Over the past month, volunteers have installed seven new pieces of sculpture along Northeast Second Avenue in the Pineapple Grove Arts District.

Gene Fisher, Norman Raiden, Jimmy Deitch, and Rich McGloin have been hard at work securing the artwork in place.

Raiden, a sculpture artist who splits his time between Delray Beach and Tennessee, coined the name "Pineapple Grove" for the neighborhood. He is the artist who recently created the "Big Fish" wood sculpture at Old School Square.

McGloin is the newest member of the Delray Beach Public Arts Advisory Board. Deitch owns The Beach Boat Company, and Fisher is known as the "grand poobah of Pineapple Grove."

"We've installed four sculpture bike racks and three pieces of art in the past month," Fisher said.

The money for the artwork installations came from a 2007 Palm Beach County arts grant, which city officials are still in the process of administering. So far the funds have produced two murals, the sculpture art bike racks, and other sculptures.

"Most people don't know there are bike racks," Fisher said. They include a musical clef, a spiky man, and colorful stick figures, along Northeast Second Avenue just north of Atlantic Avenue.

He said more projects are in the works including a mural called "Dancing Pineapples" and other projects to be completed in October.

For information visit www.pineapplegrove.org.

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By DAVID DiPINO
Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH - The four employees at the Spady Living Heritage Day Festival have been planning their event since April.
The hard work seems to have paid off. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, everyone is welcome to come out to the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, 170 NW Fifth Ave., and learn the history of Delray Beach, enjoy entertainment, and participate in a family-oriented activities.
Brandy Brownlee, an educator at the museum, said this is the third year that Heritage Day has been celebrated as a street festival.
The Renaissance Park Tradition Bearers from Mariana in Florida's Panhandle are set to demonstrate what early pioneer life was like, showing old-time broom-making, corn-shucking, and how to make homemade soap, jelly, syrup, corn bread and collard green. Free food samples will be available in addition to food for sale by the usual vendors.
Two stages will feature gospel, R&B and calypso music. Several groups will perform including the Milagro Stars, La Paloma, and the Delray Divas. The Knights of Pythagoras will present the color guard.
There will be a children's area with sidewalk chalk art, jacks, hopscotch, pony rides and a petting zoo, Brownlee said.
Admission is free. Bring lawn chairs and blankets.
For information visit www.spadymuseum.org or call 561-279-8883.

David DiPino can be reached at dddipino@tribune.com or 954-621-5000.

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By DAVID DiPINO
Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH - Applications are being accepted for the city's annual Residents Academy, which helps participants to better understand how city departments operate and what they do. The academy begins Oct. 2.
"It's a six-week course that familiarizes residents with how the city works including presentations by all city departments and tours of the Delray Beach Police Department and the Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Department," said Janet Meeks, Delray Beach education coordinator.
Classes are scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursdays.
Participants will visit the police department's shooting range, learn the day-to-day activities of the department, view an EMS demonstration at the fire rescue department and listen to presentations by the chiefs of each department.
Also scheduled are sessions with the city manager, city commission members and finance department officials. Those enrolled will have the opportunity to participate in a question-and-answer period during each session. The Residents' Academy program is free.
"It's a great way to see a part of Delray Beach you don't always get to see. The goal of the program is to [provide] a better idea of how the city works," Meeks said, adding that the academy can be a steppingstone for residents interested in participating in city advisory boards.
For information call 561-243-7231. Applications for the academy are available at the City Hall reception desk or can be downloaded from www.mydelraybeach.com. 



David DiPino can be reached at dddipino@tribune.com or 954-621-5000.

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By DAVID DiPINO
Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH - Fire Chief David James has returned to the city after completing a three-week fellowship for senior executives at Harvard University.
James said 74 municipal managers from around the world were invited to participate, including the mayor of Dublin, a deputy mayor from Finland, two state senators, an elected sheriff, and city and county managers participated in the program.
“We learned a conceptual framework for managing and developing better public, and governmental services,” he said.
Before settling into a routine of class work, James said the group barely got settled before they were asked to participate in an off-site Outward Bound program on a boat in Boston Harbor.
“Through the Outward Bound Program we learned problem solving and teamwork. It required everyone to work together,” James said.
The program was at the university's John F. Kennedy School of Government, a graduate professional school dedicated to training people in government and public service.
James said the pace was fast, with two to three hours of reading to do every night for preparation of the next day’s case studies. They also participated in small discussion groups,
“Class participation was very important in order to graduate, and attendance was monitored,” James said.
Those participating in the Harvard Fellowship Program lived in small apartments on the Harvard campus.
“Some of the reading was difficult. We read part of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and documents from past U.S. presidents,” James said.
Each year the National Fire Protection Association, along with the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Fire Administration, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the International Fire Service Training Association, selects individuals for the Harvard program. James was one of eight senior fire officials selected for this year's fellowship.
"I would have to rate my experience at Harvard as one of the most gratifying and humbling of my 34-year professional career," James said.

David DiPino can be reached at dddipino@tribune.com or 954-621-5000.

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By DAVID DiPINO
Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH – A feral street cat crosses Southwest Third Avenue, just a few feet from the Delray Beach Animal Shelter and the city's Animal Control offices. Unlike other municipalities in Palm Beach County, Delray Beach operates its own Animal Control Department.

But that could change if the city's budget cuts planned for the upcoming fiscal year halt the service.
Animal Control Officer Jennifer Feldman said she and her staff, kennel control Supervisor Carlos Thomas and an assistant animal control officer, handle more than 200 calls from police officers and residents every month.

At 8:39 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19, for example, Feldman and Thomas were called upon to rescue a female medium-sized dog that had been following a woman walking around southeastern Delray Beach.
"We assist police with calls all the time," Feldman said. "We do bite investigations, educate the public, pick up dead animals, put up free cat traps, and notify people if a pet tag is found."
City officials have suggested eliminating Delray Beach Animal Control, a division of the Code Enforcement department. All animal control work would be forwarded to Palm Beach County Animal Control.
"We're the littlest department … doing the dirtiest work," Thomas said. "The public likes us, they see us every day doing our job."
Feldman said she has been asked by Code Enforcement officials to provide documentation of Animal Control's annual records. She hopes that is what is needed to save the city's Animal Shelter, as well as her job.

Animal Control can be reached at 561-243-7330.

David DiPino can be reached at dddipino@tribune.com or 954-621-5000.

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By DAVID DiPINO
Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH – Writer Virginia Snyder, 88, has kicked off her publicity tour for a new tell-all book titled "And Justice for All: The Improbable Story of Virginia Snyder, Investigative Reporter and Private Investigator."

Snyder recently stopped by Boynton Beach radio station WXEL 90.7 FM to tape interviews for an upcoming feature on the station's " Florida Forum" show with host Ann Bocock. That show airs at 11 a.m. Sundays and re-airs at 7 p.m. Mondays.
Snyder answered questions about her abusive father while she was growing up, how she left Virginia and married and moved to Florida to pursue a newspaper reporting job and a college degree.
Then she worked as the only female private investigator in Florida, helping to free people who had been wrongly convicted of crimes and jailed due to mistakes by law enforcement here in South Florida.


"She's 88 … You know the saying you can't judge a book by its cover? That's Virginia Snyder," Bocock said.
"I went ahead with the skunk approach," Snyder said in describing her work. "If I made enough [of a] stink I could get somewhere."
She said her book should be available in book stores within a month. 





David DiPino can be reached at dddipino@tribune.com or 954-621-5000.

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