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HNS WEEKEND---SEPTEMBER 4-5, 2010
HERNANDO NEWS SOURCE COMMENTARY
TIME TO LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE ON SOUTH BROOKSVILLE
Just when we thought some real progress had been made in smoothing over community discord over south Brooksville improvement plans, there's fresh evidence of issues with the pace and scope of those plans.
There's always been some level of resentment and distrust from residents of the south Brooksville area about the role being played by those perceived as "outsiders." Two of the leaders and most of the white participants on the South Brooksville Community Initiatives Team did not live in the economically distressed area. And there is lingering doubt in the community about the intent of local governments, given the sad history of unmet promises going back more than 30 years. But it seemed a few months ago as though most of those concerns were either resolved or at least smoothed over.
However, another local activist has begun attending the Community Initiatives Team meetings and is asking questions about issues that most team members had thought long resolved. Paul Boston said at a meeting earlier in the summer that he was hearing from homeowners in the area who are opposed to paying assessments on their tax bill for new and improved street lights in the area. He raised those concerns despite the fact that the assessment unit for the lights has already been established and assessment rates approved by county commissioners. The donation of drug forfeiture money by Sheriff Rich Nugent, along with initial funding for installation of new lights aimed at deterrence in the high-crime area, is almost a year old now, with the first of the new lights already in place.
Then at this week's team meeting, Boston had new complaints about state grant money intended to start water and sewer improvements in the community. His concerns came as county officials announced that they expect formal approval of $750,000 to start the improvement process within the next ten days. Boston said local governments should make sure that community residents get jobs on the projects. He also said many of the people he speaks with in the community were not aware of the work of the Community Initiatives Team, even though dozens of community residents have attended team meetings that began more than a year and a half ago.
It's certainly true that the news media in general has been negligent in providing coverage of the activities of the South Brooksville Community Initiatives Team. At almost all the team meetings, Hernando News Source has been the sole media representative, and our stories on the sometimes slow progress of south Brooksville improvements are often the only reporting on the team's efforts. But as team chair Rose Rocco told Boston, notices of the Team's Sunshine Law meetings have been announced in the same manner as other county meetings, by media alert from county staff. In addition, meeting notices are posted at the new Community Center/Sheriff's Substation on Martin Luther King Blvd. Unfortunately, there remains a perception among too many in the community that the center is not truly "theirs," because it was built by the sheriff and is run by community outsiders. And finally, the community involvement with the team's efforts has been clear, from the active participants to the community meetings held by a group led by Brooksville councilman Frankie Burnett.
So if Boston says he and other residents of the south Brooksville area were not aware of the work of the Community Initiatives Team, it would seem they have only themselves to blame for the deafness he claimed at this week's meeting.
And while Boston's call for jobs within the community on the projects to be funded by the pending grants and potentially later with loan money is laudable, we think it ignores the restrictions that apply to state and federal grants. Local governments accepting these grants have to abide by specific requirements for hiring contractors to carry out the work. There's no room for additional requirements that those contractors hire from the community they will work in. That's not to say that perhaps state and federal officials ought to consider some flexibility on that count when awarding funds for work in disadvantaged communities. Boston says the unemployment rate in south Brooksville is at least 25 percent. But it's evident to us that his advocacy for the people in the community has blinded him to the legal realities of grant applications and government spending.
We agree with the Community Initiatives Team leaders who note that the intent of their efforts is not to provide immediate but short-term jobs for area residents, but is instead aimed at the kind of infrastructure improvements in the community that will encourage investment in and development of the community, which should mean a more stable, long-term employment base in south Brooksville. We hope Boston will listen to those in and out of south Brooksville who have been working diligently on getting these too-long delayed improvements, and that his advocacy for the community does not interfere with the solid steps toward revitalization that are now going forward.
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REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
JURY MEMBERS, THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE
We spent the better part of three days this week in Circuit Judge Jack Springstead's courtroom waiting for jury verdicts on the guilt of murder defendant Robert Jardin and the penalty for his conviction. The seven men and five women on the jury spent Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday deliberating Jardin's fate before returning with a verdict of guilt, after three and a half days of testimony in the trial. Then the same panel spent three hours Wednesday afternoon deciding on a recommendation for Jardin's penalty, with only two possibilities, life in prison without parole or death by lethal injection. The jury recommended life, and Judge Springstead imposed two consecutive life sentences for the two counts of first degree murder.
First, we salute the jury for clearly taking its awesome responsibilities so seriously. Frankly, after hearing much of the testimony, and particularly Jardin's riveting time on the stand in his own defense, we saw no real reasonable doubt in the case, and the time it took the careful jury panel to return the guilty verdict showed they wanted to make sure all the angles were discussed.
It was Jardin's misfortune to have left his DNA in the home where Patrick and Evelyn DePalma were brutally killed. Jardin's story, which changed in its details several times right up to his Friday testimony, was at least consistent in minimizing his role in the crime. He has insisted that he was just "in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people." The lack of physical evidence tying him to the actual killings of the DePalmas undoubtedly weighed more heavily on the jury's recommended life sentence, likely much more than the sad testimony of his mother and an aunt about the regrettable abuse in his childhood. In fact, the only physical hair and fiber evidence found around the bodies of the victims tended to support Jardin's story that the pair were killed by two other men and that his role was that of a bystander.
But the jury, after asking for and getting clarification on the law from the judge, seems to have ultimately applied the Florida felony murder rule correctly in its guilty verdict. They decided that Jardin was guilty of robbery and grand theft, because even he could not dispute that he was in the DePalma house, and that property stolen from the home ended up in his possession. Given those facts, the jury had little choice but to also find him guilty of murder, since the killing of a person while a suspect is engaged in another felony, even if he didn't take part in the killing, is felony murder in Florida and most states.
We don't mean to cast aspersions on any other citizen's jury service, but at least as compared with the relative speed of returning a verdict in other recent Hernando cases, this jury was more careful and more deliberate in deciding Jardin's fate than were the panels in some of those other cases, and for that we salute them for their service.
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PATTING OURSELVES ON THE BACK
Pardon the bragging, but as the chart above shows, you, our readers, have helped make Hernando News Source the fastest growing local news report in Hernando County. The chart shows that our readership has nearly doubled in the last three months, going from a little over 10,000 page views in the month of May to almost 20,000 in August. Thank you, readers, and thank you to our advertisers as well, for helping make Hernando News Source a success.
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Now time for a look back at stories this week that were reported first or only on the web at Hernando News Source, beginning with Friday and going back to Monday.
FRIDAY
MAN CHARGED IN CORTEZ BLVD. ROAD RAGE COLLISIONS
A Spring Hill man was arrested Thursday after a road rage incident in which he allegedly used his Jeep Cherokee to rear-end a Mitsubishi Eclipse and then followed the victim's car and hit it again. An arrest affidavit said 38-year old David Frederick Leopold of 11203 Linden Drive apparently was angered when Andrew Browning slowed his Mitsubishi before turning right from Mariner Blvd. onto eastbound Cortez and was talking with the occupants of another car. The affidavit says Leopold then rear-ended Browning's car and chased him east on Cortez to the Pinebook Medical Center, where Browning pulled in the parking lot and Leopold's Jeep allegedly hit Browning's car again. Deputies said Browning's car had damage estimated at $500, and Browning complained of neck pain but did not go to a hospital. Leopold was charged with aggravated battery and driving while under the influence. He reportedly admitted drinking a pitcher of beer, and deputies also said they found a small amount of marijuana in a baggie in the Jeep's ashtray.
JUDGE GIVES MAN 15-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR SEXUAL BATTERY
47-year old William Jeffrey McCutchen was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Judge Jack Springstead Friday. McCutchen pleaded no contest to two counts of sexual battery involving a familial relationship. According to an arrest report, McCutchen sought and obtained sexual favors from a teenage girl who was staying with him. Though McCutchen's attorney and family said the alleged incidents occurred seven to eight years ago, the defendant and his attorney waived any statute of limitations argument in the brief court appearance. Prosecutors said the victim was now living in Montana and had agreed to the plea and sentence. McCutchen was also officially designated a sexual predator as part of the sentence.
TRIAL OF BOYETT'S GROVE ROBBER FINALLY SET TO START NEXT WEEK
Lawyers said a final pre-trial conference in the Adrian House robbery case Friday cleared the way for trial to begin Tuesday in the case of the final of three men who allegedly robbed Boyett's Grove and shot the owner in a 2008 incident. House is charged with two counts of principal to armed robbery in the incident at the Spring Lake Highway citrus attraction and zoo. Shots fired during the robbery critically wounded the owner of the business.
The man who allegedly shot James Oleson in the chest already pleaded guilty and got a 25-year prison sentence. Damion Childs was charged with attempted murder and robbery. The third man in the group that burst into the attraction and robbed Oleson and his wife Kathy at gunpoint, Willie Cliatt, was killed two years ago in a shoot-out with police.
The House trial had been postponed twice in August, first for a child porn case and then two weeks ago for the Jardin trial.
DREDGE MEETING GOES INTO OVERTIME
County officials were tight-lipped Friday about the outcome of a meeting with representatives of Hernando Beach dredge contractor Orion Services. That meeting began Thursday afternoon and continued into Thursday evening in efforts to find some common ground on the cost of the project. About the only thing that could be learned Friday on the session was that the parties were talking to each other.
The dredge contractor wants an additional $7.8 million to finish the dredge project, because of what they call major changes in the scope of work. A modified dredge permit requires construction of additional settling ponds and more de-watering equipment to remove silt from the dredge discharge. Orion says the additional work is far beyond their original $5 million contract, and the parties met Thursday afternoon to try to hammer out some agreement on the change order that everyone agrees will be needed. County officials vowed to get the amount as low as possible to fit within the limited dredge budget, which combines three million local dollars and six million in state ports money.
THURSDAY
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS FOR S. BROOKVILLE GRANTS
South Brooksville Community Initiatives Team members learned Thursday night that one grant application for community improvements is virtually certain to get approved, while another won't. Hernando County's application for a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant has been ranked in the top ten of 42 submitted requests for funding. The money would go to first design and construction phases for a series of water and sewer improvements in the neglected, mainly African-American community.
County Community Services Director Jean Rags says she expects formal approval to arrive in the next ten days, but the high ranking is enough to proceed with preparing a bid package and requests for proposals from design firms.
City of Brooksville Community Development Director Bill Geiger had less encouraging news...the city's separate application for water and sewer improvements on the city side of Martin Lutheer King Blvd. won't be funded in this grant cycle, but he said he expects the city to submit a better application in the next cycle for this fall.
ACTIVIST CHALLENGES S. BROOKSVILLE PLANS
A community activist who claims he and others in the south Brooksville community didn't know about two years of planning for improvements challenged some of those plans Thursday. At the South Brooksville Community Initiatives Team meeting, Paul Boston said people in the African-American community did not have enough notice of the sessions the Team has been holding for almost two years now. He also said the grants that Brooksville and Hernando County have applied for won't do enough to provide jobs in the community. Local government officials say their funding priority is for infrastructure improvements, such as water, sewer and roads.
Team chair Rose Rocco told Boston that public notices were given of all the open meetings of the team. She and city councilman Frankie Burnett said those notices brought more than a dozen community residents to most of the meetings, where they were accorded full voting privileges on the team, which has endorsed efforts for infrastructure improvements. Burnett said improving the community will attract investment and development, which will lead to more jobs. But Boston insisted that any contractors hired with grant funds should be required to employ community resident. Officials say that is contrary to state and federal guidelines on use of the money.
COME ON IN, THE WATER'S FINE
Just in time for Labor Day weekend, officials are saying it's okay to swim again at Hernando County's only Gulf beach at Pine Island. According to a media release Thursday, bacteriological test results received by the Hernando County Health Department indicate the water quality at Pine Island Beach is now in the good range. Officials said the swimming advisory issued on August 26 has been rescinded.
NEW RECYCLING OPERATOR MAKING MORE TRIPS WITH RECYCLE BINS
Although the new private operator of Hernando County's recycling center is making more than twice as many truck trips with recycle bins as expected, officials say there will still be big savings over the county running the program itself. Privatizing the recycling center led to layoffs for almost a dozen workers, only a few of whom got jobs with SP Recycling, the Atlanta-based operator. But SP bid on the recycling takeover based in part on an estimated 1000 annual "pulls," or truck trips with the contents of full (or nearly so) recycling bins placed in strategic locations throughout the county. According to a memo from Utilities Director Joe Stapf to Administrator David Hamilton, at the current pace, SP will have 2200 pulls in its first year. That excess potentially means more cost to the county under its contract with SP. But Stapf says even at the higher rate, the county would be out only about $44,000, compared with the previous year's loss of almost $800,000 in the last year of county operation.
Stapf also noted in the memo that the total annual shipments of recyclables is on a 4800 ton pace, whicch would mark the second year in a row for a drop in tonnage. He notes the trend "in the wrong direction" bears watching. He said county officials should discuss strategies to increase the recycling rate, pending the outcome of a November referendum, which could spread the current limited recycling program in Spring Hill throughout the county.
NEW LANDFILL CELL OPENS ON TIME, UNDER BUDGET
County officials held an open house at the Northwest Solid Waste Facility Thursday to mark the opening of a new landfill cell, designated No. 3.
Solid Waste manager Scott Harper noted proudly as he stood in front of the 20-plus acres of four holes in the ground that the project came in on time and under budget. In fact, concerns last year that some garbage would have to be trucked out of the county turned out not to be the case, though the life of the still-active old cell was extended by having commercial solid waste hauled elsewhere. In fact, residential garbage will continue going into the old cell until a final technical approval from state regulators, which is expected in a couple of weeks. Harper says he's looking forward to resuming the revenue from the commercial waste soon.
After the formal opening, solid waste staff and the new private company running the recycling center, SP Recycling, hosted an open house in the center, with tours of the facility. Several dozen visitors had stopped by as of midday.
DIESEL SPILL FOULS HERNANDO BEACH CANALS
(Paul Pellitier photo)The oily odor wafting over Hernando Beach this week is coming from what's left of hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel that spewed from a sunken shrimp boat. Coast Guard Auxiliary Commander Paul Pellitier told the Hernando County Port Authority Wednesday night that only quick action by the Cast Guard and county waterways staff saved more of the beach canals from pollution when the vessel sank on Saturday. He said the fuel was heaviest in the Tarpon and Grouper Canals at the north end of the Hernando Beach community. First responders boomed the area to contain the spilled fuel, which also got into the mouth of Minnow Creek near the channel entrance.
Pellitier said he expects heavy fines from state regulators and the Coast Guard for violations, as well as a bill from reimbursement for the county time spent on booming and clean-up. He said the vessel's owner first claimed there was only a small amount of fuel in the tanks but later admitted they had just been filled when the boat sank.
WEDNESDAY
JARDIN JURY RECOMMENDS LIFE IN PRISON
The jury that convicted Robert Jardin for first degree murder returned Wednesday and recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole.
The panel had returned Wednesday morning to hear testimony and render the advisory sentence, based on evidence of "aggravating" and "mitigating" factors from penalty phase witnesses.
Two of the grandchildren of victims Patrick and Evelyn DePalma, Sonsee Sanders and Kyle DePalma read victim impact statements over what the loss of their grandparents meant to them and their families.
Prosecutor Pete Magrino also called Dr. Kyle Shaw from the medical examiner's office, who described the pain suffered by the victims when they were each stabbed multiple times.
Jardin's mother, Janice Link, and an aunt both testified about abuse and lack of parental caring and affection when Jardin was a child.
And a clinical psychologist, Dr. Peter Bursten, said he found a history of hyper-activity, substance dependence and "anti-social personality disorder" in his evaluation of Jardin and interviews with family members. Bursten also said Jardin's age suggested that he would adjust to life in prison without risk of anti-social behavior.
In his closing argument, prosecutor Pete Magrino again made use of a portrait of the victims as he asked the jury to find enough aggravating factors to sentence "this defendant" to the death penalty.
Assistant Public Defender Devon Sharkey countered with the evidence of Jardin's upbringing as a mitigating factor, but he also said the jury should consider the lack of any direct evidence that the defendant took part in the killings of the DePalmas.
