advanced education for ness aircraft – launching the luxurious ing a plane, and installed it on the new Class line and the trainer market not
teachers – both of which would help M600 turboprop that has become a M600 SLS aircraft. only grew our business, but it put us
the district recruit and retain high- huge seller and the company’s flag-
quality faculty members – while proj- “Suspending the jet program was one CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
ects might include additional athletic
facilities, a music studio and an inno-
vation center.

“This is a very philanthropic commu-
nity,” Barefoot said. “We need to reach
out and partner with that community.”

Though Barefoot doesn’t have a list
of big-money island donors waiting for
his call with their checkbooks open, he
said he has had conversations with
“people asking how they can help.”

If the foundation is created, he’ll ad-
vise the district to move deliberately.

“There are a lot of not-for-profits in
this community, so it’s going to take a
while to do the groundwork,” Barefoot
said. “First, you’ve got to show people
there’s a need, but even then you don’t
want to bite off too much.

“You start with one project and
show them what you did,” he added.
“Let them see the outcome. Once they
see what you’re trying to accomplish
and how you go about doing it, they’ll
be more likely to become a part of it.”

The district already benefits from
the fundraising efforts of several local
nonprofits, including The Learning
Alliance and the Education Founda-
tion of Indian River County, John’s
Island Foundation and Quail Valley
Charities.

But the School Board chairman says
the district needs additional financial
support to embark on some of the ini-
tiatives in Moore’s strategic plan.

“The district gets grants, but usually
the not-for-profits do what they want
to do – not what the district wants to
do,” Barefoot said. “Also, you’ll find the
people who contribute to those not-
for-profits are different from those who
fund project-oriented foundations.

“So, what we need is the ability to
raise money for strategic programs
and projects the district otherwise
can’t afford,” he added. “A school dis-
trict foundation would give us that

ability.” 

Piper CEO retiring
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

sion that hit the aircraft industry hard,
Caldecott immediately halted Piper’s
ill-fated venture into a once-trendy-
but-faltering, small jet market.

“Clearly,” Caldecott said at the time,
“the market for light jets is not recov-

4 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Piper CEO retiring was unmistakable throughout a 30-min-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 ute trans-Atlantic phone call on which
he discussed his company’s plans to re-
on the path to where we are today,” she store Vero Beach’s diminished stature in
added. “He was the right person at the the pilot-training industry.
right time, a great leader who made a
tremendous contribution to our com- Skyborne, which was founded in
pany. the United Kingdom in 2018, has
quickly earned an international repu-
“He’s leaving us in a very good place.” tation as one of the most respected
Carlon said Caldecott informed Pip- commercial pilot training schools in
er’s ownership months ago of his de- the industry, and Woodward wants to
sire to retire, and the company’s board expand that reputation and success to
of directors has been working on a the U.S.
succession plan and a new leadership
structure that will be announced soon. “This year is about getting the word
In his farewell statement, Caldecott out, promoting our brand, educating
said: “It has been an honor and privi- people about our track record and
lege leading Piper Aircraft through a building confidence in our compa-
transformative journey – from a legacy ny,” Woodward said. “Then next year,
aircraft manufacturer to the first gen- when we hope to have COVID behind
eral aviation manufacturer to certify us, we expect to be back to normal
an Autoland-equipped, general avia- operations.”
tion aircraft.
“We strengthened the leadership Besides rebranding the school as
team with new talent, made major fa- “Skyborne Aviation Academy Vero
cility improvements to make a safer Beach,” Woodward said his company
workplace and strengthened relations will introduce new technology and
with the community, as well as with implement new training methods.
major suppliers.”
He ended by saying: “With everything The new technology will include the
in place, the company’s future pros- use of some electric-powered airplanes.
pects are extremely encouraging, and I Skyborne already has purchased 10 of
look forward to a smooth transition.” the trainer aircraft from Denver-based
“I always enjoyed working with Mr. Bye Aerospace, Woodward said.
Caldecott,” said Eric Menger, now-re-
tired longtime Vero Beach airport di- Skyborne also will install “Flight-
rector. “He is an outstanding aviation Logger,” considered to be the industry’s
professional.” most innovative flight-school manage-
“He always did a great job running ment software.
Piper,” said County Administrator Ja-
son Brown. “I wish him well in his re- As for the new training methods,
Woodward said they will be standard-
tirement. He’ll be missed.”  ized, so that Skyborne cadets in the
U.K. and U.S. will all be taught by top-
Skyborne shelf instructors using the same cur-
riculum and practices.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“We are radically redefining every
Skyborne chief executive officer Lee aspect of airline pilot training,” Wood-
Woodward told Vero Beach 32963. ward said, “and we’re going to rebuild
pride in the academy.”
Skyborne is purchasing the falter-
ing FlightSafety Academy, where in Part of that effort will be reducing
recent years most students came from the size of the student body from 500,
outside the United States with many pre-COVID, at FlightSafety to 300 or
of them sponsored by airlines in their 350 to raise the quality of training.
home countries.
“Our priority is getting it right, not
“We’re a British company, but our getting it big,” Woodward said.
plan is to make a massive effort in the
U.S. market to develop U.S. pilots, espe- Woodward said he wasn’t dissing
cially for U.S. airlines,” Woodward said. FlightSafety, which was founded in
Vero Beach by Albert L. Ueltschi in
“We have a very airline-centric phi- 1966 and filled the cockpits of com-
losophy,” he added, “and we already mercial airlines and corporate carriers
enjoy successful working relationships for five decades, receiving global rec-
with several U.S. carriers, including at ognition and industry accolades be-
least four that have expressed interest fore struggling in recent years.
in creating pathway programs.
In fact, Woodward compared Flight-
“With that philosophy and those re- Safety Academy during its heyday to
lationships – along with our team of the flight training version of an “Ivy
talented instructors – we want to really League school,” and he believes the fa-
energize the U.S. market.” cility will soar to even greater heights
under Skyborne’s leadership.
The enthusiasm in Woodward’s voice
“Our intention from the day we
started the Skyborne Aviation Acad-
emy in the U.K. was to add a facil-
ity in the U.S., and we’ve been looking
for about 2 ½ years,” Woodward said,
adding that he and the company’s co-
founders, Chief Operating Officer Ian

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 5

NEWS

Cooper and Chairman Tom Misner, tinued. “Ian actually trained in Vero On Feb. 16, Woodward signed a de- Skyborne is still acquiring “all the
considered sites in Arizona, Texas and Beach in the late 1990s as part of the finitive agreement to purchase the necessary government approvals,” he
Florida. British Airways program, so we are fa- Vero Beach academy. He said a con- said, and working with city officials to
miliar with the community. fidentiality clause prevents him from transfer FlightSafety’s lease at the Vero
“While we were exploring different revealing the exact terms of the trans- Beach Regional Airport.
sites, the FlightSafety option present- “The more we looked at the pos- action but did note the deal should be
ed itself to us last year, and we started sibilities in Vero Beach, the more it complete in May or June. Once the deal is done, Skyborne will
moving in this direction,” he con- made sense.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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6 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Skyborne powered trainers and, possibly, some which placed the academy on “warn- Vero Beach Regional Airport Direc-
purchased from its airport neighbor, ing” in 2017 and then “probation” in tor Todd Scher said FlightSafety’s take-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Piper Aircraft. 2018, was a failure to maintain a grad- offs and landings dropped to about
uation rate of at least 50 percent for its one-third of their usual numbers.
have full use of the academy’s 10-acre FlightSafety officials have declined professional pilot program.
campus, which, along with classrooms comment on the sale, but the price Before teaming to create Skyborne,
and other training facilities, includes likely was discounted due to recent The academy’s reported graduation both Woodward and Cooper held ex-
more than 200 recently renovated problems at the school. rates for that program plummeted ecutive, management and instruc-
bedrooms, a swimming pool, soccer from 38 percent in July 2016 to 14 per- tor positions at other successful flight
field, volleyball court, cafes and book Two years ago, FlightSafety Academy cent in July 2017 to a dismal 3 percent schools. Combined, they have more
shops. surrendered its accreditation, ending in February 2018. than 50 years of experience, andWood-
a three-year struggle to comply with ward said they have trained more than
Skyborne also will take possession standards set by an organization that FlightSafety Academy’s performance 7,000 pilots.
of FlightSafety’s fleet of 64 aircraft, but evaluates post-secondary vocational appeared to be improving last year –
Woodward said the company plans to and technical schools. until the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, “I think what people in Vero Beach
incrementally replace older airplanes crippling the airline industry and send- will quickly notice is that we’re a very
with new ones, including the electric- Among the more-alarming deficien- ing many of the school’s foreign stu- engaging company,” Woodward said.
cies cited by the Accrediting Commis- dents back to their home countries. “We enjoy a great relationship with our
sion of Career Schools and Colleges, students, as well as with airport au-
thorities, communities, airlines or oth-
ers in the flight-training industry.

“In Vero Beach, for example, I’ve al-
ready met with the Chamber of Com-
merce once, and I’ll be meeting with
them again in April,” he added. “We’re
going to be good neighbors, using local
services and businesses, and we hope
to have open days when the public, es-
pecially children, can come over and
see what we do.

“They can get a feel for what it’s like

to be a pilot.” 

Oceanfront development
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

tine Gabor, the Sotheby’s agent in
charge of sales at the development.

Located south of Tracking Station
Park on a 4-acre parcel that previously
was home to a marine research facility,
Indigo is a mix of detached villas and
condominium units that range in price
from $2 million to $3.5 million.

Vero buyers typically have been slow
to purchase units in new, multifam-
ily developments before construction
begins, but in this case a compelling
set of circumstances has steamrolled
that hesitancy.

The surge of wealthy buyers fleeing
large, crowded urban areas that has
lit up the whole Vero real estate mar-
ket, an almost complete lack of other
new oceanfront inventory on the bar-
rier island, and lower prices for new
luxury oceanfront units than in many
desirable Florida locations are among
the factors driving sales at Indigo, ac-
cording to de Nunez y Lugones.

He also mentions the gated devel-
opment’s location close to shopping
and dining in Vero’s seaside village
and at The Village Shops in Indian Riv-
er Shores and the property’s 500 linear
feet of ocean frontage.

