Regarding Rick Diamond's Nov. 28 op-ed, Lee County is not the only jurisdiction grappling with overcrowded jails. Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. A study conducted by the Rand Corp. found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. [continues 74 words]
The State Lacks a System for Tracking Prescription Drugs, Making It a Haven for Addicts and 'Pill Mills,' Officials Say. FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. -- Out-of-state drug dealers and addicts are traveling long distances to obtain pain pills at clinics in Florida, which has lax oversight of prescription drugs. The unwanted tourism alarms state officials, who have watched deaths from prescription pain medication skyrocket in recent years. In 2005, such prescription drugs as hydrocodone, methadone and oxycodone contributed to more overdose deaths than all other narcotics combined, according to Florida medical examiners. [continues 487 words]
Deaths Skyrocket As Dealers and Addicts Flock to S. Florida. Out-of-state drug dealers and addicts are traveling long distances to visit Florida pain clinics, targeting the state because its lax oversight of prescription drugs makes scoring pills easier. The unwanted tourism alarms state officials who have watched deaths from prescription pain medication skyrocket in recent years. In 2005, such prescription drugs as hydrocodone, methadone and oxycodone contributed to more overdose deaths than all other narcotics combined, according to Florida medical examiners. [continues 1317 words]
Anyone who has visited Daytona Beach or lives there is well aware of the little "Sin City" on Ridgewood Avenue. It's so blatantly obvious; the average citizen could make arrests, if allowed, all day and night, and it would take months to clean up that area of prostitution and drug activities. Because of the tourist events in Daytona Beach, there are people all over the world who know about the problem and wonder why Daytona Beach officials can't or won't eradicate such an embarrassment from the most beautiful beach city in the world. I have often wondered myself. Has this area become a tourist attraction, too? The News- Journal's series surely made it seem that way. [continues 196 words]
Re the Recent Series "A Serial Killer's Stomping Grounds: The City You've Never Known": I am very happy that the editors of such a fine newspaper put such a masterpiece on the front page. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. I, for one, am disgusted with the readers who complained that such an article on the front page will hurt tourism. What do they think the tourists think when they come to Daytona Beach and see the prostitutes, crack users and dealers firsthand? No matter where you go in Daytona Beach, eventually you have to use or cross Ridgewood Avenue. [continues 154 words]
Robyn Blumner's appeal to legalize drugs has a logical ring to it if you look narrowly at the aspect that she chooses to use as her rationale. Fortunately, those in positions of responsibility have looked at the overall ramifications of legalizing drugs and found her argument wanting. She doesn't factor into her equation the dramatic cost to our society of the major mind-altering drug that is already legal. Traffic fatalities due to alcohol abuse are one of the leading causes of death in our country. Go to any prison, and the vast majority of those incarcerated are there for crimes committed while under the influence of alcohol. And those criminals include a huge number of minors who shouldn't have access to alcohol but who, because of its easy availability, are able to get it without any problem. Check the instances of child abuse, domestic violence and breakup of the family, and you'll find that alcohol use plays a key role in the tragic statistics in these areas. [continues 97 words]
Since Milton Friedman's death last month, I have searched major U.S. online newspapers for opinion pieces about his stand against the drug war and found nothing, except this column by Robyn Blumner. How can the mainstream media write reams about the successes of his many policy recommendations but ignore this one? Do they believe the drug war is a success, that his stand against the drug war was his one mistake? No. I think they know the drug war is bad policy, but it has been going on so long that it supports the careers, stock portfolios and campaign contributions of many well-placed people. Simply put, the drug war is too controversial for most columnists, editorial writers and publishers. John Chase Palm Harbor [end]
It has become a familiar scene on the evening news across the country:Neighbors watch in stunned silence as police raid the house next door and the nice couple, who for the most part kept to themselves, is hauled away for running a methamphetamine lab in their basement. How could this happen, the neighbors ask, in our neighborhood? Compared to marijuana, heroin or cocaine, methamphetamine, or "meth" as it is commonly known, is relatively new in the headlines. But this drug has had a tremendous and terrible impact in a short time. Once thought to be a problem affecting primarily America's rural communities, we now know that no community, no matter how large or how small, is safe from the allure and the destruction caused by methamphetamine. [continues 701 words]
