Panel recalls serial killer Gerard Schaefer whose victims ended up on Hutchinson Island

STUART — Five panelists closely tied to the conviction of one of the first coined “serial killers” met to reflect on their involvement Monday evening.

Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder, State Attorney Bruce Colton, attorney Bob Stone, writer Yvonne Mason and reporter Joe Crankshaw spoke in a community forum at the Blake Library about their work in the Gerard Schaefer case.

In April 1973, the remains of victims Susan Place and Georgia Jessup were found on Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County. Schaefer was charged with their murders, linked to at least 30 missing women and girls by authorities, and given two life sentences in prison. The Fort Lauderdale resident was brutally killed by a fellow inmate in prison in 1995.

Schaefer also worked for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy for 28 days alongside Crowder.

“I think it just made law enforcement more aware of the existence of serial murderers,” Crowder said. “It made us aware of things to key on when we have a crime like this there is the potential for it being one perpetrator and multiple victims.” (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Three weeks after the St. Lucie County School Board eliminated 331 positions as part of $30 million in budget cuts, Superintendent Michael Lannon is asking that it hire back a retired administrator with a six-figure salary.

Former Deputy Superintendent Sandra Wolfe, who retired in February, would return effective May 1, if the recommendation is approved.

“I find her to be an integral part, not only of the workforce of this district, but of the chemistry (of the staff,)” Lannon said of Wolfe.

School board members will vote on the issue at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the district offices. (more…)

The Treasure Coast’s workforce board is looking for local companies willing hire young workers this summer — for free.

Workforce Solutions wants to find 200 short-term jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds in the area. Businesses don’t have to cover the wages. Workforce Solutions plans to use federal stimulus money to pay $8 an hour, plus worker’s compensation.

The program is open to private, non-profit and public companies willing to provide meaningful work experiences and training opportunities for participants.

The jobs are 32 hours a week for six to 10 weeks. A youth job coach will be assigned to each company to monitor the progress of participants and handle payroll. All participants will attend a two-week work readiness training program.

For more information, visit www.yourworkforcesolutions.com.

PORT ST. LUCIE — A four-year-old boy hit by a car last week while riding his scooter broke his femur and scratched his head, according to police.

Kevin Romero was hit at about 7 p.m. last Thursday at 4019 SW McIntosh Street after riding his scooter out of the driveway and into the path of a car, according to the police report. The driver, John Olsen, 64, of Port St. Lucie, told police he didn’t have time to stop. The collision threw the child about three feet and shattered the car’s headlight cover, according to the police report.

The boy was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach after the accident. His injuries weren’t considered life threatening.

Life after his scandal isn’t getting any easier for former area U.S. Congressman Mark Foley.

Foley wants to volunteer his time as chair of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, but some festival bigs don’t want him.

Click here for the story.

INDIANTOWN — Another 3,500 job applications were taken Saturday at Timer Powers Park in Indiantown on the last day of a two-day job fair to recruit workers for the Florida Power & Light Co. Solar Power facility in western Martin County.

In all, 8,000 applied for some 1,100 jobs the project is expected to bring to the area before construction closes at the end of next year.

“That’s a fair but maybe conservative number,” said John Dinger of Workforce Solutions, which collected the applications and will immediately begin pre-screening them.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A 22-year-old Port St. Lucie man has been charged in federal court with transporting child pornography after authorities found more than half a million child pornographic images on his computer hard drive, according to a news release Friday from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jason David Bingham was detained Friday in Miami without bond and his arraignment is set for April 28.
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Port St. Lucie’s next biotech institute is one step closer to reality.

Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute signed a deal this month to design and build its new $30 million laboratory in the Tradition development west of Interstate 95.

The institute tapped Baltimore-based Whiting Turner Contracting Co. to oversee construction of the 105,000 square feet of laboratories and offices. The building is on target to be completed in May 2011, said Andrew Favata, vice president for Tradition’s developer, Core Communities LLC.

VGTI Florida, as the local campus has been dubbed, will be built on eight acres at Core Communities’ Florida Center for Innovation at Tradition, a fledgling research park that’s now home to another biotech outfit, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. (more…)

It’s common to see Treasure Coast teens and preteens using cell phones for sending text messages and photos.

But it’s also becoming common for teens nationwide to send other things via their phones or computer Web cameras, including explicit and sexual photographs that have given the phenomenon a new name — sexting.

“It’s been going on for several years here. We just didn’t call it this,” said Detective Brian Broughton of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. “Now it has a little buzz word, but basically we’re referring to the same thing — when children would take nude pictures of themselves and send it to other children.”
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Wondering if Florida Power & Light Co.’s proposed 300-mile natural gas pipeline will cut through your property?

The utility is hosting a meeting 4-8 p.m. today at the Indiantown Civic Center to give residents an up-close look at its plans for the proposed $1.5 billion project.

FPL announced plans for the Florida EnergySecure Line earlier this month, pitching it as a way to make the state less vulnerable to disruptions in natural gas supplies from the Gulf of Mexico.

If approved by the Florida Public Service Commission, the pipeline would run from Palm Beach County to Bradford County in north-central Florida, with about 10 miles in Martin County.

FPL wants the pipeline up and running as soon as 2014.