ORION, COUNTY OFFICIALS MEET THURSDAY ON "CHANGE ORDER"
Officials from Orion Dredging Services will sit down with top county staff on Thursday to talk about how to finish the problem-plagued Hernando Beach channnel dredge. Orion told the county in a letter ten days ago that it needed $7.8 million more, on top of its $5 million low bid contract, to finish the project under the requirements of a modified state permit. They say additional settling ponds and de-watering equipment went far beyond the original contract scope. Orion has blamed the county's $2 million dredge consultant Halcrow for the failure of the original de-watering equipment, which didn't remove enough silt from the dredge discharge and led state officials to halt the project last January.
County officials ordered Orion back to work when the modified permit was issued, and some equipment and workers were returned to the site. Now that the modified permit has become final without challenge, county officials say Orion should be moving forward with new construction at the spoil site. And early indications are that work is going forward while talks to resolve the $7.8 million "change order" are ongoing. In a letter to Orion requesting the meeting, county staff said they wanted to negotiate a "mutually agreeable" resolution to the cost issue. They're working with a budget of $9 million, but Orion's "change order" would bring the contract cost alone to almost $13 million.
SCHOOL BOARD READY TO DISCUSS NEW SCHOOL SITES
Despite the downturn in the economy and surplus housing, school planning manager Amber Wheeler says its time to plan ahead for new schools. In a memo for next week's school board workshop, Wheeler says long-range planning has increased in importance with the level of service requirements of school concurrency legislation. She says the school district is responsible for implementing a five-year work plan to support state growth projections, And even though a new K-8 is set to open next year plus classroom additions at two other schools, Wheeler says "elementary school capacity district wide is still needed in the long range planning period" and the school board "must look at potential growth areas" in creating a plan for future needs.
Wheeler's memo puts out for board discussion three possibilities. She's asking for consideration of a property near the Lake Hideaway development north of Weeki Wachee, giving staff direction on actively pursuing school sites in other areas, and establishment of an informal school siting committee. She will make a presentation to the board at Tuesday's workshop.
SHERIFF'S ENFORCEMENT OF BOAT SPEEDS LAUDED
Hernando Beach Property Owners' Association president Valerie Shelter was as pleased Wednesday night as she was unhappy last month. After telling Port Authority members that excessive boat speeds threatened to erode her canal bank and drop her pool into the water, authority members wrote to the Sheriff's Office to seek stricter speed enforcement. Wednesday night, Marine Deputy Roger Butts said he was back to full staff on the Marine Unit and had been writing tickets for speeding watercraft in the canals at Hernando Beach. And from the Port Authority audience, Shelter said, "We appreciate it, it's a big improvement and we definitely noticed it."
Butts said the marine deputies plan to sit down soon with shrimpers and other commercial captains soon to explain the "zero tolerance" policies for excessive speed in the canals. He said deputies will continue random speed enforcement operations in the canals, as well as occasional checks at the boat ramp for intoxicated operators who have been piloting watercraft.
PORT AUTHORITY, BEACH RESIDENTS ASK FEE QUESTIONS
With the beginning of parking fees at boat ramps and coastal parks less than a month away, waterways manager Pat Fagan was peppered with questions from Port Authority members and coastal residents Wednesday night. County commissioners have approved $60,000 for the purchase of three machines for Pine Island and Rogers Park which will require payment of parking fees. Additional "honor system" boxes will go in at the Bayport and Hernando Beach boat ramps.
Authority member Wayne Dukes cited recent vandalism problems at coastal parks and asked Fagan how the machines would stand up to similar issues. Fagan said the 300-pound machines were going to be installed in a way to deter vandalism and that his staff were going to be trained for fixing and maintaining the machines as needed, as well as getting certified to issue tickets for non-payment. Planned fines would start at $25 for a first offense, escalating to $35 for a second offense and $100 for a third time violator. He also said staff would remove the machines in advance of any storms.
Fagan admitted that the initial phase of parking fee collection would likely involve "trial and error," noting the county commissioners' decision to install the machines to save money on park staffing. He also said he would follow whatever the law requires when asked about a state statute that exempts disabled veterans from many parks fees.
UTILITIES DIRECTOR SAYS HE CAN HANDLE NEW ROLES
Utilities Director Joe Stapf, who becomes chief of "Environmental Services" as part of a re-organization, says the move of the stormwater management job to his office fits into the traditional water, sewer and solid waste activities at Utilities. Stapf says transfer of Mosquito Control is really more a public health issue, but he vowed to work with whatever the County Board approves. The county Health Department, as a quasi-state agency, can't be ordered to take over the bug-spraying program.
Stapf says concerns about water and sewer rate-payers subsidizing his time with new programs aren't valid, given the cost allocation formula that already applies to his salary. He noted that funding for his pay is already divided between the water/sewer and solid waste enterprise funds, which are kept separate, and that he expects the same can be done with the general fund Mosquito Control and special tax unit stormwater changes.
TUESDAY
QUARRY PRESERVE WINS COUNTY BOARD APPROVAL
After more than two hours of presentation and debate among public speakers and commissioners, the County Board voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve the controversial Quarry Preserve development. Commissioners adopted a comprehensive plan amendment and development order for the so-called "new town." The development on U.S. 98 east of Citrus Way would cover 6.7 square miles and could eventually have a population of more than 11,000 in 5800 units. The project would also have a mix of business and industrial sites, along with two golf courses.
Lawyer Jake Varn said his client's project "raises the development bar" in Hernando County. A number of public speakers opposed the project and questioned the developer's owner saying that the project would pay for itself. In fact, as Commissioner Rose Rocco pointed out. the Quarry Preserve's "fair share" of transportation improvement costs would still leave the county needing millions of dollars to fund new roads, but Varn noted that those road plans are already part of the county's long-range planning. And on the final vote, even Rocco said she thought the project was "a good choice" for the county. Commissioner David Russell was the only "no" vote.
COUNTY PLANS HOLD-BACK FOR LAST CCA JAIL PAYMENT
County officials say they want to hold back more than $1.8 million due to Corrections Corporation of America for July and August. The recommendation says $34,000 has been spent on repairs to the jail facilities, as well as a $239,000 commitment for an engineering firm to see what other repairs are needed. A memo to commissioners says that the CCA jail contract provides for CCA responsibility for routine jail maintenance and asks that commissioners agree to withhold the last $1,858,056 due under the contract for the last two months. The funds would be paid less costs of taking care of repairs that may have been CCA's responsibility. A letter to CCA drew a harsh response, with a vice president for the private jail operator saying that the CCA contract did not permit withholding payment and asking for documentation of expenses.
COUNTY SEEKS MEETING WITH ORION TO NEGOTIATE DREDGE COSTS
Interim county Public Works Director Susan Goebel is asking officials of Orion Services to join county staff in a meeting later this week to negotiate the cost terms of Orion's contract under the modified state dredge permit. Orion says the changes required by the new permit, involving more and larger settling ponds and equipment needed for a coagulant to remove sediment from dredge spoil, will cost almost eight million dollars more than their original five million low bid for the dredge contract. County officials say the nearly $13 million total is more than the Hernando Beach dredge project budget. Goebel said in her letter that "it may still be in everyone's best interest to sit down , . . and negotiate a mutually agreeable 'change order'." She asked Orion officials to work on setting up a meeting later this week.
COMMISSIONERS APPROVE POWELL ROAD DEVELOPMENT
On the second try, realtor Buddy Selph won approval for a mixed-use residential development on Powell Road. The project with 252 apartment units and 12 single-family estate home lots failed two weeks ago when commissioners tied 2-2, with Jeff Stabins absent. With a full board Tuesday, Selph got his project approved, 4-1, with Rose Rocco voting no. While several public speakers and Rocco noted the current housing surplus in Hernando and wondered how the project could go forward with so many vacant homes on the market, Selph argued that his project was long-term thinking and that it likely would not start for several years. He and other realtors have said they are "cautiously optimistic" that current conditions will start to turn around and say developers want to have approved projects ready to go when the market recovers.
ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO BE REVIEWED BY FLORIDA BAR GROUP
County commissioners voted Tuesday to have the County Attorney's Office analyzed by a Florida Bar group that specializes in advising private lawyers how to be efficient. County Attorney Garth Coller made the recommendation. He said the Bar group would have more expertise than having a local Chamber of Commerce focus group conduct a recommended time study. The County Board took no action on a set of sample proposals. Two weeks ago the board talked about putting out proposals for private law firms to represent the county, but board consensus in approving the Bar analysis was that the office review was needed first before determining what would go into a request for proposals.
MONDAY
JARDIN JURY HAS NO VERDICT MONDAY, TO RESUME WORK TUESDAY
The twelve-member jury hearing the murder case of Robert Jardin spent almost seven hours deliberating Monday before adjourning for the night to a local motel. The sequestered panel will return Tuesday morning to resume the task of deciding Jardin's fate.
Earlier Monday evening, the jury returned to the courtroom to hear the cross-examination of Jardin read back to them by a court reporter after they asked to hear the testimony again. Then the seven men and five women said they wanted to eat dinner and return for another hour or so of deliberations.
Jardin is charged in the 2006 slayings of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma of Marsaryktown.
Monday morning prosecutor Pete Magrino asked jurors to find Jardin guilty in a closing argument with a portrait of murder victims Evelyn and Patrick DePalma as a backdrop. Magrino went through dozens of items in evidence as he recounted testimony connecting Jardin to the murder scene, asking each time "What else?' as he reminded the jury panel of yet another item. He also asked the jurors to recall Jardin's testimony in his own defense on Friday, noting Jardin's admission that he lied to law enforcement when first questioned about the DePalmas' slayings in 2006. Magrino said he counted six admitted lies before he stopped counting. And the prosecutor reminded the jury that the 35-year old mason and one-time strip club bouncer could be convicted of felony murder even if there was no direct evidence that Jardin participated in the killings, if the defendant participated in another crime at the scene. He pointed to the vacuum and stereo that were found in Jardin's possession and which witnesses identified as missing from the DePalma home.
Defense attorney Alan Fanter asked jurors to hold the prosecution to their burden of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He said the evidence was consistent with Jardin's testimony and that there was no direct evidence tying Jardin to the murders themselves and arguing that even possession of the vacuum and stereo did not show he committed a crime at the murder scene.
Jardin admitted being in the home in his testimony Friday but claimed he was sickened when he saw the murder victims and found the stolen property in his truck the next day, after two other men threatened Jardin's children if he did not keep quiet.
If Jardin is convicted, the panel will then hear evidence on aggravating and mitigating circumstances in deciding on a recommended sentence of death or life in prison.
RAINFALL HELPS CONTINUE AQUIFER REBOUND
Rainfall levels well above normal helped spur a continuing rebound in aquifer levels last week, according to figures from the Southwest Florida Water Management District. After falling to levels near the bottom of the normal range earlier in the summer, aquifers in the district's northern region, which includes Hernando County, were up again last week. The district's rainfall statistics suggested a good reason why:
With almost a week left in the month at the time, last week's rainfall amounts for August were nearing a half-inch above the historic average for the month. Yearly rainfall for the first six months of the year totaled more than two inches ahead of normal, signalling at least a temporary hiatus in the three-year drought.
COUNTY BUDGET CUTS HIT PET SPAY AND NEUTER PROGRAM
County officials say that a program to get rebates for sterilizing pets is the latest victim of county budget cuts. According to a county media release, Hernando County Animal Services is discontinuing the Pet Sterilization Rebate Program effective September 20, "due to a lack of funding in the FY 2010 / 2011 budget." The program allows eligible pet owners to receive up to $50 back for spaying or neutering pets.
Animal Services manager Liana League said, "The Pet Sterilization Rebate Program has been very popular with our residents, and we regret having to discontinue it." Hernando County Animal Services will process all rebate requests received by Animal Services by 4:30 p.m. on September 20, but any rebate requests received after September 20 will not be processed regardless of the sterilization date.
COUNTY OFFICIALS HUDDLE ON DREDGE STRATEGY
With interim Public Works Director Susan Goebel back Monday from furlough, County Administrator David Hamilton and county lawyers plan to hold a strategy meeting in advance of Tuesday's County Board meeting. Hamilton has said he will brief commissioners at the meeting on the status of the troubled project.
According to e-mails exchanged last week with dredge contractor Orion Services, some of the equipment that arrived back on scene last week was being removed again. But an Orion official said only equipment needed for actual dredging work was being removed. Equipment for working at the spoil site would remain,
Under a modified dredge permit, actual digging in the channel can't begin again until new settling ponds are built at the spoil site off Shoal Line Blvd. and additional de-watering equipment and supplies, including a coagulant, are ready to receive dredged material. That modified permit was due to become final Friday if no challenge was filed, and lawyers said they would check Monday morning to make sure none was submitted at the last minute.
Monday's closed staff meeting is aimed at deciding how to respond to Orion's request for a change order that is more than 150 percent of their original project bid. The contractor says the scope of the project is now very different from what was expected when their bid was submitted last year.
HNS REPORTS---FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2010
MAN CHARGED IN CORTEZ BLVD. ROAD RAGE COLLISIONS
A Spring Hill man was arrested Thursday after a road rage incident in which he allegedly used his Jeep Cherokee to rear-end a Mitsubishi Eclipse and then followed the victim's car and hit it again. An arrest affidavit said 38-year old David Frederick Leopold of 11203 Linden Drive apparently was angered when Andrew Browning slowed his Mitsubishi before turning right from Mariner Blvd. onto eastbound Cortez and was talking with the occupants of another car. The affidavit says Leopold then rear-ended Browning's car and chased him east on Cortez to the Pinebook Medical Center, where Browning pulled in the parking lot and Leopold's Jeep allegedly hit Browning's car again. The affidavit says Leopold then fled west on Cortez and north on Sunshine Grove Road before he was located by deputies in a rural neighborhood.
Deputies said Browning's car had damage estimated at $500, and Browning complained of neck pain but did not go to a hospital. Leopold was charged with aggravated battery and driving while under the influence. He reportedly admitted drinking a pitcher of beer, and deputies also said they found a small amount of marijuana in a baggie in the Jeep's ashtray.
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BROOKSVILLE POLICE ARREST ALLEGED WAL-MART TV THIEF
Brooksville police said Friday they arrested a local man and charged him with grand theft in connection with "at least" three separate thefts of flat-screen TV's from the Wal-Mart on South Broad Street. A media release says 41-year old Michael James Burdick of 616 Erin Way allegedly entered the store on multiple occasions between July 30 and August 19. Police said Burdick would put the TV's in a shopping cart and exit the store through a fire, emergency or closed exit. A tip on the SUV spotted leaving the parking lot led to Burdick's arrest Thursday. Police said they found one TV in its original packaging while executing a search warrant at the Erin Way address. Burdick reportedly said he stole the TV's and traded them to support a drug habit. Police said the total value of the stolen property was almost $1800.
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SUSPECTED CHILD MOLESTER SKIPS TOWN
A 66-year old suspected child molester failed to appear in court Friday. Lawyers told Judge Jack Springstead they had heard from neighbors who said Guy Osman Gould of 7014 Daffodil Drive in Brooksville had left his residence this week and may have been headed out of the country via Miami, possibly to Aruba or the Caribbean. Brooksville police said they learned from neighbors he was last week on August 27 leaving his home carrying a small bag. Police and the Hernando County Sheriff's Office said Friday they are seeking further information on Gould's whereabouts.
Gould was arrested in February and charged with five counts of sexual battery involving teenage boys after a 15-year old disclosed Gould's sexual contact to a parent. Gould reportedly told police there was an additional child involved, which officers reportedly confirmed. Police say there were four separate incidents involving the other boy, who was 14 years old.
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GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS FOR S. BROOKVILLE GRANTS
South Brooksville Community Initiatives Team members learned Thursday night that one grant application for community improvements is virtually certain to get approved, while another won't. Hernando County's application for a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant has been ranked in the top ten of 42 submitted requests for funding. The money would go to first design and construction phases for a series of water and sewer improvements in the neglected, mainly African-American community.
