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Sunday, January 10, 2010, 9:20 pm

Airbrushes and ammo at Thunder by the Bay

by Staff Report

Designer Robert Harris calls it a "rolling history in airbrush work."

The "Veteran Tribute Bike" was on hand at the annual Thunder by the Bay festival in downtown Sarasota on Sunday, flaunting its machine guns and fighter-jet cockpit sidecar. The motorcycle has been a work in progress for the past four years.

Harris, 66, takes memorabilia given to him by military veterans and incorporates it into the ammunition-covered Harley-Davidson.

"Now it's a tribute to veterans from all branches of the military, and all wars," he said of his creation.

The tribute bike, which is designed to raise awareness about veterans' issues, was featured on the final day of the 12th Thunder by the Bay festival, a motorcycle event that draws hundreds of riding enthusiasts statewide.

Since its inception, more than $725,000 has been raised from the festival to help Suncoast Charities, a nonprofit agency supporting local charities serving children with special needs such as Special Olympics, Loveland Center, Community Haven and Adult Center, The Florida Center, and United Cerebral Palsy.
Gallery

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Tuesday, January 05, 2010, 12:13 pm

Florida GOP chair Greer to resign, sources say

by The Associated Press

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer talks with reporters after receiving a vote of confidence from the executive committee of the Florida Republican Party in Tallahassee on Dec. 10, 2009. There had been calls for Greer's resignation because of his open support of Gov. Charlie Crist in a hot GOP primary for the U.S. Senate and controversies over spending by some party leaders. (ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVE)

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer will announce his resignation Tuesday amid criticism the party has been wasting money and not raising as much as it should.

Greer will step down Feb. 20, more than three years after Gov. Charlie Crist hand-picked him to run the state GOP. In recent weeks, major party donors and other leaders have called for his resignation, citing questionable party spending, lackluster fundraising and division among party loyalists.

Crist defended Greer throughout the criticism and continued to praise him Tuesday.

"Under Chairman Greer's leadership we maintained a strong majority in Florida's congressional delegation and overwhelming majorities in the state House and Senate. Jim has long been a loyal servant to the Republican cause," Crist said in a statement. "Chairman Greer has and always will have my unwavering support."

Greer planned to tell the party's executive board about his decision during a 12:30 p.m. conference call.

"I call on Florida Republicans to unite behind our common values of less government and more personal freedom and sincerely hope that we can move forward together to ensure statewide Republican victories in 2010," Crist said.

Sen. Paula Dockery, a Republican candidate for governor who has criticized the way the party is being run, said she hopes Greer's resignation is just the first step in making the party more accountable with money.

"I don't think you can correct the problem until you address it fully and put it behind you," Dockery said. "I'd hate to see us just change the person and not just change the way business is done."

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Monday, January 04, 2010, 12:37 pm

More GOP lawmakers want to boot party boss

by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer talks with reporters after receiving a vote of confidence from the executive committee of the Florida Republican Party in Tallahassee, Fla. on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009. There had been calls for Greer's resignation because of his open support of Gov. Charlie Crist in a hot GOP primary for the U.S. Senate and controversies over spending by some party leaders. (AP ARCHIVE / TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT / BILL COTTERELL)

More top Republican officials want embattled state party chairman Jim Greer to resign.

Former House speakers Dan Webster and Tom Feeney were among several influential former lawmakers included in a letter Monday from former state Rep. Ron Richmond that urged Greer to quit.

The letter said long-standing momentum to build the Republican Party into the majority party in Florida over the years has deteriorated under Greer, whom they accused of wasteful spending of contributions intended for political purposes.

The letter said Greer's leadership has been tumultuous and created strife among the party faithful.

Republican Party leaders are meeting this weekend in Orlando and Greer's status might be addressed.

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Sunday, December 27, 2009, 4:20 pm

Bucs upset Saints in overtime, 20-17

by The Associated Press

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Cadillac Williams scores a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints in the second half of an NFL football game in New Orleans on Sunday. (AP)

Carnell Williams had 129 yards rushing and Connor Barth kicked a 47-yard field goal in overtime, lifting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a stunning 20-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

New Orleans was heavily favored and could have wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a win, but instead dropped a second straight game at home after opening the season 13-0.

