PORT ST. LUCIE — A 36-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday after selling an informant nearly 160 oxycodone pills, according to an affidavit released Thursday.

Gina M. Sanchez, of the 100 block of Everglades Boulevard in Stuart, met the informant about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

The informant, who met earlier with a police investigator, had been given $1,020 and had been followed to the scene by members of the police department’s Special Investigations Unit.

The informant got into Sanchez’s vehicle, and Sanchez exchanged 157 oxycodone pills for the money.

Police arrested Sanchez on a felony trafficking in oxycodone charge and took her to jail.

Will Greenlee, TCPalm.com

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — With the swoop of a small plane carrying County Commission Chairwoman Paula Lewis and the splash of water cannons from fire trucks, St. Lucie County International Airport will christen its new 4,000-foot runway on Thursday.

The $15.3 million runway is about 2,500 feet northwest of the existing pair of runways. It has been under construction for more than a year.

“We had a lot to do,” Lewis said. “We moved power lines, we acquired a piece of property for light of sight from the control tower, and I’m excited that it’s finally finished.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE - In a turnabout decision, the City Council Monday night gave an initial 4-1 vote to increase the property tax rate by 11 percent.

The council also unanimously approved a 2009-2010 revised total budget of $430 million.

A final vote on the property tax rate and budget is scheduled for a 7 p.m. Sept. 28 public hearing at City Hall.

Last week, the council made a last-ditch effort to avoid an earlier proposed 26 percent property tax increase and held a special meeting to discuss using half of the city’s general fund reserves to help offset a more than $18 million deficit in the general fund.
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FORT PIERCE — Shelitta Woods calls the past six months “miserable.”

“You got to understand, it’d been like 13, 14 years before I had another child,” Woods said. “It was just me and Lil’ Bo, just me and Lil’ Bo, everywhere I go, me and Lil’ Bo.”

Woods’ 16-year-old son, Torenda “Lil’ Bo” Youngblood Jr., was fatally shot at his bus stop March 9, two days after Demetrius Wells, 18, sustained fatal wounds in a drive-by shooting. Two men also were hit by gunfire during separate shootings between the homicides. (more…)

MARTIN COUNTY — The Martin County Parks and Recreation Department is launching a new environmentally focused outdoor recreation program for all ages.

Veteran photographer, Kevin Boldenow is leading the newest eco-style adventure throughout Martin County’s most beautiful landscapes. The “eco photo tours” will be a serious of photography instruction at different locations throughout Martin County for both novice and experienced photographers, county officials said in a news release. (more…)

STUART — Have you ever wondered why some of those markers on the water are red and some are green?

And why are they different shapes, anyway? Why shouldn’t I just wait until I need my life jacket to put it on?

What is the minimum length of boat that requires a second fire extinguisher — or a third?

Answers to these and many other questions will be yours just for taking the time to attend the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s program, About Boating Safely.
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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.

STUART — A resident of The Crossings apartments in the 3600 block of Gatehouse Circle walked into her apartment Saturday at 3:45 p.m. and surprised a burglar in her home.

The suspect, a black male, 6 feet tall and with a medium build was wearing a gray T-shirt and black shorts, according to Sgt. Martin Jacobson of the Stuart Police Department.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A bicyclist struck by a vehicle Sunday night was seriously injured and taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce, a St. Lucie County Fire District official said Monday.

Fire District crews were dispatched at 8:34 p.m. to the incident at U.S. 1 and Mediterranean Boulevard, Capt. Derek Foxx said.
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ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A Tallahassee law firm has put the school district on notice that it will be taken to court if it doesn’t promptly produce public records first requested in June about a contract with a computer software company.

Attorneys Edwin Bayo and Bill Furlow declined to say who they represent in their attempt to get documents and e-mails between St. Lucie County schools and Skyward Inc., a Stevens Point, Wis.-based supplier of school administrative software. The district began seeking a contractor in 2007 and Skyward’s software came online this summer. (more…)