County Community Services Director Jean Rags says she expects formal approval to arrive in the next ten days, but the high ranking is enough to proceed with preparing a bid package and requests for proposals from design firms.
City of Brooksville Community Development Director Bill Geiger had less encouraging news...the city's separate application for water and sewer improvements on the city side of Martin Luther King Blvd. won't be funded in this grant cycle, but he said he expects the city to submit a better application in the next cycle for this fall.
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DREDGE MEETING GOES INTO OVERTIME
County officials were tight-lipped Friday about the outcome of a meeting with representatives of Hernando Beach dredge contractor Orion Services. That meeting began Thursday afternoon and continued into Thursday evening in efforts to find some common ground on the cost of the project. About the only thing that could be learned Friday on the session was that the parties were talking to each other.
The dredge contractor wants an additional $7.8 million to finish the dredge project, because of what they call major changes in the scope of work. A modified dredge permit requires construction of additional settling ponds and more de-watering equipment to remove silt from the dredge discharge. Orion says the additional work is far beyond their original $5 million contract, and the parties met Thursday afternoon to try to hammer out some agreement on the change order that everyone agrees will be needed. County officials vowed to get the amount as low as possible to fit within the limited dredge budget, which combines three million local dollars and six million in state ports money.
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COME ON IN, THE WATER'S FINE
Just in time for Labor Day weekend, officials are saying it's okay to swim again at Hernando County's only Gulf beach at Pine Island. According to a media release Thursday, bacteriological test results received by the Hernando County Health Department indicate the water quality at Pine Island Beach is now in the good range. Officials said the swimming advisory issued on August 26 has been rescinded.
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JUDGE GIVES MAN 15-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR SEXUAL BATTERY
47-year old William Jeffrey McCutchen was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Judge Jack Springstead Friday. McCutchen pleaded no contest to two counts of sexual battery involving a familial relationship. According to an arrest report, McCutchen sought and obtained sexual favors from a teenage girl who was staying with him. Though McCutchen's attorney and family said the alleged incidents occurred seven to eight years ago, the defendant and his attorney waived any statute of limitations argument in the brief court appearance. Prosecutors said the victim was now living in Montana and had agreed to the plea and sentence. McCutchen was also officially designated a sexual predator as part of the sentence.
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TRIAL OF BOYETT'S GROVE ROBBER FINALLY SET TO START NEXT WEEK
Lawyers said a final pre-trial conference in the Adrian House robbery case Friday cleared the way for trial to begin Tuesday in the case of the final of three men who allegedly robbed Boyett's Grove and shot the owner in a 2008 incident. House is charged with two counts of principal to armed robbery in the incident at the Spring Lake Highway citrus attraction and zoo. Shots fired during the robbery critically wounded the owner of the business.
The man who allegedly shot James Oleson in the chest already pleaded guilty and got a 25-year prison sentence. Damion Childs was charged with attempted murder and robbery. The third man in the group that burst into the attraction and robbed Oleson and his wife Kathy at gunpoint, Willie Cliatt, was killed two years ago in a shoot-out with police.
The House trial had been postponed twice in August, first for a child porn case and then two weeks ago for the Jardin trial.
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DEATH PENALTY OFFICIALLY ON THE TABLE IN SARAH DAVIS MURDER CASE
Prosecutors have filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in the first degree murder case of Byron Burch. He's charged in the May killing of 80-year old Sarah Davis in her south Brooksville home, The notice was filed Thursday shortly after Burch made a court appearance and had a pre-trial hearing set for November 5 in the case.
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ACTIVIST CHALLENGES S. BROOKSVILLE PLANS
A community activist who claims he and others in the south Brooksville community didn't know about two years of planning for improvements challenged some of those plans Thursday. At the South Brooksville Community Initiatives Team meeting, Paul Boston said people in the African-American community did not have enough notice of the sessions the Team has been holding for almost two years now. He also said the grants that Brooksville and Hernando County have applied for won't do enough to provide jobs in the community. Local government officials say their funding priority is for infrastructure improvements, such as water, sewer and roads.
Team chair Rose Rocco told Boston that public notices were given of all the open meetings of the team. She and city councilman Frankie Burnett said those notices brought more than a dozen community residents to most of the meetings, where they were accorded full voting privileges on the team, which has endorsed efforts for infrastructure improvements. Burnett said improving the community will attract investment and development, which will lead to more jobs. But Boston insisted that any contractors hired with grant funds should be required to employ community resident. Officials say that is contrary to state and federal guidelines on use of the money.
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CROOKS ON CAMERA---CREDIT CARD STOLEN IN SPRING HILL BURGLARY
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http://www.hernandosheriff.org/Tips/ You may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000.
STORY-TELLING IN BROOKSVILLE SATURDAY NIGHT
Hill House Bed & Breakfast will host an evening of storytelling from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday.
Local author Jerry Cowling will share memories of his days in school, including his best teacher, the smells of education and the trauma of being forced to eat a Twinkie on Sadie Hawkins Day.
The evening of entertainment and refreshments is free. Hill House B&B is owned and operated by Pierre Desjardins. The address is 406 E. Liberty St., Brooksville. For more information please call (352)345-4466. Seating is limited.
WEEKEND EVENT FROM NATURALLY HERNANDO.ORG
Sunday, September 05, 2010
SPORTSMAN'S MACHINE GUN SHOOT
| 9:00am - 3:00pm HERNANDO SPORTSMAN'S CLUB, off US 19 - 9.5 miles north of SR-50. Spectator admission: $2.00; under age 15: free. Food and beverages available for purchase. |
www.hernandosportsmansclub.com
HNS REPORTS---THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2010
JARDIN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON AFTER JURY RECOMMENDATION
The jury that convicted Robert Jardin for first degree murder returned Wednesday and recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Judge Jack Springstead chose not to wait or hold another hearing, saying he agreed with the jury decision and sentencing Jardin accordingly.
The panel had returned Wednesday morning to hear testimony and render the advisory sentence, based on evidence of "aggravating" and "mitigating" factors from penalty phase witnesses.
Two of the grandchildren of victims Patrick and Evelyn DePalma, Sonsee Sanders and Kyle DePalma read victim impact statements over what the loss of their grandparents meant to them and their families.
Prosecutor Pete Magrino also called Dr. Kyle Shaw from the medical examiner's office, who described the pain suffered by the victims when they were each stabbed multiple times.
Jardin's mother, Janice Link, and an aunt both testified about abuse and lack of parental caring and affection when Jardin was a child.
And a clinical psychologist, Dr. Peter Bursten, said he found a history of hyper-activity, substance dependence and "anti-social personality disorder" in his evaluation of Jardin and interviews with family members. Bursten also said Jardin's age suggested that he would adjust to life in prison without risk of anti-social behavior.
In his closing argument, Magrino again made use of a portrait of the victims as he asked the jury to find enough aggravating factors to sentence "this defendant" to the death penalty.
Assistant Public Defender Devon Sharkey countered with the evidence of Jardin's upbringing as a mitigating factor, but he also said the jury should consider the lack of any direct evidence that the defendant took part in the killings of the DePalmas.
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DIESEL SPILL FOULS HERNANDO BEACH CANALS.
The oily odor wafting over Hernando Beach this week is coming from what's left of hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel that spewed from a sunken shrimp boat. Coast Guard Auxiliary Commander Paul Pellitier told the Hernando County Port Authority Wednesday night that only quick action by the Coast Guard and county waterways staff saved more of the beach canals from pollution when the vessel sank on Saturday. He said the fuel was heaviest in the Tarpon and Grouper Canals at the north end of the Hernando Beach community. First responders boomed the area to contain the spilled fuel, which also got into the mouth of Minnow Creek near the channel entrance.
Pellitier said he expects heavy fines from state regulators and the Coast Guard for violations, as well as a bill from reimbursement for the county time spent on booming and clean-up. He said the vessel's owner first claimed there was only a small amount of fuel in the tanks but later admitted they had just been filled when the boat sank.
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NEW RECYCLING OPERATOR MAKING MORE TRIPS WITH RECYCLE BINS
Although the new private operator of Hernando County's recycling center is making more than twice as many truck trips with recycle bins as expected, officials say there will still be big savings over the county running the program itself. Privatizing the recycling center led to layoffs for almost a dozen workers, only a few of whom got jobs with SP Recycling, the Atlanta-based operator. But SP bid on the recycling takeover based in part on an estimated 1000 annual "pulls," or truck trips with the contents of recycling bins placed in strategic locations throughout the county. According to a memo from Utilities Director Joe Stapf to Administrator David Hamilton, at the current pace, SP will have 2200 pulls in its first year. That excess potentially means more cost to the county under its contract with SP. But Stapf says even at the higher rate, the county would be out only about $44,000, compared with the previous year's loss of almost $800,000 in the last year of county operation.
Stapf also noted in the memo that the total annual shipments of recyclables is on a 4800 ton pace, which would mark the second year in a row for a drop in tonnage. He notes the trend "in the wrong direction" bears watching. He said county officials should discuss strategies to increase the recycling rate, pending the outcome of a November referendum, which could spread the current limited recycling program in Spring Hill throughout the county.
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COME ON IN, THE WATER'S FINE
Just in time for Labor Day weekend, officials are saying it's okay to swim again at Hernando County's only Gulf beach at Pine Island. According to a media release Thursday, bacteriological test results received by the Hernando County Health Department indicate the water quality at Pine Island Beach is now in the good range. Officials said the swimming advisory issued on August 26 has been rescinded.
SCHOOL BOARD READY TO DISCUSS NEW SCHOOL SITES
Despite the downturn in the economy and surplus housing, school planning manager Amber Wheeler says its time to plan ahead for new schools. In a memo for next week's school board workshop, Wheeler says long-range planning has increased in importance with the level of service requirements of school concurrency legislation. She says the school district is responsible for implementing a five-year work plan to support state growth projections, And even though a new K-8 is set to open next year plus classroom additions at two other schools, Wheeler says "elementary school capacity district wide is still needed in the long range planning period" and the school board "must look at potential growth areas" in creating a plan for future needs.
Wheeler's memo puts out for board discussion three possibilities. She's asking for consideration of a property near the Lake Hideaway development north of Weeki Wachee, giving staff direction on actively pursuing school sites in other areas, and establishment of an informal school siting committee. She will make a presentation to the board at Tuesday's workshop.
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SHERIFF'S ENFORCEMENT OF BOAT SPEEDS LAUDED
Hernando Beach Property Owners' Association president Valerie Shelter was as pleased Wednesday night as she was unhappy last month. After telling Port Authority members that excessive boat speeds threatened to erode her canal bank and drop her pool into the water, authority members wrote to the Sheriff's Office to seek stricter speed enforcement. Wednesday night, Marine Deputy Roger Butts said he was back to full staff on the Marine Unit and had been writing tickets for speeding watercraft in the canals at Hernando Beach. And from the Port Authority audience, Shelter said, "We appreciate it, it's a big improvement and we definitely noticed it."
Butts said the marine deputies plan to sit down soon with shrimpers and other commercial captains soon to explain the "zero tolerance" policies for excessive speed in the canals. He said deputies will continue random speed enforcement operations in the canals, as well as occasional checks at the boat ramp for intoxicated operators who have been piloting watercraft.
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PORT AUTHORITY, BEACH RESIDENTS ASK FEE QUESTIONS
With the beginning of parking fees at boat ramps and coastal parks less than a month away, waterways manager Pat Fagan was peppered with questions from Port Authority members and coastal residents Wednesday night. County commissioners have approved $60,000 for the purchase of three machines for Pine Island and Rogers Park which will require payment of parking fees. Additional "honor system" boxes will go in at the Bayport and Hernando Beach boat ramps.
Authority member Wayne Dukes cited recent vandalism problems at coastal parks and asked Fagan how the machines would stand up to similar issues. Fagan said the 300-pound machines were going to be installed in a way to deter vandalism and that his staff were going to be trained for fixing and maintaining the machines as needed, as well as getting certified to issue tickets for non-payment. Planned fines would start at $25 for a first offense, escalating to $35 for a second offense and $100 for a third time violator. He also said staff would remove the machines in advance of any storms.
Fagan admitted that the initial phase of parking fee collection would likely involve "trial and error," noting the county commissioners' decision to install the machines to save money on park staffing. He also said he would follow whatever the law requires when asked about a state statute that exempts disabled veterans from many parks fees.
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NEW LANDFILL CELL OPENS ON TIME, UNDER BUDGET
County officials held an open house at the Northwest Solid Waste Facility Thursday to mark the opening of a new landfill cell, designated No. 3.
Solid Waste manager Scott Harper noted proudly as he stood in front of the 30-plus acres of four holes in the ground that the project came in on time and under budget. In fact, concerns last year that some garbage would have to be trucked out of the county turned out not to be the case, though the life of the still-active old cell was extended by having commercial solid waste hauled elsewhere. Harper said residential garbage will continue going into the old cell until a final technical approval from state regulators, which is expected in a couple of weeks. Harper says he's looking forward to resuming the revenue from the commercial waste soon.
After the formal opening, solid waste staff and the new private company running the recycling center, SP Recycling, hosted an open house in the center, with tours of the facility. Several dozen visitors had stopped by as of midday.
Meanwhile, SP workers went about their regular tasks in the background.
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FEW SPOTS REMAIN FOR CHAMBER ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING
Only a limited number of spots remain for the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce a course in “Assertiveness Training.” The course is offered to its members and the general public at large. The course consists of five weekly sessions of two hours each on Mondays, September 13, 20, 27 and October 4 and 11 from 5:30–7:30 PM in the Chamber of Commerce Training Room at 15588 Aviation Loop Drive, Brooksville Florida 34604.
Due to the interactive nature of the program, seating is limited for this particular class, to be be conducted by Vince Vanni, who has provided a wide range of training programs to countless business professionals and public officials. Vanni will combine his 35 years in sales, marketing and communications to help participants develop a clearer understanding of the assertive communication style.
Topics to be covered include:
* The comparison of assertive and aggressive behavior styles, with hands on situation analysis.
* The causes of non-assertive, assertive and aggressive behaviors.
* Recognizing and stating your needs and limits.
* “When to walk away.”
* Taking criticism, including how to handle the negative critic.
* Assertive negotiation skills.
A certificate of completion is awarded to those who attend 80% of the course (four of the five classes). The fee is only $60 for Chamber members and $120 for non-members. Call the Chamber office at 352-796-0697 to register.
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HNS REPORTS---WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
JARDIN JURY RECOMMENDS LIFE IN PRISON
The jury that convicted Robert Jardin for first degree murder returned Wednesday and recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Judge Jack Springstead will consider the advisory sentence and hear more argument from lawyers at another hearing later before handing down a final sentence. The judge is not bound by the jury's recommendation and could sentence Jardin to the death penalty.
The panel had returned Wednesday morning to hear testimony and render the advisory sentence, based on evidence of "aggravating" and "mitigating" factors from penalty phase witnesses.
Two of the grandchildren of victims Patrick and Evelyn DePalma, Sonsee Sanders and Kyle DePalma read victim impact statements over what the loss of their grandparents meant to them and their families.
Prosecutor Pete Magrino also called Dr. Kyle Shaw from the medical examiner's office, who described the pain suffered by the victims when they were each stabbed multiple times.
Jardin's mother, Janice Link, and an aunt both testified about abuse and lack of parental caring and affection when Jardin was a child.
And a clinical psychologist, Dr. Peter Bursten, said he found a history of hyper-activity, substance dependence and "anti-social personality disorder" in his evaluation of Jardin and interviews with family members. Bursten also said Jardin's age suggested that he would adjust to life in prison without risk of anti-social behavior.
In his closing argument, prosecutor Pete Magrino again made use of a portrait of the victims as he asked the jury to find enough aggravating factors to sentence "this defendant" to the death penalty.
Assistant Public Defender Devon Sharkey countered with the evidence of Jardin's upbringing as a mitigating factor, but he also said the jury should consider the lack of any direct evidence that the defendant took part in the killings of the DePalmas.
