This is too sad (Another Update)

It's been just over a year since I blogged about a tragedy that resulted in the death of 3 year old Ethan Skye Cook. And I was just too flip in a comment I made to visitor.

This was updated when I posted a response from Ethan's mother on 9/7/07.

And again when I posted a comment from Ethan's grandmother on 12/2/07.

I received another comment on 7/19/08 from G Michael Robinson who said:

As a deputy sheriff, I was the first emergency responder on the scene of this accident. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary. I'm sorry I missed an earlier opportunity to defend Ethan's mother, Cathi, when she responded to an earlier comment from someone about her leaving her child unattended. I never saw a more compassionate response from someone whose child was killed than I did when I saw Cathi walk up to the distraught driver and embrace her. She is my hero and her response was a source of strength for me. She has since granted me permission to share our story. I've seen how lives have been changed by it.

http://www.myhero.com/myhero/heroprint.asp?hero=C_Cook_2008_ul

G Michael Robinson

This tragic story is still so fresh for Ethan's family and friends. I wish them well.

And I suggest going to the above website. An excerpt:

The Florida Highway Patrol arrived to do the accident investigation. I spoke to the paramedic at the ambulance who shook his head and told me that the child wasn't going to make it. I observed one of the child's sandals lying in the street. I again saw the distraught driver standing by herself and crying. The mother came back out of the house. However, instead of going to the ambulance where her son was, she went to where the driver was standing and hugged her in an attempt to console her.

The child, Ethan, was pronounced dead at the hospital. It was his third birthday.

The mother, Cathi, spoke at her son’s funeral talking about her memories of him. Many tragedies like this that I’ve responded to bring out the worst in people. I saw the best come out of Cathi. Her response to her son's death was a source of strength to me and a silent testimony of compassion to everyone who was there.

"A weird place that we call home"

From the Ocala Star-Banner, a really good primer on Marion County:

I don't know how long you may have lived here: a month, a year, a decade, a century. But sooner or later, all of us realize that this home of ours is very odd, that Marion County, Fla., is a peculiar place.
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On the positive side, Marion County attracts celebrities: John Travolta and Kelly Preston, of course, but also Country Music Hall of Famer Mel Tillis, actress Elizabeth Ashley, guitarist Steve Morse and others.

On the not-so-positive side, this area seems sometimes to be at the center of a vortex of crazy crime.

It is a magnet, for example, for serial killers. Seriously. They seem drawn to this place.

Aileen Wuornos killed here. So did the Railroad Killer Angel Resendez. Danny Rolling was captured here. Then, in January 2006, when Leo L. Boatman wanted to become a serial killer, he rode up from Largo to murder in Marion County.

Don't be surprised when you see a dumb-criminal story with an Ocala dateline in the national news - like last week, when police say Patrick Shane Johnson used his own personal checks as notes while robbing banks.

Simply recognize, once again, a little of the weirdness that we call home.

This interesting bit of observation is one of the few things I agree with that's printed in our daily (NY Times-owned) fish wrapper. Every day, from crime to politics to social events, I am usually struck by just how weird we are in my part of the state.

And since we are in Florida, that is saying something.

Marion County Genius at Work - case study #2

We have another local genius to came up with a great plan to live in a house...rent free.

I guess that somehow he just didn't think he would get caught. Too smart for everyone else perhaps.

SILVER SPRINGS SHORES - Carl Kopsho, the man who claimed he was renting a home from someone posing as a landlord, has been accused of lying to detectives, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

But Kopsho, 34, is still living at 15 Olive Drive in Silver Springs Shores, the home he is accused of trespassing in. He said Monday that he has done nothing wrong except pay a man who goes by the name of Tyrone Grian $800 every month to live in the home, which is actually owned by Sebastian Wagner, a New York resident.

"I am the victim here, and they're treating me like a criminal," Kopsho said on Monday. "I'm out $2,400 when it comes down to it, and now I have to go to court."

Well, it could happen. Cops make mistakes and sometimes innocent people who are victims get screwed by the legal system. Except...

Sheriff's deputies arrested Kopsho on Friday on charges of common law cheating, trespassing and lying to detectives. Detectives say Kopsho produced a lease agreement and receipts of rent payments that detectives later determined were false.

"Through an investigation and the help of a witness, detectives discovered Kopsho was living on the property without the owner, or anyone else's consent," a Sheriff's Office news release states. "He reportedly heard about 'squatters' living in vacant homes and told a witness he had come up with a similar scheme to illegally live in a house for free."

Marion County Genius at Work - case study #1

A case study in how not to rob a bank.

We have a genius criminal to hit 2 banks on the same day. And got away clean.

Except...

OCALA - Police had little trouble identifying the man who they say robbed two Bank of America branches Monday. His name was on the notes that he passed to tellers.

In fact, his name was professionally printed on the papers - just above the line that says "Pay to the order of."

Folks, you really can't make this up.

What use is a gun in the home?

This is not a trick question.

The answer is: to protect yourself...and just maybe reduce the criminal population.

Investigators said the home invasion occurred about 2:30 a.m. at the home Roger Dan Garrison, 49, in the 19000 block of Northwest County Road 335.

Two of the suspects, Jonathan Gaal, 19, of Ocala, and Brian Bond, 19, of Summerfield, forced their way inside as three alleged accomplices awaited nearby in a car. According to sheriff’s investigators, Garrison’s brother, Martin Randy Garrison, 54, was asleep on a couch in the living room and had a .25-caliber handgun under the couch. When Gaal pointed a handgun at Martin Garrison, the older man fired three shots at Gaal at point-blank range.

