Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE — Anyone who paid any attention to the news at all in 2007 should already be familiar with of some of the state’s stranger 2007 stories. There was the battle over Anna Nicole Smith’s body, the Largo city manager who was fired after he became a she, the University of Florida student who shouted “Don’t Tase me, bro!” as officers Tasered him during a John Kerry event and the astronaut love triangle involving the woman who drove 1,000 miles, allegedly using diapers to save time, to confront a romantic rival. But there was more. So much more. Like Tigger,...

Venice, Florida -- A 5-year-old Sarasota County boy is recovering at home today after his stepfather, a police officer, accidentally shot him. The incident happened at the Venice Police gun range Wednesday night. Investigators say Venice Police Officer Billy Masters was cleaning his Glock 9mm Handgun and didn't realize there was still a round left in the chamber. Masters discharged the weapon and the bullet his stepson in the hip. Emergency crews flew the injured child to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg where he spent the night and was released.

As irrefutable evidence mounts that Nobel Laureate Al Gore's climate alarmism is about nothing other than lining his supposedly green pockets with green currency, manmade global warming skeptics around the world wonder when the former vice president's house of cards will collapse. Without question, if Gore were to lose the support of almost universally adoring Hollywoodans, the scam would implode quicker than a Democrat demanding a recount after losing a close election. As such, the following comments by actor and environmentalist Robert Redford, reported by the New Statesman last week, should bring hope to folks not buying the snake oil...

GLEN ST. MARY, Fla. -- Mysterious ape sightings are bringing excitement to a sleepy Florida town. Residents have been hearing screeches in the night and stories of sightings echo on every corner. The local newspaper even ran a story about the sightings. "There is kind of that 'I've seen a bigfoot' type of feel to it," said resident Eric Lawson. "They said it made a nest in that tree, so it's probably somewhere here in the area." Some believe the mysterious animal is an orangutan -- one local family had found what looked to be an orange ape up high...

CHARLOTTE COUNTY: A Port Charlotte man tried to burn himself to death after a domestic dispute over the sale of a camera. He was eventually saved by two deputies who pulled him from a burning bedroom. It happened Monday at an apartment complex at 700 Dalton Boulevard in Port Charlotte. Deputies were called the home because there was a man and a woman in a physical altercation in the front yard. When authorities arrived they saw Gregory Kolasa, 39, holding a woman on the ground. As soon as Kolasa saw deputies show up he ran inside an apartment and locked...

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man who allegedly was fleeing police was attacked and killed by an alligator in a pond, Local 10 reported. Miccosukee police, assisted by Sweetwater canine units, responded to a call on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation about vehicles being broken into. Local 10's Todd Tongen said police captured one man, but another fled on foot and dove into a retention pond. Signs warned of the danger of live alligators in the pond behind the casino and hotel. Eyewitnesses said they were shouting to the man to swim back to shore. When the man finally spotted the...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A homeless man who helped authorities find the man suspected of killing a Broward Sheriff's Office detention deputy was rewarded for his efforts Sunday afternoon. Mark Twain Spradley received two checks totaling $3,500, Local 10's Kellie Butler reported. One check for $1,000 came from the Sheriff's Foundation of Broward County. The other check for $2,500 was from Crime Stoppers. That check did not come out of the Crime Stoppers reward fund of $25,000. The check Sunday was intended to help Spradley with his immediate needs. "There's no doubt Mark Spradley deserves the reward," said Broward County...

A woman in Florida made a startling discovery over the weekend when she found her boyfriend stuck in her house’s cat door, News4Jax.com reported. The girlfriend of Charles Tucker Jr., 33, had reportedly kicked him out of her St. Augustine home. Hours later, she found the man stuck in the small door and called police. When they arrived four minutes later, the man was dead, News4Jax.com reported.

CASSELBERRY, Fla. — A police officer who slipped and injured a knee during a rescue call has sued the family who phoned 911 after their 1-year-old boy nearly drowned. The child, Joey Cosmillo, fell into the family pool in January. He was resuscitated but suffered brain damage and can't walk, talk or swallow. He lives in a nursing home and eats and breathes through tubes. Police Sgt. Andrea Eichhorn alleges the boy's family left a puddle of water on the floor, causing her fall during the rescue effort. She broke her knee and missed two months of work. Eichhorn's attorney,...