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MIXED COMMISSION VERDICT FOR HAMILTON PLAN
County commissioners weren't overly enthused about Administrator David Hamilton's re-organization plan at Tuesday's County Board meeting. After hearing public opposition to some targeted jobs cuts, three commissioners told Hamilton they could support his plan for downsizing the administrator's leadership team while a pay study is done to decide on salary levels for directors who would find themselves managers instead. Two commissioners voted against even that watered-down plan. The board would not approve the targeted job cuts, and Hamilton said he would make some further changes before the first of two budget hearings on September 14. Without those cuts, the general fund budget deficit goes back up from a little over $300,000 to the $600,000 level, meaning more work for budget chief George Zoettlein over the next two weeks.
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UTILITIES DIRECTOR SAYS HE CAN HANDLE NEW ROLES
Utilities Director Joe Stapf, who becomes chief of "Environmental Services" as part of a re-organization, says the move of the stormwater management job to his office fits into the traditional water, sewer and solid waste activities at Utilities. Stapf says transfer of Mosquito Control is really more a public health issue, but he vowed to work with whatever the County Board approves. The county Health Department, as a quasi-state agency, can't be ordered to take over the bug-spraying program.
Stapf says concerns about water and sewer rate-payers subsidizing his time with new programs aren't valid, given the cost allocation formula that already applies to his salary. He noted that funding for his pay is already divided between the water/sewer and solid waste enterprise funds, which are kept separate, and that he expects the same can be done with the general fund Mosquito Control and special tax unit stormwater changes.
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ORION, COUNTY OFFICIALS MEET THURSDAY ON "CHANGE ORDER"
Officials from Orion Dredging Services will sit down with top county staff on Thursday to talk about how to finish the problem-plagued Hernando Beach channnel dredge. Orion told the county in a letter ten days ago that it needed $7.8 million more, on top of its $5 million low bid contract, to finish the project under the requirements of a modified state permit. They say additional settling ponds and de-watering equipment went far beyond the original contract scope. Orion has blamed the county's $2 million dredge consultant Halcrow for the failure of the original de-watering equipment, which didn't remove enough silt from the dredge discharge and led state officials to halt the project last January.
County officials ordered Orion back to work when the modified permit was issued, and some equipment and workers were returned to the site. Now that the modified permit has become final without challenge, county officials say Orion should be moving forward with new construction at the spoil site. And early indications are that work is going forward while talks to resolve the $7.8 million "change order" are ongoing. In a letter to Orion requesting the meeting, county staff said they wanted to negotiate a "mutually agreeable" resolution to the cost issue. They're working with a budget of $9 million, but Orion's "change order" would bring the contract cost alone to almost $13 million.
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ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO BE REVIEWED BY FLORIDA BAR GROUP
County commissioners voted Tuesday to have the County Attorney's Office analyzed by a Florida Bar group that specializes in advising private lawyers on how to be efficient. County Attorney Garth Coller made the recommendation. He said the Bar group would have more expertise than having a local Chamber of Commerce focus group conduct a recommended time study. The County Board took no action on a set of sample proposals. Two weeks ago the board talked about putting out proposals for private law firms to represent the county, but board consensus in approving the Bar analysis was that the office review was needed first before determining what would go into a request for proposals.
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HNS REPORTS---TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2010
GUILTY!
After two days of deliberation, a twelve-person circuit court jury returned a verdict of "Guilty" Tuesday in the first degree murder trial of Robert Jardin. He was charged in the 2006 slayings of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma of Marsaryktown. Jardin admitted being at the murder scene but denied in testimony Friday that he had anything to do with the brutal killings. Attorneys said they expected the penalty phase of the case to begin Wednesday. The same jury will recommend either life in prison or death as Jardin's punishment.
The verdict came after the jury had the cross-examination portion of Jardin's testimony from Friday read back to them on Monday night. After returning Tuesday from a night at a motel, the jury asked questions about lesser included offenses and the felony murder rule, which allows a murder verdict if the defendant committed robbery or grand theft when others actually killed the victims.
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QUARRY PRESERVE WINS COUNTY BOARD APPROVAL
After more than two hours of presentation and debate among public speakers and commissioners, the County Board voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve the controversial Quarry Preserve development. Commissioners adopted a comprehensive plan amendment and development order for the so-called "new town." The development on U.S. 98 east of Citrus Way would cover 6.7 square miles and could eventually have a population of more than 11,000 in 5800 units. The project would also have a mix of business and industrial sites, along with two golf courses.
Lawyer Jake Varn said his client's project "raises the development bar" in Hernando County. A number of public speakers opposed the project and questioned the developer's owner saying that the project would pay for itself. In fact, as Commissioner Rose Rocco pointed out. the Quarry Preserve's "fair share" of transportation improvement costs would still leave the county needing millions of dollars to fund new roads, but Varn noted that those road plans are already part of the county's long-range planning. And on the final vote, even Rocco said she thought the project was "a good choice" for the county. Commissioner David Russell was the only "no" vote.
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COUNTY PLANS HOLD-BACK FOR LAST CCA JAIL PAYMENT
County officials say they want to hold back more than $1.8 million due to Corrections Corporation of America for July and August. The recommendation says $34,000 has been spent on repairs to the jail facilities, as well as a $239,000 commitment for an engineering firm to see what other repairs are needed. A memo to commissioners says that the CCA jail contract provides for CCA responsibility for routine jail maintenance and asks that commissioners agree to withhold the last $1,858,056 due under the contract for the last two months. The funds would be paid less costs of taking care of repairs that may have been CCA's responsibility. A letter to CCA has already been sent by county legal staff.
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COUNTY SEEKS MEETING WITH ORION TO NEGOTIATE DREDGE COSTS
Interim county Public Works Director Susan Goebel is asking officials of Orion Services to join county staff in a meeting later this week to negotiate the cost terms of Orion's contract under the modified state dredge permit. Orion says the changes required by the new permit, involving more and larger settling ponds and equipment needed for a coagulant to remove sediment from dredge spoil, will cost almost eight million dollars more than their original five million low bid for the dredge contract. County officials say the nearly $13 million total is more than the Hernando Beach dredge project budget. Goebel said in her letter that "it may still be in everyone's best interest to sit down , . . and negotiate a mutually agreeable 'change order'." She asked Orion officials to work on setting up a meeting later this week.
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COMMISSIONERS APPROVE POWELL ROAD DEVELOPMENT
On the second try, realtor Buddy Selph won approval for a mixed-use residential development on Powell Road. The project with 252 apartment units and 12 single-family estate home lots failed two weeks ago when commissioners tied 2-2, with Jeff Stabins absent. With a full board Tuesday, Selph got his project approved, 4-1, with Rose Rocco voting no. While several public speakers and Rocco noted the current housing surplus in Hernando and wondered how the project could go forward with so many vacant homes on the market, Selph argued that his project was long-term thinking and that it likely would not start for several years. He and other realtors have said they are "cautiously optimistic" that current conditions will start to turn around and say developers want to have approved projects ready to go when the market recovers.
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ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO BE REVIEWED BY FLORIDA BAR GROUP
County commissioners voted Tuesday to have the County Attorney's Office analyzed by a Florida Bar group that specializes in advising private lawyers how to be efficient. County Attorney Garth Coller made the recommendation. He said the Bar group would have more expertise han having a local Chamber of Commerce focus group conduct a recommended time study. The County Board took no action on a set of sample proposals. Two weeks ago the board talked about puttiing out proposals for private law firms to represent the county, but board consensus in approving the Bar analysis was that the office review was needed first before determining what would go into a request for proposals.
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STABBING VICTIM'S EX-GIRLFRIEND ARRESTED
Brooksville police said Tuesday they had made an arrest in the stabbing of a man last week at the Tanglewood Apartments. Police said 25-year old Tanisha Nicole Gibson of 27100 Roper Road in Brooksville was arrested Monday on a warrant for aggravated domestic violence. Police say she stabbed her ex-boyfriend, Fabian Avant last week and then fled the scene. Avant was treated at a local hospital, released, and then jailed himself on a charge of false report of a crime. He reportedly claimed the stabbing occurred as he tried to break up a fight.
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BROOKSVILLE MAN FACES LEWD CHARGE FOR FONDLING 15-YEAR OLD
Sheriff's deputies arrested a Brooksville man Monday on a charge of lewd and lascivvious conduct involving a child. An arrest affidavit said 24-year old Duran Johnson of 12377 Old Crystal River Road was taken into custody after a 15-year old girl complained that he touched her clothed breasts despite being told not to. Deputies said there were two witnesses to the incident. Johnson was booked into the Hernando Couunty Jail on an initial bond of $15,000.
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METH POSSESSION CHARGED, BUT SUSPECT SAYS IT'S FAKE DRUGS
A trainsient who was arrested after a substance in her purse tested positive for methamphetamine told deputies the substance was fake and that she planned to scam a buyer and "had blown methamphetamine smoke on it so it would react positive" if the buyer tested it. Deputies said they took 30-year old Veronica Nikole Jackson into custody after finding her in a trailer on Norris Bishop Loop that she had reportedly been evicted from last week. When they asked if there was anything illegal in her purse, an arrest affidavit says she replied she had some "fake drugs" that were really horse pills that she hoped to sell as methamphetamine.
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HERNANDO HEALTH DEPARTMENT GETS NATIONAL RECOGNITION
The National Association of County and City Health Officials has recognized Hernando County Health Department for its ability to respond to public health emergencies.
According to a media release Monday, the local health department met the comprehensive preparedness benchmarks required by Project Public Health Ready, a partnership between the National Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Hernando department is one of only ten local health offices in Florida to get the recognition.
“Our staff has worked hard to establish plans and protocols to protect our residents from new and infectious diseases, bioterrorism, natural disasters, and other public health threats,” said Elizabeth Callaghan, Hernando County Health Department Administrator. “We will continue to exercise our response strategies to insure that our department is a strong partner of the local emergency response network.”
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[Note---Due to an editing error, the following stories from Monday's HNS Reports were deleted after only a few hours of posting on the site and are being repeated Tuesday.}
RAINFALL HELPS CONTINUE AQUIFER REBOUND
Rainfall levels well above normal helped spur a continuing rebound in aquifer levels last week, according to figures from the Southwest Florida Water Management District. After falling to levels near the bottom of the normal range earlier in the summer, aquifers in the district's northern region, which includes Hernando County, were up again last week. The district's rainfall statistics suggested a good reason why: With almost a week left in the month at the time, last week's rainfall amounts for August were nearing a half-inch above the historic average for the month. Yearly rainfall for the first six months of the year totaled more than two inches ahead of normal, signaling at least a temporary hiatus in the three-year drought.
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COUNTY BUDGET CUTS HIT PET SPAY AND NEUTER PROGRAM
County officials say that a program to get rebates for sterilizing pets is the latest victim of county budget cuts. According to a county media release, Hernando County Animal Services is discontinuing the Pet Sterilization Rebate Program effective September 20, "due to a lack of funding in the FY 2010 / 2011 budget." The program allows eligible pet owners to receive up to $50 back for spaying or neutering pets.
Animal Services manager Liana League said, "The Pet Sterilization Rebate Program has been very popular with our residents, and we regret having to discontinue it." Hernando County Animal Services will process all rebate requests received by Animal Services by 4:30 p.m. on September 20, but any rebate requests received after September 20 will not be processed regardless of the sterilization date.
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OAK HILL HOSPITAL STARS OF MONTH REVEALED
Oak Hill Hospital has announced its Star Associates of the Month. Each month hospital associates are chosen in a process that involves nominations and voting by their peers, patients, patient families, and physicians.
This month’s Oak Hill Hospital “Stars” are Stephanie Diaz, CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant); Carmen Martinez, Environmental Services; and Cindy McWhorter, RNC (Registered Nurse Certified).
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HNS REPORTS---MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2010
JARDIN JURY HAS NO VERDICT MONDAY, TO RESUME WORK TUESDAY
The twelve-member jury hearing the murder case of Robert Jardin spent almost seven hours deliberating Monday before adjourning for the night to a local motel. The sequestered panel will return Tuesday morning to resume the task of deciding Jardin's fate.
Earlier Monday evening, the jury returned to the courtroom to hear the cross-examination of Jardin read back to them by a court reporter after they asked to hear the testimony again. Then the seven men and five women said they wanted to eat dinner and return for another hour or so of deliberations.
Jardin is charged in the 2006 slayings of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma of Marsaryktown.
Monday morning prosecutor Pete Magrino asked jurors to find Jardin guilty in a closing argument with a portrait of murder victims Evelyn and Patrick DePalma as a backdrop. Magrino went through dozens of items in evidence as he recounted testimony connecting Jardin to the murder scene, asking each time "What else?' as he reminded the jury panel of yet another item. He also asked the jurors to recall Jardin's testimony in his own defense on Friday, noting Jardin's admission that he lied to law enforcement when first questioned about the DePalmas' slayings in 2006. Magrino said he counted six admitted lies before he stopped counting. And the prosecutor reminded the jury that the 35-year old mason and one-time strip club bouncer could be convicted of felony murder even if there was no direct evidence that Jardin participated in the killings, if the defendant participated in another crime at the scene. He pointed to the vacuum and stereo that were found in Jardin's possession and which witnesses identified as missing from the DePalma home.
Defense attorney Alan Fanter asked jurors to hold the prosecution to their burden of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He said the evidence was consistent with Jardin's testimony and that there was no direct evidence tieing Jardin to the murders themselves and arguing that even possession of the vacuum and stereo did not show he committed a crime at the murder scene.
Jardin admitted being in the home in his testimony Friday but claimed he was sickened when he saw the murder victims and found the stolen property in his truck the next day, after two other men threatened Jardin's children if he did not keep quiet.
If Jardin is convicted, the panel will then hear evidence on aggravating and mitigating circumstances in deciding on a recommended sentence of death or life in prison.
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COUNTY OFFICIALS HUDDLE ON DREDGE STRATEGY
With interim Public Works Director Susan Goebel back Monday from furlough, County Administrator David Hamilton and county lawyers plan to hold a strategy meeting in advance of Tuesday's County Board meeting. Hamilton has said he will brief commissioners at the meeting on the status of the troubled project.
According to e-mails exchanged last week with dredge contractor Orion Services, some of the equipment that arrived back on scene last week was being removed again. But an Orion official said only equipment needed for actual dredging work was being removed. Equipment for working at the spoil site would remain,
Under a modified dredge permit, actual digging in the channel can't begin again until new settling ponds are built at the spoil site off Shoal Line Blvd. and additional de-watering equipment and supplies, including a coagulant, are ready to receive dredged material. That modified permit was due to become final Friday if no challenge was filed, and lawyers said they would check Monday morning to make sure none was submitted at the last minute.
Monday's closed staff meeting is aimed at deciding how to respond to Orion's request for a change order that is more than 150 percent of their original project bid. The contractor says the scope of the project is now very different from what was expected when their bid was submitted last year.
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QUARRY PRESERVE UP FOR FINAL COUNTY APPROVALS
In what lawyer Jake Varn says will be a presentation lasting almost an hour, developers of the proposed Quarry Preserve will be in front of county commissioners Tuesday asking for the last approvals they need. The "new town" project for old mining property north of Brooksville is the subject of a proposed comprehensive plan amendment, development of regional impact approval, and a development order.
If approved, the former Florida Rock property could eventually see 5,800 living units, three golf courses, industrial and commercial uses and schools and parks on 4,280 acres. In a letter to the county, Varn says he and his client, Brooksville Quarry LLC, "have been working cooperatively with the Hernando County Planning Department staff and the Florida Department of Community Affairs for almost four years" to come up with the terms of a development order. Varn says "this high quality, master planned, sustainable community and new town will provide many direct and indirect benefits to Hernando County." He called it "the first new town development in Hernando County" and said it "will raise the bar for quality development" in the county.
Developers have worked out agreements to provide road and infrastructure improvements and said they expect the project to develop over a period of years, not right away. Critics have said new housing units are not needed in Hernando while several thousand existing homes remain available in an inventory that's grown exponentially since the housing crash several years ago.
