INSIDE WEEK OF DECEMBER 17-23, 2015 www.FloridaWeekly.com Vol. VI, No. 9 • FREE FPL’s new discovery center for viewing sea cows will be the fanciest in the state when it opens in February At the Norton Works by Degas and van Gogh, plus Israel and Tiny, too. B1 SCOTT SIMMONS / FLORIDA WEEKLY Martha Bolender Simmons holds the Madame Alexander bride doll she received in 1948. Is any gift more precious than a memory? Networking/Society BY SCOTT SIMMONS Even The Donald was spotted at ssimmons@fl oridaweekly.com an event. 8 pages inside COURTESY PHOTOS When my grandmother, Kathryn, TOP: A rendering of the new discovery center. ABOVE: There are 3,000 West Indian manatees left. spoke of her mother-in-law, you could hear the italics and see the underline in her voice. It was magical. If ever two souls were destined for friendship, it was Kathryn Yagen and Martha Bolender. MANATEE They adored each other. When my grandparents married in 1937, Martha took Kathryn under her wing, treating her like her own daughter CLUBHOUSE — never mind that Grandma was quite close to her own mother. They did everything together — cooked, sewed, gardened, played bridge, BY STEPHANIE MURPHY-LUPO attended study clubs and doted on my Special to Florida Weekly mother and aunt. It was only natural that when the 1948 IF IT WERE A TALL, WHITE LAMPSHADE WITH ASYMMETRIC Damage control Christmas season rolled around, they angles, the sunny yellow finial would offset a jaunty jux- How Volkswagen is handling its shopped together in Indianapolis, which taposé at one edge. As it happens, said finial is the cupola diesel scandal. was about 60 miles west of their home- atop the metal roof of what a local has dubbed “the man- A16 town, Connersville, Ind. atee clubhouse.” There, they saw the Madame Alexan- One need not be a member, however, to enjoy “Mana- der doll display in one of the department tee Lagoon — An FPL Eco-Discovery Center,” a free eco- stores of the day, most likely L.S. Ayres tourism attraction scheduled to open in February. or Block’s, and Martha was entranced by the new line of hard-plastic brides. SEE MANATEE, A10 “I want to get these for the girls,” she said. “Oh, they’re too young, and these are too expensive,” Grandma said. At the time, my mother, also named The Dish Martha, was 8; her sister, Georganne, was 6. Late night pizza hits the spot at The 20-inch dolls cost about $25 at a City Cellar. B23 time when minimum wage was 40 cents an hour and the average annual salary was around $3,600. The costumes, made Download of bias-cut white satin over netting, were exquisite. our FREE Martha prevailed, and, as the 16mm App today movies revealed, the girls reveled in their Available on Manatees congregate in an area waterway. the iTunes and SEE MEMORIES, A7 Android App Store. OPINION A4 REAL ESTATE A21 CALENDAR B4-6 PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PETS A6 ANTIQUES A22 PUZZLES B10 PAID FORT MYERS, FL BUSINESS A16 WHEELS A23 SOCIETY B12-13, 16, 20 PERMIT NO. 715 INVESTING A18 ARTS B1 WINE & CUISINE B22,23 A2 NEWS WEEK OF DECEMBER 17-23, 2015 www.FloridaWeekly.com GARDENS/JUPITER FLORIDA WEEKLY COMMENTARY Bah humbug The Tampa Bay Times reports 43 among compassionate folks for his in state revenue. The Herald wrote the other states collect a corporate levy refusal to expand Medicaid to 1 million- downsizing “was part of a deliberate for their state treasuries, so Florida is plus Floridians without health insur- attempt to reduce state spending on leslieLILLY not an outlier. According to the Times, ance. Most people think it took a lot of kids … by making the number of young- [email protected] Florida’s draw from this source is about nerve for the governor and his cronies sters in a program called Children’s $2 billion, or 7 percent of state general to walk away from $66.1 billion in fed- Medical Services shrink to line up with revenue. Tinkering with that number eral funding over the next decade. the money the state wanted to spend.” sends a ripple throughout the state’s That is the amount available to reim- The state was highly successful. Under With the holiday season upon us, a budget. It is a consequence worthy of burse the state for expansion of Medic- Scott’s oversight, Florida purged 9,000 spirit of generosity fills the air. The jovi- legislative debate. aid and for which Floridians will con- sick children from the medical services ality is perhaps nowhere more enthusi- The governor’s proposal hasn’t been tribute federal taxes but receive no ben- offered under the program. astic than in Tallahassee. greeted by lawmakers as a slam dunk. It efits. But like Scrooge, the Republican Such cold hearted, miserly conduct Special interests are lining up at is a sign of intelligent life in their legis- governor claims to squeeze a dollar toward medically vulnerable children the punch bowl to celebrate Gov. Rick lative universe. The over-population of until the eagle grins. He charades as a is disheartening. At least in Charles Scott’s proposal to give corporations conservatives in the Legislature hasn’t fiscal conservative to detract the people Dickens’ telling of “The Christmas the biggest gift in the state’s history, demonstrated a superior IQ at work. A from what he is up to — appropriating Carol,” there is redemption for Ebenezer an overall $1 billion tax cut. It includes constituency of donors commands most and allocating public assets to subsidize Scrooge. His change of heart saved poor, permanently eliminating the corporate of their attention, and fulfilling promis- and prop up corporate profiteering at sickly Tiny Tim. Don’t expect the gover- income tax on retailers and manufac- sory notes for contributions received is the public’s expense. nor to experience a similar epiphany. turers. of greater priority than Florida’s future. The compelling logic behind the give- Scott buoys his self-congratulatory While the lobbyists are singing joy No mental acuity is required to oper- aways is always job creation, as if the mood by assuring Floridians he is doing to the world, you have to wonder how ate on the basis of “you get what you state does not already have enough his part for the little people. His spend- our state can afford to be a corporate pay for.” working poor. Competing with Bangla- ing plan includes a half a billion dollar welfare spendthrift of this magnitude. Meanwhile, the governor expects to desh for manufacturing jobs is not going increase in spending for education. It is like your dad going crazy with a graduate from his office with his future to float anyone’s boat when the gover- He neglects to mention he will pick credit card to support a holiday spend- ambitions intact to lead greater mis- nor expects the majority of Florida’s the pockets of property owners to gath- ing spree, oblivious to the future date chief in a bigger circus. His trajectory workers to live on a minimum wage. er 80 percent of the dollars needed when all the bills come due and there is is supported by special interests heavily You have to look at what the gover- to fund his plan. Like an unrepentant not enough money to pay them. invested in his future success — and a $1 nor does and not what he says to fully Scrooge, and despite all the evidence of Fortunately, at least a few lawmakers billion tax cut enhances their short-term appreciate the depth of his stinginess his pecuniary habits, Scott insists this is in the state Legislature are paying atten- memory. toward Florida families. not really a tax increase. Bah humbug, tion. They recognize the potential of Scott must channel his inner Scrooge The Miami Herald recently reported I say. ■ a fiscal train wreck. If Scott’s proposal to whip up a tax-cut proposal hugely that in 2011, the state began slashing survives the Legislature as proposed, beneficial to the private sector, and at spending on sick children by overhaul- — Leslie Lilly is a native Floridian. some lawmakers say it will blow a the same time putting a squeeze on the ing and restructuring the state’s medical She resides with her family and pugs in $3-billion hole in the state’s budget future of the state’s citizens. services. It undertook the cost-cutting Jupiter. Email her at llilly@floridaweek- three years down the road. He earned notoriety as a tightwad in the context of a $635.4 million surplus ly.com. TOP 5% IN THE NATION FOR LABOR & DELIVERY Award winning reasons to choose St. Mary’s for maternity and neonatal services, including caring people, advanced technology and more than 75 years of experience. 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