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Joe's Hit Records
July 31, 2003  Jacksonville friends sad to learn of 'remarkable' man's passing: Property records provide an interesting tidbit for this story by Jessie-Lynne Kerr of The Florida Times-Union about Jacksonville reaction to comedian Bob Hope’s death. A box with the story notes “Bob Hope still owns about 20 acres of land in Jacksonville Heights, according to Duval County property records. He inherited the land in 1938 when his father died.” Many property appraisers in Florida provide searchable online databases for property research. The public records handbook explains more about what property records offer starting on Page 322.
July 30, 2003 FDLE probes Palm Bay PAL misspending: Police internal affairs investigation reports are central to this story by John A. Torres and Victor Thompson of Florida Today regarding misspent federal grant money by the Palm Bay Police Athletic League. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is determining whether the group and its former principals will have to refund more than $13,000 found to have been spent inappropriately. Internal affairs documents and tapes obtained by the newspaper allege that PAL’s former director “falsified time cards and federal grant time sheets to give himself and other PAL employees unused grant money targeted specifically for PAL programs in 2000.” The director resigned during the investigation earlier this year. The public records handbook profiles police internal affairs investigative reports on Page 310.
July 29, 2003 4 shot, 3 die at nursery: Public records are vital in exploring the backgrounds of players in breaking news stories. Criminal court records are important to this story by Dani Davies, Pamela Pérez and Pilar Ulibarri of The Palm Beach Post about an estranged wife and two others killed by a gunman at a wholesale nursery on Monday. Court records show a history of domestic abuse involving the man in custody and that he failed to complete his domestic violence counseling. The 44-year-old man faces three charges of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. His arrest record in Florida dates back to 1993, the story says. The public records handbook covers criminal background checks on Page 101 followed by criminal court records starting on Page 103.
July 27, 2003 'Sincerely, Bruce D. Kimball': Letters to the Illinois secretary of state figure prominently in this story by St. Petersburg Times senior correspondent Susan Taylor Martin. The piece chronicles what has happened in the 15 years after an intoxicated Olympic diver plowed into a group of teenagers one summer night at a popular dead end road hangout in Hillsborough County known as “The Spot.” The resulting crash left two people dead and three seriously hurt. It also resulted in prison time and an altered life for driver Bruce Kimball, a world-class diver and 1988 Olympic silver medallist. A Florida judge said he should never drive again. The article notes that Kimball declined to be interviewed for the story but “in letters supporting his petition to drive again, friends say he knows he did a terrible thing, accepts responsibility and has done all he could to make amends.” The story leads with the words Kimball, now a physical education teacher in Illinois, wrote in seeking to obtain an Illinois driver’s license. "My name is Bruce D. Kimball," the letter began, "and I am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict." The public records handbook profiles criminal court records in Florida starting on Page 103.
July 26, 2003 Cameras no help in probe of teen's death: Public records are crucial resources for enabling taxpayers to see how their tax dollars are - or aren’t - working and why it matters. Carol Marbin Miller of the Miami Herald used various records from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice for this report on how surveillance cameras at Miami-Dade's juvenile lockup can’t provide valuable insights on the agonizing final days leading to a detained 17-year-old’s death because they didn’t work properly. Says the story: “Cameras at the 226-bed Regional Juvenile Detention Center never worked properly since their installation nearly a decade ago, according to Department of Juvenile Justice records obtained by The Herald. Although they allow real-time monitoring, they don't record. The department has sought to replace the equipment since 1998 but was never given the money.” An e-mail obtained from the department indicates agency officials apparently knew early on of problems with the video equipment. After this story appeared, the Miami-Dade County state attorney's office announced it will ask a grand jury to investigate the death of Omar Paisley, who languished in pain for three days before dying June 9 from a ruptured appendix. The public records handbook profiles e-mail records on Page 140.
