Baseball: CR’s Humphreys named Player of the Year/B1 WEDNESDAY CITRUS COUNTY TODAY & Thursday morning HIGH Partly sunny with a 87 slight chance of storms, LOW showers through Thurs- 67 PAGE A4 day morning. www.chronicleonline.com MAY 16, 2012 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community 50¢ VOLUME 117 ISSUE 283 NEWS BRIEFS State board adjusts FCAT grade Romney wins cation unanimously passed 10th grades. sufficiently stress changes Another factor that may Nebraska Associated Press the rule. Without it, only “When I saw the dramatic in this year’s test to school have contributed to the primary about a third of students drop in scores, I realized districts and teachers, he lower results was the use of TALLAHASSEE — An would have passed the writ- that overnight students all said. two graders instead of one LINCOLN, Neb. emergency rule adopted — Mitt Romney is ing portion of the Florida of a sudden didn’t become Before the school year, to score each test, Robinson Tuesday will lower the Comprehensive Assessment bad writers,” Education the board increased the cut- said. adding another vic- passing grade for Florida’s Test, or FCAT, compared to Commissioner Gerard off from 3.5 to four, while Citrus County School tory to his win standardized writing test to 80 percent or better last Robinson told the board. also making the test tougher Board member Pat column. keep the failure rate about year. Robinson acknowledged by increasing emphasis on Deutschman said the FCAT Nebraska Repub- the same as last year after The passing grade will some things “slipped such conventions as writing test snafu shows the licans, as expected, preliminary results showed drop from four to three on a through” the Department of spelling, punctuation and process is flawed have made clear it would have dramatically zero-to-six scale. The writ- Education, but promised capitalization, as well as the throughout. their preference for increased otherwise. ing test is given in the they would be corrected. quality of details used to ex- the GOP nomination The State Board of Edu- fourth, eighth and The department failed to plain, clarify and define. See FCAT/ Page A5 by choosing Rom- ney in Tuesday’s presidential primary. Romney has all but clinched the Deputies: nomination, and is well on his way to Honoring the protectors winning the 1,144 Mom kills delegates needed to get the party nod. Spotlight on Also Tuesday, 4 kids, Oregon was decid- ing whether to give county’s finest its 25 presidential then delegates to Rom- for 2012 Law ney. And the state is expected to do so. Enforcement herself Results were not available at press Associated Press time. Appreciation Week —From wire reports PORT ST. JOHN — A A.B. SIDIBE Florida mother who fatally Staff Writer shot her four children be- fore killing INSIDE This breed of Citrus County herself Sheriff ’s Office officers rarely Tuesday WORLD NEWS: bandies around the D-word. called three Yet, for detectives Shelley Clark, of the kids Corey Davidson and deputies who had Mickey Dixon, Bobby Price and sought help David Seidenstucker, fate, under- from a girded by a steely determination to neighbor “help people” and make a differ- Tonya back to the ence have been hallmarks of their Thomas house be- storied careers. fore firing the fatal shots, They are officers one of their authorities said. bosses calls “five really good offi- Thirty-three-year-old cers with a lot of integrity and they Tonya Thomas fatally shot do a great job for this agency.” her four children, who Commander Wayne Burns said ranged in age from 12 to 17, all the officers have their individ- said Lt. Tod Goodyear, a ual distinctions, which make them spokesman for the Brevard Sworn in important cogs in the county’s law County Sheriff ’s Office. enforcement wheel. Three of the children had Even an act of God “They all have and are willing to gone to a neighbor’s front cannot deter France’s take on additional responsibilities door before dawn to say president, whose plane DAVE SIGLER/Chronicle whenever it is necessary,” Burns Citrus County Sheriff’s Detective Corey Davidson heads up the underwater their mother had shot them. was hit by lightning in added. The mother then called the midair./Page A12 recovery team, along with his other duties. Davidson has been with the sher- As part of 2012 Law Enforcement iff’s office for 18 years. children back to the house Appreciation Week — May 13 to16 and killed them, Goodyear ENTERTAINMENT: — the Chronicle is shining the spot- the law enforcement bug began Davidson said. said. light on some of Citrus County’s gnawing at him. So law enforcement became a “From what the neigh- finest: “I always knew I wanted to do natural direction in trying to fulfill bors said, she was very ■ While Detective Corey David- something that involved helping those desires. Davidson, who