Disabled Naked Man Collapses, Dies As Deputies Attempt To Subdue Him
August 20, 2013
A disabled naked man collapsed and died after trying to break into several homes in Escambia County.
He was identified as 55-year old Norbert A. Chabannes.
Just after 5 p.m. Monday, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 14000 block of Canal Drive after witnesses reported a naked man crawling across a yard and attempting to break into several houses by throwing bricks and other objects at windows. Chabannes, who is disabled and had only one leg, had also attempted to break into an elderly couple’s home and cut his arm in the process.
A deputy arrived to find Chabannes still naked, delirious, and covered in blood and sweat. As the deputy tried to subdue the man, it became clear that he had no pulse, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release. Attempts by deputies and EMS to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
Further investigation revealed that the incident began when Chabannes arrived home and became confrontational with his housekeeper. The victim stated that during the altercation, Chabannes began gouging her eyes and repeatedly banged her head against a wall. The victim had injuries that were consistent with her statements, deputies said. The victim managed to escape and flee to a neighboring home for help.
The incident is under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Stand Your Ground Special Session Officially Won’t Happen
August 20, 2013
There will officially not be a special session to deal with the state’s “stand your ground” self-defense law.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner sent a letter Tuesday to Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders notifying them that a poll of lawmakers came up well short of the 96 legislators who would need to support a special session to consider changes to the law, which grants immunity to people who use deadly force if they have reason to believe their lives are in danger.
In fact, 108 lawmakers voted against calling a session, while 47 voted for it. Another four legislators did not cast a vote.
The vote for the session fell largely along party lines, with seven House Democrats joining Republicans to quash it: Reps. Mike Clelland of Lake Mary; Mark Danish of Tampa; Dwight Dudley of St. Petersburg; Katie Edwards of Plantation; Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda of Tallahassee; Linda Stewart of Orlando; and Carl Zimmermann of Palm Harbor.
The poll stemmed from a sit-in protest at the Capitol by a group called the Dream Defenders. The group protested against the “stand your ground” law after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, though Zimmerman’s attorneys did not use the law as a trial defense. The protesters left the Capitol last week.
Meanwhile, Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, filed legislation Monday to repeal the law, but that bill remains unlikely to pass during the 2014 regular session.
story by The News Service of Florida
Pictured: Secretary of State Ken Detzner (right) listens to Gov. Rick Scott speak. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Lake Serenity Resort Campground Planned For Molino
August 20, 2013
A Cantonment resident is looking to build an RV campground resort in Molino.
The “Lake Serenity Resort” would be located at 5424 Schaag Road, about a half mile south of Omega Drive. The resort would include an RV campground, tent campground and cabins, along with amenities such as a pool, bathhouse, playground and a pavilion, all near an existing lake on the 40 acre property.
The land is owned by a family trust, with Judi Aliff of Cantonment making a pre-application to the Escambia County Development Review Committee for the project. The plans must pass numerous other hurdles in the application process before the project could begin with final approval from the county.
Pictured top: The hand drawn preliminary plans for the Serenity Lake Resort on Sascha Road in Molino as submitted to the Escambia County Development Review Committee. Pictured below: An aerial view of the lake property. Courtesy images for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Pensacola, Century Officials Spending Two Days In The Sunshine
August 20, 2013
Officials from Pensacola and Century will spend their Tuesday and Wednesday in the Sunshine.
Barbara Peterson, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, will conduct sunshine and public records law training for Pensacola city employees, board members and council members all day today at Pensacola’s Saenger Theatre.
Wednesday, Peterson will meet with the staff and board members of the Greater Pensacola Chamber for training. The chamber’s Sunshine Task Force asked for the second day because there are some unique issues for the organization since it’s not a government body.
While all of the meeting are open to the public, a third session geared toward the public will be held Tuesday from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at the Saenger called “Sunshine in the City”.
Since the free training meetings are open to the public, the Town of Century is going to take advantage of the training too. Century Mayor Freddie McCall, council member Gary Riley, Assistant Deputy Clerk Angela Suggs and Citizen Services Clerk Kim Godwin will attend Tuesday’s training session. On Wednesday, Century council member Sandra McMurray Jackson, Town Clerk Leslie Gonzalez and Citizens Service Clerk Erin Weekes will attend the free session with the Pensacola Chamber.
