BSO deputies have roads closed near SE 12 Avenue and Hillsboro Boulevard while the fire department works to cap an active gas leak. Please avoid the area at this time.

DEERFIELD BEACH

June 1 Three juvenile black males were arrested after joyriding in the golf cart they stole from Deerfield Park Elementary. They ended up smashing it into the walls at school, causing $6,000 in damage.

June 2 Tareq Warwar was arrested at 1360 S. Federal Hwy. after threatening two victims with a gun and two rounds were discharged.

June 2 Police responded to a fire on the playground at Deerfield Palms Condo Association, 1337 S. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield. No suspects located but fire that caused $2,500 in damage was put out.

June 3 Over 400 gallons of used vegetable oil were stolen from Johnson Biofuels on E. Hillsboro Boulevard

June 4 A home on NE 50 Street was burglarized.

June 4 A car parked on NW 9 Avenue was burglarized and $1,100 was missing.

June 5 Police responded to several theft incidents along Deerfield beach, where suspects reached into unattended items.

DEERFIELD – District 4

June 2 Residential burglary was reported in Deer Run, 343 SW 32 Terr., between 7:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Victim stateed that unknown suspects entered his residence, removing loose change and a watch.

June 2 Residential burglary occured in Harbors of Riverglen, 527 NW 45 Ave., between 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Victim stated unknown person(s) entered his residence, removing electronics and paperwork.

June 4 Suspect was apprehended after an armed kidnapping/ armed robbery at 4300 block of SW 10 Place. Victim reported she was followed to her home and approached by the suspect with a knife. Suspect demanded money and, when none was produced, he forced the victim into her vehicle; they were going to drive to a bank. Victim realized an opportunity to escape and jumped from the vehicle before reaching the bank. Suspect returned to the victim’s home and removed items of value. Through joint efforts by BSO Deerfield Beach deputies, BSO Criminal Investigations Division and Ft. Lauderdale Police Department, the suspect was apprehended. Investigation is ongoing.

June 2-5 Residential burglary in Deer Creek, 2384 Lob Lolly Lane. Victim advised someone entered his unlocked rear- screened patio and stole his 37” LCD TV while he was out of town. Scene was processed.

Remember: If you see suspicious activity in your neighborhood, call 911 immediately.

LIGHTHOUSE POINT

May 25 Publix reported theft of the cardboard boxes behind the Venetian Isles location.

May 31 Victim reported a clone of her card was used in Virginia Beach for a loss of $2,201.

May 31 Copper was stolen from A/C units at Debt Solutions of North America. Entire unit will have to be replaced at a value of $10,000.

June 1 Lighthouse Point Florists, on NE 24 Street, was burglarized, and cash register with change stolen, for total loss of $560.

To the commission RE: Utility tax

Dear Editor:

At last year’s budget hearings, this commission raised the millage rate by 17 percent and increased the fire assessment fee. You said these increases were necessary to balance the budget. We learned to live with these increases because we were led to believe that was the end of your adding to our tax burden. Now you want to add a 10 percent levy on electric, water and metered gas. It’s only $10 or $12 a month. That’s easy to say if you’re earning $169,000 or $126,000 or $30,000 for a part-time job. But for a lot of people, $12 to $15 a month means putting food on the table or gas in your car.

My newspaper carrier just quit his job because he could not afford the gas for his car to make deliveries. What is the carrot you are using to encourage support for this tax increase? It is the promise of lowering the tax rate by 1 mill. But you’re not reducing the tax rate. We are. Once again you plan to use our money.

Right now, the city has $11 million in its undesignated reserve. Take $3 million from that. Don’t panic. We know that to maintain our bond rating, we must have 5 to 15 percent of our General Fund in reserve. Last year, our General Fund totaled $74 million, so $8 million in reserve meets the 10 percent criteria. The city plans to gain $2,970,000 from the 5 percent pay back by everyone employed by the city. That money plus $2 million from the undesignated reserve equals $4,970,000, which gives you a 1 mill deduction in the millage rate. You still have a million from the reserve to help balance the budget, and if it takes an increase in the fire assessment fee to make it work, then so be it. At least we will be dealing with something we have a year to budget for and it is deductible, while a utility tax is not.

I am sure you are aware that the forecast is for a double dip recession in the economy. Obviously, this is not the time to be spending money we don’t have on recreational improvements – we will have to do without for the time being. If such improvements are a dire necessity, then put it to the voters in the future, but not now.

Jean M. Robb

Deerfield Beach

Editor’s note: During commission comments, Commissioner Bill Ganz said he’d like to clear up some of the numbers that have been floating around. Specifically, he challenged the 17 percent. About half of residents, including him, did experience an increase in property taxes last year. About half, including his neighbor, did not, he said.

