[Plugin: WP Search] Max execution time error

I’ve been having a problem with the WPSearch plugin as of late, mainly performance issues on a WP install that has less than 1000 posts. When I disable the plugin everything clears up.

Aside from general performance degradation, I’ve had an odd problem creep up. When WPSearch is enabled (and only when enabled) if I attempt to make changes to and save menu items in the WP menu manager the save times out. I receive a max execution time exceeded error:

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 60 seconds exceeded in /home/dev/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wpsearch/WPSearch/Backends/Phplucene/Zend/Search/Lucene/Storage/File.php on line 321

Ideas on where to being troubleshooting this problem?

I originally attributed this to a plugin conflict, or some erroneous function in my custom theme. However after disabling all other plugins and testing with Twenty Ten I’m still throwing the same error when trying to update a menu item.

Any and all help/suggestions welcome and very much appreciated.