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FAKE PRESCRIPTION SPOTTED, SPRING HILL MAN JAILED
A pharmacist at a Cortez Blvd. drug store who called a doctor for confirmation of an oxycodone prescription called sheriff's deputies when the doctor's office alerted him that the scrip was phony. An arrest affidavit says 27-year old Kenny Austin Carlson of 13584 Coronado Drive was charged with trafficking in drugs and using a fraudulent prescription to obtain a controlled substance. The affidavit says Carlson's scrip was for 270 oxycodone pills and 120 xanax pills. His initial bond was set at $30,500 on booking Friday at the Hernando County Jail.
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MAN CHARGED WITH TRYING TO CHOKE GIRLFRIEND
Sheriff's deputies say they charged 27-year old Luis Alfredo Ramirez of 1250 Sylvia Avenue in Spring Hill with felony domestic batttery by strangulation after he tried to choke his girlfriend with the lanyard from a key chain. An arrest affidavit says Ramirez got in an argument with his live-in girlfriend and wrestled her to the ground in an apparent attempt to get his keys from her. The affidavit says the keychain broke, and he then allegedly used the lanyard from the keychain to wrap around the victtim's neck, cutting her circulation and impeding her breathing until she released the keys. Deputies said Ramirez fled the Sylvia Avenue home, but they arrested him about five hours later when he returned. He was arrested early Saturday morning following the Friday night incident and booked into the Hernando Couunty Jail on no bond.
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BROOKSVILLE MAN CHARGED WITH DRUG TRAFFICKING
Brooksville police said Monday that they arrested a man over the weekend for trafficking in drugs and possession of oxycodone. Officers said they responded Saturday night to a report of a man in the roadway near Fort Dade Avenue and Cobb Road who was reportedly trying to stop passing vehicles. A police media release said they found 21-year old Donald Elkins of 4215 Bessemer Road in Brooksville, who allegedly had a pill bottle with almost nine grams of oxycodone. Police said they took Elkins into custody, and he was booked into the Hernando County Jail on initial bond of $55,000.
MAN FINDS STRANGER IN CAR, EATING LEFTOVER FOOD
A 24-year old Spring Hill woman was arrested Saturday night after deputies said a man found her sitting in his car and eating leftover food. An arrest affidavit says Nancy McAdams of 13451 San Antonio Road was sitting in the driver's seat of a man's car when he came out of a Commercial Way video store. The vehicle owner told deputies he didn't know McAdams, who had a detachable radio in one hand and a leftover diinner that was in the vehicle in the other hand. The affidavit said McAdams, who was described as "somewhat incoherent," first claims he mistook the man's vehicle for her own, but she later reportedly admitted her own broken-down car was in a nearby parking lot. She was booked into the Hernando County Jail on a vehicle burglary charge.
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HNS WEEKEND---AUGUST 28-29, 2010
HERNANDO NEWS SOURCE COMMENTARY
JOURNALIST? BLOGGER? OR SOMETHING MORE INCLUSIVE?
Hernando News Source is 15 months old now and still fighting the perception that this is a "blog." We've tried to correct people with that perception, because we would like to be known as a news site.
While the web software application used to create this site was developed for "bloggers," we use it because it is inexpensive and fit our needs at the time the site launched. We were also disappointed to find a Google bias toward traditional legacy media sites when we were refused listing on Google News with the excuse that Google does not accept one-page sites for inclusion. So maybe it's understandable that the "blog" perception is out there. What we do find intolerable is for that perception to remain among those who like to call themselves "journalists." Perhaps, given the current state of the legacy media, we should call them "dead-tree scribblers."
This week, as some might know, the editorial director of one of the two local newspapers called this writer a "blogger" while referring to himself as a "journalist." He did so in a published column in which he recounted the attendance of "a journalist and a blogger" at a budget meeting with the county administrator. Since we're unaware of any blogs he writes, we made the assumption that he considered Hernando News Source a blog and its sole writer and editor a "blogger."
On reflection, our first reaction to that was probably a little over the top. After all, we presume the self-proclaimed journalist might have been unaware of this writer's degree from the University of Florida's Journalism school and the six years of professional radio and television news experience that preceded a 27-year legal career. Maybe the "journalist's" incorrect perception of yours truly was one of someone who lacked formal training or experience jumping into his profession without going through a similar path of preparation and work in the field. We hope that it was not an expression of arrogance that only those who work for ink-on-paper employers qualify as "journalists."
Nevertheless, if those who consider themselves "journalists" prefer not to apply the term to new media writers such as those who from choice or circumstance operate on a bare-bones budget that doesn't include multi-page websites or flashing advertisements that come between readers and the latest news, maybe we should accept that. If we do, we come to the conclusion that there must be class distinctions within the profession of chronicling the news. There is the Aristocracy of the "dead-tree scribblers," and the Proletarian of the TV newscasters with their emphasis on the sensational and the visual, apparently with "Bloggers" as the untouchables of the media world at the bottom, as new media voices proliferate with the widest possible range in subjectivity and often little attempt at objectivity.
We've always tried to be objective chroniclers of the news at this site. Though we haven't always conformed to conventions developed over the years in the dead-tree media---for example, we don't withhold a story while we wait for some balancing comments from "the other side"---we have made conscious attempts at balancing coverage over time. Part of the thinking process here is that our readers want to know the news and are capable and informed enough to see not just two sides but also all the various shades of gray that go into most news events.
So if we are not admissible into the Aristocracy of "journalists," how should we think of ourselves?
Perhaps the most generic of terms could apply to all who follow the urge to tell the world, or even just Hernando County, what is happening. Instead of subjective terms like "journalist" or "blogger," it would seem we could all agree on "reporter." After all, whether it's done with conventional objectivity, some measure of subjectivity, or even outright advocacy (as commonly found in our "journalist" colleague's opinion columns and editorials), the bottom line is that we are reporting what we know and, depending on whom we are trying to reach and why, we write what we see, feel, think, hear, so that you, our humble readers, can try to cope with the reality of our shared world.
So please don't call this site a "blog" because it's meant to be more than that. And please don't call us a "blogger," either, because the most precise term for all of us who write about the real world is "REPORTER."
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WHAT'S IN A NAME? FOR VOTERS, IT MAY BE A TO Z
Last Monday we reported on how Spring Hill activist Brian Moore was banking on his alphabetical ballot placement ahead of state CFO Alex Sink in the Democrat primary for governor. In our headline we called it his "Alvin Greene" strategy, for the obscure South Carolina man who upset a better known politician with a last name farther down the alphabet in a primary earlier this year.
But Moore, who did not actively campaign and was best known locally for his advocacy of far-left causes and his failed Socialist candidacy for President in 2008, ended up with 23 percent of the statewide Democrat vote. It really appears that, faced with a choice of the little-known Sink or the even lesser-known Moore, many voters chose the first name on the ballot.
No big deal for Sink, who now goes to the November balloting as the first woman from a major party to win a spot in a general election for Florida governor.
But could it have been an even bigger deal for Brooksville favorite son Bill McCollum in his losing race against Rick Scott for the Republican nomination for Governor? Wait, you say, McCollum comes before Scott in the alphabet, what are you talking about?
What we're talking about is Mike McCallister. McCallister was - barely - ahead of McCollum among the three candidates in the ballot listing. Like Moore, nobody knew much about him. And he got more than 10 percent of the vote, while McCollum lost to Scott by three percent.
We're hearing rumblings that McCallister's entry in the race might even have been orchestrated to draw top line votes away from McCollum. A politically well-connected local figure noted that McCallister's website design had many similarities to Scott's and that his past work included involvement in the health care field, where Scott's notorious background proved less hindrance to success than McCollum backers had hoped.
To us, this sounds like one of the more reasonable conspiracy theories we've heard lately.
And since your commentator's last name starts with W, it's just one more reason for us to remain firmly committed to observing politics and not participating in it.
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Now here's our look back at the week's top stories which were reported first or only on the web at Hernando News Source, beginning with Friday and working our way back through Primary Election Day to the first of the week:
JARDIN TAKES STAND IN DOUBLE MURDER TRIAL
Robert Jardin took the witness stand Friday in his defense against two first degree murder charges. Jardin told the 12 jury members and two alternates that he went with two men he knew only as "Rick" and "Bub" thinking they were going to get cocaine. He said they pulled into the driveway of a home in a remote area and told him to wait in the car.
Jardin said he was later told to come in the house, where he saw the bodies of murder victims Patrick and Evelyn DePalma. He said he felt sick and drank milk from a jug to settle his stomach. Later, after the trio had left the home, he said he was warned not to say anything about what he saw, and he fled the vehicle. He said he later found a vacuum cleaner and a stereo that he recognized as being taken from the murder scene placed in the bed of his truck.
On cross-examination prosecutor Pete Magrino zeroed in on the number of times Jardin told lies to sheriff's investigators when questioned about the DePalma murders. Magrino also tried to bring out inconsistencies in Jardin's description of the events of October, 2006, when the elderly DePalmas were killed. And he also asked about conflicts with other statements Jardin gave investigators during two interrogations in 2008. Investigators and crime technicians testified Thursday that Jardin's DNA was found on the milk jug, and the vacuum and stereo were later discovered at Jardin's residence. And Jardin admitted he was "with the wrong people, at the wrong place, at the wrong time."
The defense rested, and the state had no more witnesses. After a short recess, Judge Jack Springstead gave the jury the choice of coming back after lunch for closing arguments and instructions, or coming back Saturday or Monday. The jury chose to return Monday at 8:30 a.m.
COUNTY SHORTFALL DOWN TO $331,313, ADVISOR WARNS ON RATINGS
Budget Director George Zoettlein told county commissioners in an agenda memo Thursday that he's succeeded in reducing the General Fund budget shortfall to $331,313. Zoettlein said he got the numbers down from over a million last week, and more than $10 million a few months ago, by some adjustments and cutting five positions. The memo says $200,000 is being saved by reducing investment interest, increasing balance forward cash by $156,395, cutting $200,000 from a special fund for cleaning up the former DPW compound, changing Reserve policy to gain $622,170, cutting five positions for $273,123, and "miscellaneous adjustments" for $15,396.
Meanwhile, Zoettlein's memo attaches a letter from county financial advisor RBC Capital Markets, which has a warning: continued use of one-time revenue sources and reserves to balance the budget "could result in the County's underlying ratings being downgraded, which would increase the County's cost of future borrowings and reflect a decline in the County's financial position."
The letter from Julie Santamaria of RBC says rating agencies "frown upon...hesitation in recognizing the need to increase taxes, use of non-recurring revenues for recurring expenses, changes in . . . previously approved reserve policies, deferral of payments . . . [and] deferring reductions of operating expenses, including reduction of staffing levels."
COMMISSIONERS URGED TO GET LEGAL OFFICE TIME STUDY
Lisa Hammond, the county's purchasing consultant, says the Chamber of Commerce focus group that reviewed the County Attorney's Office should "assist with conducting their recommended time study analysis." The three Chamber members whose presentation sparked a call for outside counsel proposals by Jim Adkins would provide an analysis that would be combined with staff research to craft a scope of services. Hammond says the County Board would then need to decide on whether to issue a Request for Proposals, where price could be a major factor, or a Request for Qualifications, where the emphasis would be on a firm's resume.
Hammond said the board needs to act within the next two months, since County Attorney Garth Coller's annual contract has a 15-day window for notifying him as to whether the contract will be renewed. This year the only meeting date where that could be decided would be on October 26.
Coller, who is paid $139,000 a year, has been Hernando's County Attorney for more than ten years. His staff of assistant attorneys has been reduced from four to two in the last year and a half.
THURSDAY
THREE ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED HOME INVASION
Sheriff's deputies said Thursday that three men they arrested Wednesday have been charged with attempted home invasion, with bond set at $50,000 each. Investigators say the men, who were identified as 21-year old Edward Young Jr. of Brooksville, 21-year old Tony Lee Smith, Jr. and 20-year old Denzel Devon Smith, both of Bushnell, were approaching 25205 LaRuth Road early Wednesday when the resident, Eric Adams, spotted them and called deputies. Adams said at least two of the three men were armed. The suspects fled when deputies arrived, and all three were captured about three hours later in the Gordon Loop area with aid from a helicopter and K-9 units. Investigators said the trio have not been connected to a home invasion Tuesday night on Weatherly Road.
Later Thursday all three suspects were booked again on a second felony count for armed burglary. Arrest affidavits say the new charges were filed because the three men allegedly broke into a vacant home on WPA Road to use for surveillance of the Adams home.
JURY VIEWS JARDIN INTERVIEW, DETECTIVES DESCRIBE LINKS TO MURDER
The jury hearing the double murder trial of 35-year old Robert Jardin viewed a video of the defendant's first interview with sheriff's detectives Thursday. The investigators also testified about the evidence they found linking Jardin to the brutal slayings of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma in their Masaryktown home in 2006.
Detective George Loydgren testified about asking Jardin to come in for an interview about a bar fight in 2008. Jurors then watched Loydgren joking with Jardin about women and sex, saying he was satisfied that Jardin was not connected with the bar fight. The suspect's relief then turned to concern when Detecties Phillip Lakin and Randy Williamson then appeared and confronted him with pictures of the DePalmas. A suddenly sober Jardin insisted he knew nothing about their murders, then repeated two requests to end the interview and leave.
The 45-minute tape omitted the remainder of the questioning, because Judge Jack Springstead ruled that Jardin's rights were violated when the interview continued after his request to leave.
Williamson testified earlier in the morning, and Lakin was expected on the stand later in the day, with all three detectives describing evidence such as a key ring that was traved back to the victims, as well as a vacuum cleaner and other items from the DePalma home which detectives said they found in Jardin's possession.
The former strip club bouncer and construction worker was interrogated for 14 hours the next day, but most of that questioning was ruled inadmissible two weeks ago because of another violation of Jardin's rights.
DREDGE CHALLENGE DEADLINE IS FRIDAY
County officials say the next potential roadblock for the Hernando Beach dredge project comes Friday with a deadline for filing a challenge to the modified dredge permit. According to county documents received this week, some concerns have been raised about water quality in Minnow Creek, which has its headwaters east of the dredge spoil site at the old county sewer plant and runs along the north side of the site.
The revised permit contemplates large settling ponds, more equipment, and use of a chemical coagulant to separate sediment from dredge discharge. Officials are concerned that a challenge to the permit and resulting litigation could further delay the stalled project. According to a time-line furnished by dredge contractor Orion Services, the earliest possible project completion date is now July 4, 2011.
Hernando News Source learned Friday that no challenge is expected from Manuel LLC, and an amended agreement with the Manuels to account for the modified dredge permit is on Tuesday's County Board agenda.
Reports that some dredge contractor's equipment is being removed from the site have been confirmed by county officials. Orion Services said that equipment for dredging would likely still return later, after the new de-watering equipment and settling ponds are constructed and dredging can begin again.
C & D LANDFILL HEARING DELAYED, OWNER CHANGING PLANS
Opponents of a construction and demolition debris landfill at the end of Wildlife Lane in the east county have won a victory in the war over whether the facility will get a state permit. An attorney for neighbors fighting the landfill permit says a hearing scheduled for next week on the permit is being postponed while the landfill's owner revises his plans.
According to a letter from John Thomas, the environmental attorney hired by the landfill opponents, Out of Bounds is asking to modify its application to meet at least some of the residents' complaints. Thomas says a new stronger liner would be installed, and the firm would agree not to accept debris within a 500-foot radius of identified water wells. The discovery of a nearby well helped convince state regulators to withdraw a tentative permit and issue a denial instead.
But Thomas also says the "case is far from over." He says the owners have only committed to "consider" the changes and have asked for a six-month postponement of the hearing before an administrative law judge. And Thomas also notes that even with the liner and the distance from wells, the landfill could still tower 60 to 70 feet above grade and detract from life in the rural community near Cortez and I-75. Meanwhile, residents plan to continue a fund-raising campaign to help pay for Thomas and other legal costs.