Both training days are the result of recent reports by the State Attorney’s Office. On July 2, State Attorney Bill Eddins issued a report that Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward’s city administrator and his press secretary/public information officer had violated the state’s public record laws. He also had numerous complaints on how Pensacola dealt with public record requests–some were taking months to fulfill.
Later in the month, the state attorney issued an opinion that the Pensacola chamber does fall under the state’s Sunshine Laws because of its managing economic development and tourism for the county and city.
Charges Upgraded: Molino Woman Charged With Murder After Husband Dies
August 20, 2013
A man shot three times by his wife Saturday night in Molino died Monday afternoon, and charges against her have been upgraded to murder.
Rebecca A. Rogers, 43, remains in the Escambia County Jail without bond, now charged with second degree murder.
She allegedly shot her husband, 42-year old Jason Lee Rogers, in the head about 10:45 p.m. Saturday at the couple’s home in the 3400 block of Highway 29 near Mathison Road. He was transported by Escambia County EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. He was pronounced dead just after 1 p.m. Monday.
The shooting was domestic violence related, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Rebecca Rogers called 911 to say that her husband choked her and she shot him, according to an arrest report. Deputies arrived to find Rebecca Rogers standing outside the home. They found Jason Rogers lying unconscious in the back bedroom of the home on his stomach with what appeared to be a gunshot to his head. According to the report, he also suffered two other gunshot wounds to the back.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Back To School Photo Gallery
August 20, 2013
Thousands of area students headed back to class on Monday. We asked NorthEscambia.com readers to submit back to school photos, and we received hundreds.
Click here for a photo gallery.
We regret that we are unable to run all of the photos.
Pictured top: Fourth grader Kasen Sawyer with his teacher, Kim Ryan, at Bratt Elementary School. Pictured below: The “Atallah Bunch” – Adrianna, Madeleine, and Ayden attend Byrneville Elementary; Trystan attends Bratt Elementary; and Tryniti attends Molino Park. Reader submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Court Records: Greer Tried To Get Gambling Regulator Fired
August 20, 2013
Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer, on the payroll of a South Florida dog track, tried to get a gambling regulator fired two days before the veteran state worker was forced to resign, according to court records obtained by The News Service of Florida.
Greer is now serving an 18-month sentence in state prison after pleading guilty to money laundering and theft in connection with a scheme in which he created a company and then steered party business to it.
But while Greer — hand-picked by former Gov. Charlie Crist to head the state GOP —was party chairman in 2009, he was also working for the owners of the Mardi Gras Casino in Broward County, getting paid $7,500 a month as a consultant for entertainment and hospitality regulatory issues.
Four years later, gambling operators are still jockeying over lucrative pari-mutuel permits even as the Legislature explores how much — and what types of — gambling the state should allow.
A case involving the quest for a quarter-horse permit near Homestead, which could open the door for more slot machines in South Florida, demonstrates a tangled web of the relationships between gambling lobbyists, regulators and politicians.
The company Greer was working for was one of the “three loudest voices” opposing South Florida quarter-horse permits, according to Florida Administrative Law Judge R. Bruce McKibben.
McKibben in an Aug. 6 recommended order said the Department of Business and Professional Regulation didn’t do anything wrong by denying a permit to Ft. Myers Real Estate Holdings, a company trying to get the permit for the venue in Florida City, near Homestead. The permit, if issued, would allow a card room and possibly slot machines. Marc Dunbar, a lawyer who represented the Ft. Myers group, said it plans to appeal McKibben’s ruling.
But the court documents and interviews with the players reveal a marked shift in the state’s handling of permits after Chuck Drago, Greer’s close friend and godfather of his oldest son, became secretary of the agency and after long-time DBPR Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering Director Dave Roberts was ousted.
Critics, including Drago’s deputy secretary Scott Ross, accused Roberts of issuing the quarter horse permits “like candy.”
Within a week after Greer demanded that Roberts be fired, Drago ordered Ross to terminate the regulator, Ross testified in the case.
Drago denies being asked by Greer to get rid of Roberts, targeted by South Florida tracks angry over the quarter- horse permits and other issues.
“Nobody asked me to have Dave Roberts leave. That never happened,” Drago said.