West Palm Beach water system cleansing underway, but boil water order continues WEST PALM BEACH - Chlorine began flowing this morning to cleanse West Palm Beach's contaminated water supply, and authorities are still searching for the source of the contamination that prompted a boil water order likely to last through Wednesday. Affected water customers can help too: At 8 p.m. tonight, people should use plenty of water on long showers, car washes, and clothes washing. "To flush the system in your house, basically," said West Palm Beach spokesman Chase Scott. The boil water alert Friday was for its 125,000 utilities...

Seminole County officials scrambled to fix a typo on a roadway after a motorist informed them the word school was misspelled. The error was reported along state Road 426 at Reed Road in Oviedo. School was misspelled as "scohol" and painted on the road to warn motorists they are entering a school zone. Seminole County traffic engineers said the typo was to be repaired on Friday morning. Workers removed the error and placed a new warning with school spelled correctly.

DETROIT (AP) - An assistant U.S. attorney from Florida was arrested in an Internet sting operation after flying to Michigan to have sex with a 5-year-old girl, authorities said Monday. John D.R. Atchison, 53, was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after several weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities say. "There wasn't much reaction from him at all," Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said. Atchison was cooperative with authorities, he said. He was charged with using interstate communication to entice a minor to have sexual contact and...

9 September 2007: The passengers aboard Delta Airlines Flight 1824 flying out of Orlando International Airport last Thursday at 7:15 a.m. heard the following statement over the intercom as they were preparing to taxi onto the runway on their way to Atlanta, Georgia:

BOYNTON BEACH — What started as a traffic stop on a gold Nissan Sentra early this morning led to the discovery of two pipe bombs, masks and gloves and 15-feet of PVC pipe inside the car. Boynton Beach police have detained the four men who were inside the car when Officer Vincent Haugh stopped it in on North Federal Highway around 2:24 a.m. (snip)... Police are not releasing their names. Haugh stopped the car after he saw one of the men throw something out a window. When he approached the vehicle and asked for identification, none of the occupants had...

FORT LAUDERDALE - Mayor Jim Naugle issued a public apology on the steps of City Hall Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn't the apology the gay community was looking for. Naugle apologized for underestimating the problem of men having sex with each other in public restrooms, and urged people to call police to complain when they come upon it. He also said Broward County leads the nation in the incidence of new AIDS cases involving men having sex with men, and questioned whether the county tourism office should be welcoming them here. Naugle alerted the media that he was holding a...

That Al Gore's 2000 presidential candidacy was treated unconscionably by most members of the mainstream media is not really arguable by sentient beings. The very idea that a candidate like George W. Bush — extremist, incompetent, unprepared for office, addicted to cronyism and incapable of admitting even the simplest human error — could have been held by so many reporters to be a better choice for President than the two-time Vice President, Senator, Representative and environment and nuclear weapons expert, to say nothing of his central role in the Clinton Administration's successful two-term presidency, would be laughable were its consequences...

Consumer advocate and 2000/2004 presidential candidate Ralph Nader has not ruled out another run in 2008, telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Thursday it’s too early for him to make a decision. The man who many blame as spoiling the election for Al Gore in 2000 also said a potential third party candidacy by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg would not affect his decision to run. Earlier this week, Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat until he ran for mayor in 2001, dropped his affiliation with the GOP — a move that increased speculation he is considering an independent presidential bid. Nader also...

Bands Must Have At Least One Original Member To Use Name (CBS) TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist signed legislation Friday that makes it a misdemeanor for people to take the stage using the name of a band if they're not really the band who made the name famous, making it illegal in Florida to fake your way to fame by using another band’s name. The new law prohibits people or groups from advertising or holding a live performance using a "false, deceptive, or misleading statement of an affiliation, connection, or association between a performing group and a recording group."...

