Schools handling of harassment allegations cause for concern
Despite sexual harassment allegations against Indian River County Schools Superintendent Dr. Harry La Cava, the School District failed to properly document or independently investigate the verbal complaints of a victim and a witness, according to documents obtained by Vero Beach 32963 and interviews with those close to the case. The School District says that it did not have any written complaint against La Cava from the woman who was allegedly harassed, and so had nothing to investigate. But the District’s handling of the sexual harassment allegations – whether true or false – reveals multiple causes for concern: Top administrators did not take steps to facilitate the employee’s ability to file a complaint, required a written complaint before they would investigate any allegations, did not seek a lawyer independent of the School District to investigate or conduct an investigation, and downplayed the possibility that an employee might be afraid to come forward if the allegations involved the powerful Superintendent of Schools. READ MORE
A look at what a future in prison holds for Ira Hatch
When Ira Hatch’s 30-year sentence came down last week, it set off a chain of events leading to a long, routine life in prison for the convicted swindler. But that’s exactly the life that victim Bob Lowe wished for Hatch when he spoke to the court that day. The estate Lowe represented lost $1.14 million to Coastal Escrow and Lowe has personally racked up more than $500,000 in legal fees cleaning up the mess. “I’m asking for 30 years without probation unless full restitution is made. And I’m asking that Hatch not be sent to a white-collar-crime prison,” Lowe said to Senior Judge James Midelis. Lowe’s remarks sparked the question of where Hatch would end up, and if he would get any better treatment or privileges as a non-violent offender or as an elderly man at age 62. READ MORE
Sheriff says budget cuts mean back to basics
Sheriff Deryl Loar wanted a budget bigger by more than $400,000 for next year, but is likely to walk away with about $1.9 million less. The sheriff asserted that cuts will have to come from services and not buying any big ticket items – a move that’s likely to stir more tension between him and County Commissioners, some of whom see the sheriff as largely having escaped cuts during the difficult past several years. “They have put me in a position where there is going to be a reduction in services, but we will get the job done,” Loar said. “It is going to be without some of the frills, it is going to be basic, but that is what they want.” By comparison, neighboring St. Lucie County cut 24 officers from its sheriff’s budget for next year. READ MORE
Messages to Judge: If Hatch’s sentence is cut short by death, we will not complain
Convicted swindler Ira Hatch is having his feet held to the fire for maximum sentencing, but not solely by victims who entrusted down payments to Coastal Escrow. Hatch’s fellow attorneys are unanimously coming down hard on the now-disbarred lawyer for bilking his clients out of millions. As is customary before sentencings, the court accepts letters from victims and friends of Hatch, anyone who wants to sway Senior Judge James Midelis’ Aug. 25 decision on what happens next to the former Castaway Cove resident. Prosecutors have said they would ask Midelis for the maximum 30-year sentence available for the charges in the plea deal, and Hatch would have to serve 85 percent of that, which would be about 26 years. The court normally reduces that by time served — in Hatch’s case 31 months. It means the 62-year-old Hatch would be about 85 upon release. Thus far, the letters received have been unanimous in urging Judge Midelis to throw the book at Hatch. “We have not received any letters in support of Hatch,” said Assistant State Attorney Lev Evans. READ MORE
St. Ed's launches new era with unified campus
When St. Edward’s opens its doors for the start of a new school year next Wednesday, the usual mix of emotions will be compounded by the school’s new reality. The good news is that as a result of a frantic summer in which the three Rs were remodeling, refurbishing and relocating, St. Ed’s has successfully combined its upper, middle and lower schools on a single campus. It did so after completing a fourth R — restructuring — that head of school Mike Mersky says guarantees that the 45-year-old school “is going to continue for generations to come.” The sad news is almost 200 fewer students — including former scholarship children who could not afford to return — and 13 fewer teachers and staff will no longer be part of the St. Ed’s family this fall, as the independent day school struggles to level off at what trustees see as a size that is sustainable for the future. READ MORE
Cloudy skies: Piper again is seen struggling
While Piper officials tout the continued development of the PiperJet and a 75 percent increase in airplane deliveries this year, there are ominous signs that one of Indian River County’s biggest employers is struggling. Company officials have backed off the rosy projection provided just a few weeks ago of delivering 67 more planes in the 2010-2011 fiscal year than the 90 they sold the year before. And just last week, Piper put everyone except the engineers working on the PiperJet on a one-week unpaid furlough, a clear signal plane sales were falling short of expectations. Then there are the front office shakeups since Singapore-based Imprimis took ownership of the company in May of 2009. The new owners have gone through two CEOs, a company president, chief financial officer, vice president of sales and marketing, and director of sales. It acrimoniously fired its long-time public relations firm as well. READ MORE
Cutting Vero’s budget by squeezing theatre, museum
Instead of cutting into its bloated, well-paid top staff, the City of Vero Beach trimmed its budget this year by off-loading nearly $32,000 in landscaping, lawn maintenance and irrigation water onto two of Vero’s cultural icons, the Vero Beach Museum of Art and Riverside Theatre. While the Board of County Commissioners cut $100 million or about 28 percent from its budget to keep taxes low, Vero has proposed cutting only about 4.8 percent and, as it has for years, using dollars from utility bills to balance the books. Those are just some of the choices the City Council has agreed to for the 2011 budget presented by outgoing City Manager Jim Gabbard. Most of the cuts in the proposal were made in the lower-paid, lower-skilled positions in the public works, solid waste, water and sewer and the recreation staff. READ MORE
Gloria Estefan’s unique oceanfront estate gets break on assessment
Recent reports in the daily newspaper of property taxes being paid by high-profile residents of Vero’s barrier island have raised some eyebrows – particularly if you were looking at the history of Emilio and Gloria Estefan’s oceanfront estate north of Windsor. For about a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s, the oceanfront lot that would become the famous Miami couple’s Indian River County beachside retreat at 11686 State Road A1A was valued and taxed at only $250,000 for the 1.34 acres of land with 90 feet of direct oceanfront. When the Estefans bought the property in May of 2002, the land was re-assessed at $385,000 for one year, then lowered back down to $250,000 again, just as the real estate market was heading upwards. In 2005, it was assessed at $379,000 where it stayed through the peak of the real estate market, until 2009.The neighboring oceanfront lots of about the same size with somewhat more ocean frontage in Seaview were valued at $850,000 to $1.4 million -- just for the vacant lot -- during the same time period. READ MORE
Beach project gets mixed reviews
Three months after the replenishment of the 3.8 miles of beach between northern John’s Island and the middle of Orchid, not everyone is counting the project a success. While those lounging on the freshly-laid sand seem pleased, and sea turtles appear to be having a strong nesting season, some surfers and divers contend that shifting sand is covering some reefs and affecting areas where waves would break for surfing and water would be clear for diving. While still early in the monitoring process to get hard data, those closest to the project downplay the diving and surfing issues. They say the early observations are that the beach is holding up well. They dismiss the restoration project as the cause of these issues and say the situation is not that different than it has been traditionally. READ MORE
Vero Beach City Manager Gabbard to retire Oct. 15.
Vero Beach City Manager Jim Gabbard, 61, announced his plan to retire at the close of the last of three days of budget workshops. The past year has been a contentious one for the embattled City Manager. He has spent much of his time beating back criticism and controversy over soaring electric rates, and what has been viewed as bloated staffing levels in the city, despite the dire local economic conditions. "There is no issue, it's just time for me to do some other things in my life," Gabbard told the Vero Beach Council. More in Aug. 5th issue of Vero Beach 32963.
Rare armed robbery jolts Ocean Drive
The brazen lunchtime armed robbery of an Ocean Drive store last Saturday – the first beachside robbery in memory in which the shopkeeper was attacked by the invaders and stunned repeatedly with a Taser gun – reportedly netted the thieves as much as $100,000 in jewelry and has left the oceanside business community more than a bit shaken. Up and down Ocean Drive this week, shop owners were reviewing security measures in light of the robbery of Lou Wilson Fine Jewelry, where two daring robbers – described as white males between 25 and 35 years of age – entered the store not long after the end of the Saturday farmer’s market across the street and confronted the owner, Wilson. As Wilson attempted to greet them, he was immediately hit with an M26 Taser (the literature for which describes it as “the first system short of lethal force that could truly stop aggressive, focused combatants”), which was then cycled two more times. “Your muscles just all start to quiver and the third shot dropped me,” Wilson said. READ MORE
FP&L and Vero: Hard to tell what they are saying in private
A week after a flurry of reports involving what Florida Power & Light may or may not offer -- and may or may not do -- in regard to purchasing the Vero Beach Electric Utility, the situation appears more confused than ever. That’s largely because FP&L – perhaps realizing that no two members of the current dysfunctional City Council or city officials are in agreement on how to proceed – is being ultra cautious in its public comments about what it is saying to any of them privately, and what, if anything, Vero Beach customers stand to gain from an FP&L deal. Councilman Brian Heady was among a few of the elected city leaders to meet privately with three executives from the power behemoth on July 14 to preview the presentation made public at Tuesday’s special call meeting. According to him, FP&L will need to give the city enough to pay off the bonds, to fund any penalty it might owe to the Orlando Utilities Commission and give Vero customers FP&L rates. READ MORE
