Wilson

Attorneys representing the mother of a recent college graduate who died after his car was struck by Wellington polo mogul John Goodman’s Bentley are launching their own investigation into the crash that killed her son.

Jack Scarola, a partner at the high-profile West Palm Beach law firm Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart and Shipley, said the firm is starting from scratch its own probe into the death of Scott Wilson, 23.

International Polo Club Palm Beach founder Goodman suffered minor injuries in the Feb. 12 accident. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney are conducting a criminal investigation. They’re not expected to decide before May whether charges will be filed against Goodman.

Said Scarola: “We will independently and thoroughly investigate. It’s highly unlikely that there’ll be a single lead that we won’t follow.”

Scarola said the firm has been representing Wilson’ mom Lili in other matters. He said the firm’s involvement “could include civil action arising from the death.”

Goodman visited two parties before the crash, and authorities seized credit card receipts showing Goodman paid for 18 shots of booze less than an hour before he allegedly blew through a stop sign and struck Wilson. And Page2Live revealed Monday that fire rescue workers failed to find Wilson’s body in his car, which was partly submerged in a canal after the Bentley hit it.

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The fringe benefits of being one of South Florida’s best-known breast augmentation specialists apparently include having celebs show up at your bash! Dr. Lenny Roudner, who considers himself a breast artiste, threw one of his famous blowouts at his $5 million-Hibiscus Island pad near Miami the other day. Among the guests: actor Cuba Gooding Jr. (American Gangster, Jerry Maguire), Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. and the ShamWow guy, Vince Shlomi. Click here or on the photo for more.

Rachel Uchitel, a.k.a. golfer Tiger Woods‘ No. 1 mistress, must have really liked Palm Beach.

Uchitel, the first woman outed in the scandal of Woods’ busy busy extra-marital sex life shortly after Thanksgiving, finally packed her bags and left town after three months of sucking in The Island’s calm lifestyle.

“We had her going away party on Saturday and she’s gone,” said one of her good friends here, club owner Gus Renny. “She’s headed for Las Vegas. She said she landed a great job as correspondent on (tabloid tv’s) Extra.”

Uchitel, in January in Palm Beach (Click on the photo for more)

In her time among us, the former club hostess who allegedly was flown by Woods’ corporation to Australia to be with him: stopped traffic outside Publix; was photographed in a skimpy bikini on the beach (above) ; chain-smoked while chatting up the boys at 251 PB Lounge; allegedly dated Hooters heir Chris Harding; celebrated her 35th birthday, and refused to go on satellite radio king Howard Stern’s pageant of Woods girlfriends.

“She really liked it here,” Renny said. “But I don’t think she’ll be coming back for a long time.”

The Kodak Theatre it wasn’t, and celebrities must’ve been all busy.

But the Palm Beach International Film Festival’s Oscar party at Palm Beach’s Omphoy Resort — the only officially licensed by the Oscars-organizing Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — did serve its purposes: raise money for next month’s festival, and gather about 230 local movie lovers to watch the award show.

And then some of the guests even dressed up in their favorite characters. Dinner chair and Manalapan party planner Renny Reynolds picked a costume reminiscent of the old TV show The Swamp Fox while the emcee, Florida Stage boss Lou Tyrrell, looked like a dead ringer of painter Salvador Dali. (For Michael Price’s gallery of the event, click here or on the photo)

Kathleen Himes as 101 Dalmatians Cruella DeVil, with Lou Tyrrell as old Sal Dali (Click on the photo for Michael Price's gallery)

This year’s film festival, by the way, is slated for April 22-26 with new personnel, new venues (a return of showings in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens) and a new attitude.

What attitude?

New festival managing director P.J. Layng tells me the festival’s gala, which gathered participants, fans and celebrities at the Boca Resort, won’t be happening this year.

“Too formal,” Layng said, “Galas were too serious. We’ll just have a really good party.”