Zana has built numerous oceanfront
homes and several successful ocean-
front developments on the barrier island
in recent years, along with a number of
luxury condominiums in Cocoa Beach.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8



8 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Oceanfront development tion but with a modern flare. They’ll PHOTO BY BRENDA AHEARN lush privacy landscaping in addition
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 have four bedrooms and five and a to a swimming pool, spa and lounge
half baths, along with amazing infin- The final element in the project decks along with a covered summer
ONE Sotheby’s, which operates out ity-edge oceanfront pools and lanais.” design is a single six-unit, modernist kitchen and entertainment area,” Zana
of 18 offices between Miami and Co- condo building north of the ocean- says.
coa, represents about 20 new devel- Extending back from the south end front villas.
opments in Florida and the Bahamas of the oceanfront row will be five Zana’s Coastmark Construction is
and expects to add $1.5 billion in ad- 3,000-square-foot villas “with gorgeous “All the units will be corner residenc- teaming up with well-known island
ditional units to its sales portfolio this courtyards with swimming pools,” ac- es with 50-plus feet of ocean frontage, builder Vic Lombardi, owner of Wa-
year, according to de Nunez y Lugones. cording to Zana. “These villas overlook which is phenomenal for a condo- ter’s Edge Estates, to build the high-
the pier and beaches to the south and minium,” Zana said. “They’ll have 10- luxe development.
Florida Institute of Technology benefit from a lot of sunlight given foot floor-to-ceiling glass, sweeping
closed its marine lab on the site in the southern exposure.” They start at oceanfront terraces, two- or three-car With sales strong, the development
2016. In 2019, the university success- $1,995,000. garages and superlative interior ap- will not be built in phases. Instead, the
fully petitioned the city of Vero Beach pointments.” Third-floor condos with villas and condo building will be con-
to annex the unincorporated proper- 3,500 square feet of air-conditioned structed simultaneously, with com-
ty, adding to the value of the land. living space are being offered pre-con- pletion slated for fall 2022.
struction for $3,395,000.
Zana put the property under con- Buyers, who range from their mid-
tract in September 2019 and closed on “All residences at Indigo will enjoy 40s up, are thus far a mix of people
the deal in April 2020, paying $6 mil- a gated entry, beautiful grounds and from “the Northeast and Central and
lion for the tract. South Florida, along with current Vero
Beach homeowners looking to either
Indigo Vero Beach LLC, the devel- downsize from a large estate home
opment entity formed for the project, or desiring new construction with a
demolished the old FIT buildings and more modern architectural style and
cleared the site in June. located on the oceanfront,” according
to ONE Sotheby’s.
The centerpiece of the develop-
ment will be a row of 10 detached Most are buying the villas and con-
oceanfront villas, with about 7 feet be- dos as vacation homes. A $50,000 re-
tween units. fundable deposit is required to reserve
a unit.
Zana says the 3,500-square-foot vil-
las, which are offered for $3,495,000 – An observation tower has been built
up from $3,195,000 when the project on the site so potential buyers can see
was announced in December – “will what their views will be from second
remain in the Anglo Caribbean tradi- and third floors. A ONE Sotheby’s sales
center at Blue at 8050, a luxury ocean-
front condo project Zana has under
way a few miles north on the island,
also serves as the sales center for In-

digo. 

‘EXPERIENCE’ IN OBSTRUCTION NOT
WHAT VERO CITY COUNCIL NEEDS

BY LISA ZAHNER He knew how to seek and accept coun-
Staff Writer sel, and he listened to differing opinions.
Graves was not afraid to admit what he
The Vero Beach City Council said last did not know. He also was not afraid to
week that they want to appoint some- change his mind should facts change,
one “experienced” to fill the seat va- or if his position evolved over time.
cated by Councilman Joe Graves, who
resigned because he’s moving outside Those are attributes the city coun-
the city limits. cil members should be looking for as
Vero navigates the ongoing pandemic,
But experience with a previous era’s
problems does not necessarily equate NEWS ANALYSIS
to wise judgment in today’s big deci-
sions. and major decisions regarding the fu-
ture of the city’s riverfront utility sites.
Graves might not have been the most Instead, they seem stuck on “experi-
seasoned or sage council member – he ence” as their number one criteria.
was thin-skinned at times when criti-
cized and he sometimes over-inflated The deadline for interested people
the importance of being a municipal to apply to fill the vacant seat is 5 p.m.
official in a small burg of 18,000 people Friday, but as of press time Monday,
– but he possessed several qualities that only two people had put themselves
made him a good fit for rapidly evolv- up for consideration – 83-year-old for-
ing situations that the council finds it- mer mayor Dick Winger, and a politi-
self dealing with these days. cal newcomer, retired police sergeant
Christopher Drake.
While on the council, Graves generally
approached issues with an open mind.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 9

NEWS

Winger, a Central Beach resident Department and then with the Shel- Shelter Island where he worked the ority,” Drake said in his application,
and longtime cheerleader of the In- ter Island Police Department on Long majority of his law-enforcement ca- adding that he feels he could contrib-
dian River Neighborhood Association, Island, where he attained the rank of reer shares has many things in com- ute to competent and collective deci-
served on council from 2011 to 2017, sergeant, was a supervisor and worked mon with Vero Beach, including a sion making.
and while he definitely has experi- in emergency management. seaside location, relatively affluent
ence, he may not be the best person to demographics, and concerns about Former Mayor Pilar Turner – a spe-
approach the city’s biggest issue with Drake is also a longtime volunteer growth and expansion. cialist in engineering and finance
the required open mind. firefighter and served on the Suffolk who, unlike Winger, was always on
County Parks Administration Board of With regard to his defense-industry the correct side of the electric issue
Indian River Democrats published Trustees. support business, Drake said he has – sadly is not applying for the seven-
an undated commentary penned by no vested interest in any local vendors month council appointment.
Winger in which he took a deroga- “Vero Beach is a very special com- that might do business with the city or
tory tone about voters trusting the munity that deserves a city council come before the city, so he sees no po- Someone with her leadership abil-
city council to decide the future of that is flexible and capable,” Drake tential conflicts. ity and knowledge of city finances
Vero’s riverfront utility sites. “The idea wrote, asking for the council mem- would be perfect. Plus, she will have
would be, developers would bring in bers’ consideration to fill the balance “I have a firm belief that instilling to look at whatever ends up being
proposals this summer, and ... you of Graves’ term until November. continued confidence in the commu- developed on those sites every single
would have granted Council the au- nity on behalf of the city is a top pri-
thority in advance to decide the fu- Drake said the small community of CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
ture of these extremely important and
valuable tracts. You know what will
happen. This is the same City Council
who wanted to sell the old Dodger-
town Golf Course to Hulbert Homes,
bring a developer into the Marina,
sold the downtown post office to a de-
veloper, and make Riverhouse into a
brewery in the middle of McWilliams
Park,” Winger wrote.

Whatever institutional knowledge
he may bring to the table, Winger
seems opposed to the concept of
commercial development on the riv-
erfront and would likely arrive on the
dais with his mind already made up
before the first developer even gets
the chance to pitch a vision for the
project.

The council during Winger’s tenure
was adept at obstructing progress un-
der the guise of “Keep Vero Vero.” At
the time, the huge deal they were try-
ing to thwart was the sale of Vero Elec-
tric, which ultimately went through
and now benefits the entire commu-
nity.

Vero Beach is no longer a place that
people – when looking at real estate
– avoid because of exorbitant elec-
tric bills. Real estate agents no longer
need to sort out properties on the Vero
Beach electric system with a special
code and warn buyers about the high
energy costs for their home or busi-
ness.

If Winger and his cohorts had got-
ten their way, a good portion of our
readers would still be making checks
out to Vero Beach Utilities for electric
each month instead of Florida Power
& Light.

Let that sink in.
Drake’s cover letter says he moved
to Vero Beach in 2018, that he and his
wife have a 10-year-old child and that
he owns a business that serves the de-
fense industry, the U.S. Department of
Defense and other government agen-
cies.
The 46-year-old states he served 23
years as a police officer, moving up in
rank from an entry-level sworn offi-
cer position with the New York Police

10 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Vero City Council sitioned from the end of his second “Well, believe it or not, I did consid- lost by only 432 votes to Council-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 council term in 2019 to serving on the er it. However, I think the last highest woman Honey Minuse in November.
Three Corners Steering Committee. vote getter behind the three that won Cotugno’s international corporate ex-
day as the view is very literally in her He could step in without missing a the election should be the person ... I perience, and the fact that he recently
back yard. beat, but he’s not applying because he think John Catugno has a shot,” Howle chose Vero Beach as his new home,
said the council already has the per- said. when he had a multitude of options,
Former Mayor Harry Howle tran- fect solution to the vacancy. could bring a fresh perspective to de-
Catugno, a Central Beach resident,

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 11

NEWS

cisions about how Vero can position cels to be developed and how they’ve residents apply by 5 p.m. Friday, at cial development on the riverfront.
itself for the future to attract people been used and what will need to hap- least there will be some sort of robust It’s the city’s stated goal to make the
like him who want to contribute to the pen to transform the riverfront from contest and Winger will not be select- project pay for itself, and yet another
community. utilitarian industrial worksites to ed easily due to his “experience.” park on high-value waterfront real es-
something that will be a commercial tate will not bring in any revenue to
He serves as vice chair of the city’s and aesthetic success. Regardless, the sitting council make the three corners work for Vero
Utilities Commission, so Cotugno is members should make Winger defend
more than familiar with the two par- If Cotugno and other qualified city his negative attitude about commer- Beach. 

12 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

dCoOwVnIDa-s1m9ocraeseressciodnetnitnsuveatcrceinndaitnedg

BY LISA ZAHNER pitalized with COVID-19 in the past
Staff Writer week, and as of Monday evening the
total daily hospitalizations with CO-
Indian River County experienced VID-19 were 13. This number has re-
another encouraging week of down- mained low for more than a month.
ward-trending case numbers and ris-
ing vaccinations as Florida surpassed On Monday, the segment of people
two million COVID-19 cases statewide eligible to be vaccinated expanded to
this week. anyone age 50 or older, and Gov. Ron
DeSantis said it won’t be long until he
Countywide only 148 positive cases opens up the opportunity to get the
of the virus were reported, just 21 per jab to anyone age 16 and older for
day on average, down from the mid- Pfizer, or 18 and older for the Moderna
20s the past two weeks. Thirteen of and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Fed-
this week’s cases hailed from the 32963 eral officials have set a goal of opening
ZIP code. The case positivity rate re- up vaccination to all adults by May 1
mained in the low single digits, rising and DeSantis said Florida will be early.
above 5 percent only three times in the
past two weeks. The makers of the Oxford-AstraZen-
eca vaccine released clinical trial data
Nearly 5,000 people got a jab of CO- this week showing that the vaccine is
VID-19 vaccine during the past week, 79 percent effective at preventing in-
with more than 52,000 people now be- fection, and 100 percent effective at
ing partially or fully vaccinated. Look- preventing death and severe disease
ing at the combined number of people requiring hospitalization from CO-
vaccinated and those who have re- VID-19.
covered from COVID-19 the past few
months, about one in three Indian AstraZeneca has not yet applied for
River County residents should have emergency use authorization for its
some level of immunity to the virus. two-dose vaccine from the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration but is expect-
Only four people were newly hos-
ed to do so in the coming weeks. 

Kerry Bartlett appointed to replace
Tracey Zudans on Hospital District

BY MICHELLE GENZ when both were at the VNA, where Mc-
Staff Writer Crystal served as chairman of the VNA’s
foundation for many years.
Kerry Bartlett, a consultant on phi-
lanthropy and prominent figure in the “Kerry is a true professional because
local nonprofit realm, has been named she’s educated herself in the field ... and
by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Trac- knows a lot about the nonprofit world,”
ey Zudans on the Indian River County said McCrystal. “She knows about the
Hospital District Board. agencies and what they do for our com-
munity.
Bartlett brings significant experience
in the nonprofit world to the seven- “When an organization is looking
member volunteer board. She was the for indigent care money, there are a lot
first executive director of the Indian of questions you can ask beyond just
River Community Foundation and has knowing about the project itself. Like,
held development posts with the VNA what is your board like? What kind of
of the Treasure Coast and the United other grants do you get? I think some-
Way of Indian River County. one with Kerry’s background knows
what it takes to go beyond just taxpay-
A certified fundraising executive er dollars,” said McCrystal. “Don’t just
with a degree from the University of go to the district and ask for money
Florida, she maintains her own phi- when you could be doing other things
lanthropy consulting firm while part too.”
of the Vero-based consultancy, Carter.
Bartlett was among several who ap-
“She’s got a tremendous amount of plied for the seat, including Jennifer
experience in the community in fund- Tippin, a registered nurse and anti-
raising and development strategies,” mask advocate; Craig Rappel, a health-
said Ann Marie McCrystal, a District care attorney; and James Large, a retired
Board trustee who worked with Bartlett surgeon who last fall ran unsuccessfully

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 13

NEWS

against incumbent board member Bar- sources for programs funded by district cial resources but its leadership and 2017 by a different Republican gover-
bara Bodnar. tax dollars. collaborative roles “to accelerate and nor, Rick Scott. She was subsequently
enhance the [local healthcare] system. reelected.
The choice of Bartlett over candidates Bartlett called the Hospital District’s
in healthcare-related fields may sug- impact over the years “profound.” She “I’m excited to build on my base of Zudans gave notice of her resigna-
gest the governor considered Bartlett’s said she sees opportunities, when the knowledge and share my experience tion to the board in January, citing fam-
expertise in raising donations a way to board revisits its strategic plan later and perspective,” she added. ily reasons. The governor could have
shine a bright light on alternate revenue this year, of leveraging not only finan-
Zudans was named to her seat in CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

14 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Kerry Bartlett Funding doubled for addiction treatment center

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

left the seat vacant until the November BY MICHELLE GENZ Phoenix Rising opened in the summer tion, it has treated 14 clients through
elections, but opted to fill it, waiting Staff Writer of 2018 and, six months later, its young scholarships. It also offers inpatient
the full 45 days allotted by law to an- founder, Pedro Bernabe, made his first treatment as well as outpatient thera-
nounce his choice. The Hospital District board has presentation to the Hospital District. py and maintains a network of off-site
unanimously agreed to double its fund- “sober homes.”
The mother of four who once took ing of Phoenix Rising Wellness Center, He was told to come back in 2019 with
a spin for charity in “Dancing with the increasing the addiction treatment cen- a funding request, and by the next year, Key to its treatment philosophy is
Vero Stars” turned out to be a district ter’s capacity to treat indigent clients the center had been added to the 2020/21 a continuum of support, said David
powerhouse, taking on an important with substance abuse problems. budget with funding of $220,000. Bern- Gibbs, the center’s clinical director.
and time-consuming role steering abe posted the announcement on the The day before the district meeting
the revival of the Gifford Health Cen- The Hospital District board voted to center’s Facebook page: “We are proud last week, Bernabe took all the center’s
ter, where Treasure Coast Community give the center an additional $200,000 to announce the Phoenix Rising is now clients, including some who are home-
Health ended up taking over from the for the fiscal year ending in October. accepting indigent clients from Indian less, on a tour of United Against Pov-
county Health Department to restore That is on top of the $220,000 in Hos- River County. Thanks to the Hospital erty’s new location, a center with wide-
and expand medical services to the pital District funding already in place District,” the banner read. ranging services including a discount
Gifford community. for this year. grocery store, an education center, a
If Bernabe, 32, has had the wind at job referral program, and a branch of
Zudans went on to serve as the Hos- The vote came after trustees heard his back watching the small treatment Treasure Coast Community Health.
pital District’s liaison on the Gifford appeals from the center’s medical di- center grow, he’s also seen the need for
Health Center Advisory Committee. So rector and case manager, as well as a addiction treatment grow even faster, The center also guides patients
far, a replacement has not been named. testimonial from an intake manager including during the mental health through eligibility requirements at oth-
who is a graduate of the program. crisis spawned by the pandemic. er agencies including the Mental Health
Zudans became a spirited voice of Association, where they can continue
support for the center under its new “My family wrote me off a long time The funding, raised through the dis- counseling, and the Salvation Army,
management. Services continue to ago and if it wasn’t for Phoenix giving trict’s tax levy, will go to Phoenix Ris- which recently provided clothing for
expand and now include an on-site me a shot, I don’t know if I’d be alive ing’s foundation as scholarships for cli- some Phoenix Rising clients.
pharmacy. today,” said the graduate, introduced ents who qualify as indigent and have
as Misty, who came to the program no insurance. “The most important piece is getting
She also was known during her ten- when it began and remains sober. “I them to reach out to the community and
ure for urging agencies to try raising wanted to say how much I appreciate Already, the clinic has treated 26 learn what is available to them beyond
donations before using taxes to fund [your support] on a personal level,” adult clients in its partial hospitaliza- Phoenix Rising,” said Gibbs. “That’s
their services, an effort Bartlett, with Misty told the board. tion program (PHP) and its intensive
her fundraising expertise, may con- outpatient program (IOP). In addi- where the success will happen.” 

tinue. 

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16 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Is pending bill aimed at eliminating Hospital District?

BY MICHELLE GENZ trict officials – and advocates for spe- “What would these agencies do with- ited in public with its contributions to
Staff Writer cial taxing districts – believe the bill’s out our funding?” Suriano asked the the community, said board chairwom-
true intention may be to shut down board last week. an Marybeth Cunningham.
A piece of legislation moving through hospital districts altogether.
the state legislature could prove an ex- There are 27 active county hospital “It sticks in my craw,” said Cunning-
istential threat to hospital districts, lo- The bill states results of the perfor- districts in the state, out of 67 counties. ham at last week’s public meeting. “I lis-
cal officials are warning. mance audit would be sent to Florida’s In her email, Suriano urged the agencies ten to other agencies that we fund give
auditor general and leaders of the to contact local legislators to let them talks and they never mention that they
The Special District Accountability House and Senate. know the value of the Hospital District. get funding from the Hospital District.
Act would require a performance au- United Way, the hospital? Hello?”
dit every five years on independent In an email sent to the 16 agencies The Hospital District’s millage rate
taxing districts like the Hospital Dis- the Hospital District funds, including in the current fiscal year is .8 percent, “Well, I say shame on the agencies
trict. The proposed audit, taking ef- Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospi- which amounted to $15.6 million in that don’t mention you,” said Treasure
fect in October, would cost hospital tal, Hospital District executive director tax dollars going into the Hospital Coast Community Health’s CEO Vicki
districts between $20,000 and $50,000, Ann Marie Suriano warned that as- District annual budget. After adminis- Soule, whose low-cost clinic system is
depending on their size. The audit pects of the bill could have “great im- trative costs, around $14 million goes one of four district-funded agencies that
would come on top of the district’s ex- pact” on the district. toward healthcare for the indigent, are leading the COVID-19 vaccine deliv-
isting annual financial audits. spread out over 16 agencies and pro- ery effort.
“In the event the legislature finds grams approved by the District Board.
The bill appears to be aimed at elim- through these performance audits “We have you in our annual report,
inating replication of existing county that the District is no longer relevant, Board members, who are unpaid we dedicated a piece of our pie chart
services, among other things. But dis- it can disband or sunset the District volunteers, put in voluminous hours, to you, and we are very appreciative,”
from its existence.” but the Hospital District is rarely cred-
said Soule. 

Sheriff Flowers forming a ‘Citizen Advisory Committee’

BY RAY MCNULTY how it will be structured, how mem- Moss each had submitted three names. Members must be county residents,
Staff Writer bers will be selected and its mission. “I think it’s a great idea,” Moss said. at least 21 years old, pass a back-
ground investigation and have no fel-
Sheriff Eric Flowers will soon an- But a public records request filed ear- “I’m always in favor of reaching out to ony record.
nounce the creation of a Citizen Advi- lier this month by Vero Beach 32963 the community.”
sory Committee he hopes will improve produced 33 pages of Sheriff’s Office Each county commissioner and the
communication between county resi- documents related to the committee Among the other documents was collective bargaining union may nomi-
dents and his agency by allowing the – including a series of emails in which the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s nate one person for membership, which,
panel to review policies and procedures Flowers asked all five county commis- April 2016 “general order,” which de- the order states, “should reflect a variety
and, when appropriate, offer recom- sioners in January to nominate up to tails the mission, makeup, policies of occupations.”
mendations. three candidates to serve on the panel. and procedures of that agency’s Citi-
zens Advisory Committee. Elected officials and candidates for
The committee – believed to be the In his initial email to the commis- public office are not eligible for mem-
first in the agency’s history – will not sioners, Flowers wrote that he was Based on email exchanges between bership. The committee meets pub-
have oversight responsibility, however, forming a committee that will “pro- members of the Sheriff’s Office’s com- licly on a quarterly basis.
nor will it participate in the Sheriff’s vide a public forum for constructive mand staff, the citizen’s committee here
Office’s active cases. dialogue between citizens and law en- will be based on the Orange County There is nothing in the emails or
forcement” and “study relevant poli- model, albeit with some modifications. documents provided by the Sheriff’s
Flowers, who was elected in Novem- cies and procedures and provide rec- Office here that indicates how much
ber to his first term as sheriff, did not ommendations.” In Orange County, the committee of the Orange County sheriff’s order
respond to questions about his mo- has nine members chosen by the sher- Flowers will incorporate into his gen-
tivations for forming the committee, As of March 12, Commissioners iff to serve staggered two-year terms, eral order creating his Citizens Advi-
Joe Earman, Peter O’Bryan and Laura though they may be reappointed for
one additional term. sory Committee. 

Biminy Balcus
and Lollypopp-a-poo.

FIREFIGHTERS FAIR
MAKES TRIUMPHANT RETURN

18 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

A year later, Firefighters Fair makes triumphant return

Diane Angelo and Lisa Hass. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES & STEPHANIE LaBAFF Bridgett LaBaff. PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
Donna Schmidt and Paul Diaz.

Chris Ingram with Zuri and Christian. John Mace and Cason.

