Palm Beach Daily News from Palm Beach, Florida • 1

VOL. NO. 67 6 PAGES Copyright 1995 Palm Beach Daily News PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1995 IIUu JM.miJ.MWUM.Wiw. 1IIJil IIIIIU.UIi.iiijui iaunii i I I II 11 iiiiiiij 11 i I. I.

woman missing from Mississippi I i By CAROL WRIGHT Daily Ntws Staff Writer Palm Beach resident Jacqueline "Jackie" Levitz, widow of furniture store magnate Ralph Levitz, is missing from her home in Vicksburg, and authorities suspect she has been murdered following a robbery. "There's a sufficient amount of blood on the bed that says to me she is dead, but we don't have any proof she's dead," Warren County Sheriff Paul Barrett said Tuesday. "The mystery to me is why the body is missing. "Two of her purses were missing from the house," Barrett added. "But her car, a new Jaguar convertible, was still there." Kidnapping for ransom has been ruled out, Barrett said.

"No ransom calls have been made, but why would they take the body?" Investigators with the sheriff's department said the latest that someone is believed to have seen Mrs. Levitz alive was 4 p.m. Saturday. She had been living alone at Graham leaves Flagler By JAN SJOSTROM Daily News Arts Editor Kay Graham remembers well the notice that brought her to work at the Henry M. Flagler Museum.

"In October of 1 969, 1 opened the newspaper and I saw a headline that said, 'Refined ladies she says. "I said to myself, 'That has to be Graham responded to the appeal. She began as a volunteer guide. In time, her duties expanded until she became what former Flagler Executive Director Charles Simmons describes as "the glue between the volunteers, the staff and the trustees." The layers will have to stick together without her now. On Friday, Graham retired.

Graham took the guide-training class 26 years ago from then executive director Grant Bedford with the newly appointed executive director, Charles Simmons. Graham spent three years as a guide before she accepted a paid position. Even she has trouble describing her duties. The staff was small and everyone pitched in to do whatever was necessary, she says. Graham served as secretary to the director, handled publicity, acted as liaison to the volunteers, organized refreshments for guide meetings and classes and cared for the Flagler's cats.

Her "dutiesexpanded ally as she acquired more experience. "She started out taking dictation," says Simmons, who retired a year ago. "Gradually, she knew what to do herself. It got so that the last few years, the president's annual report was largely written by Kay Graham." Graham was the buffer between the sometimes acerbic Simmons and those who worked for him. "She would let me know when I had been abrupt or rude," Simmons says.

"She was always the little hand in between." Graham's thoughtfulness made her a beloved figure at the Flagler. She was a wonderful storyteller and a charmer of tr I I JL IX I TN 4 KJX I f'tf- -pT'. 1 Hotel's Restaurant wins five diamonds Daily News Photo By GREER GATTUSO Kay Graham retired Friday from her duties at the Henry M. Flagler Museum, where she began as a volunteer in 1969. A former museum director calls her 'the glue between the volunteers, the staff and the By CHRISTOPHER KEIDAISH Daily News Business Editor In the race to the top of the hospitality industry's 1996 ratings, The Restaurant at the Four Seasons Ocean Grand has taken the lead in Palm Beach with AAA's highest honor, the Five Diamond Award.

Despite its reputation for luxury, the island hasn't seen a Five Diamond Award since The Breakers lost its designation in 1990. Several island restaurants and hotels, however, were ranked in the next highest tier with four diamonds last year. The Five Diamond Award recognizes an "unwavering commitment to excellence," said Graeme Clarke, senior vice president of products and services for the American Automobile Associ FILE PHOTO Authorities suspect Jackie Le- vitz was murdered during a robbery, but no body has been found. the house which she recently, bought during a remodeling project, Barrett said. Please see LEVITZ, Page 5 ation.