But Delmar Johnson, former executive director of the RPOF under Greer, said his old boss had “unfettered access” to Drago, who served as police chief in Oviedo while Greer was a city commissioner prior to becoming the GOP chairman. Greer also had access to Crist and his top two aides.
On July 14, 2009, Greer and Johnson met with Ross — Johnson’s fraternity brother — at Po’ Boys, a bistro close to RPOF headquarters in downtown Tallahassee frequented by Greer and his gang.
After the lunch, Greer took Ross aside and directed him to “fire your pari-mutuel director,” Ross told The News Service of Florida.
Ross, who had been on the job less than two months, said he refused. But Greer insisted, saying, “I’ve heard really bad things about him and he needs to go,” according to Ross.
Ross said he had no idea Greer, who never registered as a lobbyist for Hartman and Tyner, Mardi Gras’ owner, was working for the dog track and slots venue at the time.
“Do I have an idea now why that ask was made? I can connect the dots,” said Ross, a lobbyist and gambling lawyer who worked for Las Vegas Sands before being hired by Drago in 2009. His client roster now includes Las Vegas Sands, one of several gambling operators trying to convince Florida lawmakers to approve “destination resort” casino-style gambling in South Florida.
Johnson also said he didn’t know that his boss had a side job as a Mardi Gras consultant when he arranged the lunch with Ross at Greer’s request.
“Greer had to meet Scott. We had to go to lunch. Scott had to be there, and I had to get Scott there and he wouldn’t say why,” Johnson, now an AFLAC insurance agent, said in a telephone interview.
After the meeting, “Greer was frustrated,” Johnson added. “He didn’t seem happy.”
Hartman and Tyner Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Adkins said he hired Greer as a consultant for a constitutional amendment that would have lowered the tax rate on slot machines. That plan was dropped after lawmakers reduced the tax rate in legislation dealing with a compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Adkins said he never asked Greer to lobby for him and didn’t seek to get Roberts fired.
“Absolutely not. I had very little communication with Jim Greer during that whole time. He was on retainer strictly for the issue of running the constitutional amendment,” Adkins said. “It’s just nonsense. Sorry. But the people playing the bad games here are Dunbar and Romanik.”
Dunbar has represented the Ft. Myers group, and David Romanik is a principal of and attorney for Ft. Myers Real Estate Holdings Inc. Romanik and Dunbar are both affiliated with Gulfstream Park Casino in Broward County and are both part-owners of a controversial track in the north Florida community of Gretna. The pair is frequently at odds with other South Florida pari-mutuels.
Greer’s lawyer Damon Chase claims Greer got his orders from Crist, who is now a Democrat and is expected to announce a bid for governor in October.
“Suffice it to say, Mr. Greer served at the pleasure of Charlie Crist during that time. Mr. Greer was steadfastly loyal to Charlie Crist and always followed instructions consistent with Mr. Crist’s agenda. Any involvement Mr. Greer would have had in this story would have been at Charlie Crist’s express direction,” Chase said in an e-mail.
Crist did not return calls seeking comment.
Drago, who left his post as DBPR secretary in November 2009 and went to work as Crist’s deputy chief of staff, said the former governor never pressured him about the quarter-horse issue.
“I never got direction that I can ever recall from the governor’s office one way or the other. The only concern was that they were kept in the loop as to what we decided. I never got any direction and I never even got a sense from the governor’s office that they wanted me to do anything particular,” Drago said.
Roberts left the agency the day after he inadvertently released documents to a lawyer for Mardi Gras, a competitor of Gulfstream, related to an investigation into a ring of Gulfstream workers who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from slot machines using free play cards.
DBPR officials at the time said that the public records fiasco had nothing to do with Roberts’ departure. Roberts now works as a lobbyist for Magic City Casino, the former Flagler Dog Track in Miami-Dade County.
But the depositions and testimony in the case show that the governor’s office was keenly interested in the quarter-horse permits.
For two years, Crist’s administration had been negotiating a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to allow the tribe to operate slots. Lawmakers refused to go along with the first compact Crist signed with the tribe in 2007 and, in 2009, the Legislature was preparing to pass a bill approving the agreement, ultimately authorized in 2010. In 2004, voters approved slot machines in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, opening the door for slots on tribal lands.
Between September 2008 and February 2010, the agency issued nine quarter-horse permits, including five approved by Roberts. Races have been run at two of the facilities — Gretna and Hialeah.
