Since March, Leroy Stennett has spent more than 10 hours talking to seven people in five departments at Bank of America about getting his mortgage modified.

In 2006, Stennett and his wife purchased a house in Port St. Lucie for $285,000, putting $95,000 down and adding another $5,000 in closing costs from the sale of their previous home.

“My house is worth $120,000 now, so, I’ve basically paid it off, but they don’t want to cut me a break,” Stennett said about his lender, Bank of America. “Every time I call, I talk to a different person, so I can’t get any real answers.”

Like thousands on the Treasure Coast, Stennett hoped President Barack Obama’s Making Home Affordable plan would help adjust his house payments after applying for a mortgage modification. But frustrated homeowners, who remain current on mortgage payments despite economic setbacks, say they are confused about the modification process and aren’t getting support or cooperation from their lenders. (more…)

When Andre Frechette’s physician advised him to exercise, he contracted Vero Beach-based Coral Pools Inc. to build a $21,000 pool at his Port St. Lucie home.

Tuesday morning, Frechette said he got a call from Coral Pools owner Shawn Riley telling him work on the pool, that was mostly paid for, would not be completed.

“He told me that they were filing for bankruptcy on Thursday,” said Frechette, 83. “My pool is only 85 percent complete.”
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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — An accident along Interstate 95, about two miles north of the Fellsmere exit, resulted in 13 people being transported to hospitals Tuesday morning.

None of the injuries were life threatening, according to Lt. Tim Frith, with the Florida Highway Patrol.
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By JASON SCHULTZ

INDIANTOWN— Fires that broke out near Indiantown in western Martin County over the weekend continued to burn last night and have charred more than 1,400 acres while crews tackled another large fire near Palm City, according to fire officials.

Residents from the Indianwood Mobile Home Park were evacuated and the American Red Cross has opened its shelter on Kanner Highway in Stuart for fire evacuees, according to a Martin County press release last night.

Three of the four brush fires that burned hundreds of acres near Indiantown, closed roads and prompted authorities to cut power in the Treasure Coast Sunday continued to burn overnight.

Two flare-ups occurred this afternoon.

The one between the Booker Park fire and the Lincoln Park fire was about 3 acres, said Melissa Yunas, a wildfire specialist with the state Division of Forestry.

The second flare-up, near the Indian Trail fire, jumped over a canal and headed toward three homes in the Little Ranch Estates neighborhood.

Firefighters took up positions around the homes.

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PORT SALERNO — Ann Gunsolus can’t bear the thought of losing her home, even though it’s a makeshift campsite in a privately owned woods a stone’s throw from U.S. 1.

“Cry: That’s what I do so far is cry,” Gunsolus said, while thinking about where she will go when the authorities evict the homeless people from the woods. “When you have nothing, there’s not much you can do.”

Gunsolus and more than a dozen other homeless men and women fear sheriff’s deputies will roust them as soon as Thursday from the patchwork of tents and tarps they call home. (more…)

JENSEN BEACH — Detectives arrested a woman accused of attacking and robbing an elderly woman outside a Jensen Beach restaurant Saturday afternoon, according to documents released Monday.

Kristen Beth Swift, 23, of the 2300 block of Northeast Indian River Drive, has been charged with robbery by sudden snatching and battery on a person over 65 years of age.

The incident took place in the 3400 block of Northwest U.S. 1 at 2:40 p.m., just after the 82-year-old woman had parked her car in a handicap space at Olive Garden. Swift pulled up behind the woman’s car and asked her for directions to Indian River Drive, the affidavit says.
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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…)

A second Beagle, suffering from Parvo, was found staggering in traffic in Lake Park, very close to the location where a mother Beagle and her puppies were found April 17.

Kay-Lynette Roca, executive director of Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary & Hospital, said Tuesday that the male Beagle brought to Safe Harbor and the female Beagle that was found last week have matching collars and seem to know each other.

“Parker, the male Beagle dog that was found in traffic in Lake Park, looks very similar to the Beagle mom who is now fighting for her life. I’m afraid there may be a backyard breeder in the Lake Park area who is neglecting these dogs and tossing them out.”
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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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FORT PIERCE — A day after Navy SEAL sharpshooters killed three Somali pirates and freed an American ship captain, officials at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce were already trying to collect mementos from the historic event.

“We’re starting to get to work on seeing what we can get,” said Michael Howard, the museum director and a former SEAL. “It would be a shame to let this event pass without saving something at the museum.”
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