Williams had a 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Michael Spurlock's 77-yard punt return tied it, completing a comeback from 17 points down in the first half.

The Saints had a chance to win in the final seconds of regulation, but Garrett Hartley missed a 37-yard field goal. Tampa Bay (3-12) then won the coin toss to open overtime and scored soon after.

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Tuesday, December 08, 2009, 3:35 pm

Venice handles small sewage spill

by Staff report

Venice utilities workers had to clean up a sewage spill after a blocked line caused an overflow about 8:45 a.m. today.

The spill occurred at the southwest corner of Indian Avenue and Bahama Street, the city reported.

Sewage overflowed for about an hour as workers attempted to fix the problem caused by grease accumulation in the sewer. About 75 to 100 gallons of raw sewage leaked onto the ground, the city spokeswoman Pam Johnson said.

About 2 gallons flowed into a stormwater manhole. The sewage was vacuumed and the area treated with disinfectant.

Johnson said the incident underscored the importance of disposing of grease in the garbage and not in the sink, garbage disposal, or other sewage conveyance.

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Sunday, April 19, 2009, 1:18 pm

REVIEW: Sarasota Orchestra continues its winning streak

by By Richard Storm

In “Dvorak: Lost in America,” the Sarasota Orchestra presented the second in its innovative series, “Journeys to Genius.” In this non-traditional format, Maestro Leif Bjaland and the orchestra’s musicians use a stimulating mix of images and sound to explore the sometimes surprising connections and influences which are to be found in acknowledged masterpieces of classical music.

A capacity audience, clearly not entirely those who attend the orchestra’s regular concerts, was delighted by the witty and resourceful script written and narrated by Maestro Bjaland with the help of Michael Redding, baritone, and the voiceovers of Aden Russell Leonard, Dirk Meyer, Bryan Torfeh and this writer. Obviously, considerable research had gone into the construction of the first part of the event, in which the historic 1892 celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of America was used to illustrate this country’s new industrial might and the often-brash cultural tapestry created by both native and immigrant influences.

Bohemian composer Antonin Dvorak had been charged by his benefactor, Jeannette Thurber, with the task of creating an American school of musical composition. As if this were not daunting enough, Dvorak’s declared intent to include the themes of Negro music in the vocabulary of such a style came under immediate fire from the European-influenced musical establishment of the day, expressed by Amy Beach, George Chadwick and Edward MacDowell in no uncertain terms, as heard in the voiceover quotations.

Nonetheless, Dvorak pressed on, discovering and developing thematic elements which have come to be considered American, ingeniously illustrated with fragments of Negro spirituals, powerfully sung by Michael Redding and compared with their symphonic derivatives while archival film was projected on either side of the orchestra. Although many of the images were both fuzzy and small, they provided some intriguing glimpses of the surging energy of American popular culture during the time the composer was creating his iconic Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”

As the performance of the complete symphony which followed proved, it seems likely that no one in attendance will ever hear it in the same way again. This rendition, powerful as it was, was not perfect. In addition, the projections which had been so useful earlier became distracting as the cameras panned restlessly around the orchestra, creating visual patterns sometimes at odds with the music. These are minor quibbles, however, detracting little from the huge success of this much-needed initiative to bring new life to classical music and new pleasure to a wider audience.

First published April 19, 2009.

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Monday, March 09, 2009, 6:42 pm

Asolo Repertory Theatre and Sarasota Ballet team up for new season

by Jay Handelman

With the economy in turmoil and state and private grants and donations decreasing, the Asolo Repertory Theatre is aiming toward more fun evenings.

Budget cuts will mean two fewer shows and a two-week shorter season, but the theater is trying some ambitious productions, including a joint effort with the Sarasota Ballet.

