06/10/2021 ISSUE 23

School Board seeks to toughen
its civility policy. P12
Property values soar,
but tax cut unlikely. P8

Flotilla shows the flag at
The Moorings boat parade. P20

For breaking news visit

Dr. Richard Moore: Has Vero ‘lost 2 islanders killed
the flavor of the community hospital?’ in 3 days by cars
swerving off A1A
BY MICHELLE GENZ Clinic Indian River since the MY PHOTO BY ROSS ROWLINSON
fall. That’s five of the eight em- VERO BY SAMANTHA ROHLFING BAITA
Staff Writer ployed by the hospital prior to Beach City Council who Staff Writer
Cleveland Clinic taking over BY RAY MCNULTY want to reconfigure the traf-
It took some frank conver- in January 2019. Staff Writer fic pattern along the stretch Two fatalities in less than
sations and soul-searching for of State Road 60 that runs three days caused by autos
cardiologist Richard Moore to Dr. Richard Moore. PHOTO: BRENDA AHEARN Really, we’re talking about through the old downtown swerving off State Road A1A –
decide to retire from Cleve- this again? so we can eliminate driving one killing a bicyclist, the oth-
land Clinic Indian River Hos- Most of the departing heart er running down a man walk-
pital, where he practiced as doctors have gone back to pri- Can you believe there are CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 ing his dog – have intensified
an employed physician for the vate practice, freed of the cor- members of the currentVero demands for reduced speed
past decade. porate model. limits and more safety devices
on the heavily traveled island
His wife, Charlotte, a former Cleveland Clinic is far from thoroughfare
cardiac critical care nurse, the only health system dealing
brought it up first when she with physician burnout. An It was mid-morning on Sat-
noticed a change in him that article last month on the AMA urday, May 29 when the first
started not long after Cleve- death occurred. John’s Island
land Clinic took over the Vero CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 resident Carl Cutler, 63, a re-
hospital. tired investment banker and
accomplished athlete, was
“You aren’t yourself,” she riding his bike on North A1A
told her husband several times near the Pelican Island Wild-
in the past year, he said. life Sanctuary when a 49-year-
old Melbourne man driving a
So this spring, as a string red Nissan sedan swerved off
of physicians and other prac- the road onto the right shoul-
titioners began leaving the der and struck him. Both men
hospital, Moore sat down with were traveling north.
Cleveland Clinic administra-
tors and told them he was call- The following Monday eve-
ing it quits. ning, Memorial Day, Michael

With that, Moore, who is 66, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
added his name to a list of five
cardiologists who have left
or given notice to Cleveland

Skyborne Aviation Academy Vero Beach getting off ground fast County reaches deal ending its efforts
to block high-speed Brightline train
BY RAY MCNULTY strategic partnerships – since
Staff Writer the British company closed BY GEORGE ANDREASSI Brightline high-speed passen-
on its purchase of the former Staff Writer ger train project.
The new signage hasn’t yet FlightSafety facility here May 1.
arrived, but Skyborne Aviation Indian River County has ne- Under a proposed settle-
Academy Director Jeff Devlin “It’s been only a few weeks, gotiated a $31.6 million deal ment agreement, Brightline
said significant improvements but a lot has happened,” Dev- that will end its expensive – not Indian River County –
have been made – to the cam- lin said, “and we’re just getting seven-year battle to halt the would pay for the installation
pus, technology systems and started.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

PHOTO: SKYBORNE

June 10, 2021 Volume 14, Issue 23 Newsstand Price $1.00 Poignancy at
Memorial Day
News 1-14 Editorial 30 People 15-23 TO ADVERTISE CALL event. Page 18
Arts 39-44 Games 33-35 Pets 24 772-559-4187
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2 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

A1A fatalities 13000 block of A1A,” and have spo-
ken to concerned residents about the
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 speed limit.

Gianfrancesco, 57, and his dog, Molly, “We do have an ongoing study”
were walking on the grass shoulder to determine if the speed limit is too
on the east side of South A1A near high, Plass added. “We’re looking at a
the Dunes subdivision where he lived variety of different aspects, including
when they were struck and killed in- speed-crash history” before “reaching
stantly by a northbound Chevy Impala some conclusions and making a rec-
traveling at high speed that veered off ommendation.”
the road.
Additional information about the
Florida Department of Transporta- study should be released within a cou-
tion District 4 Operations Engineer ple of weeks, Plass said.
Mark Plass said the vehicle in Satur-
day’s fatal bicycle incident was traveling Orchid Town Manager Noah Powers
45 mph in a 50-mph zone. But law en- agrees there are safety issues on north
forcement said the vehicle that struck A1A, especially at the intersection of
and killed Gianfrancesco and Molly on A1A and Orchid Island Drive, where
Memorial Day was going over 100 mph. there are no safety crossing devices
for residents and guests going to and
No arrests have been made yet in from the Orchid Island Beach Club.
either case and police have not re-
leased the names of the drivers, both Powers has been communicating
of whom remained on scene until po- with FDOT for over a year, “trying to get
lice arrived. some kind of signalization at this inter-
section,” but has been told there is not
Both accidents remain under inves- sufficient traffic to warrant such action.
tigation by the Florida Highway Patrol,
according to Sheriff’s office spokes- “This is a busy intersection and
person Debbie Carson, who said the without the presence of any safety de-
FHP has jurisdiction because the ac- vices it poses great risk,” said Powers.
cidents occurred on a state road. “I believe we have been extremely for-
tunate to have avoided tragedy at this
Asked why an arrest wasn’t made
immediately in the south island case, intersection.” 
where obvious excessive speed and a
fatality were involved, Carson said ar- Dr. Richard Moore
rests aren’t typically made until a full CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
investigation is completed, which can
take up to 120 days. The Florida High- website called burnout in healthcare a
way Patrol did not respond to numer- “parallel pandemic” to COVID-19.
ous calls and messages.
The article quoted Dr. Bryant Adibe,
Island resident Jose Lambiet, who lives a vice president of Rush University
on Treasure Cove Lane just south of the System for Health.
site of the Memorial Day accident, said
one of his neighbors had returned from “The primary driver of burnout is
a bike ride “minutes before the crash, all macroeconomics, spanning the en-
flustered because she said she had seen tire U.S. health system,” he said. “But
‘dozens of souped-up cars’ traveling there are also secondary drivers, typi-
north on A1A in an aggressive manner, cally at the organization level, such
passing each other like a drag race. She as administrative barriers and bur-
was afraid she was going to be hit.” dens or operational inefficiencies that
significantly contribute and make it
A Big Three Muscle Car Show had worse.”
taken place in Fort Pierce over the Me-
morial Day weekend, with the usual Last year was a stressful one at
large crowd, food, drink and music, Moore’s hospital-owned practice. After
but the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Of- a promised one-year period maintain-
fice said it was not aware of any par- ing the status quo at Indian River fol-
ticipants racing on the island after the lowing the Cleveland Clinic takeover,
show ended. the expected standardization of prac-
tices to sync the Vero hospital with the
North island residents say the rest of the Cleveland system began in
50-mile-an-hour speed limit posted in earnest in January 2020 – just as CO-
the area where Cutler was killed on his VID-19 began creeping into town.
bike is too high – both for safety and
state law. A year later came the widespread
phone problems at the hospital’s em-
In fact, Florida Statute 316.183 ployed physician practices. Some pa-
states that “the maximum speed lim- tients were unable to get through to
its for all vehicles must be 30 miles their doctors or make appointments
per hour in business or residence dis- for needed care.
tricts,” and much of the north island is
zoned residential. The problems, which are still on-
going six months later, have shaken
While not addressing the statute some patients’ confidence in the hos-
specifically, Plass acknowledged that pital’s new owners. That patient burn-
“we are aware of the issues in the out spilled over to doctors as they were

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 3

NEWS

left to take the blame, though they had she didn’t take his advice. “He was wor- of malpractice insurance and govern- example of his father, who he calls his
no control over the endless hold times, ried it would be too stressful,” she said. ment regulation. “They practiced by “hero.”
busy signals and dropped calls. the Hippocratic oath back then, and
Richard Moore’s father managed to that was it,” Richard Moore said. Among the three Moore doctors
Moore also had no input into the escape much of the stress that afflicts from three generations, Richard Moore
letter that went out to his former pa- medical professionals today. His prac- For his son, Richard, a return to Key is the one who has seen the arc of
tients, notifying them of his resigna- tice ranged from delivering babies, to West, his childhood home, may be just medicine follow the highly individual-
tion. That same form letter – which performing general surgery to even what the doctor ordered. Now and then, ized, even non-standard, practices of
didn’t say whether the physician doing autopsies as medical examiner. one of his father’s former patients stops his father in the middle of the last cen-
would be practicing elsewhere or had him to say hello, and he can reflect on tury; to the rise of regulation and stan-
retired – has gone out to thousands of He worked alone and he loved what why he started in this profession – the
patients whose doctors have left the he did, much of it before the burdens CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
hospital.

As employees of the hospital, the
doctors had no way to personally
reach their patients – once they were
no longer Cleveland Clinic employees,
they had no access to patient records,
including contact information.

Some doctors feared there could
also be legal ramifications if a physi-
cian tried to reach out to a person who
was technically the health system’s pa-
tient.

“What was so sad is they were call-
ing me on my cellphone, saying, ‘How
could you do this to me?’” said Moore,
who had given his cell number to pa-
tients who needed it.

Not everyone got the letters who
should have. One woman with a stand-
ing appointment at the hospital’s Well-
ness Center showed up for her appoint-
ment only to find her doctor was gone;
another Cleveland Clinic doctor was
assigned her appointment, but the pa-
tient didn’t find out until she got there.
She walked out without being seen.

Cleveland Clinic said in a state-
ment: “We understand that people
have choices of where to receive care,
and we support their decisions. Indian
River Hospital is focused on providing
care to the patients who wish to utilize
our services. However, we do provide
patients with information on how to
contact departing physicians if it is re-
quested and if we have that informa-
tion available.”

But that claim is in contrast to what
one receptionist said to this caller,
asking about her provider: “We were
told not to say where they had gone.”

In Moore’s case, the answer would
be simple: Gone fishin’.

Since his retirement, Moore has
spent a lot of time at his second home
in Key West, where he and his wife
head offshore to fish as often as the
weather allows. Key West is Moore’s
birthplace, as it was his mother’s. It
was where his late father, Dr. Herman
Moore, practiced medicine for nearly
half a century since the early 1940s.

It’s also where his daughter, third-
generation physician Dr. Lily Moore
Landry, dreams of returning. But time
off is limited, as she heads toward com-
pletion of a three-year fellowship in
pediatric cardiology in Jackson, Miss.
She too faces stress, her dad says. He
even tried to talk his daughter out of
med school and into nursing, though

4 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Dr. Richard Moore not the good or bad, but the differ-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 ence. It’s a sea change from what we all
have been used to. That’s why people
dardization including after he merged are wondering: does it fit?”
his practice with Indian River Medical
Center. And most recently, Moore has Moore holds the Cleveland Clinic sys-
experienced practicing under what tem in high esteem.“It is an excellent, ex-
may be one of the most rigorously cellent organization,” he said. “Its goal is
standardized, scrupulously self-mon- to be No. 1 in the world. And we all know
itored health systems in the world at what it takes to be No. 1 in the world.”
Cleveland Clinic.
What it takes is not only excellence,
Here, Cleveland Clinic’s challenge is but the standards that create it and –
to retain “what has been so special in perhaps just as importantly – the abil-
the medical community of Vero, and ity to track it.
that is, a high level of medical care but
the small-town sort of relationships,” Cleveland Clinic Indian River’s lead-
Moore said. ers may know the kind of metrics and
tracking it takes to achieve excellence.
With the essential nature of medicine But is each caregiver willing to do what
today less personalized, Moore feels it takes to conform to those standards,
that the very thing that made Cleve- and put in the extra hours to “check all
land Clinic the top choice to take over the boxes,” as Moore puts it?
the hospital – its stellar ratings and rep-
utation – may preclude the neighborly And will Vero patients be willing to
medicine he practiced when he started adjust to corporate healthcare, which
in his career, and that his dad mastered even at its best has faceless facets. A
over the course of his. centralized appointment center, the
hospital’s answer to the phone prob-
“People have to understand that lems, can’t tell you whether a bad
medicine is not the same. When they sprain needs to be seen, or how to ice
call the doctor’s office and they get a it until the doctor can see you.
machine and can’t talk to a person,
that is just what’s going on in medi- “Have we lost the flavor of the com-
cine today. It’s just the difference. It’s munity hospital we thought we could
keep when Cleveland Clinic came to
town?” Moore asked. “And is that what

we wanted?” 

My Vero There isn’t any compelling reason to
drastically alter the Twin Pairs’ traffic
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 flow – and that includes the ridiculous
claim that reducing lanes would help
lanes and use them for parallel parking? “Keep Vero, Vero.”
We need to take a harder look at the
It wouldn’t.
people we elect, because anyone who Allow me to break some news to my
wants to take away traffic lanes along nostalgic neighbors who yearn for a
the Twin Pairs as the community con- return to yesteryear, and continue to
tinues to grow is not working in our delude themselves into believing they
best interests. still can fend off the ongoing surge in
development and influx of newcom-
Narrowing that section of road ers: You’re too late.
might make pedestrians feel safer and The Vero Beach of the 1990s – or even
generate more business for a hand- the turn of the millennium – is history,
ful of downtown merchants. It might and it’s never coming back. Creating
provide a few dozen additional park- bottlenecks and clogging up traffic on
ing spaces that most of the time aren’t the Twin Pairs won’t turn back the cal-
needed. endar, or preserve the charm of down-
town Vero, or improve our quality of life.
But for the most part, it’s a solution Perhaps you noticed that we just
in search of a problem. made another “Best Places to Retire in
Florida” list?
There’s no evidence of pedestrians Such publicity only brings more
being hurt by drivers speeding along people to our community, and many
the Twin Pairs, the wide and divided of them are choosing to live here, some
thoroughfare that runs one way in each of them on a year-round basis. We see
direction – four lanes going west, three them in our stores, our restaurants
going east – from U.S. 1 to 20th Avenue. and, yes, on our roadways, which seem
to become more crowded and congest-
Nor is there any reason to believe ed every year.
more people would flock downtown Especially on the mainland.
if the roadway were reduced to two Particularly on State Road 60.
lanes in each direction and additional If anything, we need wider road-
parallel parking was made available. ways and more lanes to accommodate
the traffic already here and then han-
City officials say eliminating lanes dle what’s coming.
could add as many as 80 new spaces,
which would be a factor to seriously
consider if there were a downtown
parking shortage.

