Saturday morning, Chauncelor Howell and Mike Iania went to River Park on Prima Vista Boulevard with the hopes of catching a couple of fish. What they never expected was to find one of the largest specimens ever seen of a fish native to South America’s Amazon River. (more…)

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Two dead manatees were retrieved Tuesday morning near Round Island Park - bringing to three the number of apparently cold-related manatee deaths in Indian River County following the recent freeze.

The first was an infant found near Sebastian.

And, “This may just be the tip of the iceberg” of manatees either dying or being injured by the cold, said state marine mammal biologist Kristy Rush.
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VERO BEACH — Humiston Park Beach reopened after a couple of hours of feces scooping Thursday.

The culprit wasn’t four-legged, but instead has flippers, Indian River County officials said. Manatees are responsible for what may have been a mile-long stretch of excrement that piled up along the beach. Late Thursday afternoon, more manatee mess was spotted at Tracking Station Beach Park, officials said. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Offering the unions a “final” opportunity to save eight police officer jobs and avoid other layoffs, the city agreed to guarantee no layoffs next year in exchange for a wage freeze.

But the Coastal Florida Public Employees Association, which represents the city’s civilian employees, voted Monday night to reject the city’s offer, said union acting Executive Director Johnny Bingham. The city’s other two unions, the Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents lieutenants and sergeants, and the International Union of Police Associations, which represents police officers, have not come to an agreement.

Bingham said the Police Benevolent Association, which he also directs, was sending a letter to the city Wednesday advising officials they are interested in coming back to the table to negotiate.
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STUART — The nonprofit Surfrider organization isn’t doing much celebrating two weeks after its 25th anniversary Arts and Music Celebration has left about $75,000 in unpaid debts, about half to local vendors.

The Treasure Coast chapter president has resigned under pressure from the local board, which said he exceeded his authority in organizing the event.

And, the Surfrider Foundation’s Florida group of chapters has canceled its state conference to put that money toward paying the bills.
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BOCA RATON — For more than three hours it floated above homes in Boca Raton: a neon-green light that no one could explain.

“It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Mark Smith, 19.

Smith and his friends went outside about 9 p.m. Monday where they saw it: a glowing object about the size of a football. Smith said it was oblong and hovered about 200 or 300 feet in the air above a neighbor’s home in the Palm Beach Farms neighborhood. The skies were clear. There was no wind. They called police and followed it around.

A Boca Raton police officer actually drove out to see what was the fuss. The results? (more…)

INDIANTOWN — If ranchers had been permitted three years ago to conduct a controlled burn on lands involved in the fires that began around this rural community Sunday, there might have been less damage for Indianwood residents, a rancher said after the big fire.

But some Indianwood residents opposed the controlled burn. That figured in the decision not to conduct the burn, along with the large amount of trees blown down by the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes.

Terry Wilkes leases land owned by the Post family for his cattle to the east of the golf course community, and normally burned off range and scrub lands every two to three years. The Post family are long-time managers and owners of the Indiantown Company, which provides many municipal type services in the unincorporated area. (more…)

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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ANA X. CERON, KATHLEEN CHAPMAN, and MICHAEL LAFORGIA
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

STUART — As 800 children filed out of Felix A. Williams Elementary School near Stuart on Wednesday, firefighters lined up trucks to protect them from a fast-moving brush fire that burned nearly up to the school’s fence.

The flames got close to the eastern edge of the school, forced the evacuation of 100 homes off Baker Road and dropped sparks over the Windemere subdivision off U.S. 1, fire officials said

Displaced residents watched from a distance, and parents were routed to Martin County High School to pick up children evacuated from their schools

Special video report

But in the end, the fire was nothing more than a close call amid the region’s severe drought. No one was hurt and no structures were lost in the 90-acre blaze, which was fully contained by early evening

Felix A. Williams was not damaged but will remain closed to students and staff today.

The brush fire, which started in the woods behind First Christian Church off Dixie Highway, was first reported at 12:35 p.m. A few minutes later, 15 school buses evacuated staff and students from Felix A. Williams to Martin County High, about 6 miles away.

