May 2017
Serving Highland Beach and Coastal Boca Raton
Along the Coast
Along the Coast
ON
Ideas emerge to reform $1B addiction industry
CAMERA
By Mary Hladky
Delray brings new license plate scanners to barrier island By Rich Pollack It started as a routine traffic stop on State Road A1A in Delray Beach, with the driver of the Nissan Altima pulled over for displaying an expired tag. Before it ended, the driver, a 24-year-old from Pompano Beach, was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed firearm, loitering and prowling, violating probation and driving without a license. Police also found in his pocket a small tool used for smashing car windows. The man might never have been stopped had it not been for the latest technology, permanent license plate recognition scanners, that have been working throughout the barrier island portion of the city since early March. While the Police Department is cautious about See CAMERAS on page 7
Volume 10 Issue 5
Delray Beach officer Anthony Sala speaks with a driver pulled over when a license plate recognition camera (top) alerted him to an expired tag. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
The numbers are staggering. The addiction treatment industry generates an estimated $1 billion in revenues a year in Palm Beach County, making it an economic engine ranking below only tourism, agriculture and construction. Those who study the industry say that number, reported by The Palm Beach Post, almost certainly understates the size. It could be, at a minimum, twice that large. Costs associated with the industry are huge. They include $1.1 billion a year as of 2015 in heroin-related hospital charges across Florida that are largely paid for by Medicaid and Medicare, with taxpayers footing the bill, according to a Post analysis. Unnecessary urine testing of addicts, paid for by insurers, adds at least another $1 billion a year to the tab, according to one industry expert. And that’s before adding in heroin-related costs incurred by police, fire rescue, courts and prisons. It also doesn’t count the cost of lives cut short by opioid use, or lost wages and workplace productivity. The industry is fueled by the See ADDICTION on page 24
Manalapan
When ‘Hurricane Xi’ blew into town By Ron Hayes
A day before Chinese President Xi Jinping would arrive at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa to talk international trade with President Donald Trump, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw held a news conference at the county’s Emergency Operations Center to tell residents what to expect. Hundreds of demonstrators, both protesters and greeters, might come to the area, the sheriff said. “We are not going to tolerate any civil disobedience, throwing of objects or any other
type of disorderly conduct whatsoever,” he promised. “At the first sign of that, it will be dealt with.” Bradshaw said he was planning for the summit as if it were an approaching hurricane. Deputies would work 12-hour shifts. Vacations would be canceled. The National Hurricane Center does not give Atlantic storms names beginning with the letter X, but on Wednesday, April 5, Hurricane Xi’s arrival in Manalapan was only a day away. See XI on page 16
Supporters draped flags to greet the Chinese president, but security fencing displaced them. Joe Skipper/The Coastal Star
Inside Millinery marvel
Preacher takes over for Boca Raton hatmaker. AT1
Say it and show it
Artworks on display at Cultural Council put words to good use. Page AT9
Alice and Pete Dye’s legacy of golf course design. Page 14 Boca Beach Bash brings out the boats, bathing suits. Page 28
Boca gets little library
Tiny book lender becomes a neighborhood hub. Page 5