But there isn’t.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 5

NEWS

Drive around the county, and you’ll Pairs’ seven lanes will no longer be Monte Falls brings it up for discussion creating conditions ripe for accidents.
see an increasing number of new- enough. at next week’s City Council meeting. Not only would reducing lanes of
home communities under construc-
tion. You’ll also see more commercial The current and future need for The better reason? traffic produce more congestion, put-
development headed westward along those lanes, however, is only one rea- It’s reckless, even dangerous. ting more vehicles in close proximity
State Road 60. son any talk of eliminating them is Eliminating traffic lanes and adding and increasing the chance of crashes,
a terrible idea – one that should be those streetside parking spaces almost but it also would cause more frustra-
We can only guess when the Twin discarded the moment City Manager certainly will do more harm than good,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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6 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

My Vero could handle the traffic but with in- Skyborne Aviation Academy Beach,” Woodward said the company
creased delays and congestion. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 would embrace a “very airline-cen-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 tric philosophy,” and introduce new
“Almost 10 years have passed since Among the upgrades Devlin cited technology as well as implement new
tion and possibly even incite more that study, and this area has been grow- were building renovations, new flight training methods.
road-rage incidents. ing, so we probably need to update it,” simulators and five freshly signed
Falls said. “Should we spend the money agreements to provide airlines, in- “We’re a British company,” Wood-
Then there’s this: Allowing on-street, for another study, or leave the status cluding United and Delta, with newly ward said in a trans-Atlantic phone
parallel parking would increase the quo? That’ll be up to the council.” trained pilots. interview with Vero Beach 32963
possibility that someone would open in March, “but our plan is to make
their driver’s door into traffic or be There is another option: Keep the Training aircraft are being repainted a massive effort in the U.S. market
struck by a moving vehicle while exit- seven lanes, but reduce the current 40 with Skyborne’s colors and logo, and to develop U.S. pilots, especially for
ing his or her car. mph speed limit to 35 mph. new student uniforms have been or- U.S. airlines.”
dered.
Even if the city opted for angled, “That might satisfy some people,” That’s why, Devlin said, Skyborne is
pull-in parking spaces, there are the Falls said, adding that FDOT would “Right now, our enrollment is at 110 in the process of bringing in a large-
risks associated with backing into traf- need to approve such a change because students, but we’re getting an influx of jet, full-motion simulator to supple-
fic on a busy road. the Twin Pairs are part of a state road. new contracts and we expect that num- ment its two new Redbird Flight simu-
ber to increase substantially in the com- lators, which are used to train pilots to
But will any of that matter? This is a pivotal issue for the entire ing months,” Devlin said. “We think operate smaller aircraft.
Or is this City Council, unlike its pre- community, not only Vero Beach, and we’ll be up to 300 within 18 months.”
decessors, determined to push through the City Council must make the right In addition to its “pathway programs”
a wrongheaded change that will do long- call, which shouldn’t be much of a Skyborne Aviation Chief Executive with United and Delta, Skyborne has
lasting damage to the traffic flow on State challenge. Officer Lee Woodward said he signed similar agreements with SkyWest Air-
Road 60 and the community in general? a definitive agreement to buy Flight- lines, Endeavor Air and Envoy Air to
According to Falls, the Florida De- Today’s Twin Pairs, with their seven Safety Academy in February, then employ its graduates.
partment of Transportation needs to lanes and 40 mph speed limit, aren’t spent the several months acquiring
know the city’s decision in August, so hurting our downtown – which, de- “all the necessary government approv- Devlin said more than 90 percent of
it can begin planning for the repav- spite the impact of the COVID-19 pan- als” and working with city officials FlightSafety Academy’s students agreed
ing and restriping of State Road 60 in demic, remains a dining, cultural and to transfer the school’s lease at Vero to transfer their contracts and will com-
the area – a project scheduled for the entertainment destination. Beach Regional Airport. plete their pilot training with Skyborne.
2026-27 budget year. Likewise, more than 90 percent of
Falls said FDOT resurfaces the road- They’re not causing traffic acci- Woodward said a confidentiality FlightSafety’s instructors opted to stay
way every 20 years. dents, or endangering pedestrians’ clause in the sales contract prevented in Vero Beach and work for Skyborne.
A city-funded study done in 2013 lives, or making Vero less Vero. him from revealing the exact terms of
determined that the Twin Pairs, if re- the transaction. Improvements at the 10-acre campus
duced to two lanes in each direction, They’re doing exactly what they’re include renovated living accommoda-
supposed to do: provide an easy and effi- Skyborne, which was founded in the tions and classrooms – new furniture,
cient east-west ride through downtown. United Kingdom in 2018, has quickly appliances, flooring, windows and digi-
earned an international reputation as tal technology have been installed. The
So, please, stop the madness. Leave one of the most respected pilot-train- campus also includes a student center,
ing schools in the industry. swimming pool, soccer field, volleyball
the Twin Pairs alone.  court, cafes and book shops.
Woodward said it was his desire
from the outset to expand Skyborne’s In addition, arriving students and
brand to the U.S. market, which the visitors will find what Devlin called a
company explored for 2 ½ years – “more open and welcoming” recep-
looking at sites in Arizona, Texas and tion area.
at various locations in Florida – before
deciding to set up shop in Vero Beach. “The new signage has been ordered,
and we should have it in another week
Besides rebranding the school as or two,” Devlin said. “Come over in
“Skyborne Aviation Academy Vero about three months, and you’ll be im-

pressed with what we’ve done.” 

Brightline they filed in January 2019 in state Cir-
cuit Court.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Brightline plans to run 32 trains
of new safety devices at the county’s per day through Indian River County
32 railroad crossings to accommodate at speeds of up to 110 mph en route
high-speed passenger trains. between Orlando and South Florida
starting in early 2023.
Brightline also would pay to install
fencing along the tracks in areas iden- Commissioners have spent nearly
tified by a hazard analysis. $3.8 million since 2014 fighting the
Brightline extension through Indian
In exchange, the county would drop River County, raising safety, quality-
its lawsuit in state court concerning of-life and regulatory concerns about
the railroad crossing costs and not take the project and filing lawsuits in state
any other action challenging Bright- and federal courts.
line’s ability to operate within the Flor-
ida East Coast Railway right-of-way. But the courts repeatedly dismissed
Indian River County’s claims, includ-
The county also agreed to work with ing one contending that the U.S. De-
Brightline to obtain state and federal partment of Transportation improp-
grants to help pay for the railroad erly allocated $2.1 billion in tax-free
crossing upgrades. bonds to the Brightline project. A last-
ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court
County commissioners were sched- was rejected in October.
uled to vote Tuesday on the proposed
settlement agreement in the lawsuit CONTINUED ON PAGE 8



8 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Brightline last month to announce it passed the
halfway mark in its $3 billion exten-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 sion of high-speed train tracks to Or-
lando International Airport from West
Sen. Debbie Mayfield (R-Vero Beach) Palm Beach.
worked with fellow lawmakers, state
transportation officials and Brightline Brightline is upgrading the FECR
executives to arrange for the railroad tracks from West Palm Beach to Co-
crossing safety improvements to be in- coa – currently used by freight trains
stalled at no cost to Indian River County, traveling 40-to-60 mph – to handle
said County Attorney Dylan Reingold. passenger trains that will reach a peak
speed of 110 mph.
“County staff believes the installation
of the necessary safety improvements is The company is also building new
the highest priority for the citizens of In- tracks along State Road 528 from Co-
dian River County,” Reingold wrote in a coa to Orlando International Airport,
June 2 memo to county commissioners. where Brightline’s passenger trains
will reach speeds of 125 mph.
The agreement calls for Brightline
to submit its plans for upgrading the The project includes the $33 mil-
railroad crossings and maintaining the lion replacement of the 97-year-old St.
flow of traffic to the county and Florida Sebastian River Railroad Bridge with a
Department of Transportation, which new concrete bridge, and the installa-
will review them for compliance with tion of a second set of train tracks.
federal, state and local regulations.
Brightline operated between Miami
Brightline will be required to ob- and West Palm in 2018 and 2019 be-
tain permits from Indian River County fore shutting down in March 2020 in
to engage in construction on county response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
roads right-of-way.
The passenger rail company is test-
The county also reserved the right ing new safety controls at railroad
to support or lobby for laws or regula- crossings in South Florida in antici-
tions affecting Brightline’s operations pation of resuming service there later
within the FECR right-of-way. this year, said Brightline spokeswom-
an Katie Mitzner.
The proposed settlement agree-
ment between Indian River County The company has pushed back its
and Brightline will need final approval timeline for completion of the exten-
from Judge Katie L. Dearing in state sion north from West Palm to Orlando
Circuit Court in Jacksonville, where several times and now hopes to begin
Florida East Coast Railway is based. service early in 2023.

Brightline held a news conference So far, no train station is planned for

Indian River County. 

PROPERTY VALUES SOAR, BUT A
CUT IN TAX RATES SEEN UNLIKELY

BY STEVEN M. THOMAS extra cash, or raise the rate to increase
Staff Writer income even more.

Despite an exhilarating jump in In- Based on conversations with county
dian River County property values in – and Vero Beach – officials, property
2020, most residents probably won’t tax rate rollbacks are a longshot. No
see the lower tax rates many are hop- official would confirm that rates will
ing for – in which case property tax stay the same, but all talked about in-
bills issued this fall will be higher than creasing expenses and possible reduc-
they were last year. tions in other revenue sources.

Property Appraiser Wesley Davis “It is a little bit premature to say wheth-
released a preliminary estimate last er the millage rate will be rolled back or
week showing that real estate in the if we will need the additional revenue to
county has gained nearly $700,000,000 meet expenses,” says County Commis-
in taxable value. sion Chairman Joe Flescher. “But I will
say this – our expenses are going up.
Officials say that will net about an
extra $4.2 million in tax revenue for “The county has grown more in
the county government if the property the past two years than in the pre-
tax rate, commonly called the millage vious 10 years and we will have in-
rate, stays the same. creased emergency services demand,
increased recreational demand and
Seeing that extra income in the added infrastructure expenses.
pipeline, county commissioners could
lower the millage rate to keep prop-
erty tax revenue the same as last year,
leave the rate unchanged to reap the

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 9

NEWS

“From what I have seen so far, the costs. Public works will come up with tax rate this year and have to raise it commercial real estate parcels in the
constitutional officers [who are fund- those figures. again next year, giving people a yo-yo county. Half of them – 46,276 – are
ed by the county budget] will be up- sensation. I think it is better for people homestead properties on which prop-
ticking their budget requests to pay for “I will be meeting frequently with to have a solid idea of what is coming.” erty tax increases are capped at 3 per-
new technology and online security.” [Vero Finance Department Director] cent or the increase in the consumer
Cindy Lawson between now and the Some property tax facts: price index, whichever is lowest. This
The county will be going through end of July when we have to come up year’s maximum tax increase is 1.4
its annual budget process over the with a ‘not to exceed’ millage rate. Af-  The total taxable value of prop- percent, even if your homestead prop-
next few months, trying to balance ter that, we can lower the millage rate erty doubled in value, according to
expected income and expenses for the but not raise it. erty in Indian River County is $21.7 Davis’s office.
2021/22 fiscal year, which starts in Oc- billion, according to Davis. (That is
tober, and Flescher said the final mill- “As we get to August and more num- the number school district taxes are  Values were up across the county,
age rate will be based on the outcome bers come from state revenue and oth- based on. The school district is able to
of that process. er sources, we can make adjustments tax some property the county and mu- with the biggest percentage increase
if needed. We want to do the budget in nicipalities can’t tax.) in Sebastian; Fellsmere values were up
“I will be sitting down with [County a prudent way and a way that is justi- 4 percent to $121 million; Indian River
Administrator] Jason Brown and go- fied [by budgetary needs].  The actual or market value of Shores, up 3 percent to $3.6 billion;
ing over the budget, department by
department, to see where we stand. I “Personally, I don’t want to lower the property in the county is many bil- CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
know we’ve had to add some person- lions of dollars greater than that.
nel, and we are negotiating our con-
tract with the Teamsters, so there is  There are 83,080 residential and
that ...

“One thing I will say, speaking as one
commissioner, is that we shouldn’t an-
ticipate an increased mill rate. I am con-
fident we won’t raise the millage rate. So
that is good news for taxpayers.”

Most property tax dollars paid by
county residents go to fund the school
district, the county general operating
fund and emergency services.

But a significant amount goes to mu-
nicipalities, which impose their own
millage rate on top of the county’s.

In Vero Beach, property owners pay
about $250 per $100,000 in property
value for city services with the city’s
current millage rate.

According to Davis, taxable property
values in the city went up $133,000,000
in 2020.

That’s a big number, but City Man-
ager Monte Falls points out it won’t
have a huge impact on the city’s rev-
enue stream.

“It is good news for us to have got-
ten the higher valuations, but proper-
ty tax only provides about 30 percent
of our revenue. I think it amounted to
$7.5 million in a $25 million budget
last year,” Falls says.

And state law limits how much the
property tax can be raised on home-
stead properties – those registered
with the county as primary residences
– regardless of how much the property
goes up in value.

All things considered, Falls says an
estimate of $300,000 in additional rev-
enue due to the rise in property values
“is in the ballpark” – assuming the
millage rate stays the same.

“We will have to see what other rev-
enue sources are like, before we decide
on the millage rate,” says Vero Beach
Mayor Robert Brackett. “For instance,
sales tax could be down because of the
pandemic shutdowns.

“We also have some capital projects
to consider and other things to fac-
tor in. Construction estimates have to
be redone because of the increase in
material costs to come up with exact

10 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Will high exit costs chain Shores to Vero water-sewer pact?