Total millage rate for FY 2010-11 was 6.7688, up from 5.7900 for FY 2009-10.

Dear Editor:

As I mentioned to [City Manager] Burgess Hanson on Monday, we now have the votes to stop this Utility tax, and further, I think we should also go to the people about the Fire Department. There are many reasons behind this, but I would hope that you all consider pulling these as it will only cost the city more money, nearly $102,000.

It is time that the people in Deerfield, all the people of Deerfield, have a voice and are presented with all the facts and answers in decisions that will affect them in the years to come. Further, I think it is time that you also move these up to the front of the agenda, to save us all a lot of time and aggravation. We are sick and tired of these childish moves. We have a lot to do [rather than] sit there throughout the meeting waiting for what we are all there for. This form of a meeting needs to change and the ethics behind it. We are sick of it.

This is not your city, it is ours.

John Grassi

Deerfield Beach

*Letter sent in Tuesday, prior to commission meeting.

Jacksonville Mayor Election a Harbinger to 2012?

Dear Editor:

Last week, a Democrat was elected Mayor in Jacksonville. This is a huge upset. Republicans control northeast Florida, and Jacksonville has ALWAYS been a GOP stronghold. Duvall County Republican Chairman Lenny Curry said, “The liberal organizers who want to keep the American people enslaved by wasteful spending and hideous deficits need to know that they have jumped the gun on 2012 and have awakened a sleeping giant.”

Republicans better hope Curry is wrong about the race being a harbinger to the 2012 elections. A Democrat was elected mayor to Florida’s largest county. President Eisenhower stated, “Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.” Not that I am a fan of Ike but today the Republicans would denounce the former GOP President for this remark. Maybe the Jacksonville mayor election is a harbinger of the 2012 elections.

Brad Burtner

Deerfield Beach

By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

The Bucks 30-year class reunion has been set, starting with an informal get-together at Bru’s Room on Friday, Aug. 19. The formal/informal reception is confirmed for August 20 from 7-11 p.m. at Deer Creek Country Club, with dinner, open bar and music.

This is quite an achievement, considering that the world almost ended before my classmates and I were born. The Cuban Missile Crisis and JFK assassination weighs heavily upon our prenatal and post-natal years.

The Cuban Missile Crisis is an important plot point in the recent box office champion, X Men: First Class.

Given that X-Men: First Class is a reboot/origin story, producer Lauren Shuler Donner and Bryan Singer acknowledge the preconceived notions of the fan base. Like the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962; the audience knows the final results, the suspense derives from the mystery of the moments.

In this case, we learn why old friends Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto  (Michael Fassbender) become arch-enemies. We learn how the Xavier School of Gifted Youngsters works in partnership with the American government. We uncover the reason why Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) likes to walk around naked in her scaly blue skin.

Much like the original X-Men, this science fiction parable opens in stark seriousness; Erik Lehnsherr (the future Magneto) is dragged into the gates of Auschwitz. Lehnsherr’s metal manipulation ability comes into the focus of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a German scientist who believes that mutants are the next step of human evolution. Adopting the methods of the Nazis, Shaw tortures Lehnsherr, who spends the rest of the movie plotting revenge.

Shot in the style of a Sean Connery/James Bond adventure, X-Men: First Class is entertaining from beginning to end. It contains a globetrotting narrative that avoids a major pet peeve of this columnist; this showdown culminates during daylight in wide open spaces.

Since 1997, it seems as if most big-budgeted summer releases save their climatic scenes for nighttime in claustrophobic settings.

The success of the X-Men franchise is its multidimensional characters. From the first X-Men, sides of good and evil were easily drawn. Director/co-writer Matthew Vaughn reverses these expectations and finds a way to find a satisfying conclusion. A clever cameo links all five movies.

Granted, there is free drama on TV, as the Miami Heat strive to reclaim their NBA Championship. But take time to see X-Men: First Class at a matinee price.

By Scott Morganroth

There is one thing that FAU Baseball has successfully accomplished that football is working on, and that’s being a good feeder system for the professional ranks as it builds a tradition.

Football Coach Howard Schnellenberger is working on that after being on the gridiron 10 years. With a new on-campus stadium on the way, there is plenty to look forward to.

Meanwhile, the Owls just completed their baseball season with a 32-25 record and finished 25-9 at home. They were 17-13 in conference play to tie for fourth place.

A real major bright spot for FAU was the performance of senior shortstop Nick DelGuidice, who enhanced his chances of getting drafted this month in the Major League Baseball Draft by ending his career in style. He was named to the Sun Belt Conference’s All-Tournament Team.

