PORT ST. LUCIE — Northport K-8 student Aldrin D’Silva is once more the Treasure Coast’s top speller, after more than three hours of competition and seven head-to-head rounds against fellow St. Lucie County student and runner-up Robert Bacchus.

Aldrin, 14, won the 2010 Scripps Regional Spelling Bee Saturday, besting a field of 30 elementary and middle school students from Martin, Indian River and St. Lucie counties. He won his third all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., in four years to represent the Treasure Coast June 2-4 in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Aldrin won the bee by correctly spelling “termagancy,” a noun meaning habitual bad temper.

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Martin County’s renowned Bathtub Reef Beach will take a big step in its restoration when construction starts on its dune system Tuesday.

The $552,500 restoration of the South Hutchinson Island beach should be complete by May 1 to avoid interfering with sea turtle nesting season, according to a news release. The beach has been closed since October 2009 because of seasonal erosion’s effect on parking and unsafe swimming conditions.

The state and Martin County are each paying half the cost.

Public access might not return until later because the infrastructure at the beach — its bathrooms, the parking lot — needs to be rebuilt, said Kathy FitzPatrick, Martin County coastal engineer.

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By Ed Killer

Patrick Price of Daymaker charters out of Four Fish Marina in Jensen Beach and his clients saw an unusual sight while fishing offshore Friday morning. They saw an estimated 10-foot long mako shark leaping out of the water.

Upon closer inspection, as they moved closer to try to catch the mako, they saw a humpback whale calf and an adult humpback, and a hammerhead shark below it. Then the adult whale began greyhounding away while Price maneuvered his 40-foot fishing boat to keep the shark away from the young whale. Price said the adult whale was in obvious distress.

“It has polypropylene rope wrapped around its head and pectoral fin and its attached to an anchor,” said Price at 2:30 p.m. Friday while still on the water. “The whale was jumping and we could see the line all wrapped around it.”
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The first reports of Chinese drywall in Treasure Coast homes surfaced more than a year ago, but federal agencies responsible for determining the health and safety risks associated with tainted products aren’t any closer to resolving the problem plaguing thousands of local and nationwide homeowners. (more…)

The first reports of Chinese drywall in Treasure Coast homes surfaced more than a year ago, but federal agencies responsible for determining the health and safety risks associated with tainted products aren’t any closer to resolving the problem plaguing thousands of local and nationwide homeowners.

A group of federal agencies are cooperating on the imported drywall investigation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the lead agency responsible for nationwide Chinese drywall complaints. The commission will determine whether Chinese drywall sulphur emissions cause the metal corrosions and health issues reported by hundreds of Treasure Coast homeowners.
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Denise Brown, advocate for victims of domestic violence, was the special guest speaker at SafeSpace’s annual luncheon in Stuart.

Brown will be the guest at another luncheon at Oak Harbor Club in Vero Beach on Friday, March 19.

For information about that event, call (772) 223-2399. SafeSpace offers safety, support and education to victims of domestic violence. For more information, call 1-800-500-1119 or visit http://safespacefl.org/.

Read an earlier post: Denise Brown to visit Stuart, Vero Beach to raise awareness for domestic violence

READ FULL QUESTION-AND-ANSWER SESSION FROM March 7:

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STUART — Gov. Charlie Crist will be joined by Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael W. Sole and several local and environmental leaders to tour the St. Lucie River and estuary today.

The visit will emphasize Crist’s focus on protecting the health of the Everglades, according to the governor’s press office.

The visit is set for 10:30 a.m. at Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage, 615 Anchorage Way, Stuart.

A $40,000 gift from a hospital to the family of a brain-damaged Guatemalan patient on Wednesday became a footnote to a case that has sparked national debates on immigration and health care.
Attorneys for Luis Alberto Jimenez’s guardian had since last year been fighting a jury’s decision that Martin Memorial Hospital officials acted fairly when they privately deported him to Guatemala after spending more than $1.5 million treating him for injuries he received in a February 2000 car accident.
In a joint statement with the hospital, the family’s attorneys said they would stop appealing the case and the hospital would give Jimenez $40,000, money hospital officials say they would have spent on attorneys fees had the litigation continued.

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By Lamaur Stancil

MARTIN COUNTY — A teenaged boy removed from physical education class at South Fork High School was accused of burglarizing a home and bringing a stolen gun to campus Monday, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.

Christopher Scales, 17, was charged with armed burglary, grand theft and possession of a firearm on school property.

Christopher Scales

A school resource deputy at South Fork confronted Scales in the gym, the Sheriff’s Office said. The deputy found a backpack that had the stolen weapon from the Indiantown burglary, he said.

Scales was being held at the Juvenile Justice Center in Fort Pierce.

A 44-year-old Hobe Sound man died after his motorcycle was struck from behind Sunday night by a Ford pick-up truck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Charles Patrick Barry was riding a 2004 Harley-Davidson north on A1A at 10:35 p.m. approaching Osprey Street as a 1997 Ford pick-up truck driven by Hobe Sound resident Michael D. Lookebill, 36, was coming up behind him, an FHP release states.

According to Lookebill, Barry signaled to make a right turn. As Lookebill started to pass Barry on the left, Barry turned left into the pick-up’s path. The pick-up struck the back of the motorcycle, ejecting Barry. The pick-up then traveled over the motorcycle.

Barry died after the crash.

Lookebill sustained minor injuries, while his passenger, Nicole R. Lookebill, 38, of Hobe Sound, was not injured.

Charges were pending.