PORT ST. LUCIE — A woman was taken to a local trauma center in serious condition Monday after a crash on Savanna Club Boulevard east of U.S. 1, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said.

Fire district crews were called about 6 a.m. to the incident in the 1800 block of Savanna Club Boulevard and took a woman in her 20s to a local trauma center in serious condition, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

The woman had been driving a 4-door Volkswagen at the time of the incident. No one else was in the vehicle at the time.

Details on how the crash occurred were not immediately available.

By Will Greenlee

A young man was found shot to death face down on the sidewalk leading to his Stuart apartment overnight.

Stuart police report they were called at about 12:03 a.m. to 931 Nassau Ave. for reports of shots fired in the area. They found 24-year-old Jerome Hutchinson sprawled on the sidewalk with a gunshot to the chest. He died there, police report.

Witnesses said they heard three gun shots and saw three or four men run from the scene. Those witnesses said they men then jumped into a silver Ford Escort with tinted windows and “some type of black stripe designs down the sides of the car” and sped away, police reported.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Mike Gerwan at 772-220-3918 or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-8477.

FORT PIERCE — St. Lucie County Fire District crews Thursday morning battled a fire suspected of being arson at a rooming house under renovation, according to the Fire District. There were no injuries.

Fire District crews were called at 5:50 a.m. to the incident in the 500 block of Douglas Court and had the fire under control by 6:15 a.m.

“No one was inside at the time of the fire but it’s reported that a gentleman had been living in the home,” Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

The fire started in the attic and damaged about 50 percent of the structure, which does not have power.

Chaney declined to give details on what led investigators to label the cause as arson.

The property is owned by Rey Property Investors LLC, according to the St. Lucie County Property Appraiser’s Web site. The three-bedroom home was bought in December for $70,000.

By Will Greenlee, TCPalm.com

STUART — Three people were attacked by a swarm of bees on Monday that came from a hive about the size of a car engine.

“I have never experienced anything like this before in my life,” said Kendall Todd, owner of Affordable Pressure Cleaning in Palm City.

Todd and his brother were pressure cleaning Becky Engebretsen’s driveway in the 1800 block of Northwest River Point Drive, when they first started noticing some bees. After spraying the bees with water, more continued to show up until finally they were forced to take off on foot.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — The drivers of two tractor-trailers were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries following a Monday night crash on Florida’s Turnpike, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Fire District crews were called about 10:45 p.m. Monday to the incident, which occurred about a mile north of Becker Road on the northbound side, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.
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MARTIN COUNTY — Almost two weeks after her apartment building caught fire, Karen Diaz’s second-floor apartment still smells of smoke.

The fire that briefly displaced Diaz, 21, and her family from their lodgings at The Crossings at Indian Run never entered the apartment, but the smell still greets her when she wakes and when she walks out the damaged front door.

“It feels like it’s on fire again,” said Diaz, who lives in the apartment with her mother, 4-year-old son, older sister and infant niece.

The fires that struck the building at 3740 Southeast Gatehouse Circle and a condo in Port Salerno on Independence Day weekend are over, but the task of recovering is not. The American Red Cross of Martin County has spent a little less than $1,000 aiding those affected by the fires.

On July 4, fire broke out at one of building’s three columns and spread up its interior to the building’s attic, where it was contained.

The fire department accused two juveniles of starting the fire with fireworks. The juveniles are not being charged, but they are being put into a fire safety program, said Frank Lasaga, community safety coordinator for the Stuart fire department.

Diaz and her family were the only ones relocated after the fire, estimated to have caused $80,000 in damage, and have since returned home.

The Red Cross spent a little less than $200 for the family’s food and alternate lodgings while repairs to the ceiling were made, said Sam Yates, a spokesman for the organization. Diaz said the family stayed at Molly’s House in Stuart from July 6 to July 8.

Earlier on July 4, a fire in a waterside condo on the 4000 block of Manatee Lane ended with one dead and one injured. The next day, firefighters with Martin County Fire Rescue returned when another fire broke out in a different area of the same building. None were injured in the second fire.

Yates said the Red Cross spent more than $300 helping the survivor of the first Manatee Lane fire. It has also spent $550 helping a family displaced in the second Manatee Lane fire and will contribute more to help to help them find a place to stay.

After the fire, dust from the attic covered the apartment floor and furniture, Diaz said. The front door was damaged and cut from when firefighters broke into the apartment. The apartment and outside stairwell still smell, and the storage closet on the balcony smells of mold and smoke.

“I don’t know how I’m going to get in there with that smell,” Diaz said.

Parts of the apartment’s ceiling have been repaired, and the dust has been cleaned from the apartment floor. Diaz is still waiting for the apartment complex to replace the front door and damaged air conditioning equipment. Diaz said the complex told her the door would be repaired next week.
By Alex Tiegen, TCPalm.com

HUTCHINSON ISLAND — The fizzling economy continues to keep progress at a standstill on the new Oceanside Resort hotel on Hutchinson Island.

The new resort, which is slated to replace the partially destroyed 184-room Holiday Inn Oceanside just south of Jensen Beach Causeway, was scheduled for completion by next year. But Huizenga Holdings, which now owns the complex, is still trying to secure all necessary permits and retool its business plan in accordance with the economic downturn. (more…)

When the Martin County Commission fired Duncan Ballantyne from his $147,250 a year job as county administrator on St. Patrick’s Day, a pot of gold awaited the seasoned bureaucrat.

For starters, Ballantyne remained on the county payroll for a month after he cleaned out his office because he was entitled to a 30-day notice of his termination.

Since his official last day on April 23, Ballantyne has collected a total of $84,451 as a result of the severance package he negotiated when he was hired in the fall of 2005, county records show. And his initial severance period doesn’t end until Aug. 23.

Ballantyne’s severance package is not unusual for local government managers and attorneys on the Treasure Coast. In fact, 13 local government managers and attorneys in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties are entitled to severance pay for six months, or longer, if they are fired without cause. (more…)

FELLSMERE — The mother of the 1-year-old boy found dead in a vehicle last month was charged by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office with aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Alejandra Alvarado, 21, of the 100 block of South Oak Street, Fellsmere, posted $2,500 bail at the Indian River County Jail shortly after she was booked Monday afternoon. Her son, Aiden Alvarado, died after spending at least four hours in the back of his mother’s sport utility vehicle during the afternoon of June 13, detectives said.
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STUART — Juveniles playing with fireworks caused the fire that did an estimated $80,000 in damage to The Crossings at Indian Run Apartments on Saturday, according to Frank Lasaga, community safety coordinator for the city of Stuart Fire/Rescue Department.

Lasaga said two juveniles were seen playing with fireworks at the point where the fire began.

“They have not been arrested but have been out into a program for juveniles who set fires,” he said. “They will learn about the dangers of fireworks, and their parents will be cautioned about allowing juveniles to use fireworks without supervision.”
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