July 25, 2003 Food columnist suing spiritual advice columnist for more than $1M: It’s unusual for one newspaper columnist to sue another, especially when they write for the same newspaper. Court records assisted Kristen Zambo of the Naples Daily News in this report that a “Naples Daily News food columnist is suing the paper's spiritual advice columnist for more than $1 million, saying she was manipulated into writing the woman a $95,000 check as a ‘gift.’” The food columnist’s suit accuses the spiritual advice columnist of constructive fraud, unjust enrichment and civil theft - all claims the spiritual advice columnist denies. Court documents indicate the food columnist has been visiting the spiritual advice columnist for years to receive “special self-healing treatment.” She told the newspaper she has paid the spiritual advice columnist between $2 million and $3 million to provide the treatments, which her lawsuit claims were terminated “without explanation or reason.” There's no truth in the allegations, the spiritual advice columnist told the newspaper. Civil lawsuit case files and the types of information they offer are profiled starting on Page 82 of the public records handbook.
July 24, 2003 Regier's report card is mixed: Carol Marbin Miller of the Miami Herald analyzed an internal agency report card for this story evaluating the one-year tenure of the man in charge of reforming the state’s troubled Department of Children and Family Services. The story points out gains and lags in achieving agency goals. It also notes that the report card “suggests that two of [Jerry] Regier's most important stated goals - speeding up the shift to private management of foster care, and reducing the number of foster children - may be on a collision course.” Links at the bottom of this story allow readers to review the internal DCF report card for themselves in Microsoft Word or PDF formats.
July 23, 2003 Brothels ply a seasonal business in Hillsborough: Sheriff’s reports and court documents allowed Brady Dennis and Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler of the St. Petersburg Times to offer “a glimpse into a business that investigators say thrives in Hillsborough County each picking season - brothels that cater to migrant workers.” The story says sheriff’s deputies have raided five such houses in recent months. Authorities suspect more exist. Eighteen people have been arrested in these thriving establishments, all of which had similar business practices and pricing. All operated in heavily Hispanic communities, and most existed near the working fields of migrants. A Miami connection also fits into the picture of this shadowy enterprise. What isn’t as clear, the story points out, is who runs it all. The story includes a map showing the locations of the raided homes. The public records handbook covers arrest reports on Page 23 and criminal court records on Page 103.
July 22, 2003 Catanese version given to investigators: Prosecutors release more records in the Corvette controversy involving the Florida Atlantic University Foundation. Brian Bandell of the Boca Raton News relied on those records for this story that said “former Florida Atlantic University President Anthony Catanese and his wife were uneasy with the way now-indicted former FAU fund-raising head Carla Coleman planned to give them the money for a Corvette, but they accepted her word that the method was a ‘legitimate’ way to provide the gift.” This story includes a “Tony tells all” sidebar with excerpts of Catanese’s sworn account to investigators regarding the questionable plan to give him a Corvette. Money from the non-profit foundation is not supposed to be used to benefit private individuals. Other newspapers with similar stories today include The South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post and The Miami Herald. The public records handbook covers prosecutor case files on Page 328 and criminal court records on Page 103.
July 21, 2003 Schools lacking Hispanic leaders: Public records often signal interesting trends. Public school statistics enable Jennifer Booth Reed of the Fort Myers News-Press to report that Hispanics are now the largest minority group in Lee County schools. The number of Hispanic students enrolled in the system is up almost 19 percent from last year. However, the story notes: “There are no Hispanic principals. As of the end of last year, there were four Hispanic assistant principals, and one of them has since been demoted. Two of 20 deans or curriculum coordinators were Hispanic. Just five Hispanic people were listed as other administrators, supervisors, coordinators or directors on last year’s roster.” But the story also points out that Lee County isn’t alone in struggling to diversify its administration. Besides local school statistics, this story also draws upon federal U.S. Census records to provide perspective on overall Hispanic population trends.
July 20, 2003 Still no new law requiring checks on cab drivers: Diane Rodgers of the St. Augustine Record reports that 79 of the city’s 124 cab drivers have histories of criminal and/or traffic offenses as of this month, underscoring that city and county officials have yet to implement licensing reforms they said were in the works a year ago. Collectively, the story says, “the 124 St. Augustine drivers have been charged with 216 misdemeanors, 135 felonies and 91 traffic violations.” This story follows the reporter’s award-winning work from last year that pointed out similar criminal histories of local cab drivers. Both city and county officials at that time said they were working on new laws to address the issue. The public records handbook explains how to obtain criminal background checks on Page 101 and explores how to research criminal court records on Page 103.
