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Car crash kills teen near his home

PLANT CITY - A Plant City teen died about 10 minutes from home in a car crash on Tuesday.

Tony E. Downey, 17, of 5310 Fulwood Drive, was heading south on State Road 39 about 6:15 p.m. in his 1996 Ford when he tried to make a U-turn south of Chapman Road, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. James M. Shaw, 32, of Wallins Creek, Ky., was traveling behind Downey in a 1994 Ford F-350 and couldn't stop in time, troopers said. Shaw's truck hit Downey's car on the driver's side door.

Downey died at the scene; Shaw was not injured. Troopers are investigating the accident.

TAMPA - Two Woodbridge Elementary School teachers were placed on administrative leave Wednesday after they allegedly tried to subdue two students with physical force in separate incidents.

Teachers Hal Croft and Ibi Simon were holding a fifth-grade choral class Tuesday afternoon when a female student became disruptive, said Hillsborough County School Board spokesman Mark Hart.

According to witnesses, Croft struck the student "in or around the face," Hart said.

A short while later, Hart said, a male student was being disruptive and Simon forced him to the ground, witnesses told school officials.

The teachers have been placed on paid leave. The school district will conduct an internal investigation. A report will be submitted to the superintendent, who will make a recommendation on the teachers' employment to the School Board.

LAND O'LAKES - When Jan Rauer's father was dying 26 years ago, there was no agency to help him and his family navigate the maze of health insurance decisions.

Rauer thought, "No one should turn 65 and not have any place to turn to." So in 1991, when she finished a nursing career, she began volunteering for SHINE - Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders - a federally funded counseling service on health insurance.

On Wednesday, after years of leading such volunteers, the Land O'Lakes woman was named the winner of Gov. Jeb Bush's weekly Points of Light Award for community service. At 63, Rauer almost has become a full-time volunteer. She sometimes works 50- to 60-hour weeks as the statewide coordinator of a network of 450 volunteers in 55 counties.

SHINE's Pasco County volunteers work chiefly in offices in the county's western end. The Hillsborough volunteers work on the telephone from their homes, returning calls requesting information. The SHINE telephone number in Hillsborough is 740-3888, ext. 229. Over a recent 12-month period, SHINE counseled more than 100,000 Floridians statewide.

"We've opened a lot of doors to folks who didn't know this was available to them," Rauer said.