When the Martin County Commission fired Duncan Ballantyne from his $147,250 a year job as county administrator on St. Patrick’s Day, a pot of gold awaited the seasoned bureaucrat.

For starters, Ballantyne remained on the county payroll for a month after he cleaned out his office because he was entitled to a 30-day notice of his termination.

Since his official last day on April 23, Ballantyne has collected a total of $84,451 as a result of the severance package he negotiated when he was hired in the fall of 2005, county records show. And his initial severance period doesn’t end until Aug. 23.

Ballantyne’s severance package is not unusual for local government managers and attorneys on the Treasure Coast. In fact, 13 local government managers and attorneys in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties are entitled to severance pay for six months, or longer, if they are fired without cause. (more…)

ROSELAND — Law enforcement officials searched a home Monday they suspected of being a methamphetamine lab and arrested two people.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, with the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and the Sebastian Police Department, launched the investigation following a tip early Monday, Sheriff’s Detective Eric Flowers said. A local pharmacy notified law enforcement after someone bought ingredients commonly used for making methamphetamine, Flowers said.
(more…)

In these tight times, pay cuts and layoffs are affecting all ranks of school district employees from office staff to administrators.

But during the 2007-08 fiscal year, more than 61 Treasure Coast school district administrators earned more than $100,000. Now, some of these top earners are bracing for budget cuts.

Treasure Coast school superintendents made top dollar with Indian River County Schools Superintendent Harry La Cava taking home the biggest paycheck at $192,750.

However, for the 2009-10 fiscal year, La Cava is volunteering to take a 10 percent cut from his base salary, which equals about $17,500.

“If everybody is taking some kind of hit, we’re right in the mix of it,” La Cava said.

(more…)

SEBASTIAN — The woman who kept her mother’s mummified remains in a bedroom of their home for six years told police she never reported the death because she couldn’t afford burial expenses.

According to interview records released Tuesday, Penelope Sharon Jordan had maintained the ruse over the deception of the fate of Timmie Jordan since 2003. The story she gave to a Sebastian officer Monday morning was that her mother, who was born in 1913, was living in Melbourne. However, officers said Penelope Jordan couldn’t provide an address for where her mother was staying.
(more…)

SEBASTIAN — Police said they have found the mummified remains of a woman who had been missing for as much as six years in a home where neighbors complained of a foul smell.

Penelope Jordan, 61, of the 500 block of Wimbrow Drive, was charged Monday with fraud and theft by the Sebastian Police Department. Investigators are still looking into the circumstances of the death of Jordan’s mother, Timmie Jordan, who was born in 1913. Police said Penelope Jordan had been cashing her Social Security checks for the past six years.

Code enforcement had been called to the home Friday for complaints of bad odor, poor living conditions and numerous cats, said police spokesman Steve Marcinik.
(more…)

ROSELAND — Slabs of stucco-covered clay bricks, which had once held up a U.S. Coast Guard station and then a crab-processing house, lay in heaps around folk singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie’s contractors.

Guthrie and Melbourne builder Joseph Horschel had hoped to preserve the old walls on the outside while making a home out of the 80-year-old building, which overlooks the Indian River Lagoon, in the 13000 block of North Indian River Drive, north of Sebastian.

They were going to add stronger walls inside to stand up under hurricane winds. But they couldn’t save the walls.

“That was a disappointment,” said project designer John Anderson, from Indian Harbor Beach. “We found cracks we couldn’t see until we got all the stucco off … It was too much to work with, so unfortunately we were not able to do what we hoped to do and save the walls.” (more…)

TREASURE COAST — When Port St. Lucie High School pitcher Kyle Hurley steps on the mound next year, his baseball team might be limited to 20 regular season games — five fewer than now.

The Florida High School Athletic Association has proposed chopping the maximum number of contests by 20 percent for all varsity sports except football; and by 40 percent for all junior varsity sports including football. A board vote is expected in April.

The typical sports regular season would go from 25 varsity games to 20; and 25 junior varsity games to 15.

(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.
(more…)