Three weeks after Roberts was forced to resign, Drago, Ross and the agency’s chief gambling lawyer, Joe Helton, met with representatives of Calder Race Course, Flagler Dog Track and Mardi Gras at Calder in Miami. Calder lobbyist Wilbur Brewton organized the meeting where the group aired concerns about the quarter-horse permits and suggested ways the agency could halt or at least slow them down.
The permits hadn’t resulted in licensed activities and thus weren’t bringing any taxes and fees to the state, the quarter-horse opponents pointed out.
State law imposed a restriction on other types of gambling permits, barring new facilities from opening within 100 miles of an existing track. But a loophole in the law did not include the mileage restriction for quarter-horse permits. The Legislature was expected to include the 100-mile restriction in a bill authorizing the compact with the Seminoles.
The South Florida tracks also believed that Roberts’s interpretation of the law relating to zoning requirements was too slack and complained to him about it, according to McKibben’s Aug. 6 order.
Gambling attorney John Lockwood told the court that “the special interests wanted Roberts terminated, because they were concerned with the quarter-horse application review process,” McKibben wrote.
Under “The Roberts Regime,” McKibben wrote, the agency would accept a letter from a land-use lawyer saying that zoning for the proposed location “was obtainable” from local authorities.
Lawyers for the quarter-horse opponents urged a stricter interpretation of the law that would require prior zoning approval before a permit could be issued.
After Roberts left, the agency adopted the proposed zoning requirements when considering the permits. DBPR officially rejected the Ft. Myers group’s permit in January, 2010, almost a year to the day after the application was first submitted.
Dunbar blamed Crist’s inner circle for the switch.
In the court filings, Dunbar and Romanik accused DBPR of stalling the Florida City permit until the 100-mile restriction went into effect, making approval unobtainable. After denying the permit, the agency refused to grant an administrative hearing on the issue. Romanik sued, and the 1st District Court of Appeal agreed that DBPR should have granted the hearing. The appeals court also ordered DBPR to pay nearly $80,000 in legal fees to the Ft. Myers group.
Ross said Dunbar is making “wide-ranging accusations of a conspiracy when there wasn’t one” because he disagrees with the different interpretation of the law.
“Nobody’s denying there was a philosophical change in how these were handled,” Ross said. “The interpretation was wrong. That’s why there was a policy change. You can see that the interpretation was wrong because to this day only one of them with the exception of Hialeah which has had a facility for decades is operational.”
by The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Sweep Double Header 2-1, 3-2 From Huntsville
August 20, 2013
The Blue Wahoos won their second and third straight games by sweeping their doubleheader with the Stars with a 2-1 win in game one, before claiming a 3-2 win in a rain-shortened second game.
In game one, the two teams waited out a 30-minute rain delay with two on and two outs and the Stars batting in the bottom of the first. Once it stopped, Huntsville took a 1-0 lead when Jason Rogers tried to move in to third on a pitch in the dirt, but Tucker Barnhart’s throw got away and allowed Rogers to score the first run of the game.
Pensacola evened the score in the fourth when Mike Costanzo unloaded on his third home run of the season, all against Huntsville. In the fifth, the Wahoos went ahead with back to back doubles from Jon Moscot and Ryan LaMarre. That proved to be all the Wahoos needed as Moscot (W, 2-1) finished five strong innings on the mound allowing just the one unearned run on only two hits with four strikeouts to earn his second win of the season.
Trevor Bell nailed down the save, his 15th of the season with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
In the second game, the Blue Wahoos used a solo home run from Brandon Short to kick start the offense. Later in the inning, Yorman Rodriguez plated two more with a two-run single to right. That was enough with the Wahoos holding off late rallies of a run each from the Stars in the fourth and fifth innings. With the Wahoos batting in the top of the seventh, the rains hit hard at Joe Davis Stadium immediately following a double to right by Corey Wimberly. The game was delayed and eventually called making the Wahoos the winners of the rain-shortened game.
Parker Frazier (W, 2-1) earned the win for the Blue Wahoos out of the bullpen with 1.2 scoreless innings worked. Stars starter Frankie De La Cruz (L, 1-4) surrendered all three Pensacola runs and was charged with the loss. Daniel Renken started for Pensacola and allowed just one run on four hits over four innings. He fanned six while walking just two.
The Blue Wahoos and the Stars will continue the series on Tuesday night in Huntsville. Pensacola will send RHP Tim Crabbe (6-8, 3.35) against Stars RHP Taylor Jungmann (9-8, 3-95). First pitch is slated for 6:43 p.m.
Rainbows And Rain Showers
August 20, 2013
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tuesday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 88. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
- Wednesday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon.
- Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon.
- Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
- Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73.
- Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 90.
- Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72.
- Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90.
Pictured: A rainbow Monday afternoon over Flomaton, Ala. Photo by Ditto Gorme for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Democrats’ Chief Financial Officer Candidate Out After Bankruptcies Emerge
August 20, 2013
Allie Braswell, who last week was rolled out as the Democrats’ first high-profile challenger for a state Cabinet post, ended his campaign Monday following revelations that he had filed for bankruptcy three times, most recently in 2008.
Braswell, 51, the head of the Central Florida Urban League, apologized to supporters while taking full responsibility for his actions in a release that announced his departure from the 2014 campaign for Florida’s chief financial officer.
“The bright spotlight of a statewide campaign has cast the ups and downs of my life into harsh relief, and I now know that this campaign is not the way I was meant to serve my community,” Braswell said in the release. “Running statewide is a daunting challenge for any candidate; as a political outsider, I have now learned that I underestimated how my campaign would affect those I care about most.”
On Friday, a day after Braswell opened his campaign, The Florida Times-Union reported that Braswell had filed for bankruptcy in Orlando in 2008, after having done so twice in South Carolina in the 1990s.
Joshua Karp, a spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party, said Monday that while Braswell is a self-made man, he was “not ready for the rigors of a statewide campaign, and that was plain.”
Steve Schale, a Democratic political consultant, wrote on Twitter that Braswell made the right decision.
“Braswell had an immense mountain to climb if he ran perfect campaign,” Schale tweeted. “After that first day, he was done. Smart to get out now.”
Braswell’s sudden departure leaves the Democrats once again without a highly recognizable name for a Cabinet post in 2014.
Karp expects that will change, but he wouldn’t say if the party had anyone lined up for the CFO slot.
“In the course of a long campaign cycle, with a lot of statewide offices, I think you’ll see any number of people consider it,” Karp said.
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Attorney General Pam Bondi make up an all-GOP Cabinet and plan to run for re-election. Each won by at least 13 percentage points in 2010.
Atwater has already raised $195,125 in cash for his re-election bid and received $366,651 in in-kind contributions, state elections records show.
Last Thursday, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant praised Braswell as “exactly the kind of leader we need in Tallahassee.”
Republican Party of Florida Chairman Lenny Curry used Braswell’s departure as a chance to take a shot at his Democratic counterpart.
“Allie Braswell had better sense to drop out than Allison Tant did to endorse him,” Curry said in a statement. “To back a candidate in charge of Florida’s finances without vetting that candidate’s handling of his personal finances shows either a high level of incompetence or a new level of desperation for Allison Tant.”
Karp declined to discuss party candidate vetting.
Democrat Thaddeus “Thad” Hamilton also has filed to run for agriculture commissioner. Hamilton drew 2 percent of the vote for that office as a non-partisan candidate four years ago.
According to the Times-Union, Braswell said the first bankruptcy filing in South Carolina was dismissed because of a mistake, leading to the second. Braswell said he “used bankruptcy as way to responsibly pay my debt” and that his financial problems would allow him to empathize with voters.
“Honestly, my story is of a regular guy,” Braswell told the Times-Union. “I’ve felt the pain that a lot of people feel.”
Braswell, who spent 13 years in the Marine Corps and whose career after the military included time as a technology executive with Disney, said when he entered the race that he would focus on foreclosures and property-insurance rates. He touted his ability to cut a $14 million budget he oversaw at Disney to $11 million without cutting jobs.
In his withdrawal statement, Braswell pointed to his experiences, including his personal financial struggles, for what made him want to run for the statewide office in 2014.
“At the Urban League, I work every day with people who are struggling to make it,” Braswell said. “As I have experienced struggles in my life, so many people are struggling, and that is what inspired me to run for Florida’s chief financial officer — to be a champion, standing up for the poor and middle class.”
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida