Warren Redlich – Page 217

Hobby Lobby "Protest": Photos

Protesters gathered this afternoon on the northwest corner of 441 and Palmetto Park Road, motivated at least in part by the opening of the Hobby Lobby in West Boca Square. Our best estimate is that there were 30 people there, though there more may have come after we left.
As we drove in we saw this woman telling people to “Get a new hobby.”

There were a number of other motivated people there:

We had a pleasant conversation on the scene with Laura Goodhue, who is a VP with the local Planned Parenthood organization:

We asked Ms. Goodhue about the fact that Hobby Lobby’s main competitor, Michael’s, is owned by Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital. She said the protest was not about Hobby Lobby and they are not advocating for a boycott of the store. She said this was more about making people aware of women’s rights, particularly involving healthcare. She talked about political candidates and made clear that Governor candidate Charlie Crist is more in line with their views than the incumbent, Rick Scott.
When we asked Ms. Goodhue about the distinction between an individual’s rights against the government, as compared to an employee’s rights against their employer, and that employer’s rights against the government. The contrast is between the government’s power to actually ban something, and an employer’s refusal to pay for something. She didn’t give a straight answer to the question.
When we first arrived we saw a protester inside the plaza on the sidewalk right in front of the store. By the time we left he was gone and there were two Sheriff’s vehicles along the sidewalk.

The deputies were speaking with the store managers. We asked if they had removed the protester and one of the deputies said that they were “just keeping the peace.” We asked store management about the protest and also again about whether and when they would be carrying merchandise for the Jewish holidays. Like Ms. Goodhue they did not give a straight answer to those questions.
As we left we saw a few more protesters at the exit:

And to be fair, we did see one counter-protester, out on the median of 441:

Weekend Roundup: October 2-5, 2014

As Good as It Gets (PG-13), October 2nd at 1 p.m., Free movie showing at West Boca Library.
Classic Rock Therapy, October 2nd at 6 p.m., Free concert at Delray Marketplace.
Mommy, Mother Nature and Me: Turtle Time, October 3rd at 10:30 a.m. at Daggerwing Nature Center. Ages 2-5, $4 per child. Reservations required. Please call 561-629-8760.
Cafe de Cave, October 2nd and 3rd at 7:30 p.m. Musical comedy featuring the unique talents of Lynn University students, faculty and staff in a cabaret setting. Free event at Wolf Performing Arts Center.
From the Studio of Lisa Leonard: Mozart and Beethoven, October 2nd at 7:30 p.m. at Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall at Lynn University. Tickets are $10.
Minecraft Mania, October 3rd at 3 p.m., Gather with friends ages 7 and up at West Boca Library. Preregister.
Jimmy Stowe & the Stowaways, October 3rd at 7 p.m. at The Shops at Boca Center. Free concert featuring Jimmy Buffet Tribute Band.
Eyes to the Skies, October 3rd at 7 p.m., Science Explorium at Sugar Sand Park. Free program.
Julian Velard (PG-13), October 4th at 8 p.m. at The Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park. Tickets are $25. Musician and storyteller.

Get Your Annual Mammogram

The Breast Center at West Boca Medical Center is offering complimentary chair massages with mammograms on Wednesday evenings.
The Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute is introducing Make Your Next Mammo a Day at the Beach. You can have a mammogram in a Sensory Suite by GE Healthcare which surrounds a woman with an interactive mammography experience designed to stimulate three senses: sight, smell and hearing. Call 561-955-4437 to schedule an appointment.
The Center for Breast Care at Boca Raton Regional Hospital also offers Mobile mammography in the comfort of their spacious van. Experienced, certified mammography technologists guide women through the experience and two board certified radiologists interpret the films within 48 hours. Call 561-955-5000 to schedule a visit.
Low cost and free mammograms are also available in Palm Beach County. Call The South Florida Affiliate of Susan G. Komen at 561-514-3020 or the American Cancer Society at 800-227-2345 for more information.

Obituary: Dr. Harris Ripps

We found the following obituary for Dr. Ripps, who lived in a Boca Pointe condo since 2008:

