Liniment Formulae

Disfigured lagoon dolphins cue search for lesion source

By WILLIAM M. HARTNETT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

FORT PIERCE – Nearly one out of every three dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon has come down with mysterious and sometimes grotesque skin disorders.

Eager to find out what’s going on, alarmed scientists from Harbor Branch and other marine institutions in recent weeks have started using cutting-edge methods to conduct “remote biopsy sampling” of about 30 dolphins in the lagoon, which stretches 156 miles from the Jupiter Inlet to the Ponce de Leon Inlet in Volusia County.

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Stars and stripes samaritan; As patriotism flags, area man clean up mess

By WILLIAM M. HARTNETT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

HOBE SOUND – Tom Fucigna Jr. has found his niche in a post-Sept. 11 world: He’s a minuteman in the battle against poor automotive flag etiquette.

The 42-year-old environmental consultant has recovered hundreds of American flags from roadsides all over Palm Beach and Martin counties in the past few months. He spotted the first fallen flag on Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach less than a week after the attacks. Soon they started showing up along Interstate 95, which Fucigna drives each morning from his home in Hobe Sound to work in Boynton Beach. At last count he had recovered 323 flags, three on Wednesday alone.

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South Fork water woes date back to the ’80s

By WILLIAM M. HARTNETT and ANDREW MARRA
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

Students and parents at South Fork High School have long complained about the taste, smell and appearance of the school’s water. A top school district official even acknowledged recently that “the water’s never been good there.”

School officials point out that the problem stems from aging facilities and a general distaste for well water, which can be fixed by installing new equipment or hooking up to a new water source.

But a review of state inspection reports by The Palm Beach Post shows that problems at South Fork’s water plant are far more extensive. Department of Environmental Protection records suggest a long-running pattern of lax maintenance and management at the plant dating almost as far back as the school’s opening in 1982.

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