Lower Matecumbe Key Home Where She Decided to Nest to Lay 27 Eggs
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WWW.KEYSNET.COM WEDNESDAY,APRIL 24, 2013 VOLUME 60, NO. 33 ● 25 CENTS NESTING CROC IS SENT PACKING NO NAME KEY PSC: May 14 hearing set on electricity Reynolds is tentatively Also, Putney scheduled for May 14. ruled not to The complaint, filed against utility Keys Energy Services, have standing argues the PSC, not Monroe County, has jurisdiction over By RYAN McCARTHY electrifying the island. [email protected] “That’s subject to change. The staff recommendations The Florida Public Service come out on May 2 and that’s Commission is inching closer when the agenda is set,” she to a decision that could bring said. “At this point, it is sched- the decades-long battle over uled to be on the agenda.” allowing commercial electric- Muir said if the complaint ity on No Name Key closer is heard May 14, the commis- than ever to conclusion. sioners would make a deci- PSC spokeswoman Cindy sion on jurisdiction only. If Muir told the Keynoter on the board rules jurisdiction Tuesday that a hearing to belongs with it, Muir said the consider a March 2012 com- matter then goes to eviden- plaint filed by No Name resi- Photo courtesy FWC dents Bob and Julianne ● See No Name, 2A Blue No. 9 doesn’t realize it, but she’s about to be relocated from the Lower Matecumbe Key home where she decided to nest to lay 27 eggs. State wildlife officers removed her Tuesday morning but say she’ll likely return. For IN THE COURTS more Blue No. 9 nesting photos, go to www.KeysNet.com/photos. KEY LARGO LeBaron murder trial commences or any family or friends — Attorneys open had ever been attacked with a Fire department with arguments knife or a hammer. He also asked whether they had expe- in capital case rienced an assault during which the victim had teeth By RYAN McCARTHY knocked out. [email protected] The chief witness against all but dissolved LeBaron is his then-girl- Opening arguments in the friend, Kristen Whitmore. By DAVID GOODHUE Ambulance Corps is taking over, gone unanswered. first-degree murder trial of She pleaded guilty to second- [email protected] The Fire-Rescue Depart- Jonathan Leo LeBaron began degree murder and is serving hopes to retain the firefighters ment corporation owns sever- Tuesday at the Freeman 18 years in prison. By the end of next month, al pieces of property used by Justice Center in Key West. Police say Gardner had the nonprofit corporation that Jennifer Miller refused to day to allow the Ambulance the district — including the LeBaron, 36, is accused of allowed her to stay on his provided Key Largo fire pro- sign the Ambulance Corps’ Corps to take control of the land one of the two fire sta- beating 57-year-old Richard boat, and she led LeBaron to tection the past five decades contract addendum stating district’s fire operations tions sits on. The corporation Gardner of Cape Coral to the vessel intending to rob will likely no longer exist. the leadership transfer. beginning May 27. also owns equipment and death aboard Gardner’s boat Gardner. Instead, LeBaron The taxing district board The district and the Fire- That essentially spelled vehicles, including the chief’s at a Stock Island marina on allegedly beat Gardner to that oversees the budgets Rescue Department were in the end of the existing Fire- vehicle, the department’s Feb. 10, 2009. Prosecutors death — including knocking for Key Largo’s volunteer the middle of a 60-day media- Rescue Department. dive/rescue boat and two are seeking the death penalty out teeth — and stole his car. Fire-Rescue Department tion process aimed at recon- Commissioner Tony “turbo drafts” that suck water — a rarity in the Keys. He and Whitmore were arrest- and Ambulance Corps voted ciling differences between Allen voted against cancel- from the ocean to put out fires. Jurors chosen for the case ed in Midvale, Utah, 12 days Monday night to give con- three of the five commission- ing the department’s con- Thomas, who spearhead- — the initial pool was 176, after the killing based on an trol of both departments to ers and Chief Sergio Garcia. tract. At Monday’s meeting, ed the move to cancel the whittled down to 12 plus an anonymous tip to police. Ambulance Corps Chief But an impasse was reached he wanted to make the medi- Fire-Rescue Department’s alternate — got more than a Madruga also asked jurors Don Bock. at Monday’s closed-door ation proceedings public, as contract, said he’s not sure decent idea Monday about whether they ever had family The vote was highly con- mediation hearing, and did Miller. They were out- what will happen to the land, the kind of gory details or