86-Year-Woman Followed to Her Home, Robbed by Two Men

An 86-year-old Lake Worth woman who'd been visiting her husband at the nursing home on North A Street at the end of August was followed by two black men in a maroon car who smashed the window of her locked car as she sat it in in her driveway and ripped the necklace off her neck, grabbed her purse from the seat and a suitcase from the back seat and fled.

The horrible crime ocurred in the driveway of the woman's home on 12th Avenue North in Lake Worth on the afternoon of  Wednesday, August 29. It was described in a crime report that was recently provided to the Lake Worth Sun by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

The woman told sheriff's deputies she'd noticed a suspicious maroon-colored vehicle while she was at the Avante center at 2501 North A Street in Lake Worth visiting her husband. She said that the men in the car appeared to be following her home. She pulled down a side street to let the car pass. It did, and so she continued to her house.

The woman said she'd gotten out of her car and was at her front door about to go inside when she saw the maroon car turn down her street. She went back to her car, got in and locked the doors. One of the men approached the car on foot from the rear on the passenger side, asking if she lives in the home. When she did not repsond, he smashed the rear passenger-side window, reached inside, grabbed the necklace that was around the 86-year-old woman's neck and tore if off, and then grabbed her purse and a suitcase from the back seat. The men then fled in the maroon car as one of the woman's neighbors bravely drove after him. The neighbor was able to track the vehicle to 10th Avenue North, and then onto I-95 northbound where he lost sight of it.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call police immediately. The phone number of the sheriff's substation in Lake Worth is (561) 586-1611.

Judge: YES, Clemens Won State Senate Race

A circuit judge heard Mack Bernard's challenge to Jeff Clemens' declared win in the state senate race yesterday, and ultimately confirmed Clemens as the winner, though by less than the number of votes determined by Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher:

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/lawyers-mack-bernard-palm-beach-elections-supervisor-not-counting-every-democratic-vote

Palm Beach County Courthouse Evacuated After White Powder Found

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/suspicious-white-powder-found-at-county-courthouse/nSDrT/

Black Teenagers Assault Car on Lake Worth Road

A woman driving on Lake Worth Road just east of the gas station on September 2 had her white Mazda pelleted by rocks or some other object thrown by three black teenagers who were walking on the sidewalk. All three were male, she told the sheriff's deputy who responded, and one of them was wearing all white. She said she saw one of the three "make a throwing motion"  and then heard a loud noise in her car. The deputy saw a small gouge in the window and small scratches on the glass.

The incident happened just before 11 p.m. on Sunday, September 2, east of the gas station and close to the Tri-Rail train tracks on Lake Worth Road. A sheriff's deputy searched the area, but could not locate the suspects.

Brogues Owner Tackles Purse Robber!

Brogues Down Under at 621 Lake Avenue

The owner of Brogues Down Under and his bartender chased down a man who grabbed a girl's purse inside the bar two weeks ago, tackling him and holding him until a sheriff's deputy arrived and handcuffed him.

Rod Regan, who owns Brogues Down Under with his family, and his bartender Mark Yokum, are the heroes of this story, chasing robber Benjamin Kairall and the pink purse belonging to customer Britnee Epps down South K Street until they caught up with him.

Nice work, guys!

This happened on Wednesday, August 29. The Lake Worth Sun just obtained the report of the incident from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office this week.

Miss Epps told the deputy that she'd been sitting at the bar with her purse directly in front of her when the man grabbed it and ran.

The man (Benjamin Kairall) had been trying to pay for his $14 bar tab with a credit card, which was declined. He told the bartender he wanted to go to his car to find "another method of payment," but instead grabbed the pink purse and ran.

Think Your Assessment is Wrong?

Deadline Nears For Challenging Proposed Property Tax Notice

Petitions Must Be Filed By September 17

Palm Beach County taxpayers have until September 17 to file a petition with the Value Adjustment Board (VAB) to challenge their property’s market value, classification, or an exemption. 

Taxpayers have three options to file VAB petitions: online using myVAB, in person at the Clerk’s Governmental Center or branch locations, or by mail to 301 North Olive Avenue, Room 203, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. 

For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions for the Value Adjustment Board.

Best regards,
Sharon R. Bock, Esq.
Clerk & Comptroller, Palm Beach County

Lake Worth to Spend More Than it Brings In

Pam Triolo, mayor of Lake Worth
and a long-time Republican,
voted to approve this budget

Why is the city planning to spend more in the next fiscal year than it will be bringing in? And why are Republican, supposedly pro-business, pro-fiscal sanity city commissioners all for this?

City Commissioner Scott Maxwell jumped the gun at last night's city commission meeting and proposed to vote to approve the almost $29 million city budget as presented and move to schedule a second reading (as required by law) later this month even though the budget proposes to spend almost a half a million more than the city plans to bring in during the next fiscal year, which starts on October 1.

Oh, it's technically a balanced budget, because the big $423,000 hole is filled by taking that amount out of the reserve fund. That leaves a little over $2 million in the reserve fund. Fine, you say. But according to the five-year budget projection provided by city staff, that reserve fund is emptied out a little more than a year from now and by 2015 is showing a negative balance of $3 million.

Only outgoing city commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill seemed at all perturbed by this.

"We're just postponing the diasaster...is what is essentially happening," she told fellow commissioners.

She also questioned why the amount of money proposed to go to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is going up and up in future years when the city of Lake Worth was promised that the total contract amount will go down, with savings to the city over the next few years.

Police and Fire Pensions Shooting Up

Lake Worth is paying more than $14 million this year to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for police protection. Three years from now, the city is expecting to be paying $16 million to the PBSO, according to the city's five-year budget projection.

The increase, says city finance manager Steve Carr, has to do "totally" with pensions. The cost of paying out pensions to retired PBSO officers is expected to jump from just over $2 million this year to almost $3.5 million three years from now.

Those pension promises were made by PBSO. But Lake Worth has options, reminded Carr, as the amount Lake Worth pays to the PBSO will be revisited at the end of this year.

Hot Topic: 200 Block of North Lakeside Drive

Below is an artist's rendering of the home that Cabrera Construction wants to build on the 200 block of North Lakeside Drive. The city's Planning Department is having a public meeting TONIGHT at 6 p.m. at City Hall to discuss.

Jupiter Police Officer in Obama Motorcade Struck and Killed on I-95

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/jupiter-officer-injured-as-motorcycle-in-obama-mot/nR6mc/