Despite the too-low-for-the-season temperature, hundreds strolled up and down West Palm Beach’s design district Saturday night for the Young Friends of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County’s yearly Evening on Antique Row. Dixie Highway was shut down to cars between Southern and Greenwood, and visitors got to check out more than 40 acclaimed antique stores. The party then shifted to the pool deck of CityPlace’s South Tower. Check out Michael Price’s gallery of the wingding by clicking here or on the photo:

Susan Morgan (left) and Maxine Massengill (click on the photo for more)

Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey gets ready for today's Grand Prix of Miami (click on the photo for more)

Patrick Dempsey, aka McDreamy on the ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy, will be the star of today’s Grand Prix of Miami at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. In his yellow Mazda RX-8, the 44-year-old actor is one of the Grand-Am Road Racing’s rising powerhouses. “People know me more from the show than the racing,” Dempsey told the Miami Herald. “But now they know me from the racing as well. I think there are really a lot of wonderful drivers each year, and if I can lend my visibility to help support them and build up this series, I’m more than happy to do that.” Click on the photos, or here, for the gallery of Friday’s practice runs.

McDreamy slips on his gear for a Grand Prix of Miami practice Friday (Click on the photo for more)

Donald Trump and Geri Morrow at the Jan. 15 gala. (Click on the photo for more)

Tensions at Alzheimer’s Community Care.

The popular chairs of the non-profit’s yearly Palm Beach gala, Frank and Geri Morrow, resigned last week after they were told that they’d have to have all features of future events approved by the group’s full-time staff.

Usually, the chair of Palm Beach galas exert tremendous control. They pick the entertainment, decorations, menus and the seating arrangements with little, or no, staff involvement. And attendance depends on a chair’s popularity.

“We resigned when they told us we’d have to get everything approved,” Frank Morrow said. “They are not really giving us a reasons why the policy changed. This year’s event (click here) was very successful.

“But one thing that (CEO) Mary Barnes indicated is that she thinks the gala had become ‘too societal,’ too much of a party and not enough of a fund-raiser. Well, if they want full control, now they’ve got it.”

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The boisterous Palm Beach artist Edwina Sandys — a painter, sculptor, illustrator, print-maker, and the granddaughter of WWII British Prime Minister Winston Churchill — is showing some of her work at the Whitney building downtown West Palm Beach. The show’s curated by local collage artist Bruce Helander. The show opened over the weekend, and is scheduled to be open to the public until March 20. To see who’s been there, click here or on the photo.

Former U.S. Congressman Mark Foley (right) with oil heiress Ginny Bond and Foley's partner, Layne Nisenbaum (Click on the Michael Price photo for more)

John Goodman, the embattled polo boss under criminal investigation for his role in a fatal crash in rural Wellington last month, has been shunning friends and business associates since he crashed his Bentley into 23-year-old Scott Wilson’s vehicle Feb. 12, killing him.

But that doesn’t mean that the multi-millionaire Texas trust-funder Goodman has been roughing it.

Far from it.

The Canyon Ranch Miami Beach (Click on the photo for more on John Goodman)

Page2Live tracked down the 46-year-old founder of the International Polo Club Palm Beach in a boutique hotel in Miami Beach that specializes in relaxation, health and wellness. The joint boasts a “serene atmosphere of casual elegance,” health experts on-call and countless ways to “reawaken your spirit and refresh your soul.”

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You, too, could live like Rush -- for $13.95 million (Click on the photo for a tour)

Palm Beach radio talker Rush Limbaugh is severing some of his ties with the Big Apple.

He’s selling the pied-a-terre he’s owned on the 20th floor of a Fifth Avenue skyscraper since 1994.

According to the New York Web site Gawker, the Conservative leader wants $13.95 million for it. Corcoran Group Real Estate has the listing.

For that kind of dough, the buyer will get 4,600 square feet, four bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths and a staff bedroom. (See it here)

Maintenance ain’t cheap, at $7,823 a month. Property taxes? Try $72,000 a year!

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