“You want to be thinking, but not too much,” Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards told a Town Hall meeting Monday in announcing the new season lineup. “We don't want to go to a gloomy place.”

Toward that end, the season will open with the Tony Award-winning musical “Contact,” a dance piece that will feature dancers from the Sarasota Ballet, which shares space with the Asolo in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.

Two other musicals are on the schedule, as well. One is the two-character “The Last Five Years” by Jason Robert Brown, and the other is a relatively new musical about Ginger Rogers called “Dancing Backwards in High Heels” by Lynnette Barkley and Christopher McGovern.

The mainstage season also will feature the American premiere of “The Perfume Shop,” E.P. Dowdall's adaptation of the Hungarian romantic comedy “Parfumerie,” which was the basis for the films “You've Got Mail,” and “The Shop Around the Corner” and the musical “She Loves Me.”

Mark Twain stories provided the inspiration for James Still's “Searching for Eden: The Diaries of Adam and Eve,” which looks at relationships between men and woman at the beginning and today.

Willy Holtzman's “Hearts” is the story of the memories of Jewish American veterans of World War II, while Janece Shaffer's “Managing Maxine” is about finding love late in life. The show, which had its premiere in Atlanta, will be reset in Sarasota by the author.

The theater also will host a two-show new play festival and one more fully-staged show is still to be announced.

At the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, second-year students will be seen in Roberto Aquirre Sacasa's psychological thriller “The Mystery Plays”; Joe Penhall's “Blue/Orange,” about the politics of mental illness; Sophie Treadwell's 1928 expressionist play “Machinal”, about a woman who believes she can have it all; and “The Game of Love and Chance” by French playwright Pierre Marivaux.

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Friday, November 20, 2009, 10:28 pm

Home buyers have the power in Sarasota-Bradenton area

by By TOM BAYLES

Here's something many Southwest Florida listing agents know but would rather not hear: Despite the uptick in the local real estate market, buyers remain in the driver's seat.

Sarasota-Bradenton was just ranked third nationally on a list of the regions where buyers have the most leverage by Zillow, the online home valuation service.

During September, buyers were able to seal their deals at a median of 7.8 percent below the final listing price, Zillow said. That equates to a savings of just under $20,000 -- in many cases from a price that has already been lowered.

Home buyers in Charlotte County-North Port fared nearly as well, coming in at No. 7 on the Zillow list of 156 markets. They were typically able to negotiate deals of nearly 7 percent off the final listing price, or about $11,500.

"People are becoming more accepting of the true market value of their homes," said Steve DuToit, an agent with Sarasota's Keller Williams and Associates. "The bottom line is if homes are priced correctly they will bring full price."

DuToit fears that buyers knowledgeable of Zillow's rankings will dig their heels in even when a home is listed properly and demand a five-digit decrease in price, stifling sales at a time when many are desperate because of a job loss or to avoid foreclosure.

He also has seen many instances that do not fit the Zillow model.

"I had three properties sell last week for full list price, or over list price, because they were properly priced for this market," DuToit said.

But Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach-based housing analyst, said many still believe their homes are worth a lot more, and that listing agents will put a home on the market at that desired price in hopes they can later persuade their clients to go lower.

"You could make a case that real estate agents are still listing properties at too-high prices for what the market is bearing," McCabe said. "Even with all the stories they've read in the media, people are still way off on what their homes are worth."

Nationally, buyers negotiated a median that was 2.9 percent off the final listing price, down a bit from 3 percent in August, Zillow reported.

Nearly 23 percent of homes on the market had a price cut as of the end of September, and the median trim in pricing by sellers was 6.5 percent.

'More to choose from'

Buyers' negotiating power has been formidable for some time.

Southwest Florida has been ranked in Zillow's top 10 markets for buyers for the last several months -- yet another sign of a market that went haywire from 2002 to 2006.

On the other end of the spectrum were places like California, hit heavily by the housing downturn and having especially high rates of foreclosure.

In Stockton, Calif., for example, buyers paid about $4,500 more than the asking price. In Las Vegas, buyers paid nearly $1,000 over list.

