By CHARLES ELMORE

One person died in an accident on Interstate 95 southbound in Port St. Lucie just before 10 p.m. tonight, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.

One southbound lane remained open after emergency units responded near mile-marker 127. There was no immediate information on the identity of the victim or how many vehicles were involved.

FORT PIERCE — Faced with double-digit unemployment and one of the highest rates of foreclosures in the country, St. Lucie County commissioners are crafting a “mini-stimulus” to inject some much-needed cash into the local economy.

The idea, they say, is to create local jobs using locally available money.

Up for discussion are two separate but related options. The first is to declare a state of emergency, allowing money to be freed and construction projects to be sped through the system. The second is a “local preference” ordinance that would favor local businesses in the bidding process.

A public workshop about the ordinance is scheduled at 2 p.m. Monday at the Havert L. Fenn Center, while commissioners will hold an informal meeting about the stimulus plan, or state of emergency, at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the county’s administrative offices.

The two options, though still in the planning stages, have garnered regional and national attention, prompting speculation that the county’s finances are in trouble or that St. Lucie is closing itself off from companies headquartered outside its borders. Neither is true, county officials say.

“People say, ‘Isn’t there a stigma to declaring a state of emergency?’ but quite honestly the entire country is in an economic crisis,” said Commissioner Doug Coward. “It is not a reflection on the budget, but the economy.” (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Firefighters are working to contain a 1.5-acre fire that broke out in a wooden area west of Florida’s Turnpike.

The St. Lucie County Fire District got the call about 11:50 a.m. and arrived to battle the brush fire in a heavily wooden area off the intersection of Del Rio Boulevard and Lennox Street, spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said this afternoon.

A portion of Del Rio by Lennox Street has been closed to traffic, Chaney said. (more…)

February 27, 2009

SEBASTIAN — Police announced that a body found last month is that of Marcia Hulihan. State officials confirmed her identity through dental records. She had been reported missing in September.

According to TCPalm.com, authorities won’t be able to determine why Marcia Hulihan’s place of death was a watery canal just north of her apartment complex. Police do not suspect foul play in the case, but the state Medical Examiner’s Office was unable to say how the 50-year-old woman died.
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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Like we need something right now to take another “bite” out of our wallets: Termites reportedly are swarming earlier this year than usual.
Jim Pond, manager of the Terminix pest control company in Port St. Lucie, said he started getting reports of termite swarms “a couple of weeks ago, and they’ve been coming in pretty consistently since then from as far north as Vero Beach down to Stuart.”
Anita Neal, director of the St. Lucie County Extension Service office in Fort Pierce, said no termites have been brought into her office so far this year, but that’s no reason to think Pond is just trying to drum up business.
“It’s a little early and the conditions aren’t quite right,” Neal said, “but it’s possible people are seeing swarms. Termites tend to swarm, or go into their reproductive stage, in the spring when the weather gets warmer and more humid. April and May are the peak months, but it can be as early as January.”
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Thursday, February 26, 2009

FORT PIERCE — A Jensen Beach man was found guilty late Thursday afternoon of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Fort Pierce woman at gunpoint in December 2005.

A jury of five men and one woman deliberated about five hours before reaching the verdict. Immediately after the verdict was read, 35-year-old Robert Lee Kenon was sentenced to two concurrent life prison terms.

In a trial that started Wednesday, the victim testified through a Spanish interpreter that she was walking to a store in Fort Pierce that Dec. 22 when Kenon forced her into his car at gunpoint and drove her to a beach, where he touched her breasts and other private parts and tried to have sex with her until she screamed so loudly he stopped.

Afterward, she said, he drove her back to the area where he had picked her up.

Kenon maintained his innocence even after the verdict.
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Thursday, February 26, 2009

STUART — The city this week continued assembling pieces of the purchase package for Arthur’s Dockside Waterfront Restaurant property adjacent to City Hall, acquiring $1 million in financing and further negotiating the final price.

The City Commission inked a contract for the property in early December that established a maximum purchase price of just more than $4.4 million for the last piece of riverfront property north of St. Lucie Avenue not under city control.

Since that time, primary emphasis has centered on negotiating down more than $4 million in liens and claims against the property. The outcome of those dealings will determine how much the city ultimately pays for the property.

On Monday, city commissioners approved a $3.85 million price cap for the deal. However, as of Tuesday, City Attorney Paul Nicoletti said the encumbrances hovered just below $4 million.

Because of the ongoing negotiations with lien holders, the city obtained a three-week extension until March 20 to conclude its pre-sale inspection and set a new
closing date of April 3.
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FORT PIERCE — A 19-year-old woman is accused of cutting her girlfriend with a 10-inch kitchen knife and is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail on a $100,000 bail, according to tcpalm.com.

Amanda D. Wilson, of the 700 block of S. 29th St., faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the incidents that began at 1:11 a.m. Thursday.

The 19-year-old victim told police she and her live-in girlfriend argued.

“The argument became very heated and she grabbed a knife from the kitchen,” the report states. “(The victim) stated that she realized how out of hand the argument was getting and threw the knife down and walked away.”

The victim went to attend to her son, whom the dispute woke, and Wilson picked up the knife and held it to her girlfriend’s throat, the report states. She started cutting the victim’s arms and hands, which had superficial lacerations, the report states.

A lot has happened to the Geary family since their German shepherd, Astro, became missing from their Port St. Lucie home nine years ago. They moved three times and ended up in Louisville, Ky.

Dennis Geary with Astro / TCPalm.com

The family members were shocked when they got a call from an animal control officer about three weeks ago in Tennessee telling them they’d found Astro.

“It’s still a real shock that he is actually here,” said Linda Geary about having their dog back. “We are getting use to the fact that we don’t know where he has been or who had him, but he’s our dog and has always been our dog.”

About nine years earlier, Linda’s husband Dennis and his stepdaughter went to the Treasure Coast Humane Society in Palm City to adopt a dog, Dennis Geary said.

That day, they left with Astro – a black and off-white German shepherd that weighed about 80 pounds. (more…)

Fred Pierno in July 2007, when he was working to put out a small brush fire near the Holly Creek subdivision, just off Jensen Beach Boulevard. Photo by Vada Mossavat.

Fellow firefighters stood at Pierno’s bedside Wednesday as the Martin County Fire Rescue veteran lost a battle with Hepatitis C complications at his Port St. Lucie home.

“He died with his friends and his crew,” fire rescue spokesman Jon Belding said on Friday.

Afterward, Pierno’s friends remembered his commitment to Martin County Fire Rescue. Others said they considered the Vietnam War veteran a hero.

But Pierno, 55, also leaves behind a legacy of a different sort — he is the department’s first to die in the line of duty.
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