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Sweep? Rays close out division series in Baltimore /B1 THURSDAY TODAY CITRUS COUNTY & next morning HIGH 92 Sunshine to start. LOW Heavy storms in the afternoon. 74 PAGE A4 www.chronicleonline.com AUGUST 22, 2013 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community 50¢ VOL. 119 ISSUE 15 EDC to link $28M utilities plan Prosecutor County work drawn into Duke foundation’s $444K gift tries to CHRIS VAN ORMER the Citrus County Economic Devel- County Board of County Commis- Staff writer opment Council (EDC). sioners, speaking to the Chronicle poke holes Earlier this month, the foundation editorial board. “There’s a reason be- How the Duke Energy Founda- gave the EDC $444,000. hind that number. Don (Taylor, EDC tion’s nearly half-million-dollar “That number wasn’t just picked executive director) has been working with them and the EDC has in defense award to the county will be spent was out of a hat,” said Joe Meek, EDC Joe Meek outlined Tuesday by the president of president and chairman of the Citrus EDC president. See EDC/ Page A9 Murder trial continues A.B. SIDIBE Staff writer INVERNESS — The prosecu- tion in the first-degree murder trial of Byron Lee Boutin pulled out a “top gun” aimed at punch- ing holes in the defense’s nar- rative about how a slain Brooksville teen got her hands on a lethal dose of morphine. Wednesday, prosecutor Pete Magrino also put the man largely re- garded as being responsible for the death of Byron DeAnna Stires, Boutin 18, in the orbit charged with of the two peo- first-degree ple accused of murder. killing her. Boutin and his girlfriend Crystal Brinson, 36, of Brooksville, stand accused of killing the teen by injecting her with an excessive dose of mor- phine and then dumping her body in a hunting area in Levy County. Stires was reported missing on New Year’s Day to the Her- nando County Sheriff ’s Office. Her body was found Jan. 18 in a wooded area off State Road 24 in the Levy County community of Otter Creek. Two hunters found Stires’ MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle body wrapped in black fabric ABOVE: Kenneth Swade is silhouetted against a large, custom-designed stained-glass window in his dining room. Swade said with her arm hanging out of the he came up with the idea for the design from a painting in his home. BELOW: Swade’s office window depicts a Spanish sailing wrapping near a dirt road in the vessel as it approaches the Florida coastline. hunting area. A circling vulture led the hunters to the body. The medical examiner has al- Twenty-one stained-glass windows illuminate Inverness man’s home ready said Stires died of “acute morphine intoxication.” NANCY KENNEDY door 12 years ago,” Ken The prosecution contends Staff writer Swade said about his collec- Boutin, 42, and Brinson killed tion of window art. Stires after becoming furious INVERNESS The double front door de- with her for stealing metham- wice a day, the home of picts dolphins. phetamines worth $1,800 from Ken and Vera Swade is “I like art, and I love the them and then hatched a plan Tfilled with collages of work that Glen does. So I to dispose of her body. Magrino rainbows. started coming up with ideas also accused Boutin of making Twenty-one stained glass and Glen does the work.” inconsistent statements to in- windows, all the handiwork Each custom window in the vestigators to keep them off his of Crystal River glass crafts- house took up to six weeks to trail. man Glen Palhof, all depict- complete. Several of them, But the defense team of ing Florida scenes, let the such as the latest one in the Charles Vaughn and Clifford sunlight shine through, color- kitchen that depicts an alliga- Travis said Boutin and Brinson ing the walls, the furniture, tor and a large bird, are were trying to calm down a dis- the counters and floors. ruptive, drug-crazed teen when “It started with the front See GLASS /Page A9 See TRIAL/ Page A2 State land sale could include Citrus County sites PAT FAHERTY serve State Park, one site in The list also has a dozen sites through a model to score the week to inform the public and Staff writer Ellie Schiller Homosassa in Marion County and several in sites based on conservation take comments about its assess- Springs Wildlife State Park and Levy County. The Marion value. ment of state-owned conserva- Five parcels of state-owned one in the Marjorie Harris Carr County list includes a 1.9 acre After additional review, the tion sites. land in Citrus County are on the Cross Florida Greenway State site in Rainbow Springs State DEP will conduct title and mar- The purpose of the sessions is proposed surplus list for possi- Recreation Area. Park. ket studies to determine