Jul
6
Affordable housing project in West Palm Beach hits brick wall
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Sunday, July 6, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH - In March 2006, when the real estate market was still near its peak, city leaders broke ground on a development they said would give teachers, firefighters and other workers the chance to own a home.
MerryPlace, built in the heart of historic Pleasant City, was meant to bring new life to a long-neglected neighborhood full of renters, dilapidated houses and vacant lots.
But two years later, many of the lots that were supposed to sprout with condos and townhouses are still empty. And in the worst national housing downturn since the Great Depression, even government-sponsored affordable housing is proving to be a tough sell.
The West Palm Beach Housing Authority, which is building MerryPlace in cooperation with the city, has buyers lined up for only 12 of its 52 condominiums, none of which has been built. Plans for 47 townhouses and more than a dozen single-family homes are on hold indefinitely.
The housing authority parted ways this year with Marc Schoen, the first real estate broker hired to sell the development. Schoen, a managing broker for Prudential Florida WCI in Boynton Beach, called that decision “really, really mutual.”
MerryPlace “was the right intention, four years too late,” Schoen said.
Jun
21
Department of Children and Families admits “major mistake” in failing to protect toddler
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Saturday, June 21, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
RIVIERA BEACH - By the time Vincent Clark was charged with felony neglect in the drug-overdose death of his 21-month-old son, Darius, he had been accused of attacking women at least six times.
When Clark pistol-whipped Darius’ mother, Toccara Nobles, in March, workers at the state Department of Children and Families were concerned enough to designate the case “high-risk.”
That meant that under Florida law, department attorneys were required to ask the court for permission to supervise Darius.
The DCF made a “major mistake” when it failed to do so five weeks before Darius died, Administrator Perry Borman said Friday in response to questions from The Palm Beach Post.
Department leaders say they did not do enough to protect the toddler, who was found dead in his bed in late April with enough drugs in his system to kill an adult.
“We ought to learn as much from this case as humanly possible,” DCF Assistant Secretary George Sheldon said.
Jun
14
State’s pledges to shield toddler killed by drug overdose not kept
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Saturday, June 14, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
RIVIERA BEACH - A month before toddler Darius Clark died with cocaine and painkillers in his system, employees at the state Department of Children and Families met to consider whether his mother could protect him.
They knew that the 21-month-old child’s father, Vincent Clark, was a violent drug abuser with a long felony arrest history. On March 7, he pistol-whipped the mother, Toccara Nobles, so badly that she had to get staples to close the wound on her head, according to DCF records released Friday.
The next day, Nobles agreed not to let Clark near her children and promised to get a restraining order and attend domestic-violence classes.
But the DCF records show no evidence that any investigators visited the family to see whether Nobles was following through on those promises until April 21, when the toddler was discovered dead from a drug overdose.
Jun
14
Suicide calls jump amid economic woes, hot line says
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Originally published in The Palm beach Post on Saturday, June 14, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A local hot line has seen a dramatic spike in suicide calls from people in Palm Beach County who are facing foreclosure and can’t pay their bills, according to numbers released Friday.
Since the start of the year, 256 people in the county told operators at the 211 hot line that they were thinking about suicide. Of those, 44 told operators that their main reason was that they had lost a job, were facing foreclosure, couldn’t afford to pay their bills or were homeless.
During the same period in 2007, from Jan. 1 to June 10, the hot line received 137 suicide calls from people in Palm Beach County. Only 15 of those gave economic reasons.
May
25
A.G. Holley tuberculosis hospital is envy of health officials in other states
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Sunday, May 25, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
LANTANA - Before the court order that separated Bert Sayre from his family and forced him into isolation, he had no idea what was making him so sick.
And at first, neither did the doctors. But by last May, the roofer from Tampa was too weak to lift his daughter, then only 3 years old.
On his third trip to his third hospital, he finally got the diagnosis. He had tuberculosis, a disease that is now rare in the United States but was once the nation’s leading cause of death.
The antibiotics that doctors prescribed to treat Sayre made him sick, and an emergency room doctor told him they were killing his liver. Sayre was afraid he would die.
The Florida Department of Health judged his disease a threat to the public and said he may have caused the complications by drinking. Sayre denied that and fought commitment because he didn’t want to leave his daughter. After a Hillsborough County court hearing where Sayre said everyone wore a mask, a judge ordered Sayre to A.G. Holley State Hospital.
May
8
Gov. Charlie Crist’s office approached firms about A.G. Holley tuberculosis hospital before privatization vote
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Thursday, May 8, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
LANTANA - Discussions about privatizing the state’s tuberculosis treatment program started weeks before lawmakers changed the state budget to make it mandatory.
Two potential suitors say they received calls from Gov. Charlie Crist’s economic development office about a month ago, asking whether they would be interested in taking over the program, now run by A.G. Holley State Hospital in Lantana.
One call went to the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, a renowned program based in Denver whose president is a former vice president at a medical technology company in Fort Lauderdale.
Another went to Jorge Dominicis, president of GEO Care, a Boca Raton-based company that runs psychiatric hospitals for the state.
Apr
22
Closing A.G. Holley tuberculosis facility would be perilous, survey of health departments says
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday, April 22, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
LANTANA - More people will become sick and die from tuberculosis if lawmakers close A.G. Holley State Hospital without an effective plan to treat difficult patients, county health department directors from around Florida warn.
Leaders of 49 of the 55 health departments that responded to a survey this month said they don’t think their communities can handle A.G. Holley’s approximately 50 patients. Most of those patients have been involuntarily committed to the state hospital in Lantana because they are contagious but refuse to take their medication. Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria and is spread through the air from one person to another when a person coughs or sneezes.
Dr. Kevin Sherin, who oversaw the online survey for the Florida Association of County Health Officers, said the hospitals in his area “would be hard pressed to know what to do” with homeless people and other difficult patients who have severely drug-resistant strains of the disease but refuse treatment.
Apr
16
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Wednesday, April 16, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
When Isaiah White was 6, he was one of the youngest patients living at SandyPines psychiatric hospital in Tequesta.
There, the first-grader was forced into full body restraints and left in a place called the “quiet room.” When he misbehaved, workers injected him with Haldol, a powerful drug meant for adults with schizophrenia.
Now, at age 11, five years after the psychiatric treatment that his mother believes made his emotional problems worse, Isaiah is a regular kid who collects skateboards and hangs out with friends.
This year, he started smiling in family photos for the first time, Cheryll White said.
“He is starting to enjoy life,” she said. “He’s not the angry little guy who runs around with his arms folded.”
The family gained some relief this month when she agreed to settle a lawsuit about his treatment at SandyPines. She alleged in the suit that workers at the center for emotionally disturbed children forced Isaiah into isolation for excessive periods and once left him lying in his own vomit.
Mar
16
One man’s energy moves foster care system
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Sunday, March 16, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
When a single mother of six was killed in Belle Glade, it was up to Alan Abramowitz, then the second-in-command of the county’s Department of Children and Families, to help decide what would happen to the children.
As Robert Barker, then head of Palm Beach County’s foster care agency, Child and Family Connections, remembers it, the father of the four older siblings offered to take in all six, including the two who weren’t his.
A foster care supervisor who visited the father’s home thought he seemed earnest, but on short notice, no one could be sure that he was capable of parenting six kids.
If something went wrong, Abramowitz could have to face bosses, judges and possibly even the media, all demanding to know why he had taken a gamble on the man. But few would blame him, Barker said, if he sent the kids to a shelter.
The decision Abramowitz made on that day several years ago shows how he became one of the most influential proponents of a revolution in Florida’s foster care system.
Feb
25
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Monday, Feb. 25, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH - When Charles Infantolino drew a losing hand in a game of seven-card stud Sunday, he won a record poker jackpot at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.
Infantolino’s losing hand of four queens won him $116,700 in an upside-down payout called the “bad beat.”
The jackpot is claimed when a player draws an almost unbeatable hand, then loses to an even better one.
Everyone at the table wins in a bad beat, but the runner-up is the luckiest. The “loser” wins half the jackpot, the “winner” takes a quarter and the other players divide the rest.
Nobody had been able to claim the bad beat jackpot at the kennel club in almost two months, and the jackpot swelled to $233,400.
Feb
8
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Outgoing Juvenile Justice Secretary Walt McNeil said Thursday that he did not see any problem with allowing three employees of his state agency to work on a juvenile justice reform project in Texas - in partnership with a top executive for a large Florida contractor they were supposed to oversee.
The partnership came about after Richard Nedelkoff, who was then chief operating officer of one of Florida’s largest juvenile justice contractors, Eckerd Youth Alternatives Inc., was asked to take over reform efforts at the troubled Texas Youth Commission.
Nedelkoff, who makes $160,000 in Texas, reached out to Rex Uberman, assistant secretary for residential services at the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, and asked whether he could bring his expertise to Texas.
Uberman is responsible for distributing and overseeing $195 million in state contracts for programs that treat juvenile delinquents, including $19.2 million that goes to Eckerd each year.
Texas is not paying Uberman as a consultant, but is reimbursing his travel expenses, including airfare, hotel, rental car and food.
Uberman said Thursday that he knew Nedelkoff was still working for Eckerd Youth Alternatives when he agreed to help, and saw no problem with an unpaid arrangement. But he told Nedelkoff he preferred the request come from the state.
Jan
24
Palm Beach County Health Department water survey finds 12% felt sick
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH - More than one in 10 people who drank city water when it was contaminated with fecal bacteria said they got sick, according to a survey of residents released by the Palm Beach County Health Department on Wednesday.
The more unheated tap water that residents drank in September and October, the more likely they were to say they felt ill, surveyors found.
The health department targeted a random sample of 5,000 households out of 23,763 West Palm Beach residential water customers between Oct. 12 and Nov. 2. Most of the households chosen for the survey didn’t have a home phone number, failed to return messages or didn’t want to participate.
But of the 315 water customers who agreed to the interview, 38 people — or 12 percent — said they had symptoms such as diarrhea, stomach pain and nausea. Of those, six said they sought medical treatment.
Jan
13
Sago Palm Academy closing signals end of era
Filed Under juvenile justice, single stories | 2 Comments
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The closing of a Pahokee program for juvenile offenders is meant to help bring about a revolution in the way the state of Florida treats arrested teens.
No longer, Department of Juvenile Justice leaders say, will the state send teens to large correctional institutions like Sago Palm Academy, where they are locked in cells originally built for teens convicted as adults.
The last of more than 250 teens at the Pahokee center will likely be transferred out of the program in June, bringing an end to an era when the state put much of its money into expensive facilities ringed with razor wire.
Many in the state’s juvenile justice system, including the leader of the private company that ran the Pahokee program, say they welcome the philosophical change from big institutions to smaller community programs, where they can spend more time working with the teens’ parents. But they question whether state legislators have the political will — and the money — to invest in that those ideals.
Dec
29
With less green coming from the state, nonprofit turns to greens
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
INDIANTOWN - Tired of facing tight state budgets for people with disabilities, one local nonprofit is trying an unconventional method of raising money: bibb and romaine lettuce.
Fred Eisinger, who heads Seagull Industries for the Disabled in Riviera Beach, has done all the usual money makers: thrift stores, golf tournaments, charity luncheons. But all of those together bring in about $50,000 a year, not enough to run his residential and work programs for adults with disabilities such as Down syndrome.
So Eisinger began eyeing Seagull Ranch, a 20-acre plot the charity owns in Indiantown. And he decided to start farming.
This month, Seagull delivered 250 heads of lettuce to its first client, The Breakers resort in Palm Beach. Seagull earns $2 a head, which it will use to pay for its programs.
Nov
27
Murder suspect, jury pool spar
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Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH - The trial of an octogenarian accused of killing a man outside a Boca Raton synagogue began Monday with an unusual conversation between the 81-year-old defendant and the jurors who will decide his case.
Murder suspects typically sit in silence as their attorneys screen the jury pool, trying to weed out those who seem likely to convict. But defendant Marc Benayer, who is adamant about serving as his own attorney, asked prospective jurors the questions himself.
Several told Benayer they did not think it was a good idea to stand trial for murder without a lawyer.
“With all due respect, Mr. Benayer, I’m not sure that you are capable of properly defending yourself in this matter,” one prospective juror told him.
“Bad move,” another said.