WEDNESDAY
DREDGE CONTRACTOR RETURNING TO HERNANDO BEACH
Hernando Beach residents have told county officials that Orion Dredging Services trucks and trailers with equipment began arriving back at the dredge site Tuesday. The sighting came a few hours before Orion officials delivered a discouraging message to county staff on Wednesday. While some of the dredge contractor's workers are reported back in Hernando Beach, the firm's president said the low bidder on the dredge project can't start working again until a modified state permit is final and a request to add millions of dollars to its contract are finalized.
County Administrator David Hamilton said he's heartened by the return of some of Orion's equipment and workers and thinks that the contract issues can be worked out. County commissioners have said they won't approve the Orion request for $7.8 million more, which Orion says it needs to comply with provisions of the modified permit. A project timetable attached to Orion's response to the county's demand to resume work estimates that the expanded project scope will take 311 days to complete, with July 4, 2011, pegged as completion date.
Meanwhile, the modified permit is due to become final Friday, and Hernando News Source has been told that Hamilton and legal staff are still negotiating final details to prevent a challenge to the modified permit. Jake Varn, a lawyer for the Manuel family, told commissioners earlier this month that a new agreement for dredge spoils will be needed to avoid a legal challenge to the permit. County documents indicate that the last disputed item revolves around details of water sampling in Minnow Creek, which runs along the north side of the spoil site at the old Hernando Beach sewer plant.
HAMILTON: COUNTY COULD GO "OUT OF BUSINESS" WITHOUT CHANGES
County Administrator David Hamilton told a group of about a dozen people at a budget meeting Wednesday that the county could be "out of business" in two years. He showed graphs indicating that revenues plus reserves will exceed expenses in 2013 unless something changes. He noted that some funds, such as the Development Services enterprise fund, will be out of money even sooner. He told the gathering at the Spring Hill VFW that a big part of the organizational change he''s tried in instill in top management is the need to look long-term at the future of county government. Hamilton also defended the county sheriff's takeover of the jail, and he said the privatization of the jail just wasn't working under a contract negotiated a number of years ago under different conditions. Hamilton said "the general theory that government is always more expensive isn't necessarily true." He pointed to the sheriff's plans to run the jail "military-style," with organized inmate work crews inside and outside the jail.
NUGENT E-MAILS VICTORY STATEMENT TO SUPPORTERS
Sheriff Rich Nugent, the Republican nominee for the District 5 U.S. House seat, e-mailed a victory statement to supporters Wednesday. Nugent thanked supporters and said, "Our success was made possible only through your hard work and hours of volunteering." He added that it "was a hard fought primary [and] one that has made me a stronger candidate and our campaign team more focused and disciplined and that’s exactly how I plan to push on to victory this November."
Nugent pledged to "continue the legacy of strong conservative leadership in the United States House of Representatives that Ginny Brown-Waite has provided for our District these past 8 years," if he wins the largely Republican district against Democrat Jim Piccillo in November.
Nugent garnered 62 percent of the Republican vote in the district in Tuesday's primary, versus 38 percent for Tea Party candidate Jason Sager. His margin in Hernando was even larger, at 68 percent to 32.
SWFWMD BOARD CUTS MILLAGE RATE
The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board reduced the proposed new millage rate to 0.3770 mill for the District’s General Fund, which is a reduction of a fraction of a mill from the current fiscal year’s rate of 0.3866. The move will reduce the district's ad valorem tax revenue an additional $2.65 million from the current fiscal year. The board's action came Tuesday at a district meeting in Wauchula.
The reduction is a change from the July 29 meeting, when Board members voted to keep the millage unchanged. This lowered millage rate, combined with a reduction in property values as certified by county property appraisers, will result in a $15.5 million decrease in ad valorem property tax revenue.
The last time the Governing Board lowered the District’s millage rate was three years ago, when the Board reduced the millage rate by 0.0354 from 0.422. Before that reduction, the millage rate held steady at 0.422 for the previous 13 years.
Two required public hearings on the District’s total budget will be held in September, with the second hearing scheduled September 28 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Brooksville Headquarters.
TUESDAY
NUGENT, ROWDEN, DUKES, SPRING HILL "NO" ARE EASY ELECTION WINNERS
Hernando Sheriff Rich Nugent won an easy primary victory Tuesday over self-proclaimed Tea Party candidate Jason Sager in the contest for the District 5 U.S. House Republican nomination. Nugent will face Democrat Jim Piccillo of Land O'Lakes in November to determine who succeeds retiring Representative Ginny Brown-Waite. Nugent is the odds-on favorite in one of Florida's most heavily Republican districts, although Piccillo presents himself as a conservative Democrat.
Sager's grass-roots campaign just didn't show the results his supporters expected, especially in Hernando County, home to both candidates. Nugent won almost 70 percent of the local Republican votes, while maintaining a district-wide 62-38 edge in percentage of votes.
Diane Rowden is on her way to a November race against incumbent State Representative Rob Schenck. The Democrat handlily beat political newcomer Jay Thompson and perennial candidate Dave Werder in the District 44 primary race. Rowden, a former Hernando county commissioner and school board member, will also have to decide when to move. She currently lives outside the district but has vowed to establish a residence in the district before she would take office, as state law allows.
Wayne Dukes, who's lost in two previous bids for the County Board, will take on incumbent Democrat Rose Rocco in November in the only contested commission race. Dukes won almost 50 percent of the vote in a three-way Republican primary. Ty Mullis got 27 percent to William Kingeter's 22 percent. Dukes may have a tough road ahead, as a number of prominent Brooksville Republicans have donated to Rocco's campaign already.
And in Spring Hill, voters gave an overwhelming thumbs-down to a referendum to grant ad valorem taxing authority to the Spring Hill Fire Board. The issues was hotly contested, with supporters urging a vote to "Cap the Fire Tax" while opponents questioned whether the current fire board would try to use tax authority to find other ways to raise revenue. Roughly six in every ten voters said no to the referendum, which now leaves the fire district in the hands of the Legislature. Lawmakers may be asked to authorize another referendum, and that could put the onus back on Hernando County to provide assistance in keeping the money flowing to the district.
In other races of local interest, incumbent District 43 State Representative Ron Schultz was locked in a tight battle with Jimmie Smith. There is no Democrat in the race, so whoever prevails in the primary goes to Tallahassee. As of Wednesday morning, Smith held a narrow 415-vote lead out of more than 31,000 cast, and a final result appeared to hinge on absentee counts Wednesday in the three counties covered by the district, including the northwest corner of Hernando.
And incumbent Hernando School Board members had leads in three races, with two of the non-partisan contests decided in favor of John Sweeney and Dianne Bonfield, who each won a second term on the board. Four-term veteran Sandy Nicholson was getting less than 40 percent of the vote in her three-way race and will face a run-off in November against Cynthia Moore, who finished in a solid second place over Mike Bainum.
Hernando's voter turnout was 22 percent, less than Supervisor of Elections Annie Williams had predicted, but still slightly higher than the comparable primary four years ago.
HOMETOWN HERO NOT A BIG HERNANDO WINNER
Hernando High graduate and Brooksville-raised Bill McCollum didn't take his putative home county by storm in Tuesday's election. In fact, McCollum got less than 50 percent of the votes of Hernando Republicans and was less than two percent ahead of multi-millionaire rival Rick Scott in local balloting for the Governor's race. Obscure candidate Mike McCallister was the choice of 10 percent of Hernando's voters. McCollum lost the statewide vote to Scott by a similar margin as he won in Hernando, a little less than three percent.
And Spring Hill's Brian Moore took 22 percent of the votes of Hernando Democrats in his campaign against heavy favorite for the gubernatorial nomination, Alex Sink. Statewide, Moore did even better, with 23 percent of the vote and almost 200,000 total votes.
DEVELOPER'S BANKRUPTCY LEAVES CITY HOLDING BAG OF BONDS
The Brooksville City Council met Tuesday night to figure out what to do about a $20 million default by the Southern Hills Plantation developer, who's left a lot of committed projects undone. Foremost among them were upgrades to city wastewater treatment facilities, a plan for wastewater reuse, and plans for a road from Cortez Blvd. to the development.
The agenda for the special meeting included a resolution that would demand payment of performance bonds securing the cost of the projects. Those bonds are for a total of almost $20 million.
The first step would be to demand payment from the various companies guaranteeing the obligations. The city is already involved in litigation over payment of a performance bond for the Cascades development, which was part of the original project proposed and approved for Hampton Ridge developers.
The company was one of Florida's most prominent at the time the city stretched its limits south to include the Brooksville Ridge property between U.S. 41 and the CSX railroad. But after emerging from bankruptcy court, Hampton Ridge is no more, its assets, but not its liabilities, now the property of GreenPointe Communities. GreenPointe is still in negotiations with Brooksville over an amended development agreement, with impact fee credits a major bone of contention.
COUNTY WORKERS GET PREVIEW OF DIM FUTURE
County employees met Tuesday for a preview of a future that looks ever more bleak for their continued employment. The session with County Administrator David Hamilton on Tuesday was the second in two days.
Hamilton told workers that the economic picture is dark for revenue collections this year and into the foreseeable future. He outlined the status of the current proposed budget and noted there is still a million-dollar plus gap between revenues and spending that needs to be closed. He said eleven jobs would be lost as the budget stands now. And he also noted that current projections show the county running out of reserve funds in two years, saying that the local government could be down to just the constitutional officers by then, with no money left to run traditional county government.
Hamilton's presentations to employees comes just ahead of public meetings in Ridge Manor, Spring Hill and Hernando Beach over the next six days, where he's expected to paint the same pessimistic picture of funding government.
CANVASSING BOARD REVIEWS, TOSSES IMPROPER ABSENTEE BALLOTS
In an election day morning ritual, the county Canvassing Board met briefly Tuesday morning to decide what to do with irregular absentee ballots. Several ballots with missing signatures and otherwise irregular and contrary to legal requirements were ruled unacceptable. The actions Tuesday were based solely on the outside of the ballot, and none of the ballots were opened.
The board, which consists of County Judge Don Scaglione, County Board chairman John Druzbick, and Elections Supervisor Annie Williams, will meet again Wednesday to count the rest of the absentees.
JUVENILE CHARGED WITH PULLING KNIFE AT SCHOOL
An 11-year old boy was charged with aggravated assault Monday for pulling a pocket knife on another student in gym class at Challenger School. An arrest affidavit says the boy got in an argument with with a girl, pulled out the knife, and reportedly asked the victim if she "would like your neck sliced." The affidavit says the knife was held about a foot from the victim, who fled the area and reported the incident. The boy was taken to the Hernando County Jail and booked on the charge before being released to his parents for home detention.
LOW TURNOUT FORECAST FOR PRIMARY ELECTION DAY
Hernando Elections Supervisor Annie Williams says she hopes she's wrong, but she's forecasting a 30 percent turnout for primary election day Tuesday. Early voting wasn't as busy as expected, and the lack of local races of particular interest, other than the Nugent-Sager congressional battle, probably isn't helping the turnout prediction. Williams said as she prepared to close her office Monday night that she and her staff "are all set and ready" for voters.
Williams said 454 poll workers will staff the precincts on Tuesday, and that two of those are volunteers who have been trained and elected to decline payment.
SPRING HILL CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR USES "ALVIN GREENE" STRATEGY
Brian Moore of Spring Hill says of his chances in the Tuesday Democratic gubernatorial primary, "Hope springs eternal and anything is possible in this volatile election year."
Moore, who ran for president two years ago on the Socialist Party ticket, qualified to run for the Democratic nomination for governor against state CFO Alex Sink. Moore says his opponent "has waged a relatively low-key primary campaign, thereby enhancing my chances for a surprisingly strong finish in this two-person race, where my name will appear first on the ballot."
Moore said in an e-mail to supporters Monday that he spent the weekend in Jacksonville and got face time on the TV news there. He also said he needs contributions of help "with unforeseen last-minute campaign expenses" and asked supporters to go to his website and contribute or send a check, to "be used frugally to get our message out to the legions of undecided voters."
GIAMMARCO CRITICAL OF FIRE DISTRICT RESPONSE TO TRUCK ACCIDENT
In a series of e-mails to Spring Hill Fire Chief Mike Rampino, controversial Fire Board Commissioner Rob Giammarco says the chief's response to last week's fire truck accident "is just not adequate." Giammarco, who was reprimanded by the Fire Board earlier this year for micro-managing Rampino with e-mail questions, told the chief that he "dropped the ball" by not doing more for the two women whose Raleigh Street home was damaged y an out-of-control truck. Rampino has blamed the accident on a "medical condition" suffered by the driver while practicing backing the truck to a hydrant near a fire station.
Rampino, who responded to several Giammarco e-mails on the issue over the weekend, said he has contacted the homeowners who had damage to their properties to see what assistance can be offered, but he also noted that "it is my opinion that we allow the process to run its course [s]o we don't jeopardize an[y] of the claims." And he said he would "continue to pressure the
insurance companies to move more rapidly."
Giammarco told Rampino he went to the scene of the accident last week to "see for myself the area and damage[ ] cause[d] by the unfortunate episode" and that he was "shocked at what I have observed and . . . amazed at the amount of sustained damage[ ] to property."
Monday Rampino told Giammarco that a county building inspector had been to the site where the fire truck backed into a corner of a home and reported that there were "no issues with the home being occupied at this time." Earlier he reported that the fire district boarded up some broken windows and made arrangements for protection of the interior from roof damage.
The e-mails were requested by Hernando News Source and provided promptly by Rampino.
MONDAY
BUS DELAYS ONLY MAJOR PROBLEM FOR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Some delays for buses to take students home from the first day of classes Monday were reportedly over an hour, as students faced late returns home. Sheriff's deputies were also tracking down some reports that students may have gotten off buses at wrong stops. And traffic problems were reported around some schools at dismissal times, especially in the California Street--Powell Road--Barclay Avenue area where three schools are concentrated.
Other than the bus issues, school officials had no reports of major problems on the first day of classes Monday. New school start times did cause some confusion for parents and students, who had a mix of good and bad reactions to the changes that were aimed at saving $750,000 in bus transport costs. As is usual when school begins, authorities reported some mid-afternoon traffic headaches
Officials were expecting about 23,000 students to show for classes, including about 600 freshmen, sophomores and juniors at the newest facility, Weeki Wachee High School. Administrators expect a final count of enrollment next week. Principals will likely be juggling classes and teachers while trying to meet the new class size requirements that went into effect this year.
CANDIDATES SPEAK OUT ON DREDGE ISSUES
Two of the candidates hoping to unseat County Commissioner Rose Rocco have spoken out on the Hernando Beach dredge project, which could cost the county more money than they have available for the work. Both Wayne Dukes and Ty Mullis said it may be time to re-consider going forward, now that the dredge contractor wants a revised contract for almost $13 million instead of its original bid of $5 million.
Dukes said he's spoken with other commissioners who say the project may stop unless the contractor makes some major concessions. The new work total is based mainly on extra work and equipment needed to comply with a modified state permit that calls for removing more silt from the dredge discharge. Dukes said long-standing issues over communication from county staff to citizens and state regulators led to the current problems and that his experience in construction contract review led him to believe the design was flawed from the start. He called it "another time our county government has failed us."
One of Dukes' two opponents said he wants to see a more complete economic analysis to determine whether the project's new higher costs are worth going forward on.
Ty Mullis says he questions whether local boat registrations and the commercial vessel fleet have enough numbers to make a per-user cost for the project viable. He said his own calculations suggest a range of per user cost from $8,000 to as much as $100,000 per channel user. He says he "would like to see the project left in its current state while vessel counts are done to see if this whole thing is even justified."
Rocco, who represents the Hernando Beach area, has declined to comment on the basis that the cost and contract issues are likely to end up in litigation.
WOMAN'S LAWYER SAYS JUDGE MAY HAVE SAVED HER LIFE
A lawyer for a woman who was taken into custody after coming to court in a highly impaired state says Judge Jack Springstead may have saved her life when he sent her for drug testing. Assistant public defender Barbara Jo Bell agreed with the judge when he said 30-year old Naomi Cox probably made it back to court last week only because of his intervention.
