Archive for the 'Florida' Category

Florida courts continue to show a bass-akward way of dispensing justice — 31-year-old Marissa Alexander has been sentenced to a 20-year bid for firing “a warning shot” to her husband, who was attacking her during a 2010 incident. Rep. Corrine Brown said the failure of the Stand Your Ground act is based on race:

How many times have they accepted Stand Your Ground if the person that was asking for it was black? You tell me.

Alexander next will appeal the court’s decision, with Brown’s aid.

[floridatimesunion]

Weston, FL, has banned nightclubs, dance halls, and skating rinks (really?) in an effort to curb violence, thus propagating the stereotype that it’s mostly the elderly who live in Florida. Fortunately, the city has agreed to allow school dances to occur, so kids will have an outlet to fist pump and dance poorly to Skrillex and Drake. John Lithgow or Kevin Bacon could not be reached for comment because they were presumably too busy face palming and shaking their heads.

[timenewsfeed]

Bizarre Blotter Item of the Day: A Florida man was arrested Monday for allegedly assaulting his mother over a can of salsa and taco sauce.

According to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report, 23-year-old Christopher Phillips became upset after his 55-year-old mother Rebecca used his salsa and taco sauce on her dinner without permission.

The police say Phillips screamed and yelled before putting his mother in a head lock and breaking her glasses. His live-in girlfriend, 27-year-old Lisa Tyre, later got involved as well, emerging from the room they share and slapping Rebecca in the face four times.

Both Phillips and Tyle were arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. Phillips is still in jail; Tyre was cut loose.

[tsg.]

Sentenced To Date of the Day: A man charged with domestic violence was ordered by a Broward bond court judge to go on a date with his wife.

According to the official police report, Plantation resident Joseph Bray pushed his wife and put his hands around her neck during an altercation that began when he didn’t wish her a happy birthday.

In lieu of setting a bond or sentencing Bray to jail time, Judge John “Jay” Hurley told the 47-year-old to “go home, pick up his wife, get dressed, take her to Red Lobster.” He also suggested the couple go bowling after and then seek counseling.

Explaining the bizarre sentence, Hurley said he did not feel the domestic violence charge was serious enough to warrant more serious release terms. He was also persuaded to be lenient by Bray’s wife, who said she was not injured nor in danger of becoming injured.

[sentinel / myfoxhouston.]

Gorgeous Nature Film of the Day: “Emerging from the shadows and effortlessly gliding through their domain, the mermaids take central stage in Crystal River”: The endangered West Indian Manatees of Florida get a loving tribute in Built By Wildman‘s stunning nature short, “Sirenia Shadows.”

[tnw.]

Criminally Dumb Criminal of the Day: Last week, police in Sweetwater, Florida arrested 18-year-old Guadalup Valdes and 32-year-old Yamil Sarabia for stealing Christmas decorations from their neighbor’s yard and putting them up in their own yard, one block away.

Authorities were on the lookout for another possible accomplice, 37-year-old Roberto Acosto-Fernandez.

The decorations, which included Mickey Mouse on a horse, Snoopy on his doghouse, and hugging penguins, were valued at over $500.

Surveillance footage led police to the two suspects. Valdes (pictured above) was charged with grand theft Christmas.

[cbsnews / happyplace.]

RIP Society of the Day: Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum, three families in St. Petersburg, Florida, are occupying a local Best Buy so they can be first in line for Black Friday, which is nine days away.

“We’re all students and we’ve got to pinch a penny,” Christine Orta told NewsChannel 8, which sounds like it might be legitimate until you learn that they’re going to be whiling away the time playing games for a week and a half so they can buy a plasma flat-screen TV.

[tbo / actionnews / consumerist.]

Needle In A Sh*tstack of the Day: Brian McGuinn accidentally tossed his wife Anna’s $10,000 engagement ring in the trash.

Gone? Not quite.

Waste management company Wheelabrator was kind enough to allow McGuinn to look through their garbage heaps for the missing ring. He was led by a plant worker to a 10-foot-high pile of refuse where his neighborhood’s garbage was located, and began the sifting process.

“It was absolutely disgusting,” he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “It stunk beyond belief. The smell was God-awful. Everything unsanitary you could think of crossed my path at least a couple times.”

He finally found the buried treasure after some 30 minutes of soul searching (AP says 90). “It was like winning the lottery,” McGuinn said. “It was probably one of the best moments ever.”

[sunsentinel / video: arbroath.]

Say What Now of the Day: Rep. Ritch Workman (R-Melbourne) isn’t sitting around talking about job creation like most of his colleagues in the Florida House of Representatives — he’s actually doing something about it.

That something? Introducing a bill to repeal a law banning dwarf tossing.

“I’m on a quest to seek and destroy unnecessary burdens on the freedom and liberties of people,” Workman told the Palm Beach Post. “This is an example of Big Brother government.”

The dangerous and demeaning gimmick was banned in the state in 1989.

“All that it does is prevent some dwarfs from getting jobs they would be happy to get,” Workman said. “In this economy, or any economy, why would we want to prevent people from getting gainful employment?”

Now, don’t get him wrong: Workman thinks the practice is “repulsive and stupid,” but feels “it’s none of the state’s business if somebody wants to do this.”

According to Robert Van Etten, the former president of Little People of America who convinced the state legislature to ban the so-called sport, that somebody is nobody.

“It’s something that brings out the worst element in some people, and it’s focused on people who are the most vulnerable,” Van Etten told the Post.

tl;dr: Your tax dollars at work.

[pbp.]

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: A 70-year-old Florida woman and her terminally ill husband are being foreclosed upon by Bank of America because they paid their mortgage a week in advance.

The Bullingtons, who have lived in Pasco County for 15 years, ran into financial trouble when James fell ill and their medical expenses skyrocketed. The couple asked the bank to reduce their monthly mortgage payment through a modification plan, and the bank agreed.

Sharon Bullington sent in her first payment under the revised plan on December 23, and, even though it wasn’t due until January 1, the bank accepted it. In January, Bullington attempted to pay February’s installment over the phone, but got her routing number wrong — a mistake she didn’t find out about until several weeks later.

The couple was summarily ejected from the plan in March.

Confused, Bullington wrote a two-page letter to Bank of America president Brian Moynihan to clarify that the payment made in December was meant to cover January. Moynihan aide Ana Olivera wrote Bullington to reiterate the requirement that all payments under the Home Affordable Modification Program must be made “in the month in which [they are] due.”

Olivera went on to say that the foreclosure process could not be halted, and that Bullington’s only recourse was to sell the home in a short sale or sign it over to the bank. “I understand that you may be disappointed with our final resolution and appreciate the opportunity to clarify this matter,” Olivera’s letter concluded. “While this may not be the response you were hoping for, I trust I have addressed your concerns.”

“It’s like death to me,” Bullington, who is her husband’s sole caregiver, told the St. Petersburg Times. “My husband is bedridden. It’s almost more than I can bear.”

Reached for comment by the paper, Olivera decline to speak on the matter, but a Bank of America rep said in an email that the Bullingtons’ case will be re-reviewed.

[tampabay.]