ST. LUCIE COUNTY — St. Lucie County Health Department officials confirmed Thursday the county’s first death from H1N1 flu, commonly called the swine flu.

Jason Christopher Schenck, 23, of Port St. Lucie, died Tuesday at St. Lucie Medical Center from the H1N1 virus, his family said.

“He had more friends than I knew he had, and he was just a good kid. He was a good all around kid. He was very polite,” father Clifford Schenck said. “They’re (Jason’s friends) calling me and telling me that Jason was the only one they could talk to and they know he would listen.”

Schenck suffered from asthma his entire life, Clifford Schenck said. And that condition along with several bouts of pneumonia left scars on the young man’s lungs and made him susceptible to the virus, his father said.

Clifford Schenck said his son, who had been in the hospital since Aug. 15, became ill after attending a concert with friends in West Palm Beach. None of his friends have reported feeling sick, his father said.

“When we took him in on the 15th, when he got admitted, his fingers were turning purple and his toes from lack of oxygen,” Clifford Schenck said. “I don’t care if you’re 23 or 70 years old, you don’t need to go out with this because it eats you up.”

The public shouldn’t panic with the county’s first death from the swine flu but practice good hygiene skills, said Arlease Hall, St. Lucie County Health Department spokeswoman.

“It’s imperative that if you sneeze or cough, to do so in your sleeve and not in your hands,” she said. “Wash your hands, and if you are sick, please, just stay home.”

Known as swine flu, H1N1 is a unique strain of the influenza virus that emerged this spring first in Mexico and now is widespread throughout the United States.

“I can tell you, if someone has flu symptoms, it is almost certainly H1N1,” said Karlette Peck, epidemiologist for the St. Lucie County Health Department.

Symptoms include fever, chills, aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue.

People most at-risk: pregnant women, infants and children and those with chronic health conditions, including morbid obesity.

People born before 1957 seem to have some immunity to the H1N1 strain.

Like any flu virus, H1N1 is spread person-to-person through droplets.

Staff writer Hillary Copsey and WPTV contributed to this report.

By Keona Gardner, TCPalm.com

PALM BAY — Palm Bay High senior Tyler Laprade received a perfect score on the ACT, the only Florida student to do so this spring.

Laprade, 16, scored a 36 on the nationwide college entrance exam, which he took as a junior.

The average Florida student in the class of 2009 received a score of 19.5 on the test, but results for Laprade’s class aren’t available.

He also received a perfect score of 2400 on the SAT, the other nationwide college entrance exam.

“I was always raised to be the best,” said Laprade, who participates on the wrestling, swimming and track teams. “My parents expect me to be a high achiever.”

Laprade is enrolled in all Advanced Placement classes at Palm Bay High. He said he hopes to study mathematics next year and likely will become a computer programmer. He’s filling out applications to Harvard, MIT and the University of Florida.

He turns 17 Saturday and plans to go to Walt Disney World for his birthday.

By MEGAN DOWNS, Florida Today

PORT ST. LUCIE — A lock on the door was the only notice Jessica Rufo got that Hayes World Day Care & Learning Center had closed.

Rufo, a St. Lucie County School District employee, is keeping her 3-year-old daughter at home for the summer, but had left Hayes World about $500 to hold a spot for Elizabeth in the fall. Driving by the Darwin Boulevard center this weekend, Rufo noticed locks on the door.

A message on Hayes World’s phone service said the day-care center is “temporarily closed,” but offered no other information.
(more…)

VERO BEACH — Spring training is expected to return to the former Dodgertown facility next year, although it won’t involve a major league team.

“In March when people are used to spring training we will hopefully have spring training baseball again in Vero Beach, just at a different level,” said Dave Barnard, owner and president of RussMatt Baseball, who is currently marketing the complex for use by college and high school teams next year.

Barnard’s group has reached an agreement with the Minor League Baseball, which is now operating the facility, to use it from Feb. 20 through April 24 for what is being advertised as the RussMatt Invitational at Dodgertown.

Barnard said the colleges would probably be using the facility from the last part of February to the last week in March, with high school teams coming in from late March to the end of April. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Soon residents and visitors to South Beach’s Jetty Park will get to enjoy more waterfront views, parking and easier access to a 2 1/2-mile linear park.

The City Commission, seated as the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency board, Wednesday approved a $1.4 million land acquisition that will double the size of Jetty Park to 2.87 acres.

The purchase is for 1 acre on the eastern side of the vacant Mariner Bay Motel property, formerly the Days Inn, at the corner of Seaway Drive and State Road A1A. (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 — Baseball is scheduled to return to Dodgertown, but it will be primarily amateur level events conducted under the auspices of Minor League Baseball rather than professional players, officials announced today.

The agreement to bring Minor League Baseball here ends months of speculation of what was going to happen to Dodgertown.

History
Photos: Dodgertown’s last hurrah

Gallery: Beginnings of Dodgertown

After 61 years of spring training in Vero Beach, Dodgertown now sits empty
‘Dem bums’

While the facility won’t be hosting Major League Baseball spring training in the near future, officials with Minor League Baseball believe they will still have a major economic impact in the area.

Pat O’Conner, president of Minor League Baseball, said he believes the facility could play host to events for 35 to 40 weeks in the first year of operation alone, which could start as early as spring 2010. (more…)

VERO BEACH — A baseball-related organization is reportedly close to signing a five-year agreement for the use of Dodgertown.

County officials are declining to release the name of the proposed new tenant, although county officials previously met with Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner about the facility.

While the deal expected does not involve a Major League team, it leaves open the possibility of one using Holman Stadium for spring training in the future.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A high school student was arrested this week after he reportedly swiped a decorative apple from his teacher’s desk.

Dylan Morrison

When teacher John Contoupe asked the 18-year-old to put the spring away, Morrison refused, according to a police report. So the teacher took the spring and threw it in a trash bin. (more…)