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:

Laurence Reisman: Q&A with Denise Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister

By Laurence Reisman

Denise Brown led a relatively normal life until the mid-1990s, when her sister and ex-wife of football star O.J. Simpson was brutally slain, he was acquitted and found liable for her death in a subsequent civil trial.

The Nicole Brown Foundation was founded in 1994 to “provide urgently needed funding to battered women shelters across the country,” according to NicoleBrown.org. Since 1995, Denise Brown “has continued to raise awareness and educate our communities on domestic violence by speaking and supporting women’s shelters, schools, hospitals, prisons and corporate venues across the country.”

Denise Brown, who will speak on the Treasure Coast later this month, recently answered some questions via e-mail.

Q. Nicole’s death propelled you to become an advocate. What was your life like beforehand?

A. Much quieter. However, I worked my whole life starting at the age of 15. Nicole and I had our very first job together, wrapping flowers for kids who used to stand on street corners selling them.

Q. What was your relationship with O.J. Simpson like?

A. No comment.

Q. At what point did you suspect abuse?

A. After Nicole’s murder in her notes and diaries.

Q. Why are relatives so unwilling to think the worst when they see hints of abuse?

A. If you see one incident you think it’s an isolated incident. You don’t know there is a cycle of domestic violence until you’re educated on that cycle of violence. What can be done to change that? EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION.

Q. Based on your study of abuse, are there character flaws or traits or other hints you think women should be on the lookout for before they get too involved with a partner?

A. There are definite red-flag warning signs. Question relationships with partners who:

• Abuse alcohol or other drugs.
• Have a history of trouble with the law, get into fights, or break and destroy property.
• Don’t work or go to school.
• Blame you for how they treat you, or for anything bad that happens.
• Abuse siblings, other family members, children or pets.
• Put down people, including your family and friends, or call them names.
• Are always angry at someone or something.
• Try to isolate you and control whom you see or where you go.
• Nag you or force you to be sexual when you don’t want to be.
• Cheat on you or have lots of partners.
• Are physically rough with you (push, shove, pull, yank, squeeze, restrain).
• Take your money or take advantage of you in other ways.
• Accuse you of flirting or “coming on” to others or accuse you of cheating on them.
• Don’t listen to you or show interest in your opinions or feelings … things always have to be done their way.
• Ignore you, give you the silent treatment, or hang up on you.
• Lie to you, don’t show up for dates, maybe even disappear for days.
• Make vulgar comments about others in your presence
• Blame all arguments and problems on you.
• Tell you how to dress or act.
• Threaten to kill themselves if you break up with them, or tell you that they cannot live without you.
• Experience extreme mood swings … tell you you’re the greatest one minute and rip you apart the next minute.
• Tell you to shut up or tell you you’re dumb, stupid, fat or call you some other name (directly or indirectly).
• Compare you to former partners.

Q. Do you think penalties should be enhanced for batterers? Any suggestions?

A. YES. Mandatory jail time and mandatory batterer-treatment programs. Restitution paid to shelters.

Q. There’s a quote on the Nicole Brown Foundation Web site that says, “It could be said that centuries of a patriarchal privilege have defined a man’s relationship to a woman in terms of ownership and entitlement.” How strongly, if at all, do you believe that statement? Why?

A. This saying came from England and it’s the “Rule of Thumb.” If a switch was no wider than your thumb it was OK to use to beat your wife. It doesn’t apply in this day and age, thank goodness.

Q. How critical is it that the National Victim Notification Network and the VINE project, which notifies victims when their attackers are released from incarceration, be expanded and/or online? Why?

A. The VINE program is all across the country. It’s up to the prisons/jails if they use them. VINE started in Louisville, Ky., because a young girl’s boyfriend was released from jail without her knowledge to stalk and kill her. If VINE is not in your community and you have a prison/jail start advocating for it immediately before another person loses their life.

Q. What argument would you make to cash-strapped governments to come up with more funds for abuse-prevention programs?

A. AREN’T HUMAN LIVES IMPORTANT?! I wish they would understand that domestic violence can lead to murder.

IF YOU GO

Denise Brown will be the keynote speaker at SafeSpace’s inaugural “Every Woman is My Sister” luncheons.

What: “Every Woman is My Sister” luncheons.

When: March 18, Hutchinson Island Marriott Beach Resort; March 19, Oak Harbor Club, Vero Beach.

