Few blacks appoint to judgeships by Gov. Rick Scott

TALLAHASSEE --
Gov. Rick Scott is on pace to appoint fewer African-Americans to judgeships in Florida than either of his two

predecessors, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush.

In his two years as governor, Scott has appointed 91 judges. Six are black, including the reappointments of three judges who handle only

cases involving benefits to injured workers.

Scott has appointed two African-Americans to the circuit court bench, both in Miami-Dade County, and has appointed a black county judge in Jacksonville.

In a state as diverse as Florida, racial and ethnic diversity in the court system has been a concern for decades, and it erupted anew last

week in the state Capitol.

At a roundtable meeting with black legislators, Scott defended his appointments in the face of criticism that his record is “appalling.”

“There’s a sentiment in the black legal community that we need not apply because we don’t think like you,” Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St.

Petersburg, told the governor.

Unmoved, Scott said he’s limited in his choices by the lists of finalists he gets from local judicial nominating commissions or JNCs,

which screen judicial candidates and can recommend up to six candidates for each court vacancy.

Scott said he’s trying to improve diversity on the judicial panels but also emphasized that he won’t appoint activist judges.

“If an applicant — I don’t care who they are — believes in judicial activism, I’m not going to appoint them,” Scott told the black legislators’ group.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush also opposed activist judges and sought “interpreters of law, not creators,” as he said in 2004. But one of

every 10 judges Bush appointed was African-American.

Scott’s immediate predecessor, Crist, who served one four-year term, appointed 15 black judges, five in the first half and 10 in the second

including James Perry, a justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

Statistically, 6.6 percent of Scott’s judicial choices are black at the midway point of his term, compared to 8.3 percent for the term of

Crist, governor from 2007-2011, and 10 percent for Bush, who served the previous eight years. African-Americans make up 16.5 percent of Florida’s population according to the Census.

Scott has appointed proportionally more women and Hispanics to judgeships than Crist, and about the same as Bush.

For four decades, Florida judicial vacancies have been filled through a system known as merit retention, which replaced a system in which

governors could pick the candidates of their choice. It was designed to lessen political influence and improve the caliber of legal talent

on the bench.

Scott’s new chief legal adviser, Pete Antonacci, a veteran of four decades in state legal and political circles, said nominating panels

continue to be controlled by local political forces and bar groups and that Scott is at “the end of a pipeline” dominated by local politics.

“If people are believing that the system is a politics-pure zone, they’re wrong,” Antonacci said. “It all occurs inside the bubble of

the bar.”

By law, Scott has a free hand in making five of nine appointments to each of 26 judicial nominating commissions. He must pick the other

four from lists of three names for each vacancy, submitted by the Florida Bar, which Scott can reject without explanation.

Just last week, Scott asked the Florida Bar for new names for JNC vacancies in the Pinellas-Pasco circuit and in the Gainesville area.

Scott has appointed more judges in Miami-Dade than in any other county. Of Scott’s 21 selections in the state’s largest county, 13 are white (seven women and six men), six are Hispanic and two are African-American: Rodney Smith and Eric Hendon. In four instances in Miami-Dade, Scott chose white judges to replace Hispanics.

All three of Scott’s judicial appointments in Hillsborough are white; two men and a woman.

“We have a dynamic pool of African-American attorneys in Hillsborough County,” said Tampa lawyer Cory Person, president of the George Edgecomb Bar Association, a black lawyers’ group. “Gov. Scott’s record does not suggest a real effort to attract and appoint minority candidates.”

Scott has filled six of nine seats on Hillsborough’s judicial nominating panel; none is African-American. All seven Scott appointees

to judicial panels in Miami-Dade and Broward are white or Hispanic, according to the governor’s office.

To date, Scott has not appointed any judges in the Sixth Judicial Circuit for Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Tampa Bay Times researcher Natalie Watson contributed to this report.

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Gun makers, violent film and video creators benefit aplenty from tax breaks in Florida

TALLAHASSEE --
What do violent video games, gory movies and high-powered assault weapons have in common?

They have all been blamed for tragic mass shootings, including last month’s at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — and are all subsidized by Florida taxpayers.

With Florida’s tax code more business-friendly in recent years, economic incentives and tax breaks have flowed to companies and industries currently under fire for their roles in America’s gun violence.

Meanwhile, the state has cut funding for mental healthcare and school safety programs, two areas at the forefront of the national gun control debate.

While it has become more difficult and expensive to access mental health care in Florida, it is getting easier and cheaper to obtain high-powered weapons. Last year, the Legislature cut the cost of obtaining a weapons license by $5, and a string of gun-friendly measures has boosted the number of concealed firearms carriers past 1 million.

As the White House, Congress and states across the country look at new measures for curbing gun violence, Florida’s tax code and budgeting measures could be having the opposite effect.

“I think the state of Florida has a role to play in preventing gun violence and in gun regulation,” said Sunrise mayor Mike Ryan, who has pushed for gun control but acknowledged that the controversial companies receiving tax breaks are all helping to create jobs in the state. “When you get to the issue of assault weapons, you get to a thornier issue.”

Nationally, Florida ranks 49th in mental health funding, and first in gun ownership. The state has been a trailblazer in providing lucrative tax incentives to a smorgasbord of companies in return for promises to create jobs.

In 2012, a tough budget year when the Legislature cut funding for school safety by $1.8 million and Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $5.7 million for mental health programs, lawmakers were able to find more than $10 million for economic incentives that went to violent film productions, bloody video games and gun manufacturers.

In South Florida, that meant millions of fewer dollars for mentally ill prisoners, while movie-maker Michael Bay received $4.2 million in tax breaks to produce Pain & Gain, an action film about South Beach bodybuilders who become violent criminals.

Tax breaks for gun dealers

The Legislature and powerful business groups are pushing to boost the state’s manufacturing industry, a sector that includes makers of military-style weapons.

At least three gun makers have been on the receiving end of lucrative tax break deals aimed at spurring job creation. Colt Manufacturing Co. was approved for a $1.6 million deal in December 2011, after it opted to open a new regional headquarters in Osceola County, bringing 63 jobs. Scott hailed the tax credit program as a “clear message that Florida is both open for business and a defender of our right to bear arms.”

More tax breaks for gun makers would soon follow.

Kel Tec CNC, a Cocoa Beach company that manufactured the handgun used in the controversial Trayvon Martin shooting last year, received nearly $15,000 in taxpayer cash to train its employees. The company, which also makes the types of high-powered assault weapons used in recent mass shootings, did not have to create any new jobs in return for the money. Repeated efforts to reach company officials were unsuccessful.

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Freed imam returns to his Margate mosque

The sermon to celebrate Izhar Khan’s acquittal on federal charges of aiding the Pakistani Taliban urged the Muslim faithful gathered in a Margate mosque for Friday prayers to do right, care for others, and lead a life for all to see that Islam teaches brotherhood and peace.

“Let the world see what Islam is about,’’ exhorted Maulana Roshan, who led the service. “The opportunities we have here, we don’t have them in the countries we come from. ... Set an example. Do the right thing.’’

Kneeling on the floor among the faithful inside the mosque was Khan, 26, who returned to the Broward mosque he led for nearly three years on Friday for the first time since his arrest in May 2011. Worshippers filled the floor of the mosque and two additional, elevated platforms.

Dressed in black prayer clothes and a black-and-white smagh headdress, Khan stepped to the front following the sermon. He smiled broadly, spoke softly, and expressed gratitude to his spiritual community for their support during the 20 months he spent in a Miami federal detention center on charges of funneling money to terrorists.

Then he tried to explain the circumstances that led to his arrest — and the loss of his home and his savings — and ultimately his acquittal Thursday by U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, who cited a lack of evidence in the U.S. government’s material-support case against Khan and his father, Miami imam Hafiz Khan.

The case, which drew national media attention, will continue against Khan’s father, who is the lead defendant in the trial. But the judge found that the prosecution, which rested its case Wednesday, failed to prove any wrongdoing by the younger Khan, imam of Masjid Jamaat Al-Mumineen Mosque off Sample Road in Margate.

As he stood before his followers Friday, Khan expressed bewilderment over the substance of the government’s charges.

“I know you are thinking there must have been something I’ve done to make them suspicious,’’ he said. “I don’t even know. ... I’m more interested in sports than politics. I don’t even know who the prime minister of Pakistan is.

“I just want to let you be assured,’’ he said, “it was all based on speculation. Basically, because I wear a robe and a scary beard, it was all based on that.’’

Khan’s defense lawyer, Joseph Rosenbaum, also was at the Margate mosque on Friday, where he thanked members for their support — and urged them to help Khan readjust to life as a free man.

“You all have come through big time in your support,’’ he said. “Your prayers, your emotional support, whatever you did, it helped. ... We’d like you to welcome him back, to help him adjust, and to put him back on the road he was on when he left here.’’

Members of the mosque, which was founded a decade ago, said the path the younger Khan followed was one of peace and tolerance — and not what prosecutors alleged when they said Izhar Khan knew that two suspicious fund transfers of $300 and $900 were intended for the Pakistani Taliban, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

Fazal Deen, secretary of the Margate mosque, said the transfers were remittances to Khan’s family in Pakistan.

“He was sending it to his sister to help the poor and the needy,’’ Deen said. “He’s been doing it for years.’’

Despite the government’s charges, Deen said, members of the mosque remained convinced that the younger Khan was a man of peace. Deen and others interviewed at the Margate mosque Friday said they did not know the elder Khan, and that the two mosques did not interact.

The younger Khan, a U.S. citizen, left Pakistan for South Florida with his family in the 1990s and developed into a beloved Muslim scholar with an interest in American culture and sports.

Deen said Khan built a volleyball court next to the mosque, and frequently played basketball with the children.

“He was a fun-loving person,’’ he said. “He always had a smile on his face. ... We never heard him say anything political or anything against the government or about terrorism. That’s not in his vocabulary.’’

Azan Badrudeen, 51, of North Lauderdale nodded in agreement.

“Since he came here, he’s been a very peaceful guy,’’ he said. “All his speeches are about peace — the way a Muslim should live his life, peacefully and mannerly.’’

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Sen. Bill Nelson doesn't get his python, but he bags plenty of media attention

Bill Nelson didn’t kill any pythons in the Everglades.

But Florida’s senior senator bagged something bigger Thursday: the rapt attention of the news media.

With a Florida Wildlife commissioner who goes by "Alligator Ron" Bergeron and snake hunters — including one snake wrangler called "Python Dave" — Nelson and a team of biologists and naturalists roamed the River of Grass to raise awareness about the invasive snakes that are gobbling up the creatures of the Everglades.

The wildlife commission has launched a “Python Challenge” cash-prize contest, which began last Saturday, to get more people to kill more of the snakes.

"These pythons eat everything in the Everglades: bobcats, deer, even alligator and maybe endangered Florida panther," Nelson said.

"These snakes are dangerous. There was a child killed in Central Florida by one of these kept as pets," he said. "The pythons don’t belong here."

But Nelson does.

The Everglades is a piece of Florida history and a place for threatened and endangered species. And Nelson, the only statewide elected Florida Democrat, has been a threatened political species since he first won his Senate seat in 2000.

Nelson, 70, has endured and thrived in a state dominated by Republicans. And Thursday’s excursion showed why. Nelson champions and raises awareness of popular causes and knows how to attract press on issues of the day — from the Gulf oil spill to high gas prices to the threat of Chinese drywall to the proliferation of Burmese pythons.

"He has a gift. He knows the value of media exposure and he can earn it," said Rick Wilson, a veteran Republican strategist in Florida who briefly helped run a campaign against Nelson last year.

"Where else but in Florida do you have a U.S. Senator going out to hunt an invasive exotic species that eats alligators and strangles children in their cribs?" Wilson laughed.

Wilson said that, in some ways, Nelson is like the old-time politicians of Florida, a “character” like former Democratic Gov. “Walkin Lawton” Chiles. During his Thursday excursion, some wondered what Nelson’s nickname should be.

Papa Gator? The He-Snake? The King Snake?

“The Last Panther,” said Dan McLaughlin, Nelson’s longtime aide.

“Senator Python,” said Bergeron.

Nelson’s day began as he and Bergeron, a developer and Davie-born Florida cracker, disembarked from the commissioner’s black-and-gold H2 emblazoned with Alligator Ron logos.

As cameras clicked and whirred at a dock off Alligator Alley, Nelson held a brief press conference with Bergeron, who held the head of a live 13-foot python while three others kept it from constricting him. The snake had been captured in a Palmetto Bay swimming pool and brought to the dock as an example of what they hoped to catch and kill.

“These snakes can actually eat an alligator up to about eight feet,” Bergeron said, tightly gripping the python as its tongue occasionally slithered out to taste the air

A TV reporter soon did a stand-up with the snake, warning of the spread of the menace.

But though the snake appears to be spreading at an alarming rate, finding them on a warm day like Thursday is a needle-in-the-haystack exercise.

There could be more than 150,000 pythons in the Everglades and Big Cypress ecosystems that originally covered 4 million acres. So, if the weather isn’t cold and the pythons aren’t sunning themselves on land, they’re almost impossible to find in the shallow, flat expanse of the Everglades, where the snakes blend into the sawgrass and murky water.

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An Operation Pedro Pan veteran to give benediction at Monday’s inauguration

The legacy of the Cuban children who took part in the famed Operation Pedro Pan will be center stage at Monday’s inauguration.

Rev. Luis Leon of St. John's Episcopal Church, located across the street from the White House, will give the benediction to President Barrack Obama as he begins his second term.

Back in 1961, Leon arrived alone in Miami as an 11-year-old — part of the legion of 14,048 children sent without their parents to the U.S. to escape indoctrination by Fidel Castro’s new regime.

Leon was selected for the honor after the Rev. Louie Giglio, an Atlanta pastor, stepped aside when it was revealed he made an anti-gay sermon he gave in the mid-1990s.

When interviewed in 2009, Leon said: ''I don't think President Obama knows my story,'' said the 63-year-old clergyman, who occasionally hosts the presidential family at his church.

But previous president George W. Bush knew that the Episcopalian clergyman had been sent alone without his parents from Cuba by his parents who feared how he would fall under Communist indoctrination. ''He talked to me about it during a function at the White House,'' he said. ``He was very interested.''

Castro’s rise to power seriously impacted the Leon family — all but disbanding it.

Leon’s father died in Cuba in 1963 after his children left the island. By the time his mother made it to the U.S., Leon was at the Berry Academy in Georgia and his sister was off to college, all thanks to the Catholic church.

His mother landed a job at Agnes School College in Decatur, GA. and they saw each other on weekends,

''We did not live together again as a family,'' he said. ``The clan was never re-gathered. That always bothered my mother.”

Leon said he feels his parents rescued him from the Communist island: "They did the right thing in getting me out of Cuba.'' But adds: "I don't know if I could do the same thing for my children.''

Leon is the second Cuban-American playing a major role at the inauguration. Poet Rick Blanco, whose parents are Cuban but was born in Spain, is the inaugural poet.

It’s not Leon’s first time at an Obama inauguration. Before the 2009 oath taking , Obama and his wife Michelle attended services led by Leon.

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FIU to take over underwater lab in Keys

The last underwater research lab in the world, an 81-ton yellow pressurized steel tube anchored 60 feet down next to a Key Largo reef, won’t be scuttled after all.

Florida International University announced Tuesday that it will take over operation of Aquarius, an aging but unique underwater facility the federal government had considered putting on the chopping block because of budget cuts.

“For our students and our marine sciences program, Aquarius offers fantastic new possibilities and is a natural fit for the work we are doing in the Florida Keys and throughout the world,’’ said Mike Heithaus, executive director of FIU’s school of environment, arts and society.

Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which owns the lab, had called for ending Aquarius’ operation, even though it cost a relatively paltry $1.2 million to $3 million a year to run.

But after backlash from scientists and a campaign led by South Florida political leaders — including Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart — NOAA awarded FIU a $600,000 six-month grant to cover basic maintenance of the facility, which boasts six bunks, a bathroom, galley, science lab and “wet porch” allowing divers easy entry and exit.

Ultimately, the Obama administration agreed the lab was a valuable asset that couldn’t simply be left to rust. Removing it could run up to an estimated $5 million, said FIU biology professor Jim Fourqurean, who will take over direction of Aquarius.