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 1:26 p.m. EDT Cancel Rush Limbaugh Or Lose Contract The government in Broward County, Fla., is seeking to cut ties with a local radio station – because it also broadcasts Rush Limbaugh’s show. Station WIOD AM-610 has been the official channel for emergency information from the county government for the past year. But the County Commission, made up of all Democrats, refused to renew the relationship on Tuesday. Commissioner Stacy Ritter said she did not want the county to be linked to a station "that’s out of step with area politics,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports....

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Three words on a cardboard sign outside a luxury downtown high rise have senior citizens outraged. One senior was so upset she took a picture outside The Vue at Lake Eola, on the corner of Rosalind and Robinson streets. Some senior citizens were across the street in a small rally when they noticed the construction workers laughing at them. Then they looked by the fence and saw a sign they consider very offensive. The words were scrawled in bold white paint on cardboard. Sandra Taylor, 64, stood across the street and could feel the sign shouting at...

11-Year-Old Arrested For Using Rubber Band Gun OCOEE (Florida), June 7: An 11-year-old Ocoee boy was arrested for playing with a toy gun. Police said the arrest was necessary, because it was a safety issue. The boy was using a rubber band gun and his father said the kid did nothing wrong, but police said they take it as a serious threat and the 11-year-old is facing felony charges. The crime isn't very common, but Ocoee police said it is serious. It centers on an 11-year0old boy and his toy short-barreled shotgun. The incident started Sunday afternoon, when the 11-year-old...

Britney Spears booed for lip-synching at Florida concert 10:00AM Tuesday May 22, 2007 Britney Spears was booed by fans after being caught out lip-synching during a 'live' performance. The troubled singer was performing at the House of Blues in Florida on Saturday night when technical glitches saw her backing CD skip repeatedly, exposing her miming. A source is quoted by gossip website TMZ.com: "It was an ugly scene. The crowd started jeering and heckling her. Britney looked absolutely devastated." "When the CD started skipping during the song Do Somethin', Britney hid her face and turned her back. Then, when it...

Four years after President Bush launched the U.S. attack on Iraq, the fighting continues with no end in sight. Would you support a presidential candidate who backs continued U.S. military involvement?

WFOR-CBS4 investigative reporter Mike Kirsch was arrested this morning after police say he assaulted an officer during a traffic stop. While taking his daughter to school in Doral, Kirsch made an illegal U-turn and was pulled over by a Miami-Dade officer, police said. He threatened the officer and charged her, police said.

WASHINGTON - Three of the five Supreme Court justices who handed the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000 say they had no choice but to intervene in the Florida recount. Comments from Justice Anthony Kennedy and retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor are in a new book that was published this week. Justice Antonin Scalia made his remarks Tuesday at Iona College in New York. Scalia, answering questions after a speech, also said that critics of the 5-4 ruling in Bush v. Gore need to move on six years after the electoral drama of December 2000, when it seemed the...

We are seriously considering moving out of Massachusetts. Enough is enough. We are looking at moving to an airpark since we love flying our small plane and on top of all of Massachusetts' other negatives, the weather is also lousy. I would appreciate comments from those who have lived or now live in Florida re: quality of life, weather, housing, topography, crime, cost, etc. Thanks.

BOCA RATON -- Following a campaign where he repeatedly stressed that voters want new voices in Washington, Democrat Ron Klein ousted 13-term Congressman Clay Shaw Tuesday night, capping a costly, fierce race for Florida's 22nd District seat. JUPITER -- Republican state Rep. Joe Negron conceded to Democrat Tim Mahoney in the race to replace disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley, after a bruising campaign capped with scandal.

Former President Bill Clinton, in South Florida to campaign for Democratic candidates, made a surprise appearance Saturday night at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's 10th annual Recognition Dinner in South Beach. Clinton arrived at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel about 8 p.m. and greeted NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond, who received the evening's National Leadership award. Local honorees: philanthropist Bob Cole (The Miami Herald Humanitarian Award) and TWN (The Weekly News), South Florida's gay newspaper that closed in March after 29 years.

In London, sex scandals come along every other week. You name it, British parliamentarians do it: three-in-a-bed, auto-erotic asphyxiation, gay teen flagellation, getting your toes sucked while wearing the soccer kit of Chelsea Football Club. But at least at Westminster, sex scandals require actual sex. That the governing party of the world's only superpower could be felled by one creepy pervert's masturbatory e-mails and IMs is an event historians will marvel at. Granted that the Roman Empire in its death throes got hung up on gay sex, the American hyperpower seems set to be the first to collapse over gay...

