WEEKEND EDITION POST COMMENTS AT CAPE-CORAL-DAILY-BREEZE.COM Inside PARADE Tournament • Reboot the trail New Year! a safe Cyclones soccer Have y • Sunday Happ joins Baker basketball and r With ... Joe in winning w Yea Ne ll Scarborough a championship from a at • Sunday of us Inside THE Dinner: Fun ! by the Slice cape-coral-daily-breeze.com REEZE B cape-coral-daily- breeze.com CAPE CORAL BREEZE Vol. 50, No. 1 Saturday, January 1, 2011 50 Cents AT A GLANCE Law enforcement gears up for holiday weekend From sundown today to about 4 roadways in 2009. Of those 2,558 Agencies announce ‘saturation patrols’ a.m. Saturday, the CCPD will con- crashes, about 30 percent of the driv- By TIFFANY REPECKI road. Using saturation patrols or by duct traffic saturation patrols ers — 770 — had a blood alcohol [email protected] increasing officers, the agencies are throughout the city. In saturation content of .08 or higher. As the clock winds down to mid- cracking down on impaired patrols, there is no specific check- FHP officials also announced night tonight, motorists are reminded motorists. point, only roving patrols. Officers plans to conduct a roving DUI to be responsible with their celebrat- “Being New Year’s Eve, we want will target drivers who appear to be enforcement detail on New Year’s ing and to never drink and drive. everyone to have a safe and happy under the influence of alcohol, drugs Eve. According to Capt. Tim The Cape Coral Police new year,” Cape police Capt. Lisa or both. Culhane, the operation will take place Department, Fort Myers Police Barnes said. “Our goal is hopefully, “We’re going to be looking for across Lee County from 7 p.m. today Department and Florida Highway through education, to keep impaired impaired drivers,” Barnes said. until Saturday morning. Patrol are stepping up their enforce- drivers off the road.” The National Highway Traffic “It’s obviously a time when most ment efforts for New Year’s Eve to “But, we will take enforcement Safety Association reported there people are off and they’re going to be action when necessary,” she added. were 2,558 accidents on Florida ensure the safety of everyone on the See ENFORCEMENT, page 3A Inside today’s Officials to Breeze pursue their 26th Annual Festival of the Arts to be held next week- end in downtown Cape Coral. UEP lawsuit — Page 5B By DREW WINCHESTER [email protected] Mayor John Sullivan and NEWS OF NOTE Councilmember Bill Deile say they both plan on continuing their Cape Coral Cup lawsuit against the city, and will likely retain counsel to pursue mini golf tourney those means. The first ever Cape Coral A mediated settlement for the Cup miniature golf tourna- lawsuit that contests how the city ment, will be held Sunday, assesses properties for utilities Jan. 9, at Mike Greenwell’s expansion projects, was rejected Bat-A-Ball Family Fun by city council last week. Park, 35 N.E. Pine Island If approved, Deile would have Road, Cape Coral, to benefit received $5,000, $1,500 of the United Way of Lee which would have been donated County. to the city’s Charter School. For information or to See LAWSUIT, 10A register for the event, email [email protected] CAROL ORR HARTMAN Fake pot FLORIDA Work on the new Veteran’s Administration clinic is progressing in the north Cape. The LOTTERY facility is expected to open in January 2012. suspected of Cash 3: sickening 3 4-8-2 / 4-9-6 Progress mixed on key Cape projects Play 4: By TIFFANY REPECKI 5-4-2-6 / 7-5-1-8 Topping the list is the on-track construction of a new VA clinic [email protected] By DREW WINCHESTER Three more teens in Cape Coral Fantasy 5: “Patriot Plaza,” a mixed use development being eyed for the 10-14-19-24-33 [email protected] apparently had a bad reaction to Cape Coral continues to find its Veterans Investment Zone, will come before city council in synthetic marijuana, according to Mega Money: way through the economic col- 2011 as those developers seek special financial incentives officials. 