HERNANDONEWSSOURCE.COM

HNS REPORTS---FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2010

Hernando News Source — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:00:00 GMT

ROYAL HIGHLANDS PAIR CHARGED FOR POT, PUBLIC NUISANCE

Allopenna Vasquez
Two Royal Highlands men were charged Thursday with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after sheriff's detectives served a search warrant and found 200 grams of pot. Detectives also charged 21-year old Thomas Benjamin Allopenna and 22-year old Anthony Nicholas Vasquez, both of 11055 Marsh Wren Avenue, with maintaining a public nuisance. Detectives said they had recovered larger amounts of pot on several prior occasions from the home and added the nuisance charge. An arrest affidavit says one March search of the home uncovered two pounds of marijuana.
The Florida nuisance law applies to a home which is "visited by persons for the purpose of unlawfully using drugs, or which is used for the illegal keeping, selling, or delivering of the same." The nuisance law could allow the sheriff's office to seize the suspects' home to pay the costs of investigation and prosecution.
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CHILD PORN TRIAL OPENS IN CIRCUIT COURT

A Homosassa man facing 125 counts of possession of child pornography, and a potential prison sentence of 42 years, went on trial Thursday in Hernando County Circuit Court. Joe Rogers is accused of downloading 125 images of child porn onto a CD. The 49-year old reportedly admitted to his girlfriend that he accidentally downloaded one image when she found the CD and confronted him. But prosecutors said the multiple images of children engaged in sex acts were mingled among images of legal adult pornography on the disc. A four-man, two-woman jury was seated to hear the case at midday Thursday. Rogers' lawyer is expected to argue that his client didn't know what was on the CD, which was turned over to law enforcement when he apparently broke up with the girlfriend.
According to reports, Rogers turned down a deal for probation in the case because he didn't want to be labeled as a sex offender. The trial is expected to last through Friday morning.
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BOYETT'S GROVE ROBBER TO FACE JURY FRIDAY

With circuit judges back from a three-day conference, Judge Jack Springstead wants to fit two jury trials into two days. The Rogers trial went first, but it now looks like the last of the three Boyett's Grove robbers to face justice will stand trial on Friday. Adrian 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.
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DEFENSE ATTORNEYS DISAGREE ON TERRY'S RECUSAL MOTION

There was no official word at midday Thursday as to what action Circuit Judge Stephen Rushing might take on a motion for recusal in the case of a former Brooksville police detective. Shawn Terry's perjury case was assigned to Rushing, but Terry's lawyer Ellis Faught filed a motion to recuse Rushing, which would mean sending the case to another judge. The motion reportedly claims Rushing showed bias in rejecting a search warrant prepared by Terry because the subject of the search was a friend of the judge's and a member of his church.
Two defense attorneys who spoke off-the-record had different conclusions. Though typically a recusal motion is automatic, and judges have no discretion to challenge the facts, one attorney said the alleged bias was in a different case and was not directed at Terry, but was based instead on the judge's friendship with Terry's investigative target. He said that might be enough of a distinction to allow Rushing to deny the motion.
But a second defense attorney was convinced that distinction didn't matter. He said the law requires the judge to look only at the sufficiency of allegations in the motion and bars a judge from further consideration of the truth or the significance of the facts. He said he expected that Rushing would grant the motion and send the Terry case to the other felony judge, Jack Springstead.
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FRIDAY STORMS LEAVE RAIN, LIGHTNING DAMAGE, NO MAJOR PROBLEMS

A strong thunderstorm that developed over central Hernando County at mid-afternoon Friday caused a minimum of damage. According to reports from authorities, a burning tree was blocking Citrus Way near Centralia Road for a time, and several electrical transformers were reported hit by lightning strikes.