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF 2019, but it’s definitely better than children literally stepping into kids busy, so they decided to do 4-H
Staff Writer 2020,” said Wayne Howard, general firefighters’ boots to learn how to projects,” said Howard.
manager, an understatement as the put out a fire and what to do when
While this past year has been a 2020 fair was shut down the Friday there’s smoke. Students, who crowned a barn
wild ride, it was clearly not as much night it was due to open. king and queen to reign over the
fun as the carnival rides offered up Other distractions included hyp- festivities, showcased their exper-
at the recent Indian River County For the past 40 years, the Fire- nosis, blacksmith demonstrations, tise in a whip-cracking contest and
Firefighters Fair, which had been fighters Fair has provided thou- variety shows, wild west revues were judged on their citrus trees
among the first major events to be sands of families with wholesome and Vero Beach Recreation Depart- and baked goods as well as during
canceled last year due to the pan- family fun, all to benefit the Indian ment Aerial Antics performers, who swine, poultry, rabbit, goat, sheep,
demic. River County Burn Fund and other wowed the crowd with their acro- steer, cavy and breed stock shows,
charities, high school scholarships batics and tumbling. concluding with an auction of their
The air was filled with the shrieks and fairground improvements. This projects.
and laughter of the brave souls on year’s featured nonprofits were The fair also provides the back-
rides, the oohs and aahs elicited the American Red Cross, United drop for the annual Indian River “There are still shows and fairs
during the live entertainment and Against Poverty, the Salvation Army County Youth Livestock and Horti- around the country that aren’t open,
the always enticing aroma of festi- and One Blood, by way of blood do- culture Activities Show, promoting so we feel blessed that we were able
val foods, all a welcomed attack on nations. and encouraging the work of agri- to put on a full-scale show,” said
the senses as fairgoers took in the culturally focused clubs, includ- David Flynt, president of IRC Youth
sights at the Indian River County The biggest change this year was ing 4-H and the Future Farmers of Livestock and Horticulture, the or-
Fairgrounds. with vendors, said Howard. “A lot America. ganization that oversees the agri-
of them have gone out of business cultural exhibits and auctions.
There may have been slightly few- because of COVID, and some just Howard said there appeared to be
er rides and vendors this year but, aren’t ready to come back yet.” more project entries this year than There was even a sold-out goat
were it not for the wearing of face ever before, crediting the increase yoga class, with more petting and
masks, the crowds were reminis- Many of the programs and shows to the extra time off when schools cuddling than actual yoga poses, as
cent of previous years. offered education as well as enter- were shut down. it is understandably difficult to con-
tainment. The Firefighter Train- centrate when being stared down
“We may be down a little bit from ing Show, always a hot ticket, had “Their parents were probably by a furry kid. 
looking for something to keep the



20 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 Dailena Borabe and Lukensy Sanchez.
Liam McNulty and Jesse Bey.

Patreece Green. Andrea Giasi.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 21

PEOPLE

Logan Lindgren, Chris Mackey and Aiden Mackey.

Brad Richards, Micha Mixon and Bryce Bass. Meredith Egan. Audriana Wright with Goblin.

Liliana Macias, Amy Gutierrez and Cindy Manzo.

Alexis Williams with Lainey and Ragean.

22 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Needy sleep safely and soundly in Source’s Dignity Bus

BY MARY SCHENKEL ny, assisted by the Indian River County less services is much greater than the donated a trailer and a truck to the
Staff Writer Chamber of Commerce, and a blessing resources that we have,” said Flowers. Source. “He had funded this bus be-
of the bus by Pastor Wayne Traverse, “We’ve put some things in motion that fore he passed away, but he never got
Supporters of the Source gath- Tony Zorbaugh, executive director of are really going to make an impact, to see the bus. He really had a heart for
ered last Wednesday evening on the the Christian-based outreach minis- including some deputies dedicated to homeless people. He loved the Lord
grounds of Bobby Lindsey’s horse farm, try, thanked supporters and officials the homeless issue. They’re going to and he wanted to give as much away
for the official unveiling of their 45- and praised Jesus for making their be working directly with Anthony and as he could.”
foot Dignity Bus, an overnight shelter mission possible. the Source and our partners here in
on wheels. The unique, custom-made the community.” Following the ceremony, attend-
interior features 20 individual sleeping “I’m blessed to be able to provide 20 ees had a chance to sample delicious
pods in a secure, climate-controlled beds in our community every single Zorbaugh said their organization culinary fare whipped up in the Dig-
bus, with a restroom, storage space and night to those that are in need,” Zor- receives no tax dollars or govern- nity Food Truck, which first rolled out
even pet pods for companion animals, baugh said. ment funding, making donations and this past summer. The food truck was
as well as an onboard security person grants essential to their operation. the latest addition to the Dining with
and CCTV to keep everyone safe. Zorbaugh introduced Indian River Dignity program, where participants
County Sheriff Eric Flowers, com- “We’re so lucky to have such a won- learn food prep skills, meal and nu-
The team at the Source, which also menting that local law enforcement derful resource in our town,” said tritional planning and, upon comple-
serves as the county’s cold-weather plays an integral part in dealing with Cindy O’Dare, before she and Rich- tion, earn State of Florida ServSafe
emergency shelter, understands that the homeless population, who he said ard Boga, her partner at Premier Es- and SafeStaff certifications.
sleep plays a vital role in a person’s are sometimes restless wanderers who tate Properties, presented a check for
mental and physical health, recogniz- make bad decisions. $5,000 toward the “Adopt a Pod” ini- The Source assists the homeless,
ing that sleep deficiencies can lead tiative, to help fund the $65,000 need- indigent and others in need as a min-
to an exacerbation or development Flowers said law enforcement depu- ed per year to operate the bus. istry and drop-in center, providing
of such mental health disorders as ties are tasked with getting to know them with food, clothing, hygiene
schizophrenia, depression, bipolar the homeless populations inside their Zorbaugh said the late Fred Griffin items, showers, laundering facilities,
disorder and post-traumatic stress dis- areas of responsibility, including those was instrumental in making the Dig- mail and phone services, counseling,
order, any of which can contribute to who sleep in the woods, noting that the nity Bus a reality. job readiness programs and commu-
homelessness. homeless are often in poor mental or nity referrals.
physical health, with some also deal- “My husband felt the best when he
Prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremo- ing with substance abuse issues. was giving things away; he got a lot of For more information, visit iamthe-
joy in giving,” said Suzanne Chesser, source.org. 
“Unfortunately, the need for home- Griffin’s wife, noting that he had also

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 23

PEOPLE

Tony Zorbaugh and Sheriff Eric Flowers. PHOTOS: BRENDA AHEARN Cindy O’Dare speaking at the dedication of the Dignity Bus. Amy Wagner, Maureen Nicolace and Sheana Firth.

Christine Taylor and Linda Cutler. Robin Herow and Robert Cuddeback. Bobby Lindsey and Suzanne Chesser. Doni Criss and Bernadette Emerick.

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24 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Virtual Music Bingo is the winning number for seniors

JoAnn Crosby, Elizabeth Van Dyk, Lisa Buell, Trudie Rainone and Sydney Mihailoff. Jennifer Moffit, Jami Holmes, Kim McLaughlin and Linda Vincent. PHOTOS: BRENDA AHEARN

BY MARY SCHENKEL bags replete with assorted donated ers had automatically been entered Additionally, she said, they have
Staff Writer items, from hats and scarves to snack into drawings for 10 equally impres- teamed up with JoAnn Crosby, owner
packs and liquid refreshments, along sive items. A separate raffle featured a of Alimentari Gourmet Market, to do-
With the impossibility of hosting its with a Marine Bank wine glass to chance to win a $2,000 shopping spree nate 15 percent of all Van Dyk wine
16th annual Bingo Luncheon in per- drink it in. The bags also included the donated by John Michael Matthews. sales purchased there to Senior Re-
son, Senior Resource Association staff all-important bingo cards and daub- sources through April 15.
and committee members put on their ers as well as pompoms to wave with “We’re giving away a gift box with
creative thinking caps and came up abandon when bingo was achieved. three bottles of our wines, our Dignity, Senior Resources was lucky last
with something completely different – our Respect and our Le Bel Age. We year, as its Bingo Luncheon slipped in
virtual Music Bingo. Exceptionally generous prizes, do- make the wine to give back to senior just under the wire. “We held it March
nated by individuals and businesses, care and Alzheimer’s,” said Elizabeth 4, and by March 14 we were all work-
Close to 200 people signed up to were awarded to the winners, and in Van Dyk of Van Dyk Family Wines, at ing from home,” said Angela Bosman,
play, and, pre-event, picked up swag the days leading up to the event, play- the final raffle drawing. events coordinator.

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Client 1st Advisory Group is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ PEOPLE Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 25

This time around, Tom Nelson Lee Jernigan, Lindley Damen and Nancy Cameron. Gene Hurst, Eileen O’Donnell and Kenny Borchers.
and Anna Valencia Tillery, who each
served as bingo callers in prior years,
co-hosted the virtual affair, keeping
up a running commentary of factoids
about SRA and the music, plus infor-
mation about the prizes.

Traditional bingo numbers had
been replaced with song names,
and participants in Zoom windows
bopped along with the 45-second
sound bites (randomly chosen by a
computer) as they sought to fill in
their card’s horizontal, vertical or di-
agonal lines.

Karen Deigl, SRA CEO/president,
credited her creative staff and bin-
go committee for the success of the
event, commenting that funds were
needed more than ever.

“This past year has just been un-
precedented. We increased the num-
ber of meals by just over 115 percent.
We’re providing over 13,000 meals
each month now. The number of
people we’re feeding has increased by
about 80 percent, which means we’re
now feeding an average of about 450
people on a daily basis,” Deigl said.

Fortunately, said Deigl, they re-
ceived CARES Act dollars through the
state and local funding, which en-
abled them to feed the additional 140
people who had been on their wait list.

“But that money is not going to be
around forever. So our biggest concern
is, what happens when that CARES
Act money goes away. We want to be
able to continue to feed those people,”
said Deigl.

“So we’re really working hard to
raise the dollars to have the ability
to feed them. Right now, we are able
to feed them for sure until the first of
July. We’re just waiting and looking at
our numbers as things keep happen-
ing.”

Their two DayAway (adult daycare)
facilities are operational, albeit with
limited numbers.

“We all have COVID fatigue and for
those who are caretakers, taking care
of these people in the home, you can
just double and triple that fatigue,”
said Deigl. She said they phone regu-
larly to check up on those clients who
are coming in less frequently or not at
all.

All other programs and services are
also operating, including the Go Line
and Community Coach.

“I do not want transportation to be a
barrier to anyone who needs a vaccine.
Even if they’re not a client, they can just
call, and we will transport them,” said
Deigl.

“We are really looking forward to go-
ing back to our regular bingo next year.
It was nice to see everybody virtually,
but we miss seeing them in person.”

For more information, visit senior
resourceassociation.org. 