Information compiled from the Washington Post, “Congressional Sex Scandals in History,” and other sources. 10. Sen. Daniel Inouye. The 82-year-old Hawaii Democrat was accused in the 1990s by numerous women of sexual harassment. Democrats cast doubt on the allegations and the Senate Ethics Committee dropped its investigation. 9. Former Rep. Gus Savage. The Illinois Democrat was accused of fondling a Peace Corps volunteer in 1989 while on a trip to Africa. The House Ethics Committee decided against disciplinary action in 1990. 8. Rep. Barney Frank. The outspoken Massachusetts Democrat hired a male prostitute who ran a prostitution service from Frank’s...

See for example this thread first. This man would still be alive IF-- (He wasn't involved in a tiff!) I guess he got bored Now a Darwin award? And the band plays "I shot the Sherriff"

Foley Fallout [John J. Miller] The news that House Republican leaders may have known about disgraced former congressman Mark Foley’s behavior as early as several months ago is dynamite. We should certainly recognize that there may be a few agendas at work here, from a liberal media that’s hyping the story because it would love nothing more than a GOP pederasty scandal to an emerging Hastert vs. Boehner rivalry that is driven, alas, by personal ambition rather than political philosophy or a desire to get to the bottom of the Foley case. If House Republican leaders really did avert their...

Just breaking on CNN

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on Friday in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page, according to a congressional official. Foley, 52, had been considered a shoo-in for re-election until the e-mails surfaced in recent days. Campaign aides had previously acknowledged that the Republican congressman e-mailed the former Capitol page five times, but had said there was nothing inappropriate about the exchange. The page was 16 at the time of the e-mail correspondence. Foley's election opponent, Democrat Tim Mahoney, has called for an investigation.

Saying he was "deeply sorry," Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress today, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit internet messages with current and former congressional pages under the age of 18. A spokesman for Foley, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, said the congressman submitted his resignation in a letter late this afternoon to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., resigned from Congress on Friday, effective immediately, in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page. "I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent," he said in a statement issued by his office. The two-sentence statement did not refer to the e-mails and gave no reason for Foley's decision to abruptly abandon a flourishing career in Congress. Foley, 52, had been a shoo-in for a new term until the e-mail...

Tampa, Florida (AP) — County records show Hillsborough County officers spent more than $6,000 for 92 lap dances, drinks and tips in an investigation into nudity and liquor law violations at an adult bikini bar. The investigation spanned more than two years. Sheriff David Gee says sometimes that's what it takes to get rid of problems. Gee says vice detectives first targeted Lil Tootsie's nightclub after deputies responded to numerous calls ranging from violence to DUI arrests. The agency recently asked county commissioners to revoke the club's special permit to serve alcohol. Records show sheriff's detectives sought 41 misdemeanor nudity...

An enraged girlfriend who fatally shot a Palm Beach County firefighter, then turned the gun on herself might have been upset about their decision to abort their baby a few weeks earlier, a witness told detectives. Laura Grunas, a Plantation police officer, argued with her boyfriend Robert Peat on Aug. 4, and police had to tell her to leave his Plantation home. When she returned a short time later that night, Grunas killed Peat and committed suicide, police said.

A T-shirt decorated with the words "Crack Whore" costs $16.95 on the Internet. Browse photos of Maggie's life Maggie Williams considers this, her head tilted like a confused terrier. "Who would buy that?" she asks in a raspy voice. "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." Maggie states this with authority. She has spent nearly half her 52 years selling sex acts to earn cash for crack, five bucks at a time. Her entire universe is a six-block rectangle in Riviera Beach, west of the old Spanish Courts Motor Lodge, where drug dealers seem as common as vendors at a...