July 19, 2003 State pays $50,000 to settle rape claim: Public records can expose alarming details about government doings that officials wished would stay under the rug. This story by Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times says officials with the Florida Parole Commission quietly paid $50,000 in tax money last year to settle with an employee who accused the agency's human resources director of sexually harassing and raping him in 2001. Eight months after the payment, the commission chairman described the human resources director as an "innovative, creative, loyal" employee who deserved a bonus, which he received. But the plot thickens. Officials did not report the alleged rape to law enforcement until last week, just a few days after the human resources director resigned. The Leon County Sheriff’s Office is now investigating. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is probing whether the then commission chairman misused other public funds and falsified travel and expense records. And by the way, some Parole Commission files regarding the rape claim against the human resources director disappeared after the settlement was made. The public records handbook explains how to track payments from state and local government agencies starting on Page 72. How to research government employee records is explained starting on Page 239, and minutes of public boards and agencies are covered on Page 284.
July 18, 2003 Payment investigated for commissioner’s surgery: Public records are often thought of as paper documents, but governments generate them in many forms. Video tape from a public meeting aided Karl Ross, Elysa Batista and Luisa Yanez of the Miami Herald in this story about whether a county commissioner helped direct a contract to a financially troubled health insurance provider in exchange for costly stomach surgery that helped him lose 190 pounds. Notes the story: “Investigators want to know why Nationwide Public Employees Trust approved the $50,000-plus procedure when its policy manual states that weight-loss surgery is 'excluded' from coverage.” Video of a public meeting from 2001 showed the public official voicing support for Nationwide, which later collapsed with more than $7 million in unpaid claims. The surgery happened four months later. The official denies doing anything wrong. The story includes pictures of him before and after his surgery. Some public boards and agencies tape their meetings and others do not. But all are required to keep minutes from their meetings about what happened, although this story points out those minutes may not be all inclusive. The public records handbook covers minutes of public boards and agencies starting on Page 284.
July 17, 2003 Squeezing a spat for all it’s worth: Police tape recordings of complaint calls from the public are public records unless exempted by law. Dispatcher recordings from Naples police helped Chuck Murphy of the St. Petersburg Times dig deeper into the Naples lemonade permit stand flap that has made national news. The story says “the reality of Avigayil Wardein's lemonade adventure is different from the story repeated on national radio and television shows, and ultimately distorted on talk radio and around the world via the Internet. For starters, police didn't really shut down the stand, much less arrest any children, as some have claimed. And the city had granted the license without a fee long before the first word about the controversy was broadcast or printed.” The call records shed light on a running spat between the girl’s mother and the neighbor who called about the stand, showing the mother had called police six times earlier to complain about the volume of the neighbor’s radio. Police responded by visiting the neighbor’s house each time. The story says the fed-up neighbor made a retaliatory call to police but clearly “never demanded that the stand be closed or anyone be cited.”
July 16, 2003 Donations flap blamed on errors: Legislative rules prohibit state lawmakers from accepting campaign contributions during the regular legislative session. But campaign finance reports reviewed by Alison North Jones of The Tampa Tribune revealed nearly 20 lawmakers listed contributions for that period. The story says House Majority Leader Marco Rubio will return $5,000 deposited during that time, and other lawmakers are scrambling to provide records showing the listings were clerical errors. Campaign contributions and expenditures regarding state lawmakers can be viewed on the Florida Department of State Web site. For more on campaign finance information that must be reported by Florida elected officials and candidates at all levels, see Page 60 of the public records handbook.
July 15, 2003 State admits fault in girl’s case: Stories about financial caps for medical malpractice lawsuits currently dominate Florida’s news, but caps can factor into other types of liability lawsuits as well. Donna Callea of The Daytona Beach News-Journal used court records to report the state has agreed to pay a settlement for its role in the foster home child abuse that left a little girl in Flagler County with permanent brain damage. The story notes the $100,000 settlement in the case involving Florida’s Department of Children and Families is the most Florida law allows when the state is held liable in a lawsuit. Because of the abuse, the girl, now 5, has the cognitive ability of a toddler.The public records handbook profiles civil lawsuit case files starting on Page 82.