Alert reader Kristie Kroslack snapped this burning transformer on south U.S. 41 shortly before five p.m.
An official total for rainfall was not immediately available, but the rain gauge outside HNS headquarters had a little over three inches after barely an hour of constant rainfall.
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CCA, COUNTY AGREE ON JAIL INVENTORY PACT

County lawyers said Thursday they received a signed copy of an agreement on the Hernando County Jail transition from Corrections Corporation of America. The private jail operator and the county have listed equipment and furnishings at the jail on which the parties agree as to ownership. CCA would be allowed to remove items it owns without dispute in preparation for the transition from the private operator to the sheriff's office next month. Property with disputed ownership would be subject to review by a third party, who would examine documents and make an ownership determination. That would include the $30,000 dishwasher and other items, such as furnishings and some security equipment. The agreement says CCA would not remove disputed items until ownership is resolved.
The agreement also provides a mechanism for establishing the value of CCA-owned items that the sheriff's office would be purchasing for the jail transition. The pact averts a threatened legal showdown which two county commissioners favored in asking a judge to intervene and stop CCA from removing property. A CCA official called the whole affair a "misunderstanding" in an e-mail Wednesday and said no property had been removed from the jail yet.
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WATER DISTRICT HOLDS LINE ON MILLAGE RATE

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board has approved its proposed millage rates for the General Fund and the seven Basin Boards.
The board adopted a proposed millage rate of 0.3866 mill for the District’s General Fund, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
The total proposed FY2011 budget for the District is $282.9 million, 5.35 percent lower than the adopted budget for this year, which was $298.9 million. The $16 million decrease in the budget is primarily due to a $22.6 million reduction in ad valorem tax revenue and a $7.8 million reduction in state revenue, offset by a $15.4 million increase in balance from prior years.
For the owner of a $150,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption, the district-wide tax would be $38.66 a year, or about $3.22 per month. An additional basin tax ranging from $14.84 to $29 a year depends on the watershed basin where the property is located.
Two more public hearings on the District’s total budget will be held in September. The second and final hearing will be Sept. 28 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Brooksville Headquarters.
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WOMAN ACCUSED OF DUI AFTER ACCIDENT

Sheriff's deputies say they arrested 54-year old Mary Dorton Fanter of Hernando Beach after a Wednesday rear-end accident at Cortez and Deltona Blvds. The crash caused only about $1,000 damage, but investigating deputies said they detected a strong odor of alcohol while talking to the woman. An arrest affidavit said she failed field sobriety tests and declined a breath test at the Hernando County Jail. She was charged with driving while impaired with damage to property.
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HIT AND RUN DRIVER CHARGED WITH DUI

Sheriff's deputies say a Spring Hill man who drove away from an accident was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated. An arrest affidavit says 37-year old Robert Brian McFarley of 5070 Baldock Avenue was involved in a minor crash near Mariner and Elgin Blvds. Wednesday afternoon. Deputies used a description of the silver Toyota that left the scene and located McSorley at his residence. The affidavit says he failed field sobriety tests and gave breath samples that were more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit when he was booked into the Hernando County Jail.
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SPRING HILL HOME A TOTAL LOSS AFTER FIRE; PETS MISSING

Fire officials say a Spring Hill home is a total loss and three pets are missing after a fire apparently smoldered for hours and left the structure uninhabitable. A sheriff's report says the house at 1416 Findlay Avenue was filled with smoke when firefighters arrived Wednesday morning. The homeowner said no one had been in the residence since 10 p.m. Tuesday night but that there were two dogs and three cats inside. The report says only one dog and one cat were found alive.
Fire officials said the cause of the blaze appeared to be electrical in nature, and the sheriff's report says the power to the home had been turned off at some point on Tuesday. An investigation into the exact cause was continuing on Thursday.
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DEPUTIES CHARGE BROOKSVILLE MAN FOR BASEBALL BAT ATTACK

An arrest affidavit says sheriff's deputies charged 62-year old Charles Marshall Owen of 6063 Desales Street in Brooksville with aggravated battery and criminal mischief Wednesday. The affidavit says Owen attacked a man who was visiting at the home of Owen's tenants Wednesday night and swung a baseball bat at him twice, missing once and then hitting him in the hand. He then allegedly used the bat against the victim's vehicle. When deputies arrived and took him into custody, Owen reportedly denied hitting anyone or anything. The affidavit says deputies took pictures of the victim's swollen thumb and the damage to his vehicle, and Owen was booked into the Hernando County Jail on the two charges.
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SPRING HILL MAN HELD ON DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGE

A 38-year old Spring Hill man was charged with drug trafficking Wednesday when he allegedly tried to fill a fake prescription for 220 oxycodone pills. An arrest affidavit says Jeramy Gene Peal of 17302 Eve3lyn Court is also charged with trying to obtain a controlled substance by fraud and giving a false ID to the pharmacist. The affidavit says the pharmacist at a Cortez Blvd. store spotted the script as a fake, and Peal reportedly fled the store when deputies arrived. They found him nearby and took him into custody.
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SPRING HILL FIREFIGHTERS, ADMINISTRATORS TALK CONTRACT AGAIN