grew calm. She walked out and son was attending college in the St. people and to make something called them back. They Petersburg area in the mid 1990s, which is wrong, right,” See HONOR/ Page A11 turned around and walked back to the house,” Goodyear said. Vive la film The neighbor then heard The 65th Cannes film Officers pay tribute to their fallen comrades across the country gunshots and called 911. festival starts today in A.B. SIDIBE Another neighbor told France./Page B6 Staff Writer deputies that Thomas sent a text message in the middle of the night saying she COMING UP INVERNESS — The bell tolled Tuesday for 36 wanted to be cremated with TOMORROW: law enforcement officers her children. killed in the line of duty “He didn’t see the text Golden so far in 2012 as Sgt. Brad until he woke up this morn- readers Smith of the Citrus ing,” Goodyear said. County Sheriff ’s Office Deputies identified the Boys and girls gain read the names. children as Pebbles John- confidence reading to They included names son, 17; Jaxs Johnson, 15; therapy dogs./ Jazlin Johnson, 13; and Joel Thursday from disparate corners of the nation, from Washington Johnson, 12. SPECIAL SECTION: State to Puerto Rico. And The shooting happened the occasion is in con- in Port St. John, about 15 junction with Peace Offi- miles west of Cape cers Memorial Day first Canaveral in an area known pronounced by President as the “Space Coast” be- John F. Kennedy in 1962. cause it is the home of The sheriff ’s office brass, NASA’s Kennedy Space including Sheriff Jeff Center, the location of many Dawsy, the entire County famed shuttle launches. Commission, Inverness A spokesman for the De- Mayor Bob Plaisted and partment of Children and representatives of other DAVE SIGLER/Chronicle Families wouldn’t immedi- Pull & save law enforcement agencies National Police Week activities took place Tuesday at Cooter Pond Park in Inverness ately comment on whether Plan to keep this handy to pay tribute and lay a wreath in honor of law enforcement officers who died in the the family had a history guide around during the See FALLEN/ Page A11 line of duty. with the agency. whole hurricane Dispatch records re- season./Thursday leased Tuesday show that authorities responded to INDEX Thomas’ house on three successive days in April. Comics . .C8 Front Porch owner vows to reopen — sometime In the first visit, on Easter Community . .C6 Sunday, Thomas reported MIKE WRIGHT Crossword . .C7 slammed into the side of the restaurant. been 77 on Tuesday. that her son had thrown a Editorial . .A10 Staff Writer the building Monday Monday is the only Mrs. Scully and bicycle through a window at Entertainment . .B6 afternoon. day of the week the her manager, Kath- the house. The next day, DUNNELLON — Mary Horoscope . .B6 It embedded itself in Front Porch is leen Cunningham, Thomas called to report Scully and her family are Lottery Numbers . .B4 the restaurant’s office, closed. estimate the damage that her son had kicked and determined to reopen their Lottery Payouts . .B6 causing extensive damage. Incredibly, a por- at $50,000, but it punched her when she Movies . .C8 Front Porch restaurant, but The impact knocked trait of Mrs. could go higher. tried to wake him up for Obituaries . .A6 they just don’t know how or down a brick wall that sep- Scully’s husband, Insurance will school. The following day, Classifieds . .C9 when. arated the office from a Stan, didn’t move cover some of the re- TV Listings . .C7 Mary child welfare investigators The popular eatery on dining area, sending debris from its place on Scully placement but they visited the house to look U.S. 41 in northern Citrus scattered throughout the the wall and wasn’t owns don’t know yet how into allegations of inade- County is closed indefi- restaurant. touched. restaurant. much. quate supervision of nitely. Though the driver was Stan Scully, who A Ford Explorer injured, no one was hurt in died Aug. 28, would have See CRASH/ Page A5 See MURDER/ Page A5 A2 WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012 CITRUS COUNTY (FL) CHRONICLE Dinner’s ready. From groceries to electronics, there’s more in store for Homosassa at 6885 South Suncoast Blvd. w Op No en ® © 2012 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. SPageTATE A3 - WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012 & LOCAL CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE Around THE STATE Ground broken at airport Fugitive NANCY KENNEDY Citrus County Staff Writer siblings New voter information INVERNESS — There cards in the mail was a lot of dirt flying plead not Susan Gill, supervisor of around as county officials elections, reported that new and leaders gathered at the voter information cards are south end of the Inverness being mailed to all voters as a Airport on Tuesday to guilty result of redistricting.