St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Jeff Furst.

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FORT PIERCE — Jeffrey Furst, property appraiser for St. Lucie County since 2001, died Monday after suffering a stroke Friday evening at his Port St. Lucie home.

Furst, 68, was born in Buffalo, NY and had lived in St. Lucie County for 40 years, coming from Charleston, WV.

He had a long history of public service in St. Lucie County. He was a speech therapist for the St. Lucie County School Migrant Program and was a 12-year member of the St. Lucie County School Board.

While on that board, Furst was instrumental in establishing the first magnet schools in the county.

He later became a certified real estate appraiser and agent. It was his desire to serve the community that prompted him to seek the office of property appraiser for the county, which he has held since 2001.

Furst helped organize and was chairman of the board of the now-defunct Port St. Lucie National Bank. He remained a board member of Seacoast National Bank.
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A new law could make it more difficult for Treasure Coast government employees to “double dip” - where employees receive a paycheck and pension at the same time. The employees retire 30 days and are then rehired for the same job.

The new law, which began Thursday, will require state workers such as teachers, law enforcement officers and county employees who participates in the state Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP, to wait six months to return to any participating employer.

DROP started in 1998 as a way to get higher-paid, older employees to retire and make way for younger, lower-paid employees. But instead, the old law allowed employers to rehire the higher-paid employees after only a month, defeating the purpose and allowing the employee to collect both a paycheck and pension.

As of March 2009, more than 100 Treasure Coast government workers are double dipping including elected officials such as Indian River County Clerk of Court Jeffrey K. Barton and Indian River County Property Appraiser David Nolte. State records as of June 1 show about 480 people on the Treasure Coast have enrolled in the retirement program but haven’t retired.

Those on the list include Harry LaCava, Indian River County Schools superintendent, and Marsha Ewing, Martin County Clerk of Court. LaCava is scheduled to leave DROP next June, and Ewing is scheduled to leave the program in May 2013, at that point each will have to retire for six months if they want to keep working. (more…)

Christopher Lee Thiel

Christopher Lee Thiel, of the 900 block of Old Dixie Highway in Vero Beach, was arrested at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday by a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputy.

A vehicle Thiel was traveling in was stopped in the area of Roland Court and Ocala Avenue for “suspicious activity,” an arrest affidavit states. Thiel was with two 14-year-old girls and a 16-year-old girl.

“One of the (14-year-old) females admitted to drinking two beers provided to her by Christopher,” the affidavit states. “The other (14-year-old) admitted to drinking half a beer.”

The 16-year-old girl said she’d imbibed a beer provided by Thiel.

Thiel’s arrest affidavit also lists a juvenile co-defendant, but that person’s charge and gender weren’t immediately available Friday.

When the red, white and blue fireworks sparkle and hiss through the night sky during the Fourth of July weekend, thank the large and small businesses that stepped up to make it happen in this year in Treasure Coast cities with busted budgets.

Fort Pierce and Vero Beach are celebrating the holiday with fireworks paid for by donations this year. Stuart’s and Port St. Lucie’s fireworks are partly supported by city budgets and partly by donations.

“If our sponsors had not stepped up, we wouldn’t have fireworks this year,” said Bernie Malone, manager of Stuart Main Street, which organizes the annual event. “We’re very fortunate that they did. We raised $33,000. Our main donors were John Pierson of Rags to Riches and Mulligan’s Beach House Stuart. The city gave us $3,000.”
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By Will Greenlee

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 52-year-old woman was arrested after a 12-year-old boy was found with injuries that could have been caused by being hit with an extension cord, according to records released Thursday and a police spokesman.

Beverly Jean Hutchings-Watts, of the 1100 block of Southwest Estaugh Avenue, was arrested Wednesday on a felony aggravated child abuse charge.

The boy had “lineal bruises” on his back, legs and abdomen and what looked to be “pick marks” on his abdomen. He said he’d been beaten with an extension cord.

Hutchings-Watts told police she disciplines the boy with a belt and showed police two that she used, but an investigator reported they would not have left the type of marks observed. Hutchings-Watts, listed as unemployed, wouldn’t say that anyone used an extension cord.

The boy made allegations against another person, including that the person put socks over or in his mouth held in place with tape while the person disciplined him.

By Will Greenlee

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was placed on administrative duty with pay pending the outcome of an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, though details of any probe by a federal agency were not available, a state official said Thursday.

FHP Trooper Gary Bach was placed on administrative duty with pay in mid-May, Dave Westberry, communications director for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said Thursday.

“I can’t really tell you anything about the investigation,” Westberry said. “It’s not our investigation … I don’t know what the content of it is.”

Bach worked out of the FHP’s Fort Pierce office.

David Melenkevitz, a DEA public information officer, said Thursday he couldn’t confirm or deny whether his agency is investigating Bach. He said the DEA hasn’t arrested Bach, and an assistant U.S. Attorney said via e-mail, “We have no information on an arrest of FHP Trooper Gary Bach.”

Bach, who graduated from Martin County High School and the University of Central Florida, has received accolades while with the FHP.

He was selected as the FHP’s Trooper of the Month in Aug. 2005 for “life-saving actions” in helping a child involved in a crash on Interstate 95. He noticed the child had a bad bruise on the neck after the Aug. 8, 2005, incident and kept the child’s airway open until medical workers arrived. The child was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach and treated for a crushed trachea.

Bach also was selected as the Trooper of the Month in April 2003. He was praised in a letter from a motorist he helped in January 2008. The man was traveling with his niece and great nephew on Interstate 95 and their vehicle had a blowout.

“Much to my chagrin, I discovered that my niece did not have a wrench in her trunk required to change the tire,” the man wrote. “Five minutes of angst passed and then Trooper Gary Bach came to the rescue.”

PORT ST. LUCIE — A group of St. Lucie County youths got the opportunity of a lifetime to perform on the same stage once graced by the likes of music legends James Brown and Michael Jackson at the famed Apollo Theater in New York City.

Twenty-six members of The Boys & Girls Club of St. Lucie County’s Ken Pruitt Unit took action against cuts in music education by entering VH1’s Save the Music Foundation Battle of the Bands contest. They submitted a music video that beat thousands of entries across the country and won the contest’s grand prize. (more…)

Kathryn Hudson

Police also seized $1,300 from Kathryn Hudson, who is unemployed, during her Tuesday arrest, suspecting the money came from illicit drug activity, police Sgt. Robert Fonteyn said. (more…)

By Susan Burgess

PORT ST. LUCIE — Budget cuts have left Port St. Lucie without its annual Elks Lodge Fourth of July parade this year. The parade’s veteran coordinator said he is saddened but optimistic that the parade will return next year with the help of private donors.

The patriotic parade featuring marchers and floats was organized and produced for about 20 years by Elks Lodge #2658 in Port St. Lucie on Midport Road, now called Veteran’s Memorial Highway. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A nine-year old child hit by a vehicle at 5:24 this afternoon is being transported by air to a southern trauma center, according to the St. Lucie County Fire Rescue Department. The child is a serious condition, but injuries are not life-threatening.

The incident occurred on Port St. Lucie Boulevard, between Southeast Floresta Drive and Southwest Airoso Boulevard.

The sex of the child is not known, nor the type of vehicle.