"While both California and Florida were among the states hardest hit by foreclosures, California is definitely seeing tighter inventory of for-sale homes and, consequently, more price competition," said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist. "Most Florida metros are still buyers' markets."

In Florida markets there are from 12 to 30 homes listed on Zillow for each home sold, while California markets are seeing from about 2 to 10 listings.

"That means buyers in Florida have more to choose from, and there's less upward pricing pressure," Humphries said. "Competition for homes is heating up in California, thus exerting more upward pressure on prices."

New foreclosures

Home prices in the Sarasota-Bradenton market rose about 5 percent to $161,500 from the second to third quarter, the Florida Association of Realtors reported.

Sales were roughly the same at about 2,300.

Realtors blame that on a lack of supply, mainly among homes priced under $300,000 -- a segment that had been flush with distressed properties but was cherry picked by investors and first-time homebuyers taking advantage of the government's $8,000 tax credit.

The number of foreclosures has been ebbing in this region, but many observers believe that is just a respite before a second wave of foreclosures.

The edge of that wave might be here now, says Chip Waterman of Hunt Realty ERA in Sarasota, a bank-owned property sales specialist for 28 years.

"I received 25 listings in the last 24 hours and that's a good indication that we are coming into this new wave," Waterman said earlier this week.

Financial institutions are holding on to distressed properties that they have not put on the market yet because they are not certain of a sale. Estimates from a number of sources suggest that thousands of new foreclosures will dump into the Southwest Florida housing market during the next two years.

"Whatever we may have gained from the lack of supply -- it created a surge in buying energy -- I honestly believe we are going to see pricing drop at least another 10 percent," Waterman said. "Hold on to your seatbelts."

'A buyer's market'

Until that happens, the good news may continue.

In an analysis commissioned by the Herald-Tribune, Zillow reported that the rate of decline in home values in markets from Bradenton to Punta Gorda has slowed to the point where it is statistically flat, backing up assertions by some that regional prices have bottomed.

Though he is skeptical of a bottom, Humphries, Zillow's chief economist, acknowledges that the impact of the new foreclosure wave might be ameliorated by Congress' decision to not only extend the popular homebuyer tax credit into the spring but to expand it to include a $6,500 credit for existing home buyers purchasing a different primary residence.

Thomas Coppola, a Realtor who specializes in properties on Siesta Key, does not concede the Zillow scenario.

Coppola expects buying activity to steadily increase. He points to low prices, low interest rates, the extended tax credit and new inventory coming in all at the same time.

"The combination of all these things will create a buyer's market," Coppola said. "I think buyers are going to have quite a few months ahead of them and they will be buying heavy."

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Monday, November 16, 2009, 3:42 pm

Denise Lee's husband supports 911 training bill

by By ZAC ANDERSON

With Michael King sentenced to death, the family of murdered North Port mother Denise Amber Lee is turning to another priority: Preventing future tragedies through better 911 training.

State legislators announced Monday they will push for a new law this spring that mandates 232 hours of state-approved training for every 911 worker in Florida and a standardized statewide certification exam.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office was searching for Lee on Jan 17, 2008 and deputies knew her kidnapper drove a Camaro when a motorist called 911 to report screaming coming from a Camaro on U.S. 41. There was confusion in the 911 center and nobody dispatched a deputy to investigate the report, prompting Lee’s family to call for better 911 training.

The legislation announced Monday by Rep Ken Roberson, R-Port Charlote, and Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, is similar to a bill that failed to pass last year, but the new proposal identifies a dedicated source of funding for the certification program through the state’s E-911 Trust Fund.

Funding was a major hang up last year during one of the worst budget cutting sessions in state history.

“This is a very important important public safety issue,” Detert said. “The money is there to pay for it. We hope there will be no resistance to this bill as there was last year.”

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Friday, November 06, 2009, 5:07 pm

Buyer found for Venice Jet Center, receiver says

by Kim Hackett

The Venice Jet Center has a buyer and it is not Venice, as some City Council members had hoped.

A federal receiver overseeing the center, once owned by alleged Ponzi schemer Art Nadel, faxed city officials a caustic letter Friday to tell them he has reached an agreement “in principle” with a buyer.

Receiver Burton Wiand said that the undisclosed offer from a Florida company will be presented to a federal judge early next week and then made public.

“The company has a lot of experience” running airport maintenance facilities, Wiand said in an interview.

News of the sale disappointed city officials, who had hoped Venice could purchase the Jet Center and gain a tighter rein on airport jet traffic, a source of ongoing community tension.

Venice sent a letter to Wiand two weeks ago after the Jet Center’s manager indicated to city officials that they would be able to purchase it for $3 million.
But Wiand said he did not view the letter as a legitimate offer.

“The city has never made any proposals in good faith or had any good faith discussions with me,” Wiand wrote the city Friday. “The city’s lack of good faith in this matter and the continued sending of self-serving disingenuous letters has not been persuasive.”

City Manager Isaac Turner called Wiand’s characterization “off base.”

“We have legitimately sought to provide what the Jet Center was asking for and protect the interest of the city,” Turner said. “I understand he has a responsibility to maximize” profits, but added “some of the stances he’s taken have been counter-productive.”

Wiand is in charge of selling off the Jet Center and other assets owned by Nadel to reimburse investors who lost about $400 million in Nadel’s Sarasota-based Scoop Investments.

The council still has to sign off on the Jet Center deal and is in an awkward legal position if it tries to object because it has repeatedly said it wants to buy the center.
“If they don’t act nice, they’ll be dealing with Judge Lazzara,” Wiand said, referring to federal judge Richard Lazzara, who is overseeing the receivership.

Wiand and the city have been at odds over the council’s refusal to grant hangar permits, which make the Jet Center more valuable.

Wiand filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration, claiming the city’s refusal to allow aeronautical development puts it in violation of agreements it signed with the federal government when the city took over control of the airport in 1947. The FAA is scheduled to rule by the end of the year.

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Thursday, October 15, 2009, 10:28 pm

Riscorp founder concedes ties to failed firm

by By PAIGE ST. JOHN

Former Riscorp founder and convicted felon Bill Griffin was closer to American Keystone Insurance than state regulators ever knew.

Though official records and papers say the failed property insurer is owned by a string of trusts and holding companies, Griffin on Thursday told the Herald-Tribune that Keystone is largely his own creation.

He initiated the property insurance company, and arranged its financing. When it fell on hard times, he said, he helped raise money to keep it going.

The Sarasota entrepreneur -- barred from insurance for life because of his felony conspiracy conviction -- puts his current ownership of Keystone at 80 percent.

"I think I paid my time. ... At least, I thought I could prove to them I was a good guy," Griffin told the newspaper.

In the early 1990s, Griffin, now 60, created a national workers compensation insurer, Riscorp, and took it public with a $200 million stock offering.

Just as quickly he saw it collapse under the order of state regulators, while he and other executives were indicted for arranging more than $300,000 in illegal campaign contributions, many to political figures with ties to insurance regulation.

The wealthy businessman spent five months in a federal prison camp following his guilty plea. Since then he has launched several Sarasota development and business projects, with varying success.

Creating an insurance company again, he said, "was a legacy I wanted to leave for my children."

He said he stopped short of any direct involvement in Keystone's affairs.

"I felt like doing it that way versus not doing it at all was, well, this is what I know how to do," he said.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, which approved the creation of American Keystone, responded to Griffin's revelations Thursday.

"There would be no acceptable way to allow his participation in a company," said Robin Westcott, who as an agency lawyer scrutinized Keystone's original application paperwork in 2006 and 2007. "If he did so, then there was a gross misrepresentation in this application."

Westcott said the insurer was started with a loan from a former Riscorp company, Greenstreet of Florida, and "there would have been no indication that it was Mr. Griffin's money or that he would be involved with the control or management of this company."

