The early retirement of state Sen. Ken Pruitt will cost local governments — and therefore taxpayers — more than $475,000.

Tuesday’s special election to replace Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, for one year will cost at least that much.

Elections officials in the five counties that comprise state Senate District 28 base their costs projections upon printing, staff overtime, poll worker costs, advertising and the cost to mail out absentee-style ballots. (more…)

OKEECHOBEE COUNTY — The death of a 49-year-old woman found by family members appears to be the result of a homicide, and sheriff’s investigators are interviewing “persons of interest,” the sheriff’s office stated Wednesday.

Sheriff’s deputies responded Tuesday night to an address in the 2700 block of Northeast 11th Court and met with Roberta “Bobbie” Elizabeth Christensen’s son and daughter-in-law.

They reported coming to the residence in the Pine Ridge Park subdivision to see Christensen, a waitress at Golden Corral, and finding her dead inside. (more…)

The week-long process called early voting, where ballots are cast on optical scan equipment at county elections headquarters and a couple other locations, kicks off Monday morning for the special state Senate District 28 election.

Elections officials will oversee early voting at the main office in each county. St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties will open secondary locations, at the Port St. Lucie City Hall and the North County Courthouse in Palm Beach Gardens.

As of Friday morning, election officials reported 19,802 voters in Florida’s Senate District 28 have cast their votes, using the vote by mail ballots, since the start of the month for the Aug. 4 special election to replace retiring Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie. (more…)

A Belle Glade man arrested Wednesday on an attempted murder charge is the latest suspect to land behind bars in connection with two Okeechobee County shootings from early this month.

Ethan Harris, 26, is being held at the Palm Beach County jail without bond.

Harris is accused of shooting Okeechobee County resident Javaris Johnson, 24, in the back as Johnson was riding his three-wheel motorcycle along Front Street at about 11:30 p.m. on July 2, according to the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office.

Jarvis Johnson was able to keep riding until the end of the block, where he veered into an empty lot, Sheriff’s Det. Ted Van Deman said.

A past dispute over rental property prompted the shooting, Van Deman said.
Johnson had been competing against Okeechobee resident Byron Brinkley, 29, over a lease agreement to open up a bar at the corner of Front and Fifth streets, Van Deman said. In the end, Johnson outbid Brinkely.

When Jarvis Johnson’s cousin, Tarrance Pryor, 30, heard that he had been shot at, he went to confront one of Brinkley’s acquaintances, 29-year-old Keith “Ki-Ki” Johnson, Van Deman said. Keith Johnson ended up shooting Pryor with a pistol, Van Deman said.

Keith Johnson fled the scene but was arrested later that night during a traffic stop. Brinkley was also arrested that night on charges of helping Johnson flee.

Harris fled the scene and it took some days before investigators were able to pin him down as a suspect for Jarvis Johnson’s shooting.

A detective with the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office is on paid administrative leave after a jail inmate accused him of sexual misconduct, officials said.

Detective Sgt. T.J. Brock, 51, was placed on leave after sheriff’s officials learned from the FBI on Friday that a 39-year-old female inmate at the Okeechobee County Jail reported the incident, Undersheriff Noel Stephen said Tuesday.

Stephen said the woman told investigators the incident took place at the sheriff’s office, but Stephen declined to explain how the woman, who had been incarcerated since April on a misdemeanor charge, would have allegedly made her way from the jail to the sheriff’s office.

The undersheriff said ongoing criminal and internal investigations prevented him from discussing the case in detail.

Stephen, however, did say the woman was not raped.

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T.J. Brock

Det. Sgt. T.J. Brock, 51, was placed on leave after sheriff’s officials learned from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday that a 39-year-old female inmate at the Okeechobee County jail reported the incident, Undersheriff Noel Stephen said today.

The woman said the incident took place at the sheriff’s office, Stephen said, but declined to explain how the woman, who had been incarcerated since April, made her way from the jail to the sheriff’s office, citing ongoing criminal and internal investigations into the allegations.

But Stephen did say the woman was not raped.

The woman has been transported to another facility while the investigations are underway, Stephen said.

Brock is a 24-year veteran on the force who is assigned to the criminal investigations division, Stephen said.

Capt. Hiram’s, a popular Sebastian restaurant, was one of two Treasure Coast eateries that received more than 25 violations in the most recent round of health inspections released by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

State records show restaurant inspectors found 26 violations, 16 of them “critical,” during an inspection June 16 of restaurant facilities at the tiki-style resort, 1606 Indian River Drive in Sebastian.

Vito’s Italian Restaurant, 11005 S. Ocean Drive in Jensen Beach, also had 26 violations, 18 of them “critical,” during a June 18 inspection, records show.

An Okeechobee County restaurant had no violations. State inspectors gave a perfect score to Okeechobee Livestock Market Restaurant, 1055 N. Highway 98 in Okeechobee, during a June 16 inspection.

The department conducts inspections through the Division of Hotels and Restaurants throughout the state.

Each inspection report is a “snapshot” of conditions present at the time of the inspection. State inspectors can return for multiple visits stemming from one inspection until problems are corrected.
TCPalm.com

Plants seized during a search of Okeechobee County grow house.

The 34 plants were discovered during a Tuesday afternoon search of a prefabricated home suspected to have been converted into a grow house, sheriff’s spokesman Ted Van Deman said.

The home, located at 17601 NW 288th Street, is located in the Viking Properties subdivision, a rural area in the northern part of the county. Two rooms on the second floor were both converted into a grow house operation – complete with grow lights, air conditioners and an irrigation system, Van Deman said.

Authorities also found a shotgun and a rifle inside the home, Van Deman said. The house was unoccupied at the time of the search. The matter is still under investigation and charges are expected, Van Deman said.

The plants’ estimated value was $388,600.

STUART — It just doesn’t make sense to Bill Wallace.

Why would Chrysler close a profitable dealership in a growing area?

Why would the beleaguered automaker allow a franchise in out-of-the-way Okeechobee to remain open, while closing several on the more populated Treasure Coast?

He’s selling cars. He bought more of them than he needed from Chrysler this year, at the urging of the company’s top brass, he says.

But his Wallace Chrysler Jeep in Fort Pierce is still slated to shut down after June 9, along with 788 other dealerships that Chrysler decided to close as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition.

“We weathered this tsunami, and in America, you should be rewarded for that, not punished,” said Wallace, a third-generation dealer whose grandfather opened a Chevrolet dealership in West Palm Beach in the 1930s.

Wallace is among more than 300 dealers across the country who have joined forces to fight Chrysler’s decision. The group, called the Committee of Chrysler Affected Dealers, wants more time. More time to prove it would be a mistake to ax them.

But if Chrysler gets its way in bankruptcy court - as many industry watchers believe it will - five Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers between Indiantown Road in Jupiter and Vero Beach will be among those that close next month. (more…)

OKEECHOBEE COUNTY — When an 11-foot alligator leaped out of the water and clamped down on his arm and chest, Antonio Prado was caught by surprise.

Prado was dragged under the water by the alligator, which bit him on his arm and chest.

“I had been there (to Nubbin Slough on Lake Okeechobee) casting my (fishing) net many times,” said Prado, 47, from his room in Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce. “I had seen alligators and they never bothered me.”

Prado of Okeechobee, is a truck driver. On his day off Monday, he went fishing with his son, Jonatan, 24, in Nubbin Slough.

“(The alligator) was on the side of the water, when I went in. He went in too,” Prado said. “I didn’t think about it because others had done the same. I threw in my net. When I pulled it up, he came out of the water. He pulled me under the water and we rolled around twice before I could get to the surface to call for help.”
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