friends convicted of armed tentious, so much so that Key Commissioners Bob Thomas, voted by Beyer, Mirabella equipment and vehicles. He they’re likely to hear. robbery or homicide, and Largo Fire-Rescue and George Mirabella and and Thomas. did say the district will stop Chief Assistant State whether they’d be comfort- Emergency Medical Services Marilyn Beyer decided during The move raises many Attorney Manny Madruga District Board Chairwoman the public meeting later that questions that so far have ● See Fire, 2A asked jurors whether they — ● See LeBaron, 3A MONROE COUNTY SCHOOLS DIFFERENT OUTCOMES Union loses furlough vote, again been a point of contention 13 school year,” Hummell- Smith-Martin made the President says since the very beginning,” Gorman said. motion to approve that rec- ‘honest’ numbers said Holly Hummell- Teacher Debbie Masters ommendation, seconded by Gorman, president of the addressed the board, noting colleague John Dick. are withheld United Teachers of Monroe. that seven furlough days Board member Ed She challenged the district’s have cost her $2,300 in lost Davidson told the crowd of Keynoter Staff claims of “financial wages each of the past two nearly 100 packed into the urgency” and said “an hon- years, and that didn’t include Marathon media center “fur- The Monroe County est accounting was never a 3 percent contribution that lough days are a pay cut and School Board voted 5-0 presented to us.” teachers now pay toward should have been called that.” Monday night to keep seven She also pointed to their health benefits. “The But he pointed to the unpaid staff furlough days Manatee County, which she trend is eroding salaries at a recently released critical in the current year’s schools said has the lowest fund bal- time when the cost of living state audit of district budget. ance of any school district in is not going down.” finances, including a $3 mil- Photo by DAVID GOODHUE Efforts to reverse the Florida, and noted the school Superintendent Mark lion shortfall to fully fund This group of Cubans made it to the U.S. from across the board’s earlier decision board there made do with only Porter, citing a special mag- the district’s health care and Florida Straits last Thursday, landing around mile marker 96 brought a large turnout of two unpaid furlough days. istrate’s report, recommend- worker’s compensation oceanside, and will get to stay under the wet-foot, dry-foot teachers to a special meet- “What we are rejecting ed the board keep the fur- funds. “If we take those ing held at Marathon High tonight is the notion that the lough days intact for the monies, we have less than $1 law. However, 32 others were repatriated the same day School. MCSD needed seven fur- 2012-13 school year, which million left and those are fig- because they were interdicted at sea off the Keys.Those 32 “The furlough days lough days in order to bal- ends June 30. comprised three groups interdicted since April 12, the U.S. issued by this district have ance their budget for 2012- Board member Rob ● See Schools, 2A Coast Guard says. INDEX Printed on 100% Classifieds . .4B recycled newsprint Wrong side Living . .3B Trophy fish CONTENTS © 2013 of the law Business . .5A KEYNOTER PUBLISHING CO. An angler visiting from A former Key West police Obituaries . .2A South Dakota sets a Florida record with his yellowjack officer is jailed on charges Opinion . .4A catch off the Keys. Captain’s he stiffed the state out Sports/Outdoors . .1B column, 1B of sales taxes from his business. Story, 6A Crossword . .3B 7786790 22222 2A Wednesday, April 24, 2013 KeysNet.com Keynoter NEWS BRIEFS MIDDLE KEYS CRIME FRONT Women’s health in focus Friday County tries to Alleged stabber Lower Keys Medical makes $50K bond Center conducts free med- force bridge report Key West. His condition was- ical screenings for women Key Wester n’t known Tuesday. on Friday at the Marriott information on the structur- reports are public record. severely hurt Jacocks told police that Beachside Key West. DOT citing al condition of pilings built “We’re still going to have to McNeal came toward him Running from 11 a.m. to security for as part of Henry Flagler’s deal with this public records in attack and his girlfriend “in an agi- 4 p.m. in the hotel’s Flagler Overseas Railroad. issue,” Commissioner tated state” as the couple Ballroom Salon C (the hotel no release DOT should be asked to Heather Carruthers said. Keynoter Staff walked in the 500 block of is at U.S. 1 and North edit the report so it can be Commissioners also Duval, according to the Roosevelt Boulevard), the By KEVIN WADLOW made available to local tax- directed staff to have an An Englewood, Fla., man report.