BY LISA ZAHNER If Vero can make it cost prohibitive doubts the Shores will be able to exit er service. Councilman Bob McCabe
Staff Writer for the Shores to leave Vero utilities by the city’s utility service and thinks pay- concurred and said he wants a good
attaching a high price tag to its infra- ing a consultant could be a big waste relationship with the county.
The City of Vero Beach’s claim to a structure in the town, then the matter of money.
permanent water-sewer service terri- of whether or not Vero indeed has a Whatever the potential price tag to
tory that includes the Town of Indian permanent service territory will likely “This is never going to happen,” buy the town’s exit from Vero’s service
River Shores is still in dispute, but it become moot. Winger said. “You’re talking about a big turns out to be – if the city goes ahead
might not matter if the price tag for number that the city would have to be with an appraisal and the town does de-
the Shores to exit Vero’s system be- Sometime soon, Vero, the county paid, and you add that to what the coun- cide to switch to county utility service –
comes a poison pill. and the Shores are expected to sit ty would have to pay. I can’t imagine the it would be far less than it was a decade
down to discuss these issues and Falls county asking the existing customers ago, as Indian River Shores made some
Vero officials last month talked about said “a full-blown appraisal” would to up the rates substantially for existing important changes to its contract with
appraising the city’s utility assets in the give Vero the best negotiating position. customers to help Indian River Shores. Vero when the town signed a new fran-
town should the Shores try to break with And I can’t imagine Indian River Shores chise agreement in 2012.
Vero in 2027, determining an amount “This would include all the assets being able to finance it.”
the Shores would have to pay for water that would be the city’s assets that we The previous franchise agreement
infrastructure owned by Vero. would be giving up,” Falls said. Mayor Robbie Brackett said he is dating back to the 1980s stated that all
against paying for an appraisal of Ve- utility assets would revert back to the
That exit cost would be on top of two Councilman Dick Winger said the ro’s Indian River Shores utility assets City of Vero Beach at the expiration of
other costs – the cost of the county run- city would also need to be compen- because “by giving them a price, we’re the franchise agreement, but the new-
ning pipes under the Indian River La- sated for lost utility rate revenue. actually indicating that we’re willing er contract that expires in 2027 gives
goon and the cost of increasing county to do this.” most of the utility assets to the Shores
utility plant capacity to serve the Shores. “So, you’re talking about a big num- at the end of the contract term, with
The Shores has hired a consultant to ber, a very big number,” Winger said. Vice Mayor Ray Neville said the first the city’s assets listed in detail.
calculate those expenses, but they have step, before doing an appraisal, is to
not yet been determined. Vero City Attorney John Turner, who have the court determine whether The contract on Page 2, Section 3
will be part of the negotiations, said “permanent” means permanent in states,“At the end of the franchise agree-
“The third cost to find an amicable he doesn’t think the city needs a full- regard to the city’s utility service area. ment, including any extension thereof,
solution would be the cost to purchase blown appraisal, but he and Falls do Turner said that does need to be re- all water and wastewater facilities in In-
the Indian River Shores portion of the need a range of the exit costs, to see solved sooner than later because Vero dian River Shores, unless specifically ex-
Vero water and sewer utility,” Vero City if the town is interested in proceeding is planning a new sewer plant with cluded, shall be the property of Indian
Manager Monty Falls said. with the separation. capacity to serve all of its customers, River Shores.”
including Indian River Shores.
Winger asked how much the consul- Excluded are the water storage
tant would charge for an appraisal. He Winger gave the city a 95 percent tanks, the north river crossing and the
chance of the court upholding its per- transmission mains associated with it,
A STEADY HAND IN TURBULENT TIMES manent service territory. He said staff the 18-inch water main along High-
Over a Century of Combined Expertise needs to work with the county and find way A1A south of Fred Tuerk Drive,
a resolution to the dispute over who will and any reuse water pipes installed at
Uncertainty calls for a disciplined approach to managing your financial future. provide the Shores with water and sew-
We’ve spent decades providing professional advice to Vero Beach families. Vero’s cost. 
Let’s have a conversation. Property values soar
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 $133,000,000 jump in property val-
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to $3.3 billion.
County left their millage rates the
 All increases in taxable values same in the last budget process, even
though property values went up sub-
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12 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

School Board begins work on civility
policy after disturbance at meeting

BY GEORGE ANDREASSI Board meeting, blamed Barefoot and
Vero Beach 32963 for the loss of his job
Staff Writer with the Indian River County Chamber
of Commerce – not his own behavior.
Angry, insulting and threatening
comments and behavior by a hand- Corapi also called out Jones by her
ful of public speakers at recent School first name and falsely accused her of us-
Board meetings have prompted the ing the term “inciting an insurrection.”
board to rethink its approach to main-
taining decorum and civility. Jones responded: “I did not say that.
I did not say ‘insurrection.’”
The civility issue came to a head after
several parental rights activists disrupt- But Corapi shot back inaccurately:
ed a School Board meeting last month “Yes, you did.”
as educators were preparing to honor
the “Academic All-Stars” of Vero Beach Pippin, the lead plaintiff in an un-
and Sebastian River high schools. successful legal challenge against the
school district’s mandatory facemask
Taken aback by the confrontation, policy during the 2020-21 school year,
the School Board plans to review its defended Corapi and criticized the
policies regarding public speaking and School Board.
behavior during board meetings, pos-
sibly as soon as its June 22 meeting. “Anyone should be able to come
in here and make a public comment
In the meantime, the school district and not worry about if they’re going
has asked the Sheriff's Office to assign to have their job the next day,” Pippin
additional deputies to the board’s June said. “That’s wrong and that’s on you.
8 and June 22 meetings to maintain
order, spokeswoman Cristen Maddux “We have the right to speak on pub-
said Monday. lic sidewalks in front of any building,
any home,” Pippin added, alluding to
The May School Board meetings at- Corapi encouraging people to dem-
tracted crowds that filled the seats in the onstrate in front of board members’
meeting room and lobby, and overflowed homes after the May 11 meeting. “So,
to the sidewalk in front of school district it’s not a threat to your security, we’re
headquarters, and similar crowds are ex- not coming after you, if we want to do
pected at the June meetings. our First Amendment rights.”

“In my opinion, with civility, the last Along with Jones, other School Board
board meeting was the worst I’ve seen members said there needs to be great-
in 41 years,” said School Board mem- er effort to promote civil discourse
ber Peggy Jones, a former teacher and during the public speaking periods at
high school principal. board meetings.

“In this meeting, we had raised voic- “I do think people get passionate and
es, inciting and disturbances,” Jones sometimes they’re frustrated and some-
said. “Phone cameras were in people’s times they say stuff I hope they wish
faces and in our sheriff’s [deputies’] they could have taken back,” said board
faces – [it was] nothing less than rude- vice chairwoman Teri Barenborg.
ness. Anger, harassment, bullying and
hate do not belong here. “I do know and we’re all aware of the
fact that there have been some threats
“I want our civility policy followed, made,” Barenborg said. “We’re in that
or even amended, if the board so de- world now where people are used to
sires,” Jones said during the board’s saying whatever they want to say on
May 25 Superintendent’s Workshop. social media and it doesn’t matter if
“People who are not acting appropri- you use the F-bomb, or whatever. We
ately need to be removed.” can’t allow something like that here.”

School districts in Osceola and Sem- The board should consider posting
inole counties have civility policies au- rules for behavior at meetings, so ev-
thorizing school personnel to direct a eryone understands the goal of setting
member of the public to leave school a good example for students, Baren-
grounds if he or she “uses obscenities borg said.
or speaks in a demanding, loud, insult-
ing and/or demeaning manner.” Board member Mara Schiff noted
School Board meetings across the state
During the School Board’s business and the nation are reportedly growing
meeting later in the day, two outspo- more heated.
ken parents, John Corapi and Jennifer
Pippin, made it clear they were not “Political civility is quickly flying out
toning down their rhetoric. the window,” Schiff said during the
May 25 workshop. “People who got
Corapi, who instigated the con- into jobs with the intent of doing good
frontation Jones was referring to that and supporting their communities are
prompted School Board Chairman Bri- now feeling physically, emotionally,
an Barefoot to halt the May 11 School mentally threatened by the behavior of

communities.” 





Gold Star Mother
Michelle Dale.

‘LEST WE FORGET’:
POIGNANCY PERMEATES
MEMORIAL DAY EVENT P. 18

16 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

County earns ‘Bright Spot’ status for meeting kids’ needs

County Commissioner Laura Moss and Vicki Soule. Ray Oglethorpe, Richard Myhre and Barbara Hammond. Margaret Ingram and Colleen Lord. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF
Staff Writer

The Learning Alliance Moonshot network. I don’t think of you as a small together to deliver a variety of pro- support us. This success is all of your
Rocket bus landed in the parking lot community. I think of you as a pow- grams and services to families with successes,” said Richard Myhre, as-
of the school district campus recently erhouse that’s generating so much children. Tutoring programs went vir- sistant superintendent of curriculum
to help celebrate Indian River County knowledge with insight in how to do tual; learning kits were supplied, and and instruction, speaking on behalf of
being named a Bright Spot Commu- this work for others to follow across in some cases delivered; healthcare the school district.
nity. The award was presented by the the country,” said Fairchild. “You and vaccines were provided; modified
nationwide Campaign for Grade-Lev- hold a disproportionate impact on the summer camps were offered; and fi- In his letter to the Learning Alli-
el Reading in recognition of the com- success of that knowledge exchange nancial assistance was offered for rent, ance announcing the award, Ralph
munity’s exemplary and innovative of information in our network. I just utilities and prescriptions. Smith, CGLR managing director,
responses during the COVID crisis to continue to have so much respect and wrote: “We applaud the civic leaders
children’s education and health. admiration for everything you’re do- Fairchild suggested that the com- and local funders whose time, tal-
ing.” munity take stock of the adaptations ent, energy, and imagination allowed
Communities had been invited to and innovations made during the pan- them to quickly adapt and meet this
submit stories to the CGLR in a “What’s Fairchild identified attendance, demic and consider continuing some moment. They truly are bright spots,
Working Exchange” that highlighted technology, meal distribution and tu- of those practices. and we congratulate them for the dif-
the various ways they had worked to toring as just a few of the crucial areas ferences they’re making. We look for-
ensure that children and families had that enabled a continuous forward “The nation recognizes what is go- ward to learning from their success as
sufficient access to their needs. momentum so that children could re- ing on here,” said Ray Oglethorpe, TLA we move onto a post-COVID learning
cover and flourish academically and board chair, as he presented the school environment.”
Ron Fairchild, CGLR senior consul- socially-emotionally. district with a Bright Spot certificate.
tant, related during an MCAN Zoom The nationwide Campaign for
meeting that of the more than 500 CGLR members were impressed Oglethorpe cited the innovative re- Grade-Level Reading is “a collabora-
submissions from 170 communities with the school district’s distribution sponses and hard work of the school tive effort of funders, nonprofit part-
across the country, nearly 80 of them of laptops and Chromebooks to about district that resulted in an increase ners, business leaders, government
came from Indian River County. Indi- 73 percent of the student population, from 67 percent of students attend- agencies, states and communities
an River County was among 54 com- coupled with substantial IT support. ing in-person classes at the start of the across the nation to ensure that many
munities recognized for its efforts to Additionally, the district offered par- school year to about 85 percent at its more children from low-income fami-
mitigate the effects of the pandemic, ents the choice of virtual, in-person close. lies succeed in school and graduate
especially pertaining to children’s and transitional educational models prepared for college, a career and ac-
access to education, food and health for their children, and some 10,463 “From Day One, the entire district tive citizenship.”
services. meals were delivered each day to 45 pulled together to support our stu-
sites over 22 weeks. dents, from human capital operations For more information, visit thelearn-
The 80 accounts, gathered and to IT to food service workers, bus driv- ingalliance.org or moonshotmoment.
submitted by the Learning Alliance, The community as a whole pulled ers, everybody in this whole communi- org. 
demonstrated the efforts undertaken ty from the external organizations that
by members of the Moonshot Com-
munity Action Network, made up of
community partners, law enforce-
ment and the school district, during
the pandemic. Their approach, which
piggybacked on the work already be-
ing undertaken by MCAN, ensured
that student education and care were
continued, unlike many other places
around the country.

“Indian River County is a peren-
nial leader in the Grade-Level Reading

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 17

PEOPLE

Jessica Schmitt, Marie-Solange Correa and Eric Seymour. Kerry Gorr, Jim Higgins and Teresa Enriquez. Liz Bahl, Leslie Connelly and Fran McDonough.

Cindy Emerson and Doug Herron.

Brooke Flood and Samantha Taylor.
Liz Remington and Shanti Sanchez.

18 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

‘Lest we forget’: Poignancy permeates Memorial Day event

Marine Corps Color Guard participants Frank Baudo and Joshua Bryant. Sebastian Area Color Guard presented a rifle salute.
Master of Ceremonies Col. Marty Zickert, USAF, Ret. Members of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard.

Alex MacWilliam IV reads “In Flanders Fields.” PHOTOS: BRENDA AHEARN John Michael Matthews.

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF “This year, we are going to do some- most desperate enemies admire. For our freedom that we have today,” said
Staff Writer thing a little different,” said Ret. Col. us, this is a day of remembrance as we Rev. David Newhart, in his invoca-
Martin Zickert to the crowd. “We’re honor our friends and fellow warriors tion. “We come from all walks of life,
The Veterans Memorial Island going to focus on the time period who made the ultimate sacrifice.” all different faiths. We come because
Sanctuary was a patriotic sea of red, of World War I. The guest speaker is we honor those who have kept us safe,
white and blue during the Memorial going to talk about the creation of Over the course of the morning, a who have defended our freedoms in
Day Ceremony, organized by the Vet- this magnificent sanctuary and the patriotic medley played by the Vero this United States of America. We will
erans Council of Indian River Coun- thought, ‘Lest we forget.’” Beach High School Band, the Boots continue to remember them, ‘Lest we
ty, where veterans and families com- on the Ground display, and the rit- forget.’”
memorated wars and conflicts dating Zickert, current Veterans Coun- ual placing of the wreath among
back to World War I. The day’s over- cil chairman, noted that Americans the cenotaphs, accompanied by the Vero Beach pioneer Alex MacWil-
cast skies added to the somber mood gather around the world on Memo- haunting sound of bagpipes, added liam, a WWI veteran, was instru-
that permeated the crowd, who were rial Day to “honor America’s finest to the solemnity of the ceremony. mental in the creation of Veterans
there to honor the sacrifices of fallen men and women who gave their lives Memorial Island Sanctuary, and in
military service members. for our freedom. Because of them, “We gather here today to remember his honor, his great grandson, Alex
we live in a free society that even our those who have fought against tyran- MacWilliam IV, read the war poem,
ny and oppression and maintained

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 19

PEOPLE

Adrian Parrish-Purlee, Le Kooc and Logan Dussan of Boy Scout Pack 567. Ken Dale and Staff Sgt. Eldon Peterson. Michael Hyde and Jim Romanek.

Barbara Ruddy and City Councilwoman Honey Minuse. Rick Bowman and Larry Massaroni. Rev. Dave Newhart and Michael Fitzgerald.