As School Board members criticized the superintendent's proposal to start drug testing Citrus County's student athletes last week, member Lou Miele stated, "There has to be better ways to curb drug use in our school." There are, and the board and the administration should get busy and focus on those successful methods and programs. Just because the board has rejected the testing idea does not mean that students' use of drugs and alcohol has in any way abated. In her push for the testing program, superintendent Sandra "Sam" Himmel cited various student surveys that showed an alarming number of students admitted to using drugs and alcohol on a regular basis. Many acknowledged that they went to classes under the influence, meaning in some cases they drove to school in that condition, endangering themselves and others. [continues 488 words]
Several members of my staff were huddled around a computer monitor, grimly staring at the screen. There was an eerie stillness about the group. Wondering what new bad news the Internet had brought, I went to see what they were watching. What I saw wasn't news, but it should have been. The group was viewing a presentation called, "The Faces of Meth." It featured before and after photographs of methamphetamine addicts. The "before" photos were of attractive, healthy-looking men and women. The "after" photos, taken within months to a few years of methamphetamine use, depicted those same people as gaunt, sore-covered caricatures of their former selves, aged far beyond their years. [continues 489 words]
Random Drug Testing Could Begin As Early As This Spring, District Officials Said Collier County Public Schools' student athletes are bright. They are well-known. They are role models. And as early as this spring, they will become the first students in the school district to be randomly tested for drugs. John Walters, the White House director of National Drug Policy, and Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon visited Barron Collier High School on Tuesday to announce $8.6 million in federal money for student drug testing programs across the country. [continues 769 words]
State prosecutors have dropped a misdemeanor drug possession charge against a Collier County paramedic arrested after a Naples police detective said he found marijuana inside the paramedic's personal bag at a fire station in September. Lt. Eric Timothy Havens, 29, returned to work Tuesday after about two months on paid administrative leave. His Marco Island attorney, Stephen Ostrow, said Havens was reinstated by Collier County Emergency Medical Services to his original rank after the State Attorney's Office dropped the charge. The administrative case didn't result in any reduction in pay or rank, Ostrow said. [continues 156 words]
I'm writing in response to Mark O'Brien's outstanding column, "Just say no to the expensive and ineffectual war on drugs" (Nov. 22). I'd like to add that the only way to effectively deal with the drug cartels and drug dealers is to put them out of business. The only way this can be accomplished is to regulate, control and tax the products that they deal in. And this can only be accomplished with legalization. Only legal products of any kind can be regulated, controlled and taxed by any government. [continues 108 words]
NEW YORK -- Shell-shocked conservatives should embrace the unfinished agenda of a 5-foot-tall free-market giant. Milton Friedman -- 1976's Nobel economics laureate, and both an elevated theorist and fathomable popularizer of capitalist ideas -- passed away Nov. 16 at 94. He leaves behind the PBS series "Free to Choose," some 25 books and hundreds of articles, much of this co-produced with Rose, his wife of 68 years. Thousands of think-tank scholars -- inspired by his faith in individual liberty, limited government and private enterprise -- advance his libertarian philosophy. [continues 643 words]
A New Study Provides a Checklist for Living Robustly into Your 80s. In middle age, avoid cigarettes and excess alcohol. Get -- and keep - -- a spouse. Stay thin and active. Maintain normal blood pressure. Those were key characteristics of long-lifers in one of the biggest studies done on aging. As part of the research, more than 5,800 Japanese-American men were tracked for four decades, but scientists say the findings likely apply to all men and women. "There appears to be a lot we can do about modifying our risk and increasing the odds for aging more healthfully," says researcher Bradley Willcox from the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu. [continues 387 words]
TALLAHASSEE -- A state survey shows drug use among Florida teens still less than it was at the turn of the decade, but stubbornly refusing to budge lower. "That sets the stage" for a new administration to set new strategy," Gov. Jeb Bush said this morning, marking the last youth substance survey of his eight-year administration. The annual survey this year showed 32 percent of sixth through 12 graders report using alcohol -- a seven percent decline since 2000. Smoking is down to 10.6 percent -- below even marijuana use, which is at 11.4 percent. [continues 333 words]
Too many mentally ill and alcoholic people end up in jail, instead of in treatment. Funding and space are problems; there might be some local solutions. When it comes to addressing the bulk of mental health, substance abuse or homeless problems in Lee County, and in the rest of Florida, we seem to function as a third world nation. Our answer is not expanded social services but jails and more jails. A recent News-Press front-page story pointed out that the new $52.8 million jail on Ortiz Boulevard, which will replace the existing stockade facility, will probably be filled to capacity when it is completed in 2009. [continues 749 words]
