By Gary Curreri

Lighthouse Point’s Kevin Mendez is looking for a repeat performance at state.

After sitting out the beginning of this season with an injury, it appears that the eighth-grader at Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauderdale is prepared to defend his Class 1A state diving championship.

Mendez, 14, recently showed he is going to be a state contender after winning the boys 1-meter diving title at the 54th annual Woodson Invitational at the Pine Crest School pool with a total score of 497.95 after sitting the first six weeks of the season with a broken thumb.

“This helps a lot confidence-wise because I had the broken thumb and just came back (from the injury,” said Mendez, who had three top 8 finishes, including second in the 1-meter diving event at the national championships this summer, despite a fractured finger. I have only been diving four days, so to do this well was unexpected. It will boost my confidence a lot. I was pretty happy.”

His efforts helped Pine Crest take second in the team race with 229 points at the meet. Perennial Class 1A state champion Jacksonville Bolles, winners of 26 consecutive state titles, won both the boys’ and girls’ titles.

Mendez is hopeful of retaining his gold medal at the state meet at the Sailfish Splash Waterpark, Aquatic Athletics Center in Stuart on Nov. 4.

“There is zero pressure on me to win a state title because it is unexpected being young,” Mendez said. “Nobody expects you to win, so you just go in there and do your thing. I am used to it.

“I have won a couple of national championships so I am used to the pressure,” Mendez continued. “I would say my favorite board (event) is the 1-meter.”

He got his start in diving when he was taking swimming lessons, spotted the diving board and asked if he could give it a whirl. It was 10 years ago, and Mendez said he has loved diving ever since.

“You just adapt to it,” Mendez said. “It is kind of scary at first. Like anything, the more you do it, the more you get used to it.”

Since he won the high school title last year, he knows what to expect.

 “I think I have a chance of winning states again,” Mendez said. “I am going to try my best and do my best. I think I have a good shot.”

Bucks cruise past Taravella

Deerfield Beach High School’s football team grounded out an easy 50-6 victory over visiting Taravella last week. 

The Bucks totaled 507 yards rushing, with three players running for more than 125 yards each – Jakari Norwood (141 yards and two TDs), Jerome Neal (140 yards, TD) and Jaylan Knighton (125 yards). The Bucks (3-1) travel to St. Thomas Aquinas this Friday for a huge non-district game.

Tigers tamed in defeat

Auburn commit Shaun Shivers rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half, to lead Chaminade-Madonna to a 44-0 win over Blanche Ely in a non-district game, Monday at Blanche Ely.

Shivers scored on two of his five carries for the game with scoring runs of 79 and 55 yards. Quarterback Daelen Menard also accounted for a pair of scores, finishing 4 of 6 for 123 yards. The Lions (3-2) scored on their first three possessions, with their first two scoring drives taking just one play each.

Blanche Ely slipped to 2-3 with the loss.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

While IT retained the box office crown, for the most part it was a disappointing weekend. Despite the multimillion dollar marketing campaign and much hype from the recent U.S. Open Tennis Championship, Battle of the Sexes was a major financial disappointment.

Battle of the Sexes reviews the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) that filled the Houston Astrodome on a Thursday night on Sept. 20, 1973.  The match was a special edition of ABC’s Wide World of Sports and was a ratings winner.

With consultation from Billie Jean King and her longtime companion Ilana Kos, we are presented with the behind-the-scenes drama. While Riggs and King trash-talked each other in the public eye, off camera it appears the couple had a professional relationship with one another. 

It is the relationships away from tennis that fill up most of the running time. While Riggs’ gambling addiction is the core of his domestic woes, it is Billie Jean King’s emotional growth as a lesbian that is given most of the spotlight. It is ironic that so much time is devoted to King’s relationship to her former hairdresser Marilyn Barnett, because eight years later Barnett sued King for palimony. 

As the reigning Best Actress Winner, Emma Stone does a fine job. She mixes Billie Jean King’s public professionalism with silent moments of reflection that is soul searching. As the rude, crude and socially unacceptable (by today’s standards) Bobby Riggs, Steve Carell gives a sympathetic performance. It would have been easy to make Riggs a villain, but Carell’s vulnerability makes one root for him.

Battle of the Sexes is an entertaining slice of history for those who lived in 1973. One is reminded about the fashion trends when hearing the pop music associated with the time. Yet, there is a mechanical feeling to the screenplay for this movie. There is no need to rush out and see it, for it will be played on television during Women’s History Month.

Battle of the Sexes is likely to be forgotten this weekend as the much anticipated Blade Runner 2049 opens, a sequel 35 years in the making. 

