Bridge, anyone?
Party, 5k run planned for Saturday
A15
River Kidz on the move
Kids take a shot at making change
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Home for the holidays Local performer at Lyric
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PALM CITY/TESORO
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 2/ISSUE 2
BDB gridlock may be at end
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013
In step and in time
St. Lucie commission rejects Seven50; Martin may follow
Sophia Franco and Kam Kuschel, both of Palm City, perform with the Hidden Oaks Middle School marching band along Ocean Avenue during the Veterans Day parade in Stuart Monday, Nov. 9.
Patrick McCallister Staff writer
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
MARTIN COUNTY — After months of wrangling, the Business Development Board of Martin County, BDB, and county commission might be onto a new contract. At its Tuesday, Nov. 5, regular meeting, the Martin County Commission OK’d a proposed new contract for the BDB, which acts as the county’s economic-development agency. At press time, the BDB’s board of directors is scheduled for a special meeting to consider the county commission’s offer. That meeting will happen before publication. The BDB’s executive director, Tim Dougher, said after the commission meeting that he believed months of tensions are at an end. “I am comfortable and confident my board will be amicable with the results of Tuesday’s (commission) meeting,” he said. If the BDB takes the commission’s offer, its new, three-year contract will dip county funding from the current $643,000 to $430,000 the first year. That would drop to $340,000 in the second and $260,000 in the third years. Additionally, the
See BDB page A7 PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID FORT PIERCE, FL PERMIT NO. 248 ECRWSS
Local Postal Customer
Patrick McCallister Staff writer
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
Mitch Kloorfain chief photographer
TREASURE COAST — The St. Lucie County Commission joined a small exodus of cities and counties from the Southeast Florida Regional Partnership and its end product, the Seven50 Southeast Florida Prosperity Plan. At a special meeting — Thursday, Nov. 7 — the commission voted to withdraw from Seven50. But, what does withdrawing from Seven50 mean? Michael Busha, executive direc-
See SEVEN50 page A6
Survey finds new case of dengue fever Nicole Rodriguez Staff writer
nrodriguez@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TREASURE COAST — Area residents are one step closer at seeing just how deeply rooted one mosquito-borne disease has become. Partial test results from an extensive community survey in which blood samples were collected from nearly 400 Jensen Beach-area residents are in, health officials said. Results showed the majority of samples were negative for dengue fever, however, one positive case was found, bringing the total to 22 locally acquired cases, said Dr. Kar-
lette Peck, health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Martin County. Results on approximately 40 samples were inconclusive and require further testing. Test results for those samples are expected in January, Peck said. “Unfortunately, the testing isn’t always as black-andwhite as we’d like them to be,” Peck said of the inconclusive results. The person in the recently discovered case did see a physician when symptoms occurred, Peck said. That person lives in Rio, she added. “Symptoms were evidently not significant enough to alert physicians of dengue,” Peck said of
the case. The 10-day survey was conducted in the Rio and Jensen Beach area from Sept. 13 through Sept. 22. During the survey, teams from the Florida Department of Health, consisting of health workers from surrounding counties, visited approximately 2,000 randomly selected addresses in the Rio and Jensen Beach area. They provided information on dengue fever and with consent, collected a blood sample for dengue fever analysis. In all, approximately 360 samples were collected. The Florida Department of
See FEVER page A10