“In Flanders’ Fields,” written by Lt. men remembered with cenotaphs on
Col. John McCrae in 1915. Memorial Island – Melvin O. Dills,
Lonnie E. Hamilton, Aaron Wilson
Zickert introduced keynote speak- Kemp, Leve Lavendar Law, John Mor-
er Gold Star Mother Michelle Dale, ris, Felix G. Poppell, Fay Roscoe Taylor
who spoke movingly of her son, Army and Fred Evans Woodward – she felt
Cpl. Dale Kridlo, who was killed in that she grew to know them.
action in Kunar Province on Nov. 7,
2010. “I reflect upon their lives and their
eagerness to leave this paradise in or-
“Everything I do as a Gold Star der to join the armed forces to serve
Mother is in honor and remembrance their country,” said Dale. She referred
of his ultimate sacrifice to our nation to them as “men of courage who stood
and so that he will never be forgot- up and made the decision to fight for a
ten,” said Dale of her mission to sup- cause they may not have fully under-
port veterans and the families of oth- stood, but who realized it was a cause
ers who lost their loved ones in wars necessary for their country.”
and conflicts.
“We will not let their glory fade if
She said that this year also marked we remember to honor them every
the centennial anniversary of the re- opportunity we have,” said Dale. “Say
turn of the United States Army Trans- their names. Remember their ulti-
port Wheaton to New York Harbor mate sacrifice to our country. God
in May 1921, carrying the caskets of bless America, land of the free be-
5,169 American servicemen who had cause of the brave.”
perished in Cherbourg, France, and
Antwerp, Belgium. In parting, Rev. Newhart asked the
crowd to take a look at the flag flying
“In the end, 43,909 Americans who above the island as they were leaving.
lost their lives in World War I were
returned home,” said Dale. “Home- “The flag does not wave because of
coming 2021 engages our communi- the wind,” he said. “The flag waves
ties to remember the World War I fall- because of the last breath of our vet-
en, their families, and the sacrifices erans who have fought for our free-
of the World War I generation.” doms. Let us always remember those
who gave our freedom. Those who
Dale gave a brief history of the bought our freedom with their lives.”
American Gold Star Mothers, formed
in 1928 by mothers whose loved ones At 10 a.m. Saturday, June 26, the
had perished during World War I. Next Generation Veterans will un-
veil its Words from War Monumental
She shared that as she researched Sculpture. 
the lives of the eight WWI service-

20 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Friendly flotilla shows the flag at Moorings boat parade

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 21

PEOPLE

Suzie and Bryant Alford with MacDuff. Rhonda and Brian Sullivan. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES

George and Elke Fetterolf.

Nearly a dozen members of the
Moorings Yacht Club participated
in a Commemorative Boat Parade
the Saturday before Memorial Day.
Boat owners and their friends pa-
triotically decorated their boats
before making their way along the
same route as the annual Christ-
mas Boat Parade. Residents waved
from homes along the waterways
surrounding the Moorings com-
munity, as well as from the small
gathering of viewers at Compass
Cove, where the boats turned for
their return trip. The parade was
initiated last year, when the pan-
demic had forced the cancellation
of traditional Memorial Day com-
memorative events at the Moor-
ings Yacht and Country Club. 

22 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

‘Grand’ occasion as 8 volunteers get $1K fire scholarships

BY MARY SCHENKEL had raised the $8,000 that was dis-
Staff Writer tributed that evening through its an-
nual Fish Fry fundraiser and donations
During a band break at the recent from the community.
Main Street Vero Beach Downtown
Friday event, eight volunteers with the The volunteer squad has been a
Vero Beach Volunteer Fire Department fixture in the community since 1923,
were gifted $1,000 scholarships to help when its members were the town’s
advance their education toward ca- firefighters. Today, they provide
reers in Fire Rescue. The organization backup and support to Indian River
County Fire Rescue and to the com-

Joe Hill. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES Frank Fehling.

Ryan Ramsey. Safety Training Complex in Fort Pierce.
Others are attending a Fire Training
munity at large. Academy at Eastern Florida State Col-
“We’re just so grateful to the com- lege in Brevard County. Meyer, the only
female of this group, has already been
munity for supporting us,” said Joe through fire and EMT training, and is
Hill, board secretary of the nonprofit currently enrolled at the University of
organization, which has given out Florida studying psychology.
close to $60,000 in scholarships over
the past six years. “It’s all strictly out of pocket, so this
is going to help me a lot,” said Ryan
The scholarships will help fund their Ramsey, who is enrolled in the IRSC
continuing firefighter, EMT and para- paramedic program. He has been with
medic training, all of which are re- the squad since high school and is cur-
quired to be hired by the Indian River rently president of the organization.
County Fire Rescue Division.
During their time as volunteers, they
At the Fish Fry, Hill had noted that can earn valuable hands-on, practi-
the cost of EMT school is $3,000 to cal knowledge as active riders on fire
$4,000, paramedic school is $10,000 trucks and ambulances. The experi-
to $12,000, and fire school is $3,000 to ence also enables them to better un-
$4,000. derstand the county and its residents.

The scholarship recipients – Peirce To go on ride-alongs, the volunteers
Adams, Liam Brady, Benjamin Des- need to be 18 or older, and must go
sart, Frank Fehling, Ryan Howard, Pa- through an application process that
mela Meyer, Ryan Ramsey and Daniel includes background checks, and cer-
Rey – have been with the squad any- tification in Firefighter 1 or 2, EMT or
where from a few months to multiple paramedic programs.
years, and most are already certified in
either Firefighter 1 (basic fire service) “But anybody 16 years old or older
or Firefighter 2 (more specialized areas can be a volunteer with the organiza-
and command), as Emergency Medical tion,” said Sheryl Hathaway, the non-
Technicians or as a Paramedic. profit’s public information officer.
Hathaway worked as a paramedic for
With a couple of exceptions, these eight years in Detroit and joined the
scholarship recipients are attending volunteer squad a little more than four
the Indian River State College Fire years ago.
Academy at the Treasure Coast Public
She said that in addition to taking
their mascot “Sparky” to the Firefight-
ers Fair and various other community
fundraisers, parades and schools, they
offer CPR training to the community,
preferably to groups of 10 or more.

Mark your calendars for the last Sat-
urday in March 2022, when the Vero
Beach Volunteer Fire Department will
host its 55th annual Fish Fry Fundrais-
er at Fire Rescue Station #2.

For more information, visit vbfire.
org. 



24 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PETS

Bonz says this three’s a crowd of cool characters

Hi Dog Buddies! bullets an stuff in ’em. My breed Tony, TPHeOdTOd: KyAILA&JONFESrankie. “Remember when we had a snow
just barely survived. machine an an ice hockey game on
Woof, did I have a Cool Kibbles time Teddy away, Frankie said, “Tony came real ice?” interjected Tony. “An who
with this week’s innerviewees – brothers “Anyway, Mom was lookin’ for from Russia, an was livin’ with two Rus- can forget when we all wore black tie
Frankie, Teddy an Tony Riedesel (RYE- The Biggest Dog She Could Find. sian humans who were selling pooches and had fancy snacks and dog wine?”
duh-sull). We met at their Mom’s store, A fren had a Leonberger and Mom in Hollywood, Florida (not the fancy
where they spend a lotta time. It has fan- reelized it was The Breed For Hollywood), includin’ Tony.” “That’s when you had a crush on
cy, sparkly hangin’ lites an also a fancy Her. We’re not only HUGE, we’re that little chihuahua, Carlotta, who
fireplace, but no ack-shull fire. An it’s all smart, easy-goin’ an gentle. So Since Frankie had said Tony was The kept calling you Tony Macaroni,”
about dogs. she researched breeders an found Boss, I expected a Big, Seriously Major Frankie grinned.
ME. When we first met, I was a Poocheroo. Nope.
Frankie, Teddy an Tony were not Up 14-pound fluffball. In just a year “Hey, Dawg,” Tony retorted, “I seem
Front when me an my assistant entered. I gained, like, 100 pounds. Now Instead, wigglin’ an waggin’ into the to recall you mooning over a Golden
We were greeted by a nice lady called Al- I’m 3 anna haff an weigh 160, an room comes this fluffy white, 6-pound Retriever. Penny, wasn’t it? When she
yce. I’m not even big for my breed. But Maltese with a blue bow on his topknot. moved away, you moped for weeks.”
enough about me, time to meet I wisely stifled a laugh.
Right away we heard thumping noises Tony an Teddy. Tony’s the Boss, “It was true love,” Frankie sighed.
from behind a door to The Back, then, an Teddy’s the Looo-TEN-nut an the “Hey, hey, hey, Bonzo! How YOU “Dog wine?” I asked. “Is that even a
Boom! Burstin’ through the door came stylish one. Always hasta look Just So. doin’? Tony Riedesel here! I see you thing?” Teddy pointed out some fancy
the Biggest Pooch I’ve EVER Seen. No Me, I just try to keep things rollin’ along, met my Crew.” He turned to Frankie an little bottles labeled “Fetch Me Noir”
Woof! He was HUGE, front-to-back, side- protect the Famly, of course, but make Teddy, who were still tumblin’ about. and “Pawrignon Rose.” Who knew.
to-side, head-to-paws. Pony size. But he sure we’re havin FUN, too, ya know? “Hey, guys, cut the horsin’ around. We “It’s duh-lush,” said Teddy. “Salmon
was also ELL-uh-gunt. He hadda very got a Journalist here. You want he should oil an water.”
thick coat, an a very kind face. He was “Teddy ackshully buh-longed to one write how dorky you are?” “I enjoy turkey heads,” Frankie shared.
onna leash bein’ held by another lady of our clients, but he was a rowdy puppy “I prefer the amooz boosh experi-
who was Much Smaller than him, so I and the client had a liddle kid, who she Frankie and Teddy immediately ence,” Teddy innerjected.
figured he was just bein’ puh-lite, lettin’ didn’t want to get bounced on by Teddy, stopped, trotted over an planted their “It’s tapas for me,” noted Tony.
her “lead” him. so we adopted him.” cabooses next to Tony, who looked like I couldn’t buh-leave an hour had
a liddle stuffed toy either one of them passed. I coulda listened to those three
“Yo! Bonzo, Dawg! I feel like I know Through the door came a tall, hand- could have smushed in a nano-second. tell stories all day long. Headin’ home, I
you already. You look just like your pick- some Standard Poo, silvery mocha coat, Yep, Tony was the boss, all right. The was wonderin’ what it’d be like to have
shur in the pay-per. So, welcome! I’m perfect fluffy top knot, long legs trimmed tiny, fluffy, hairbow-wearin’ boss. No pooch brothers or sisters. Probly lotsa
Frankie. You met our Mom, Alyce, an like he had on Uggs, or fluffy knee sox. doubt about it. fun. On the other paw, I get Grandma
this is our groomer and fren Samantha. Yep, just like Frankie said, Teddy was an Grandpa all to myself. An I always
Make yourself comf-tubble. My brothers Stylish. He walked right up to their Mom, “Whaddya do for fun? Any fave food- get the Last Snack. An all the others, too.
Teddy an Tony’ll be out shortly.” stood on his back legs and put his front stuffs?” Then I began lookin’ forward to my eve-
ones on her shoulders. He was taller than ning cup of yoghurt. Yep, I like bein’ an
“A pleasure, Frankie. A real pleasure,” her. They took a coupla steps forward, “We throw pooch parties down in Ju- Only Dog.
I said. “Some place you’ve got here. So, then a couple back, then he plopped piter Farm,” said Frankie. “My fave was
tell me about yourself.” back on all fours and turned to me for a the Muddy Mayhem party.” Till next time,
Perfectly Executed Wag-an-Sniff.
“I’m a Leonberger,” he said an, before The Bonz
I could say, ‘A what?’ added, “You prob- “Good morning, Mr. Bonzo. De-
ably haven’t heard of that breed. We’re lighted. Simply Delighted!” He turned Don’t Be Shy
named after the city in Germany where to Frankie an the two began tumbling
we’re from, Leonberg. We’re a special around, Teddy nipping at Frankie, an We are always looking for pets
mixture of Newfoundlands, St. Bernards Frankie playfully shakin’ him off. with interesting stories.
an Great Pyrenees.”
“He’s a goofball,” Frankie said to me To set up an interview, email
“Well, THAT explains a lot!” I blurted. with a grin, nose-bumpin’ his brother. [email protected].
“True. Leonbergers almost Bought the “My coat is three layers thick. Great in-
Doghouse in World War One: Cuz we’re sulation against heat an cold. An Teddy.”
big an strong, we pulled wagons with
While continuing to playfully swat



video, the researchers scale the cavern same agency that oversaw China’s RESEARCHERS WORK
wall, their headlamps ghostly blue. early pandemic response. The team WITH MICE IN AN
has not disclosed what viruses, if
“If our skin is exposed, it can easily any, it found in the cave, or even EPIDEMIOLOGICAL
come in contact with bat excrement when the mission took place. LABORATORY AT THE
and contaminated matter, which WUHAN INSTITUTE OF
means this is quite risky,” says Tian According to a World Health Or-
Junhua, one of the bat hunters. ganization report released in March, VIROLOGY.
the Wuhan CDC denied any storage
“We have to live for several days or laboratory activities involving bat blanket denials, the careful guarding
in the cave . . .” he continues, as the viruses before the coronavirus out- of raw data and biological samples
soundtrack amps up the drama. break – a stance hard to reconcile – these elements have been em-
“There’s no cellphone signal, no sup- with Tian’s boasts in the video about blematic of the approach by Chinese
plies. It’s truly scary.” having visited dozens of bat caves authorities at every stage of the coro-
and studied 300 types of virus vec- navirus outbreak. And they continue
The video was released by national tors. to obstruct the world’s ability to get
science authorities and Chinese state answers.
broadcaster CCTV on Dec. 10, 2019, Tian has not spoken publicly for
and circulated on social media. It’s a more than a year. There is no direct evidence link-
high-quality production, designed to ing Tian’s team, or a rival group of
promote China’s world-leading viral The silencing of scientists, the bat-disease specialists at the Wuhan
research. Aired around the time Wu- Institute of Virology, to the corona-
han residents began turning up at virus outbreak. Nor is there more
hospitals with mysterious respiratory than circumstantial evidence to sup-
ailments, it also offers a rare glimpse port any theory of the pandemic’s
of field conditions on the eve of the origin. Many scientists say the most
pandemic. likely path is that the virus spread
in nature and jumped from animals
Tian and his team from the Wuhan
Center for Disease Control and Pre-
vention are filmed catching horse-
shoe and pipistrelle bats and collect-
ing samples of guano, in search of
new bat-borne diseases and the ba-
sis of new vaccines. Tian talks about
the need for caution.

“It is while discovering new virus-
es that we are most at risk of infec-
tion,” he says, though he is shown
handling sample vials without wear-
ing full protective gear.

