Former astronaut John Glenn, the first American in space, sent these books to The Little Auction That Could (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

The list of those who signed their favorite childhood books and shipped then to Stuart for a charity auction reads like a pop culture Top 100: Poet Maya Angelou; The Apprentice’s Donald Trump; golfer Tiger Woods; former First Lady Barbara Bush; her son, former Gov. Jeb Bush; chimp lover Jane Goodall; former Miami Heat star Shaquille O’Neal; Pres. Barack Obama; Nike’s Phil Knight; Hollywood stars Sean Connery, Steve Martin and Robert Wagner; TV news readers Katie Couric and Brian Williams; Palm Beach musician Jimmy Buffett; and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, among others.

In all, a total 60 A-listers contributed. It took time, nearly two years, said organizer Karla Preissman. The first to respond to her requests was Jeb Bush, who shipped her The Travels of Babar. The last? The prez. Obama rush-mailed a pop up book of the White House two weeks ago.

Dubbed The Little Auction That Could (after the children’s book The Little Engine That Could), the event ends Nov. 20 with the auctioning of the books at the Lyric Theatre. Proceeds go to the Hibiscus Children’s Center, a shelter for abused and neglected children. Until then, the books are exhibited at Stuart’s Elliott Museum.

For more info about the auction and the celebs, and what they liked to read, check out this website.

And see Page2Live’s photos by Michele Sandberg of Thursday night’s preview of what’s for sale:

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Norman (AP Photo)

Double bogey for Jupiter Island golfer Greg Norman!

Not only is he dealing with his separation from new wife Chris Evert, the Boca Raton-based former tennis star, but now he’s got a ticked off ex-wife to deal with.

Palm Beacher Laura Andrassy says the Great White Shark stiffed her in his yearly payment of their divorce settlement.

She contends in new paperwork filed in the Martin County courthouse in Stuart that his $2 million wire transfer to her June 15 was about $72,000 short. She asked a judge to force Norman to pay up, or order arbitration.

According to their contract, the missus, a former flight attendant, will be $103 million richer by 2023 as a result of the agreement they signed when they were divorced two years ago.

So, what’s $72,000?

“It’s a substantial sum of money,” said Andrassy’s lawyer in West Palm Beach, Jack Scarola. “I have no desire to annoy Mr. Norman. But he has an obligation to meet his contractual commitments. If someone owes $72,000, just pay up.”

Andrassy, leaving a divorce hearing with lawyer Jack Scarola in 2007 (The Palm Beach Post archives)

Norman’s divorce attorney, Jeff Fisher, declined comment. But in his response filed in court, Fisher wrote that Norman and his ex promised they’d seek arbitration for disputes instead of the court system.

Andrassy’s recent motion to enforce is nothing more than a “method to feed information (usually of a disparaging nature) about the former husband to the media.”

The $72,000 alleged shortfall, according to court papers, comes from the calculation of Andrassy’s share in Norman’s Colorado ranch, Seven Lakes Lodge. She’s supposed to get close to $780,000 a year for the ranch, but got much less.

Incidentally, Norman recently put the property on the market for $55 million.

The motion reopens the saga of golfer/vintner’s divorce, which was filed in June 2006 after Andrassy accused him of cheating on her with tennis champ Evert. Although Norman and Andrassy were officially divorced when he married Evert in June 2008, they’ve been ironing some of their differences since.

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Actress Pam Anderson may be a dirrrty girl, but at least, she smells good! Pammy took advantage of her early arrival for Saturday night’s Make-a-Wish Foundation gala in Miami to do a little selling. The former Baywatch babe, 42, hawked her own line of perfumes,  Malibu Day and Malibu Night,  at the W hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach Thursday. The day juice is described as fruity floral with a hint of honeysuckle. The night stuff is more oriental, with black orchids and lotus. And animal lover Anderson says she made sure no animal was harmed during production. Malibu retails in chain drugstores and discount outlets.

]]> http://www.page2live.com/2009/11/06/pam-anderson-wants-the-world-to-smell-good/feed/ http://www.page2live.com/2009/11/05/lambiets-lunch-roger-daltreys-new-beach-accessory/ http://www.page2live.com/2009/11/05/lambiets-lunch-roger-daltreys-new-beach-accessory/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:39 +0000 Jose Lambiet http://www.page2live.com/?p=15041

(Courtesy Mavrixphoto.com)

Roger Daltrey, frontman of The Who, enjoyed a perk of stardom on the Palm Beach sand recently: A white-haired gentleman named Gordon sprayed suntan lotion all over his 65-year-old body! And Roger seemed to appreciate the tan assistant’s work thoroughly! (Read more about Daltrey’s Palm Beach vacation here.)

Palmer at Wednesday's party, with wife Susan and Spencer (Meghan McCarthy/The Palm Beach Post)

It was surprising to run into baseball Hall-of-Fame pitcher Jim Palmer out in Palm Beach, just minutes before the first pitch of last night’s Game 6 of the World Series.

Jim, shouldn’t you be in your Jockeys and on your couch watching the Yankees duke it out with the Phillies?

“Well, I’ll be home, but what we’re doing here is more important,” he said. He wouldn’t call a winner of the series (the Bronx Bombers whooped the Phillies to win their 27th title). “All I’ll say is that (Philly’s starting pitcher) Pedro Martinez is tough. Doesn’t matter that he’s 38!”

Palmer, the former Baltimore Orioles standout, lent some of his star appeal to draw a crowd to Nick & Johnnie’s for a fund-raiser for the Renaissance Learning Center. The West Palm Beach charter school caters to autistic children, and it so happens that Palmer’s new wife, store owner Susan, is the mom of a 12-year-old student at the school, Spencer.

