HOBE SOUND — Pennsylvania natives Bryan Theiss and Christina Gillin first met nine years ago while working as lifeguards on a beach in Ocean City, N.J.

Married since April, the couple recently started the first private lifeguard service in the Treasure Coast. Bryan Theiss is an emergency medical technician and ocean rescue lifeguard for Palm Beach County.

“I love saving people. It’s the best feeling,” Theiss said.
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FORT PIERCE — A 2-year-old girl reportedly fell in a backyard pool Sunday and was in the water for up to two minutes before being rescued by her mother, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said Monday.

Crews were called about 5:25 p.m. to the incident in the 1000 block of Jamaica Avenue, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said. The child was conscious and breathing when fire district personnel arrived.
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VERO BEACH — Officials said they’re still investigating the cause of death of a Hialeah man found Saturday in the pool at a resort hotel owned by pop star Gloria Estefan and her husband, Emilio.

Enrique Perez, 69, was vacationing with family at Costa D’Este in the 3200 block of Ocean Drive, police spokesman Officer John Morrison said.

About 2 p.m. Saturday, Kelly Wakeman, 24, of Tallahassee said she was sitting at the side of the pool when she and others noticed Perez submerged, face down and not moving in the 6-feet, 6-inch depth area of the pool.
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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…)

STUART — The swimming pool at Martin County High will remain open another year, the Martin County Commission and Martin County School Board agreed Tuesday.

The pool is used by hundreds of high school, club and adult swimmers.

The Martin County Commission voted during a joint meeting between the School Board and Stuart Commission Tuesday to pay $113,000 to keep the swimming pool at Martin County High School open to the public for another year while a new $9 million-plus Aquatics Complex is developed.
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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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MARTIN COUNTY — Is this the right time to build a $9.7 million swimming pool complex on Willoughby Boulevard?

Martin County commissioners wrestled with the answer on Tuesday after listening to a glowing report from David Weller, a father of a competitive swimmer, on the potential of the complex that would combine a recreational pool area with a competition pool.

They also heard from Jim Sherman, assistant county administrator, who said the county could recoup about 80 percent of the cost of running the pool each year, based on an estimated cost of $756,000 annually, but this figure was questioned as being too optimistic.

Commissioner Edward Ciampi, a champion of the pool that would be built with the ½-cent sales tax money already earmarked for this purpose, said this was the time to move forward with the pool facility because construction firms could come in with competitive bids.

But Commission Chairman Susan L. Valliere stood firm.

“I think this is a wonderful project. I just think the timing is wrong,” said Valliere. “We are looking at pay cuts, we are laying off some of our people, there is 10 percent unemployment and climbing. This pool is luxurious and these are not luxurious times.”

Valliere was the only dissenter when the commission voted to approve the conceptual plan for the aquatic complex, and a design-build proposal. Sherman said that once this proposal was in, it would help solidify the cost of the complex.

However, the The commission also directed Sherman to request that the design-build company reduce its fee up to 25 percent.
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