The video is perhaps even more
notable for what it doesn’t reveal.
Nothing is known outside China
about the science gleaned from that
expedition by the Wuhan CDC – the

to humans. But that belief is largely SHI ZHENGLI: CHINA'S 'BAT WOMAN' TIAN JUNHUA: CHINA'S 'BAT ADVENTURER'
based on how other coronaviruses
have originated, not what is known
about this case.

The lack of clarity is not in itself
alarming at this point in an investi-
gation of virus origins – in the case of
severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS), scientists were fairly quick to
identify civet cats as the intermedi-
ate host, though it took years to find
the bat population that harbored the
building blocks of the virus.

But the WHO chief, the Biden ad-
ministration, other governments
and scientists around the world
have rebuked China for not making

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

28 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 INSIGHT COVER STORY

this investigation any easier. A week THE WUHAN INSTITUTE
ago, President Biden directed U.S. OF VIROLOGY, IN CHINA'S
intelligence agencies to redouble ef- CENTRAL HUBEI PROVINCE,
forts to determine the pandemic’s ori- IS UNDER RENEWED
gin, including whether it could have SCRUTINY.
emerged “from a laboratory accident.”
SECURITY PERSONNEL KEEP WATCH OUTSIDE THE WUHAN INSTITUTE OF VIROLOGY ROLLS-ROYCE BOAT TAIL
China’s Foreign Ministry protested, DURING THE VISIT BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION TEAM IN FEBRUARY
with a spokesman saying Monday that virus, though scientists note it would
Beijing supported scientific inquiry ing serious consideration of the pos- sion. The NHC did not reply to a re- require decades of natural evolution
on the question but not “an intelli- sibility that the pandemic originated quest for comment. to bridge the two.
gence-led investigation stoking con- with a lab accident.
frontation.” China’s Foreign Ministry and the The WHO report says Shi told the
“Any lab that handles a significant Chinese Embassy in Washington de- visiting team that all field work is
Chinese authorities weren’t much number of samples from bats or other clined to answer questions for this ar- done with full protective equipment –
more receptive of the international potential coronavirus host species, or ticle. which experts say would include N95
team commissioned by the WHO. Ne- performs engineering on coronavirus- masks, Tyvek bodysuits, goggles and
gotiations over the arrangements de- es,” should be considered, he said in Biden has ordered U.S. intelligence gloves. But in a June 2018 lecture, Shi
layed the team from getting to Wuhan an interview this week with The Wash- agencies to report back in 90 days. said workers don’t do that in practice.
until more than a year after doctors ington Post.
first raised concerns there. Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli, “In most cases, we’d wear simpler
Wuhan’s two rival teams of exotic dubbed China’s “Bat Woman,” has protection, and it’s okay,” she said on a
Once on the ground, the interna- bat disease specialists are now under been the country’s star coronavirus Chinese TED Talks-like program called
tional experts were given limited ac- renewed scrutiny. Tian’s team at the researcher, identifying multiple new Yixi. She said that’s because most bat-
cess. They visited the market linked Wuhan CDC and Shi Zhengli’s at the SARS-like viruses over the years and borne diseases cannot infect humans
to early coronavirus cases – but it Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) giving prescient warnings about the directly, only through an intermediary
had been shut for a year and its con- have both drawn criticism for a will- risk of a new pandemic. animal.
tents long ago removed. Their visit to ingness to compromise safety, as they
the Wuhan Institute of Virology lasted raced to make discoveries. Her lab at the Wuhan Institute of Vi- To illustrate, she showed slides of her
three hours. In general, they had to rology also discovered and studied the team spreading out nets in a cave to
satisfy themselves with data that was The Wuhan CDC and WIV did not closest-known cousin to the corona- catch bats and sorting samples after-
in large part collected by Chinese sci- reply to requests for comment, nor did ward. Some wore thin surgical masks
entists before the trip. Tian or Shi. An unnamed staffer who and rubber gloves as they worked,
answered the phone Tuesday at the while others were unmasked with bare
The result was a report that didn’t Wuhan CDC said the center did not hands.
significantly advance the world’s un- accept interviews and directed ques-
derstanding of how the pandemic tions to the National Health Commis- “Under what situation would we in-
came about. crease our protection? For instance,
when there are too many bats in the
The report lent credence to China’s cave, and lots of dust even as you’re
preferred theory that the virus could entering,” she said.
have come from overseas, possibly via
frozen food imports – though Beijing Shi kept a low profile at the pan-
has presented little support for that. demic’s onset, with her occasional in-
On the question of a possible lab leak, terventions reflecting the pressures on
the report concluded that pathway her team. On Feb. 2, 2020, she posted
was “extremely unlikely.” to friends on WeChat that she “swore
on her life” her lab was not involved
Analysts have accused China of in- in the outbreak. Three months later,
appropriately influencing the team’s she followed up with a post denying
conclusions. rumors she had defected to the West
with intelligence files, as reported in
For Beijing, there are huge political the state-run Global Times.
risks if it loses control of the narrative,
said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow As questions about the WIV intensi-
for global health at the Council on
Foreign Relations.

“They want to portray China as suc-
cessful at containing the spread, at
being so cooperative and sharing in-
formation,” he said. “This lab-escape
theory, which indicates that China
was the cause of the problem, makes
the official narrative unreliable.”

The lack of transparency has fanned
both speculative and legitimate ques-
tions. In the world of science, some of
the early arguments against a lab leak
have been countered by respected
researchers, launching a genuine de-
bate.

“We can’t even begin to talk about a
consensus other than a consensus that
we don’t know,” said David Relman,
a Stanford University microbiologist.
“We have nothing like the amount of
data we need.”

Relman is one of 18 scientists who
wrote an open letter last month urg-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 29

INSIGHT COVER STORY

fied, Shi wrote a lengthy statement to mountains he climbed, how many was trying to grasp the animals with a swer questions – an unusual note of
Science magazine in July. She wrote rivers he forged, how many bat caves clamp, he told the paper. tension in a state media profile. Tian
that it was impossible for the coro- he explored, how many cowpens and has not spoken publicly since.
navirus to have come from the WIV, pigsties he crouched in, how many On Feb. 3, 2020, Tian’s team landed
as her team had not come across this trash heaps he dug through,” the in the pages of Nature again, with an It highlights a challenge facing in-
strain in its research, and all staffers CDC’s account of the event said. “He early clinical account of a coronavirus dependent probes: Many of those in
had tested negative for coronavirus enjoys it.” patient in Wuhan. Their paper pointed Wuhan who may hold key information
antibodies. Shi said her team had to bats as a possible host. are quiet, whether under official pres-
“never been in contact with or studied He has also admitted the occasional sure or by personal choice.
this virus, nor [knew] of its existence” safety mishap. But as the coronavirus spread, Tian
before the pandemic. went quiet. The state-run newspaper Tian has continued his research
In 2017, Tian told the state-run Health Times cited an anonymous while staying out of the public eye. A
But she also acknowledged the lab Wuhan Evening News he once forgot source in March 2020 saying Tian was paper he co-authored in August dis-
had not done genome sequencing of personal protective equipment and not infected with coronavirus, and that cussed genetic diversity in ticks. One
all its samples, because of financial and was splattered with bat urine, lead- he was in poor spirits because of specu- in November focused on antibiotic-
personnel constraints. She declined to ing him to quarantine at home for lation over whether he was patient zero. resistant genes in fish.
say how many samples remained un- two weeks. On multiple occasions, bat
sequenced. blood squirted onto his skin while he The Health Times said it reached He has not said or published any-
Tian by phone and he declined to an- thing more about bats. 
Suspicions about the lab were el-
evated in January, after the U.S. State
Department said it had “reason to
believe” that several WIV researchers
showed symptoms similar to those of
covid-19 in the fall of 2019. The Wall
Street Journal reported last month,
citing an intelligence report, that three
WIV researchers were sick enough to
go to a hospital.

WIV’s lab director, Yuan Zhiming,
called it a “complete lie” in state media.

The Wuhan CDC lab has received
less attention.

The WHO team’s account of its visit
to the facility doesn’t include notes
on research safety. The report men-
tions that the lab moved on Dec. 2,
2019, to a location close to the Huan-
an market linked to early coronavirus
cases. “Such moves can be disruptive
for the operations of any laboratory,”
the team writes, adding that no such
disruptions had been reported by the
lab.

Tian Junhua, by title an associate
chief technician in the Wuhan CDC’s
pest-control department, has a repu-
tation as a swaggering adventurer in
his work with bats and insects.

“He will often go to places other
people can’t find to look for the sam-
ples he needs,” a colleague, Liu Jing,
said on local TV in January 2020. “He
can say quite confidently that he can
capture things other people can’t.”

Using nets and traps, Tian’s team
caught 155 bats in Hubei, his home
province, and hundreds more in other
regions for a 2013 study. He was part
of a team that discovered 1,445 new
RNA viruses in invertebrate animals,
published in the elite journal Nature
in 2016.

The Wuhan CDC organized an in-
ternal meeting titled “Learning from
the Achievements of Tian Junhua.”

“No one remembers how many

30 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT OPINION

When Israel and the militant Islamic group Hamas the rate at which they fired during two months of hos- is Hezbollah’s transformation, with extensive Iranian
agreed to a cease-fire last month, ending 11 days of tilities in 2014, and for the first time they targeted Je- financial and technical help, from a “rag-tag band of
airstrikes and rocket fire, both sides claimed victory. rusalem, previously out of range. Shia militiamen” in the 1980s, when Israel enjoyed
free rein in southern Lebanon, into “a major military
So did Iran. On a number of occasions, the intensity of the in- force that deters large Israeli action,” and whose rock-
Hamas’ patrons in Tehran have shepherded the discriminate rocket barrages – the rockets have no ets can reach anywhere in Israel.
radical Palestinian organization’s weapons program guidance systems – briefly overwhelmed Israel’s Iron
for over two decades. Last week they celebrated the Dome air defense. Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of 150,000
recent fighting as evidence of another leap in Hamas’ rockets and missiles, with greater range and accu-
military capabilities. None of this would have been possible without racy than anything Hamas can claim. While the Gaza
Hamas could never have fired so many rockets at Iranian assistance, says Dr. Raz Zimmt, an Iran ex- Strip is sealed off by Israel and Egypt, precluding most
Israel during the recent fighting without technical pert at the Institute for National Security Studies at smuggling operations, Iranian convoys can carry
help from Iran. Tel Aviv University. weapons overland to their proxy militias in Iraq and
“The reality is that a new Palestine has emerged Syria – and through them to their allies in Lebanon –
which is not fighting with rocks, but with rockets,” “In the past they certainly used Iranian-made rock- and by sea to Yemen.
boasted Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic ets,” says Dr. Zimmt. “The trend we’re seeing, not just
Revolutionary Guards. in Gaza, but also with Hezbollah and with the Houthis Hamas appears to still be receiving some smuggled
The unprecedented barrage that Hamas and the in Yemen, is that they’re moving from buying weap- weapons from Iran that evade Israeli naval patrols
smaller Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired at Israel fits ons from Iran to using technology from Iran to manu- along the Gaza coast: A documentary film that aired
a pattern that Iran is seeking to inscribe across the Mid- facture them domestically.” last September on Al-Jazeera TV showed members
dle East through its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, of Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, un-
Houthi rebels in Yemen, and militias in Iraq and Syria. The IISS report notes that Hamas has moved be- packing Iranian Fajr-5 missiles.
Iran “sees a trajectory where [with] every round of yond “very primitive” early designs to longer-range
confrontation, the deterrence potential and the mil- rockets, “massively aided” by Iran. It cites leaked in- The Israel Defense Forces are reported to have de-
itary power of its allies on the ground is increased,” telligence documents showing that Iranian experts tected waterproofed packages of weapons, some float-
says Fabian Hinz, co-author of a recent report for the trained PIJ technicians in the production of solid ed in barrels, dropped offshore by speedboats operating
London-based International Institute for Strategic rocket fuel chemicals, and even tried to set up a fac- from Egypt and Lebanon at points where sea currents
Studies (IISS) on Iran’s missile and drone programs. tory in Syria to make them. and prevailing winds carry them to the Gaza coast.
In Gaza, that could force Israel to rethink its strategy.
Israel undoubtedly did enormous damage to “We do say this loud and clear … Iranians are the But the bulk of the rockets Hamas fired during the
Hamas installations in the Gaza Strip, hitting 1,500 ones who support us with weapons, money, and most recent hostilities were manufactured in the
targets during the recent hostilities. Its airstrikes on food,” a senior PIJ official, Ramez al-Halabi, told an Gaza Strip, foreign analysts agree.
Hamas’ secret rocket-building factories displayed its Iraqi TV channel on the eve of the fight.
intelligence prowess, and it shocked Hamas by killing If Hamas restarts its rocket factories, the govern-
a number of its military commanders in hiding, while After the battle, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh ment would have to decide whether “to start a pre-
destroying some 60 miles of underground tunnels said in a televised speech that Iran “did not hold back ventive war against Hamas and again expose all Israel
known as the “Hamas metro.” money, weapons, and technical support. Thanks.” to rockets coming from Gaza. Or should we just wait
But the progress that Hamas armorers have made and do nothing?”
since the last sizable Israel-Hamas war in 2014 was Hamas and the PIJ are elements of the Iranian-led
startling. Over the 11 days of the recent conflict they “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and U.S. influence in Such a dilemma for Israel is an achievement for Iran
shot 4,360 rockets at Israel, more than quadrupling the Middle East; fellow participants include the Shiite and Hamas, suggests Mr. Hinz.“They’ve demonstrated
Muslim Hezbollah organization in Lebanon, which a capability and a willingness to escalate that definitely
also briefly joined in the recent conflict by firing a few will influence future decision-making in Israel.” 
of its rockets at Israel, and Houthi rebels in Yemen,
who have fired Iranian-supplied or Iranian-designed A version of this column by Scott Peterson first ap-
missiles deep into neighboring Saudi Arabia. peared in The Christian Science Monitor. It does not
necessarily reflect the views of Vero Beach 32963.
The model for Hamas’ development, says Mr. Hinz,

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

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 31

INSIGHT OPINION

When Aaron Lasenyik cancels his Sears than two months. I've tried every av- ANSWER: reasonable – between $5 and $20.
appliance order, the company stalls on a enue to resolve this. I've escalated Sears was definitely stonewalling you
refund. How can he get his money back? the issue, been assigned a “consumer Sears should have refunded you quick- on your refund.
advocate” who refuses to call us back ly when you canceled your order. How
QUESTION: after he promised us a refund. I even do I know that? Because it says so on Under the Fair Credit Billing Act,
took my case to Twitter. Sears said it its site. But it says you must cancel a which protects credit card custom-
I've been trying to get a refund from found the issue and we would get our contract in the store, in person, and it ers from fraudulent purchases, you
Sears for months. I had put some ap- refund, but then didn't send it. has to be a full cancellation. "Once you have 60 days to dispute a charge. Un-
pliances on layaway with the first pay- do, you’ll receive a full refund of any fortunately, you were past your two
ment due last summer. But I canceled I tried to dispute the charge with payments made to date, minus service months, so your bank couldn't help.
the order after Sears changed its de- my credit card, but my bank said it and cancellation fees," according to (Well, technically, it could have, but
livery dates two times with no notice. was too late. I have all the documen- Sears. it wasn't required to help.) Filing a
tation. I just want my $808 back. Any credit card dispute can limit your op-
Sears promised me a refund within help would be appreciated. I don't But were those "service and cancel- tions, so my advice would be to wait
10 to 14 business days. It's been more know what else to do – besides take lation" fees the equivalent of your pay- until you have no choice before filing
Sears to court. ments? I don't think so. Based on the a chargeback.
information on Sears' site, they were
I probably would have sent a brief,
polite email to one of the Sears execu-
tive contacts I list on my consumer
advocacy site. I think they could have
resolved this for you quickly.

