The Fair District Amendments to Florida’s constitution don’t violate the U.S. Constitution, says the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, rejecting an appeal brought by the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Dean Cannon.U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown and Mario Diaz-Balart were also parties to the appeal, in opposition to Fair Districts Amendment 6, which applies to congressional reapportionment. This is only one step in what could turn out to be a long judicial process, one experienced observer says.
“When it comes to redistricting, Florida is pretty unique,” says longtime Republican pollster, John Libby, who has extensive experience with the reapportionment process. Libby explained that most other states don’t have versions of Florida’s Fair Districts amendments. “Now a federal court has said that the Fair District amendments in FL are constitutional.” Read the rest of this entry »
A busload of St. Augustine residents left at 3:30 a.m. and traveled to Tallahassee yesterday. Their mission: to object to state Rep. Bill Proctor’s (R-St. Augustine) bill to give eminent domain rights to the Florida School for the Deaf & the Blind, and to insulate the school from having to obey any local zoning rules. Residents’ objections are largely based on the school’s history of buying up and tearing down historic homes in the Nelmar Terrace neighborhood, and ignoring local zoning rules. (Read Folio Weekly’s recent editorial on the subject here.)
But their bus trip was thwarted by lawmakers’ refusal to allow them to speak their piece. Although the bill’s supporters were allowed to speak at length (and ad nausem in the case of Proctor, who cynically accused the bill’s opponents of wanting to discriminate against the disabled), neighborhood activists were gavelled into silence after just 30 seconds.
Watch the miserable proceedings here. The FSDB discussion begins at mark 147.45, but is perfectly encapsulated by activist Melinda Rakoncay. As she noted bitterly when she was cut off, “SO MUCH for public comment.”
During a two-hour meeting on Feb. 1 called by Beaches Watch to discuss the future of St. Johns River Ferry, the audience of some 70 people all made it clear they want the city or the state or someone to keep the ferry operating.
The St. Johns River Ferry has connected A1A across the St. Johns River at Heckscher Drive and Mayport since 1948. JAXPORT took over the operation in 2007, but the port’s chief executive said in late January that the ferry needs $4 million dollars in repairs and has cost JAXPORT thanmore $2-million in losses in the past five years. The state of Florida paid for the ferry service from 1949-1996 when Gov. Lawton Chiles cut funding. The city of Jacksonville took it over, but said it would shut down the ferry before JAXPORT stepped in because it could no longer afford to spend $750,000 a year to subsidize it.)
The Jacksonville Port Authority’s board of directors will vote on whether to get out of the ferry business at its next meeting on Feb. 27.
The Friends of the St. Johns Ferry say that funding needs to be in someone’s budget by June 2012 or the ferry will shut down on Oct. 1, 2012, because the operating revenue simply won’t be there.
As a grad of the U of Wisconsin, I assure you that a job driving the Weinermobile is actually a highly sought after, competitive gig in parts Midwestern. Sad. But for you lips and *ahem* fans out there, this is nothing but good news.
Here’s the info, straight from the cheerful orifice of Traci “Hotdoggerblog” Johnson:
Hello!
My name is Tailgatin’ Traci and I drive the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. They call us “Hotdoggers” and our job is to spread miles of smiles on our coast-to-coast weenie roast. I am proud as a pickle to be one of only 12 recent college graduates who cut the mustard and was selected to drive this iconic hot dog hot rod for one entire year.
This year is extra special because it’s the Wienermobile’s 75th anniversary. We’ve been traveling from town to town and state to state in celebration and are so excited to be in Jacksonville! We would greatly appreciate if you could let people know we will be in town this week.
Below I’ve attached some photos and more info on our local events. Seeing the Wienermobile is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we would love to stop by and give you a behind-the-bun tour. My co-Hotdogger Beefy Brian and I are available to answer any questions you might have.
Don’t mess with Texas! In this clip, Billy Joe Shaver recounts the time that a club owner tried to double-cross Waylon Jennings, Shel Silverstein and Shaver after the trio had played a gig. Apparently, the end results were rather, uh, explosive. Alongside such equally creative (and rowdy) friends as Waylon, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Ray Wylie Hubbard, Shaver is considered by many to be a progenitor of the Outlaw Country movement. Never losing his childhood love of poetry, the 73 year old Shaver has penned (by his own estimation) around 500 songs, including such bona fide classics as “Honky Tonk Heroes,” “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” and “Ride Me Down Easy.” Billy Joe Shaver performs at The Florida Theatre at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16 with Van Dyke Parks in a concert that both benefits the St. Johns Riverkeeper and honors the outgoing Riverkeeper, Neil Armingeon. You can read our exclusive interview with the Grammy winning Shaver here.
The Florida Theatre is located at 128 E. Forsyth St., in downtown Jacksonville. Tickets range from $33.50-$53.50. VIP tickets are $128.50; $207 per couple; price includes a reception with the Riverkeeper and post-show meet-and-greet with the artists. 355-2797. – Dan Brown
Public Defender Matt Shirk agreed to step aside to allow a team of prominent private attorneys to take over the defense of now 13-year-old Cristian Fernandez.