Cox was in court Friday, and her appearance elicited looks of amazement from the judge and others who last saw her when she stumbled forward and slurred her speech badly during a July court date. Springstead said she looked like "a new young woman," and Cox agreed. In July, Springstead sent her to jail for testing after she appeared in court under severe apparent impairment. She was reportedly evaluated by medical personnel at the jail and sent immediately to Brooksville Regional Hospital, where sources told Hernando News Source that she almost died.
Friday Springstead allowed her pending forgery case to be transferred to drug court, where she has a chance of avoiding a felony conviction if she stays clean.
HNS REPORTS---FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
JARDIN TAKES STAND IN DOUBLE MURDER TRIAL
Robert Jardin took the witness stand Friday in his defense against two first degree murder charges. Jardin told the 12 jury members and two alternates that he went with two men he knew only as "Rick" and "Bub" thinking they were going to get cocaine. He said they pulled into the driveway of a home in a remote area and told him to wait in the car.
Jardin said he was later told to come in the house, where he saw the bodies of murder victims Patrick and Evelyn DePalma. He said he felt sick and drank milk from a jug to settle his stomach. Later, after the trio had left the home, he said he was warned not to say anything about what he saw, and he fled the vehicle. He said he later found a vacuum cleaner and a stereo that he recognized as being taken from the murder scene placed in the bed of his truck.
On cross-examination prosecutor Pete Magrino zeroed in on the number of times Jardin told lies to sheriff's investigators when questioned about the DePalma murders. Magrino also tried to bring out inconsistencies in Jardin's description of the events of October, 2006, when the elderly DePalmas were killed. And he also asked about conflicts with other statements Jardin gave investigators during two interrogations in 2008. Investigators and crime technicians testified Thursday that Jardin's DNA was found on the milk jug, and the vacuum and stereo were later discovered at Jardin's residence. And Jardin admitted he was "with the wrong people, at the wrong place, at the wrong time."
The defense rested, and the state had no more witnesses. After a short recess, Judge Jack Springstead gave the jury the choice of coming back after lunch for closing arguments and instructions, or coming back Saturday or Monday. The jury chose to return Monday at 8:30 a.m.
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GENERAL FUND SHORTFALL DOWN TO $331,313, ADVISOR WARNS ON RATINGS
Budget Director George Zoettlein told county commissioners in an agenda memo Thursday that he's succeeded in reducing the General Fund budget shortfall to $331,313. Zoettlein said he got the numbers down from over a million last week, and more than $10 million a few months ago, by some adjustments and cutting five positions. The memo says $200,000 is being saved by reducing investment interest, increasing balance forward cash by $156,395, cutting $200,000 from a special fund for cleaning up the former DPW compound, changing Reserve policy to gain $622,170, cutting five positions for $273,123, and "miscellaneous adjustments" for $15,396.
Meanwhile, Zoettlein's memo attaches a letter from county financial advisor RBC Capital Markets, which has a warning: continued use of one-time revenue sources and reserves to balance the budget "could result in the County's underlying ratings being downgraded, which would increase the County's cost of future borrowings and reflect a decline in the County's financial position."
The letter from Julie Santamaria of RBC says rating agencies "frown upon...hesitation in recognizing the need to increase taxes, use of non-recurring revenues for recurring expenses, changes in . . . previously approved reserve policies, deferral of payments . . . [and] deferring reductions of operating expenses, including reduction of staffing levels."
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SHERIFF TAKES OVER COUNTY JAIL
As of 12:01 a.m. Friday, it's no longer the CCA Hernando County Jail. Sheriff Rich Nugent completed his takeover of the detention facility a minute after midnight, and he's promised big changes. Nugent says the sheriff's office can run the jail for less than the county paid CCA, which had operated the facility for 22 years. Nugent has decreased the staff, but will pay higher salaries to fewer detention deputies. He also plans to put inmates to work inside and outside the jail, instead of letting them watch TV or eat delivery pizza. And Nugent also hopes to fill empty beds with federal prisoners by resuming a contract with immigration officials, who pulled out of a deal with CCA two years ago.
Meanwhile, the county is moving forward with an engineering firm to go over the jail and decide how much repair work is needed. A three-million dollar jail fix fund was set aside earlier this summer, but preliminary reports suggest the repair price tag will be less, possibly much less. Some of the fixes could be traced back to CCA maintenance responsibilities, with some eventual reimbursement possible.
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HAMILTON PLAN CALLS FOR CUTTING JOBS, CONSOLIDATING DEPARTMENTS
County Administrator David Hamilton has been talking for weeks about his re-organization plan and how it could save enough money to balance the budget this year. Now the long-awaited details of the plan on next Tuesday's County Board agenda instead call for eliminating a few jobs and putting a lot of departments together. Hamilton's bottom line is immediate general fund savings of $330,000, with other staff reductions and class reviews reaching a possible savings of more than a half million dollars.
According to Hamilton's presentation, some top-dollar jobs like Sue Rupe's Toruism Director spot and Harry Johnson's Recreation Director position would go, Rupe's on her pending retirement and Johnson's apparently immediately. Other current department directors would be re-titled and pay adjusted when their departments are folded into six county divisions: Administrative Services, with Hamilton as leader; Community Development, under Jean Rags; Environmental Services, headed by Joe Stapf; Land Services, with Ron Pianta at the top; Public Safety, steered by Mike Nickerson; and Transportation Infrastructure, in the charge of Interim Public Works Director Susan Goebel.
The move to fewer divisions will also mean that some current directors, like Business Development leader Mike McHugh, budget chief George Zoettlein and Human Resources Director Cheryl Marsden will be reclassified to managers.
The document in next week's agenda package also says there will be further review of the number of district fire chiefs, which reportedly eats up almost $600,000 in funds from fire assessments.
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COMMISSIONERS URGED TO GET LEGAL OFFICE TIME STUDY
Lisa Hammond, the county's purchasing consultant, says the Chamber of Commerce focus group that reviewed the County Attorney's Office should "assist with conducting their recommended time study analysis." The three Chamber members whose presentation sparked a call for outside counsel proposals by Jim Adkins would provide an analysis that would be combined with staff research to craft a scope of services. Hammond says the County Board would then need to decide on whether to issue a Request for Proposals, where price could be a major factor, or a Request for Qualifications, where the emphasis would be on a firm's resume.
Hammond said the board needs to act within the next two months, since County Attorney Garth Coller's annual contract has a 15-day window for notifying him as to whether the contract will be renewed. This year the only meeting date where that could be decided would be on October 26.
Coller, who is paid $139,000 a year, has been Hernando's County Attorney for more than ten years. His staff of assistant attorneys has been reduced from four to two in the last year and a half.
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TEEN CHARGED WITH AGGRAVATED ASSAULT FOR PULLING KNIFE
A bystander who reportedly tried to intervene in a physical altercation between a 17-year old and his girlfirend found himself staring at the sharp end of a knife a few minutes later, according to a sheriff's office report. Deputies said they charged 17-year old James Thomas Campbell with aggravated assault after he confronted Manny Gonzalez on Ashland Drive in southwest Spring Hill Thursday. Campbell was also charged with battery for pushing his 17-year old girlfriend. Deputies said Campbell was booked on the charges at the Hernando County Jail and then released to his parents. The sheriff's report says the timing of the incident may have been fortuitous for Campbell, since Saturday is his 18th birthday and he wouldn't have qualified for intake as a juvenile.
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THREE ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED HOME INVASION
Sheriff's deputies said Thursday that three men they arrested Wednesday have been charged with attempted home invasion, with bond set at $50,000 each. Investigators say the men, who were identified as 21-year old Edward Young Jr. of Brooksville, 21-year old Tony Lee Smith, Jr. and 20-year old Denzel Devon Smith, both of Bushnell, were approaching 25205 LaRuth Road early Wednesday when the resident, Eric Adams, spotted them and called deputies. Adams said at least two of the three men were armed. The suspects fled when deputies arrived, and all three were captured about three hours later in the Gordon Loop area with aid from a helicopter and K-9 units. Investigators said none of the trio have been connected to a home invasion Tuesday night on Weatherly Road.
Later Thursday all three suspects were booked again on a second felony count for armed burglary. Arrest affidavits say the new charges were filed because the three men allegedly broke into a vacant home on WPA Road to use for surveillance of the Adams home.
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AUTHORITIES SEEK SPRING HILL DRUG STORE ROBBER
Sheriff's deputies are looking for a man who robbed the CVS Pharmacy at Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Blvd. early Thursday, displayed a knife, demanded oxycodone pills, took an unknown amount of prescription medicine and fled. Authorities said the robbery occurred shortly after 2:30 a.m. The suspect was described as a white male, 25 to 30 years old, six feet tall and about 185 pounds, with either blue or green eyes, and short dark hair. Deputies said he was wearing a white hooded sweat shirt with a black patterned design covering it, dark colored pants, possibly black jeans and black shoes. He also had a white colored mask covering the lower part of his face from the nose downward, with the hood of the sweat shirt covering the top of the head and pulled down to just above his eyes. He was reportedly wearing white cloth gloves over his hands and was armed with a small knife.
Deputies asked anyone in the public with information on the robbery to contact the sheriff's office or call the Crime Stoppers line at 866-990-TIPS.
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DREDGE CHALLENGE DEADLINE IS FRIDAY
County officials say the next potential roadblock for the Hernando Beach dredge project comes Friday with a deadline for filing a challenge to the modified dredge permit. According to county documents received this week, some concerns have been raised about water quality in Minnow Creek, which has its headwaters east of the dredge spoil site at the old county sewer plant and runs along the north side of the site.
The revised permit contemplates large settling ponds, more equipment, and use of a chemical coagulant to separate sediment from dredge discharge. Officials are concerned that a challenge to the permit and resulting litigation could further delay the stalled project. According to a time-line furnished by dredge contractor Orion Services, the earliest possible project completion date is now July 4, 2011.
Hernando News Source learned Friday that no challenge is expected from Manuel LLC, and an amended agreement with the Manuels to account for the modified dredge permit is on Tuesday's County Board agenda.
Reports that some dredge contractor's equipment is being removed from the site have been confirmed by county officials. Orion Services said that equipment for dredging would likely still return later, after the new dewatering equipment and settling ponds are constructed and dredging can begin again.
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PINE ISLAND SWIMMING ADVISORY WARNS OF BACTERIA
The Hernando County Health Department has issued a swimming advisory for Pine Island Beach effective immediately. Bacteriological test results received Thursday indicate the current water quality is in the poor range and may pose an increased risk of disease exposure, especially to very young children, older adults and those who have weakened immune systems.
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WEEKEND EVENT FROM NATURALLY HERNANDO.ORG
Saturday, August 28, 2010
29th ANNUAL RED MULE RUNNERS McKETHAN LAKE 5-K
| Registration begins 6:30am; Race time: 8:00am McKETHAN LAKE PARK - 7 miles north of downtown Brooksville on US-41. 5000-meter flat paved course with large oaks for maximum shade. Refreshments and fresh fruit provided. T-Shirts guaranteed to all pre-registered runners. 5-K pre-registration: $20.00; Day of race: $25.00. |
www.active.com
HNS REPORTS---THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2010
THREE ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED HOME INVASION
Sheriff's deputies said Thursday that three men they arrested Wednesday have been charged with attempted home invasion, with bond set at $50,000 each. Investigators say the men, who were identified as 21-year old Edward Young III of Brooksville, 21-year old Tony Lee Smith, Jr. and 20-year old Denzel Devon Smith, both of Bushnell, were approaching 25205 LaRuth Road early Wednesday when the resident, Eric Adams, spotted them and called deputies. Adams said at least two of the three men were armed. The suspects fled when deputies arrived, and all three were captured about three hours later in the Gordon Loop area with aid from a helicopter and K-9 units. Investigators said none of the trio have been connected to a home invasion Tuesday night on Weatherly Road.
Later Thursday all three suspects were booked again on a second felony count for armed burglary. Arrest affidavits say the new charges were filed because the three men allegedly broke into a vacant home on WPA Road to use for surveillance of the Adams home.
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SPRING HILL PHARMACY ROBBED, DRUGS TAKEN
Sheriff's deputies are looking for a man who robbed the CVS Pharmacy at Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Blvd. early Thursday, displayed a knife, demanded oxycodone pills, took an unknown amount of prescription medicine and fled. Authorities said the robbery occurred shortly after 2:30 a.m. The suspect was described as a white male, 25 to 30 years old, six feet tall and about 185 pounds, with either blue or green eyes, and short dark hair. Deputies said he was wearing a white hooded sweat shirt with a black patterned design covering it, dark colored pants, possibly black jeans and black shoes. He also had a white colored mask covering the lower part of his face from the nose downward, with the hood of the sweat shirt covering the top of the head and pulled down to just above his eyes. He was reportedly wearing white cloth gloves over his hands and was armed with a small knife.
Deputies asked anyone in the public with information on the robbery to contact the sheriff's office or call the Crime Stoppers line at 866-990-TIPS.
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JURY VIEWS JARDIN INTERVIEW, DETECTIVES DESCRIBE LINKS TO MURDERS
The jury hearing the double murder trial of 35-year old Robert Jardin viewed a video of the defendant's first interview with sheriff's detectives Thursday. The investigators also testified about the evidence they found linking Jardin to the brutal slayings of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma in their Masaryktown home in 2006.
Detective George Loydgren testified about asking Jardin to come in for an interview about a bar fight in 2008. Jurors then watched Loydgren joking with Jardin about women and sex, saying he was satisfied that Jardin was not connected with the bar fight. The suspect's relief then turned to concern when Detectives Phillip Lakin and Randy Williamson then appeared and confronted him with pictures of the DePalmas. A suddenly sober Jardin insisted he knew nothing about their murders, then repeated two requests to end the interview and leave.
The 45-minute tape omitted the remainder of the questioning, because Judge Jack Springstead ruled that Jardin's rights were violated when the interview continued after his request to leave.
Williamson testified earlier in the morning, and Lakin was expected on the stand later in the day, with all three detectives describing evidence such as a key ring that was traced back to the victims, as well as a vacuum cleaner and other items from the DePalma home which detectives said they found in Jardin's possession.
The former strip club bouncer and construction worker was interrogated for 14 hours the next day, but most of that questioning was ruled inadmissible two weeks ago because of another violation of Jardin's rights.
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DREDGE CHALLENGE DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, MEETINGS PLANNED
County officials and lawyers are expected to meet Friday with representatives of Manuel LLC and the firm's attorney Jake Varn for one last effort to iron out concerns about a modified dredge permit. According to county documents received this week, Varn has concerns about plans for water quality monitoring in Minnow Creek, which has its headwaters east of the dredge spoil site at the old county sewer plant and runs along the north side of the site.
Varn appeared at a County Board meeting earlier this month and told commissioners he could file an administrative challenge to the modified Hernando Beach dredge permit. The revised permit contemplates large settling ponds, more equipment, and use of a chemical coagulant to separate sediment from dredge discharge. Friday is the last day to file a challenge to the modified permit. Officials are concerned that litigation could further delay the stalled project. According to a time-line furnished by dredge contractor Orion Services, the earliest possible project completion date is now July 4, 2011.
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C & D LANDFILL HEARING DELAYED, OWNER CHANGING PLANS
Opponents of a construction and demolition debris landfill at the end of Wildlife Lane in the east county have won a victory in the war over whether the facility will get a state permit. An attorney for neighbors fighting the landfill permit says a hearing scheduled for next week on the permit is being postponed while the landfill's owner revises his plans.
According to a letter from John Thomas, the environmental attorney hired by the landfill opponents, Out of Bounds is asking to modify its application to meet at least some of the residents' complaints. Thomas says a new stronger liner would be installed, and the firm would agree not to accept debris within a 500-foot radius of identified water wells. The discovery of a nearby well helped convince state regulators to withdraw a tentative permit and issue a denial instead.
But Thomas also says the "case is far from over." He says the owners have only committed to "consider" the changes and have asked for a six-month postponement of the hearing before an administrative law judge. And Thomas also notes that even with the liner and the distance from wells, the landfill could still tower 60 to 70 feet above grade and detract from life in the rural community near Cortez and I-75. Meanwhile, residents plan to continue a fund-raising campaign to help pay for Thomas and other legal costs.
