Note to teens facing a potential prison term: don’t use your MySpace page to post photos of police officers and wish “AIDS and genocide to all law enforcement.”

That’s what Stuart resident Jesse Alan Walker, 19, did while awaiting a June trial in which a jury convicted him of robbery with a firearm related to a 2008 home invasion armed robbery. At trial, he was accused of planning the robbery with two then-20-year-old co-defendants, who once played football for Jensen Beach High School.

“I hate the (expletive) police,” Walker posted on MySpace last December, along with photos of Stuart Police officers and derogatory comments.
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FORT PIERCE — Police arrested a 47-year-old man after he allegedly snatched an 11-year-old boy’s basketball and football and chased the boy and his sister with a shovel, according to recently released records.

Roger H. Willis reportedly has been dating the grandmother of the 11-year-old boy and his 21-year-old sister, the sister told police Wednesday.

The siblings were visiting the grandmother’s house and the 11-year-old boy played outside with the football and basketball, the sister said. (more…)

BOCA RATON — For more than three hours it floated above homes in Boca Raton: a neon-green light that no one could explain.

“It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Mark Smith, 19.

Smith and his friends went outside about 9 p.m. Monday where they saw it: a glowing object about the size of a football. Smith said it was oblong and hovered about 200 or 300 feet in the air above a neighbor’s home in the Palm Beach Farms neighborhood. The skies were clear. There was no wind. They called police and followed it around.

A Boca Raton police officer actually drove out to see what was the fuss. The results? (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Port St. Lucie football coach Doug Kerr will not return for the 2009 season.

Principal Terry Davis informed Kerr he would not be re-appointed Tuesday evening and told the team of the decision Wednesday after school. Kerr was preparing for his fifth season, as spring football is set to begin Friday. (more…)

VERO BEACH — An educational security expert said the days and weeks that passed before arrests were made for the false bomb threats at Vero Beach High School isn’t unusual.

“You could have multiple threats made before the perpetrator is caught,” said Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm. “Often the individuals making the calls have a tendency to tell others who weren’t involved and are caught that way.”
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Thursday, April 23, 2009

VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball executives expect to occupy Dodgertown by June 1 if they can get an agreement with county officials approved by then.

“They want to occupy Dodgertown as soon as possible and we want them there,” County Administrator Joe Baird said Thursday.

At this point, the two sides’ attorneys are poring through the proposed agreement.

“And that takes on a life of its own,” MiLB President Pat O’Conner said.

Neither Baird nor O’Conner envisioned anything holding up the deal. And at least the county won’t have to spruce up the grounds before MiLB moves in, Baird said. (more…)

VERO BEACH — Absenteeism has doubled at Vero Beach High School in the last week with bomb threats starting off four school days.

And for many students who did show up for school this week, the decision came after a serious conversation at home.

“My daughter tried not to go Monday because of the Columbine anniversary,” parent Darby Dickerson said. “But I told her you can’t let two dead folks from 10 years ago stop you.”
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