A fourth negotiating session between Spring Hill Fire and Rescue District administrators and firefighters has been scheduled for Friday. A district media release says the meeting is set to start at 2:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the district administrative building on Bob Hartung Court. Under Florida law, negotiating sessions between government agencies and employee unions are open to the public.
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HERNANDO TEA PARTIERS SET SATURDAY MEEETING

The Hernando County Tea Party will be having a general meeting at 10:00 a.m. Saturday at the Spring Hill Branch Library. A local spokesperson says the meeting is open to the public and will last for an hour. The meeting agenda includes recent changes to the HCTP's organizational structure.
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CROOKS ON CAMERA---SPRINGSTEAD HIGH CAR BURGLARS

The subjects pictured above burglarized two vehicles in the parking lot of Springstead High School on Saturday, 07-10-10, at approximately 1:00 p.m. The suspects fled the area in the above pictured white vehicle, a Dodge Avenger.
If you recognize these subjects, notify District 2 Deputy Szatkowski. If you wish to remain anonymous or be eligible for a reward, call the Hernando County Crime Stoppers toll free number 1-866-990-8477 or you may email your tip by clicking below.
http://www.hernandosheriff.org/Tips/ You may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000.

WEEKEND EVENTS FROM NATURALLY HERNANDO.ORG

Friday, July 30, 2010 - Saturday, July 31, 2010
GHOST TOUR

8:00-10:00pm MAY-STRINGER HISTORICAL MUSEUM, 601 Museum Court,Brooksville. Must be minimum 16 yrs. of age to participate. Digital recorders, cameras, EMF meters, cameras and recording devices are welcomed. Reservations Required. $20.00 per person.

352-799-0129
www.hernandohistoricalmuseumassoc.org

Saturday, July 31, 2010
4-H CLUB HO-DOWN

Doors open: 5:00pm HERNANDO COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, 6436 Broad Street (US-41 South), Brooksville. The "Jolly Ranchers" Ho-down dinner, dance and barn auction, along with a silent auction, a "Kiddie Corral" with games, food and supervision for young children. Donation: Adults - $10.00; Children - $5.00.

352-650-0409
jollyranchers4h.webs.com/

Saturday, July 31, 2010
HERNANDO AERO-MODELERS RACES

8:30am-noon HERNANDO AERO MODELERS FIELD, US-98 (Ponce de Leon Blvd.- near Brooksville Cemex), Brooksville. Radio-controlled model aircraft races. Admission and parking is free.

352-382-3948

Saturday, July 31, 2010
HERNANDO HAS TALENT - FINALS COMPETITION

7:30pm Location: STAGE WEST COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE, 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill. Fifteen named finalists compete to win the first "Hernando Has Talent" contest. Tickets: $10.00 per person.

352-683-5113
www.tampabay.com/hernando

HNS REPORTS---THURSDAY, JULY 29,.2010

Hernando News Source — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:57:00 GMT

ROYAL HIGHLANDS PAIR CHARGED FOR POT, PUBLIC NUISANCE

Two Royal Highlands men were charged Thursday with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after sheriff's detectives served a search warrant and found 200 grams of pot. Detectives also charged 21-year old Thomas Benjamin Allopenna and 22-year old Anthony Nicholas Vasquez, both of 11055 Marsh Wren Avenue, with maintaining a public nuisance. Detectives said they had recovered larger amounts of pot on several prior occasions from the home and added the nuisance charge. An arrest affidavit says one March search of the home uncovered two pounds of marijuana.
The Florida nuisance law applies to a home which is "visited by persons for the purpose of unlawfully using drugs, or which is used for the illegal keeping, selling, or delivering of the same." The nuisance law could allow the sheriff's office to seize the suspects' home to pay the costs of investigation and prosecution.
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CCA, COUNTY AGREE ON JAIL INVENTORY PACT

County lawyers said Thursday they received a signed copy of an agreement on the Hernando County Jail transition from Corrections Corporation of America. The private jail operator and the county have listed equipment and furnishings at the jail on which the parties agree as to ownership. CCA would be allowed to remove items it owns without dispute in preparation for the transition from the private operator to the sheriff's office next month. Property with disputed ownership would be subject to review by a third party, who would examine documents and make an ownership determination. That would include the $30,000 dishwasher and other items, such as furnishings and some security equipment. The agreement says CCA would not remove disputed items until ownership is resolved.
The agreement also provides a mechanism for establishing the value of CCA-owned items that the sheriff's office would be purchasing for the jail transition. The pact averts a threatened legal showdown which two county commissioners favored in asking a judge to intervene and stop CCA from removing property. A CCA official called the whole affair a "misunderstanding" in an e-mail Wednesday and said no property had been removed from the jail yet.
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CITIZENS QUESTION USE OF VOTED MILLAGE FOR PARKS

Several voters and a county commission candidate are questioning the county's proposed use of a voted one-tenth mill tax levy to maintain parks. Commissioners voted this week to consider an ordinance next month that lawyers say would let them divert some of the voted millage to help keep existing parks maintained, even though referendum language said it would be used for bonds to buy conservation land. County legal staff said they are comfortable with the proposed ordinance, given the history of the tax. The commission candidate was Ty Mullis, one of three Republicans trying to unseat incumbent Democrat Rose Rocco. He told Hernando News Source he's also hearing people asking how the County Board could use the tax for parks maintenance without a new referendum.
The 1988 ballot language for the referendum that approved the special levy didn't mention using the tax for anything other than acquisition of environmentally sensitive land. The actual language of the proposition that voters approved is quoted in the "Acquisition Manual" approved last year by a citizen committee appointed by commissioners which meets regularly to make recommendations on the program. According to the manual, voters approved this question in 1988:
"Shall Hernando County be authorized to levy ad valorem taxes on all taxable property at a rate not exceeding one-tenth of one mil (.10 mil) for not in excess of thirty (30) years and to issue general obligation bonds bearing interest at no more than the maximum legal rate at time of sale and payable from such ad valorem taxes for financing the acquisition, lands and habitats for endangered species, threatened species and species of special concern?"
The manual also says that the referendum approval was intended to "support the acquisition and management of environmentally sensitive lands."
Three properties have been purchased in whole or in part with the ESL funds, Fickett Hammock, Cyrpess Lakes Preserve and Peck Sink.
Officials noted that the tax revenue has been used for years to maintain lands bought with the special fund. County lawyers also pointed to a board resolution after the referendum approval that they say supports broader use for public lands maintenance, as well as noting the county's failure to issue the bonds contemplated by the referendum question. But legal issues don't seem to concern voters who have questioned the latest move to ease a budget shortfall and avoid layoffs of parks workers. At least some of those voters will likely be in the audience on August 10 when the County Board considers the ordinance that would legalize the new use of the land acquisition tax money.
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CHILD PORN TRIAL OPENS IN CIRCUIT COURT

A Homosassa man facing 125 counts of possession of child pornography, and a potential prison sentence of 42 years, went on trial Thursday in Hernando County Circuit Court. Joe Rogers is accused of downloading 125 images of child porn onto a CD. The 49-year old reportedly admitted to his girlfriend that he accidentally downloaded one image when she found the CD and confronted him. But prosecutors said the multiple images of children engaged in sex acts were mingled among images of legal adult pornography on the disc. A four-man, two-woman jury was seated to hear the case at midday Thursday. Rogers' lawyer is expected to argue that his client didn't know what was on the CD, which was turned over to law enforcement when he apparently broke up with the girlfriend.
According to reports, Rogers turned down a deal for probation in the case because he didn't want to be labeled as a sex offender.
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BOYETT'S GROVE ROBBERY SUSPECT TO FACE JURY FRIDAY

With circuit judges back from a three-day conference, Judge Jack Springstead wants to fit two jury trials in two days. The Rogers trial went first, but it now looks like the last of the three Boyett's Grove robbers to face justice will stand trial on Friday. Adrian 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.
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DEFENSE ATTORNEYS DISAGREE ON TERRY'S RECUSAL MOTION

There was no official word at midday Tuesday as to what action Circuit Judge Stephen Rushing might take on a motion for recusal in the case of a former Brooksville police detective. Shawn Terry's perjury case was assigned to Rushing, but Terry's lawyer Ellis Faught filed a motion to recuse Rushing, which would mean sending the case to another judge. The motion reportedly claims Rushing showed bias in rejecting a search warrant prepared by Terry because the subject of the search was a friend of the judge's and a member of his church.
Two defense attorneys who spoke off-the-record had different conclusions. Though typically a recusal motion is automatic, and judges have no discretion to challenge the facts, one attorney said the alleged bias was in a different case and was not directed at Terry, but was based instead on the judge's friendship with Terry's investigative target. He said that might be enough of a distinction to allow Rushing to deny the motion.
But a second defense attorney was convinced that distinction didn't matter. He said the law requires the judge to look only at the sufficiency of allegations in the motion and bars a judge from further consideration of the truth or the significance of the facts. He said he expected that Rushing would grant the motion and send the Terry case to the other felony judge, Jack Springstead.
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WATER DISTRICT HOLDS LINE ON MILLAGE RATES

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board has approved its proposed millage rates for the General Fund and the seven Basin Boards.
The board adopted a proposed millage rate of 0.3866 mill for the District’s General Fund, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
The total proposed FY2011 budget for the District is $282.9 million, 5.35 percent lower than the adopted budget for this year, which was $298.9 million. The $16 million decrease in the budget is primarily due to a $22.6 million reduction in ad valorem tax revenue and a $7.8 million reduction in state revenue, offset by a $15.4 million increase in balance from prior years.
For the owner of a $150,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption, the district-wide tax would be $38.66 a year, or about $3.22 per month. An additional basin tax ranging from $14.84 to $29 a year depends on the watershed basin where the property is located.
Two more public hearings on the District’s total budget will be held in September. The second and final hearing will be Sept. 28 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Brooksville Headquarters.
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FOUR MURDER SUSPECTS PLEAD NOT GUILTY

Four suspects in two murder cases pleaded not guilty to first degree murder charges in Circuit Court Wednesday. Stanley Eckard, a 21-year old Spring Hill man charged with killing and burying his brother in the side yard of their family home, was scheduled for a pre-trial hearing in September. Also coming back to the court for September hearings are a trio of suspects accused in the murder of 18-year old Enrique Acevedo and the attempted murder of another passenger in Acevedo's car. The cases of Stephen Wesolek, Sherrie Dicus and Sabrina Dicus are unlikely to go to trial anytime soon, though it appears that the 14-year old Sabrina Dicus will not face the death penalty.
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WOMAN ACCUSED OF DUI AFTER ACCIDENT

Sheriff's deputies say they arrested 54-year old Mary Dorton Fanter of Hernando Beach after a Wednesday rear-end accident at Cortez and Deltona Blvds. The crash caused only about $1,000 damage, but investigating deputies said they detected a strong odor of alcohol while talking to the woman. An arrest affidavit said she failed field sobriety tests and declined a breath test at the Hernando County Jail. She was charged with driving while impaired with damage to property.
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HIT AND RUN DRIVER CHARGED WITH DUI

Sheriff's deputies say a Spring Hill man who drove away from an accident was arrested on a charge of driving while impaired. An arrest affidavit says 37-year old Robert Brian McFarley of 5070 Baldock Avenue was involved in a minor crash near Mariner and Elgin Blvds. Wednesday afternoon. Deputies used a description of the silver Toyota that left the scene and located McSorley at his residence. The affidavit says he failed field sobriety tests and gave breath samples that were more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit when he was booked into the Hernando County Jail.
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SPRING HILL HOME A TOTAL LOSS AFTER FIRE; PETS MISSING

Fire officials say a Spring Hill home is a total loss and three pets are missing after a fire apparently smoldered for hours and left the structure uninhabitable. A sheriff's report says the house at 1416 Findlay Avenue was filled with smoke when firefighters arrived Wednesday morning. The homeowner said no one had been in the residence since 10 p.m. Tuesday night but that there were two dogs and three cats inside. The report says only one dog and one cat were found alive.
Fire officials said the cause of the blaze appeared to be electrical in nature, and the sheriff's report says the power to the home had been turned off at some point on Tuesday. An investigation into the exact cause was continuing on Thursday.
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DEPUTIES CHARGE BROOKSVILLE MAN FOR BASEBALL BAT ATTACK

