VERO BEACH — A 26-year-old woman who was speeding and weaving out of traffic on Interstate 95 is guilty of vehicular homicide of two motorcyclists she hit along the roadway.

A jury deliberated for a hour Wednesday afternoon before finding Dominique Brice, of Miami, guilty of killing the motorcyclists parked along the northbound lanes on Feb. 29, 2008, near the juncture of Indian River and St. Lucie counties. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Two men on Friday afternoon tried to lure a 4-year-old girl into a pickup near Northwest Prima Vista and Northwest Bayshore boulevards, police said.
About 5:30 p.m., the men pulled up to 452 Southwest Carmelite Drive in a gold Chevrolet Silverado truck and called out to the 4-year-old, according to a Port St. Lucie police statement circulated this morning.
The girl’s mother, who was in the garage, looked up and saw one of the men open the door and lean out of the cab.
“Baby girl, come here,” she heard him say, the statement said.
The woman yelled at her daughter and the truck drove off, heading south on Carmelite Drive.
Anyone with information can call detective Brinton Black at (772) 871-5000.

The regional Boy Scout organization overseeing the Treasure Coast says it is in serious financial difficulties.

In the face of a 30 percent decline in financial support, the Gulf Stream Council cut staff and expenses earlier this year.

Still the administrative organization has “an urgent cash flow shortage that threatened our operations and program,” wrote John Marion, Gulf Stream Council Executive Board president, in a recent letter to local Scout groups.
(more…)

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Opponents of the school superintendent’s decision not to let students see President Barack Obama’s nationally televised back-to-school speech live, lashed out at him Tuesday night.

“You have chosen to put politics in front of good citizenship and good patriotism,” Vero Beach resident Peter Hyatt said during a public comment period at the beginning of a school board meeting.

Hyatt called for Schools Superintendent Harry La Cava’s resignation.

Board members took no action following speeches by about 10 people.
(more…)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — St. Lucie County Health Department officials confirmed Thursday the county’s first death from H1N1 flu, commonly called the swine flu.

Jason Christopher Schenck, 23, of Port St. Lucie, died Tuesday at St. Lucie Medical Center from the H1N1 virus, his family said.

“He had more friends than I knew he had, and he was just a good kid. He was a good all around kid. He was very polite,” father Clifford Schenck said. “They’re (Jason’s friends) calling me and telling me that Jason was the only one they could talk to and they know he would listen.”

Schenck suffered from asthma his entire life, Clifford Schenck said. And that condition along with several bouts of pneumonia left scars on the young man’s lungs and made him susceptible to the virus, his father said.

Clifford Schenck said his son, who had been in the hospital since Aug. 15, became ill after attending a concert with friends in West Palm Beach. None of his friends have reported feeling sick, his father said.

“When we took him in on the 15th, when he got admitted, his fingers were turning purple and his toes from lack of oxygen,” Clifford Schenck said. “I don’t care if you’re 23 or 70 years old, you don’t need to go out with this because it eats you up.”

The public shouldn’t panic with the county’s first death from the swine flu but practice good hygiene skills, said Arlease Hall, St. Lucie County Health Department spokeswoman.

“It’s imperative that if you sneeze or cough, to do so in your sleeve and not in your hands,” she said. “Wash your hands, and if you are sick, please, just stay home.”

Known as swine flu, H1N1 is a unique strain of the influenza virus that emerged this spring first in Mexico and now is widespread throughout the United States.

“I can tell you, if someone has flu symptoms, it is almost certainly H1N1,” said Karlette Peck, epidemiologist for the St. Lucie County Health Department.

Symptoms include fever, chills, aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue.

People most at-risk: pregnant women, infants and children and those with chronic health conditions, including morbid obesity.

People born before 1957 seem to have some immunity to the H1N1 strain.

Like any flu virus, H1N1 is spread person-to-person through droplets.

Staff writer Hillary Copsey and WPTV contributed to this report.

By Keona Gardner, TCPalm.com

PORT ST. LUCIE — A teen girl was struck by a pick-up truck Monday morning while she was at her bus stop, though the girl’s injuries were very minor, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said.

The girl was at Northwest Bayshore Boulevard and Northwest Rainbow Street, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said. Fire district crews responded just before 6:30 a.m., but were called off.

Nick Perslin, 37, said his 17-year-old son was driving the Toyota pick-up. Perslin said his son was on his way to pick up a friend to go to St. Lucie West Centennial High School at the time.
(more…)

FORT PIERCE — The Treasure Coast Opera Society will not perform for the 2009-2010 season. Finances are to blame.

“The New York State Opera closed. The Baltimore Opera closed. The Orlando Opera has closed,” said TCOS co-founder Anne Abood. “Everyone is skating on thin ice.”
(more…)

STUART — Described as a loving father and caring person, Jerome Hutchinson was found early Monday morning face down on the sidewalk leading to his East Stuart residence.

The 24-year-old man had been shot in the chest, the second to die in an exceptionally violent weekend in Stuart. The first was Michael Morrison, 43, found early Saturday morning on his back next to his Jeep at The Crossings at Indian Run Apartments less than four miles away.

Morrison also had been shot in the chest, but police haven’t found a nexus between the two killings, police spokesman Sgt. Marty Jacobson said Monday.
(more…)

STUART — To prevent another tragedy, like the Aug. 4 crash that killed three teenagers in Stuart, it’ll take prevention, awareness and parent involvement.

That’s what officials with Project Northland, a substance abuse prevention organization aimed at Martin County middle school students, believe could make the difference.

On Thursday, Project Northland’s parent action committee held its first meeting of the school year with about a half dozen parents. The group’s mission is to reduce underage drinking and other risky behaviors among local teens through community involvement and awareness. Thursday’s meeting was planned before the fatal crash that killed three teens. (more…)