Eideard

Two of Belniak’s victims – Denise and Gerard Bassi, dead

David Belniak had drugs in his system and never braked when he slammed into the back of a family’s car stopped at a red light on Christmas Day 2007. Three people died.

In August, Belniak pleaded guilty to three counts of DUI manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He never said a word in court, not even when the victims’ children begged him for an apology…

Now, he’s saying he’s not responsible for the crash. And he wants to be paid for his suffering…

The suit asks for the victims’ relatives to pay Belniak, 38, for his “pain and suffering … mental anguish … loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life” and the medical bills he got as a result of a crash he pleaded guilty to causing…

Georgette DeFranco lost her mother, Linda McWilliams, 66; her sister, Denise Bassi, 50, and her brother-in-law, Gerard Bassi, 51, in the crash. DeFranco’s stepfather, Ray McWilliams, was injured but survived. Family members said he never fully recovered and he died last March at age 68…

The crash happened about 2:20 p.m. Dec. 25, 2007…Authorities said Belniak was driving between 75 and 85 mph when his pickup smashed into the back of McWilliams’ Chevrolet Tahoe. The SUV crumpled. Gerard Bassi died at the scene. Denise Bassi died in surgery that day. Linda McWilliams was taken off life support a week later.

Authorities said Belniak had alcohol, Xanax and evidence of cocaine in his system.

Belniak had a history of driving infractions. He’d faced DUI charges twice before. One of those times, in 2003, New Port Richey police searching his Ford Mustang found a gallon of the intoxicant GHB, commonly known as the “date rape” drug. Belniak served 17 months in prison after pleading no contest to trafficking the drug…

Maureen M. Deskins, the Tampa attorney representing the estate of Linda and Ray McWilliams, said the lawsuit is “gut-wrenching” and the relatives are “stunned.”

“It seems there is no end to the pain David Belniak is willing to inflict on this family,” Deskins said.

One more case added to the sum of frivolous litigation that has become the American standard for lawyers. My friends who practice that craft with justice and honor are as embarrassed as our whole nation must be – especially by the lack of concern that results from drunk driving convictions.

Sitting across from their parents or guardians, five girls and two boys faced a judge Saturday afternoon, a day after they were arrested by Marion County sheriff’s deputies for the severe beating of a 13-year-old girl on a school bus that left the girl hospitalized…

Authorities said the injured child was beaten multiple times and was treated at the hospital for a concussion, muscle spasms and a serious head bruise.

Inside the makeshift courtroom at the Marion County Jail, Assistant State Attorney John Zaleskie asked Judge Frances King to detain the youths due to what the prosecutor described as “extreme violence” and injuries suffered by the victim until their arraignment.

King decided to release the seven — who the prosecutor said had no prior arrests — to their parents/guardians and place them on home detention.

While on home detention, the youths have to abide by certain rules, such as no contact with each other or with the victim…

All eight juveniles, including the victim, attend Liberty Middle School.

According to sheriff’s deputies, the beating occurred on the school bus around 7:30 a.m. on the way to school. Authorities said there were approximately 74 children on the bus…

Unable to stop the fight, the driver drove to an elementary school and reported the incident to school officials, who called police…

All of the juveniles were arrested and charged with felony battery and disorderly conduct.

RTFA for the details of each stupid, egregious excuse offered for this criminal behavior.

Certainly, the parents bear no responsibility. Right? The judge obviously feels that to be the case.

1
Advert for campaign to get clothing-optional voting

A west Florida community is spending $3,800 in tax dollars to entice naked Germans to spend their summer vacations there.

The advertising grant was awarded Tuesday by the Pasco County commission to Pandabare, a local nudist organization representing 16 resorts, campgrounds and clubs located in the largely rural county north of Tampa.

The ads, to be placed in European publications, will promote the county’s longstanding reputation as the nudist capital of America.

“The idea is to create a Euro-bird season in July and August which are our worst two months of the year,” said Eric Keaton, public communications manager for the Pasco County tourist development agency. Keaton said nudism contributes to the county’s economy, but he had no figures to quantify its impact.

The first target market for the ad campaign will be Germany which, according to Pandabare’s application, is “a large and lucrative market whose millions of nudists are among the world’s most prolific travelers.” The group also anticipates a campaign aimed at British nudists.