The Collier County School District will receive $209,662 for a drug testing grant, making it the second-highest grant recipient in the United States. U.S. drug czar John Waters announced $8.6 million in grants nationwide for random student drug testing programs during a visit this afternoon to Barron Collier High School in North Naples. Florida received three of the grants, the most for any state in the nation. Joe Kemper, Barron Collier High School's athletic director, said the drug testing could begin as early as this spring for student-athletes but likely wouldn't start until 2007-08 school year. [continues 124 words]
Hollywood Man Had Evidence Supressed WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider whether using a police dog to sniff for marijuana from the front door of a residence constitutes an illegal search. The state of Florida had asked the justices to hear the case of a Florida man charged with possession of drugs, including marijuana. Lawyers for James Rabb of Hollywood had succeeded in suppressing the drugs that were seized from his house, because the search warrant that had been issued was based on the dog sniffing at the front door. [continues 215 words]
A Pensacola tattoo shop owner wants Escambia County to ban the sale of drug paraphernalia, arguing that it is hurting his industry's image. Mike McClung has asked the County Commission to enact an ordinance prohibiting the sale of pipes and other possible drug paraphernalia that McClung believes are becoming part of the inventory at more local tattoo parlors. In October, Pinellas County passed an ordinance that made it more difficult to sell items that a person reasonably could assume would be used for drugs. [continues 360 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down a request to look at a Florida appeals case that asks whether a police dog sniffing for marijuana from outside a Hollywood residence constitutes a legal search. The issue came up when a Hollywood man was arrested in April 2002 on drug charges, including possession of 64 marijuana plants, after a police dog sniffed the front door of the man's house and alerted its handler that there were drugs inside. A Broward circuit judgeruled that the search of James Rabb's home was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures because the search warrant had been issued based only on the dog sniff at the front door. [continues 171 words]
Editor: I always hear so many negative things about police officers. I would like to say thank you to them. Especially Officer Beth Hartt of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. Why? Because Hart helped save my life. Officer Hartt arrested me in March of 2006, but I am very grateful to her. She arrested me on drug charges. Hartt was hard, tough, no one to play games with, and did her job by the book. And she lets you know that right up front, but she was also human. She didn't treat me like a jerk. If she had, I would have shut down and not listened to anything she said, got out of jail and gone right back to what I was doing. [continues 124 words]
Federal officials will be in Naples on Tuesday to announce funding for student drug testing programs across the country. The Collier County School District will get $209,662 in federal funding for the initiative. John Walters, the White House director of national drug control policy, and Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon will make the announcement during a news conference Tuesday afternoon at Barron Collier High School. Before the news conference, Walters and Simon will meet with administrators and parents, then participate in an assembly with students. Students will be able to ask questions, and the event will be open to the media. [continues 58 words]
BRONSON - Dawn Bartkus and her family have already decided what to have engraved on her 17-year-old son's headstone. A pair of horseshoes will be etched alongside the name of John Wilson Reynolds Jr. to commemorate his success as a two-time junior champion horseshoe pitcher before his death in October. The message that Bartkus would like to etch everywhere else teens congregate is a warning about something she calls a silent killer: inhalants. Although a final autopsy report is not yet available, family members and investigators said they expect the report to show that John died Oct. 12 as a result of inhaling directly from a can of compressed air, which also contains a propellant that can produce a brief high. [continues 715 words]
Group Embraces Decriminalizing Marijuana Laws The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is not your typical organization and its legal tutorials are not part of your typical seminar. But then again, Key West is not your typical city. NORML, a lobbying organization that advocates legalizing the responsible use of marijuana, is holding its 24th annual legal seminar at the Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa in Key West next week. "Key West has been enjoyed as a place that values personal freedom," Keith Stroup said. [continues 383 words]
Collier County public schools have been chosen as recipients of a $209,662 federal grant to begin a random drug testing program for high school students. On Tuesday, Superintendent Ray Baker will receive a check from U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon and John Walters, who is director of the Office of National Drug Control. Collier's grant is the second-largest in the nation, part of $8.6 million in federal funds headed to schools. The Collier school district plans to implement random drug testing at its seven public high schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education, drug testing of youth is part of an overall strategy to emphasize treatment, community action and prevention. [end]
Leesburg - A first-grader was found with a bag of cocaine in class that contained enough of the drug to possibly kill a small child, according to police. Authorities said the 6-year-old boy had a plastic bag containing a half a gram of cocaine at Beverly Shores Elementary School on Tuesday. "It's sad that you had a first-grader carrying drugs of any kind on campus," Leesburg police Capt. Ginny Padgett said. A classmate of the boy who had the drug told a teacher that the boy was telling others that it was sugar or dope, police said. [continues 134 words]
Study: Cocaine, Prescription Drug Use Up At State Schools Manuel Larenas wants his fellow students to stay away from drugs. So Larenas, a member of Florida Atlantic University's "Peer Education Team," was distraught when he learned one of his classmates died of an apparent overdose. "We've been very active trying to bring awareness, and when a student dies, you feel like you're not doing that good of a job," he said. The deaths Sunday of freshman Nicole Phillips, 18, and her off-campus friend, Richard Cardinale, 19, put a spotlight on what statistics suggest is a stubborn problem on college campuses. [continues 604 words]
Israeli Officers Must Use Real Names, Though Miami - A federal judge agreed Wednesday to allow Israeli undercover agents to testify in disguises in the upcoming trial of an alleged Ecstasy kingpin but refused a government request that they not use their real names. U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas determined the six agents would not be completely hidden if their costumes are limited to wigs, makeup and facial hair for men. Defense lawyers for the accused kingpin, [redacted] , had objected to the testimony in disguise, saying it would violate his right to confront one's accuser. [continues 285 words]
INVERNESS - The School Board just said no. It said no Tuesday to a four-year federal grant that would have paid for random drug testing of some high school athletes. It said no to a national study that would have let the federal government evaluate drug use among Citrus students. And, for the first time, a majority said no to the idea of testing athletes - no matter how such testing was funded. Three of the five board members said the board will overstep its authority if it required students to submit to random drug tests as a condition to play sports. [continues 548 words]
Every six months, I sit down and read the latest slew of columns I've written. In this self-review, I like some columns more now than when I wrote them, and some I don't like as much. Occasionally, I see an old column and say, "What the heck was I thinking that day?" In journalism you soon learn that you will be wrong from time to time. In public. Having written more than 1,100 columns since returning to the News Journal six years ago this month, I've committed some doozies. [continues 461 words]
Five years ago, shortly after Thanksgiving, the Daily News published a four-part series on a new and deadly drug-abuse trend in Southwest Florida. We called are special report "Poisoning Paradise" after we had documented an alarming number of "heroin-related" deaths in our part of Florida. Over a three-year span, at least 63 men and women ended up in local morgues. One Sunday we devoted our front page to profiles on 11 of the dead. Most, if not all, were described as young (in their 20s and 30s), well-educated and from "good" homes. These weren't the stereotypical back- alley junkies with candle, spoon, tourniquet and syringe. These were hard-working people who continuously sought a once-tasted heroin high by mixing up a drug cocktail. The list of possible ingredients was long: alcohol, cocaine, Xanax, Oxycotin, methadone. [continues 322 words]
Southwest Florida is resolved to keep its youths off drugs. To do that, parents, guardians and other adults need to know what to look for. This ought to help. It is a primer on the drugs most commonly abused by teens, courtesy of the Collier County Sheriff's Office. For more information, parents and groups can contact the Substance Abuse Coalition of Collier County. Its vice chairman, Kevin Rambosk of the Sheriff's office, is at 793-9205. Inhalants Look under your kitchen sink or anywhere inside your garage and you'll find what kids are using to get high. Gasoline, spray paint, bleach, glue, helium from balloons, pressurized cleaner used to clean computer keyboards, paint thinner and rubber cement are just some of the products. One teenager in Collier County died earlier this year after taking the Freon out of an air conditioning unit and inhaling it. [continues 1156 words]
An Uptick In Gang Activity This Year -- And High-Profile Violence Attributed To Gangs -- Has Put Investigators And Schools On Alert In Miami-Dade When a reputed gang member peppered cops with bullets from an assault rifle last week, he illustrated what authorities say is a troubling spike in gang activity. Investigators say it's a new wave of gangs -- some loosely knit groups formed around drugs in North Miami-Dade, others national gangs drawing recruits from the suburbs. Consider: o Members of a gang called Behind the Plaza shot and wounded two Miami- Dade officers on two separate occasions, police say. Also last week in Miami Gardens, somebody shot and killed Dwayne Smith, believed to be one of the gang's leaders. [continues 1012 words]