26 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Supporters stack the deck to fete Youth Sailing’s success

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF to dinner and a show, as Mary Morgan, thanks to Quail Valley Charities fund- ships to support student participants
Staff Writer YSF sailing director, related what was ing,” said Keiller. in the School Squadron program, and
taking place during a regatta demon- for naming rights for the adaptive sail-
Having weathered the COVID storm stration. The nonprofit offers local students boats and Shelby Racing Fleet.
alongside the rest of the world, it was free afterschool sailing instruction,
with much joy that the Youth Sailing Each of four racing heats featured and fee-based camps during the sum- YSF founders Charlie and Chris
Foundation hosted its sixth annual sailors at various training levels, from mer. When YSF was unable to hold Pope made a surprise announcement
Rock the Boat fundraiser at the Quail beginners to the high school varsity summer camps at Quail Valley and that they were donating $100,000 to-
Valley River Club last Monday evening. team. Many guests had purchased raf- Saint Edward’s School due to COVID ward the Vero Beach Community
fle tickets bearing mast numbers and closures, the Vero Beach Rowing Club Sailing Center, which YSF is currently
More than 250 guests gathered on races, and the winners from each heat extended a paddle and invited YSF to working toward building. The facility
the “rear deck” of the club for an eve- took home a bottle of wine and a free share their boathouse so that children will be a permanent structure where
ning of sunshine to sunset support for sailing lesson, compliments of YSF. could continue to participate in safe, sailing students and residents can en-
the YSF mission to provide educational, outdoor activities. joy such watersports as sailing, kaya-
recreational and competitive sailing In the third race, the sailors show- king, canoeing and paddle boarding.
programs for all ages. cased the Feva boats obtained through “We were able to sail right on through With the couple’s donation, the build-
a Siebold grant from US Sailing. YSF COVID. We increased the number of ing fund stands at $800,000 toward
Guests took full advantage of the was one of 17 centers in the coun- students and could have taken on more the projected $3 million needed for
first evening of daylight savings time, try awarded the grant, explained Stu if we had more instructors. We had site work and construction.
as they enjoyed cocktails and hors Keiller, executive director. waiting lists for virtually every week,
d’oeuvres before the Vero Beach Pipes and then we took on people in the eve- On March 27, YSF will host the
and Drums officially kicked things off. “The main (grant) criteria is inclu- nings for private lessons and on week- South Atlantic Interscholastic Sailing
sion and serving the whole community. ends. We had a blockbuster year,” said Association Regatta, and on April 18
“We have over 200 kids sailing at When they looked at the demographic Keiller. they host the Florida East Coast Series
YSF,” said board chair Pat Harris. “It’s of our sailor group of about 200, 49 per- Steve Martin Regatta. Summer camp
just an amazing success story. The sup- cent are from underserved homes,” said In true form, the debonair John registration begins April 5, for camps
port of this community and donors like Keiller, noting that a big part of the YSF Moore coaxed spirited bidding on sea- starting June 7 at Vero Beach Rowing
you really made the difference.” focus is enabling access to everyone. worthy live-auction items before tug- and July 12 at Saint Edward’s School.
ging at the heart – and purse strings
After making their way to food sta- “We gave out 40 scholarships last – during a “Sponsor a Sailor” cash call. For more information, visit ysfirc.
tions laden with an impressive selec- summer, so we had a lot of underserved Bidders generously bid on sponsor- org. 
tion of dishes, attendees were treated kids represented at the summer camps,

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 27

PEOPLE

Pam Barefoot with Roger and Samantha Lynch. PHOTOS: KAILA BROWN Holly Wilson, Christy Elwell, Kitty Mountain and Ruthie McClure. Fredi Ash, Janet Krueger and Jane Brash.

Sheryl Peterson and Stu Keiller.

Andrea Williams and Marcia Poutiatine.

Eileen and Tom Snowberger.
Ali Schlitt and Eleanor Dixon.

28 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Skimboard stars in their element at Shore lb. Throwdown

BY MARY SCHENKEL Cheered on by dedicated fans, the Kanyon Kru Brown. PHOTOS: KAILA BROWN
Staff Writer competitors sprinted to the shoreline,
threw down their boards and hit the
The weather and water conditions waves – that was the ‘easy’ part. Next
were ideal for the recent Shore lb. came a myriad of tricky maneuvers as
Throwdown at Mulligan’s, the first they made their way back, each hop-
competition in this year’s Skim USA ing to impress the judges on how hard
Tour, which saw 107 participants the tricks were and how many times
heading to Vero from as far away as they were executed.
California and Mexico to show off
their skimboarding skills. For the past three years, Stuart had
been the first stop on the Skim USA

Giorgio Tomasi.

Colton Ettwein.

PHOTOS & STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
Sterling Townsend Myers.

Tour, but Chris Ellison, founder and
CEO of Shore lb., said that this year he
wanted to bring it to Vero Beach.

Local fans are familiar with skim
jam tournaments, as Shore lb. has
hosted a dozen of their own Mulli-
gan’s Skim Jams each September.

“That’s the one that we cut our teeth
on,” said Ellison, but, like everything
else, last September’s tournament was
canceled. The 14th annual Mulligan’s
Skim Jam will take place Sept. 4, 2021.

“It’s sort of ironic because last year
would have been the 13th year, so we



30 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PHOTOS & STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28 Jesse Burlew. Sandra Boyton and Suzie Dixon. feel like there was probably a good
Cash, Rayne and Shana Cutler. reason not to have number 13. We’re
just a little superstitious I guess,” said
Ellison.

Unlike the one-day September Skim
Jams, where participants self-identify
by skill level, the two-day tour classifi-
cations are categorized by age and sex
groupings (from age 8 and under, to
ages 40 to 99), as well as semi-pro and
professional.

“Actually, the winner of the Senior
Grand Master was a Vero Beach lo-
cal, Robbie Rivas. The youngest in this
competition was a 6-year-old from St.
Petersburg,” said Ellison.

Mother Nature isn’t always cooper-
ative, but she certainly was that week-
end.

“Saturday the wind was on it a lit-
tle bit, and the wave swell was a little
too big and were breaking out too far,
but everybody did the break very well
and the ones that went to the finals
on Sunday were rewarded very highly
with the conditions,” said Ellison.

“The shape of the sand actually
shifted between Saturday and Sun-
day, which created a little bit more of a
slope for Sunday morning, which was
perfect for skimboarding. It’s amazing
how the beach can change every day.
Sunday morning, for the pro finals, we
had some of the most epic skim condi-
tions for a contest that I’ve witnessed
in many years. The wind turned off-
shore, and the swell was about perfect.
Sunday afternoon the tide dropped
out, so the waves got a little bit further
out. They were harder to reach, but
the wind stayed light, and the condi-
tions were absolutely perfect basically
all day long.”

Proceeds were earmarked for the
Vero Beach Lifeguard Association. As
a former lifeguard, Ellison knows how
vital their role is, especially in a beach
community such as ours.

“We just want to make sure that
our lifeguards have all the lifesav-
ing equipment they need in case they
have to pull anyone out of the water,”
said Ellison. Even with all the capable
swimmers at their own events, they
always have a lifeguard and paramed-
ic on hand.

“We’re just thankful to have the
support of our hometown Vero Beach.
Our goal was to bring our skim tour
family to our hometown, but we also
wanted our hometown to meet our
skim family,” said Ellison, adding that
the reactions were all incredibly posi-
tive.

Shore lb. will also host the tour as it
heads to Panama City April 17-18. The
Skim USA Tour then goes to Virginia
Beach in June, North Carolina’s Outer
Banks in July and Dewey Beach, Del.,
in August.

For more information, visit shorelb.
com or skim-usa.com. 



32 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Yays and ‘neighs’ at Special Equestrians’ sizzling shindig

BY MARY SCHENKEL Barbara Petrillo, Duncan MacLeod and Bridgett LaBaff with Elke and George Fetterolf. PHOTOS: STEPHANIE LaBAFF the skills that we help our students
Staff Writer with are problem solving in a present
with the music and thoroughly lick- yond Diagnosis program she created. environment. When you’re on a horse
Supporters of Special Equestrians ing every hand that was offered. Now in its fifth year, the program is you don’t say ‘later on’ or ‘tomorrow’;
of the Treasure Coast enjoyed anoth- open to survivors of all women’s can- it’s right now and right here.”
er mouthwatering Argentine Asado Darlene Dennis, a longtime SETC cers in partnership with Friends Af-
Experience recently, sponsored by instructor and a cancer survivor, ter Diagnosis. She explained that the program
Ocean Grill owner Charley Replogle. spoke about the eight-week Ride Be- also helps students develop social
“Our mission is to give our riders and life skills, how to develop friend-
Guests watched from along the a program that brings positive feel- ships, communication, relationships
fence surrounding the current SETC ings into their lives by connecting and leadership, noting that students
facility’s arena, as Cesar Rodriguez with our horses and volunteers, while are empowered in a way that they
and other members and friends of sharing our experiences throughout don’t often find in their everyday
the Ocean Grill Polo Team heated the journey together,” said Dennis. lives. Additionally, riding strength-
things up by building up and con- ens core muscles and improves pos-
tinually adding to an impressive Attendees also watched riding ture, balance and confidence.
bonfire. They then carefully shov- demonstrations by SETC students
eled the hot coals underneath a line Lindsay Hires and Chayse Barsi, Special Equestrians is embarking
of grills, where a variety of ribs and whose wide grins revealed the pure on a $1 million Capital Campaign to
steaks, sausage, chicken, corn on the joy of being astride their equine ther- build a permanent, handicap-acces-
cob, zucchini and peppers were slow apists. sible, covered equestrian facility. Do-
roasted to perfection. ing so would enable them to expand
“We consider ourselves an alter- their therapeutic riding programs
While they waited, people milled native learning environment,” said to veterans, individuals with men-
about the barn, bidding on auction Chrissie Clark, who provided com- tal health issues and other support
items and plucking cards from a giv- mentary on what the students and in- groups.
ing tree to donate to the care and feed- structors were doing. “We teach more
ing of the equine therapists. Squeeze, than just horseback riding; this isn’t “We’ve been given 24 acres of land
a particularly outgoing horse with big just a regular riding lesson. Some of in Fellsmere, but there’s still some
brown eyes, was a huge hit, bopping paperwork with the county that
needs to be done. We’re very excited
about moving our operation to Fells-
mere,” said SETC board president Di-
ane Parentela.

“Our dream is to build a premier
facility; we want to do it right,” she
added. “We are PATH (Professional
Association of Therapeutic Horse-
manship International) certified and
we want to be a premier PATH center.
We’re on the cusp of growing really
big, so it’s a really exciting time for
us.”

Upcoming fundraisers include a
March 27 Clay shoot at Vero Beach
Clay Shooting Sports and a May 22
Charity Golf Tournament at Gator
Trace Golf Club.

For more information, visit special-
equestrianstreasurecoast.org. 

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 33

PEOPLE

Paul Genke and Lila Blakeslee. Cesar Rodriguez and Charley Replogle. Diane and Vinnie Parentela. Beth Bradshaw and Eric Schwarz.

Melinda Gamot with Bill and Karen Penney. Barbara Hires, Elaine Straw, Susan Elliott and Ann Ricciardi. PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
Vikki and David Rogers with Jimmy Johnson.

34 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 Susan Elliott with Scotchie. Steve Lauer and Lori Chambers.
Sue Vespasiani and Rosanna Gambino.

James Redman and Dawn Garvey-Redman. Mary and Robert Taylor.

George and Sandy Kahle. Mary Catherine Morton and Tiffany Busch.