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TEEN CHARGED FOR TAKING GUN AND COMPUTER FROM SUV
An 18-year old from Spring Hill was charged with armed burglary and grand theft Wednesday night after deputies said he took a loaded handgun and a computer from an unlocked car. An arrest affidavit says Douglas Madsen Hughes of 6337 Radford Street entered an unlocked Jeep owned by James Browning and took a loaded 38-caliber handgun and a laptop computer. The affidavit says the break-in occurred on July 28, and the gun was recovered after Hughes was involved in an incident where the stolen gun was accidentally fired and hit another person. Browning reportedly identified the gun as his, but deputies said the laptop has not been recovered.
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NUGENT E-MAILS VICTORY STATEMENT TO SUPPORTERS
Sheriff Rich Nugent, the Republican nominee for the District 5 U.S. House seat, e-mailed a victory statement to supporters Wednesday. Nugent thanked supporters and said, "Our success was made possible only through your hard work and hours of volunteering." He added that it "was a hard fought primary [and] one that has made me a stronger candidate and our campaign team more focused and disciplined and that’s exactly how I plan to push on to victory this November."
Nugent pledged to "continue the legacy of strong conservative leadership in the United States House of Representatives that Ginny Brown-Waite has provided for our District these past 8 years," if he wins the largely Republican district against Democrat Jim Piccillo in November.
Nugent garnered 62 percent of the Republican vote in the district in Tuesday's primary, versus 38 percent for Tea Party candidate Jason Sager. His margin in Hernando was even larger, at 68 percent to 32.
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SPRING HILL WOMAN ARRESTED FOR METH IN BRA
A 20-year old Spring Hill woman was jailed for shoplifting and possession of methamphetamine Wednesday. An arrest affidavit says Diana Kristine Smith of 18141 Deason Drive was spotted leaving the Cortez Blvd. Wal-Mart with costume jewelry and clothes she allegedly failed to pay for. When the store's loss prevention officer detained her, she was asked if she was in possession of any illegal items. The store officer told the arresting deputy that Smith then removed a small baggie from her bra and said it contained methamphetamine. The substance in the bag tested positive for meth when a deputy arrived, and Smith was booked into the Hernando County Jail on initial bond of $10,000.
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HNS REPORTS---WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010
THREE MEN QUESTIONED AFTER HOME INVASION AND SEARCH
Three men who roused suspicions of residents near WPA Road and Gordon Loop were the subjects of a three-hour search Wednesday before they were captured. Authorities said they were questioning the unidentified men about a home invasion Tuesday night a few miles away on Weatherly Road.
According to a media release, three black males forced their way into a home at 9195 Weatherly Road, punched the two occupants of the residence, and fled after dumping the contents of a woman's purse in a bag. Deputies said 35-year old Killean Johnson was treated at a local hospital for a small laceration to the back of her head and released. The other victim, 35-year old Chad Varhaul, did not seek treatment.
Wednesday morning a resident in the 8100 block of WPA Road reported three black males walking around an abandoned house and said it appeared they were armed. Deputies on foot and in the air, with assistance from K-9's, searched the area and took three suspects into custody at about 10:30 near Gordon Loop and Granat. Deputies said the suspects were not armed when they were found.
The media release says investigation is continuing to determine whether the trio had any involvement in the Weatherly Road home invasion.
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DREDGE CONTRACTOR RETURNING TO HERNANDO BEACH
Hernando Beach residents have told county officials that Orion Dredging Services trucks and trailers with equipment began arriving back at the dredge site Tuesday. The sighting came a few hours before Orion officials delivered a discouraging message to county staff on Wednesday. While some of the dredge contractor's workers are reported back in Hernando Beach, the firm's president said the low bidder on the dredge project can't start working again until a modified state permit is final and a request to add millions of dollars to its contract is finalized.
The permit is due to become final Friday, and Hernando News Source has been told that County Administrator David Hamilton and legal staff are still negotiating final details to prevent a challenge to the modified permit. Jake Varn, a lawyer for the Manuel family, told commissioners earlier this month that a new agreement for dredge spoils will be needed to avoid a legal challenge to the permit. County documents indicate that the last disputed item revolves around details of water sampling in Minnow Creek, which runs along the north side of the spoil site at the old Hernando Beach sewer plant.
County commissioners have said they won't approve the Orion request for $7.8 million more, which Orion says it needs to comply with provisions of the modified permit. Though county staff won't comment for the record, they are saying they remain optimistic that a solution can be found to keep the project within budget, and they pointed to the reports that the contractor's workers and equipment are coming back to the beach, five days after they gave Orion written notice to get back to work.
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SWFWMD BOARD CUTS MILLAGE RATE
The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board reduced the proposed new millage rate to 0.3770 mill for the District’s General Fund, which is a reduction of a fraction of a mill from the current fiscal year’s rate of 0.3866. The move will reduce the district's ad valorem tax revenue an additional $2.65 million from the current fiscal year. The board's action came Tuesday at a district meeting in Wauchula.
The reduction is a change from the July 29 meeting, when Board members voted to keep the millage unchanged. This lowered millage rate, combined with a reduction in property values as certified by county property appraisers, will result in a $15.5 million decrease in ad valorem property tax revenue.
The last time the Governing Board lowered the District’s millage rate was three years ago, when the Board reduced the millage rate by 0.0354 from 0.422. Before that reduction, the millage rate held steady at 0.422 for the previous 13 years.
Two required public hearings on the District’s total budget will be held in September, with the second hearing scheduled September 28 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Brooksville Headquarters.
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HAMILTON: COUNTY COULD GO "OUT OF BUSINESS" WITHOUT CHANGES
County Administrator David Hamilton told a group of about a dozen people at a budget meeting Wednesday that the county could be "out of business" in two years. He showed graphs indicating that revenues plus reserves will exceed expenses in 2013 unless something changes. He noted that some funds, such as the Development Services enterprise fund, will be out of money even sooner. He told the gathering at the Spring Hill VFW that a big part of the organizational change he''s tried in instill in top management is the need to look long-term at the future of county government. Hamilton also defended the county sheriff's takeover of the jail, and he said the privatization of the jail just wasn't working under a contract negotiated a number of years ago under different conditions. Hamilton said "the general theory that government is always more expensive isn't necessarily true." He pointed to the sheriff's plans to run the jail "military-style," with organized inmate work crews inside and outside the jail.
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NUGENT, ROWDEN, DUKES, SPRING HILL "NO" ARE EASY ELECTION WINNERS
Hernando Sheriff Rich Nugent won an easy primary victory Tuesday over self-proclaimed Tea Party candidate Jason Sager in the contest for the District 5 U.S. House Republican nomination. Nugent will face Democrat Jim Piccillo of Land O'Lakes in November to determine who succeeds retiring Representative Ginny Brown-Waite. Nugent is the odds-on favorite in one of Florida's most heavily Republican districts, although Piccillo presents himself as a conservative Democrat.
Sager's grass-roots campaign just didn't show the results his supporters expected, especially in Hernando County, home to both candidates. Nugent won almost 70 percent of the local Republican votes, while maintaining a district-wide 62-38 edge in percentage of votes.
Diane Rowden is on her way to a November race against incumbent State Representative Rob Schenck. The Democrat handily beat political newcomer Jay Thompson and perennial candidate Dave Werder in the District 44 primary race. Rowden, a former Hernando county commissioner and school board member, will also have to decide when to move. She currently lives outside the district but has vowed to establish a residence in the district before she would take office, as state law allows.
Wayne Dukes, who's lost in two previous bids for the County Board, will take on incumbent Democrat Rose Rocco in November in the only contested commission race. Dukes won 50 percent of the vote in a three-way Republican primary. Ty Mullis got 27 percent to William Kingeter's 22 percent. Dukes may have a tough road ahead, as a number of prominent Brooksville Republicans have donated to Rocco's campaign already.
And in Spring Hill, voters gave an overwhelming thumbs-down to a referendum to grant ad valorem taxing authority to the Spring Hill Fire Board. The issue was hotly contested, with supporters urging a vote to "Cap the Fire Tax" while opponents questioned whether the current fire board would try to use tax authority to find other ways to raise revenue. Roughly six in every ten voters said no to the referendum, which now leaves the fire district in the hands of the Legislature. Lawmakers may be asked to authorize another referendum, and that could put the onus back on Hernando County to provide assistance in keeping the money flowing to the district.
In other races of local interest, incumbent District 43 State Representative Ron Schultz was locked in a tight battle with Jimmie Smith. There is no Democrat in the race, so whoever prevails in the primary goes to Tallahassee. Wednesday morning, final returns gave Smith a narrow 415-vote lead out of more than 31,000 cast, and a final result appeared to hinge on absentee counts Wednesday in the three counties covered by the district, including the northwest corner of Hernando.
And incumbent Hernando School Board members had leads in three races, with two of the non-partisan contests decided in favor of John Sweeney and Dianne Bonfield, who each won a second term on the board. Four-term veteran Sandy Nicholson was getting less than 40 percent of the vote in her three-way race and will face a run-off in November against Cynthia Moore, who finished in a solid second place over Mike Bainum.
Elections officials said only 22 percent of Hernando's voters went to the polls during early voting or braved the rain Tuesday to cast ballots. Absentees were to be counted Wednesday.
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HOMETOWN HERO NOT A BIG HERNANDO WINNER
Hernando High graduate and Brooksville-raised Bill McCollum didn't take his putative home county by storm in Tuesday's election. In fact, McCollum got less than 50 percent of the votes of Hernando Republicans and was less than two percent ahead of multi-millionaire rival Rick Scott in local balloting for the Governor's race. Obscure candidate Mike McCallister was the choice of 10 percent of Hernando's voters. McCollum lost the statewide vote to Scott by a similar margin as he won in Hernando, a little less than three percent.
And Spring Hill's Brian Moore took 22 percent of the votes of Hernando Democrats in his campaign against heavy favorite for the gubernatorial nomination, Alex Sink. Statewide, Moore did even better, with 23 percent of the vote and almost 200,000 total votes.
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JARDIN TRIAL JURY PICKED, TESTIMONY CONTINUES WEDNESDAY
Prosecutor Pete Magrino continues presenting his case against double murder suspect Robert Jardin Wednesday in Hernando County Circuit Court. The state's first witnesses included deputies, detectives and crime scene technicians who were the first to arrive at the Masaryktown home where the bodies of two elderly murder victims were found in 2006. Tuesday, Magrino and Assistant Public Defender Alan Fanter made opening arguments to 14 men and women who were picked as the 12-person jury and two alternates. Jury selection took most of the trial's first two days.
Jardin is charged with two counts of first degree murder in the 2006 stabbing deaths of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma in their rural home near Masaryktown. Magrino's evidence includes Jardin's DNA found on a milk carton in the home and stolen property of the DePalmas allegedly found in his residence. The defense is expected to claim that Jardin was in the home and saw the bodies but did not kill the elderly couple. Fanter's claim that another man did the killing may have been helped by a ruling from Circuit Judge Jack Springstead that the jury can hear evidence of statements made by David Bostick, a relative of the victims who was the first person arrested in the case in 2008 but who was later released for what prosecutors said was a lack of evidence. Magrino sought unsuccessfully to keep the jury from hearing about Bostick.
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LAST MISSING DOG FROM SHELTER BREAK-IN RETURNED
Nature Coast Humane Society Director Joanne Schoch said Wednesday that the last of the missing dogs stolen last week from the society's Mobley Road shelter has been returned. The mixed breed named Moe has now been reunited with siblings Curly and Larry. Schoch said an unidentified man who found Moe and brought him to the shelter has plans to adopt him.
Three other stolen dogs were found in the Fullington Road area of Brooksville last week, and two men were arrested and charged with breaking in to the shelter. One stolen dachshund was found killed on the road near the shelter.
Schoch said there is still one dog missing from a July burglary at the animal shelter, a four-year old pit bull mix named Shayna. A reward for her return is offered.
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DEVELOPER'S BANKRUPTCY LEAVES CITY HOLDING BAG OF BONDS
The Brooksville City Council met Tuesday night to figure out what to do about a $20 million default by the Southern Hills Plantation developer, who's left a lot of committed projects undone. Foremost among them were upgrades to city wastewater treatment facilities, a plan for wastewater reuse, and plans for a road from Cortez Blvd. to the development.
The agenda for the special meeting included a resolution that would demand payment of performance bonds securing the cost of the projects. Those bonds are for a total of almost $20 million.
The first step would be to demand payment from the various companies guaranteeing the obligations. The city is already involved in litigation over payment of a performance bond for the Cascades development, which was part of the original project proposed and approved for Hampton Ridge developers.
The company was one of Florida's most prominent at the time the city stretched its limits south to include the Brooksville Ridge property between U.S. 41 and the CSX railroad. But its Southern Hills development has many more vacant lots than upscale homes, and after emerging from bankruptcy court, Hampton Ridge is no more, its assets, but not its liabilities, now the property of GreenPointe Communities. GreenPointe is still in negotiations with Brooksville over an amended development agreement, with impact fee credits a major bone of contention.
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REGULATORS PROBE "SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE" IN SINKHOLE CLAIMS
Florida insurance regulators are seeking information from the commercial and residential property insurance industry in Florida on sinkhole claims. Regulators say they have seen a "substantial increase" in sinkhole claims around the state, not just in the traditional “sinkhole alley” in Hernando and Pasco Counties. In a media release, the state insurance office said it has heard reports from the industry on the claims increase and is "conducting a data call to learn more information about sinkhole activity including the frequency and severity of claims, and the geographic location of these claims."
The release says the data call will encompass sinkhole claims opened in Florida between 2006 and 2010. Companies are required to report data to the Office by Tuesday, September 21, to more clearly define the types of claims being filed, testing procedures, inspection costs, locations, fees to lawyers and public adjusters, and the amount of structural loss.
Regulators say they will use the information to determine potential regulatory actions and whether additional authority is needed through legislative action.
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WATER DISTRICT LOOKS AT NEW DROUGHT RULES
The Southwest Florida Water Management District will reportedly consider re-writing many of its drought emergency rules when it meets next month at its Brooksville headquarters. The Ocala Star-Banner said in a story Monday that SWFWMD staff has been working on the new rules for the past year because the district felt some of the current rules weren't very effective during the most recent three year drought.
The story says some of the changes would involve new measures for determining drought severity and when to implement water use restrictions. New rules would also provide guidelines for working closer with the local governments who face the task and expense of enforcing the restrictions.
A SWFWMD spokesman told the Star-Banner's Fred Hiers that modifying phases and the different watering rules for each "gets confusing as hell" and said people should be able to understand the rules better.
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CITRUS DEPUTIES CHARGE MAN WITH MOLESTING BROOKSVILLE GIRLS
Citrus County deputies have reportedly charged a Floral City man with molesting two Brooksville teenaged girls. According to a report at CitrusDaily.com, 67-year old Thomas Andrew Ellis is charged with lewd and lascivious molestation and is being held without bond. The report says Ellis, a convicted sexual predator, was named by the two girls, who were under 12 years old at the time. They reportedly told deputies that Thomas Andrew Ellis touched their private areas on more than one occasion.
One of the girls told deputies that one occasion was when she was in elementary school. The other girl said Ellis fondled her over her clothing when she was about six years old. Both girls said that Ellis this activity also occurred at Ellis' home.
The arrest report says he was involved in a prior case in 2009, also involving girls younger than 12. Ellis reportedly refused to talk to investigators and requested a lawyer.
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SPRING HILL MAN FACES ARSON, INSURANCE FRAUD CHARGES
Authorities say a 34-year old Spring Hill man turned himself in Tuesday to face charges of arson, insurance fraud, and false report of a crime. A warrant charges Steven Roque of 12318 Glen Raven Street with burning a car, damaging a structure, submitting false reports to an insurance company and to law enforcement, and littering. The warrant says the crime was committed in March 2010 but doesn't provide much else in the way of details. Roque was booked into the Hernando County Jail on the charges.
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