Sol, Inc., a Palm City-based manufacturer of outdoor solar lighting, has appointed a new business development manager for its international operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Andy Chaguaceda, who will be based in Miami, has 30 years of electrical sales experience and has worked in Central America, the Caribbean and South Florida.

Sol, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets commercial and industrial-grade solar powered and energy efficient lighting systems. They have installed more than 38,000 systems worldwide.

STUART — A Stuart woman was killed Thursday night as she was attempting to cross the southbound lanes of U.S. 1 in the 1700 block of Northwest Federal Highway.

Stuart police report Martha Clearwater, 42, was airlifted to Lawnwood Medical Center in Fort Pierce with severe injuries following the 7:15 p.m. accident and was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
(more…)

PALM CITY — The Palm Cove Golf Club is offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest for vandalism to its golf course.

The club has been vandalized before but never like this, said Jay Pacholczak, Palm Cove Golf Club greens superintendent, who added a $2,500 reward is being offered. (more…)

INDIANTOWN — Thirteen fires still are burning in western Martin County, but none threaten homes and all are contained, forestry officials said today.

The fires, which destroyed two houses and damaged others, have burned through an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 acres in or near Indiantown and Palm City. The fires started on Mother’s Day and are expected to continue burning for about a week.

Three children, ages 7, 8 and 10, were arrested Wednesday for allegedly starting one of the larger fires in Indiantown. All three were released to their parents. More information about their arrests is expected today from the state Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement.

INDIANTOWN — Firefighters already contained a 1 acre flare-up today, even after 4 inches of rain fell overnight.

Officials say years of hurricane debris is keeping a fire near the Booker Park Community, and firefighters are focusing on extinguishing all smoldering vegetation as brush fires burn for a fourth day. Several firebreaks are inaccessible for crews in the Indian Wood Community, causing problems containing the Indian Trail Fire, according to a Division of Forestry release this morning.

As the rain helps, it also brings lightning that can spark new fires.

For firefighters, the “witching hour” comes not at midnight, but at midday, with the threat of dark magic buried deep in the ground.

The temperature rises, the humidity drops and a seemingly subdued fire can burst with surprising strength, sparked from burning muck.

Residents of Indianwood, a mobile home community in Indiantown for ages 55 and up, got a taste of that phenomenon firsthand this week, as embers suddenly blew across a nearly dry canal bed and shot flames up vines and through palmettos. Two houses were lost, another was saved only by a rapid change in wind, and people were injured as they fled the rapidly moving fire.

“People were running for their lives, really,” said Mel Smith, a retired firefighter who has lived in Indianwood for 17 years. “At one time you couldn’t see 10 feet with the smoke and the flames.”

Wildfires burned through nearly 3,000 acres in three days in western Martin County, fire and forestry officials said. Much of the fire was in and around Indiantown, with other blazes in Palm City near the Martin County landfill. By mid-morning Tuesday, there were at least 10 fires, authorities said. (more…)

MARTIN COUNTY — Residents of Stuart West and Cobblestone decided Tuesday night to pursue an injunction against the creation of a new Interstate 95 weigh station they feel will inconvenience, irritate and endanger their communities.

Employees with the state Department of Transportation were bombarded with questions and concerns about their plan to place a truck weigh station on south I-95, close to the Palm City exit and across the highway from Stuart West, Cobblestone and The Fox Club Golf Club. (more…)

STUART — For the kids at the East 10th Street Recreation Center, shooting hoops or playing football for the Stuart Hornets is all a part of growing up.

Taking a few swings with the bat or playing soft toss on the diamond is not, a reflection of baseball’s diminished grasp in some areas of the country especially those populated by black youth. (more…)

PALM CITY — Palm City Elementary won second plan among Florida elementary schools in a literacy contest.

Students at the school created a 26-second public service announcement to celebrate and promote literacy as part of the state’s “Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!” contest. The students based their announcement on the theme “You Gotta Read”.

“Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!” ran Jan. 12-16.

By MICHAEL LaFORGIA

A man died and a woman was badly hurt in a single-car crash on Interstate 95 near Palm City on Saturday morning, authorities said.
Nicholas F. LaMaina, 77, was killed while riding in a 2007 Cadillac Seville driven by Carolyn LaMaina, 65, according to a Florida Highway Patrol bulletin circulated this morning.
About 10:30 a.m. Saturday, the LaMainas, who lived in Boynton Beach, were driving north on Interstate 95 near mile marker 106 when Carolyn LaMaina apparently lost control of the Cadillac, the bulletin said.
The car veered off the roadway and hit a stand of trees before rolling over.

Nicholas LaMaina, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, died during the crash.

Carolyn LaMaina, who was wearing a seatbelt, was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in serious condition, the bulletin said.

Click here to sign Nicholas LaMaina’s guestbook.

STUART — The Chabad Jewish Community Center of Martin and St. Lucie will mark the start of Hanukkah at sundown Sunday with a celebration and the lighting of a menorah made entirely of giant canned foods.

The celebration, called “Lights for Life,” will begin at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Shepard’s Park in Stuart. The menorah lighting will be preceded by the lighting of a flame of unity, peace and freedom, which remembers those killed in the attacks in Mumbai, India, and in honor of the United States and its armed forces.

The festivities will include Hanukkah music, hot dogs, falafel, hot latkes, dreidels and Hanukkah kits. (more…)