May 2012
Volume 5 Issue 5
Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach
End of Season
Manalapan
Officials spar over talks to replace town police with sheriff Officers have been working without a contract for 2 years By Steve Plunkett
Pipers serenade club guest Susan Tomenson April 14 as part of the Founder’s Day End of Season celebration at St. Andrews Club. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
events mark the end of Inside: Other season, pages 6-7 & 28-29
Celebrating Our History
Playhouse set to raise curtain on 60th season By Ron Hayes On Dec. 1, 1953, somebody in Lake Worth said, “Let’s put on a show!” Six decades later, the Lake Worth Playhouse is still putting on shows. That first production was Springtime For Henry, and theater-goers had to climb three flights of stairs to the City Hall auditorium to enjoy the 1931 farce in non-air-conditioned discomfort. There wasn’t a lot to do here in 1953. When the curtain opens on the community theater’s 60th anniversary season July 5, playgoers will see Hairspray, followed by The King & I, The 1940s Radio Hour, The Drowsy
Chaperone, The Foreigner and finally, Barnum. In the 60 years between Henry and Hairspray, the Playhouse has produced 340 plays and musicals — everything from A Streetcar Named Desire to The Odd Couple, Annie Get Your Gun to Annie. And the audiences have kept coming, so loyal that in 1975 the theater bought the 1924 Oakley Theatre building at 713 Lake Ave. for $60,000 and renovated it with a $15,000 Bicentennial grant. The first play in the new home — the oldest building registered by the county’s Art Deco Society — was The Last of Mrs. Lincoln. “This is not Mom and Pop putting together a See PLAYHOUSE on page 12
Workers install the sign at the Lake Worth Playhouse in 1975. Courtesy of the Lake Worth Playhouse
Hurricane Season
Better forecast tools lead to new evacuation standards
By Tim O’Meilia The next time a minimal hurricane threatens to slosh ashore in south Palm Beach County, most coastal residents won’t be ordered to flee. In fact, evacuation of the barrier islands from the Palm Beach Inlet to Boca Raton
No more coastal evacuation required in Category 1 storms won’t be considered until a storm puffs itself up to Category 2 strength with the threat of a strong storm surge. Across Palm Beach County,
that means that nearly 138,000 people who in the past would have been encouraged to find other shelter in a Category 1 hurricane can now stay home and ride out the storm. The exceptions are those who live in mobile homes — that’s you, Briny Breezes residents — substandard
Inside Brewing up a memorable Mother’s Day
Explore the art of tea as you celebrate Mom. Page 33
housing or in extremely floodprone areas. They still will be ordered to leave by emergency officials. “We don’t want to unnecessarily evacuate anyone,” said county Emergency Manager Bill Johnson. “With evacuation, See EVACUATION on page 18
The proposal to switch police services to the county sheriff got Manalapan neighbors talking, but town commissioners fear much of what’s being said is wrong. “We are suffering from a dearth of facts. We are suffocating under a barrage of views and misinformation,” Vice Mayor Donald Brennan said at the April 24 commission meeting, a day after a standingroom-only workshop. Commissioners ordered n Ocean Ridge Town Manager Linda Stumpf will hear a PBSO proposal and Police at 6 p.m. May 8 Chief Carmen Mattox to at Town Hall. report back on where Manalapan is now, what security issues it faces now and going forward, and if there is a gap, how the town can fill it and how much will it cost. Mayor Basil Diamond summarized the options: Go with the Sheriff’s Office, which says it can do the job for $1.17 million a year, or stick with the Police Department, which has a $1.4 million budget this year. Other possibilities Diamond included were increasing the number of Manalapan officers, increasing their compensation and adding a beach and marine patrol. Other issues include whether to hire a consultant, whether to put the proposal up for a vote by residents, or whether to postpone the matter until October. “There isn’t a point in having another workshop just to do what we did yesterday,” Diamond said. See PBSO on page 8
Briny says no to sale Arts coverage continues
Plaza Theatre fills former Florida Stage space. Page 45
Meet Your Neighbor
Bradley Stewart has the buzz on beekeeping. Page 30
The park’s board votes unanimously against selling out to developers. Page 10
Tree removal sparks outrage
Gulf Stream residents cry foul over cutting of canopy banyan at former Spence estate. Page 9