He drove in six runs, scored four more and posted a .417 batting average in the Owls three games.

The Miami native had five RBIs, including a two-run home run on Wednesday, June 1, during an extra-inning game against the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers.

He added a pair of singles in FAU’s game on Saturday against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the eventual tournament champion. He went 5-12 at the plate in the tournament.

DelGuidice earned second team all-conference honors for a regular season in which he led the team with 50 RBIs and 20 doubles. He set a school record with 58 career doubles.

He ended the season with a .341 batting average and scored 34 runs.

Meanwhile, the Florida Atlantic Softball team lost to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), 8-0, in five innings in the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday, May 14.

It was the second trip for the Owls to the Sun Belt championship game in three years. The Owls (34-25) lost to ULL, 8-3, in the finals of the Sun Belt Tournament in 2009.

The Ragin’ Cajuns (49-9) scored in the first inning when an FAU fielding error allowed the run to score. ULL hit three homers on the day, which scored six of the eight runs. Rose Gressley and Ashlyn Parmerter had hit for the Owls in the game.

FAU has never had a losing season in its 17 years of softball, recording a .500 record only once. Senior pitcher Gressley and junior second baseman Heather Barnes were both named to the Sun Belt All-Tournament Team.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.

Tastings &Tapas

Thursday, June 9, 6 to 8 p.m.

Carmen’s At The Top of the Bridge, 999 E. Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL 33432

Sample wines, get discount on dining. www.bocaratonbridgehotel.com

Movies Under the Stars – The Incredibles

Friday, June 10, 8 p.m.

Four Fields Complex, 1700 NE 8 St., Pompano Beach, FL 33060

Free. Bring chairs, blankets, food, drinks. Drinks/snacks also available for sale. 954-786-4111 or www.mypompanobeach.org/events.

The Commedia Robin Hood

Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11, 7p.m.

Sunday, June 12, 2 p.m.

Sol Children’s Theatre , 3333 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton, FL 33431

Early reservations recommended. $12, includes refreshments. 561-447-8829. www.
solchildren.org

NE Focal Point Childcare Open House

Friday, June 10, 9 a.m. to noon, 3 to 6 p.m.

227 NW 2 St., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Tour classroom, meet staff. Center is 5+ quality-rated preschool. For ages 3-5 years.  Open Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuition includes breakfast, lunch and snacks. Certified teachers. Administered by the City of Deerfield Beach. 954-480-4473.

Splash Luau

Friday, June 10, 6 to 10 p.m.

Quiet Waters Park, 401 S. Powerline Rd., Deerfield Beach, FL  33442

Movie, luau, games and other activities, along with splash time in the park’s Splash Adventure water park. $5.50 per-person admission fee does not include refreshments. Space limited. Advance ticket sales required. 954-357-5100.

Pier Clean-up

Saturday, June 11, 9 to 11:45 a.m.

Deerfield Beach Pier, Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Yearly event. Help remove waste collected by divers or help sign up divers to go into water. Call 954-420-0009.

Auditions for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Saturday, June 11, 2 to 4 p.m.

Sol Children Theatre, 3333 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton, FL 33431

Also Saturday, June 25, Sunday, June 26, 10 a.m. to noon.  Saturday, July 16, 9 a.m. to noon- Final Auditions/Callbacks. Looking for actors ages 14 and older. Closed audition: 1-minute prepared monologue from published play or classic literature. All roles available and unpaid. If new to Sol Children Theatre, bring brief bio and headshot (does not need to be professional). Rehearsals begin August for October performances.  Auditions by appointment only. 561-447-8829. www.solchildren.org.

Feel the Force: Hurricanes & other hazards

Saturday, June 11, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Miami Science Museum, 3280 S. Miami Ave., Miami, FL 33129

Just in time for Hurricane season. Tour an Emergency Rescue Vehicle, test skills of observation with Miami-Dade Police Department Homeland Security Bureau, learn how weather works, engage kids in disaster preparedness, be TV Weathercaster in the Hurricane Broadcast Center, receive free fingerprints of your children, meet local National Weather Service forecasters and more! www.miamisci.org

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Safe Boating Course

Saturday, June 11, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Imperial Point Medical Center (Auditorium C), 6401 N. Federal Hwy., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308

Presented by U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 34, Pompano Beach. $50 (includes lunch/materials). 954-421-0502.

MadHatters Tea Luncheon

Saturday, June 11, 11:30 a.m.

Hilton Hotel, 100 Fairway Dr., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Democratic Women’s Club of NE Broward meeting to discuss critical issues. Addition of  hats is a bit of fun, which will include prizes for largest, smallest, most political and most outrageous. Honoree: Maureen S. Dinnen, Broward County School Board member. Luncheon cost- $40. 954-942-8722.