July 14, 2003 Police wanted felony charges for Catanese, wife: Records from state attorney’s office can provide an inside look at how law enforcement and prosecutors viewed a case. The records enabled Larry Keller of The Palm Beach Post to report that police investigating the use of charitable donations to buy a corvette for the former president of Florida Atlantic University believed the evidence existed to charge the former president and his wife with felonies. The state attorney’s office decided, however, it lacked enough evidence to charge the couple after reviewing details of the two-month investigation. The information about the couple is part of the state’s case against an FAU senior vice president who faces felony charges of engaging in a scheme to defraud and communications fraud by using FAU Foundation money to buy the Corvette last year. Only the FAU official has been charged in the matter. The records were released by prosecutors to the senior vice president’s attorney as part of the discovery process of the case, which made the records public. The overall case files of prosecutors, however, do not become public until after a case is closed or no longer remains active. The story says the information about the couple stemmed from a search warrant affidavit from police. The story also relates several other interesting angles involving records that are part of the evidence in the case. The public records handbook explains the types of information found from search warrants starting on Page 340. Prosecutor case files are covered on Page 328.
July 13, 2003 Lurking land mines endanger shuttle: John Kelly and Todd Halvorson of Florida Today analyzed more than two decades of federal NASA documents to report lurking problems with shuttle systems that the paper says could destroy another ship or kill more astronauts. The story says the paper’s computer-assisted analysis of the records revealed “the systems most likely to cause another disaster are the shuttle's auxiliary power units, heat-shield components and liquid-fueled main engines.” NASA has identified many of the problems, but the fixes lag behind because of cost and technological issues, the story says. Unlike the records generated by Florida local governments and state agencies, the records held by federal agencies are subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act. For more on the act and for help in generating your own federal FOI request letter, see the resources link on this Web page.
July 11, 2003 A message from Roger: Federal Social Security death records helped the St. Petersburg Times unravel a mystery in this touching story about a little boy’s message in a bottle found 19 years later this July 4th by a St. Petersburg man. The article explains how Times reporter Lane DeGregory and Times news researcher Caryn Baird pieced together what had happened to the boy, Roger E. Clay from Fairfield, Ohio, and his family. Some of the players in the story were scheduled to appear today
on NBC’s Today show. Rather than tell you more here, I highly recommend that you check this one out for yourself. This is a good example of how records of all kinds can be important research tools depending on the circumstances. One place the Social Security death index can be found online is through www.ancestry.com. The public records handbook does not cover federal Social Security records, but it does explain Florida death certificates, what they offer and how to obtain them starting on Page 109.
July 10, 2003 DEP expands Wal-Mart tank probe: Florida state government, including the state Department of Environmental Protection, regulates a wide range of business activities that can be monitored through public records. Greg C. Bruno of The Gainesville Sun reports that DEP officials are now reviewing petroleum storage tanks at all 195 Wal-Mart facilities statewide as part of investigation into whether the company violated state storage tank laws. The story notes that since 1998 “owners of facilities with above-ground fuel tanks have been required to register with state environmental inspectors and prove they have the financial resources to mop up any spills that might occur.” Many of Wal-Mart’s stores have tanks for fuel and used oil due to services offered or general operations. For more on permit and regulation records maintained by DEP, see Page 179 of the public records handbook.
July 9, 2003 Haitian aid agency's board in disarray, files show: State corporation records helped Leon Fooksman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel illustrate the instability surrounding the Haitian American Community Council board. Some people listed by the aid agency as board directors in state records said they didn’t know it and never went to a meeting. The story notes that members should have been attending meetings, setting policy and controlling the Delray Beach social services agency, according to the council's bylaws. Two local government agencies with ties to the council are calling for a stronger board with more accountability. Corporation records filed with the Florida Department of State are online. The public records handbook profiles the records and what they offer starting on Page 96.
