PORT ST. LUCIE — One year ago, a 6-year-old autistic boy was brought to the front of his classroom. He left moments later feeling like an outcast.

For many, he became a symbol of how children with autism are mistreated and misunderstood.

Some experts say the case of Alex Barton, who was voted out of his kindergarten classroom 14-to-2, brought about change and awareness of how autistic children are educated. Others say there still is a long way to go. (more…)

VERO BEACH — The former Dodgertown Golf Course, with roots deep in the history of baseball, could be restored, possibly with the assistance of Minor League Baseball.

Tough economic conditions, however, are likely to delay any possible restoration for at least of couple of years.

The city of Vero Beach now controls the former golf course and maintains mowing the land once roamed by Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson.
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STUART — To contend with the ongoing budgetary uncertainties facing local governments, Stuart City commissioners Monday unanimously approved an early retirement incentive package for city workers.

In addition to regular retirement benefits, city employees who would be eligible for retirement by Sept. 30 can opt to receive 36 months of paid insurance at their current coverage and premium level or a lump-sum, before-tax payout of $20,000, said Stuart City Manager Dan Hudson.
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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.
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By JASON SCHULTZ

INDIANTOWN— Fires that broke out near Indiantown in western Martin County over the weekend continued to burn last night and have charred more than 1,400 acres while crews tackled another large fire near Palm City, according to fire officials.

Residents from the Indianwood Mobile Home Park were evacuated and the American Red Cross has opened its shelter on Kanner Highway in Stuart for fire evacuees, according to a Martin County press release last night.

Three of the four brush fires that burned hundreds of acres near Indiantown, closed roads and prompted authorities to cut power in the Treasure Coast Sunday continued to burn overnight.

Two flare-ups occurred this afternoon.

The one between the Booker Park fire and the Lincoln Park fire was about 3 acres, said Melissa Yunas, a wildfire specialist with the state Division of Forestry.

The second flare-up, near the Indian Trail fire, jumped over a canal and headed toward three homes in the Little Ranch Estates neighborhood.

Firefighters took up positions around the homes.

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STUART — A California woman arrested for defrauding a Palm City couple out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in furniture, flooring and home accessories was sentenced to 15 years in prison as part of a plea deal she struck with state prosecutors.

In addition to prison, Corrine Victoria Blakely, who pleaded no contest to first-degree grand theft, was also ordered to pay $267,508 in restitution to the couple and serve 15 years of probation after her release from prison.

Authorities said Blakely, 47, fraudulently posed as an interior designer in 2006 when she was hired by a 67-year-old Palm City man to do about $400,000 in renovations to a home in the 3200 block of Southwest Winding Way.

Court papers show the man never received $129,000 worth of furniture for which Blakely was paid. When asked when the goods would arrive, Blakely provided fraudulent invoices and “padded bills,” which she falsified to perpetrate the fraud, investigators concluded.

As part of her plea bargain, state prosecutors dropped a count of organized fraud, grand theft from a person 65 years of age or older and practicing interior design without a license.

Blakely, who at one point had promised but later failed to repay thecouple, was arrested in January and extradited from California.

By staff report, TCPalm.com

PORT SALERNO — Ann Gunsolus can’t bear the thought of losing her home, even though it’s a makeshift campsite in a privately owned woods a stone’s throw from U.S. 1.

“Cry: That’s what I do so far is cry,” Gunsolus said, while thinking about where she will go when the authorities evict the homeless people from the woods. “When you have nothing, there’s not much you can do.”

Gunsolus and more than a dozen other homeless men and women fear sheriff’s deputies will roust them as soon as Thursday from the patchwork of tents and tarps they call home. (more…)

STUART — A Martin County grand jury on Wednesday returned first-degree murder and robbery indictments against two Stuart residents accused in the April 5 beating death of Keith A. Hall, who died three days after being attacked.

Charged are James Louis LaForteza, 29, and Kobi Anderson, 15, who authorities say beat Hall into unconsciousness to steal $40 he’d shown the man and teen in an attempt to buy drugs. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 22-year-old Port St. Lucie man has been charged in federal court with transporting child pornography after authorities found more than half a million child pornographic images on his computer hard drive, according to a news release Friday from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jason David Bingham was detained Friday in Miami without bond and his arraignment is set for April 28.
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Along with status and prestige, Treasure Coast celebrities and CEOs bring in beaucoup bucks to the local tax collector’s offices.

Pop star Celine Dion just shelled out $171,040 in property taxes for her 3.7-acre oceanfront Jupiter Island estate on the 200 block of South Beach Road.

Dion’s estate, which is registered under her Montreal-based company Renlec Management Inc., is on the same street as Richard Fuld Jr., the former chairman and chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers. He changed ownership of the $13.3 million Jupiter Island home on 265 Beach Road exclusively into his wife’s name almost two months after the company had the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.

Public records show the couple plunked down $197,194 in property taxes on Nov. 11.

Professional golfer Greg Norman, who slashed the price of his famous barrier-island estate from $65 million to $47.5 million last year, also shares the same ZIP code as the Fulds and Dion. Tax records show Norman paid a whopping $326,751 in residential taxes last January on his 8-acre property, named “Tranquility,” at 382 South Beach Road.

Tiger Wood’s 12-acre site on the 400 block of South Beach Road still is under construction, but his future property taxes could beat out Norman’s bill in the future.

County records show Sand Turtle LLC, the entity registered as the owner of the Woods property, paid a $70,744 tax bill in November. Woods is building a 10,000-square-foot, two-story home with an elevator, guest house, guardhouse and boathouse. The property stretches from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic Ocean.

Taxes seem a little more reasonable in Indian River County. Author and journalist Carl Hiaasen and his wife Fenia paid Vero Beach their $16,988 property tax bill on Nov. 5.

“I think these people, the celebrities, we do have here are very quiet about it,” said Janet Vizzo, a manager at the Martin County Tax Collector’s Office. “It’s not very well known.” (more…)