GOP BBQ

Saturday, June 11, 1 to 4 p.m. (general admission)

Bergeron Ranch, 211111 SW 16 St., Weston, FL 33332

May be worth traveling to for those wanting a “country afternoon” with Congressman Allen West, County Commissioner Chip LaMarca, Sheriff Al Lamberti, Rep. George Moraitis and Rep. Matt Hudson. VIP (12-1 p.m.) – $100. Gen. Adm. (1 to 4 p.m.) $35. Children – $10, under 5 – free. www.browardgop.com

Meet Best-Selling author!

Saturday, June 11, 11 a.m.

Barnes & Nobles, 1400 Glades Rd., Boca Raton, FL 33431

Florida-based author Laura Duksta will be on-hand with her best-selling children’s book “I Love You More” and her newest children’s book “You are a Gift To The World,” which flips over to “The World is a Gift To You.” www.LauraDuksta.com.

Deerfield Beach Democratic Club

Monday, June 13, 7 p.m.

Century Village Activity Center, 2400 Century Blvd., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442

Speaker: Mr. George B. Beasley from ESI. Topic: How to keep you and your home safe.  954-415-5658

By Deron Peterson,  senior pastor at First Baptist Church, Deerfield Beach

This past Memorial Day weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to upstate New York, where I grew up. I always enjoy going back there for a visit.

This place is in the heart of the Adirondack National Park, the town, Schroon Lake. A small community with a population of 1,735, according to City-Data.com, that transforms itself into a thriving metropolis the day after Memorial Day. We used to say; “They roll out the sidewalks on Memorial Day and roll them back up on Labor Day.”

A short drive through Schroon Lake belies the sparse population as you see small houses, cottages really, scattered along the shores of the lake.  The reason for the inconsistent population, however, is the summer residents.  They begin to invade Schroon Lake not long after Memorial Day, as tradition dictates, and return home around Labor Day, leaving behind a little ghost town … our little ghost town.

I try to make it a habit to spend 4th of July in Schroon Lake … parade, patriotic concert on the beach, and the most amazing fireworks you could ever imagine. I went there last July with my kids, believing there is no way it would live up to my memories. I was wrong. It’s not that it’s the biggest parade, it’s actually quite small. The concert is not the best, just local artists singing their best in honor of God and country, and the fireworks are not the biggest, but quite impressive for a small mountain town of only 1,800. What makes this place so spectacular? Tradition. You’ve heard the saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Well, that’s Schroon Lake.

I talked with an 89-year-old man a couple of weeks ago who used to vacation in Schroon Lake. He showed me a picture of the town from 1985. When I arrived on May 27 and drove down Main Street, that picture from 1985 could’ve been taken today and it would look exactly the same. Stewarts is still one of only two gas stations and the only one that serves Ice Cream. “Make your own sundaes” are their specialty. Then there’s Decesear’s Pizza — the only pizza place you pay $20 for a pizza you would pay $10 for anywhere else and you still feel like you got a bargain. Why. It’s the only pizza place in town. Then there’s my personal favorite, Pitkins. The local diner where the owner, Marie, still waits tables with a smile as she sits down at your table and talks about the good old days. She’ll remember your name and even ask you how your family is doing. It’s a place where every stranger feels at home. It’s a place where it’s still like it used to be in the “good ole days.”

Do you have a Schroon Lake? Do you have a place that always feels like home, which seems to never change, that you can count on year after year? At our church, we celebrate Jesus Christ. You know what it says about Christ in Hebrews 13? It says, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Isn’t that amazing? Finally, something you can count on, someone who cares, someone who loves you enough to die on the cross for you, someone who says, “There is no one left to judge you, and neither do I,” someone who will receive you with open arms and someone who you can depend upon day after day.  While trying to keep up with our fast-moving, ever-changing world, there is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

2 ½ hours later, after at least 33 residents spoke — mostly against, Deerfield Beach city commission approved a utility tax on second and final reading with a 3-1 vote. The ordinance passed on June 7 is effective immediately. The actual tax is slated to begin Oct. 1, 2011.

During the public hearing, everyone from a Publix manager to a State Representative to a single mom of four children had something to say. Read Thursday’s paper for full details on residents’ concerns.

June 8 at 7:09 a.m. Deerfield Beach Fire-Rescue responded to a call about a suspicious package left on the sand south of the pier. BSO bomb and arson squad was brought in to evaluate it. They ended up detonating the suspicious package with their own arsenal. Detectives are still investigating as per standard protocol.