July 8, 2003 Home sick: This story based on seldom-reviewed public records is
must reading for anyone who plans to have a home built in Florida. Cynthia Barnett of Florida Trend magazine analyzed a year's worth of claims to the state's Construction Industries Recovery Fund to show how consumers can be stung by Florida's Construction Lien Law. Through records and interviews with burned consumers, this story illustrates how home buyers can end up paying twice to build their home because of the state law that leaves them responsible for unpaid workers or supplies. This piece underscores that even savvy buyers who are knowledgeable about their rights can take a tumble under this law. It outlines the ordeals of various home buyers throughout the state and explains in detail how the system can break down. Liens, another public record prominent in this story, are profiled in the public records handbook starting on Page 266.
July 7, 2003 A $140-million mess: Records from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection help the St. Petersburg Times explain how state taxpayers are stuck with a $140 million bill for toxic waste cleanup because the state didn’t follow its own rules in regulating a Manatee County fertilizer plant. Reporters Craig Pittman, Julie Hauserman and Candace Rondeaux explain the state’s role in creating what a top environmental regulator calls “one of the biggest environmental threats in Florida history.” State officials are trying to avoid a disastrous waste spill into Tampa Bay that could kill millions of fish and wipe out plant life for miles. Besides phosphate plants, the DEP issues and regulates more than 100 other types of environmental permits in Florida. The public records handbook profiles the offerings from DEP’s permitting and regulation files starting on Page 179.
July 6, 2003 Public votes, private profits: Public records are essential in enabling the public and press to explore potential conflicts of interest among public officials. Joel Engelhardt, John Pacenti, Thomas R. Collins and Sarah Eisenhauer of the Palm Beach Post enlisted a variety of public records to document how a local city councilman voted 46 times on issues that boosted the value of his development. The story relates that months before he publicly declared a conflict of interest the councilman “voted four times on the development while his team of subcontractors completed plans for model homes that would be built within the project, documents filed with the city show.” A grand jury grand jury subpoena on April 25 demands all city documents concerning council approval of the golf community development at issue. The councilman has denied any wrongdoing. The public records handbook explains how to research many of the records needed to explore stories such as this one. The handbook covers corporation filings on Page 96, disclosures of public officials (including voting conflict declarations) on Page 121, property deeds on Page 113, mortgages on Page 287, property appraisals on Page 322, legislative files of local governments on Page 263, and minutes of public meetings on Page 284. Subpoenas are referenced on Page 105 as part of the criminal courts entry.
July 3, 2003 Bush reports decline in assets: The governor and many other elected and non-elected public officials in certain jobs must file annual public disclosures about their finances. Joe Follick of The Tampa Tribune used the records to reveal that Gov. Jeb Bush is worth $1.3 million, which is nearly 40 percent less than his reported net worth of $2.4 million in 1997. The story notes that Bush’s blind trust fund containing his investments drooped from $1.6 million to $840,000 because of the bleak market conditions of recent years. The public records handbook profiles financial disclosures of various kinds starting on Page 121.
July 1, 2003 Drug industry, lobbyists bullied state into ignoring fake drug law: State licensing records on professionals and businesses offer important insights into the licensees and the performance of the public agencies regulating them. Bob LaMendola and Sally Kestin of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel used state licensing files and other records to show how state health officials aided small pharmaceutical wholesalers in making Florida a national center for fake medications. The story says records indicate “ the state for years did little background checking on wholesale firms, giving licenses to convicted drug smugglers, armed robbers, burglars and white-collar criminals. When wholesalers broke the rules and lost their licenses, they often kept operating anyway.” The story, part of a Sun-Sentinel series on counterfeit medicine, underscores how industry lobbyists and campaign contributions factored in the development of a new state law aimed at wholesalers. The public records handbook profiles Florida Department of Health licensing and regulation records on Page 194 and criminal background checks on Page 101. Lobbyist registration records are covered on Page 271, and campaign contribution records are detailed starting on Page 60.
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E-mail Joe Adams at joe@idiganswers.com