the po- to present the process and crite- ble sale. The Citrus County sites range The Department of Environ- tential for sale. ria used to assess the land and The statewide list includes in size from half an acre to mental Protection is running all The DEP has a webpage and three sites in Crystal River Pre- 7.9 acres. state-owned conservation land has scheduled two webinars this See LAND/ Page A2 Classifieds . .C2 Community . .C4 INDEX Lottery Numbers . .B4 Obituaries . .A6 Comics . .C6 Editorial . .A8 Lottery Payouts . .B4 TV Listings . .C5 Crossword . .C5 Entertainment . .A4 Horoscope . .A4 Movies . .C6 A2 THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 LOCAL CITRUS COUNTY (FL) CHRONICLE phone access. The webinars are LAND scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. New speed zone Continued from Page A1 today and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday. “The format, is take comments on the people online can ‘raise signs installed in bay process of scoring as well their hands’ to provide as on the actual land comment, which will Special to the Chronicle Wildlife Service. being considered for sale. be recorded,” said Installation of the signs is The process follows a Patrick Gillespie, DEP As a result of the recently scheduled to be finished state directive to sell up spokesperson. established King’s Bay early next week. Many of to $50 million of land no A DEP committee will Manatee Refuge, all speed the signs require new pil- longer needed for conser- meet Sept. 12 to discuss zone signs in the bay are ings, particularly around vation purposes, which the process and scoring being replaced with new the 25 mph sport zone area, will allow for the pur- of the land. The DEP signs containing updated north of Buzzard Island. chase of more valuable will then have regional regulatory information for This 25 mph sport zone was conservation land. meetings throughout most of the speed zones. previously marked by The list of sites with the state for additional The main goal of the project buoys placed last summer. maps and webinar details comments. is to provide boaters in “The new signs around are available at Contact Chronicle re- King’s Bay with full clarity the sport zone provide im- www.dep.state.fl.us/lands/ porter Pat Faherty at 352- of the latest speed regula- proved visibility to boaters assessment. The sessions 564-2924 or pfaherty@ tions in the bay to keep vis- from all of its access points, are also available by tele- chronicleonline.com. itors and manatees safe making King’s Bay safer to during the winter and sum- boaters and other visitors,” HAVE A NEWS TIP? mer months. said Jim Valade, with the The project involves the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- ■ The Chronicle welcomes tips from readers about installation of 36 new signs vice’s North Florida Eco- breaking news. Call the newsroom at 352-563- of four different kinds, with logical Services Office, 5660, and be prepared to give your name, phone most signs being installed which is responsible for number and the address of the news event. around Buzzard Island. the project. The 25 mph ■ To submit story ideas for feature sections, call The cost of this project is sport zone season ended 352-563-5660 and ask for Logan Mosby. more than $40,000, all Aug. 15 and will resume on funded by the U.S. Fish and June 1, 2014. mony to refute the sex or drugs. nervous testimony, Shields Shields said Boutin also that was purportedly used assertions. Vaughn pressed Lannert told the court Brinson and told him Stires stole his to pistol-whip Stires and TRIAL Lannert said he did go to to explain why he had sev- Boutin did come to him meth and that “she had to DNA. Continued from Page A2 Boutin’s house on Christ- eral morphine pills in his the day after Christmas go.” Sheriff ’s Detective Juan mas Day — not to trade car trunk for a trip that and that Brinson told him The jury also heard from Santiago, who sat in on two Brinson administered the drugs for sex — but to only took about two hours. Stires’ body was in the Citrus County Sheriff ’s Of- of Boutin’s interrogations, fatal dose of morphine to meet a “special person.” Lannert, who said he is trunk of their vehicle. He fice forensics team mem- shared what the prosecu- Stires. It is Boutin’s con- Lannert said he didn’t disabled from breaking his said he never believed bers Ashley Pate and Dave tion considers evolving tention the morphine was even get to talk to Boutin back in several places, said them and never looked in Cannaday about the photo- stories about his role in brought on Christmas Day that day and spent only he needed the morphine to the trunk, but that Boutin graphic and videotaped lay- Stires’ death.