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Haiti helper Sean Penn recovering in Miami Beach

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Heroes, Miami Beach, Politicos, Stars |
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| Sunday 28 February 2010 5:26 pm Print This Post

Oscar winning actor Sean Penn checked into the Fontainebleau resort in Miami Beach early Sunday, after more than a month of work on the relief effort in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Now the star of Mystic River and Milk, 49, is spending several days in the fancy hotel, which at $500 a night is a far cry from what Penn saw in Haiti. That country’s best hotel, the Montana, collapsed in the Jan. 12 catastrophe, and most relief workers have been staying in tents.

Actor Sean Penn, last week in Haiti

Actor Sean Penn, last week in Haiti

Penn was checking in about 1 a.m. with his 18-year-old daughter, Dylan, and a half dozen teenagers who obviously also worked on the relief effort.

“They all looked like a road crew, dirty and tired,” my spy tells me. “Obviously, they were in a serious need of a shower and some down time. They seemed to be happy to have returned to the States but Sean particularly looked beat.

“Fans were congratulating him on his work, and he just said ‘Thanks!’”

Penn is at the head of the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization, and flew to Haiti Jan. 21. He has been credited with saving several lives from buildings that collapsed in aftershocks.

Laid back poolside gathering raises $1 million for Caron Renaissance

Welcome to the fifth annual Caron Renaissance gala! (Click on the photo for Michael Price's gallery)

Welcome to the fifth annual Caron Renaissance gala! (Click on the photo for Michael Price's gallery)

Petra Levin, the chairwoman of Friday’s fifth annual Caron Renaissance gala, said the economy forced her to think outside the box.

How would she attract people to Palm Beach’s Mar-a-Lago willing to pay between $1,000 and $500 for a charity dinner on one of the busiest gala weekends of the year?

“I figured I’d make it less formal than the average Palm Beach gala, and more laid back,” Levin, a former Miss Germany, said during Friday’s wingding.”I thought that’d bring back the husbands, who no longer like the pomp and circumstance by the middle of the season.”

And then, she reached out to Miami singer Jon Secada, who performed for a hour.

Result: Levin had 300-plus helping themselves to fine foods around the pool, then moving to the grand ballroom for Secada’s show.

And by the time the receipts were tallied, the Boca addiction treatment center Caron Renaissance was $1 million richer — money that’ll go mostly to pay for rehab for those who can’t afford it.

Check out the guests by clicking here or on the photo.

Ozzy Osbourne in Palm Beach Gardens: The video

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Belting it Out, Stars |
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| Saturday 27 February 2010 10:58 am Print This Post

West Palm Beach lawyer Eddie Stephens filmed his two young sons’ trip to see heavy metal heavy Ozzy Osbourne Friday night at the Barnes & Noble at Legacy Place, in Palm Beach Gardens. Cuties Christopher, 10, and Matthew, 7, pupils at the Ideal Elementary in Royal Palm Beach braved throngs of fans, had their dad buy $55 worth of Ozzy books and waited in line for about 45 minutes to meet the singer of Crazy Train. I’m told the kids love the pictures in I Am Ozzy, but had their dad explain some of the more obscure terms that The Prince of Darkness writes about. Like “mooning,” for example. “I’m approaching the book with them like a morality tale,” Stephens said. “I explained to them that Ozzy was on the wrong path with alcohol and drugs, but that he straightened himself out and became a good man.”

Labarga DUI: “We’re not surprised,” says lawyer

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Breaking News, Politicos, Wellington |
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| Friday 26 February 2010 4:50 pm Print This Post
Stephanie Labarga's booking mug after her DUI arrest Monday (Courtesy PBSO)

Stephanie Labarga's booking mug after her DUI arrest Monday (Courtesy PBSO)

A Palm Beach Gardens couple and their lawyer weren’t shocked when the 23-year-old daughter of rookie Florida Supreme Court Justice Jorge Labarga was picked up for DUI earlier this week.

That’s because the couple, Valmir and Irma Santos, were sleeping soundly at dawn one morning in November when they heard a huge crash.

Stephanie Labarga, Jorge’s daughter, had driven her car into the Santos’ modest, 1,200-square-foot home.

“It was at, like, at 5 a.m.,” said Stuart Goldenberg, the Santos’ lawyer. The couple is suing Stephanie Labarga because their insurance company hasn’t been able to reach a settlement with Stephanie’s. “She drove into their living room through the wall. Who does that?”

No one was injured, Goldenberg said, but the damages amounted to more than $20,000.

Labarga, according to court records, was cited for reckless driving. She paid a $166-fine and was ordered to take a safe driving class — which she completed Feb. 5.

For more, look below or click (Read more…)

Scandalous PBSO deputy investigated for texting 16-year-old girl

pbsoThis may be the professional kiss of death for Palm Beach Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Keith.

Keith, a gang liaison and community policing figure in areas near Boca Raton, is under Internal Affairs investigation today after the parents of a 16-year-old girl complained that Keith and their daughter exchanged inappropriate text messages. Keith apparently met the girl in one of the neighborhoods he patrols.

He’s been reassigned to desk duty in the wake of the incident, but only because he claimed to be suffering from an undisclosed disorder.

The 39-year-old Keith, a three-year veteran, was already disciplined last year — a one-month suspension and reassignment — for having sex with his patrol partner’s wife while on duty in 2008.

That incident also exposed Keith’s inappropriate affair with a one-time patrol supervisor, Lt. Paula Kronsperger. Incidentally, Keith’s wife had intercepted text messages between Keith and Kronsperger. Kronsperger also was disciplined as a result.

For more, look below or click (Read more…)

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