July 2013
Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach
Along the Coast
Manalapan
Ritz name change concerns commission, residents
Delray Beach Ocean Rescue personnel searched for the 17-year-old who drowned recently at Gulfstream Park. From left: Ocean Rescue Officers Raphael Costa and Kyle Stewart, Superintendent James Scala, Ocean Rescue Officers Justin Walton and Justin Rumbaugh and Lt. Luigi Pratt. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
On a mission to save
Lifeguards cooperate in attempting rescue By Jane Smith
The scanner crackled: “Possible near drowning” in Gulf Stream. Delray Beach Fire-Rescue responded about 2:30 p.m. on that last Friday in May. Soon a battalion chief would interrupt a meeting to summon Ocean Rescue Superintendent James Scala to the beach. He was needed to lead the search for the missing swimmer. Rodelson Normil, 17, disappeared in the rough surf, in an unguarded area about a half-mile south of Gulfstream Park. See RESCUE on page 13
SOURCE: Int’l Life Saving Federation GRAPHIC: Bonnie Lallky-Seibert
Lantana
By Jane Smith Former Manalapan Mayor Kelly Gottlieb loves flying out of the Lantana airport. She points to its Old Florida terminal and the relaxed atmosphere as the reasons she’s used the airport for 15 years to park her Cessna 210. “When I have out-of-town visitors,” she said,
Summer Arts
Palm Beach Shakespeare and chamber music festivals get under way. Page H10
Property values rise
Delray Beach leads local municipalities with 6.49% gain. Page 4
“I take them to the terminal to show them a piece of Americana.” The terminal, built in the style of an Old Florida farmhouse with a breezeway through the middle, has an office with wooden benches and model planes hanging from the ceiling. The
Seasonal dining deals
Area eateries offer a variety of prix fixe and other specials for the summer. Page H1
By Tim O’Meilia The former Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach is now the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. But eau so many Manalapan residents dislike the new name and the loss of the Ritz- Carlton brand. “How and why did you change that name?” wondered Manalapan Town Commissioner John Murphy at the June 25 meeting. “In general, people don’t like it. The Editor’s reaction has not Note been favorable.” Page 2 Nevertheless, the Around commission approved Town by a 5-0 vote two Page 6 temporary signs with the new name to adorn the 310-room luxury resort. The Ritz officially became The Eau on July 1, following a mid-June announcement by the hotel owners, RC/PB Inc., that a management agreement with Ritz-Carlton, owned by Marriott International, had been canceled following a two-year dispute over management fees. The resort will be affiliated with Preferred Hotels, which handles 15 other five-star, five-diamond hotels worldwide. Former Mayor Basil Diamond suggested that the hotel name could not be changed without the commission’s approval, based on an amendment to the planned unit development agreement that led to the hotel’s opening in 1991. “The only reason we have a See RITZ on page 15
Designed to feel like an old farmhouse, the breezeway of Lantana airport has Old Florida charm. Tim Stepien/ The Coastal Star
Companies bid to take over county air park
Inside
Volume 6 Issue 7
See AIRPORT on page 12
New vintage
Old Vines makes way for The Wine Wave in downtown Delray Beach. Page 21
Homeward bound
Tri-County Humane Society rescues 80 dogs and cats from tornado-ravaged Oklahoma. Page H12