VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball officials hope their plans for the former Dodgertown will bring year-round business to local hotels, restaurants, stores and health clubs.

Craig Callan, the vice president of MiLB Vero Beach, updated the Taxpayers’ Association of Indian River County at its monthly membership meeting Wednesday on the future of the former spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (more…)

A former Jupiter Island Town Commissioner died Monday in Rhode Island in what police there are investigating as a possible suicide.

Finn Caspersen, 67, was found dead Monday at the Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Westerly, R.I. from what police believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Westerly police Capt. Edward St. Clair.
Caspersen a philanthropist, was first elected as town commissioner in Jupiter Island in 2005. He resigned on Aug. 4. Caspersen also had a home in the Shelter Harbor Golf Club where he died.

“As a public servant, policy-maker and overall gentleman, Finn Caspersen exceeded every standard of good measure,” said Jupiter Island Mayor Charles Falcone. “Stoic and soft-spoken, he did a lot of listening during town meetings before carefully weighing in with insight and informed expertise.”

An assistant reached at Knickerbocker, LLC said the family did not want to comment. No funeral information was available.

Caspersen served as the chief executive officer for the Beneficial Corp., a major financial holding company, from 1976 to 1998. More recently he was serving as the chairman of Knickerbocker, a private management company that oversaw numerous trusts and foundations. Caspersen personally donated money to Harvard Law School in Massachusetts as well as the Morristown Memorial Hospital, and schools such as the Peddie School and the Drew University Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, all in New Jersey

Longtime friend Tom McNicholas described Caspersen as “approachable and genuine” and said: “Each time I would refer to him as Mr. Caspersen he would peer over his glasses, softly chuckle and say, ‘Call me Finn.’ He was a friend and always fair to everyone.”

As a town commissioner, Caspersen was pushed for a town referendum on whether to bury power lines on the island underground. He also got involved in Martin County’s contentious debate over real estate development, paying $17,000 out of his own pocket in 2006 to bankroll a phone survey of 500 Martin County residents about their views of population growth. He also created a political action committee, Keep Martin green, that ran advertisements opposing rapid growth in the county.

“Finn had strong convictions towards protecting our environment and he invested a lot of his own money and time to support local causes like Keep Martin Green which focused on smart growth and environmental protection,” McNicholas said.

This is the second longtime Jupiter Island official to die in recent months. Town Manager Joe Connolly, a friend of Caspersen, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease just days after Caspersen resigned from the town commission in August. Deputy Town Manager Gene Rauth said the town is considering a memorial to Caspersen.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — After weeks of police officer training in a classroom, Indian River State College students move on to a small platform that provides a high-tech simulation of how they react in a real-life situation.

They’re given a weapon that only emits lasers and equipped with a belt that zaps them if they put themselves in danger.

“It teaches consequences if they make bad decisions,” Stephen Huntsberger, associate dean of Public Service Education for IRSC, said of the VirTra Systems simulator at the complex.

The simulator is one of the planned demonstrations at Friday’s public open house at the new Indian River State College Public Safety Complex.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — The City Council Monday night unanimously agreed to move forward with purchasing 15 acres from Tradition Outlet LLC for $10 million, a move that puts up half the state’s contribution to help a Hollywood executive set up a digital production studio.

The studio could create up to 500 jobs and bring Florida State University’s Film Studies program to the Treasure Coast.

The package includes the local governments building a 150,000-square-foot studio for Hobe Sound-based Wyndcrest Holdings, a private investment firm focused on entertainment and Internet technology headed by Jupiter Island resident John Textor.
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PALM BAY — Palm Bay High senior Tyler Laprade received a perfect score on the ACT, the only Florida student to do so this spring.

Laprade, 16, scored a 36 on the nationwide college entrance exam, which he took as a junior.

The average Florida student in the class of 2009 received a score of 19.5 on the test, but results for Laprade’s class aren’t available.

He also received a perfect score of 2400 on the SAT, the other nationwide college entrance exam.

“I was always raised to be the best,” said Laprade, who participates on the wrestling, swimming and track teams. “My parents expect me to be a high achiever.”

Laprade is enrolled in all Advanced Placement classes at Palm Bay High. He said he hopes to study mathematics next year and likely will become a computer programmer. He’s filling out applications to Harvard, MIT and the University of Florida.

He turns 17 Saturday and plans to go to Walt Disney World for his birthday.

By MEGAN DOWNS, Florida Today

An initiative to help Spanish-speaking parents get more involved in their children’s education took off Thursday at the Cassidy Community Center in Golden Gate

“Bienvenidos a los padres de los estudiantes de Martin County High School” (Welcome, parents of Martin County High School students) read a sign at the meeting, which was conducted entirely in Spanish as part of the school’s ongoing outreach program to Spanish-speaking families.

Martin County High School Spanish teacher Heldie Moore said she hopes the program will inspire Hispanic students at her school to achieve greater academic success. Since many Hispanic parents in the area don’t speak English, they are often reluctant to come to their children’s schools – but parental involvement is key, Moore said. (more…)

VERO BEACH — Spring training is expected to return to the former Dodgertown facility next year, although it won’t involve a major league team.

“In March when people are used to spring training we will hopefully have spring training baseball again in Vero Beach, just at a different level,” said Dave Barnard, owner and president of RussMatt Baseball, who is currently marketing the complex for use by college and high school teams next year.

Barnard’s group has reached an agreement with the Minor League Baseball, which is now operating the facility, to use it from Feb. 20 through April 24 for what is being advertised as the RussMatt Invitational at Dodgertown.

Barnard said the colleges would probably be using the facility from the last part of February to the last week in March, with high school teams coming in from late March to the end of April. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — St. Lucie County has set its sights on landing an unnamed eyeglass lens research firm that could bring 200 high-paying jobs to the Treasure Coast and create a curriculum at Indian River State College focused on training people to work for the company.

The county is awaiting Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development arm, to approve its share of an incentive package that would require the local government to provide about $550,500 as its part of a state and local package that includes a job growth incentive grant and property tax breaks.

“This is a serious competition for us,” said Larry Pelton, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County. “I can’t give you more until we see how this all turns out.”
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VERO BEACH — Baseball is scheduled to return to Dodgertown, but it will be primarily amateur level events conducted under the auspices of Minor League Baseball rather than professional players, officials announced today.

The agreement to bring Minor League Baseball here ends months of speculation of what was going to happen to Dodgertown.

History
Photos: Dodgertown’s last hurrah

Gallery: Beginnings of Dodgertown

After 61 years of spring training in Vero Beach, Dodgertown now sits empty
‘Dem bums’

While the facility won’t be hosting Major League Baseball spring training in the near future, officials with Minor League Baseball believe they will still have a major economic impact in the area.

Pat O’Conner, president of Minor League Baseball, said he believes the facility could play host to events for 35 to 40 weeks in the first year of operation alone, which could start as early as spring 2010. (more…)

VERO BEACH — A baseball-related organization is reportedly close to signing a five-year agreement for the use of Dodgertown.

County officials are declining to release the name of the proposed new tenant, although county officials previously met with Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner about the facility.

While the deal expected does not involve a Major League team, it leaves open the possibility of one using Holman Stadium for spring training in the future.
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