For drawing stick figure shooting, student expelled
By wire services
Published November 12, 2003
FORT MYERS - La Belle High School expelled a 16-year-old student after he showed a friend his drawing of one stick figure shooting another.
Ryan Richter, a sophomore, was in geometry class when he made the drawing and passed it along to a friend.
"We were just joking around," Richter said.
Richter said a student told authorities he said the dead stick figure was a direct reference to someone and the shooter was a depiction of himself. But Richter denied that the drawing was of him or anyone else in the school.
Richter was kicked out of La Belle High and recommended for a 45-day stay at Hendry County's alternative high school.
He and his parents are fighting the reassignment, afraid it will tarnish his record when he applies to a college.
The school principal referred all calls to superintendent Thomas Conner. Conner said he didn't think the district's zero-tolerance policy went too far, but would not comment on Richter's case.
DCF reviews jump in costs of services to disabled
TALLAHASSEE - The Department of Children and Families will conduct an audit to find out why costs of services for developmentally disabled clients have risen so sharply.
The review comes two weeks after the department announced it is reducing the amount it will pay service providers in order to meet spending limits set by law.
DCF Secretary Jerry Regier said providers have raised their rates by as much as 158 percent. He has asked his inspector general's office to examine why.
"We're going to try to pinpoint what's going on," he said Tuesday.
Providers have been charging DCF an average of $500 more per person each month for residential rehabilitation services and $150 more a month for each person in adult day training programs, about a 20 percent increase over last year. The department said it will limit rate increases to 5 percent.
"Training for a person with Down's syndrome on personal hygiene, homemaking skills and food preparation, that may have cost $100 just a few months ago, could exceed $250 today," Regier said. "My goal is to identify and halt any egregious practices and ensure proper accountability and responsibility for tax dollars paid to service providers."
Former official sues over St. Joe Co. development
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - A former Bay County planning commissioner is suing the county to block an upscale residential development by the St. Joe Co., Florida's largest private landowner.
Diane Brown contends in the lawsuit that a subdivision plan county commissioners approved last week for the RiverCamps development is inconsistent with their comprehensive plan.
Commissioners last year approved the RiverCamps development for up to 450 homes on about 1,481 acres. Brown wants the Circuit Court to block development based on the plan for 27 lots covering about 52 acres.
Brown and five other plaintiffs earlier sued the county to challenge St. Joe's proposed WaveCrest development at Panama City Beach.
Plan would convert TB hospital to health complex
LANTANA - Two health officials want to turn the nation's last tuberculosis hospital into the Florida Institute of Public Health, a medical complex with labs to fight bioterrorism, isolation wards for treating TB and SARS, and research centers.
Dr. Jean Malecki, director of the Palm Beach County Health Department, and Florida Health Secretary Dr. John Agwunobi are leading the plan, Malecki said.
The 145-acre site of the A.G. Holley State Hospital would be turned into a state laboratory. Other tenants in the complex would include a housing development, hotel and conference center.
The complex would be established by Lantana, the University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University and the Palm Beach County Economic Council, as well as unnamed hospitals and foundations.
The planned institute would focus largely on research, with a 50-bed research hospital for tuberculosis patients and others with severe respiratory diseases such as SARS.
Some Lantana officials oppose the plan. They would rather sell the site to a developer to increase the town's tax rolls.
Man accused of hiding daughter pleads innocent
WEST PALM BEACH - A man accused of leaving Florida with his daughter and hiding out in Hawaii for five years was denied bail after he pleaded innocent in a court hearing.
Jon Michael Bryan, 45, was ordered Monday to remain in jail pending a plea or a trial.
Bryan is charged with concealing a child against a court order, a third-degree felony with a maximum sentence of five years. Federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution were dropped.
Bryan was arrested Oct. 29 in Kauai. According to the FBI, Bryan picked up his daughter, Angeline Bryan-Hoercher, now 11, from her mother for a scheduled visit on June 28, 1998 and never returned.