To benefit: SafeSpace, the Treasure Coast’s only shelter for victims of domestic violence.

For tickets: Call SafeSpace at (772) 223-2399.

FORT PIERCE — Serious crimes investigated by Fort Pierce police dropped about 11 percent last year when compared to 2008, continuing an overall trend that began years ago, police stated this week.

The total number of crimes in the categories of homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny/theft and motor vehicle theft investigated by police in 2009 dropped to 3,027 from 3,413 the year before.

Crimes in all categories other than homicide and larceny/theft dropped, with a particularly large decrease coming in the number of robberies, which went from 234 in 2008 to 134 last year.

Other categories with sizable decreases were rapes, which decreased to 47 last year from 69 in 2008, and aggravated assaults, which went from 484 in 2008 to 330 last year.

Homicides, however, doubled from the four in 2008 to eight last year. The number of incidents in the category of larceny/theft also increased, going from 1,628 to 1,653.

According to a release, crime in Fort Pierce peaked in 1985 and generally has been decreasing since then.

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.

Jimenez had been in the U.S. illegally and had no health insurance when a drunk driver caused the accident that left him in a coma for 15 months, so Martin Memorial officials received little federal funding for his care.
Jimenez’s guardian, Montejo Gaspar, sued the hospital for false imprisonment in 2004, the year after hospital officials discharged Jimenez by flying him to a Guatemalan hospital where he was later kicked out and left with virtually no medical care. A judge’s ruling had cleared the way for the hospital to deport Jimenez, but an appellate court later overturned that ruling.
“One of our principles objectives in taking this case was to call national attention to the manner in which we deal with issues like these,” said Jack Scarola, one of the family’s attorneys. “I am pleased that this case brought that attention to these problems.”
What the case has not done, both sides agree, is offer any solutions on how to provide healthcare for undocumented immigrants, something attorneys on both sides of the case say they hope will change. They say none of the health care reform bills being debated in Washington adequately addresses the issue.
In the meantime, Scarola says the $40,000 from Martin Memorial was a humanitarian gesture that will afford Jimenez a vast improvement in care. Jimenez, who is in his late 30s and lives in the tiny Guatemalan village of Huehuetenango, receives little medication and his elderly mother is his sole caretaker.
Martin Memorial President and CEO Mark E. Robitaille in Wednesday’s statement echoed the argument the hospital’s attorneys had made at trial — that hospital officials deported him because they thought it was what was best for him, and that the doctors and nurses who treated Jimenez during his three years there were dedicated to his care.
“This contribution is made as an expression of their continuing concern for his welfare,” he said.

No injuries were reported in the crash, officials said.

The bus had 15 children aboard and was headed for Parkway Elementary School, according to Janice Karst, director of communications for St. Lucie schools.

Crews were called at 7:39 a.m. to the incident at Southeast Walters Terrace and Southeast Ocean Lane, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

No other information was immediately available.

Kelly Debus, of Dogs & Cats Forever, checks on a few cats in one of the cat rooms inside the “no-kill” animal shelter in Port St. Lucie. (Eric HAstert/TCPalm)

The new shelter, on 8 acres at the corner of Selvitz and Devine roads, will be more than double the size of the existing shelter on Carlton Road. It will include a swimming pool for dogs, similar to the bone-shaped pool at the Fur Seasons “luxury pet resort” in Stuart; a medical clinic; a memorial garden; and a large inside playroom, said Dogs & Cats Forever’s executive director, Jay Apicella.

“I’m just so excited because this is really a dream,” Apicella said. “This is going to be so much better (than the existing shelter). It’s like a dream to see a place where animals could live without being put to sleep.”

Apicella said a construction crew already has begun clearing the land, and the group is waiting on a permit from the South Florida Water Management District so it could begin construction within the next several weeks.

In August 2007, Dogs & Cats Forever filed a breach of contract lawsuit in circuit court against its founder Laura Linscott, claiming she broke a promise to give the nonprofit group the 10-acre site at Carlton Road. Linscott sold the property to Sanctuary Animal Refuge in Clewiston for $10 following a dispute between her and the Dogs & Cats Forever board of directors. The organization operates an adoption center and thrift store at 1756 and 1762 Bayshore Blvd., respectively.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit, which is still pending in court, has bought the group some time to find and build a new home, Apicella said.