Regarding "A Broken Mind" (front page, Nov. 12): Wow. God bless Jan Hollingsworth for opening up her very intimate and painful story of her son. This is even more incredible given that Hollingsworth is a public figure - as a reporter and more - who allowed us into her private world in order to help others with a complicated drug. Until I read her beautifully written story, all I knew about GHB was that it's "the date-rape drug." I am certain many of us who are kid/tween/teen parents, who are trying to keep up with the latest addictive substance and who support our wonderful and life-pressured kids, have written in to your excellent paper. Excellence comes from an angel of a lady named Jan Hollingsworth. I am saddened, moved and changed by her story. And as her story ends, it will save more than one life. I am confident of that. Lottie Balish Tampa [end]
Re " 'Chasing the Dragon' on North Ridgewood," article, Nov. 13: I recently visited Ocean City, Md., where the presiding judges say, "Not in my town, enough is enough." Those found with even the most minuscule amount of crack cocaine must do 15 years in jail -- no exceptions. It doesn't matter if it's a first offense; there is no time off for good behavior and no plead-down by some hot-shot attorney. This has been a successful campaign further enhancing a family-oriented, commercially thriving community. [continues 81 words]
First, I want to say happy birthday to Will Hollingsworth and then thank-you to his mom for telling us his story. Will's family's wish - that telling "A Broken Mind" will save at least one life - has likely been realized. The fact that our area has revealed at least two known serial killers who utilized this drug is a testimony to the evils of GHB and its derivatives. Thank you, Jan Hollingsworth, for your courageous and detailed recollection of Will's fight with this evil elixir. Maybe now something can be done about getting these potions off the store shelves, as ephedrine has been removed in the recent past. [continues 56 words]
The United States has no greater friend in South America than Colombia. And at a time when it has so few supporters south of the border, Washington has the opportunity to strengthen ties with this country. The two governments concluded negotiations for a bilateral free-trade agreement earlier this year, but there are serious doubts the U.S. will ratify it now that the Democrats are taking control of Congress in January. Failure to do so would be a real setback for Colombia, and for the United States. [continues 667 words]
The nonsense on Grand Avenue and Margaret Street and Thomas Avenue has to stop. The police and the politicians have to take responsibility immediately and act accordingly. The drug dealing, prostitution and assaults have been ignored for too long. Residents are living in terror. We have been begging for police to patrol the area and for a comprehensive plan to eradicate the drug dealing. It will take only one undercover officer to find out who is dealing drugs. There are three or four houses where drugs are openly sold 24/7 in the HUD housing that taxpayers fund from our hard-earned money. It is the police's job to keep our streets safe. Why should we risk our lives with zero resources to defend ourselves? Coconut Grove [end]
BRANDON - The young wrestler was sitting on the kitchen floor, his bloody face illuminated by the early-morning light that streamed through a nearby window. In other parts of the world, the shadow of the moon was edging across the rising sun, marking the beginning of a dramatic and well-publicized total eclipse. Will Hollingsworth had talked of little else for the past four days: the last eclipse of the millennium and the apocalypse some believed would follow. He had not slept in more than 100 hours, holed up in his room, paging restlessly through a Bible, his television tuned to news of the eclipse. It was a peculiar obsession for a 20-year-old college student who spent most of his time training to be a world-class athlete. Will didn't appear intoxicated. To the contrary, he was alert, engaging and philosophical, though strangely fixated on current events. Now this. [continues 4334 words]
BROOKSVILLE - A decision on random drug testing in the Hernando County schools won't come until at least Dec. 12. School Board members Tuesday weighed the pros and cons of accepting $183,289 in federal funds to start a urine testing program for student athletes. But three board members said they were uncomfortable with the narrow scope of the federal Department of Education program, and expressed interest in a broader program of voluntary testing. "A student is given, by law, the privacy not to be tested," said board member John Druzbick, referring to Supreme Court rulings that restrict mandatory testing to students in extracurricular activities. "That student decides to expand their world by joining a sport or activity, and all of a sudden their privacy goes away?" [continues 214 words]
TAMPA - Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Thursday searched two pharmacies in Lakeland and Tampa owned by the same individuals. The action was taken against Medipharm-RX on North Clark Avenue in Tampa and Medcenter on South Carter Road in Lakeland. DEA spokeswoman Jeannette Moran said the agency suspended the certificates of registration for the pharmacies, which sold prescription drugs over the Internet. The certificates allow businesses to purchase and sell controlled substances. A message left at Medipharm on Thursday afternoon was not returned. The telephone at Medcenter appeared to be out of order. [continues 109 words]