Comments from Griffin and documents from state records, however, show that OIR was concerned that American Keystone -- officially funded and controlled by Griffin family members and business associates -- might contain ties to Griffin himself.

But officials were satisfied Griffin was far enough removed from the company's financing and operations when Griffin's Tallahassee lawyer prepared documents that moved majority control of the insurer from Griffin's son-in-law into a trust in his name. The son-in-law, Randal Salser, also was required to resign from Keystone's board.

Griffin said his lawyer worked with OIR attorneys to find a legal structure that would stay within a federal law that bars convicted felons from operating or owning an insurer.

Florida insurance regulators typically are "very, very strenuous" about screening the applicants behind new insurance companies, said Sandy Safley, a former Hillsborough County lawmaker and insurance regulation consultant in Tallahassee.

"I've had applications that an applicant inadvertently failed to record an event that occurred when they were in college 40 years prior and it was picked up by the department," Safley said.

He called Griffin's admission that he owns 80 percent of Keystone "so bizarre it's almost bizarre."

"How does something like that slip through?" asked Jeff Grady, president of the Florida Association of Independent Agents.

Two state agencies are now vowing to find out more about Griffin's ties to Keystone, but neither is clear what can be done about it.

"I don't know," said Westcott, the OIR division director who ultimately declared American Keystone insolvent.

Regulators say the criminal screening is designed primarily to keep felons from operating an insurance company. State law allows regulators to revoke a license or deny an application if an insurer violates the ban. For Keystone, that option is moot because the state has already moved to shut it down because of insolvency.

Nevertheless, Westcott on Wednesday asked the Florida Department of Financial Services to investigate Griffin's ties, pledging to assist "in any referral to law enforcement that may be deemed necessary as a result of this review."

The DFS is now responsible for liquidating Keystone, including tracing its assets, and ascertaining why the insurer failed. Department spokeswoman Kyra Jennings said the agency did not yet know what action it might be able to take even if it did find Griffin involved in the failed company.

An agency official arrived at Keystone's offices in Ponte Vedra Beach on Tuesday, and changed the locks on the doors. State staffers are now working alongside Keystone's remaining employees to close by Nov. 8.

Outstanding policyholder claims with the insurer will be directed to the Florida Insurance Guarantee Association for handling and payment. What remains of Keystone's assets will reimburse the state for those charges. If that is not enough, Florida consumers will have to make up the difference.

Griffin, for his part, believes Keystone would not have failed if he had been allowed a more direct role.

"I don't think this would have happened if I had been involved," he said.

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Tuesday, September 08, 2009, 8:54 pm

Students are asked to report if they feel peers have guns

by By HALLE STOCKTON and ANTHONY CORMIER Staff writers

On the day President Barack Obama exhorted students to work hard in school and volunteer in their communities, Manatee County's leaders delivered a far grimmer message.

The county sheriff, government leaders and school district officials came together to urge students to turn in peers whom they suspect of having guns or other weapons.

The public plea to students and parents came in response to the second killing of a Manatee teenager in the past month, last Friday night's slaying of Bayshore High School cheerleader Jazmine Thompson.

“Kids know who the stoners are, who the jocks are, and I'm firmly convinced they know who has the guns,” said Bradenton City Councilwoman Marianne Barneby.

Officials also put the onus on parents to consider the possibility that their child might have a weapon.

“Love them enough to inspect their rooms and book bags,” said Barbara Harvey, a Manatee County School Board member. “Love them enough to be their shadow. This community will have to step up to the plate.”

Ironically, Before she was murdered, Jazmine Thompson had declared her intention to turn in any student she knew who had an illegal weapon.

The 17-year-old was so disturbed by the shooting death of her former Bayshore High School classmate Dejuan Williams on Aug. 4 that she was ready to take a stand.

“She thought there was too much violence, too many guns,” Aretha James, Jazmine's grandmother, said Tuesday. “She said that if she knew anyone with a gun, she would let someone know.”

Jazmine never got the chance.

She was shot to death in the back seat of a car of cheerleaders about 10 p.m. near Southeast High School, in the 1100 block of 37th Avenue East.