An experimental image for about 8 p.m. Wednesday showing areas of concern for smoke drift from the Rio Fire near Stuart. US 1 and the Florida Turnpike may see reduced visibility into the night time hours with the Port Saint Lucie area indicated near the smoke plume concentration.

It took about 20 minutes to empty the school, said Martin County sheriff’s Lt. Morgan Sprott, who is in charge of school resource officers and was at the school when the call to evacuate was made.

Sprott said that no students were in danger, but the evacuation caught some parents off guard.

Raymond Hoffman said he was worried when he was stopped on the way to pick up his 9-year-old son, William, from school.

“I was trying every which way to get to the school; there was a cop everywhere,” said Hoffman, who eventually was directed to the high school, where he found his son.

The fire rapidly spread to 90 acres, fueled by wind, low humidity and severe dryness.

“That’s a bad combination for a fire day,” Martin County Fire Rescue Lt. Todd Tucker said as he rode around in an all-terrain vehicle surveying the damage.

On Charlie Greene Drive and Charlie Greene Terrace south of Baker Road, residents had only a few minutes to get out.

Daisy White, 53, said that when sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door, she could see fire in the nearby trees and nothing but smoke in front of her home. She didn’t have time to get her Boxer, Cocoa, or her two puppies, Dakota and Montana, who were loose outside.

She watched the fire from a distance on Baker Road, worried every time she saw the helicopter whirring over her home.

White grew up in the neighborhood in a home her mother built in 1963. She said she moved away but came back to live in a nearby trailer home because the area is so peaceful. The homes are surrounded by woods, she said, and neighbors put in gardens and fruit trees.

“It’s beautiful back there, absolutely beautiful,” she said. “And it’s home.”

At Baseline Avenue and 15th Street, Sandra Jean Brown, 80, sat in her van with her Schnauzer, Willow, watching the smoke creep toward her mobile home. “I’m 80 years old. What, me worry?” Brown said. “If it burns up, I’ll get another one.”

Still, she said, she put a lot of care into her place in the past five years.

“That building there is probably one of the best mobiles in the park,” she said. “Because it’s totally rebuilt.”

She had driven to Home Depot after lunch to see about returning some shutters, and when she returned, deputies wouldn’t let her back into her home.

A few hours later, she sneaked past the deputies to check on the orchids she grows in her backyard.

“I’m just concerned that maybe the wind might pick up,” she said.

Gray smoke billowed over U.S. 1 for most of the afternoon, and flashing signs warned motorists to slow down in the haze. The evacuated area was a ghost town for most of Wednesday afternoon, with empty driveways, abandoned lawn chairs and the smell of charred pine.

David Cook and his wife, Lisa Feick, went back into the smoke to help a neighbor rescue her two dogs and a cat. But they couldn’t find one black-and-white kitten, Feick said.

Despite the dry and windy conditions, firefighters were able to get in front of the blaze and contain it, Tucker said.

A Florida Division of Forestry helicopter whirred over the blaze, dropping 88 loads of water from a 320-gallon bucket dipped in nearby ponds. Firefighters said they would continue to douse smoldering spots through the night.

Little rain has fallen this winter, leaving South Florida at high risk for fire. According to the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, which runs from 0 to 800, two-thirds of Martin County is in the 600-700 range, with some areas as high as 727.

Staff writers Sonja Isger, Eliot Kleinberg and Cara Fitzpatrick contributed to this story.

If you have photos of the fire, please share them on PostPix. If you have a video to submit please upload it here.

February 27, 2009

SEBASTIAN — Police announced that a body found last month is that of Marcia Hulihan. State officials confirmed her identity through dental records. She had been reported missing in September.

According to TCPalm.com, authorities won’t be able to determine why Marcia Hulihan’s place of death was a watery canal just north of her apartment complex. Police do not suspect foul play in the case, but the state Medical Examiner’s Office was unable to say how the 50-year-old woman died.
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