LAKELAND - A local pharmacy's license was suspended Thursday after it was raided by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Agents also raided a sister store at 4607 Clark Ave. in Tampa that operated under the name MediPharm-Rx Inc. Both pharmacies are owned by a Robert L. Caddick, whose last known address was in Oviedo. Caddick could not be located for comment. Jeannette Moran, spokeswoman for the DEA's Miami Field Division, said that both pharmacies' licenses to sell controlled substances have been suspended. [continues 154 words]
Crimes against Guatemalan immigrants have become so prevalent in South Florida that offenders routinely refer to the attacks as "Guat- bashing." In fact, Guat-bashing is so widespread that the federal government might be joining in. Certainly, that description fits the case U.S. attorneys are trying to make against Pedro Zapeta, the Guatemalan dishwasher whose asymmetrical legal fight against the Justice Department was reported in Sunday's Palm Beach Post. Mr. Zapeta, 38, entered the country illegally 10 years ago and worked as a dishwasher for numerous Stuart restaurants, often holding two jobs at a time. In September 2005, Mr. Zapeta stuffed his savings - about $59,000 - into a duffel bag, bought a plane ticket and set out to return to his country. He intended to use the money to start a business and support his family. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, U.S. Customs agents searched his bag, found the cash, confiscated it and accused him of smuggling drug money. Now, the government wants to keep the $59,000 and deport Mr. Zapeta. [continues 288 words]
The man who oversaw the manhunt for Pablo Escobar, one of the world's most notorious cocaine traffickers, now lives in southern Putnam County. He has a simple thought concerning America's war on drugs. He said that if Americans really wanted to win the war on drugs then Americans need to quit buying. Jerry Rinehart spent 28 years as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, combating the flow of illegal drugs into this country. He helped put together the case against Carlos Lehder, the first successful extradition and prosecution of a Medellin cartel member in history. He fought on the front lines of the drug war, destroying cocaine manufacturing labs in the mountains of Colombia. And he worked undercover, infiltrating and exposing a heroin smuggling operation in Baltimore from the inside out. [continues 1361 words]
Our school board is grappling with an issue right now that is proving tough to resolve. It has a federal grant of $183,289 that would finance random drug testing for student athletes and those taking part in extracurricular school activities. Some of the school board members believe more education about the dangers of drugs is the answer and shy away from an aggressive drug testing campaign because they believe it violates the students' rights to privacy. Board chair Jim Malcolm is unsure about what the school district should do. [continues 423 words]
FORT PIERCE - The defendants sat in the courtroom only for a few minutes Monday afternoon, but friends and family members still packed the room for the brief chance to see and support the four people facing federal drug charges in a case that was borne from an investigation into a quadruple murder along Florida's Turnpike. The three men, a 23 year old, a 26 year old, and a 20 year old, along with an 18-year-old female, all pleaded not guilty to a charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. A fifth co-defendant in the case, a Male, 23, already entered his not guilty plea last week. Family slain [continues 360 words]
Detention Deputy Lena Reeves of the Polk County Sheriff's Office appears to have abused prescription drugs and manipulated the people around her to support her addiction. She lost her job, her standing in the community and her dignity. "Jelly Belly" Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, abused prescription drugs and manipulated the people around him. He, however, gets to stay on the air, collect a big fat paycheck and continue to spew hatred. Maj. Dale Tray, head of the Sheriff's Security Division, acknowledged a breakdown of command in the Reeves matter, recognized the "buck stops here" and resigned his position in disgrace. [continues 140 words]
For Decades, Richard Bradbury Nursed His Hostility for Former Ambassador Mel Sembler - WHO Finally Struck Back When It Got Too Personal. Now Their Grudge Match Has Spilled into a Public Courtroom ST PETERSBURG - It's hardly an even fight. In one corner, Mel Sembler: shopping center developer, former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, former ambassador to Italy and Australia. Friend of President Bush and his father. In the other corner, Richard Bradbury: molested by a fireman at age 11, unemployed, target of lawsuits for failure to make rent and credit card payments. Just turned 41, lives with his parents. [continues 2415 words]
DAYTONA BEACH -- Driving down North Ridgewood Avenue to take her 2-year-old daughter to day care, Nerdy Francois relives her past as a crack addict, a horrifying glimpse of another life. Inside the car, however, she has only to turn and gaze into her daughter's brown eyes to find hope or look to the key chain dangling from her ignition, a reminder from her drug program that she's been clean for nearly three years. "I was there at one time," she said, "I see a lot of pain and misery that I don't want." [continues 976 words]
Inside Florida