So what went wrong? I contacted
Sears, and it turns out that some of its
operations in Texas had been disrupted
by a storm. A representative found your
refund request and processed it. 

Get help with any consumer prob-
lem by contacting Christopher Elliott at
http://www.elliott.org/help

32 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BOOKS

There are many, many biogra- parents, excelled in vowed revenge.” … “True – nervous – very, very dread-
phies of Edgar Allan Poe, the most many of his courses fully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say
exhaustive being Arthur Hobson at the University of that I am mad?”
Quinn’s, first published in 1941, Virginia and, dur-
the most concise Peter Ackroyd’s ing his time at West In “The Reason for the Darkness of the Night,” Tresch
2009 “Poe: A Life Cut Short.” Nearly Point, was well emphasizes how much Poe infuses scientific discourse
all of them, however, are written by liked by his fellow into his most fantastical imaginings. For example, in
literary scholars, poets or novelists. cadets (over half of “A Descent Into the Maelstrom,” a sailor, whose boat
By contrast, John Tresch’s “The Rea- has been sucked into a gigantic whirlpool, rather im-
son for the Darkness of the Night” whom helped un- probably saves himself by thinking like a physicist: He
situates our nation’s most influential derwrite a volume observes that cylindrical objects fell more slowly into
writer, as I would claim Poe to be, of his poems). the whirling vortex than other objects of the same size,
against the backdrop of what its sub- While it’s hard to so he quickly lashes himself to a barrel to escape from
title calls “the forging of American imagine him in a watery grave. In another story, “The Man That Was
science.” Tresch himself is a distin- any uniform but Used Up,” Poe describes a highly decorated army of-
guished historian of science, now at a severe black ficer who, because his body parts have been replaced
London’s Warburg Institute, and au- suit, Poe actu- by various prostheses, is actually a steampunk cyborg.
thor of the prizewinning study, “The
Romantic Machine: Utopian Science ally served in the Poe’s fiction and journalism lead Tresch to discuss
and Technology After Napoleon.” Army for four all sorts of scientific and pseudoscientific topics: code-
years, rising to breaking, phrenology (the once-popular belief that the
Is Poe really the most influential the rank of ser- bumps on your skull reveal your character), the natu-
American writer? Note that I didn’t geant major. ralist-explorer Alexander von Humboldt, 19th-century
say “greatest,” for which there must astronomy, the popularity of hoaxes, P.T. Barnum, the
be at least a dozen viable candidates. Though vogue for mesmerism, theories of the universe, the
But consider his radiant originality. punctilious birth of the Smithsonian Institution and, not least, the
Before his death in 1849 at age 40, Poe about his hon- careers of the important early American scientists Jo-
largely created the modern short story, or, in civilian seph Henry and Alexander Dallas Bache.
while also inventing or perfecting half life Poe nor-
the genres represented on the bestseller list, includ- mally com- Obviously, Tresch packs quite a lot into his book –
ing the mystery (“The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” ported himself with genteel courtliness. there’s even an ingenious deconstruction of the title
“The Gold-Bug”), science fiction (“The Facts in the Professionally, he worked with astonishing diligence. page of Poe’s nautical novel, the macabre and tantaliz-
Case of M. Valdemar,” “The Conversation of Eiros and By his early 30s, Poe had already edited major periodi- ingly enigmatic “Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of
Charmion”), psychological suspense (“The Tell-Tale cals (the Southern Literary Messenger, Graham’s Lady’s Nantucket.” Still, prospective readers of “The Reason
Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado”) and, of course, and Gentleman’s Magazine), interviewed international for the Darkness of the Night” should be aware that
gothic horror (“The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The celebrities (such as the visiting Charles Dickens), writ- it isn’t a sustained, detailed exposition of Poe’s life so
Masque of the Red Death,” the incomparable “Ligeia”). ten a respected guide to, believe it or not, seashells much as a rich assemblage of biographical vignettes,
(“The Conchologist’s First Book”), earned notoriety brief story analyses and mini-essays on the era’s scien-
That’s just the fiction. W.B. Yeats once named Poe as the “Tomahawk Man” for his savage reviews of Em- tific beliefs.
“the greatest of American poets,” which does sound erson, Longfellow and other literary pooh-bahs, and
absurd. Still, few poems are more famous than “The even gone on the lecture circuit with a talk modestly In general, Tresch’s overall thesis – that Poe’s “deep
Raven” with its dolorous tocsin, “Nevermore.” Among titled “The Universe.” During these same years, Poe familiarity with science was the fulcrum on which
my own earliest memories is hearing my steelworker had also married his consumptive, teenage cousin, oc- his thought balanced” – seems unarguable, given the
father, not a bookish man, regularly murmur the first casionally drunk peach brandy to excess (he chugged presence of the “ratiocinative” in so much of what he
stanza of “Annabel Lee”: “It was many and many a year rather than savored) and regularly hobnobbed with wrote. Yet, ultimately, it is Poe’s other aspect, his ability
ago/ In a kingdom by the sea ...” the era’s intelligentsia. to convey monomaniacal intensity, verging on hyste-
As a lifelong “Magazinist,” Poe could write any- ria, that we are drawn to, his gift for expressing what
Finally, Poe – like several of his characters – haunts thing: humorous squibs, book reviews, parodies, ar- D.H. Lawrence floridly called “the prismatic ecstasy of
us from beyond the grave.When we peer at the mourn- ticles about the latest scientific discoveries, exposés of heightened consciousness.” 
ful figure in those familiar daguerreotypes, we seem to quackery (most notably of Maelzel’s chess-playing au-
glimpse the emblematic image of the modern artist as tomaton), critical essays on “the philosophy of compo- THE REASON FOR THE DARKNESS
misunderstood genius, prey to melancholy, drawn to sition,” an almost unreadable cosmological prose-po- OF THE NIGHT
self-destruction. em called “Eureka” and, of course, those unforgettable
stories of self-justifying murderers and shrill psycho- EDGAR ALLAN POE AND THE FORGING OF AMERICAN SCIENCE
That morose view of Poe, still widespread, isn’t pre- paths: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne
cisely accurate. As Tresch reminds us, Edgar grew up as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I BY JOHN TRESCH | FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX. 448 PP. $30
coddled by the wealth and status of his Richmond step- REVIEW BY MICHAEL DIRDA, THE WASHINGTON POST

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 33

INSIGHT BRIDGE

IF YOU HICCUP ONCE, YOU HICCUP AGAIN WEST NORTH EAST
Q 10 9 AJ2 K543
By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist K Q J 10 8 7 2 A 654
3 J962 10 7 5
Audrey Hepburn said, “There must be something wrong with those people who think 52 Q9873 K 10 4
Audrey Hepburn doesn’t perspire, hiccup or sneeze, because they know that’s not
true. In fact, I hiccup more than most.” SOUTH
876
But she didn’t hiccup over her lines. In this Bridge Base Online deal, some 93
pairs hiccuped. Look at the South hand. West opens three hearts at unfavorable AKQ84
vulnerability, North makes a takeout double, and East passes. What should South do? AJ6

This is not easy. One South just jumped to six diamonds, but that risked losing two Dealer: West; Vulnerable: East-West
quick heart tricks. (At another table, East raised to four hearts, which made the slam
leap safer.) An alternative was to cue-bid four hearts, then rebid five diamonds to The Bidding:
show slam interest. (With only game ambition, South would have jumped straight to
five diamonds.) However, although North has the bare heart ace, his hand is relatively SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST OPENING
weak. I could understand his passing. ?? 3 Hearts Dbl. Pass
LEAD:
Six diamonds is not laydown, especially if West finds a spade lead. Then you have to ?
guess clubs, taking two finesses (risking West’s having 10-doubleton). After a heart
lead, though, you can take these 12 tricks: one spade, one heart, five diamonds, four
clubs and a heart ruff in the North hand.

At one table, three hearts was passed out. Who should have entered the auction?

It is not clear-cut, but I think both North and South should have doubled, that call
being the most flexible way into the auction. As Edgar Kaplan used to say, more points
are lost with cautious passes than with aggressive calls.

Don Bell’s new book is a profound account of a man
and his career as an Agent with the United States Secret

Service, and his triumphs and failures across many
unforgettable encounters in his life.

“ A gripping and potent autobiography that accounts
his journey of personal faith and

his will to succeed in his endeavors”

The book can be found in the Biography
section of the VB Book Center.

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
Target.com and other online websites.

LOCAL VERO BEACH
AUTHOR

NOW AVAILABLE

AT THE
VERO BEACH
BOOK CENTER

34 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT GAMES

SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (JUNE 3) ON PAGE 62

ACROSS DOWN
1 Men’s hairdresser (6) 2 Irritate (5)
5 Wait in line (5) 3 Treasurers at colleges (7)
9 Obstacle (9) 4 Manage (3)
10 Infant (3) 5 Chess piece (5)
11 Beam (3) 6 Take out (7)
12 Benefit (9) 7 Snowboarding, e.g. (7,5)
14 Nothing (3) 8 London station (7,5)
16 Tighten one’s belt (5) 13 Power of speech (5)
18 Fasten (3) 15 Eel-like fish (7)
19 Cheese (9) 17 Kneecap (7)
21 Flat hat (3) 20 Skinflint (5)
22 Belonging to us (3) 21 Salad plant (5)
23 Thing considered 24 Deciduous tree (3)

The Telegraph unimportant (5,4)
25 More timid (5)
26 Husky (6)

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Near Police Dept.
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All Units Have Individual in every column, row
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To reserve a unit
call (860) 227-8022

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 35

INSIGHT GAMES

ACROSS 94 Showed off Motorcycle Maintenance The Washington Post
1 Treasury Dept. agcy. 98 End of summer drink 41 Some Glaswegians
4 Girl of the Alps 99 As ___ (usually) 42 Of earaches SHALL WE GDANSK? By Merl Reagle
9 On deck, in baseball 100 Hannah portrayer 43 Missing links
14 Snakes 102 Select few 44 Entertainer Gaynor
18 Good name, for short 103 You’ll feel better if you get 47 Done, in Verdun
19 Polish relatives? 49 Enjoy cards in Gdansk?
21 “Yikes” this 50 Thin pole
22 Polish parent’s query 105 Polish Romeo’s realization? 51 “Who’s there?” answer
108 Song from a Leslie Caron 52 Benefit
to noisy kids? 54 Matured
24 Tyne of TV classic, 55 City near Fresno
25 Po land? “Hi ___, Hi Lo” 56 Indiana city where
26 Living off one’s 109 First words of the Polish
version of “Mack the Knife”? Alka-Seltzer was invented
IRA, e.g. 110 Low numero 57 Susan of L.A. Law
27 It’s everything to a German 111 California’s Santa ___ Mtns. 59 Mgr.’s residence, often
28 Dude of dolldom (near Santa Barbara) 60 Colleague of Alda and Farr
29 Patty Hearst star Richardson 112 Put ___ (set sail) 61 Mr. Gromyko of the USSR
31 Attendee 113 Composer Franck 63 Cecil ___ Mille
32 Wool coat 114 Disease 64 Archetypal dog
35 Flagstaff AZ campus 65 Gladstone attended it
36 Colorado sights DOWN 66 Craggy peak
39 Mt. Whitney’s chain 1 Author Shaw 71 1990s sitcom set
40 Gambling device in 2 The ranch in Giant
3 Platter licker of rhyme in a store called
Cracow? 4 Adhere (to) “Buy the Book”
44 Hires Woody Allen to play 5 Per diem actor 73 Mold-ripened cheese
6 Spillane’s ___ Jury 74 Intends
Conan the Barbarian, e.g. 7 “Go ahead, make my day” 76 Positive response
45 Smorgasbord, e.g. 8 Conditions 78 German article
46 Hammer feature 9 Start of a long-distance 79 Crooked character?
47 Grimy dirt 80 Eastern African
48 Super-secret org. instruction 81 Very hastily written
49 Lean on 10 Stowe’s Tom et al. 82 Item with a Blue Book value
51 “What time ___?” 11 Glacial ridge 83 Spiral pasta
53 Collapsed (in) 12 Buys for little strummer boys 84 Mare fare
58 Ski around poles 13 Unser stop 85 ___ cucumber
60 Lyrics unit 14 Gym-sized school hall: abbr. 86 “Every one that ___
62 Acrobatic 15 Austere sect receiveth” (Matt. 7:8)
63 Where Polish beatniks 16 Skunk 87 Cereal box abbr.
17 One trait of Munchkins 88 Show affection
go when they die? 19 Reject 90 Venus De Milo’s home
67 Worshipped one 20 Hollywood agent who 93 Bonny hills
68 In ___ (quickly) 94 Ottoman title
69 “Camptown Races” organized Hands Across 95 Excavate
America in 1986 (and who 96 Centric opener
refrain played himself in 97 Drug rehab
70 Warden’s worry The Late Shift) 99 Actor Ray
72 Poll datum 23 Inclines 100 It’s about as clear
73 Wilkes-___ PA 30 Smooth-running sound as mud
75 Devise, as plans 32 Jabbers? 101 Ticks off
77 Of yore 33 Polish vacation spot? 104 Claiborne of fashion
79 Sandusky’s lake 34 Time span 105 Falling-down drunk
80 “Your Majesty” 36 Richthofen and 106 Copy: abbr.
81 Baby wheels? Rickenbacker 107 Goo in a Remus tale
85 What keeps Polish goats 37 Females
38 Peril lurking in a
warm? new shirt
89 Bullfrog 39 Part of RSVP
90 Write-offs, perhaps 40 ___ and the Art of
91 Lake maker
92 Wickerwork
93 Hymnal, e.g.