It is a first for The Restaurant, which received four diamonds in 1995. Judged separately from The Restaurant, the Four Seasons Ocean Grand will receive four diamonds as a hotel in 1996, as will The Breakers, The Ritz-Carl-ton and perhaps other Palm Beach institutions yet to be announced. "The Five Diamond award is one of the industry's most prestigious honors and we feel extremely proud to have achieved this designation for The Restaurant," William Mackay, general manager of the Four Seasons Ocean Grand, said Tuesday. "In all areas, we strive for perfection. It is, indeed, a wonderful feeling when you attain it.

Please see AWARD, Page 5 A PAUSE FOR PRAYER Georgia O'Connor of Palm Beach pauses for a moment of prayer at the statue of Mary in the courtyard of St. Edward Catholic Church. She had attended a tea in the rectory with other members of the congregation. Daily News Photo By PATRICK EGAN come from all walks of life. Although most are senior citizens, they're full of vitality and the desire to contribute something." Some of Graham's most viv-Please see GRAHAM, Page 4 children.

If a colleague was sick, she visited them, sent cards or phoned. "She was admired for her friendliness, her good sense of humor and her willingness to help out in any situation," says Joan Runkel, the Flagler's asso Commission: PB should rezone former WPBR site as commercial The Zoning Commission had made the same recommendation last year, but the Town Council returned the issue to the panel for study, along with the zoning of The Beachcomber motel site. ciate curator. "But the main thing was her friendliness." Graham got the most pleasure out of working with the volunteers. "I have considered the volunteers the heart of my job because of the wonderful people that have joined us.

They they were negotiating to establish a Ruby Tuesday restaurant there. Commissioners discussed two commercial classifications for the lot: a commercial office, professional and institutional district, and the commercial town-serving designation. They decided on the latter category after determining it would give the council the most control over the property to protect residents. Valerie Aspinwall, who owns the lot, asked for the zoning change last year. She told commissioners she has not been able to find a buyer for the lot, which is separated from the beach by a City of Lake Worth parking lot.

To the north of the lot is the Lake Worth Casino with a public beach, swimming pool, shops and parking lot. A town-owned sanitary sewer pump station occupies 1,200 square feet near the front of the lot, reducing the footage on South Ocean Boulevard to approximately 70 feet. 1 1 i 4 By SUSAN BEACH Daily News Staff Writer The former site of the WPBR radio station should be zoned commercial, Zoning Commissioners said Monday, reaffirming their recommendation of last year. In a 4-3 vote after several hours of discussion, commissioners decided to recommend that the Town Council rezone the residential lot to commercial. In another 4-3 vote, they chose a commercial town-serving designation for the approximately 440-foot-by-100-foot lot at 3000 S.

Ocean Blvd. The commission had recommended the zoning change in November 1994, but the council voted unanimously in January to return the issue to the commission, asking it to study the rezoning in conjunction with the adjacent lot at 3024 S. Ocean Blvd. The lot is the site of The Beachcomber motel. Through their attorney Ray Royce, motel owners strongly objected to a commercial zoning designation for the WPBR lot because of Rodney Fink, co-chairman of the Citizens' Association South of Sloan's Curve, said residents fear that a commercial district there would harm the "general ambiance" of their neighborhood.

"Our members are very concerned with the impact of the proposed change on traffic, noise, late hours and the security problems that are bound to present themselves," he said. Ned Barnes, president of the Palm Beach Civic Association, said his group shares the same concerns. "Anything that might increase or aggravate problems in the Lake Worth Casino area, anything that might make residents' life in that area more frightening or more difficult, we would oppose," he said. Regardless of whether the council approves the zoning change, a restaurant could open on the property. The council approved a restaurant site plan with 21 conditions that is valid through April 30.

The property is for sale and a group of potential buyers had requested the restaurant plan in 1994 when potential noise and other impacts on their property. Royce restated many of the motel owners' concerns Monday. Representatives of both citizens groups in town and a representative of The Palm Beacher, a coop next door to The Beachcomber, also objected to the Please see ZONING, Dage 2 -t.