15-21-35-42 Megaball 5 lapse, searching for ways to jump- for the non-retail portion of the property as part of their Police responded to a medical Lotto start the local economy through a finance package. call Tuesday at a home in the 3800 17-25-28-45-47-48 x 2 mix of the new and the old. block of Agualinda Boulevard. Florida Powerball: Several projects slated for the Economic Development Office, is other” about the prospect of build- Three girls, all students at Ida S. 3-16-18-20-37 coming year lean on what made the driving force behind the city ing a Health Park like facility in Baker High School, told the offi- PB 30 x 2 the city a boomtown, but real efforts to create a certain type of the VIZ, though Vogt declined to cers that they had vomited after estate alone is not in the cards for commercial and professional syn- identify those offices due to confi- ingesting marijuana. They obtained * 12-30-10 results the city in 2011. ergy. Following a VIZ forum in dentiality. the drug from a fellow student at Some projects will be starting, November, EDO’s Christy Vogt Another key component of the school, a police report states. while others will wrap up, and said the zone has drawn interest area is the proposed Army The teens also “had complaints INDEX medical, retail, road construction, from a number of sources, includ- Reserve Center. Although offi- of being very nervous.” mixed use developments, redevel- Parents for all the girls were Annie’s Mailbox . .5B ing medical, professional and cials have yet to commit to Cape opment and of course a little bit of retail. Coral, Vogt said the city is on top contacted, according to the report. Blotter . .2A real estate all will be components “Patriot Plaza,” a mixed use of their list, as they continue to One girl was transported by Lee Classifieds . .3-8C of the city’s future. development being eyed for the pursue the environmental due dili- County EMS and another teen was taken to the hospital by a parent. Dr. Donohue . .4B VIZ, will come before city council gence. in 2011 as those developers seek The third teen was released to a Editorial . .4-5A VA/VIZ/Reserve Center “Our site is first on their list of special financial incentives for the three or four,” Vogt said. “I know parent. Hot Property . .1B The new Veterans “We have no additional infor- Administration Clinic is slated to non-retail portion of the property, they’re very interested.” Lifestyles . .3B as part of their finance package. mation on it,” Capt. Lisa Barnes, of open in a year, but the surrounding the Cape Coral Police Department, Horoscopes . .3B area, dubbed the “Veterans Vogt also said several “med- ical offices” are “talking to each See PROJECTS, page 10A said Thursday. Obituaries . .2A Investment Zone” by the city’s Synthetic marijuana is made up Puzzle Page . .7B of synthetic chemical compounds Property Transfers . .2B that are sprayed on a substance like a legal herbal mixture and baked. Real Estate . .1-2B Multi-year ER The compounds were initially cre- Religion . .6&8B ated for research and were never Sports . .7-8A intended for consumption. TV Highlights . .7B expansion at Imported from countries like China, India and Korea, the prod- Weather . .2A ucts are sold as incense but are Weekly Recap . .6A smoked to achieve a “high.” Cape Hospital Adverse side effects can include pain attacks, heart palpitations, hal- lucinations, delusions, vomiting, on schedule increased agitation and dilated 7 48445 46010 1 pupils. By MEGHAN McCOY Dr. Timothy Dougherty, med- [email protected] ical director of Cape Coral Although numerous renovations and expan- Hospital’s emergency department sions have already been completed for the Cape and a toxicologist, said Tuesday’s Coral Hospital Emergency Department project, incident sounds like it involved there still are a number of things to be complet- synthetic marijuana. He explained ed before the end of 2011. that traditional marijuana reported- System Director of Public Affairs for Lee ly curbs nausea, which is why Memorial Health System Karen Krieger said the some support using it for medicinal purposes. See HOSPITAL, page 3A “It would have been kind of unusual for this to be regular mari- juana,” he said. Personal computer technician Mark Since October, three Cape Coral Wendleton sets up equipment in one of teens in two separate incidents the five new rooms that were inspected have been treated at the hospital and approved to be open for patients at after using synthetic marijuana. All the beginning of next week three were later released. According to Dougherty, the hos- MEGHAN MCCOY pital first identified the concern See SICKENS, page 6A Page 2A Saturday,January 1, 2011 cape-coral-daily-breeze.com CAPE CORAL BREEZE Cape homeowner reports theft By TIFFANY REPECKI tage jewelry, two antique doll sets, one [email protected] Majic Barbie, four antique Barbies, four Costume jewelry and collector Barbie antique China dolls, 40 pieces of antique dolls were stolen out of a garage in northeast jewelry, beaded and mesh bags, one antique Cape Coral, according to a police report. doll and costume jewelry. A man told police that over the last cou- The man told police that he often leaves ple of months, boxes of Barbie dolls and cos- his garage door open. tume jewelry have gone missing.