State: Around the state

Around the state

Compiled from Times wires

Jewfish Creek offensive, says renaming petition

KEY LARGO -- Last year a Georgia scientist lobbied successfully to get the name of Florida's largest grouper species changed from jewfish, which he found offensive, to goliath grouper.

Now another man is seeking a name change for the narrow Key Largo channel known as Jewfish Creek.

Arnold G. Konheim of Washington requested the change in a petition to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. "The word Jew in any form other than a noun is derogatory," Konheim wrote.

Konheim's request has some support, but the issue hardly seems to be divisive.

Jim Boruszak, the congregation president of the Keys Jewish Community Center in Tavernier, said the creek's name "is not a subject of conversation among Jewish people around here. Most people don't even know the name of the fish has been changed."

Monroe County commissioners voted last week against renaming the creek, which has been known as Jewfish Creek since at least the early 1900s. In fact, the town known now as Key Largo was called Jewfish until 1921.

The commissioners' vote is significant because the federal name change board considers local opinion in its decisions.

Miami-Dade coalition asks for panel to oversee voting

MIAMI -- Civil rights and watchdog groups called Monday for a civilian panel to supervise Miami-Dade County's elections and said citizens should also replace county employees as poll workers.

The Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition also said the county should continue using independent observers and provide more help to Creole-speaking voters in a report compiled after the relatively clean Nov. 5 election.

After a Sept. 10 primary marred by malfunctioning touch screen voting machines and poorly trained poll workers, Miami-Dade officials decided to use county employees as poll workers rather than civilian volunteers Nov. 5. They also placed the Miami-Dade Police Department in charge of supervising the logistics, planning and organization for the election.

But the report, while noting that the November election was "generally smooth," said the county should return to civilian poll workers and should not involve the police in any future elections.

"Police do not have a good relationship with the community so there is an intimidation factor there," said Max Rameau, spokesman for the activist group Brothers of the Same Mind. "Police endorse candidates and they have issues that they lobby for, so they have a conflict of interest."

The coalition was made up of representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and various other organizations.

Loser in Vermont race can at least smile about this

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- "Dear Governor-elect Racine," the Nov. 15 letter from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said. "Congratulations to you, your family and staff on your recent election! I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs in America."

But Doug Racine was the loser in Vermont's gubernatorial election Nov. 5.

In an administrative faux pas, Gov. Bush's office sent a congratulatory letter to Racine instead of the real governor-elect, Republican state Treasurer Jim Douglas, who beat Lt. Gov. Racine.

Elizabeth Hirst, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bush, said the letter was the result of staff error.

"Congratulations have been made to Governor-elect Jim Douglas," Hirst said.

"Governor-elect Douglas finds this situation amusing and is certainly not offended by it," Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs said Monday. "This is obviously an honest mistake."

Bush's brother, President George W. Bush, knows the winner well: Douglas chaired the Bush campaign in Vermont two years ago.

Gov. Bush and Douglas both attended a California meeting this past weekend of Republican governors and governors-elect.

Daughter of Cuban exiles is Bush's new top counsel

A Cuban-American Miami lawyer who worked for the Republicans during the 2000 presidential recount in Florida was tapped Monday to be Gov. Jeb Bush's new general counsel.

Raquel A. Rodriguez, 41, is replacing Charles Canady, whom Bush appointed to be a judge on the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

The 41-year-old Rodriguez has practiced international and corporate law for the Greenberg Traurig law firm. She is the daughter of Cuban exiles who came to Miami in 1959. She graduated first in her class from the University of Miami School of Law in 1985.

She will make $115,000 a year as the governor's top legal adviser, and will start Dec. 9.