Investigator say Daniel Floyd Williams, no relation to Dejuan Williams, fired four rounds into the car after making obscene remarks to the girls.

Williams, 18, turned himself in Saturday night and is being held without bail in the Manatee County Jail on a second-degree murder charge.

Coincidentally, Daniel Williams' mother, Carolyn Murry, was a beautician who helped style the hair of Jazmine's family members before a wedding. But Jazmine's family members say they do not believe she had ever met Daniel Williams.

What motivated Williams to fire into the car full of girls remains unclear, police said. Williams was a drifter, even as a teenager, living in various homes across Manatee County. He briefly attended Palmetto High School but was most recently at Horizons Academy, an alternative school for students with a history of disciplinary or behavioral problems.

He was never arrested for a felony, but was charged about two years ago with disorderly conduct at Palmetto High School. Because of his age, those arrest records are sealed.

Authorities are unsure how Williams obtained the gun, but say that many unlicensed weapons are stolen during burglaries and resold on the street — sometimes for as little as $25.

Jazmine's murder highlights both the random nature of violent crimes that have traumatized Manatee of late, and the ease in which teenagers acquire and use weapons.

“Our children are carrying guns as if it's a fad,” said Manatee County Commissioner Gwendolyn Brown. “It's a sick mentality that teens are walking around bragging about violent acts they have committed. Using a gun does not make you man.”

Officials alluded to using the money for a gun buy-back program, an awareness campaign or marketing of a hot line for students to make reports or discuss issues at their schools.

Another community discussion will be held Sept. 19, with time and location to be determined.

Brown hopes students and their parents will attend and openly discuss the problems they see firsthand and propose possible resolutions.

Manatee Sheriff Brad Steube said students are able to report any suspicions to school resource officers or anonymously to Manatee County Campus Crime Stoppers, he said.

With Crime Stoppers, a caller is eligible for a reward if the report results in an arrest, but the fear of being known as a snitch is believed to hinder students.

Meanwhile, one of Jazmine's cousins, Toni Garrett, is printing T-shirts for the family to distribute. And one of the county's best known residents, ESPN basketball commentator Dick Vitale, has reached out to the family to help with funeral costs since he heard Jazmine's mother lost her job and has no insurance.

Vitale is also trying to set up two scholarships at Bayshore in the names of Jazmine and Dejuan Williams.

“These kids seemed to be doing things the right way and were trying to get ahead in their lives,” Vitale said. “In a senseless, incredible moment, these two lives were brought to an end without the chance for them to live their dreams.

“Parents have to get into the bedrooms, into the computer, into the mindset of what their children are doing because this is absurd and it breaks my heart to even think about it.”

Jazmine was planning to either attend college or enlist in the Air Force with the hopes of becoming a criminal defense attorney, her mother said.

“She wanted to defend the criminals,” Raechelle James said. “And a criminal took her life on the streets.”
Gallery

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Tuesday, September 01, 2009, 9:00 pm

Legal firm masked Nadel's wrongdoing, lawsuit contends

by By JOHN HIELSCHER

The prominent Holland & Knight law firm knew about but failed to report illegal activities at the hedge funds operated by alleged Ponzi scammer Arthur G. Nadel, a new lawsuit contends.

Holland & Knight, one of Florida's largest law firms, ignored or missed numerous signs that could have exposed Nadel's scheme and protected investors from losses, according to the lawsuit.

The suit was filed Monday on behalf of court-appointed receiver Burton Wiand and the hedge funds. It seeks an unspecified amount of money, including punitive damages, that if awarded would go to burned investors.

In a report to the federal courts last month, Wiand pegged the potential damages at more than $50 million.

Tampa-based Holland & Knight, an influential and politically connected firm, may thus hold the fattest wallet for Wiand and investors to attack.

A spokeswoman on Tuesday said the firm, which represented Nadel's hedge funds since 2002, is aware of the new lawsuit but could not discuss specifics.