In the end, the group raised well over $25,000, thanks in part to the autographed baseballs that Palmer, an Orioles TV analyst, collects during the season.

“I brought 12 of the balls and they did well,” he said.

One signed by Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia went for $500.

Gary Carter, the retired New York Mets star catcher and Palmer’s fellow hall-of-famer, Florida Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad and golfer Ernie Els also showed up.

Straight out of the 1990s, but looking more beautiful than ever, singer/songwriter Jewel appeared as relaxed as if she were performing in a friend’s living room Tuesday night at the intimate Fillmore Gleason in Miami Beach. Now 35, the singer is on tour to support her latest album, Lullaby, which includes her a capella rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Bova received the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Leader of the Year award in 2004 (Palm Beach Post archives)

The scandal that engulfed the well-known Fort Lauderdale law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler has spilled into the Boca Raton restaurant biz.

Tony Bova, 58, a Boca resident and the high-profile owner of a string of area restaurants, counts disgraced attorney and political power broker Scott Rothstein among his partners in at least a half-dozen ventures.

And chief among those are Bova Ristorante, Bova’s pride and joy on Boca’s Federal Highway, and the chain Bova Restaurant Group.

Bova Ristorante, where older guys with slicked-back hair loved to hook up with women too young for them, mysteriously closed its doors shortly before Rothstein took off for North Africa last month.

And no one’s talking.

“Tony Bova has no comment at this point,” a spokeswoman said.

Bova’s association with Rothstein, who’s believed to be the principal in a $500 million Ponzi scheme and just returned to Florida to face the music, surprised observers.

“Tony was a very successful restaurant owner in his own right,” said Tom Prakas, a hospitality-business broker. “I don’t know why he needed Scott Rothstein.”

One strange thing regarding Bova and Rothstein is that their businesses last year spent more than $200,000 on political causes, mostly in a heated race across the Palm Beach County line.

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Bova (middle) with Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown (left) last year at Bova Cucina in Boca Raton (Courtesy www.haute100.com)

TLKRJ LLC, a Bova-based company with no apparent purpose and co-owned by Bova and Rothstein, according to state records, poured close to $200,000 into the coffers of Broward Sheriff contender Scott Israel’s opponents. Incumbent Al Lamberti won the tight race.

Lamberti, by the way, had been named sheriff a year earlier by Gov. Charlie Crist after the then-Sheriff Ken Jenne was convicted in a corruption scandal. So happens Lamberti supporter Crist and Rothstein are thisclose, and soon after Jenne was released from a federal prison, he found work with — you guessed it — Rothstein’s firm. (And you thought politicians in Palm Beach County weave a tangled web!)

“All of the sudden, we had a guy named Bova from Boca dropping all this money on the race, and no one knew why,” said Israel. “Then we figured out Rothstein was involved and that they wanted Lamberti to win.”

The Feds are all over Rothstein’s books this week. There’s no word if they’re interested in Bova’s, whose Bova Cucina in Boca and Bova Prime in Fort Lauderdale are humming along just fine.

Meanwhile, the owners of the new Park Avenue BBQ, at the corner of Glades and Dixie in Boca, are wondering what’s next. They’re about to open the brand new restaurant, but the building, which briefly housed a restaurant fronted by Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade, is owned by Rothstein.

(Courtesy of CBLPI)

This portrait of the Palm Beach-based GOP dragon lady Ann Coulter fittingly adorns a winter month on the 2010 conservative women calendar. Yep, there is such a calendar, and it’s being put out by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. The group offers guidance and advice to young conservative women. This year, by the way, the calendar also features fallen Miss California Carrie Prejean and the comely conservative scribe Michelle Malkin. This must-have item can be yours for a mere $25.

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The Mine Games (Courtesy www.charterworld.com)

The office of State Attorney Mike McAuliffe Monday declined to prosecute a businessman from California accused of raping a well-known area woman after a party on a Palm Beach-based yacht.

The alleged victim, whose name is being kept confidential by Page2Live because of the nature of the crime, told Palm Beach Police in February that she believes someone dropped a roofie in her drink during a Super Bowl party on the 164-foot Mine Games. The yacht, which is usually docked at the Australian docks, is owned by West Virginia coal mogul and North Palm Beach resident Chris Cline.

The victim, a 38-year-old woman who’s popular among The Island’s nightlife dwellers, told police she remembers being at the party, at times doing tequila shots. But she doesn’t remember much past 9:30 p.m., Feb. 1, until she found herself in the front seat of her car engaged in sex with a man who was on the yacht but whom she had not met.

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The man, according to police records, was identified as a 42-year-old with addresses in California and Texas. He didn’t respond to a text message asking him to comment.

In his talk with the cops, the victim asked him to drive her home as they left the yacht. He made his first stop at the Four Seasons Palm Beach, where he was checked in. But because the woman was still out of it, he decided to drive her home. He said he pulled into the parking of the Marriott West Palm Beach on Okeechobee, and watched the victim get sick before engaging in sex.

To him, it was consensual. To her, it was abuse.

Eventually, he dropped off the alleged victim at her home. She called police the following morning when she noticed her car was missing. The alleged perp had driven himself back to his hotel because he had a business meeting the following morning and kept her car overnight.

Back in February, Palm Beach police believed there was enough evidence to have the man charged with sexual battery on a helpless person. But this week, Assistant State Attorney Daliah Weiss decided otherwise. Charges weren’t file because, Weiss wrote in her report, nothing indicates the alleged victim refused sex.

“The victim does not recall the majority of the evening,” Weiss wrote. “And (the suspect’s) statement provides a reasonable hypothesis of innocence.”