Gaal ran out of the home, but collapsed and died in the front yard.

A gun in the hand is much better, and safer, than waiting for the cops to remove your body and clean up the mess after the criminals leave.

How not to get selected for jury duty

A local resident, all classy and such, found a great way to get off from jury duty.

Her plan, and it worked great, was simple.

Call the judge an "asshole."

Works every time. But there can be downside.

At a hearing later in the afternoon, McCune sentenced Muller to three days in jail and ordered her to pay court costs and fines.

So it depends on just how badly you want to get out of jury service.

Her opinion now?

“I really wasn’t trying to make him look like a fool,” Muller said later. “If anybody looked like a fool, it was me for saying it. But it don’t matter now, because he already put my ass in here,” she said.

Her advice to others?

As for advice to others trying to avoid jury duty who don’t want to end up in jail, she advised: “Don’t say any cuss words at all. Maybe even ‘damn’ will get you kicked out.”

Gov Charlie gets engaged. That means...

That's right, our confirmed bachelor, Gov. Charlie, is engaged.

TALLAHASSEE - The private courtship of Florida’s most public official culminated in an engagement Thursday morning after Gov. Charlie Crist proposed to Carole Rome, his girlfriend since late last year.

It will be the second marriage for Crist who turns 52 on July 24. Rome, 38, is divorced and has two daughters who are nine and 11.

I say "confirmed bachelor" even though Gov Charlie was married once before.

Crist was married for six months in 1979 to Amanda Morrow, a fellow student at Florida State University. His bachelor status, combined with his austere life as a man who has never owned a home, has been a consistent source of rumors and gossip.

But please, don't think this engagement has anything to do with his political ambitions. That would be so unlike Gov Charlie. Well, except maybe:

He dated Katie Pemble, a St. Petersburg bank executive, during his 2006 gubernatorial campaign and she frequently joined him in public appearances.

Katie who? Who knows...that relationship didn't seem to survive. So based on past experience, we can reasonably think that our Charlie thinks he has a good shot as McCain's VP choice, but he has to "butch up" again.

And no, I don't think Gov Charlie is gay. Or even if he was, that it matters. Florida Republican voters decided that in 2006. And Republicans decided even if he was, that he was an acceptable candidate for governor. Remember that the next time you're told that Republicans are homophobes. We elected Gov Charlie because he was the better choice, especially when running against a Democrat.

But I do think that Charlie Crist is opportunistic. He ran as a conservative even though all the evidence was against that. So he'll run for VP as a family man who can commit to a longterm relationship with a women because that is what is required.

‘‘This constant rumor mongering is sickening,’’ said Larry Sabato, political scientist and author of Feeding Frenzy: Attack Journalism and American Politics. ‘‘Yes, the marriage may help him politically but I don’t think that’s why he’s doing it. It just seems to me to be such an extreme possibility. I got more calls about his sexual orientation during the 2006 campaign than any of his policies put together. After a while, it just becomes too much. If he wanted to benefit politically, why wouldn’t he have gotten married when he was running for governor?

"’It probably does help to a certain degree, particularly among Republican voters and family values voters,‘‘ Sabato said. ’’I can’t imagine anyone getting married for that reason. I may be naive, everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt at a happy moment like that."

Now, Sabato is a smart man who knows politics. But that doesn't mean he knows anything more than I do.

And even though I'm sure that this is another opportunistic political ploy by Gov Charlie, I do wish him the best. Marriage is a good thing between a man and a woman and a politician.

Now here's a stupid headline...for Florida

Apparently it's was a very slow news day yesterday. From the Ocala Star Banner:

"Lightning remains major danger in state"

Wow, now that's breaking news in our state! And incredible investigative newsgathering.

Next up....Beware of water: drowning remains major danger in state.

Crime Solved Quickly

Because the victims were proactive problem solvers.

And because the criminal was a dumb-ass. Which frankly are the best kind.

OCALA - Last Thursday, Fred and Betty McAteers were victims of a senseless, heartless crime when vandals tipped over a huge headstone for family members buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

This week, the McAteers were victimized again, when they arrived at a home they own only to find it had been ransacked and furniture stolen.
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They left and returned Tuesday morning and called police. They then decided to walk around the neighborhood to see if they could find anyone who might have some knowledge about the break-in.

When they walked up to a five-unit apartment building, they saw their wooden dresser sitting on the front lawn.

They called the Ocala police again, and detectives arrested 22-year-old Branden Mitchell Gardiner and charged him with one count of residential burglary and one count of dealing in stolen property.

Yep. Most of our criminals are not masterminds. But most of our thieves take their stolen booty out of the neighborhood before selling.

Yeah! Now we're back on track

STARKE - Florida on Tuesday carried out its first execution since a botched lethal injection procedure prompted the state to revamp the way it conducts capital punishment.

Mark Dean Schwab, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing an 11-year-old boy, died at 6:15 p.m.
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Schwab, 39, unsuccessfully challenged Florida's new procedure, claiming it also could cause pain and suffering. His latest appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court hours before he was put to death for the 1991 killing Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa.
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Schwab was the 10th person executed in the United States since the Supreme Court's Kentucky ruling and the 65th inmate to be executed since Florida resumed capital punishment in 1979.

Let's go, Florida! Step up the pace. There's lots more scum to kill.

And DAMN!...Schwab raped then murdered a child IN 1991 and only NOW is executed. Something is terribly wrong.