“This is a big, expensive piece of hardware on the bottom of the ocean,’’ he said. “You just can’t leave it there.’’

To continue its operation, however, FIU plans to develop a new business plan for the lab that will rely on financial support from other government agencies, private industry and groups and other universities, Fourqurean said.

Aquarius, the last of more than 60 underwater habitats once in operation around the world, allows scientists to literally immerse themselves for hours, days or weeks in a coral reef community without having to worry about repeatedly surfacing for air or decompressing from long dives. The facility, previously managed by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, has hosted 117 research missions and also served filmmakers, Navy divers and 40 NASA astronauts who trained for the working conditions of space stations and zero gravity.

Fourqurean said the lab offers a perfect platform for students, faculty and outside researchers to study many of the problems plaguing South Florida’s water, from climate change to pollution and over-fishing.

It also will raise FIU’s profile in the Florida Keys, said Fourqurean, who is director of FIU’s new marine education and research initiative for the Keys. The school will close Aquarius’ current land base, hidden in a neighborhood, and intends to open a new more visible office along the main highway, he said.

“This fits the strategic vision of FIU growing into the Florida Keys,’’ Fourqurean said.

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Florida colleges rank high in ‘sugar daddies’ paying student tuition

Imagine you’re a college student, struggling to pay steep tuition and living expenses.

Mid-bite of boxed macaroni and cheese, you stumble upon the option of joining a free, “mutually beneficial” online service that promises to pair you with a wealthy man or woman who will chip in for school costs.

Would you do it?

Apparently, an increasing number of Florida college students are taking up the offer.

Four Florida universities — Florida International University in Miami-Dade, the University of Central Florida in Orlando, the University of South Florida in Tampa, and Florida State University in Tallahassee — made the Top 20 list of fastest-growing “sugar baby” memberships for SeekingArrangement.com, a website with more than two million users worldwide.

The site matches “sugar babies” — who may or may not be in college — with well-to-do “sugar daddies” who are willing to help support them.

What do the sugar daddies get in return?

Companionship, the website says.

The University of Central Florida has the fastest-growing membership of all Florida schools, coming in at No. 4 on the SeekingArrangement.com list. UCF has 291 students using the site, 221 joining in the last year.

The University of South Florida ranked No. 5 on the list, with 212 new users in 2012, followed by No. 7 FIU and No. 14 FSU with 187 and 111 new users this year, respectively. FSU is new to the Top 20 list.

Many schools in the Top 20 are located in the South, a fact site organizers attribute to the economy in the region.

“I can see a lot of these families are not able to contribute to their children’s education like they used to,” said Jennifer Gwynn, the director of public relations for SeekingArrangement.com. “I think it’s a hard time for families, and their kids are in college and have to fend for themselves.”

Last year, about 40 percent of the site’s membership was made up of college students. In 2012, it rose to 44 percent.

If college students register with a “.edu” email address, they are automatically given “premium” status on their profiles, which gives them privileges users typically have to pay to use such as reaching out to a prospective sugar daddy.

The site has been criticized for being a possible venue for prostitution. Gwynn says the site takes active measures to prevent that from happening, including screening every user’s profile.

“We are very, very strict about escorts,” she says. “If language on someone’s profile is talking about selling their body, they’re kicked off immediately. That’s not what our site is really about.”

Gordon D. Chavis, associate vice president for undergraduate admissions at UCF, said in an email that he and other administrators aren’t aware of students using the site and said the disclosure is “a complete surprise.”

In a news release, the site’s founder and CEO Brandon Wade said “the growth of southern female co-eds seeking the Sugar Lifestyle is a move in the right direction to bring back Southern charm.”

When asked what he meant by that, Gwynn said she believes being involved with a “sugar daddy” is a way that “people are cultivating these girls to become more successful later in life.”

“You have these southern gentlemen helping [sugar babies] find their way in life, as well as financially,” she said.

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Investigators to determine cause of fatal MacArthur Causeway boating accident

Investigators on Sunday were looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of a woman killed after the boat she was passenger in slammed into concrete pilings underneath the MacArthur Causeway bridge.

Janette Africano, 35, of Hialeah, suffered severe blunt trauma to the head or body and died Saturday afternoon after being rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

An autopsy will determine the exact cause death.

Africano and her boyfriend had been pleasure boating minutes before the 5 p.m. accident on the Intercostal Waterway near PortMiami, authorities said.

The accident occurred as the couple, traveling in an 18-foot white and red boat, were heading south. As they approached the MacArthur bridge, there was a cruise ship making a turn ahead of them. At that point, the couple decided to turn back north, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino on Sunday.

But the water currents near the bridge was rough and the couple began drifting toward the pilings. Africano may have stood up and tried to stop the boat from colliding. Somehow the boat violently slammed into the piling, fatally injuring her.

Why the boat roared out of control is under investigation, Pino said. He said the accident is considered “unusual“ because it involves a single boat and neither excessive speed or alcohol appear to be a factor.

No charges have been filed as of Sunday as investigators piece together what occurred.

“We’re looking at every possible cause, including mechanical failure and the experience of the driver,” Pino said.

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Family of four killed on I-95 crash laid to rest

Four caskets sat in a row at the front of Fort Lauderdale Baptist Church; mother, daughter, step sister and nephew.

The four family members who died last week after their car plunged into a Deerfield Beach lake were eulogized together at a four-hour funeral service Saturday in front of more than 1,000 family members, friends and classmates.

“They are not dead. They are living in the eternal life,” Yolette Fabre, a pastor at Christian Life Restoration Center, where the family attended church. “Let us stand strong, firm together.”

Remembered Saturday were: Nadege Theodore, 37, her daughter Lyne Theodore, 15; step sister Standalie Jean-Baptiste, 20; and nephew Guivens Daverman, 16.

The family had been heading home from a shopping trip at Town Center at Boca Raton Mall the night of Jan. 2 when the Lexus sports utility vehicle they were riding in was involved in a three car crash. The silver SUV careened off the side of Interstate 95 and ended up in a lake. The others involved in the accident were not injured.

Daverman, Nadege Theodore and Jean-Baptiste were pulled out immediately. Lyne Theodore’s body was not pulled out until the following morning, after police notifying next of kin learned she had been in the vehicle as well. Nadege Theodore and Daverman were pronounced dead at the hospital. Jean-Baptiste died Jan. 6.

The funeral service — which was mostly in Haitian Creole and French — was not only a way to remember the four family members, but many hoped it would serve as lesson to all of the young people who attended.

“I ask the friends of those individuals that they carry out their dreams,” said Karlton O. Johnson, the principal of Blanche Ely High School, where both Lyne Theodore and Daverman were sophomores.

Johnson remembered Lyne as a great student and Daverman, he said, “was the life of the party.”

Many of those in attendance were friends, classmates, teacher and faculty from the Pompano Beach high school. Many donned the school’s orange and green colors.

Throughout the emotional ceremony, the prayers on stage were drowned out by sobbing and wailing from mourners.

There were three white steel caskets adorned with pink and white flower bouquets for the three females. Daverman was laid to rest in a black casket.

Pictures of each of them sat next to their casket.

Throughout the service, a slide show flashed on a large screen, telling the story of their lives through pictures:

Nadege as an adult with a red flower in her and a red dress, and one of her with her daughter. Lyne Theodore in a pink tank top and jeans, posing for the camera. Guivens posing with the number 4 on his fourth birthday, and later as a teenager sporting a black baseball cap with “Jesus” embroidered on it. Standalie as a child making a sassy pose, and later grown up wearing a business suit.

Nadege Theodore was born Jan. 23, 1975, in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. In 1999, she moved to South Florida with her daughter. She later had a son, who survives her, named Deemily Charles. He is now 8. She worked as a nurse’s assistant.

At 15, Lyne Theodore was the youngest in the car. She was born in Cap-Haitian, Haiti on Feb. 11, 1997. She was in the medical magnet program in her school and wanted to become a nurse.

Jean-Baptiste was born Nov. 18, 1992 in l’Artibonite, Haiti. She came to South Florida in 2005. She attended Lyons Middle School in Coconut Creek and then Deerfield Beach High. She graduated from Broward College in 2012 and dreamed of becoming an anthropologist.

Guivens Daverman was born Sept. 9, 1996 in Fort Lauderdale, the son of Theodore’s sister Myrlande Theodore. He was known as Papi, and loved to help others. He was on the football team and ran track.

A composed 10-year-old Princeley Dorvil took the podium to talk about his brother and his other family members.

““My brother was a very cool brother, he taught me a lot of things in life,” said Princeley, fighting back tears. “My brother was a very cool brother, he taught me a lot of things in life. He taught me how to respect others. He taught me how to use my manners. He taught me how to be well dressed.”

Daverman’s coach at Blanche Ely gave the family the boy’s football jersey and a team photo.

Before the final prayer, teammates of Daverman donned white gloves and blue ribbons with Daverman’s picture and a poem, and helped remove all the flower bouquets as condolences were read aloud.

When the ceremony was over, the pall bearers carried each of the four caskets into the hearses as family and friends gathered around.

A cousin of Daverman, sobbing and in tears, put his hands on the outside of the black hearse as it slowly drove away.

The four family members were laid to rest at Forest Lawn North Memorial Gardens.

Miami Herald staff reporter Nadege Green and photographer Marsha Halper contributed to this report.

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Drummers bring beat to Arsht Center

Mirlanta Petit Homme speaks softly, but her cowbell doesn’t.

In rehearsal, the bell’s tinny tones rise above the drums, just enough to stand out but always on the beat.

“If I get an instrument, I’m going to make sure I’m heard,” she said.

This weekend, the 18-year-old will be heard when she performs with 34 other students in renowned drummer Willie Stewart’s Rhythms in Africa production.

The youth, all members of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, were chosen from some of the lowest-performing schools in the county.

On Saturday, 10 weeks of hard work will culminate in a performance during Family Fest at the Adrienne Arsht Center.

Starting at 1:30 p.m., the young musicians, along with Stewart and a group of professional musicians, will perform a selection of African songs.

The idea of getting some kind of music program going started last year when Big Brothers Big Sisters officials were brainstorming program ideas for a group of older teenagers.

“This is a very difficult group to engage, and to serve,” said Marianne Weiss, director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami’s Mentoring and Resource Center. “They have to be cool.”

After hearing about Stewart’s Rhythms of Africa production with Fort Lauderdale children in 2011, she knew a music program would be a perfect fit.

Weiss called every kid in the program who she thought would be interested. In particular, she said, she reached out to those with behavioral problems or those who didn’t have anything to do after school. She ended up with 35, mostly high school students.

At the first rehearsal at Elizabeth Virrick Park in Coconut Grove, Stewart set up his drums and invited his new students to come forward.

He picked a few to lead by creating a drum beat. Everyone had to follow and learn the beat. It wasn’t long before they were all drumming in unison.

“At the end of the activity, they sound like an orchestra,” Weiss said. “It’s insane.”

The Grove neighborhood became accustomed to the Sunday drumming rehearsals. Passersby often stopped to listen, sometimes forming a crowd of up to 25 people.

Once, a jogger stopped to ask Weiss about the program and said she wanted to help. She jogged home, then came back with a check for $100 made out to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami.

The help is appreciated. Although Stewart received a $25,000 Knight Foundation grant for the program, there are still costs left over that Rhythms of Africa and Big Brothers Big Sisters had to raise funds for.

Weiss and Stewart would like to form an ongoing percussion ensemble, but again, its success would depend on funding.

This is the third year Stewart - who spent 23 years playing percussion with the internationally known reggae band Third World - has involved youth in the performance of Rhythms of Africa.

After sharing the stage with such illustrious acts as Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana, he established the Embrace Music Foundation to restore music to schools and communities.

Several years ago, Stewart used to present the music to the children, but he felt he needed to introduce them to a new way of learning.

He decided to bring them onstage. As well as learning about music and African culture, he said, the kids learn focus, discipline and self-esteem.

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Sen. Bill Nelson is going python hunting

Sen. Bill Nelson has taken some ribbing for his focus on Pythons in the Everglades. But the problem is real. So little surprise the 70-year-old Democrat will participate in Florida’s first snake hunt, which begins Saturday and offers cash prizes.

Nelson will go out Thursday with a rancher in Davie.

“He’s had a hand in drawing attention to the problem and it has, in fact, proven to be a very serious problem,” spokesman Dan McLaughlin said. “Bill doesn’t mind the heat, the mosquitoes, the alligators and the poisonous snakes. It puts him in touch with natural Florida.”

Nelson and another hunter will wield machetes and pistols, McLaughlin said.

Hundreds of people have signed up for the python challenge. Grand prizes of $1,500 for harvesting the most Burmese pythons will be awarded to winners of both the general competition and the Python permit holders competition, with additional $1,000 prizes for the longest snake, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

As of Thursday morning, 670 people had signed up for the python challenge. Grand prizes of $1,500 for harvesting the most Burmese pythons will be awarded to winners of both the general competition and the Python permit holders competition, with additional $1,000 prizes for the longest snake, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

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Wounded Iraq, Afghanistan vets cycling to Keys

Army Staff Sgt. Russell Dennison and Spc. Calvin Todd, both 24, served together and lost legs together, just three months ago in Afghanistan.

Now, they’re on their first outing together from Walter Reed Hospital — among dozens of U.S. military veterans taking part in a Soldier Ride from Miami through the Florida Keys.

“I haven’t been on a bike since I got blown up,” said Todd, a combat medic who was learning how to fit his prosthetic leg into a new bicycle Wednesday in the parking lot of a hotel in Aventura.

Nearby, his platoon sergeant, Dennison, was being fitted with a recumbent bike to fit both prosthetic legs, replacements for the limbs he lost in battle Oct. 4 in Afghanistan.

“He and I got hit 30 second apart,” explained Todd. “He got blown up, and I took off running to him, and I got blown up.”

This year is the eighth year of the Soldier Ride through the Keys, now under the banner of the Wounded Warrior Project. And Walter Reed occupational therapist Harvey Naranjo signed 10 of his U.S. Army and Marines patients up for their first full-fledged outing from the military hospital since their injuries.

Or, as Todd put it, using the lingo that is commonplace back at his base, Fort Stewart, Ga., he was “volun-told” to take the trip.

So like a good soldier, he declared himself eager to do it.

“These guys are all studs. They’re all athletes,” declared Naranjo, himself a former U.S. Army combat medic. ”The expectations are going to be high for them.”

The Soldier Ride starts this morning on South Beach, a warm-up spin that takes the cyclist across the Venetian Causeway to Marlins Stadium.

Friday, they start their ride south in Key Largo, including across the fabled seven-mile bridge — the latest journey in a series of trips that ride founder Dan Schnock estimate has put 1,000 disabled veterans on a range of styles of bikes across the country and in Europe and Israel since 2004.

This trip also includes a swim with the dolphins in Marathon, a trolley ride in Key West

Most of the cyclists are medically retired service members, like retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Scheifer, 29, who broke his spine in a Humvee roll in a training exercise in California between his third and fourth deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

This week he has brought his hand-cycle from his Miramar Beach home, near Destin. He has never ridden his bike further than 15 miles and now is about to take his longest hand-pedaled ride ever through the Keys.

“I’m up for the challenge,” he said, noting, “I work out a bit.”

Plus, after a recent deer hunting outing to Georgia with the Wounded Warriors, the airman turned Defense Department contractor is bullish about the comradery.

“You’re as fast as your slowest guy,” he said, noting that since he can hand pedal the bike to speeds of 20-25 miles-per-hour he didn’t want to be at the back of the pack. “Hope not,” he said.

For many of these men, who’ve seen the world in the uniform of the U.S. military, this is their first visit to Miami. Dennison is from Illinois, Todd is from New Hampshire and Scheifer is a Michigan native who moved south after his injury to set up a business as a Defense Department contractor, and also for the weather.

At 29, he sounds like a classic snowbird on his first ever visit to Miami. “I love warm weather,” he said.

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Man gets life sentence for murder over 1996 Impala

A 26-year-old Miami man who carjacked and gunned down a West Miami-Dade paper company employee will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas on Tuesday sentenced Cesar Ruiz, 26, to life in prison for the June 2007 murder of Andres Felipe Del Castillo, who worked for Dade Paper Co.

