Serving Highland Beach and Coastal Boca Raton
July 2014
Volume 7 Issue 7
Boca Raton
Susan Haynie driving her city toward greater mobility
By Dan Moffett
It’s more than poetic irony to suggest that Susan Haynie took the road less traveled to get to the Boca Raton mayor’s office. For four decades, Haynie has devoted her professional life to making all of South Florida’s roads less traveled. Most mayors in Palm Beach
County got to their office through careers as lawyers, small-business operators or political activists. Haynie is the outlier in her peer group. After graduating from Lynn University, she started working for Boca Raton as a traffic engineer in the 1970s and, in one way or another, has been looking to solve
transportation problems ever since. When Boca Raton voters elected her in March, they got a hybrid — a mayor who is part politician and part traffic engineer. Haynie already has shown signs of being adept at both. See HAYNIE on page 4
Susan Haynie was elected in March. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
T H E L E G AC Y OF
Along the Coast
’NAM
All towns and cities see rise in taxable values
Fifty years ago this summer, the Vietnam War began. Area veterans remember the trials and trumphs of that era.
W
By Rich Pollack
By Ron Hayes
hen does a war begin? And when does it end? On Aug. 7, 1964 — 50 years ago next month — the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, granting President Lyndon Johnson the right to wage war in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war. By then, 216 Americans had already died there. The first was Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr., killed on June 8, 1956. On April 30, 1975, with Al Naar displays his medals in his Ocean Ridge home. Saigon falling to the North Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star Vietnamese, U.S. service members and diplomats were evacuated by helicopter. Two weeks later, on May 15, Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year-old Marine, was killed when Cambodian communists fired on the SS Mayaguez, a Charles McGill of Gulf Stream U.S. container ship. still wears symbols from his When the Vietnam days in Special Forces. Memorial in Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names on “the wall.” Since then, the names of 347 military personnel who later died of their wounds have been added. All told, 3,403,000 Americans served in Vietnam, and most of them returned. Some came home with wounds Al Naar, in August 1968 in Charles McGill, when he both visible and invisible, but they all brought memories. the Quang Tri Province of served in Special Forces Vietnam. Photo provided in Vietnam in 1969. Photo We spoke with three Vietnam veterans from our area. provided They share their memories, Page 15
Inside Around Town
Summer dining deals abound. Page AT1
Plus: $35 million house is priciest to hit Boca market. Page 22
Following Phoenix
An electronic device will enable researchers to follow a sea turtle that was released from Gumbo Limbo. Page H1
Staying put
Delray Beach dentist won’t be extracted from construction site surrounding his office. Page 6
Taxable property values in Palm Beach County’s coastal communities have continued to grow, with increases ranging from barely noticeable in Briny Breezes to more than 14 percent in neighboring Gulf Stream. New construction and home sales to buyers who do not benefit from Florida’s homestead exemption are being credited for much of the increase in the coastal communities. Countywide, the taxable property value increased 7.39 percent, according to preliminary numbers released in late June by Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits. The countywide tax rolls increased for the third consecutive year and showed that taxable value increases were widespread throughout the county’s municipalities. “This is the first time that every jurisdiction in Palm Beach County has had a taxable value increase in more than a half-dozen years,” said John Thomas, director of residential appraisal services for the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office. Little Briny Breezes barely See TAX on page 7
Summer Arts ‘The Most Happy Fella’ comes to Dramaworks, plus chamber music festival returns and museums showcase art created from paper. Page AT6