LANTANA, Fla. Sep 13, 2006 (AP)— It seems a father's plan to cure his daughter's fear of heights fell short. Troy Stewart and his 10-year-old daughter were on their daily bike ride about 7:45 p.m. Monday when Stewart, 31, suggested they jump off a 15 foot bridge. Stewart held his daughter Meagan Stewart's hand as they jumped off the bridge into the Intracoastal Waterway, authorities said. "At first he said, `Do you want to do it or not?'" Meagan said. "I thought, `It's kind of high,' and then he's like, `Trust me.'" Meagan made the jump safely, but her father...

Please Freep. President Bush is being criticized for invoking the memory of Sept. 11 to defend the unpopular Iraq war, even though Iraq had no link to the 2001 attacks. Was he wrong to make the remarks?

The city of Cooper City, Fla., has given itself the power to seize residents' personal property in times of emergency. Officials deemed this new law necessary because of what is expected to be a busy hurricane season. But don't worry, they say. The law would never be enforced unless there were no other options – presumably meaning that the city could not persuade private citizens to permit the government to borrow, rent or buy their equipment. Think of it as eminent domain for generators, power tools, trucks and anything else local czars determine they need. Not surprisingly, this plan has...

Defenders of Innocent Infants: Click on the "Hialeah Homicide" petition link above. View the petition and please leave your comments how we should defend this from happening again. In Hialeah, Florida, July 20, 2006 at 2:30 pm, an 18 year old girl walked into A Gyn Diagnostics Center, 3671 W. 16th Ave, with the intention of aborting her baby. The 18 year old mother then delivered a baby girl who was alive and breathing. Clinic worker, Belkis Gonzalez cut the umbilical cord of the baby, stuffed her into a bio-hazard bag, and removed every moment of love or life the...

The prosecutor who vigorously pursued the case against conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has been accused of going easy on a wealthy Democrat accused of sex crimes with kids. Billionaire Palm Beach financier Jeffrey Epstein, 53, was indicted last month on a charge of felony solicitation of prostitution. But Palm Beach County Police Chief Michael Reiter wanted Epstein to be charged with the more serious crime of sexual activity with minors. Florida State Attorney Barry Krischer of Palm Beach County rejected that call – even though police believe Epstein regularly brought girls as young as 14 to his mansion for...

MIMS, Fla. (AP) -- Closing the file on a decades-old case, investigators on Wednesday said four long-dead Ku Klux Klan members were behind a house bombing that killed two black civil rights activists in 1951. Harry T. and Harriette Moore died after the explosion under their bed on Christmas Day, their 25th wedding anniversary. Attorney General Charlie Crist said Wednesday investigators had enough circumstantial evidence to secure a grand jury indictment had the men still been alive. Several previous investigations failed to produce criminal charges, including one nearly 30 years ago that an investigator said stopped just short of an...

Isn't it ironic that one of the things our enemies, the Islamofascists, hate about America is the very thing that enables them to operate here? I'm talking about our openness. Our rights to privacy. The many freedoms granted us by the U.S. Constitution. And the protections and even special treatment afforded Muslim organizations in the U.S. We're a society like no other. Take for example last week's decision by Federal District Court Judge James Whittemore of Florida, who ruled in favor of ACLU lawyers last week that pat down searches before football games should be prohibited because they violate fans'...

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2292911 Video at link above shows a women holding up a sign protesting the police when one of the police shoots her with a rubber bullet in the back of the leg.She then turns around and gets shot in the forehead(wich can and does kill people) then the video cuts to the police gathering around after the protests and laughing about shooting her and talking about giving out trophys for it

QUEERLY BELOVED A homosexual-activist police officer assigned to security at a Promise Keepers men's conference in Florida is being investigated for threatening members of a Christian organization petitioning for a state constitutional marriage amendment. "I have never in my life seen such unprofessional and bizarre behavior from a law enforcement officer," said John Stemberger, the president and general counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council. "This kind of ridiculous harassment and intimidation was meant to thwart the effort to protect marriage in Florida. It should remind all of us that we are engaged in a culture war. …" More @...

ST PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- A woman and her roommate were charged with starving the woman's 9-year-old daughter, who weighed just 42 pounds when she was found, authorities said. The child also was locked up all day and was forced to wear a filthy diaper, police said. Melissa Samoraj, 27, and Raymond LaFountain, 31, were arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse.