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KeysNet.com Keynoter
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
NEWS BRIEFS
KEY WEST
FWC coastal group meets in Florida Keys
NASCAR team owner injured in plane crash
Staffers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Coastal Wildlife Conservation Initiative are coming to the Keys next week to discuss their strategy for wildlife conservation in coastal areas of Florida, including Monroe County. The Nov. 8 session is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and the Nov. 9 session from 9 a.m. to noon. Both are at the Marathon Garden Club, mile marker 50 bayside. Although the meetings are open to the public, those planning to attend are asked to register in advance online at www.myfwc.com/ Conservation; select “Coastal Wildlife Conservation Initiative,” then “Register.” FWC staff will present an overview of the initiative and its partnership strategy, and ask those attending to identify pressing coastal conservation issues in their area — in this case, the Keys — and discuss gaps in research, education, management and regulation that stand in the way of resolving those issues. Said Blair Hayman, the initiative’s coordinator. “Critical, immediate, as well as long-standing coastal wildlife conservation issues could be addressed more effectively through the cooperative efforts of a partnership rather than by individual agencies or entities.”
KEYS WEATHER PREDICTED TEMPERATURES
DAY WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
HIGH 81 81 81 81
LOW 72 70 71 71
Forecast: Expect partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies. Visit KeysNet.com/weather for radar and extended forecast.
BEACH ADVISORIES The Monroe County Health Department tests Keys beaches twice weekly for the presence of enteric bacteria. The following beaches have health advisories against swimming: ● South Beach, Key West.
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Aircraft slides off Keys runway Monday night By CAMMY CLARK cclark@MiamiHerald.com
A jet carrying Rick Hendrick, owner of NASCAR’s Hendrick Motorsports, and his wife, Linda, crash-landed Monday evening at Key West International Airport. Both were taken to Lower Keys Medical Center with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, according to Peter Horton, director of airports for Monroe County. The Gulfstream 150, which was registered to
NASCAR five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, apparently lost its brakes upon landing at the small airport about 7:45 p.m. Horton said the pilot and co-pilot radioed to the tower saying they had “no brakes.” The plane skidded off the 4,800-foot runway and came to a stop along a 600-foot unpaved safety area that had just been added at the airport in May. “If this area hadn’t been added, the outcome would have been different and probably catastrophic,” Horton said. “Before, we had only 100 feet of overrun, and then they would have gone into a salt pond and hit an embankment.” The pilot and co-pilot,
whose names were not available, were walking after the accident and did not appear to be injured, Horton said. But both pilots were taken to the hospital for evaluation. Hendrick and his wife were put on stretchers and taken to the hospital. The extent of their injuries was not available. The National Transportation Safety Board was notified and will be investigating the incident. In 2004, Hendrick’s team plane crashed en route to a NASCAR race, killing all 10 aboard, including his son, brother and two nieces. The Hendricks own a waterfront home on Sunset Key. NASCAR has its seasonending race, the Ford 400, on Nov. 20 at Homestead Miami Speedway.
MARATHON
Erratic driving leads to big drug haul Maryland man reportedly had pills, hash, pot By RYAN McCARTHY rmccarthy@keynoter.com
Some advice: If you’re carrying a lot of illegal drugs in your car, it’s best to obey traffic laws so as not to draw attention to yourself. Jesse Leese, 25, of Baltimore, Md., learned that over the weekend, says the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. The laborer was charged with several drug-related offenses around 11 a.m. Sunday after deputies pulled him over near 53rd Street in Marathon after receiving a call from a motorist that the van Leese was driving northbound at mile marker 20 was crossing the center line of U.S. 1. That was at 10:28 a.m. Deputies staked out the
Photo courtesy SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Deputy Jon Barry Huff (left) and Deputy Bradford Colen show the drugs, cash and other items seized during a Sunday morning traffic stop. Police pulled over 25-yearold Maryland resident Jesse Leese for driving erratically and found him carrying more than 230 prescription pills, marijuana, hash and an open bottle of rum. van on the Marathon end of the S e v e n M i l e Bridge, w h i c h L e e s e crossed at LEESE 10:58 a.m., then followed the suspect for a few miles before pulling him over. When they did, they reportedly found more than 230 prescription pills and other drugs inside the van. The report says Leese was “driving all over the road, including into oncoming traffic and off onto the shoulder.” He had four passengers inside. During the traffic stop, the arrest report says, deputies saw an open bottle of Sailor Jerry’s rum behind the driver’s seat. Leese was initially given warnings for not staying in his lane, not carrying a current insurance
card and for the open container. But Leese admitted to having marijuana in the van, leading deputies to conduct a search. They found numerous containers — including a pair for Tic Tac candies — holding the prescription pills Xanax, oxycodone, methadone and Adderal, as well as hash. Leese was charged with felony counts of possessing opium or a derivative, and a controlled substance without a prescription. He’s also charged with misdemeanor marijuana and drug equipment possession. He had $544 on him, which was seized for possible forfeiture. One of is passengers, 42year-old Cerrina Norton of Key Largo, was charged with possession of marijuana. Leese remained in jail as of Tuesday afternoon at the Monroe County Detention Center on $6,000 bond.
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Keynoter photo by RYAN McCARTHY
At least six of these no-parking signs are posted at a private lot adjacent to the public boat ramp near mile marker 54. Several people towed from the lot have complained to the City Council about tow companies accepting only cash.
Marathon to amend law From Marathon, 1A accept traveler’s checks and credit cards from vehicle and vessel owners. Tow companies operating on the city’s tow rotation list shall afford owners a reasonable time to secure an acceptable method of payment and must have a written policy in place regarding accepting credit or debit cards on site at all times.” Pruitt could not be reached for comment by press time. It’s unclear whether he has an agreement with the property’s owner to tow any vehicle parked there. The council appeared to agree with Ramsay the towing law should be amended, but Mayor Ginger Snead said a larger problem is with the lack of available public boat-ramp parking. “I think there should be an alternate method of paying. That’s the most immediate problem we have, but it goes deeper than that. We
need to fix the problem itself, not just a symptom of the problem,” she said. There is no available public parking near the Quay boat ramp and only limited space at public ramps on 33rd Street and Harbor Drive. Residents had complained for months about traffic created by illegal parking at a lot adjacent to the Harbor ramp, so the city made it a no-parking site. Councilman Mike Cinque said the Keys are “land poor” when it comes to parking and suggested using a portion of the cityowned 104th Street property once designated for affordable housing to fix the problem. “We might be able to designate a portion of that property for boat trailers and put an automated fence in there,” he said. The council approved a motion to amend the law and research solutions to the lack of parking.
Keynoter photo by SEAN KINNEY
Complaints about after-hours towing at the Whitehead Street post office in Key West are increasing. Now, the Postal Service says it’s ‘reviewing the parking lot situation.’
Mayor calls it ‘heck of a scam’ From Key West, 1A She pointed to a specific complaint logged on the Monroe County website over weekend after a Saturday incident. Claus Parow of Lakeland wrote that he parked in the lot for less than an hour while visiting with his wife for Fantasy Fest and came back to find his car gone. He ended up paying $260 in cash to retrieve his vehicle, adding that dealing with staff at Arnold’s Towing was like “dealing with the Gestapo. Since this obviously is a well-known
scam in Key West, why has nothing been done to stop it?” Cates agreed the fee structure and overall operations of local tow companies should be re-examined, hence two amended ordinances he planned to bring to city commissioners in a meeting after press time on Tuesday. “It’s one heck of a scam and it’s unbelievable,” he said. “They have your car; you can fight it as a civil matter but it could be months or weeks. And if you lose, you’re paying all that storage. People know you can’t fight it.”
Callahan not in Marathon’s plans From Chief, 1A Jim Callahan. County Administrator Roman Gastesi encouraged Callahan to apply in the hopes the two governments could share his cost, just like the arrangement Marathon and Islamorada had for Wagner. But the council is less than enthusiastic about that plan, preferring instead to hire its own
full-time chief. “I’ll probably meet with him to envision how he understood the relationship would work,” Hernstadt said. “From the comments in the [local media], it seems they’re more inclined to hire their own fire chief.” The second council meeting of the month is scheduled for Nov. 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the Marathon Government Center.