An arrest affidavit says sheriff's deputies charged 62-year old Charles Marshall Owen of 6063 Desales Street in Brooksville with aggravated battery and criminal mischief Wednesday. The affidavit says Owen attacked a man who was visiting at the home of Owen's tenants Wednesday night and swung a baseball bat at him twice, missing once and then hitting him in the hand. He then allegedly used the bat against the victim's vehicle. When deputies arrived and took him into custody, Owen reportedly denied hitting anyone or anything. The affidavit says deputies took pictures of the victim's swollen thumb and the damage to his vehicle, and Owen was booked into the Hernando County Jail o n the two charges.
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SPRING HILL MAN HELD ON DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGE

A 38-year old Spring Hill man was charged with drug trafficking Wednesday when he allegedly tried to fill a fake prescription for 220 oxycodone pills. An arrest affidavit says Jeramy Gene Peal of 17302 Eve3lyn Court is also charged with trying to obtain a controlled substance by fraud and giving a false ID to the pharmacist. The affidavit says the pharmacist at a Cortez Blvd. store spotted the script as a fake, and Peal reportedly fled the store when deputies arrived. They found him nearby and took him into custody.
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CROOKS ON CAMERA---DETECTIVES LOOK FOR "SUSPICIOUS SUBJECTS"

The subjects and vehicle pictured above, were observed prior to a theft of catalytic converters at Vans, Cars and Trucks, 7043 Broad St., Brooksville, and are persons of interest. The theft occurred during the overnight hours of Wednesday, 07-16-10.
If anyone recognizes these subjects or their vehicle, notify District 3 Detective Stentz. If you wish to remain anonymous or be eligible for a reward, call the Hernando County Crime Stoppers toll free number 1-866-990-8477 or you may email your tip by clicking below.
http://www.hernandosheriff.org/Tips/ You may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000.

HNS REPORTS---WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010

Hernando News Source — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:01:00 GMT

JAIL INVENTORY AGREEMENT IN PROCESS WITH COUNTY, CCA

County lawyers will send a proposed agreement between the county and Corrections Corporation of America to CCA officials Wednesday. They're hoping that an accord on how to handle personal property inside the jail will avert a potential legal action. A CCA official said in an e-mail to county officials Tuesday that she was watching County Board discussion of the issue on a webcast and "wanted to communicate with you immediately to clarify the apparent misunderstanding that exists" on the property issue. Natasha Metcalf's e-mail also said that "CCA has no intention of removing any items necessary for the continued day- to-day operation of the facility until the facility transitions to the County." She said the proposed deadlines in CCA's correspondence were aimed at getting a timeline for the parties to reach agreement on disputed items as quickly as possible.
Assistant County Attorney Jon Jouben warned County Board members during Tuesday's meeting that seeking court action on the property issues might not be the best course, and commissioners agreed to wait until the end of the workday Wednesday to see what the agreement status was. The county and CCA are disputing ownership of some jail furnishings, most prominently including a $30,000 dishwasher but also extending to other equipment in the jail, which is due to transition to the sheriff's office before the end of August.
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COUNTY STAFF OPTIMISTIC AIRPORT ROAD WILL MISS ALEXSUK FARM

Hernando News Source has learned that a meeting Tuesday on the proposed road through utilities property southwest of the Hernando County Airport ended with staff officials more optimistic than ever about re-routing the County Line Road-Airport connector. Officials reportedly concluded that a swap of Airport property for the utilities land needed for the right-of-way could work to replace lost sewer plant property at no monetary cost. And officials also said that new flood maps take some of the current plant property out of flood zones, meaning more of the land is usable for planned plant expansion.
Until Tuesday's staff meeting, utilities officials said they weren't sure the re-routed road could be accommodated without buying new land for the Airport sewer plant, which is being designed to process six million gallons per day and eventually allow the closing of the smelly Spring Hill plant. Those concerns meant that the intended savings from not buying the Alexsuk property might not become reality. The Alexsuks were seeking more than $1.3 million for 22 acres of road and pond right of way.
County officials told Hernando News Source Tuesday night they are more comfortable that the road re-route first suggested by commissioners and airport officials last month will actually work. Meanwhile, the Alexsuk family renewed their complaints of mistreatment by the county prior to the decision to move the road. They say they face no compensation for 15 years of uncertainty about the need for their farmland. The latest developments on the road appear to give the Alexsuks no reassurance at all that any of their land will be needed.
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MIXSON LAWYER CHALLENGES FIRING, CITES STALLED PROJECTS

Fired County Engineer Charles Mixson's lawyer told county commissioners Tuesday that a lack of progress on two major projects demonstrates the unfairness of Mixson's termination in January by County Administrator David Hamilton. Bruce Snow cited the Hernando Beach dredge project, which figured big in Mixson's firing shortly after sttate regulators ordered a halt to the project due to permit violations. Snow noted that the dredge contractor has now de-mobilized and left the site, so that no work on the project has been accomplished since Mixson was told to pack up and leave after 23 years in the county's Public Works Department. And Snow cited the DPW compound cleanup as another basis for the termination, pointing again to a pending Remedial Action Plan, or RAP, which left the project in almost the same status as before Mixson's firing.
Mixson did not speak except to affirm the truth of Snow's 40-minute statement. Commissioners also had no comments. Mixson has filed a federal complaint against the county charging age discrimination in his firing. Snow had requested the hearing as a requirement of due process in letting Mixson "clear his name" from allegations of mismanagement in Hamilton's termination letter. And by what some thought a coincidence and others did not, Hamilton is on furlough this week and was not at the meeting.
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SCHOOL BOARD GIVES THUMBS DOWN TO QUARTER-MILL TAX

Hernando County taxpayers will not be paying an extra quarter mill in tax to the School District this year. The School Board voted Tuesday to approve a tentative millage and budget minus revenue from the so-called Critical Needs millage. A new state law allowed the extra quarter mill levy on vote of the board. Officials said it would have generated an extra $2.2 million, and Superintendent Bryan Blavatt had recommended approval. But no one seconded a motion by board member James Yant to approve the discretionary quarter-mill, and the board then voted 5-0 to set the tentative millage at 7.417 mills, which is .062 less than last year. The School District has less discretion than other taxing authorities, since the biggest part of the millage rate is the "required local effort" mandated by the state in return for state funding. The local millage generates only 31 percent of the school board's total revenues. After approving the millage for notice in August to taxpayers, the board then adopted a tentative $171 million general fund budget for the coming year. The budget will be finally adopted in September after more public hearings.
Tuesday's board action came after a public hearing, but there was only one public speaker, and Anthony Palmieri urged the board to reject the critical needs quarter-mill. Most of the other audience chairs remained empty.
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FUNERAL PROTEST FIZZLES

A report that members of a fringe religious group planned to protest at the funeral of a Spring Hill soldier turned out to be much ado about nothing. A media report that the notorious Westboro Baptist Church protesters would show up at the Brewer Funeral Home on Mariner Blvd. drew a crowd of motorcycle-riding Patriot Guards, a large contingent of sheriff's deputies, and Tampa Bay and local media. But protesters never arrived, and the funeral began without incident shortly after ten Wednesday morning.
The 27-year old soldier, Derek Schicchi, died last week in an off-base incident near Ft. Hood, Texas. Authorities said there was no indication of foul play.
The Westboro protesters have gained notoriety by showing up at military funerals around the country because their leader has claimed that American military deaths are punishment for a society tolerant of homosexuality.
The media report that had them coming to Spring Hill was apparently based on information from the Patriot Guard group that regularly attends military funerals.
Schicchi was to be buried at Florida National Cemetery in Sumter County, and Patriot Guard members were optimistic that the controlled access to the facility would prevent any graveside protest.
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SCHOOL BOARD OKAY'S BLAVATT RE-ORG PLAN

School Superintendent Bryan Blavatt won formal approval Tuesday night from school board members to re-organize some top administrative positions. The re-org plan was scaled down from an earlier proposal that would have added a second assistant superintendent position. The approved plan consolidates some jobs and uses vacant positions to "streamline" administrative functions, according to Blavatt. He said he expects the plan to produce modest cost savings while making the school district more accountable for compliance with state mandates. He told the board at an earlier meeting that the district needs to keep a closer eye on state requirements. The a state audit earlier this year assessed almost a quarter-million dollars in penalties against the district for not having paperwork in place to document compliance with requirements.
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SHERIFF'S OFFICE FILES NEW DRUG CHARGES AGAINST JAIL INMATE