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38 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BACK PAGE

She can’t forgive hubby for not wanting another child

BY CAROLYN HAX when you’re married to the obstacle you’ve fixed
Washington Post on; not when the imagined future involves the
conception, birth and rearing of a child (is there
Dear Carolyn: My husband and an experience on earth more variable?); and
not when you’re talking fertility near the end of
I can’t agree on a second child. its run. If your husband hadn’t balked, then any
number of other things might have instead.
I’ve been begging for two years for
All of this is to say that you need another place
him to see having a second child to put your anger and sorrow than on your hus-
band. Even if it were fair logically, I wouldn’t ad-
is in our best interest. He is happy vise it maritally.

with our one child, who is almost And you do need a place for it. It is both com-
pletely valid and spilling all over the place, threat-
5, and he thinks we are too old to have another. I’m ening to swamp the family you do have.

almost 41 and feel my time is running out. I don’t Plus, depression sounds like a risk, so after a
medical evaluation, therapy is the obvious choice
know if I can ever forgive him for not wanting to – for you alone, to start. Your obstetrics office
might also have leads on group support. Talking
expand our family, and I’m totally sad all the time. with clergy (many have counseling credentials)
is an option if you’re faith-affiliated. If you’ve
Please help. turned to exercise or art or music or friends or a
yoga or meditation practice toward acceptance of
– Seattle hard facts before, or just utter immersion in your
5-year-old, then do so again now. This is not the
Seattle: I am sorry your family isn’t turning out You also need to be clear with each other, if you time to be stingy with help and self-care.
the way you planned it. haven’t been already, on the definition of “too
old.” It can mean a lot of things – medical, emo- I realize this was set in motion by your hus-
That is common, of course – I’d go as far as to tional, financial, physical, present-day, projected band’s saying no to you, but I suspect you’ll re-
say no one’s family, or life for that matter, turns – and decisions can vary accordingly, so it’s im- main stuck until you’re able to say no to yourself,
out as planned – but that doesn’t make it any less portant not to assume. too. It’s hard, and sad, and likely feels deceptively
upsetting when it happens to you. fixable, “if only” – so give yourself time and per-
But once you’ve said your piece, dwelling on it mission to grieve. 
It’s also common to single out one obstacle is not a recipe for happiness, nor is using over-
to getting what you want, and one idea of how simplifications to justify holding a grudge. Not
things could have been if only that obstacle didn’t
exist, and fixate on these two as the source of all
that feels wrong to you inside.

Your husband does need to hear you’re strug-
gling to forgive him, so he doesn’t just see your
back all the time and wonder what happened to
“us,” which is cruel.

‘GOLDEN’ OPPORTUNITY FOR
CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE FANS

40 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

‘Golden’ opportunity for Christo and Jeanne-Claude fans

BY ELLEN FISCHER | COLUMNIST were parted half a century later by A section of the “Running Fence” project. like to remind this commission that
Jeanne-Claude’s death in November a fence is a fence, it doesn’t make any
It’s been 19 years since the Vero 2009. Christo died last May. PHOTOS BY BRENDA AHEARN difference if it’s wood, barbed wire,
Beach Museum of Art presented a wire or nylon 18-foot tall.’ And I sat
Christo and Jeanne-Claude exhibi- The current VBMA exhibition, on appeared in small museums through- down. Right after that, Christo and
tion. Like the VBMA’s current offer- display in the Holmes and Titelman out the U.S. for the past decade via Jeanne-Claude came over to me and
ing, on view through Sept. 5, that Galleries, documents through art- Landau Traveling Exhibitions. said, ‘Thank you very much for your
long-ago show of collage drawings, works Golden’s 28-year acquaintance testimony.’ And I replied, ‘Oh, I think
prints and multiples, and small with the artists. Organized by the So- A retired real estate broker, Gold- you’ll get your fence. It will be tough,
wrapped objects was drawn from noma County Museum, the show has en met Christo and Jeanne-Claude but I’ll help you in any way I can.’”
the collection of Californian Tom in 1974 at a public hearing for the
Golden (1921-2002). It’s Going To Be A “Running Fence” project. In a 2000 That was the serendipitous be-
Working Summer interview for the online journal Art A ginning of Golden’s role as close
The collection, which Golden do- GoGo, Golden said that he was in the friend, project manager and, Gold-
nated to the Sonoma County Mu- But Let Us planning department at the Sonoma en claimed, father-figure to the fa-
seum in 2001, was shown in the Still Make It Fun County government office in Santa mous duo. Golden liked to say that
Holmes Gallery right around the Rosa when “I saw a lot of people with he amassed his collection by trad-
time Golden died, in late 2002, clos- Mathnasium of Vero Beach cameras. I was told that it had to do ing his physical labor and business
ing on Jan. 3, 2003. with the next scheduled hearing for know-how as a project manager with
772-222-MATH (6284) the artist Christo.” Christo and Jeanne-Claude for art-
The biggest difference between [email protected] works rather than cash.
the Golden Collection show then Intrigued, Golden went to the
and now is that Christo and Jeanne- 2057 Indian River Blvd hearing, where numerous lengthy “He also was paid,” says Jonathan
Claude visited the VBMA during the objections to the project were voiced Henery, office manager for Christo
previous exhibition. That cannot (behind California Closets) by local citizens, environmentalists and Jeanne-Claude’s business en-
happen again. and others. tity, CVJ Corporation.

Famously born on the same day, “Finally, I got up and said, ‘I re- Henery was Jeanne-Claude’s full-
June 13, 1935 (Christo in Bulgaria sent this meeting today wasting the time assistant from 1996 to her death
and Jeanne-Claude in Morocco), taxpayers’ money. Here’s a man who in 2009. He continues to manage the
the pair’s joined creative life began wants to come to Sonoma County, office to this day and has worked as
when they met in Paris, in 1958. on private property, and put up a a writer and editor on several books
They married the following year and fence. If I read the ordinance right, about the couple and their projects.
no permit is required on private
You Can Always Spot The Student property if it’s ‘cross fencing.’ I’d just Concerning Golden’s status as a
Who Spent Their Summer With paid worker for Christo and Jeanne-
Claude, it important to know that the
Mathnasium artists did not allow people to vol-
unteer for projects. Everybody who
worked as a project team member
received remuneration; union wages
for specialized professional workers
and just above minimum wage for
non-skilled workers.

Henery says there were several
reasons for this, but “most impor-
tantly, one cannot easily fire volun-
teers when necessary.”

He adds that if a team member
were injured on the job, they would
be entitled to worker’s compensa-
tion. This practical solution to a

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 41

ARTS & THEATRE

thorny problem is an example of Jonathan Fineberg discusses the work long by 18-foot-high white nylon fab- the enormous white curtain snakes
how Christo and Jeanne- Claude of Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the ric section of the fence. On loan from through the middle of the Holmes
were able to achieve great things in Vero Beach Museum of Art. the School of Art Collection and Gallery. This section was but one of
concert with many people. Galleries of Kent State University, 2,050 that made up the 24 ¼-mile
the end will come when their final long fence.
After Jeanne-Claude died, Christo work in progress is realized. Con-
continued to work on the couple’s ceived in 1977, “The Mastaba, A Proj- On display from the Golden Col-
projects until his own death. One ect for Abu Dhabi” is a bunker-like lection, an original drawing collage
of those projects will be realized for the “Running Fence” project and
post-mortem. “L’Arc de Triomphe,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

Wrapped,” a temporary artwork for configuration of 410,000 multi-col-
Paris, will be on view for 16 days from ored 55-gallon barrels. The form, if
Saturday, Sept. 18 to Sunday, Oct. 3. not the material used for the project,
echoes that of the flat-roofed tombs
The realization of that project was of ancient Egypt. The Mastaba will
sanctioned by Christo before his be the artists’ only permanent large-
death. Both he and Jeanne-Claude scale work.
intended for their active projects to
be continued to their concrete com- Whether or not that project comes
pletion, even if they were not around to pass, the boldness of its scale and
to see them. its seemingly impossible execution
is pure Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
A 2009 Washington Post obituary
for Jeanne-Claude quoted her as say- The magnificent scale of the “Run-
ing, “Artists don’t retire. They die. ning Fence” project that brought
That’s all. When they stop being able Christo, Jeanne-Claude and Tom
to create art, they die.” Golden together is well-illustrated in
the current exhibition by a 60-foot-
For Christo and Jeanne-Claude,

42 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 ARTS & THEATRE

photos by Wolfgang Volz of the real- the waters of the Arkansas River in pursuing ‘Over The River, Project for longer wish to wait on the outcome.”
ized project do not bring the immen- south-central Colorado. the Arkansas River, State of Colora- That project is represented in the
sity of the artwork home to viewers do,’ for 20 years and going through
as completely as does this stained In 2017, the 81-year-old Christo is- five years of legal arguments, I no current show by a trio of Christo’s
rectangle of fabric. sued this online statement: “After original collages, composed of pho-
tographs with pencil, crayon, enam-
Other artworks on view include el paint, charcoal and tape. Two of
“Wrapped Reichstag,” Berlin; “The these are 1993 works from the Tom
Umbrellas,” Japan and USA; “The Golden Collection, and a 1999 work
Pont Neuf Wrapped,” Paris; “Sur- is on loan from the collection of
rounded Islands,” Biscayne Bay, long-time VBMA supporter Georgia
Greater Miami; and “Valley Cur- Welles.
tain,” Rifle, Colo.
As awe-inspiring as the large
Plenty of projects conceived of projects are for Christo’s fans to
by Christo and Jeanne-Claude were contemplate, it is the human-sized
not realized. They always had many wrapped objects that Christo cre-
irons in the fire; if one project did not ated throughout his career that will
work out, they abandoned it in favor stick with the visitor.
of those that were moving forward.
These include prints and small-
Perhaps the largest of those un- edition multiples that picture every-
realized works, “Over The River” thing from a Radio Flyer wagon and
would have suspended almost 6 a bulky lounge chair, to a slender
miles of fabric panels high above nude woman. 

COMING UP! Tour is egg-cellent way to see sea turtle nesting

BY PAM HARBAUGH on, scouts from Coastal Connections make her way back into the water. The will bring audience members into
Correspondent scour the nearby beach to find a nest- whole experience can last until mid- five different locales where they
ing loggerhead sea turtle. “We will night. And, sometimes, guides will will see a 1-hour, 20-minute adapta-
1 The time is now. Sea Turtle nest- then bring guests to the loggerhead not find a nesting loggerhead. “It’s tion of the Shakespearean comedy.
ing season is happening on our so they can watch her as she finishes all based on Mother Nature’s time Kanter, a well-respected teacher,
making her nest, and, covering her schedule,” Cope said. “That’s why we director and actor with a long list
beaches and Coastal Connections nest, returns to the ocean as she says have planned these extra activities.” of credits, wanted to make the long
adieu to her 110 eggs,” said Kendra The turtle walks, underwritten by Ry- romantic comedy more engaging for
wants to take you on toured late-night Cope, founding director of Coastal der’s Gourmet Market in Vero Beach, a modern audience, so he cut it in
Connections. “It’s cool, sentimental, are free. However, you need to deposit half while maintaining the poetry,
experiences of this natural magic. A spiritual. It’s building that connec- $20 when registering. That is refund- verse, plot and characters. The story
tion with wildlife, getting people up ed when you arrive. Of course, you involves love, both blind and unre-
four-year-old, nonprofit organization, close and personal with this ancient can always donate that $20 to Coastal quited, a group of would-be thespi-
dinosaur.” Be prepared to linger. Connections. Sea turtle nesting walks ans and a meddling bunch of fairies.
Coastal Connections will take 20 peo- Guests have to wait until the turtle are only permitted by organizations The action takes place mostly in an
is laying her eggs in order to elimi- authorized by the State of Florida. enchanted forest. Kanter’s produc-
ple at a time to the beach to watch sea nate negative impacts of observation. Cope said other groups offering the tion will bring audience members
There will be a little bit of movement walks include Disney, Friends of Se- from the McAlpin Theater’s main-
turtles lay their eggs. The guided tours around the sea turtle as guests take bastian Inlet State Park, Friends of stage, outdoors to three different
turns kneeling down behind the sea the Archie Carr Refuge, the Sea Turtle performance spots, and into a black-
begin 9 p.m. Fridays with an indoor turtle to get a good view of the nesting Conservancy and Stella Maris. Coast- box theater, which is the setting for
process. And some will want to stay al Connections offer the walks in June the fairy kingdom. Moreover, at one
educational presentation. Guests and watch the exhausted sea turtle and July. Available slots are filling up point, the audience, led by the Fair-
fast, so to register, go to Coastal-Con- ies, will be separated into two groups
learn about sea turtle biology, threats nections.org. If you belong to an orga- to watch different scenes simulta-
nization and would like Cope to come neously, then switched around so
to their survival, and how people play talk to your group and bring a batch that each audience member will
of those special cards that let you see see every scene in the show. “I can
a critical role in their survival story. light the way sea turtles do, email her promise that no one down here has
at [email protected]. experienced something like this,”
Guests are given special cards em- said Kanter, who also directs at the
Vero Beach Theatre Guild. “I keep
bedded with filter paper which, when joking that this is not your grand-
ma’s Shakespeare. It will appeal to
viewed through, will reveal which a younger audience, even kids. Yes,
it’s Shakespeare, but very silly.” The
kind of lights are sea turtle-friendly. show performs 7:30 p.m. Thursday
through Saturday, June 10-12, and 2
While the educational program goes p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15. The
McAlpin Fine Arts Center is at 3209
2 Another unique immersive Virginia Ave., Fort Pierce. Call 772-
experience awaits you this 462-4750 or visit IRSC.edu. 

weekend. It’s a most out-of-the-or-

dinary production of “A Midsum-

mer Night’s Dream.” Produced by

Indian River State College in Fort

Pierce, the show has been created

and directed by Vero Beach resi-

dent Alex Kanter. It features 25 col-

lege and high school students, many

from Vero Beach. The production





EARLY DETECTION,
TREATMENT EASES
ATRIAL FIBRILLATION RISKS

46 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

Early detection, treatment eases atrial fibrillation risks

BY KERRY FIRTH Dr. Arley Peter.
Correspondent
PHOTOS: KAILA JONES
With the worldwide aging popula-
tion characterized by a large influx of
baby boomers, an epidemic of atrial
fibrillation (AF) – an irregular and of-
ten rapid heart rate that can increase
the risk of strokes and heart failure –
is forecasted within the next 10 to 20
years. AF is already the most common
arrhythmia diagnosed in clinical prac-
tice today and as the population ages
globally, it is predicted to affect 6-to-12
million people in the U.S. by 2050.

AF currently affects 3.8 percent of
those older than 60 years, and 9 per-
cent of those 80 and older. While iden-
tifying individuals at risk of developing
AF is important, there is even stron-
ger evidence that early detection and
treatment of modifiable risk factors
can reduce morbidity and mortality
due to AF.

“Some people with AF have no
symptoms and are unaware of their
condition until it’s discovered in a
physical examination or in many cas-
es after they’ve already experienced a

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 47

stroke,” said Dr. Arley Peter, who has HEALTH
been practicing cardiology in Indian
River County since 2010. regularly, stop smoking, and limit alco- Dr. Arley Peter graduated from medi-
hol and caffeine. Of course, managing cal school in Brazil and completed his
“For those who have symptoms, stress and taking your medication as resident training and cardiology fellow-
the episodes may come and go. They directed are also imperative. ship at the University of Miami. He cares
may experience heart palpitations on for his patients at the Treasure Coast
Saturday night and be fine on Sunday In addition to lifestyle changes there Cardiovascular Institute and Cleveland
morning. In those cases, we have to are numerous medications and pro- Clinic Indian River Hospital. He is presi-
utilize a monitoring device that mea- cedures that can prevent blood clots dent of the Indian River Medical Society,
sures their heart rhythm over a period from forming or dissolve an existing Vice Chief of Cardiology at Cleveland
of time. Early detection is important clot, as well as restore the heart’s rate or Clinic Indian River Medical Center and
because people with AF are five times rhythm. Aspirin and blood thinners/ Medical Director of the VNA. He also
more likely to have a stroke than peo- anticoagulants are often prescribed to participates as Clinical Assistant Profes-
ple without the AF condition, and early prevent or treat blood clots and strokes. sor at the Florida State University Medi-
treatment can prevent that from oc- Other rate-controlling and heart cal School. Dr. Peter welcomes new pa-
curring.” rhythm-controlling medications are tients to his practice located at 787 37th
used to slow the heart rate during AF or St. in Vero Beach. Call 772-999-3996 to
The heart rate in AF can be well be- return the heart to its normal rhythm schedule an appointment. 
yond the normal range of 60 to 100 and keep AF from returning.
beats a minute for a normal heart. Dur-
ing atrial fibrillation, the heart’s upper
chambers beat chaotically and irregu-
larly out of coordination with the lower
chambers. AF is so common that the
World Heart Federation recommends
routine screening for AF via pulse tak-
ing for patients over the age of 65, with
or without known AF risk factors, with
a follow-up ECG for those with an ir-
regular pulse.

Anyone, of any age, who presents
symptoms of heart palpitations, short-
ness of breath, dizziness, fatigue and
weakness should have their pulse
checked for irregularities. Although
an irregular pulse may point to AF, an
ECG is still required to confirm the di-
agnosis.

Untreated AF can lead to blood clots,
stroke and other heart-related prob-
lems, including heart failure. Because
the heartbeat is out of sync, blood can
collect in the chambers of the heart.
When this happens, blood clots can
form and travel to the brain causing
a stroke. But having AF is not a death
sentence. With the right treatment,
patients can live a good life. The treat-
ment will depend on your age, your
symptoms and frequency of episodes,
whether your heart rate is under con-
trol, your risk for stroke and other med-
ical conditions.

“I can calculate their risk of having
a stroke by evaluating their individual
risk factors,” Dr. Peter said. “Stroke risk
is not equal in all persons that have AF.
The risks are higher if they are more
than 65 years old or if they have dia-
betes, hypertension, coronary disease,
heart failure or if they’ve had a stroke
prior to the diagnosis. In that case I will
be more proactive with that patient
than with someone without underly-
ing risk factors.”

There are a wide range of treatments
for AF, with lifestyle changes, and heart
rate and rhythm control the first lines
of defense. Lifestyle changes include
eating a healthy diet full of fresh fruits
and vegetables, fiber-rich foods, lean
meats and fish, and unsaturated fats
like olive oil. You should also exercise

48 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

Maximize your 4 or 5 peak focus hours each day

BY KERI WIGINTON to Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a Silicon hours, they maximized the amount of mental neuroscientist and assistant
The Washington Post Valley writer and consultant who spe- depth of focus time they had per day,” professor in the Department of Psy-
cializes in productivity. Alice Munro, he said, “and really protected that and chology at the University of California
My mind gets a little fuzzy when I Charles Darwin and Gabriel García organized their day so they could put at Riverside. She stops short of apply-
concentrate for too long. So, to protect Márquez are among the creative peo- in about 4 or 4½ hours of really inten- ing this number to everyone, however.
my focused time, I rearranged my life, ple with similar habits, a topic Pang sive deep work.” Humans have individual differences
trading a steady salary as a multime- dedicated a chapter to in his 2016 book, “in attentional networks and circadian
dia journalist covering the tech world “Rest: Why You Get More Done When While there isn’t extensive research rhythms,” she said.
for flexibility as a freelance writer fo- You Work Less.” into working and focus, the four-to-
cusing on health and wellness. Work- five-hour sweet spot sounds about There are also differences in how we
ing less, not more, holds the key to my “Rather than working super long right to Kalina Michalska, a develop- manage our emotions, something most
productivity. workers have had to deal with during
the coronavirus pandemic. “We’ve all
I do the bulk of my work in four or been under a lot of stress and anxiety
five 55-minute chunks throughout the for the past year,” said Borna Bon-
day, taking half-hour breaks when my akdarpour, a behavioral neurologist
mind starts to wander. This schedule and assistant professor of neurology
puts me in good company. Although at Northwestern University’s Feinberg
there’s not much hard science behind School of Medicine in Chicago. “That,
it, a lot of productivity gurus push the by itself, affects our focus.”
idea that we get our best work done
with about four or five hours of focus Pandemic aside, Bonakdarpour
a day. said the main culprits behind our
limited ability to focus are cognitive
They came up with this range part- overload and energy use. “When you
ly because of a well-known study of increase the metabolism of the brain,
music training, led by psychologist it comes with byproducts that need to
K. Anders Ericsson, that inspired the be cleared out and cleaned,” he said.
“10,000-hour rule.” “The brain needs to rest.” According to
Bonakdarpour, research shows that for
Such a schedule is not uncommon every two hours of focused work, “you
among the accomplished, according

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 49

HEALTH

need about 20 to 30 minutes to break.” you “talk about things that don’t have Aaron’s Hearing Care Center
Of course, some of the work we do anything to do with work.”
As you reconnect with others, trust your hearing
doesn’t require 100 percent of our at- Add more rest when you overwork. to an audiologist with 30+ years of experience
tention, Bonakdarpour added. “That’s We all have days or weeks when dead-
why you can kind of get through even lines pile up. But your concentration Aaron Liebman, Au. D. Hopefully, all of you are doing well as we
when you’re tired,” he said. “But as a doesn’t have to suffer if you occa- Doctor of Audiology take the necessary precautions to reduce
general principle, your brain is func- sionally overwork. In fact, deadline the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus). We
tioning at a lower level.” Studies show crunches can sharpen your focus and Why wouldn’t you want to be fit are committed to keeping our patients, any
that as our focus slides, we’re less moti- help you work faster. with your hearing aid from the visitors to our offices and our staff healthy
vated, we make more mistakes, and we only audiologist-owned hearing and safe.
get distracted more easily. “A little bit of positive anxiety – I’ve aid office in Indian River At all times we’re careful to maintain clean-
got to get this done by this time – can County? According to Aaron liness in our offices in Vero Beach. We take
This truth is recognized in some pro- boost brain function and produc- Liebman, Au.D., Doctor of extra steps and follow guidelines to further
fessions where attention failure can be tivity,” Bonakdarpour said. “But the Audiology, “both Audiologists protect everyone.
life-threatening. Air traffic controllers, thing is, it does take energy. The next and hearing aid salesmen
for example, only manage live traffic day, you may feel tired. And you need are licensed by the state. But, We have instituted a deep cleaning policy
for an average of about four hours out to consider that and plan for it.” typically, the salesman has no and our staff disinfects all surfaces that are
of their eight-hour shifts, according to formal education in hearing, touched throughout the day. We’re read-
the Federal Aviation Administration. Figure out your most creative time while the audiologist has gone ing up to date recommendations as they
and protect it. You probably have a to college and obtained a degree become available while discussing and im-
But most of us are not air traffic con- certain time of day when you’re most in the field”. plementing best hygiene practices to ensure
trollers with bosses who understand productive. If possible, tell your boss your safety.
the limits of focus. If we only have four and colleagues you’re going to set What this means to you –
or five hours of peak attention within a aside those hours for focused work, as a patient – is that Liebman than I thought possible.”
normal workday, how can we optimize and you’ll get to your other work out- will not only fit you with “Aaron is a very caring man,
them? Here are some tips from our ex- side that time. “I’m not particularly a hearing aid, he’ll use patient and works very hard to
perts. effective from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.,” Mi- alternative methods of testing do the best for your problems.
chalska said. “So, I just schedule all for accuracy, so you receive I would highly recommend
Work in chunks to give your brain my emails at that time, when I don’t the proper instrument. He’ll him.” These are just three
a rest. Michalska first tried the Pomo- have to think that much.” provide all-around service and of the glowing testimonials
doro method: You work for 25 minutes, counseling so its full potential delivered by local people who
then rest for three to five minutes. Af- Keep tabs on your productiv- will be clear. And, perhaps most are “graduates” of Liebman at
ter four of those blocks, you take a half- ity. You can think about your focused importantly, he’ll consider you Aaron’s Hearing Aid Center.
hour break. But she found herself more time kind of like your finances, mean- as an individual…including
focused on the timer than her work. ing you should create a detailed list of the affordability of the product Dr. Liebman moved to Florida
She eventually settled into a longer pe- how you spend it. “Every 15 minutes, he’ll be recommending. in 2001. He is originally from
riod. “I try to do 45 minutes, and then I jot down what you’re actually doing,” This type of kid glove treatment Albany, N.Y. area where both he
take a break.” Michalska said. This can be tedious at may have contributed to a and his father were audiologists.
first, she said, but it’ll show you how finding quoted on the AARP He has found the residents
Schedule your breaks. Michalska often you make a snack or check social website that states ‘people fitted of Vero Beach and the rest
takes five-minute rests after her work- media when you think you’re working. for hearing aids by audiologists of Indian River County to be
ing blocks, making sure she leaves ex- are 13 times more likely to receptive and loyal once they
tra time for lunch. She recommends Guard against interruptions. My be satisfied than people who are exposed to his caring and
planning your week with your down- most productive days are when work made their purchase through a concern for them.
time as a priority. “I would put in the feels so effortless that I fly through my hearing aid salesman’. So, if the concept of having your
breaks first,” she said. “Put in the run, breaks because I don’t feel the need hearing aid fitted by someone
the lunch, the break. Otherwise, you’re for them. This state of “flow” is when Dr. Liebman’s satisfied clients who offers more than 30+
never going to do it.” “you feel stretched to the edge of your have willingly put their praises years of experience, who offers
abilities but not beyond them,” Pang into print. no-fee consultations, who will
In her schedule, she also leaves a lit- said. “Everything I needed to know return your phone calls, who
tle room for transitions between tasks, was talked about up front in a will supply free batteries for the
which include writing, researching, To cultivate an environment to very professional way.” “Aaron life of your hearing instrument,
teaching, and meeting with students. make flow more likely, limit your dis- has done more for my hearing and who will provide quarterly
She said these buffers felt counterin- tractions; research has found that it clean up and adjustments
tuitive at first, but they help keep her can take from 30 seconds to 60 sec- attractive to you, there’s only
on schedule. “You need a little time onds to refocus on a task when your one local audiologist to seek
to shift the task, to get water, to take a attention is diverted to a second one. out: Dr. Aaron Liebman,
walk, the mail comes, somebody calls,” I set “do not disturb” time on my de- owner of Aarons Hearing Care,
she said. “I would fall behind, because vices. I don’t get alerts for emails, text IOthnWediaNOnENRDiLvYhereaCAroiUnugnDtaIyiO.dLoOffiGceISiTn
something unexpected would happen messages or news headlines.
when I didn’t put a little downtime in For more information call
between.” This kind of disconnection might (772) 562-5100 in Vero Beach.
seem impossible where you work. But
While work breaks can feel like road- a growing number of companies are
blocks, you might be surprised at what redesigning their workdays so em-
happens when you give your thoughts ployees can unplug for several hours
a little room. “Your creative or sub- each week, Pang said. “They carve out
conscious mind doesn’t stop working time where everyone can be heads
while you’re waiting in line for coffee or down, a little antisocial, ignore the
you’re taking a walk around the block,” Slack channel, not answer the phones
Pang said. This can lead to “those mo- and just concentrate on their most im-
ments of insight that we’ve all had.” portant tasks.”

Avoid work during your downtime. It’s a simple shift, he said, but it goes
Bonakdarpour goes for a walk during a long way in boosting worker produc-
his breaks because physical activity tivity and well-being. “There are plen-
boosts blood flow and brain function. ty of people who’ve recognized that
But a conversation with a colleague it’s possible to change work,” he said,
can also help, he said. Just make sure “and to change it for the better.” 

50 Vero Beach 32963 / June 10, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

Doctor seeks greater empathy for patients – and himself

BY JOSEPH STERN Initially, the ER team called a “code gery, aware that he was trusting me with a terrible life expectancy. Neither
The Washington Post stroke,” rushing to take advantage of with his life. When he awoke, Alan and of us was surprised: We both knew this
the precious minutes available to ad- I were pleased that his numbness was was coming. But he choked up as he
“Well, then. I’m going to die, aren’t minister clot-busting drugs or open no worse and he had no weakness. The expressed gratitude for the care he was
I?” my friend asked me from a bed in blocked arteries before the patient postoperative scan showed we had re- receiving.
the emergency room. I faced him and suffers more brain damage. A CT scan moved virtually the entire tumor.
his wife. I had worked with Alan David- suggested not a stroke but a brain tu- Holding back my own tears, I told
son for 20 years. A recently retired ER mor. I was consulted when an MRI sug- When the pathology came back, I him how honored I felt he trusted me
attending physician, he came in with gested a glioblastoma. We both knew met with Alan, his wife, and his son. I enough to care for him. Previously, I
new right-sided numbness one Satur- his prognosis was likely poor. sat on the edge of his bed and told him would not have allowed myself to ac-
day evening. his diagnosis. Pathology suggested knowledge my own gratitude to Alan
Three days later, I took him to sur- glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor or accept the depths of his gratitude to