Dr. Harris Ripps of Boca Raton, FL, passed away September 18 in Boston. An O.D. and M.D. Ph.D. from Columbia University. Dr. Ripps was formerly Professor of ophthalmology, visual science, anatomy, cell biology, physiology and biophysics and Chairman of Ophthalmological Research at New York University Medical School and later at the University of Illinois’ Chicago College of Medicine; and research scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA from 1968-2014.
Dr. Ripps made invaluable contributions to the study of the mechanisms by which retinal cells communicate with one another and also to basic science investigations to identify the causes of visual loss in inherited retinal diseases. His research was continually funded by NIH from 1975 through 2007. He was honored for his research contributions throughout his career and received some of the most prestigious international and national awards in vision science, including the Edrige-Green Award of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the prestigious Proctor Medal from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and The Alcon Research Institute Award of Excellence. Dr. Ripps was a Distinguished University Professor who held the Charles I. Young / Lions of Illinois Endowed Chair of Ocular Research from 1985, when he joined the Department, until his retirement from UIC in 2009.
In 1963 the FBI delivered a top-secret device to Dr. Ripps. It was an Argon laser. They wanted to see the effects of this new device on the human eye. The experiment was done on the rabbit eye. The first time it was used it made a loud pop and the rabbit died. The government agents were ecstatic about having a death ray. The agents did not know that rabbits die from fright. But Dr. Ripps was the first person to see the effects of the laser on the retina. Now the laser is routinely used to save sight.
Later in his career he discovered the presence of the dark current in the retina. Before his discovery, everybody thought the way signals worked in the eye was, one stimulus initiated another and then another and so on until the brain saw the signal. What really happened was that there was a stimulus that shut off a flowing current in the retina. This created a much faster response for us to actually see the light.
More recently, looking carefully at a blinding condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa, he discovered that only small clusters of cells were actually affected by the genetic disorder, but the entire retina died with time. This was because a chemical neurotransmitter was being released that was toxic to the other retina cells. This was a chemical never discovered to be in the retina before. As it turns out this may be why many eye diseases can lead to a progressive vision loss even when treatment has been initiated.
A Navy veteran, Dr. Ripps’ avocations included art, music, sports and photography. He was a collector of Whistler graphics and Vanity Fair prints, and an avid opera buff. He passionately followed football, tennis, and golf. He was the devoted and happily married husband of Jeanne (Meisler) for 64 years, cherished father of Bradford (father-in law of Debbie), Glenn and Owen; loving grandfather of Jeffrey (his wife Christina), Zachary (his wife Adrianna) and Molly, and proud great-grandfather of Johanna. He was a fun brother-in-law and a loyal friend. A memorial service will be held in New York on October 5th.

Restaurant Inspections for September: West Boca

We’ve decided to break down our restaurant inspection reports into east and west. This report is for West Boca, meaning generally west of Military Trail or zip codes 33428, 33498, 33496, 33434 and 33433.
The winners in this report, with zero violations on routine inspections, were:

Sushi Yoshee, one of our favorite places, which serves both Japanese and Korean food. It’s particularly impressive to have zero violations for a full service restaurant with such a broad menu.
Boca Kosher Bagel, in Boca Grove.
The records also show a perfect licensing inspection for what may be a new restaurant, Century Grill at 9060 Kimberly (near Lyons).
Chuck E Cheese in West Boca Square and McDonald’s in Sandalfoot both also had perfect inspections, though Chuck E Cheese had two inspection on the same day, presumably for different parts of the same place. The second inspection had only two minor violations.
Honorable mentions go to Aladdin’s Eatery in Boca Village Square and to Lucille’s Bad to the Bone BBQ in Regency Court, each with only two minor violations.
On the dark side, Hunan City in Yamato Village Center had 20 violations. Most were minor, but three were rated more serious having to do with food storage and temperatures – a real insight into how important commercial freezer repair is, to maintain equipment to the correct level.

Ben’s Deli was second worst with 16 violations including 4 marked as serious, involving food temperatures and hand washing. Getting a professional thermometer can really help to solve this issue; it’s a simple, affordable solution to a big problem. This follows on a better, but still less than stellar inspection in May, also involving food temperatures.
Others in the results include:
Boon’s in Boca Greens with 13 violations; Villa Rosano in the Reserve with 12; Brendy’s in Yamato Village Center with 11; Orchid Garden near Century Village and Renzo’s Cafe Pizzeria on Clint Moore near Military Trail, each with 10.
Casa L’Italien in Yamato Village Center, Original Pancake House in Somerset Shoppes, and “Boca Rosho Pizza” in West Boca Square all had 9 violations. The latter two each had warnings. We’re not familiar with Boca Rosho but think it might be the business name for Lenny’s Kosher Pizza – we could be wrong though. Their warning included a “stop sale” related to food temperatures. OPH had issues with food temperature, storage and hand washing, and. They need a follow-up, which looks like a paperwork thing.
City Fish Market had 8 violations, all minor. Zinger’s Delicatessen also had 8, including 3 marked high priority involving food temperatures and storage.
Our spreadsheet, with all the restaurants in the past few weeks for West Boca, is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/insp-9-26-west.xls”]
You can read up on most restaurant inspections on Florida’s official web page for restaurant inspections.
For other recent inspection reports see:
Ninja Nightmare (early September)
7 Restaurants Get Warnings (August)
July Inspections
June Inspections