Prosecutors said Ruiz targeted Castillo for his 1996 Impala, then shot him dead even as Castillo — a born-again Christian — showed him his Bible and urged him to find God.

A jury convicted Ruiz in October. The trial of his co-defendant, Emilio Perez-Tejon, began this week.

Ruiz, on Tuesday, insisted he was innocent. Judge Thomas said he was disturbed by Ruiz’s lack of remorse despite “overwhelming evidence of guilt.”

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Mystery of empty Cuban raft found on Black Point appears to be solved

The mystery of the Cuban raft found over the weekend near Black Point in south Miami-Dade appears to be solved.

The cruise ship Carnival Valor rescued four Cubans on Dec. 30 aboard a Styrofoam raft that appears to be the same one that washed up empty, sparking fears that its passengers had drowned.

U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Marilyn Fajardo confirmed Monday that the Valor picked up four Cubans and transferred them to a cutter, but added that officials were still checking whether the two rafts were the same.

A passenger on the Valor on Monday emailed El Nuevo Herald cell phone photos of the Cubans and the raft, which looked to be the same one that was found Saturday near the Black Point Marina in Cutler Bay.

The brief email noted the four rafters were picked up by the Valor at about midnight on Dec. 30. The U.S. Coast Guard was “a few miles away and was witness to the rescue,” it added, and the four “were returned to the American Coast Guard on Saturday 5 January.”

The passenger did not reply to emailed requests for an interview or further details, and could not be independently located.

The discovery of the empty raft Saturday sparked fears that its occupants might have died.

Nancy Perez, who spotted the beached raft during a nature walk and took photos of it, told El Nuevo Herald Sunday that a Florida Fish and Wildlife agent at the scene told her the occupants probably died. An agency spokesman Monday denied its agents made any such comment.

Perez also noted the raft contained an altar to Eleguá, a god of Afro-Cuban religions, and a Cuban national ID card. “No one abandons an Eleguá. If you believe in that and you put it in the raft, you don’t,” she added.

Cuban citizens who set foot on U.S. territory can stay under the “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy. Those who are intercepted at sea are returned to Cuba by the Coast Guard unless they indicate a “credible fear” of persecution if repatriated.

The raft found near the Black Point Marina was made of Styrofoam blocks and wood planks, had an olive green tarp for sail and four oar posts.

It contained a large water container, several small bottles with sugared water and honey, empty juice cans, plastic bags with food crumbs, a blue lighter and what seemed to be a container of coffee.

U.S. authorities intercepted more than 1,270 Cuban migrants at sea during the 12 months that ended Sept. 30. Another 350 rafters made it to U.S. shores during the same period.

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Police sweep planned for counterfeit BCS National Championship gear

In an effort to ensure fans purchase authentic BCS National Championship gear in Miami-Dade, a sweep for counterfeit material will be conducted at Sun Life Stadium on Monday, Miami-Dade police announced Sunday.

Hours before kick-off for the national game between Alabama and Notre Dame, officials from the Collegiate Licensing Company, the bowl, both universities, along with Miami-Dade police, will scrutinize vendors in search of unlicensed merchandise, police said.

All counterfeit merchandise is subject to seizure.

The trademark sweep will take place following a security sweep of the stadium at 9 a.m. Monday.

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Residents return home after being evacuated due to hazmat incident

Several residents in a neighborhood near Fort Lauderdale were allowed back into their homes Saturday afternoon being after evacuated earlier in the day due a Hazmat incident, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

At about 10 a.m. the sheriff’s office received a call from a resident in the 250 block of Northwest 31 Avenue, who noticed chlorine inside a steel tank he had purchased.

There was minor leakage from the tank and some homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution due to the strong smell.

Traffic was diverted from the area.

By about 1:30 p.m. the Broward Sheriff’s Fire Rescue’s hazardous materials team had secured the scene with assistance from Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, according to sheriff’s office officials.

No injuries have been reported as a result of this incident.

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Beth Am kids learn about organic gardening

The students in Vicky Koller’s fourth grade class at Temple Beth Am Day School recently learned valuable lessons about plants, science and healthy eating at a visit to the 1,000-square-foot vegetable garden at Deering Bay Yacht & Country Club.

Another group of Beth Am fourth graders helped start the garden in 2010, and students at the school continue to visit regularly, contributing at plantings and harvests.

During the field trips they get hands-on experience in seed propagation, butterfly gardening and vegetable planting. Science lessons on insects, pollination, ecology and conservation all take place outdoors. And nature walks introduce the young learners to some of the indigenous wildlife at Deering Bay.

The students also interact with organic farmer and Deering Bay Chef Tim Rowan, Golf Course Groundskeeper Rob Wethy, and volunteers led by Club Member Ethan Shapiro to learn about gardening in South Florida and the Slow Food movement.

During the most recent visit, special guest WSVN-TV Chief Meteorologist Phil Ferro joined the children and their teacher to share his knowledge of the unique weather in South Florida.

At Deering Bay, the program is under the direction of Club Manager Karen Harmon. Among the crops are three types of cabbage, garlic chives, sorrel, cosmos, radicchio, golden beets, lettuce, basil, bok choy, and the newly popular vegetable tatsoi, also called spinach mustard.

To follow the garden’s progress visit the "A Garden on the Bay" blog at http://blog.dbycc.com.

FASHION IN THE GARDEN

The latest spring trends can be previewed alongside the flora and fauna at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden at 11 a.m. on Jan. 24 at the second annual “Splendor in the Garden” fashion show and luncheon.

Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus’ senior vice president and fashion director, will present “The Best of Spring 2013,” an exclusive runway show of the season’s newest styles. The partnership gathering is co-chaired by Swanee DiMare and Frances Sevilla-Sacasa and the 2013 Fairchild Philanthropy Honorees also will be recognized at the event. The honorees are Maria Alonso, Anne Baddour, Bunny Bastian, Paula Brockway, Terry Buoniconti, Martha Clinton and Jan Risi Field.

Tickets are $250 for preferred seating, $300 for runway seating, and include the champagne reception, seated luncheon, fashion show and awards presentation. Complimentary garden tours are available during the reception.

All proceeds benefit Fairchild’s conservation, science, education, and research programs. To purchase tickets, contact Susannah Shubin at sshubin@fairchildgarden.org or call 305-667-1651, ext. 3375. You can also visit www.fairchildgarden.org to find out about the garden’s many classes and other events.

ART WINNERS

Congratulations to all the winners of the eighth “Quest for Peace” competition held at Miami Dade College/Kendall. Three art students were awarded first place awards of $350 and twelve were given $100 honorable mentions awards.

Presenting the honors at the ceremony were John Adkins, chair of the Arts and Philosophy Department; Ronald Leiberman, president of the Rotary Club of Miami Dadeland Pinecrest; and Ilajean Horwitz, whose ceramics fund the exhibition.

Awards were given in front of the painting "Quest for Peace," by Robert Horwitz in whose memory the event is held.

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Mobile data says Miami stayed up latest of any city on New Year’s Eve

Go to bed and pull up the covers, New York: Miami is now officially the city that never sleeps.

According to Sense Networks, a company that specializes in mobile location and behavioral targeting data, Miami stayed up the latest of all big American cities on New Year’s Eve this year. Sleepy New York could muster only a fifth-place finish, also falling behind Jersey City and Newark, N.J., and Garland, Texas and. Even Newark managed to prop its eyelids open later than NYC.

The data, based on analysis of mobile location data of residents in the 100 most populated U.S. cities, will come as no surprise to locals who have seen clubbers staggering out into the daylight with all the grace of melting vampires. So what does Miami have that allowed us to snag the no. 1 spot?

“Great weather, great parties and people who love their smartphones,” says Heather Sears, vice president of marketing for Sense Networks (who laments the fact that she rang in 2013 in frigid Boston instead of on a South Florida beach). “People keep their smartphones within arm’s distance 24/7. They’re really, truly addicted. And on New Year’s Eve they’re wishing each other ‘Happy New Year’ and texting and sending photos.”

Other cities that made the Top 10 late night list: Laredo, Tex.; Atlanta; Chandler, Ariz.; Chicago; Houston.

Who crashed the earliest? Sears may have a point about the weather: Anchorage, Alaska, turned in earliest, followed by Riverside, Ga.; Chula Vista and Anaheim, Calif.; and Reno, Nev.

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Biker killed in crash on West Flagler Street

Miami police Wednesday afternoon were investigating a fatal motorcycle accident on West Flagler Street.

The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m. when a biker and a vehicle collided near 43th Avenue, just west of LeJeune Road.

The unidentified motorcyclist died on the scene. The driver of the car involved is being questioned by police.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

No charges have been filed.

This story will be updated when more details are available.

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Possible future Israeli ambassador holds two countries in his heart

In Israel, he’s already known as “Bibi’s Brain:’’ Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s master strategist.

But Ron Dermer, 42-year-old Miami Beach native, now Israeli citizen — the son of one Miami Beach mayor and brother of another — could soon add an official title to his resume: Mr. Ambassador.

Dermer is reportedly Netanyahu’s choice for Israeli ambassador to the United States to replace Michael Oren, who plans to step down in the spring after four years.

A political conservative with close ties to powerful American Republicans, Dermer would become Israel’s top diplomat in the United States, a position requiring the ability to represent his country’s interests across U.S. party lines.

Netanyahu’s office hasn’t commented on the reports. A spokesman for the Israeli consulate in Miami could not confirm the possible appointment, nor could Dermer’s older brother, former Mayor David Dermer, who called any speculation “premature.’’ A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the rumor was “baseless.’’ In any case, the Netanyahu government would have to survive a Parliamentary election later this month.

An Oxford-educated scholar-athlete who holds degrees in finance and management from the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School, and who quarterbacked Israel’s flag football World Cup team three times, Dermer is known as smart, polished, and so competitive that “he wouldn’t let a 3-year-old beat him at Ping-Pong,” friend Tom Rose, former Jerusalem Post publisher, once said in an interview.

Dermer “cannot abide anybody being better at him than anything, particularly physically,” Rose said.

The mere speculation that Dermer might be named seemed to thrill South Florida politicians from both parties.

“It’s wonderful — one of our own being Israel’s ambassador to the U.S.,” said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, who knows Dermer. “It is just terrific. He is American as apple pie yet Israeli at heart as well. It is a good fit. He is very much a proud Miami Beach guy — very proud of his hometown.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, said she met Dermer as part of a Congressional delegation to Israel in 2010. Dermer was the staff person who sat next to Netanyahu as they discussed the peace process, she said.

“It was just neat to see someone reach the heights he has — he hails from South Florida and comes from a political family here,” she said. “It made the connection and conversations with the prime minister really just that much more warm and intimate.”

U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, said that the job Dermer holds now — working behind the scenes and with the White House — is very different from being ambassador to the United States, which would require him to directly address Americans in speeches and through the media.

“Ambassador to the U.S. is the most high-profile diplomatic position in Israel,” Klein said. “It requires a tremendous amount of savvy and style that Americans can relate to.”

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