"We've done nothing wrong, and we intend to vigorously defend it," Karen McBride said.

The hedge funds managed by Nadel and associates Neil and Christopher Moody attracted nearly $400 million from investors before collapsing in January as nearly worthless.

Among the new lawsuit's most explosive claims is that Holland & Knight knew Sarasota newsletter publisher Donald Rowe received illegal payments for promoting and selling the hedge funds to investors.

But rather than reporting those alleged violations of securities laws to authorities, the firm arranged a "settlement" in which Rowe continued to receive improper compensation "thinly disguised as 'public relations' payments," the lawsuit states.

Tampa attorney Guy Burns, who filed the suit, said Rowe and Nadel wound up in a dispute over those payments. "Nadel made the decision to stop paying Don Rowe, or not as much as Mr. Rowe desired," Burns said in an interview. "So Mr. Rowe made the demand that he was going to sue if he didn't get this compensation started up again."

Holland & Knight then entered into the settlement to mask the payments to Rowe, the lawsuit says.

Rowe, who is not a licensed securities broker, received a selling commission for each investor he brought in to Nadel's funds, plus a percentage of the "profits" that Nadel claimed to make, Burns said. How much Rowe received is unknown, but Burns said it easily totals into the "hundreds of thousands of dollars."

In 2003, Rowe proclaimed Nadel as "America's top ranked money manager" who "has produced the best track record and most consistent returns I have ever seen." Rowe already is being sued by a group of investors who said they lost millions after his newsletter convinced them to invest with Nadel.

The latest lawsuit, refiled Tuesday in slightly amended form in Sarasota County circuit court, claims Holland & Knight failed to protect investors in its role as attorneys for each of the six funds. It names the firm, partner Scott R. McLeod of Orlando, and 10 "John Doe" attorneys who worked on the Nadel hedge funds and will be identified later.

The firm failed to advise that Nadel was a disbarred attorney who had been sanctioned for taking a client's money in New York. It did not insist on the common checks and balances found at most investment firms, allowing Nadel to maintain a "veil of secrecy" in the operations of his Scoop Management and the funds, the suit said.

"Holland and Knight failed to discover that Nadel had been operating a fraudulent investment program, even when a cursory examination and review of his activity would have revealed his illegal activities," the suit says.

The law firm prepared hedge fund disclosure documents that named Michael Zucker as the certified public accountant. Zucker had been stripped of his CPA certification years earlier, which should have been a "red flag" warning of problems, the suit says.

The suit accuses Holland & Knight of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, professional malpractice, and aiding and abetting of fraud.

Burns' Johnson Pope law firm earlier filed a lawsuit against Holland & Knight on behalf of Nadel investors. That suit seeks class-action status to recover money. Court-receiver Wiand has brought that lawsuit into his federal receivership.

Responding to that suit, Holland & Knight argued that it had no duty to investigate its clients and was entitled to take them at their word.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 9:52 am

We've moved

Beginning today, the 24seven arts and entertainment blog will be found at a new Web address: http://24seven.blogs.heraldtribune.com.

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Please bookmark the new address so that you won't miss any of the new updates.
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Monday, July 13, 2009, 3:36 pm

Golden Apple extends 'Late Nite Catechism'

by Jay Handelman

The Golden Apple Dinner Theatre is extending the run of its summer hit "Late Nite Catechism." The one-woman comedy was originally scheduled to close on July 26. Now, it will continue at the downtown Sarasota theater through Aug. 30.

Colleen Moore plays Sister, who leads a comical variation of an adult catechism class, with a nod to the way Catholic schools were run in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The show is part scripted and part improvised as Sister talks to audience members, asks questions (and gives prizes for correct answers), provides answers to audience questions and generally talks about religion, philosophy, theology and anything else that comes up.

The show, created by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan has been running for 16 years in Chicago, 10 years in Seattle and long runs elsewhere in the country.

The theater will take its traditional vacation during most of September. A new season announcement is expected within a few weeks.

For more information: (941) 366-5454; http://www.thegoldenapple.com.