36 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT COVER STORY

The Koenigsegg Gemera, which made The Koenigsegg Gemera and a view inside the Gemera, a supercar with legitimate back seats. unveiled its 1,900-hp all-electric Bat-
its worldwide public debut last March, tista in 2019, the same year Lotus re-
has a carbon fiber body every bit as vealed its 1,973-hp electric Evija. Both
visually stunning as its predecessor, are slated for production this year.
the Koenigsegg Agera – a vehicle that
until January held the title of fastest Ferrari is currently making its 986-
production car ever. hp SF90 Stradale hybrid. McLaren has
also unveiled a $225,000 Artura hybrid
It also has an advanced version of that uses an electric motor to get to
the Agera’s dihedral doors that, when 205 mph.
opened, give the impression of wings
taking flight. Massive air vents and Once an anomaly, supercars pow-
aerodynamic flourishes, meanwhile, ered by electricity are redefining what it
make it look just as menacing. means to be extraordinary in the mod-
ern age. In the past two years, dozens of
But there’s a radical difference be- high-performance vehicles have sprung
tween the two supercars that isn’t into existence, a veritable cascade of
apparent until you pop the hood: In- releases compared with the scattered
stead of the midmounted twin-turbo- few of previous decades.
charged V-8 engine that is the roaring
960-horsepower heart of the Agera, But now that 1,000-plus horsepower
the $1.8 million Gemera has a turbo- and top speeds of 200 mph have become
charged 2.0-liter inline-three engine – commonplace, automakers are relying
plus three electric motors. on electric motors to push beyond the
outer limits of the combustion engine.
The combination of combustion and
electric technology is good enough for According to some, electric is the
a combined 1,700 hp. The Gemera is only way forward.
expected to shoot from zero to 60 mph
in less than 2 seconds. “The next phase of supercar auto-
motive technology has to be electric,”
The Swedish manufacturer isn’t the says John Wiley, who manages valua-
only elite auto brand looking to elec- tion analytics for Hagerty Group LLC,
tric power for its future. Pininfarina which specializes in insuring these
rare automobiles. “The electric motors
are there. The performance is there.
This is the next innovative step.”

Gordon Murray T.50

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 37

David Lee, a businessman and car INSIGHT COVER STORY
collector in California who owns a La-
Ferrari, a car that marked Ferrari’s first Pininfarina Battista Jamie Morrow, Bugatti’s pro driver
foray into hybrid technology, agrees. Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid for the 1,500-hp Chiron Pur Sport, is
“From an engineering perspective, nat- less diplomatic. “None of our owners
ural aspiration can give only so much are asking for hybrid or electric tech-
power – and the automakers have nology,” he told me on a recent drive
maxed it out for these cars,” he says. along Southern California’s Mulholland
“This is just the way it’s going.” Highway in the $3.9 million coupe. “In
fact, they’re relieved we have not pur-
The arrival of the electric pow- sued it.”
ertrain has divided enthusiasts, egg-
heads, and engineers alike. The latest Special cars devoted to high per-
design from Gordon Murray, whose formance and extreme design have
McLaren F1 set the record for fastest existed since the dawn of the horse-
production car in 1998, is called the less carriage. In the 1920s and ’30s,
T.50 and has a naturally aspirated V-12 wealthy thrill-seekers looking to push
engine. the bounds of speed and impress their
neighbors could buy a Bentley Blower,
“For a sports car at the moment, it’s famous for winning exotic endurance
the wrong time [for electric technol- races, or a Bugatti Atlantic, which epit-
ogy],” he says. “The cars are so heavy.” omized the height of art deco design.
Murray’s T.50 weighs a little more than
2,100 pounds, whereas those of elec- In the 1950s the Corvette, Mercedes-
tric cars such as the Battista and Evija Benz 300SL, and Jaguar E-Type all
are about twice that because of the qualified as Very Special sports cars.
batteries.
It wasn’t until a crew of young de-
John Hennessey, whose claim to signers at Lamborghini unveiled the
fame is hisVenom GT Spyder, which re- Miura in 1966 that the term “supercar”
corded a then-world-record top speed earned official status. Instantly recog-
of 265.6 mph in 2016, plans to attempt nizable by its low profile, gently swoop-
to reclaim the record this spring with ing body, and ovoid headlights, the Mi-
his V-8-powered Venom F5. “We’re re- ura was unlike anything before; it was
ally glad that we did it naturally aspi- the first production sports car with a
rated,” he says. rear midengine two-seat layout.

“I had waited a while before we got Pricing at the time was high – $20,000
further, because I thought maybe over ($162,000 in today’s money) – but so
time, battery technology would im-
prove and weights would come down, CONTINUED ON PAGE 38
but it doesn’t seem like they have.”

Ferrari SF90 Stradale hybrid

Venom F5

38 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37 INSIGHT COVER STORY

Pininfarina Battista

Developed by the automotive arm of the heritage coachbuilder of the
same name, the $2.5 million Italian has four electric motors – one at-
tached at each wheel – that can produce 1,900 hp. Unveiled in 2019,
it’s under production this year. Only 150 will be made.

McLaren Artura Ferrari SF90 Stradale hybrid

The $225,000 Artura hybrid is among the least expensive of the elec- was its performance. The top speed seats. They’re a potent cocktail of in-
tric-powered supercars but no less dynamic visually, with the same was 180 mph, far above the sub-140- novation, power, and sex appeal.
swooped body lines and open-upward doors of its McLaren brethren. mph limit of the Ford Mustang and
It pairs a six-cylinder engine with a single electric motor for a top other popular sports cars. “Supercars are much more than
speed of 205 mph. whatever performance statistics they
Other automakers quickly followed hold,” says Martin Roach, the Eng-
Aspark Owl suit. Much like the sartorial wonders land-based author of The Supercar
sent down the runway at haute cou- Book: The Complete Guide to the
Announced in 2017 and under production this year, the – 3 million Jap- ture fashion shows, supercars help au- Machines That Make Our Jaws Drop.
anese supercar expanded the idea of what an electric supercar could tomakers display what they’re capable “They tick lots of boxes in the human
be. It boasts a carbon fiber monocoque tub, all-wheel drive, and, at the of creating when time and money are psyche, even the bad ones. A super-
time of its debut, the fastest acceleration of any electric car to date: no object. car is an aspirational object, an engi-
zero to 62 mph in 1.9 seconds. Only 50 will be made. neering masterpiece, and an object
“It’s an automaker’s ability to stretch of beauty.”
Lotus Evija every aspect of design and perfor-
mance, to not be bound by the con- They have a mundane purpose, too,
The $2 million vehicle from the British manufacturer debuted in 2019 straints of mass economies of scale,” as first-time platforms for inventions
and is under production this year. It comes equipped with a system says Jonathan Klinger, Hagerty’s vice later applied to more affordable ve-
that promises 80% of a full charge in only 12 minutes – far less than president for car culture. hicles. Parking cameras, navigation
the hours required for other electric cars. Range on the 1,972-hp car systems, dashboard clocks, ceramic
is 215 miles. Only 130 will be made. As such, supercars occupy the brakes, and carbon fiber materials all
realm of fantasy rather than anything trace their ancestry to supercars.
as practical in real life as, say, power

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 39

INSIGHT COVER STORY

– occupying 75% of the U.S. vehicle 2018, seven in 2019, and nine in 2020. ened by 15% for optimized canyon-
market – supercars are more popular Although production numbers are dif- carving on lonely mountain highways.
than ever. ficult to come by in the secretive super- The 2021 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
car sphere, “We like to make one less offers a push-button lift that makes it
The next phase of supercar automo- than we can sell,” Lamborghini Chief drivable over speed bumps. Every new
tive technology has to be electric. The Technical Officer Maurizio Reggiani Ferrari features extensive entertain-
electric motors are there. The perfor- often says, echoing a famous refrain. ment and navigation systems.
mance is there
The cars themselves have even be- But perhaps most shocking of all is
“Manufacturers like ourselves are come, dare we say, less single-minded that the new Koenigsegg Gemera of-
doing more special editions than in the about blasting track records – though fers luxuriously ample seating for four
past,” says Peter Freedman, vice presi- any supercar by definition will remain adults – and eight cup holders. They’re
dent and chief marketing officer of face-searingly fast – and more accom- such a radical concession to real life
Aston Martin. “It has increased in the modating to actual life behind the in an otherwise extraterrestrial car,
last six to seven years as the demand wheel. they could almost make you forget
for those products has increased.” the thing is electric. That may be the
The 2021 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport, point. 
It’s telling that Lamborghini intro- for instance, offers a gearbox short-
duced two new vehicles in 2014, five in

The same logic applies to electric
engines. “Supercars helped change
the larger narrative around the electri-
fication of vehicles,” Klinger says. “Fif-
teen years ago, if you even brought up
the word ‘hybrid’ around a die-hard
car enthusiast, they would immedi-
ately jump to making fun of the Prius.”

The Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid
changed that calculus in 2013, with its
Le Mans-cool good looks and power-
ful V-8 engine. When electric motors
could get to 62 mph in a scant 2.6
seconds, hybrid technology suddenly
made sense to the modern sports-
car buyer. It also paved the way for
Porsche to sell the electric Taycan se-
dan it introduced in 2019.

Ironically, as trucks and SUVs have
become the choice for consumers

40 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT WORLD NEWS AND OPINION

In the middle of last year, Ecuadorians watched January to more than 60 by the end of next year. included, spoof AIS signals to make warships appear
with concern as 340 foreign boats, most of them RF-intelligence satellites detect where a transmis- to be in places which they are not. RF intelligence is
Chinese, fished just outside the Exclusive Economic not fooled by this. Cardillo says the tininess of RF sat-
Zone (EEZ) around their country’s Galapagos Is- sion is coming from in two ways. One, trilateration, ellites also makes them hard for an enemy to destroy.
lands. The law of the sea requires such vessels to relies on measuring minute differences in a signal’s ar-
carry GPS-based automatic identification systems rival time at each member of a cluster. The other uses Beside matters military, the NGA also uses RF data
(AIS) that broadcast where they are, and to keep the Doppler effect – the shift in a signal’s frequency if to unearth illicit economic activity—of which unau-
those systems switched on. the transmitter is moving relative to the receiver. thorised fishing is merely one instance. Outright pi-
racy is another. And the technique also works on land.
Some boats, however, failed to comply. There were Together, according to HawkEye, these can pinpoint In 2019, for example, it led to the discovery of an illegal
more than 550 instances of vessels not transmitting a signal’s source to within 500 meters. Kleos Space, a gold mine being run by a Chinese company in a jungle
their locations. This radio silence stoked fears boats Luxembourg company that launched its first cluster in Gabon. And in 2020 the managers of Garamba Na-
were sneaking into Ecuador’s waters to plunder its fish. in November and hopes to put two more up this year, tional Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo be-
says its accuracy ranges from 3,000 to 200 meters. gan using HawkEye data to spot elephant poachers.
Both local officials and China’s ambassador to Ecua-
dor denied this. In October, however, HawkEye 360, a A cluster sweeps a band of territory 2,000 kilome- Using satellite clusters to gather RF intelligence is
satellite operator based in Virginia, announced it had ters wide. Circling the planet every 90 minutes or so, clever. But engineers at Unseenlabs, a firm in Rennes,
detected vessels inside Ecuador’s EEZ on 14 occasions it can revisit many areas several times a day. More- France, reckon it is already outdated. At the moment,
when the boats in question were not transmitting AIS. over, unlike spy satellites fitted with optical cameras, Unseen has three satellites in orbit and sells data to
HawkEye’s satellites could pinpoint these renegades RF satellites can see through clouds. Their receivers about ten navies, including France’s, as well as to mar-
by listening for faint signals emanating from their are not sensitive enough to detect standard mobile itime insurers and a handful of defense contractors.
navigation radars and radio communications. phones. But they can pick up satellite phones, walk- But its satellites operate independently, rather than as
ie-talkies and all manner of radar. a cluster. How this system works remains a secret.
HawkEye’s satellites are so-called smallsats, about
the size of a large microwave oven. They are cheap to While vessels can and do illicitly disable their AIS, Secret or not, though, Unseenlabs may soon have
build and launch. HawkEye deployed its first cluster, of switching off their communications gear and the ra- competitors in the single-satellite-RF-intelligence
three, in 2018. They are now in an orbit that takes them dar they use for navigation and collision-avoidance market, for Horizon, too, says that it has worked out
over both of Earth’s poles. This enables every point on is another matter entirely. “Even pirates don’t turn how to perform the trick – a claim backed up by the
the planet to be monitored at regular intervals. those things off,” says John Beckner, boss of Horizon fact that its launch in August will loft but a single de-
Technologies, which plans its first launch in August. vice. Shortly after it filed an application for a patent
Initially, the data the satellites collected were down- in America on the wizardry involved, the govern-
loaded to a tracking station on Svalbard, a Norwegian RF data are also cheap to collect. Satellites fitted ment classified it.
island in the Arctic Ocean. HawkEye now counts a with robotic high-resolution cameras are costly. Fly-
dozen governments among its customers, as well as ing microwave ovens that capture and timestamp Horizon also plans to compile a library of unique
private clients. The firm has therefore recruited the radio signals are not. Horizon says that building, in- radar-pulse “fingerprints” of the world’s vessels, for
services of a second ground station, in Antarctica, suring and launching its August mission should cost the tiny differences in componentry that exist even
and it put a second cluster of satellites into orbit on no more than about $1.4 million. between examples of the same make and model of
January 24th. It plans three more launches this year. equipment mean that signals can often be linked to
America’s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agen- a specific device. It will thus be able to determine not
Given this success, it is hardly surprising that at cy (NGA) is a big user of RF intelligence. It employs merely that a vessel of some sort is in a certain place,
least six other companies are operating or develop- HawkEye’s data to find guerrilla camps and mobile but which vessel it is, and where else it has been.  ■
ing similar systems. Quilty Analytics, a research firm missile-launchers, and to track both conventional
in St. Petersburg, Florida, expects the number of ra- warships and unconventional ones, like the weap- A version of this column first appeared in The
dio-frequency (RF) intelligence satellites of this sort onized speedboats sometimes deployed by Iran. Economist. It does not necessarily reflect the views of
in orbit to multiply from a dozen at the beginning of Vero Beach 32963.
Robert Cardillo, a former director of the agency who
now advises HawkEye, says dozens of navies, Russia’s

During the coronavirus crisis, our Pelican Plaza office is closed to visitors. We appreciate your understanding.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 41

INSIGHT WORLD NEWS AND OPINION

The COVID-19 outbreak cancels We still got married, but just with a ding. In a situation like this, I believe the "While current events have obvious-
Mike Feehrer's wedding. But Relics priest and no reception. business should offer either a credit or a ly required dramatic alteration to long-
Rental, a wedding rental business, full refund. And you've already tied the developed plans for weddings and
wants to keep the $3,534 he paid. Can I called Relic Rentals, but it would knot, so it's not like you're going to have events, those engagements and clients
it do that? not provide a refund. A representative a big ceremony anytime soon. have been the recipients of time, work
offered a $3,534 credit for that amount and resources to date," she told me. "It
I need your help getting a refund to be used over the next year or a re- As I read the correspondence be- is the policy of Relics Rentals to work
of $3,534 from Relics Rentals, a wed- fund of our deposit, which is about 50 tween you and Relic Rentals, I could see with the client in rescheduling or post-
ding rental business. The State of Il- percent of the total amount. both sides. You're trying to keep your poning their rental reservation. How-
linois closed all restaurants and bars money during a challenging economy. ever, simply canceling an event and re-
last March. Our wedding, which was I explained that I would not have Relic wants to protect its business. fusing to reschedule or postpone is not
scheduled for March 28, was canceled. an occasion to use the credit. The a requirement of the current environ-
representative said the business had We've seen this countless times in ment and it does fall under the cancel-
"damages and costs" associated with the last year. A company tries to hold its lation portion of our standard policy as
providing the services. My fiancé, customers to original agreements even outlined in our contract."
Amy, spent about 30 minutes on the in the face of a once-in-a-lifetime pan-
phone with Relic Rentals. demic. And it doesn't always end well. Oelke said the company offered oth-
er clients a credit for future rentals and
The representative also claimed oth- I should note that Relic Rentals was services, valid 365 days from their orig-
er wedding vendor companies were accommodating when it offered to inal event date. She offered you two
not giving refunds. That's not true. All refund your deposit or give you a one- options: either a credit or a 50 percent
our vendors, including our caterer, year credit. Its normal policy is no re- refund of the total rental reservation.
florist and hotel, have all issued full re- funds or credits, according to its web-
funds. site. And you agreed to that policy You filed a credit card dispute under
when you paid your deposit. the Fair Credit Billing Act, but your bank
I propose a full refund, less $250, sided with the merchant. You received a
to compensate the company for the As a reader, I sympathize with Relic $1,767 refund from Relics Rentals. 
time. I think that's a fair solution. But and wish it the best of luck in getting
when I call the company, it just goes through the pandemic. But as a con- Get help with any consumer prob-
to voicemail. Can you help me? – sumer advocate, I believe its refund lem by contacting Christopher Elliott
policy is, well – a relic. at http://www.elliott.org/help
I'm sorry about your canceled wed-
I contacted the company on your be-
half. Jan Oelke, the owner, responded.

42 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BOOKS

Books on artificial intelli- neered a bidding war at the time how totally effective” Chinese AI efforts
gence fall into two broad cat- for a company that were. Schmidt went on to co-chair the National Se-
egories: the explanatory and had no product or curity Commission on Artificial Intelligence, whose
the exclamatory. Either they employees and was mission is to advance U.S. AI defense capabilities
describe the science behind finally sold to Google ahead of China’s.
the magical new technology, for $44 million. That
or they trumpet the way it will entertaining tale sets “Genius Makers” takes something of a dogleg into
change our lives forever. But few the tone for the rest the debate over the future of AI, particularly the
take the time to introduce us to likelihood of machines surpassing human-level in-
the surprisingly small group of of the book and ex- telligence. This is because several of the main pro-
colorful characters who created plains some of its tagonists – Hassabis and his colleagues, in particular
this transformational field. omissions, for this – claim superhuman AI as their stated goal. But the
is a story not only debate is personified in the book by Elon Musk and
This is what Cade Metz’s “Ge- about scientists but Mark Zuckerberg, neither of whom are AI research-
nius Makers: The Mavericks Who about the corporate ers, with Musk sounding the alarm while Zuckerberg
Brought AI to Google, Facebook, scramble to har- dismisses those fears as Chicken Little hysterics.
and the World” sets out to do. ness their minds. The more fearful side of the debate has captured
A seminal figure the popular imagination and done a disservice to
It’s not entirely clear who the the field as a whole. While intelligent machines may
genius makers referred to in the like Yoshua Bengio, beat humans in many domains, as they already have
title are: the researchers, or the whose work led to in game play, the possibility of AI systems develop-
corporate behemoths financ- advancements in ing self-awareness and free will is still the stuff of
ing their work, or the AI systems machine transla- way-out science fiction.
themselves. But the book weaves tion and won him
together all three. In the process, a share of the 2018 Metz remains neutral on the debate, but he points
Metz manages to touch on many of Turing Award, out that it doesn’t take self-awareness and free will
the salient controversies swirling known as the No- for AI to wreak havoc. Bias in data sets has already
around AI without getting bogged skewed AI decision-making in harmful ways, and
down by taking sides. Readers will bel Prize of com- Metz foreshadows the growing and potentially dan-
come away with a clear understanding of how we got puting, plays a peripheral role, for ex- gerous power of AI to fool human perception.
to where we are today. ample, because he has remained independent while
his fellow Turing Award winners Hinton and Yann But “Genius Makers” does an admirable job of
Carving a narrative out of a complex and ever- LeCun, who went to Facebook, take center stage. staying out of the algorithmic weeds or drifting into
changing cast of characters, even over the limited Among the corporate players, Google is the domi- hyperbole, the twin sins of most books on AI. Metz
period of time that AI has been around, necessar- nant one, having gotten into the game through Hin- tells a story that touches all of our lives today.
ily involves casualties. People are left out, and con- ton ahead of its rivals Facebook, Microsoft and the
tributions are overlooked. But this will bother only Chinese Internet search giant Baidu. Besides Hinton, In one of its most entertaining anecdotes, “Genius
those who know the broad outlines of the story al- Google snatched up Demis Hassabis, a chess prodi- Makers” recounts how Ian Goodfellow, whom Metz
ready. For everyone else, “Genius Makers” puts meat gy who went on to co-found the company whose AI describes as looking like “both the nerdiest and the
on the bones of AI and illuminates many of the most system beat the world champion player of Go. Metz, coolest person in the room,” came up with a tech-
important faces. For those who know the names, the who has covered AI for Wired magazine and now the nique to create AI-generated photorealistic imagery
book is filled with enlightening anecdotes that add New York Times, was in Korea for that world-shaking during a beery night out with friends in Montreal.
texture and drama to the story. event and recounts it with engaging flair, noting that
it triggered the race between the United States and Still buzzed from the beer, Goodfellow went back
“Genius Makers” opens with Geoffrey Hinton, China for global dominance in AI. to his apartment and worked through the night to
the Brit turned Canadian who is widely recognized Metz was in China for a follow-up match with the come up with the technology that’s behind the now-
as having played the most critical role in develop- country’s national Go champion and gives a wonder- notorious deepfakes, but which has many more use-
ing deep learning, the branch of AI that is changing ful inside look at that event, which garnered far less ful applications in AI, from preventing blindness
the world today. He, more than anyone else, is why international attention, in part because the Chinese through the early detection of glaucoma to visualiz-
“artificial intelligence” has entered our daily lexicon. government blacked out coverage. Eric Schmidt, ing the effects of climate change. Goodfellow is now
Hinton is the archetypal academic, tousled, lost in Google’s chairman at the time, was there, intend- head of machine learning at Apple. 
thought, with a wry wit and healthy disrespect for ing to help his company reenter the Chinese market
authority. His most striking characteristic is that, as an AI powerhouse after withdrawing years ear- GENIUS MAKERS
because of an old back injury, he almost never sits lier over censorship and privacy concerns. It turns
down. out, China didn’t need Google’s help. Metz quotes THE MAVERICKS WHO BROUGHT AI
Schmidt later saying that he “did not understand
Metz tells the story of how this unlikely entre- TO GOOGLE, FACEBOOK, AND THE WORLD
preneur, traveling supine in buses and trains, engi-
BY CADE METZ | DUTTON. 371 PP. $28
REVIEW BY CRAIG S. SMITH, THE WASHINGTON POST

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 43

INSIGHT BRIDGE

IT LOOKS HASTY, BUT WHAT ELSE? WEST NORTH EAST
84 J3 K Q 10 9 6 2
By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist Q7 10 9832
872 K Q J 10 6 43
Tacitus, a senator and historian of the Roman Empire who died circa A.D. 120, said, J 10 8 5 4 2 KQ763 9
“Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.”
SOUTH
At the bridge table, if you are uncertain of the best final contract, try to progress A75
slowly up the bidding ladder. But that won’t always be possible. Look only at the AKJ654
South hand. What should he do after pass - one diamond - three spades? A95
A
East bid one more than normal primarily because his partner was a passed hand, and
it worked well. Over two spades, South would have bid a game-forcing three hearts. Dealer: West; Vulnerable: Neither
Now, though, a four-heart response rated to end the auction.
The Bidding:
In a duplicate, no one reached seven diamonds. One West opened three clubs! When
North overcalled three diamonds, South raised cautiously to six diamonds. I would SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST OPENING
have used Roman Key Card Blackwood and bid seven opposite the diamond king- ?? Pass
queen, expecting to establish the heart suit. 1 Diamonds 3 Spades LEAD:
8 Spades
At my table, South jumped straight to six no-trump (a popular contract). West led the
spade eight. Declarer won and ran the minors. East held two spades and two hearts,
declarer retained four hearts, and West brilliantly kept her remaining spade, two hearts
and one club. South, thinking East had seven spades for his overcall, placed West
with 1=3=3=6 distribution, so exited from the dummy with a club, thinking he would
endplay West for a lead away from the heart queen. However, West took that trick and
led her last spade, resulting in down two.

Finally, one East sacrificed over six no-trump in seven spades, dropping a trick in the
play to go down nine, minus 2,300!

44 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT GAMES

SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (MARCH 18) ON PAGE 74

ACROSS DOWN
1 Tiny (3) 1 Observe (5)
3 Pot (3) 2 Blow up (7)
5 Wearied (5) 3 Only (4)
8 Kinds (5) 4 Reiterate (6)
9 Contaminate (7) 5 Newsletter (8)
10 Owl’s call (4) 6 Wake up (5)
11 Negligent (8) 7 Clothed (7)
13 Make happy (6) 12 Remote (8)
14 Sorcerer (6) 13 Corridor (7)
17 Academics (8) 15 Quantities (7)
19 Fail badly (4) 16 Bought and sold(6)
22 Changed (7) 18 Listened to (5)
23 Possessed (5) 20 Ineptly (5)
24 Finished (5) 21 Grub (4)
25 Father (3)
The Telegraph 26 Crafty (3)

How to do Sudoku:

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

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 45

INSIGHT GAMES

ACROSS 92 Low card as nerves The Washington Post
1 Dill pickle slices 93 Wagon amount 50 Wiener topper
7 Beat ___ (get off) 95 Gangster’s alma mater? 51 Bag, in product names SILLY U. By Merl Reagle
13 Rifle ammo 53 Merchandise
16 Miner’s alma mater? 99 School with abrasive 55 Dressing-room door symbol THE Art & Science
18 Language of eastern Africa teachers? 56 Denounce strongly
19 Active, as pinball bumpers 58 Ill-fated Latin singing star of Cosmetic Surgery
20 School that turns out all the 101 Word with shoo 61 Curly’s replacement
or shut 62 Cambodia’s
bad eggs of society?
22 School founded by Fred 102 Political “coat holder” Angkor ___
106 Follow 63 Palindromic name
Fotomat? 107 MIT’s forte
24 Emulate Edison 108 Brand of Puerto Rican rum 65 Banquo’s son, in Macbeth
110 Pirate punishment 67 Humongous
25 Part of the hand 112 Usher’s alma mater? 68 U.S. oil company
27 Friday, e.g. 115 New York school noted for 69 Standard amount
28 Islands E of Fiji
29 Swerve its cranium studies? 70 “Just ___”
30 Cop alert, briefly 117 Fall (behind) 71 Edition: abbr.
32 Farmer’s alma mater? 118 Brought up 72 Gold unit
34 School surrounded by 119 Alma mater of Hollywood 73 Boring
74 Indians’ home
rivers? tour-bus drivers? 75 Graceland’s home: abbr.
35 Hero’s order that a tagalong 120 Dorking drink 76 Rough aspect
121 Actress Suzanne 79 Misbehave
never obeys 122 Slow down 82 Does roadwork
37 Green land 84 Be miserly
39 Comedian’s alma mater? DOWN 85 Boston fish
43 The Sandusky River 1 Do this puzzle, e.g. 88 Vision maintenance
2 Less healthy-looking 90 Great weight
flows into it 3 Joie de vivre 91 “For want of a nail,
44 Lawn job need 4 Cause trouble
45 Wet, relaxing places 5 Took off a shoe ___”
49 (None of the above) 6 Visit 92 Possessive pronoun
50 Supplies the grub for 7 Kitchen meas. 94 Package store offering
52 Rancher’s alma mater? 8 Rational creature in 95 Coil guy
54 Part of a dieter’s “planner” 96 Bad News Bears actress
55 Poles et al. “Gulliver’s Travels” 97 Subject for Safire
57 Prov. north of North 9 Homeland fleers 98 ___ reaction
100 Track specialist
Dakota 10 Go on a tirade 102 Potok’s Lev
59 Missile type, ___-surface 11 Option: abbr. 103 “___ the sword, and he did
60 School for big babies? 12 Detroit player
62 School that Gump 13 Hair color run on it” (Shak.)
14 Eating jag 104 Oscar ___ Renta
attends—and sleeps 15 Kitchen mist 105 Lang. class for new arrivals
through? 16 Film opening? 107 Big put-on
64 They put the “broad” in 17 Richard Wagner daughter 109 Napoleon’s
Broadway 20 The Lucy Show character field marshal
65 Like some cats 21 Brooks and Finney
66 Less than prompt 23 Golden, to Godard (or backwards, longing)
67 School specializing in 26 Louis XVI’s queen 111 On the briny
German truck design? 31 Golf goal 113 Modern prefix
72 School that Lois Lane 33 Ogles and then some 114 Mormon inits.
attends? 34 Dog’s name 116 Regret
77 ___ with a view 35 Term of respect
78 Church section 36 Throw with effort SPECIALTIES INCLUDE:
79 Kid’s assertive response 38 Some concertgoers • Minimal Incision Lift for the
80 Not new 39 Birth berth?
81 School for screenwriters? 40 Virginia willow genus Face, Body, Neck & Brow
83 African desert 41 Melt • Breast Augmentations
85 Hold on (to), 42 Storied archer
as Mommy 45 Ruckus & Reductions
86 Country singer Hall 46 Father, to Chirac • Post Cancer Reconstructions
87 Had a 54 Across 47 Deeds • Chemical Peels • Botox
89 Nick’s sleuthing spouse 48 Totally frazzled, • Laser Surgery • Tummy Tucks
90 Traffic school? • Obagi Products • Liposculpture
• Skin Cancer Treatments

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48 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BACK PAGE

An intense connection becomes exhausting for both

BY CAROLYN HAX want to blow past and you don’t want to bury under
Washington Post excuses about pandemic togetherness or stress – or
pay a therapist to help you not resent.
Dear Carolyn: My boyfriend
When you talk about different “styles,” here’s what
and I met online during the sum- I see: He wants more than you’re willing/able/ready
to give, and he’s not taking “no” for an answer.
mer of the pandemic. We are at-
This is a dealbreaker under any conditions.
tracted to each other, share val- Couples – let’s expand that, even, to all relation-
ship pairs, from friends to family and everyone else
ues and interests, and enjoyed – make all kinds of consensual emotional arrange-
ments between them. There’s no one blueprint for
almost two months of intense being functional or healthy.
But to be consensual, every single one of these ar-
connection, followed by four months of head- rangements needs as its foundation a mutual respect
for the other’s “no” – otherwise there can’t be balance
butting over time spent together, sex drive and love or trust between you. If you go into every decision
knowing your “no” will be seen, by the other person,
languages, with him feeling constantly rejected as the opening of negotiations, then you’re going to
learn to hold back, tiptoe, rationalize, apologize for
and me feeling constantly pressured and becoming yourself and even preemptively agree to things you
don’t want to because that’s easier than a fight. This,
reactive. His style is a bit more attached and I’m over time, will erase you.
To be fully empowered within the relationship,
very independent. We both began seeing therapists each of you needs to trust the other implicitly not to
try to change you or take from you more than you’re
independently, and just started seeing a couples’ willing to give. It’s the only way two people can ever
let their guards down with each other.
therapist. Neither of us have fought this much in a If he thinks that what you have to offer isn’t enough
for him – and that he’s entitled to push you both to
relationship, especially not this early on when we exhaustion in a campaign for more – then he’s not,
and will never be, the guy. 
don’t have a super sturdy foundation upon which

to build.

I feel like perhaps being around each other so Do or Dump: So you’re six, seven months in, and
you’ve been happy for only 30 to 33 percent of that
much in the pandemic has brought up so many time? And not even the most recent 30-ish percent,
but the longest-ago?
issues that couples can easily delay confronting
We date people before committing to them to
when they live fast-paced lives. learn whether they’re a good fit, but it works only if
you’re willing to accept and act on the information it
I’m thankful we can identify these things to work gives you. So, in this case: You’re incompatible. Ac-
cept it and move on. It’s a straightforward enough
through, but … we’re exhausted. We’re learning outcome that I could end my answer with it now.

and growing, but damn, this is hard so early on. You describe something else, though, that I don’t

I’m struggling with when to forge ahead with find-

ing balance, and when to call it incompatibility

and move on.

– Do or Dump

BACKUS DOES ITS BEST
FOR TOP 60

ANNIVERSARY INVITATIONAL

50 Vero Beach 32963 / March 25, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

BACKUS DOES ITS BEST FOR TOP 60

ANNIVERSARY INVITATIONAL

BY ELLEN FISCHER | COLUMNIST

The A.E. Backus Museum and Gal- PHOTOS BY KAILA JONES
lery in Fort Pierce is observing the
60th year of its founding with a show sult that the color photographs of Mas- lilies by Currie, share
inspired by past Best of Show winners terson, fantasy montages of children a wall with the jewel-
in the museum’s perennially popu- in underwater environments, hang on bright colors of Mar-
lar “Best of the Best” and “Through the same wall as Spino’s watercolors of riott’s Florida-themed
the Eye of the Camera” competitive Florida landscape and citrus still life. watercolor batiks.
exhibitions. The show is on display Likewise, the bold black-and-white
through April 25. photos of regal egrets and languid water And yet, the display
looks exactly right.
The “Top 60 Anniversary Invita-
tional” includes six artworks each of
10 fine artists; five photographers and
five artists working in the medias of
watercolor, pastel, oils and printmak-
ing. The 10 participants are Laurie
Aguera-Arcas, Patricia Corapi, Dawn
Currie, Debby Marriott, Erika Mas-
terson, Dawn Miller, Susan Pantuso,
Mike Ricciardi, Frank Spino and (full
disclosure) this writer, Ellen Fischer.

It is an interesting mix. The artists’
works are hung as a group, with the re-


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