The new shelter, which will cost about $1.2 million to build - $500,000 for the property and $750,000 for the building - will be large enough to house approximately 115 dogs and 110 cats comfortably, Apicella said. The existing shelter provides space for about 80 dogs and 60 cats, she said.

Apicella said Dogs & Cats Forever, which has been open for about 14 years, would charge adoption fees ranging from $85 for cats and between $85 and $150 for dogs, depending on the condition of the animal and what care the organization had to provide. She said the cost includes spaying and neutering and microchip identification.

Apicella said Dogs & Cats Forever was able to build the new shelter using money left by a late former donor.

She said she would like to expand the shelter in the future to include a spay/neuter clinic on the property and possibly a dog park.

“We’ll have room to expand if we get more money,” she said. “We have great plans for the whole 8 acres. Every piece of space here will be for the comfort of the animals.”

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.

Okeechobee sheriff's deputies found more than 22 pounds of methamphetamines after conducting a traffic stop on Monday.

Rafaela Huerta-Aranda, 47, was arrested after members of the Okeechobee County Narcotics Task Force discovered 22.7 pounds of methamphetamines in her 2002 GMC Yukon. According to an Okeechobeee sheriff’s release, Huerta-Aranda’s vehicle was pulled over after she failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Northeast 5th Street and Highway 441 North.

Rafaela Huerta-Aranda

The drugs were wrapped in plastic, grease, and carbon paper in an attempt to hide the odor, the release stated. The estimated street value is $408,600. Huerta-Aranda’s bond was set at $2 million.

VERO BEACH — From near death to healthy as a horse describes Abby, the miraculous filly born five months ago with a rare neonatal condition that threatened her life.

Vero Beach veterinarian Dr. Valerie Biehl smiles as Abby, a six-week-old horse, stands up after having leg braces made of PVC attached at the East Coast Animal Medical Center on Friday, March 12, 2010. Abby’s mother, Li’l Grey, stands at right.

Lucky for Abby, Vero Beach veterinarian Valerie Biehl came to the owner’s barn on Oct. 7 when the horse was born prematurely and recognized the symptoms for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy.

“I had seen this condition when I studied to be a veterinarian at the University of Florida because we were often exposed to the treatment of horses,” Biehl said. “So I realized what major problems Abby would be facing. The lack of oxygen to her brain just prior to being born meant she would require round the clock medical attention to survive. It would be parallel to neonatal intensive care.”

Abby’s tongue protruded from her mouth and she couldn’t nurse. Her mother, Li’l Grey, was milked every few hours and Abby received her nourishment through a tube that was inserted into her nose.

In addition, Abby couldn’t stand up on her own. To fix this issue, Biehl sought help from Sebastian podiatrist David Haile and orthotics specialist Billy Ownings, who developed braces for the filly’s legs.

The horse’s owners found it too painful to watch Abby’s struggles with mobility and decided to have her euthanized.

But Biehl couldn’t bear that thought and offered to take Abby to live on property near her clinic, the East Coast Animal Medical Center on 69th Street in Vero Beach.

Now, Abby acts like a normal, healthy, frisky filly, Biehl said.

She gallops, jumps, changes leads and bucks with no braces on her legs.

“It is truly remarkable to see her now,” Biehl said. “She took lots of tumbles in the beginning but she showed she had courage and a big heart. I am so proud of her, I don’t care if she is a champion or not. She has a home with me for the rest of her life.”

Biehl estimates Abby’s intensive care cost about $10,000 so far.

“But she is worth every penny,” Biehl said.

Although she no longer needs leg braces or feeding tubes, Abby must be fitted with special shoes and requires corrective hoof trimming to help her stand and straighten her legs. Clint Quam, a local blacksmith, makes her corrective horse shoes.

There were no reports of injuries, and no details on the crash were immediately available.

Wild hogs are a growing problem along the Treasure Coast and throughout the country, more than doubling in population and range in the past 20 years.

Wildlife experts say the hogs, which can weigh as much as 750 pounds, are increasingly running roughshod in rural areas, suburbs and even a few cities, digging up cemeteries, gardens and lawns.

“They run in packs, and they can do a lot of damage in quick order,” licensed hog trapper John Gruber said late last year. Gruber is co-owner of All American Pest Management in rural St. Lucie County and a licensed hog trapper.

This story will be updated if more information becomes available.