A woman jailed since April on charges of possessing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia got new charges Monday when sheriff's detectives added 11 counts of conspiracy to traffic in oxycodone. A media release says the new charges were based on information seized at the time of the April arrest from the Zirkels Circle home of 25-year old Jandi Valentine. Detectives said Valentine and co-conspirators had a cell phone racket going where Valentine's phone would ring when a pharmacy tried to call for prescription verification, and Valentine allegedly confirmed the prescriptions. The release said Valentine was being held without bond in the Hernando County Jail on the new charges, which could potentially net her literally hundreds of years in prison if found guilty and sentenced consecutively.
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SCHOOL BOARD WANTS TO JOIN CLASS SIZE LAWSUIT AGAINST STATE

Consensus of School Board members at a Tuesday workshop was unanimous in supporting a lawsuit against the State of Florida over the class size amendment. The board was expected to vote to join the litigation at its regular meeting Tuesday night. Board lawyer Paul Carland said the lawsuit would challenge the constitutionality of statutory penalties for failing to comply with class size limits that go into effect this school year. Two members, Pat Fagan and Sandy Nicholson, said the suit should also target the state's failure to provide financial assistance to local districts in implementing the class size constitutional amendment, but Carland said that issue was not a likely winner. Penalties for noncompliance could run into the millions of dollars, but school officials have said the cost of compliance is just as much if not more than the penalties.
At the workshop, members also said they were satisfied with new performance-based evaluation procedures for teachers and administrators. The new process is aimed at satisfying state and federal mandates for grant funding and the Race to the Top program. District officials will use the first year of new teacher evaluations only for research and data collection.
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FOUR COMMISSIONERS SAY NO MILLAGE ROLL-UP

County commissioners voted 4-1 today to leave the tentative millage rate at the same amount as the past year's levy. Only Chairman John Druzbick voted against the motion by Commissioner Jim Adkins. The vote was a direction to county staff to plan for a new year's budget with no millage roll-up, and officials said the move leaves the general fund shortfall at almost a million and a half dollars. The vote means that TRIM notices next month will not show any increase in millage rates for the county. It also means that as a practical matter the county's finally approved budget cannot provide for a tax rate increase. Officials had prepared a proposed balanced budget based on a one-third mill roll-up. Commissioners said constitutional officers will need to consider further reductions in their budgets to eliminate the shortfall.
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CAREGIVER ACCUSED OF TAKING WARD'S CREDIT CARD

Sheriff's deputies said a 55-year old nursing assistant was arrested Monday after she reportedly admitted charging almost $2,000 on a stolen credit card. An arrest affidavit says Debra Louis Rohrsen of 10485 Heley Street was charged with organized fraud after her employer was contacted by the 81-year old victim, whom the suspect was caring for. The affidavit says the fraud came to light when the victim found more than 40 suspicious transactions on her credit card bill. Deputies said the suspect turned herself in at the Hernando County Jail and was booked on bond of $2,000.
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DUI SUSPECT GETS BATTERY OF CHARGES FOR HITTING DEPUTY

A man suspected of driving while intoxicated reportedly refused to cooperate with two sheriff's deputies and wound up charged with resisting arrest and battery on an officer. An arrest affidavit says 40-year old Bobby Zachary Whitfield of 4746 Keysville Avenue in Spring Hill was reported as a possible drunk driver late Monday night, and deputies located his vehicle on Northcliffe Blvd. When he reportedly refused to stop, two officers followed him to his home, where he was "uncooperative" and allegedly struck a deputy in the face with an open hand during an attempt to handcuff him. The affidavit says the deputies then struggled on the concrete driveway with Whitfield, who reportedly had to be subdued with multiple uses of a taser stun gun. Both deputies had minor injuries from the scuffle, and Whitfield had abrasions from the struggle on the driveway. In addition to the battery and resisting charges, he was also booked into jail for DUI and held on total bond of $15,500.
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CROOKS ON CAMERA---DEPUTIES SEEK WAL-MART THEFT SUSPECT

The subject pictured above is a suspect in a theft that occurred at Wal-Mart, 13300 Cortez Bv. Brooksville on Tuesday, 07-06-10 at approximately 7:15 p.m.
If you recognize this subject, notify District 2 Deputy Stokes. If you wish to remain anonymous or be eligible for a reward, call the Hernando County Crime Stoppers toll free number 1-866-990-8477 or you may email your tip by clicking below.
http://www.hernandosheriff.org/Tips/ You may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000.