The CPR lesson that came due two weeks later
A boil water order on Ocean Dunes, grant money for streets that flood, and the tax holiday's last days.
A Jupiter High student took a CPR unit in P.E. and needed it two weeks later. Also this week: a triathlon takes over Carlin Park before most of us are up, and a few things that quietly land on your street.
John Abkemeier Jr. learned CPR in a Jupiter High P.E. class. Two weeks later, his father had a heart attack. John performed CPR on his dad for about three minutes, and his dad lived. The skill was fresh, and that turned out to matter. Most high schoolers sit through the CPR unit hoping it stays theoretical. John did not get that long to wait. It is the rare school requirement that makes its own argument on the spot. If your kid groans about that unit this fall, you now have a local answer ready.
A boil water order landed on Ocean Dunes Circle
A boil water order is in place for Ocean Dunes Circle, posted on August 13. It covers one street, which is exactly why it is easy to miss if you do not live on it. Word about a single-street order tends to travel by mailbox conversation and group text. If you are on that circle, or you have family or a tenant there, check the town's notice for the current status. These orders end when the town says they end, not on a schedule you can guess. Do not assume it has been lifted just because a few days have passed.
The back-to-school tax holiday runs out Thursday
The back-to-school sales tax holiday runs July 20 through August 20. That leaves Thursday as the last day. Most people remember it in week one and forget it by week four. That is usually right when the school supply list turns up something nobody bought. If you are still short a few items on the supply list, this is the cheap window. After Thursday, the same cart costs what it usually costs. Anything left on the list after that is just regular August shopping.
Carlin Park goes early Saturday for the Loggerhead Triathlon
The Loggerhead Triathlon starts Saturday, August 22, at 7:15 a.m. at Carlin Park. The course runs a 3/8-mile ocean swim, then a 13-mile bike ride, then a flat 3.1-mile run. Registration is required for select events, and the event website carries the latest updates. If Saturday morning at Carlin is your usual walk, plan around a swim start, a bike leg, and a run all landing in the same few hours. Racers should check for updates before Saturday, since details can shift. Everyone else should expect the park busy early.
Money on the table if your street floods
The town's Private Stormwater Improvement Grant Program is open to homeowner associations and other private entities inside town limits. The next deadline is September 30. Eligible projects have to be new capital work that improves water quality, cuts nuisance flooding, or controls erosion. Routine maintenance does not count, and neither does anything already underway or finished. The match covers up to 50 percent of actual construction costs, paid as a reimbursement. Town staff review the applications, and the Town Council votes on the grant agreements. If your HOA has argued for years about the corner that ponds every August, this is the mechanism for doing something about it.
The county is drafting a long road plan, and asking first
A notice went up Friday about the county's draft Countywide Transportation Master Plan. The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to hear a presentation on the draft. WSP, the county's consultant on the plan, is delivering it. Resident input helps identify opportunities in the plan. That is the whole opening here: the draft is not final, and comment is being asked for now rather than after. Jupiter sits at the north end of a county that argues about traffic constantly. If you have an opinion about how people get around up here, this is where it can go on the record.