–  Michaele and Tareq Salahi are better at crashing the White House than organizing polo tournaments. That what Boca Raton publicist Lynn Lewis said today, after working with the pair. Lewis was suckered earlier this year into publicizing the couple’s polo event near Washington, D.C., America’s Polo Cup. “It was badly organized, things they promised weren’t falling into place,” Lewis said. “One of my clients (Daum Crystal) was a sponsor and they had other major sponsors like Land Rover. I spent a lot of time with them and they actually had me work to bring in the press. The Salahis are well spoken, well educated and great socially. I remember Michaele riding around the polo grounds standing inside the Land Rover and sticking out from the sunroof. Tareq is actually a legitimate polo player. They definitely play the part of rich D.C. socialites. I can see how they could talk their way into the White House.” The Salahis crashed a Pres. Barack Obama party for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week. How they made it through security is still unclear. Daum, says TransMedia Group’s Lewis, isn’t planning to sponsor America’s Polo Cup again.

Lynn Lewis, 29, in the middle with the cup, with Tareq Salahi (second from left) and Michaele (third from right) at the America's Polo Cup

Andrews

–  Back in his hometown of Palm Beach for a visit: Brian Andrews. The intrepid former street reporter for WSVN-Channel 7 in Miami has making a name for himself in Colombia, of all places, since quitting the station nearly three years ago. He started an English-language Web site with news from throughout Colombia. With plenty of readers both in South America and among Colombian expats here, and thanks to his Spanglish appearances on that country’s TV stations, Andrews has become somewhat of a local celebrity. Andrews recently interviewed for an anchor’s job at WPBF-Channel 25 here, but the $95,000-a-year offer he received is nowhere near what the man makes in Bogota. “Hey,” he says, “they just love gringos over there.” Maybe more than here?

The alleged “other woman” in golf prodigy Tiger Woods’ bed is not just some cheap bimbo who mans the velvet rope at fashionable night clubs and dates famous, married men.

The clubs that Rachel Uchitel, 34, is also accustomed to include the Everglades Club and the Bath & Tennis Club, both Palm Beach high society hang-outs.

Uchitel is the granddaughter of powerful Cleveland banker and amateur golfer Warner Bishop, who moved to The Island with a much younger wife in the 1990s. He died in 2001 at 82.  And her mom is socialite Susan Bishop.

“I can’t talk about this,” said Susan Bishop, who lives part-time in a $600,000-condo on Palm Beach’s Bradley Place. “But I can tell you I’ve never met Tiger Woods or heard anything about it until these stories came out.”

And either by blood or Uchitel’s own short-lived marriage, she has dozens of relatives in the upper spheres on The Island.

“Rachel comes to see her mom in Palm Beach fairly often,” said a local society maven who asked not to be named. “She may come off as sleazy now, but she’s from old money, even if there isn’t much of that old money left for her.
“The thing about Rachel is that she is exquisitely beautiful, and she knows it. She uses it to her advantage. She always has perfect hair. Always on high heels.

“She turned heads at the old Everglades Club and the B&T. The way she moves around a room is studied, like a model. The pictures don’t do her justice.”

Rachel Uchitel (left) and Elin Nordegren (right)

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Uchitel is making international news after Woods’ mysterious car crash over Thanksgiving weekend.

The soon-to-be Jupiter Island resident Woods, 33, was injured while backing out of his driveway in Windermere, near Orlando. He hit a fire hydrant and then crashed head on into a tree. The golfer’s wife of five years, former nanny Elin Nordegren, 28, supposedly helped free him out of the car by smashing a window of Tiger’s Escalade with a golf club.

But the couple’s attitude since, including their turning back investigating state troopers three times and Woods’ statement yesterday that details of the accident are “private,” has fueled rumors that Woods was injured during a lover’s spat.

Over what? A front page story in the National Enquirer outing Uchitel as Woods’ alleged mistress.

So, just who is this Uchitel woman? Look below for more of the story and a photo gallery, or click (Read more…)

Uchitel (Courtesy Blackbook.com)

If you believe there’s nothing more to golfer Tiger Woods’ mysterious Black Friday car crash than the official line, then I’ve got some land next door to him on Jupiter Island for sale.

The superstar golfer was hurt in the wee hours when he backed his Escalade out of his driveway in the Isleworth gated community of Windermere, near Orlando, and hit a fire-hydrant then a tree.

So happens that, on the same day, the Boca Raton-based National Enquirer hit the supermarket counters in the Orlando area with a front page story outing Woods’ alleged mistress.

Woods and Nordegren

And you thought the man has no personality?

Whether the golf superstar’s Swedish wife, former nanny Elin Nordegren, had seen the Enquirer’s story before she went outside to “help” Woods, as she claimed, is unclear. She told cops she broke the Escalade’s back window with a golf club so that he could get out.

You don’t suppose the lacerations to Woods face, allegedly suffered in the accident, occurred after the wife caught up with her gossip reading?

For more, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

Jim Sitton, staring at one of his awards for a story titled "Dangerously Dim" (Courtesy b-roll.net)

The WPTV-Channel 5 newsroom is going through the toughest day in its 55-year history.

Tragedy struck the station’s best-known, award-winning photographer, Jim Sitton, on what should have been one of the happiest times of the year.

A gunman related to Sitton’s wife, Muriel, entered their Jupiter home and allegedly shot six people gathered for the Thanksgiving feast. Four have died, including Sitton’s 6-year-old daughter, Makayla. The suspect, Michael Merhige, remains at large.

“Since Makayla was born, Jim has been taking pictures of her every single day to chronicle how she was developing and growing,” said a station insider who asked to remain anonymous. “You’d turn on the computer used for editing tapes, and there’d be pictures of Makayla all over the screen. It’s like everyone at the station knew her.”

Sitton, 48, has been at the NBC affiliate for about 15 years, after a short stint at WPBF-Channel 25. Sitton mostly worked investigative assignments with the station’s Contact 5 reporters, Shannon Cake and Kelley Dunn. Both women spent some time with Sitton at the home after the 10 p.m. shooting.

“He’s the most amazing friend,” Cake said, her voice breaking with emotion. “I just can’t talk about it.”

For more about the tragedy, look below or click (Read more…)

Dobbs

No-nonsense former CNN star Lou Dobbs wants to throw his hat in the New Jersey political world as a third party candidate.

Joisey?

You can do better than that, Mr. Independent!

How about trying the corrupt world of Florida politics?

Because he owns a $2 million-home at Ibis Country Club in West Palm Beach, according to county property records, Dobbs could easily become eligible to run for political office in Florida. And there’s enough populist anger and resentment against the political establishment down here to pave the path to office for the grumpy anti-immigration advocate with a red carpet.

If Dobbs wants to aim high, there’s the U.S. Senate seat that Gov. Charlie Crist thinks he’s got a lock on. The vote is in november 2010.

For a dog fight is what he’s looking for, there’s a mayoral election in West Palm Beach in 2011. And the fancy western community in which Dobbs bought in 2005 would love nothing more than having a member become mayor.

Dobbs to replace Lois Frankel? Imagine that!

“Lou Dobbs is a constituent?” WPB Commish Kimberly Mitchell asked, surprised. “Well, if he ran here, that’d put us on the map. I’d sure elevate the dialogue in this city!”

Dobbs is spending Thanksgiving at Ibis. He is expected to spend weeks at a time here this winter as his daughter, Hillary, competes in Wellington’s Winter Equestrian Festival.

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