Keaton said the advertisements…will be very clean, and somewhat funny…”

I always fall apart over states well-known for bible-based reactionary politics…which haven’t any problem with one part of the state making money from freedom-based lifestyles they would generally arrest folks for in another part of the state.

“I’m only looking at your buttons”

An 81-year-old man who admitted posing as a doctor and giving free breast exams to women at a Lauderdale Lakes apartment complex in 2006 was sentenced on Friday to serve the next 13 months in prison.

Phillip Winikoff, of Coconut Creek, will also serve three years of community control followed by 15 years of sex offender probation once he gets out of Florida state prison. By the time he’s done answering for his crimes, he will be 100 years old…

Zann said Winikoff went to the 3200 block of Northwest 40th Street carrying a black bag and approached a woman taking out her garbage. The white-haired man said he was a doctor performing free breast exams in the area.

According to Zann, Winikoff went to the woman’s apartment, with the woman’s significant other in the next room, and began massaging the woman’s breasts. Then he had her remove her pants and penetrated her with his fingers, Zann said.

That’s when the woman stopped the exam and called for her boyfriend. Winikoff fled the apartment, and the victim called 911. But Winikoff wasn’t done, Zann said. He quickly found another victim and repeated the ruse. Again he talked his way into the woman’s apartment, got her to undress and fondled the woman’s breasts and genitals.

He was charged with sexual battery and practicing medicine without a license. Had he been convicted at trial, he could have been sentenced to 55 years behind bars.

Appearing humbled before the judge, Winikoff spoke softly, barely above a whisper. “I know I did wrong,” he said. Most of what he told the judge was inaudible from the audience, but he did appear to be tearful and remorseful.

The victims did not appear in court.

Sadly demented. But, criminal behavior requires penalties and supervision on behalf of society.

Not the tallest crook they ever busted in Eatonville

A 10-year-old elementary-school student broke into a town impound lot…stole an Eatonville pickup and was chased by the police chief, who arrested him.

The Eatonville boy scaled a 10-foot chain-link fence about 3 p.m., climbed into the white pickup and drove through a fence at the lot on Mosely Avenue, near Kennedy Boulevard at the west side of town, police Sgt. Eric McIntyre said.

Someone noticed the child behind the wheel and called police, who tried to stop him. However, the boy threw the truck into reverse to avoid officers’ patrol cars and drove a couple of blocks before crashing into a light pole at College Avenue and Lemon Street, McIntyre said.

An electric wire fell, setting a house there on fire. The Maitland Fire/Rescue Department put out the flames, and there were no serious injuries, he said.

The child got out and ran, but police Chief Joseph Jenkins and a detective caught and handcuffed him a little more than a block away. The boy was taken to the Orange County Juvenile Assessment Center…

He was arrested on charges of burglary of a conveyance, grand theft of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest.

The boy told officers a relative had taught him to drive.

Now, they just need someone to teach the Eatonville, Florida, police department something about security and safety. The kid did $4000 damage to the city-owned truck. No one offered a guess on the cost of damage to the house.

Hop was one of the inside editors here at Eideard. And as you can see from the tribute above by John C. Dvorak, one of the leading figures among a larger group of editors at Dvorak Uncensored and the Cagematch.

He will be sorely missed.

The owner of a large southwest Alabama car dealership derided as “Taliban Toyota” by a competitor has been awarded $7.5 million in damages after a jury trial for his slander claim.

Iranian-born Shawn Esfahani, owner of Eastern Shore Toyota in Daphne, Alabama, sought $28 million in compensatory and punitive damages from Bob Tyler Toyota, claiming employees at that Pensacola, Florida-based dealership falsely portrayed him as an Islamist militant to customers.

“The feeling I received in the courtroom for the truth to come out was worth a lot more than any money anybody can give me,” Esfahani told Reuters…

Esfahani’s lawsuit said that Bob Tyler sales manager Fred Kenner told at least one couple considering buying from Eastern Shore Toyota in 2009 that Esfahani was of Middle Eastern descent and was “helping fund the insurgents there and is also laundering money for them…”

A Bob Tyler salesman was accused of telling the same couple that Esfahani was from Iraq and calling him a “terrorist” who put soldiers including the salesman’s brother in harm’s way…

The jury deliberated for three hours before awarding Esfahani $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages on Monday evening…

Esfahani said the dollar amount awarded by the jury was irrelevant unless the case sets a precedent by which other business owners can seek recourse against tactics he considers “un-American.”

Slimeballs who perpetuate slander and discrimination against minorities – whether for business or demented pleasure – represent the sickest form of bigotry. They are so preoccupied with their Limbaugh-like hatred they pay no heed to ordinary standards of civility or public conduct.

A judgement like this one warm the cockles of my heart. Hitting these creeps where it hurts them most – in the wallet – is especially just.

Nearly 11 years after the 2000 presidential election brought the corruption idiosyncrasies of the United States’ Electoral College into full view, 62% of Americans say they would amend the U.S. Constitution to replace that system for electing presidents with a popular vote system. Barely a third, 35%, say they would keep the Electoral College.

Gallup’s initial measure of support for the Electoral College with this wording was conducted in the first few days after the 2000 presidential election in which the winner remained undeclared pending a recount in Florida. At that time, it was already clear that Democratic candidate Al Gore had won the national popular vote over Republican George W. Bush, but that the winner of the election would be the one who received Florida’s 25 Electoral College votes…

Republicans have grown somewhat more amenable to adopting a popular vote system over the past decade. Now, for the first time since 2000, the majority of Republicans favor it. Independents are not quite as supportive as Democrats of the popular vote system, but the majority of them have consistently favored it.

Additionally, Gallup finds little difference in the views of Americans of various age groups on changing how the country elects presidents. Support for amending the Constitution on this matter is 58% among 18- to 34-year-olds, 64% among 35-to 54-year-olds, and 62% among those 55 and older.

From 1967 through 1980, Gallup periodically asked Americans about replacing the Electoral College with a popular vote system using different question wording, and each time, the majority favored it. The issue was particularly relevant during this period because the popular vote in the 1968 and 1976 presidential elections was so closely divided…

Next question? What do you think Congress will do about responding to the will of the people?

I thought so, too. They are truly useless.

In the largest alleged BP oil spill-related scam uncovered to date, federal authorities on Thursday charged two Floridians with taking $340,000 in funds intended for victims of last year’s environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Justice Department officials said Joseph Harvey, 51, and Anja Kannell, 41, of Delray Beach, Florida, appeared in federal court in Miami on Thursday to face indictments for mail fraud, wire fraud and aggressive identity theft. Prosecutors said the defendants claimed the money from a $20 billion fund set up to help legitimate victims of the spill recover lost income.

Justice officials said they have brought charges in at least 30 cases in which individuals tried to recover funds to which they were not entitled. This was the biggest case yet, according to the Justice Department.

Harvey and Kannell are accused of filing phony claims using 34 assumed identities of actual Florida residents. These claims were complete with names and Social Security numbers, though they had fictitious addresses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Officials say the defendants instructed that all the funds be sent to an account they controlled in Texas.

Anyone wonder why the paperwork in disaster recovery and aid continues to grow beyond reason? Fact remains that a significant, small portion of our populace is dedicated to ripping off our tax dollars. [Yes, I mean beyond the Republican and Democratic parties]

Given the checks and balances introduced as part of the IT updates by the Obama administration, I have a sense that the arrest rate for crooks like this is getting better. Which means that Congress will probably try to cut the budget.

An East Naples man is accused of knocking his mother unconscious after she became angry with him for practicing martial arts in the house.

Cory William Morrel, 27, of the 7800 block of Regal Heron Circle, was arrested Friday by Collier County sheriff’s deputies at home.

According to a Sheriff’s Office report, deputies were dispatched to Morrel’s home in reference to a woman who was kicked in the head…

Morrel told deputies that while practicing martial arts in the living room, he accidentally kicked a wall causing a scuff mark. He said his mother became angry with him and began yelling profanity at him.

It is unclear what happened next due to redacted information regarding Morrel kicking his mother in the head. However, Morrel said he then called 911 when she became unconscious.

She was transported to an NCH hospital for further medical treatment.

Morrel faces a charge of domestic battery.

Another story of a loving son.