Deerfield Beach

Sept. 17: A man reported that someone broke into his vehicle parked at 666 Siesta Key and stole his handgun.

Sept. 19: A woman was arrested and charged with retail theft, resisting a merchant and possession of drug paraphernalia at 202 W. Hillsboro Blvd.

Sept. 19: A woman reported her car parked at 2301 W. Sample Rd. was broken into and a backpack with books, a wallet with credit cards and a Florida driver’s license stolen.

Sept. 21: A man reported his Honda Civic parked at 1645 SE 3 Ct. stolen.

Sept. 25: A vehicle parked at 1000 E. Hillsboro Blvd. was broken into and a GPS stolen.

Sept. 25: A vehicle parked at 4231 NW 9 Ave. was broken into and a wallet with $21 and a Florida driver’s license was stolen. 

Lighthouse Point

Sept. 2: Police responded to a report of a fight in progress. The owner of the business attempted to escort an unruly patron out of the establishment at 4460 N. Federal Hwy. and they began to fight.

Sept. 6: Someone stole a cell phone from a bench where the victim was sitting. She realized it as she was getting up to go to a store at 3700 N. Federal Hwy. The loss was $200.

Sept. 9: A subject caused a disturbance in a sports bar at 4480 N. Federal Hwy. and was asked to leave after starting altercations with other patrons. The subject refused to sign a trespass warning.

(This is a partial list. For Deerfield Beach Crime Watch in full, visit www.DFB.City and click on “Sign Me Up” to receive the city wide report.)

Broward Sheriff’s Office Gun Safety Course

Thursday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m.

Constitution Park

2841 W. Hillsboro Blvd.,

Deerfield Beach, FL 33442

If you have a firearm in your home, Sheriff Israel and the Broward Sheriff’s Office want to help keep you and your family safer and avoid a possible tragedy. The course will include best practices on how to properly secure and store firearms, discussion about the dangers of toy guns and how they can be mistaken for real firearms and scenarios dealing with finding firearms in the home or presenting them in public. Refreshments and free gun locks will be provided. Seating limited; R.S.V.P. to Carlos Periu at 954-304-3288 or carlos_periu@sheriff.org

Highwaymen 2nd Generation Art Exhibit

Thursday, Oct. 5, 6 to 9 p.m.

Bailey Contemporary Arts

41 NE 1 St.

Pompano Beach, FL 33060

Exhibit is co-hosted by Pompano Beach Historical Society and Bailey Contemporary Arts. Meet these exceptional artists, who are carrying on the legacy of the original Highwaymen. VIP Preview night with meet & greet, wine, beer and munchies. $25. Art available for purchase. Show continues Friday, Oct. 6, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Movies in the Park — Hotel Transylvania 2

Friday, Oct. 6, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Villages of Hillsboro Park

4111 NW 6 St.

Deerfield Beach, FL 33442

Free. Bring blankets and lawn chairs for a fun family night out. Snacks and refreshments available for purchase. For a full listing of this season’s movies and dates, visit www.dfb.city/moviesinthepark. For more information, call 954-480-4494.

District 4 Saturday Hours

Saturday, Oct. 7, 10 a.m. to noon

City Hall

150 NE 2 Ave.

Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

District Four Commissioner Todd Drosky is happy to introduce Saturday office hours at City Hall. Commissioner Drosky will be available to meet with constituents on an appointment basis. To schedule an appointment, contact the City Manager’s Office at 954-480-4263.

Create your own FrankenPumpkin

Saturday, Oct. 7, 9 a.m. to noon

Orchard Supply Hardware

340 S. Federal Hwy.

Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

To get in the Halloween spirit, kids 12 and under will be provided with one free pumpkin and all the materials to decorate their very own FrankenPumpkin – a DIY mix of Frankenstein and a traditional jack-o-lantern.

Derek Mack band performs

Sunday, Oct. 8, 6 p.m.

Historic Ali Cultural Arts

353 Martin Luther King Blvd

Pompano Beach, FL 33060

For more information, visit www.aliarts.org
or call 954-786-7876.

Save the Date: DBLL General Membership Meeting

Thursday, Oct. 12, 7 p.m.

DBMS Athletic Complex

501 SE 6 Ave.

Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Are you ready for some baseball? Would you like to be on the Board of Directors? Would you like to vote for who is on the Board of Directors? Join them upstairs in the Press box at DBMS Athletic Complex for the Annual General Membership Meeting. It takes lots of hands to run DBLL, the pay is not great, but the memories last a lifetime.

Beach Sounds

Friday, Oct. 13, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Main Beach Parking Lot

149 SE 21 Ave.

Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Free family-friendly concert series. Bring chairs or blankets. For more information, call 954-480-4429.

Kids Night Out

Friday, Oct. 13, 6 to 11 p.m.

Emma Lou Olson Civic Center

1801 NE 6 St

Pompano Beach, FL 33060

Parents, enjoy a night out and let the kids have their own fun. Children ages 5-12 will have a blast playing games, making new friends, creating unique arts and crafts projects, and eating pizza while under the care of dedicated recreation professionals. Space limited; register early. Pre-registration: $10; day of event: $20. For more information, call 954-786-4111.

Public Square Rosary Crusade

Saturday, Oct. 14, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

S. Federal Highway & Hillsboro Boulevard

Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Come do the rosary in celebration of the Fatima Centennial. For more information, contact Larry Martin at 954-481-9018 or 954-531-7834.

44th Annual “Women of Distinction” Awards Breakfast

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 8 to 11 a.m.

Boca West Country Club

20583 Boca West Dr.

Boca Raton, FL 33434

The Soroptimist International of Boca Raton/Deerfield Beach will be honoring Chairperson Mrs. Terry Fedele and Lifetime Achievement Recipient Mrs. Barbara Gutin. $75. Make checks payable to Soroptimist International of Boca Raton Deerfield Beach, Inc. For more information, contact Marybeth Keenan at 561-306-0888.

Why is the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world? Her enigmatic smile? The mystery surrounding her identity? The fact she was painted by Renaissance pin-up boy Leonardo da Vinci? Sure, all of these things helped boost the popularity of the 16th century masterpiece. But what really catapulted the small, unassuming portrait to international stardom was a daring burglary over 100 years ago.

When Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia, who worked as a handy man for the museum, stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum in Paris, in August 1911, he never could have guessed her absence would be the very thing that made her the most recognizable painting on the planet.

Suddenly, images of the artwork were splashed across international newspapers, as the two-year police hunt hit dead-end after dead-end.

It wasn’t until December, 1913, two years after the theft, that Peruggia was finally caught and the Mona Lisa recovered, becoming the best known painting.

It is fascinating to note that when the museum reopened, after being closed for a week following the larceny, throngs of people came to stare at the spot where the Mona Lisa had been. In fact, during those two years, more people came to see the vacant spot, than came to see the Mona Lisa before it was stolen all the years before!

Today, she is the jewel in the Louvre’s crown, helping attract around 10 million visitors to the Paris museum annually.

Had Peruggia instead slipped another artwork under his cloak that fateful day, it could have been a very different story.

“If a different one of Leonardo’s works had been stolen, then that would have been the most famous work in the world — not the Mona Lisa,” said Noah Charney, professor of art history and author of The Thefts of the Mona Lisa.“There was nothing that really distinguished it per se, other than it was a very good work by a very famous artist — that’s until it was stolen,” he added. “The theft is what really skyrocketed its appeal and made it a household name.”

So, in a very funny way, the best thing that could ever happen for the Mona Lisa was that it was stolen! “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Without knowing it, the thief of this painting, trying to hurt the Louvre and restore dignity back to Italy, did her the greatest favor and transformed Mona Lisa into the legend it is.

Friend, you have just grasped the essence and the beauty of Yom Kippur. Each of our souls is a beautiful piece of art — even more beautiful than the Mona Lisa. Each of our lives, carved in the image of the Divine, is unique, dignified and extraordinary.

But we often allow our “art” to get stolen. We allow our souls, our goodness, our holiness, our purity, our inner power to be compromised, to go under cover and become absent from our lives. We search and we search and it is so hard to reclaim!

Yet, if we persist, as we rediscover our inner piece of art, its value becomes infinitely more precious — even more than before the theft! It is precisely due to our challenges, failures, breakdowns, mistakes and frustrations that when our goodness, our inner power, our Neshamah- Soul is recovered through repentance, it is so much more powerful, bright, and brilliant!  

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches, located in the Venetian Isle Shopping Center at 2025 E. Sample Rd. in Lighthouse Point. For all upcoming events, please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

Check out mindfulness on Google; and, if you print out the results, you could use your entire ink cartridge. Read Emily’s 600 or so word essay and you can wrap up the whole subject and be on your way to your next life activity — mindfully.

Let me first assure the meditators, and the 30 minute (or 30 second) exercisers in the practice, that I am in hearty approval of whatever helps you live stressless-ly, healthfully and happily.

For me, it all started with the best gift I ever received — my car accident. There I was, “mindlessly” driving in slow traffic, east on Linton Boulevard approaching Federal Highway. My head might have been in Publix, or Paris, on my bicycle, preparing for my next memoir writing class, planning dinner and/or listening to a book on CD. It sure wasn’t on the car creeping in front of me — that is, until I felt the bump. And dear jurors, that’s all it was – a bump. But it caused the hood of my car to fold up like an accordion, stopping just before it hit my windshield. My mechanic told me it was designed to do that to protect the windshield from shattering all over the driver.

Happily, no one was hurt. The three occupants of the car that was bumped did a jack rabbit out of it to inspect the damage, as did I. The usual police report was filed, I was towed to a body shop, my insurance paid the outlandish cost of repair and my premium skyrocketed by more than three-fold.

I eventually sold the car, and bought my dream of a yellow car.

But I will never forget the feelings and thoughts I had as I experienced the “bump.” How I berated myself in language unfamiliar to my own tongue. The curses and the stupidities I hurled as I became so aware of my own culpability. Where, where, where was I?

And in the simplest of terms, that’s how I learned mindfulness. Ever since that incident, my car will always lag a car’s length behind the one in front of me – despite the horns and vulgar expletives of disgruntled drivers who love to tailgate and still believe women belong in the kitchen.

But this kind of mindfulness extends way beyond my driving. As I hear about more and more of my peers, and the children and even grandchildren of my peers falling, tripping, toppling and toe-stubbing, and as I hear about broken ribs, hips, knees and crania, I have become fanatically aware of my surroundings, talking to myself incessantly about all that could happen if I let up on my consciousness.

“The ground is uneven, watch your step.”

“It’s okay to change that light bulb, but be conscious about it when you do.”

“Yes, get back on your bike but be aware of the stones and debris on the ground.”

“Hold that knife away from you when you cut – and be aware that your fingers can slip with the force of it and cut your hand.”

“If you can’t reach it, yes, use the step stool – but make sure you have places to hold on.”

“The parking lot is slippery. Remember that when you take the garbage to the dumpster.”

It’s fine to take a deep breath, and check out your chakras, but when you’ve finished doing that, don’t forget to watch out for the hole in the ground and the unexpected curb on the sidewalk and the throw rug in your living room that you could easily trip over and the frying pan that is still sizzling.

Happy Mindfulness.  

By Rachel Galvin

The weather was perfect on Monday, Sept. 25 for the 8^th Annual Two Georges at The Cove Golf Tournament, held at Deer Creek Country Club, located at 2801 Deer Creek Country Club Blvd.
in Deerfield Beach. At 1:15 p.m., golf carts were lined up, ready to begin. Many foursomes had been there before; there were 70 people overall. Trophies were awarded to the top three, as well as Closest to the Pin and Longest Drive. There also were two Hole-In-One prizes, said Two Georges at The Cove owner Steve Scaggs, who said one prize was a Rolex, the other was a car (unfortunately, no one got a Hole in One this time). Players would find spirit sponsors along the trail at five different holes as well, providing beer, or other libations. They also had raffles and 50/50s. Following the tournament, at night, they had an awards dinner back at Two Georges, at 1754 SE 3 Ct., in Deerfield Beach.

First place winner Johnny Mugs Produce won a Bolo Sport Fishing Charter trip, including three adult passes and three kids passes. Bolo is located at Two Georges at The Cove Marina. Kelly Egan was Closest to the Pin (Women’s)  and Vito Passalacqua  (Men’s). Second place was Breakthru Beverage and third was Derek Eldred.

Proceeds benefit Boys & Girls Club. Their goal was to achieve $10,000; so far they have raised over $325,000 through the years.

Ready to hit the links.

Golfers from Sylvester Comprehensive Care Center.

Hayley Rettenmyer is ready to pour Ketel Vodka drinks. Ketel Vodka was just one spirit sponsor out on the course.

Maria Kudlinski with Diane & Steve Scaggs, of Two Georges at The Cove.

Scaggs added, “This is another great year. Even with the hurricane, we had a great turnout, people excited and happy to do anything they can to help the Boys & Girls Club. A lot of employees stepped up and volunteered.”

Karriem Edwards, director of development at Boys & Girls Club, Jim & Jan Moran Unit, was pleased with the event.

“I am grateful for another year of support from Steve, The Cove… the whole team,” he said.

He added that the Boys & Girls Club, in addition to the normal focus on academics, they also are helping the kids get additional job skills.

He explained, “We’re emphasizing workforce development for our teens. We’ve always emphasized academics. [We are not only teaching] job skills, but also developing partnerships which will lead to employment.”

To find out more about the Boys & Girls Club, visit www.bgcbc.com.

For more information on Two Georges at The Cove, visit www.twogeorgesrestaurant.com.