The court had appointed the Public Defender’s Office to represent Fernandez when he was first arrested in March for the murder of his 2-year-old brother. He was indicted as an adult on first degree murder in June. After Shirk rejected a plea deal from State Attorney Angela Corey in January, a team of six private attorneys inserted themselves in the defense team — Hank Coxe, Buddy Schultz, Don Anderson, Melissa Nelson, Bryan Goudy and D. Gray Thomas.
As Folio Weekly noted in this week’s cover story “Cristian Conversion,” some local defense attorneys had questioned whether Shirk had the chops to represent Fernandez, the youngest person charged with first degree murder in the history of Jacksonville.
The story also detailed the close relationship between State Attorney Angela Corey and Shirk. She backed his original bid for office and recently co-hosted a fundraiser for his reelection. Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte — former president of FSU, former dean of the FSU law school, and former president of the American Bar Association — said their close relationship “does concern me. … I try to put myself in the position of a client of the public defender. What in the devil would they think?”
On Monday, Fernandez’s court-appointed guardian, attorney Hugh Cotney, asked Judge Cooper to remove the public defender and replace him with the team of six private attorneys. The court-appointed Cotney is assigned to fill a parental role in Fernandez’s life since his father is absent, his stepfather is dead and his mother gave up her parental rights.
Shirk had argued that the juvenile wanted Shirk to remain as counsel, but Judge Cooper deferred to the boy’s court-appointed guardian on that point.
Shirk also accused the team of private attorneys of muscling into the case to drum up business, the Times-Union reported. Coxe responded: “We are collectively — and incredibly — disappointed with Mr. Shirk’s perception of our profession and its obligations. … The history of commitment to pro bono efforts by every law firm here is well known. He simply does not grasp what this is all about.”
After Shirk withdrew, Judge Cooper issued a ruling appointing Hank Coxe and the other five attorneys as his legal counsel. Fernandez’s trial was scheduled to begin on February 27, but it may be delayed. His next court appearance was scheduled for Feb. 8 and Fernandez supporters planned to rally in front of the Duval County Courthouse to push the State Attorney to move the case from adult to juvenile court.
When Cristian Fernandez showed up at his elementary school in Miami with an eye so swollen, the school sent him to a hospital to check for retinal damage. When his stepfather Luis Galarraga-Bianco refused to go to the school to provide some explanation, police went to the family’s Hialeah apartment to arrest him. Once there, they discovered that Galarraga-Bianco had shot himself in the head in front of his three other children.
This week’s cover story “Cristian Conversion” (http://bit.ly/x7nH5f) talks about the brutality Fernandez suffered as a child before being charged himself with first degree murder, aggravated child abuse and sexual battery. This recently obtained YouTube video shows the enormous and muscled Galarraga-Bianco before his suicide giving personal weight training to a client at a gym. (Galarraga-Bianco is standing on left.)
Jacksonville criminal defense attorney Hugh Cotney, the appointed guardian for 13-year-old murder defendant Cristian Fernandez, has asked Judge Mallory Cooper to remove Public Defender Matt Shirk from the case and replace him with a “dream team” of the city’s most respected criminal defense attorneys. The attorneys joined the Public Defender’s Office earlier this year to help with the case on a pro bono basis.
As Folio Weekly reported in today’s issue (http://bit.ly/x7nH5f), that relationship may have been fraught from the beginning, since Shirk didn’t seek the assistance, but likely felt like he couldn’t refuse it. The move seemed to cast doubt on Shirk’s abilities, as well as his decision upon taking office to fire many of the more experienced lawyers in the PD’s office.
“[Shirk is] a recent grad, and he’s never tried an important case, and this is probably the most sensational case in city history,” one attorney not involved in the case told Folio Weekly.
At this morning’s hearing, Shirk told Judge Cooper that Fernandez wanted him to continue as his lawyer, and asked to bring the boy before the judge to say as much, but Judge Cooper denied Shirk’s request, saying that she questioned his competency to make public statements, the Times Union reported.
The judge is expected to make a decision about whether to replace the Public Defender tomorrow.
Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville celebrates “The Big Lebowski” with an upcoming exhibit, lecture and screening inspired by The Coen Brothers’ 1998 cult classic film.
The museum’s UNF Gallery hosts Joe Forkan’s “The Lebowski Cycle,” a collection motivated by both Forkan’s love of all things Dude-like and his passion for paintings from the Baroque and Neoclassical eras. Rendered in oil on linen, the resulting 14 images fuse the grand narrative and techniques utilized by past masters like Caravaggio and Velázquez with scenes and characters from the movie. Forkan’s intent was to “mitigate the grand seriousness that historical and religious paintings often contain.” One can only hope that this show will “really tie the room together.” Pictured: “Oath of the Horatii,” oil on linen, 2006-10.
The show runs from Friday, Feb. 3 through Sunday, April 1. Forkan is featured in an artist lecture, “Ideas and Process: Painting ‘The Lebowski Cycle’,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday March 8, followed by a screening of “The Big Lebowski” at 9 p.m., both held in the MOCA Theater. The museum is located in downtown Jacksonville at 333 N. Laura St., 366-6911. mocajacksonville.org
