INSIDE WEEK OF MAY 29-JUNE 5,5, 20142014 www.FloridaWeekly.com Vol.VoV l. IV,IV, No.No. 33 • FREE LOOK FOR MORE IN-DEPTH CANDIDATE PROFILES IN WEEKS TO COME RenownedR Zac Brown Hard-rockingH country band is CRIST’S headingh to the Cruzan. A28 w RETURN Networking/SocietyN With a new party, WhoW was out and about in Palm ‘Teflon’ candidate BeachB County. A18, 20, 22, 37w seeks to return to Tallahassee BY ROGER WILLIAMSS rwilliams@fl oridaweekly.comyy.comm THE 44TH GOVERNOR OF THE SUNSHINE State looks like a man who just escaped from a picture of himself. But Charlie Crist is as real and crisp as a new bill, a suntanned flash of good-natured ambition in a white dress shirt with yellow-striped tie Kovel’s Antiques over dark trousers, reaching to shake hands. Even antique ivory may be His hair is still silver, his teeth rendered worthless by pending are still white, his tan is still deep legislation. A24 w and his smile — engaging and seemingly amused as he stands near the bar of The Francis in ▲ If he wins, in downtown Sarasota — sug- former Gov. gests that he’s having a really Charlie Crist good time. will be the first victor to have switched SEE CRIST, A10 w parties. COURTESY PHOTO COURTESY TheTh Dish Wanted: Mature folks for AmeriCorps Turkey-jalapeño combo lures us _________________________SPECIAL TO FLORIDA WEEKLY Participants would provide transportation and have vehicles that are easily accessible back to Yard House. A39 w to appointments, assistance with errands, by seniors. If there were a want-ad, it would read: plus grocery shopping and socialization. Now, about that next generation. “Wanted: A few good men — and women If you think it’s a volunteer gig, think again. Participants also can earn an educational Download — of a certain age who want to help other There is a payback beyond the satisfaction voucher of $1,500, which is transferrable to our FREE mature folks, and boost the next generation.” of a job well done — team members receive a children and grandchildren for college. App today The AmeriCorps team at Alpert Jewish monthly living allowance of $211 plus mileage Training for new members of the Alpert Family and Children’s Service is recruiting by committing to 10 daytime hours a week to Jewish Family & Children’s Service team Available on local seniors to join its Seniors Helping the program, Monday through Friday. members begins Oct. 1. If interested, contact the iTunes and Seniors Program, which serves clients in the The catch? Nancy Frent at Alpert Jewish Family & Chil- Android App Store. Lake Worth and Boynton Beach areas. Participants must be year-round residents dren’s Service at 684-1991. ■ PRSRT STD OPINION A4 ANTIQUES A24 EVENTS A32-34 U.S. POSTAGE PETS A6 BUSINESS A25 PUZZLES A38 PAID FORT MYERS, FL HEALTHY LIVING A14 ARTS A28 SOCIETY A20-21, 37 PERMIT NO. 715 BUSINESS A23 SANDY DAYS A29 DINING A39 A2 NEWS WEEK OF MAY 29 - JUNE 4, 2014 www.FloridaWeekly.com GARDENS/JUPITER FLORIDA WEEKLY COMMENTARY Be true to our schools If you live from paycheck to paycheck, The coalition of the self-serving with student funding, but not back to its peak youry best shot at financing college is the undeserving reminds me of the level in 2007. Out of $2.5 billion in new winningw the lottery or subsuming your teenage weasel, Eddie Haskell, from the revenue, only 7 percent of that went to leslieLILLY students in a mountain of debt. Our pub- old television series, “Leave It to Bea- K-12 education. [email protected] licl schools and publicly supported uni- ver.” Eddie was always up to no good but Our own success as adults is evidence versitiesv are historically the infrastruc- always feigning pure motives. Imagine of the value and worth of public schools. turet of choice to support broad-based that Eddie, by some miracle of inepti- Despite all the things that are wrong, access to educational opportunity for tude, is the education czar. He trashes the preponderance of things going right In the last six months, I attended two the vast majority of our country’s stu- with glee his own alma mater, destroy- are far more affirming than the tenor of graduation ceremonies. These events dents. Those who have alternatives to a ing publicly funded schools in order to public debate would suggest. mark a time when young people cross public education have always had them, “save” them. Shifting public resources My optimism rebounds on hearing a threshold toward their futures, uncer- based on their privilege and their race. to fund a parallel universe of private the remarks of a young scholar chosen tain though they may be. We are all The exceptional efforts to accommo- schools is not a righteous cause. Those by her class to deliver the commence- stakeholders in their success, regardless date bright students of modest means at lawmakers who championed the give- ment address at the FAU Honors College of whether we share a blood kinship. private institutions include affirmative away deserve to be flunked like Eddie. graduation. She spoke with eloquence of Our taxes and income support pub- action, low cost-student loans, and vari- Advocates of private school vouch- her own academic experience, including lic education from the preschool start ous forms of financial assistance. ers claim “choice” programs, charter her acknowledgment of and praise for through the post-secondary finish line Take these away, and you get an over- schools, and the tax credit scholarship the mentors and instructors who sus- offered by publicly funded universi- whelmingly white student body with programs to promote corporate gifts to tained her studies throughout her public ties. Assuming young people have the upper-income parents functioning as private and mostly faith-based schools, university experience. aspiration and the opportunity to attend their ATM. Making access affordable are for a good cause, helping all those The graduating class and the entire a post-secondary institution, they and and improving the quality of public edu- underprivileged kids with the big brown audience rose to its feet in response to their supporters will need deep pock- cation is the only real choice worth mak- eyes who are orphaned in underper- her remarks, providing a standing ova- ets. The National Center for Education ing if we want an educated, informed, forming schools find an escape route tion for the faculty. It made me think we Statistics reports the average annual and productive citizenry capable of con- from mediocrity. know more than we are saying about the cost for undergraduate tuition, fees, tributing to society. It is easier to abandon than fix what importance of our public schools and room, and board was $16,789 at public, Most Americans commonly share a is wrong in public schools; but if you universities; and that the time has come four-year institutions (including $5,500 public school background and are grate- peel the onion down to its core, it is to stand up and say it. ■ for in-state tuition); and tuition and ful for the experience; but a powerful really a massive “bait-and-switch” effort required fees average $2,647 at public defense in support of public education by conservative lawmakers. The intent — Lilly is a native Floridian and past two-year institutions. is lacking. Certainly, our lawmakers in is to undermine public education, con- president and CEO of the Community Private universities are rarely an Tallahassee have little affection for the tinue shifting the burden of financing Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin option for students from families of schoolhouse of their memories. public schools from the state to local Counties. Her professional career spans modest income. The center estimates Instead, they made cynical work of governments, and increase the misap- more than 25 years in the charitable sec- the average annual, all-inclusive expense the state budget process, and undercut propriation of state tax revenues to fund tor, leading major philanthropic institu- for undergraduates is $37,906 at private, public education, spending billions else- the expansion of private schools at the tions in the South and rural Appalachia. nonprofit, four-year institutions, and where, joined by an army of lobbyists public’s expense. She resides with her family and pugs in $23,364 at private, for-profit four-year on their robber’s mission to appropriate The latest budget approved by our Jupiter. Email her at [email protected] institutions. public dollars for private schools. conservative lawmakers increases per- and follow Lilly on Twitter @llilly15. Heart surgery that doesn’t leave much of a scar, but does leave a lasting impression. Having a child with a heart problem can throw any family’s life off beat. The Heart Center at the Palm Beach Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center is here to restore the normal pace of life for both children and their parents with minimally invasive treatment options in cardiac care. The Heart Center’s team is directed by Dr. Michael Black, one of the country’s leading pediatric and congenital heart surgeons specializing in minimally invasive “Touch Free” techniques. This allows for less scarring and a quicker recovery, which means that kids – and their parents – can get back to enjoying their normal, healthy lives as soon as possible.possible. For more information and to receive a FREE KITE, call 561-841-KIDS Learn more at: PalmBeachChildrens.com 901 45th Street West Palm Beach, FL 33407 of Open-Heart Surgery at PalmPa lm BBeacheach GGardensa r d e ns MMedicaledi cal CenterC entee On Novemberber 9, 1983, Palmal Beach Gardens Medicalical Center,C along withwitwi Richard Faro, MD, performed thee first open-heart surgeryry in Palm Beachh CountyCo and has continueddb to be one of fhld the leadingih heart hiliPhospitalsi in PalmlB BeachB County and the Treasure Coast.