By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER and CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD
Published April 15, 2004
Amid the grieving and finger-pointing in the hit-and-run deaths of brothers Bryant Wilkins and Durontae Caldwell, people on both sides of the controversy are using print to get their names and messages to the public.
Michelle Patty, spokeswoman for the boys' mother Lisa Wilkins and her family, handed out fans at the funeral service held Saturday for Bryant and Durontae. On the front was an image of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. On the back was an ad for her medical referral service, similar to the ones that appear on benches around Tampa.
Patty, who also has a radio talk show, said there was nothing inappropriate about distributing the fans at the funeral that drew more than 650 mourners. "I've been passing out those fans for three years, in just about any black church in Tampa," she said. "With all those people using the fans, I think they were happy to have them."
The day before the funeral, Barry Cohen - attorney for the Muller Elementary teacher whose Toyota Echo has been identified as a car authorities think was involved in the collision - took out a full-page ad in the Florida Sentinel-Bulletin, Tampa's black newspaper. He outlines his sensitivity to the black community's civil rights, and reprints past Christmas cards in which he quotes King and uses an image of one black man pulling up another.
His client Jennifer Porter, 28, has not been charged in the hit-and-run case.
STUDY SEEKS TO REDUCE DROWNING DEATHS: Every year around this time, the sad seasonal upswing of child drownings begins. Already this year, with two months to go until summer, the death toll is two. Last year, seven people between 1 and 19 years old drowned in Hillsborough County.
The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office is participating in a national study of child drownings - in hopes of reducing the number of future deaths as much as possible.
With the consent of victims' families, since last summer the M.E.'s office has sent detailed information on the circumstances of local drownings to researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, an arm of the federal government's National Institutes of Health.
The M.E.'s office is one of about 30 in Florida taking part in the study. Others include Citrus County, said Gitanjali Saluja, a research fellow with the NICHD. Medical examiners in California, Texas and New York also are participating.
"We went to places where drownings occur most frequently," said Saluja said. "Florida has lots of drownings."
To qualify for the study, drownings have to be in residential pools, lakes or rivers. Victims must be 1 to 19 years old and U.S. residents at the time. Medical examiners ask the families all sorts of questions: Did the victim ever take swimming lessons, and if so where and for how long? In what type of pool did the drowning take place? Was there a gate? How deep was the pool or other body of water?
"We're trying to collect very specific details, because lots of studies have been done, but the drownings continue," Saluja said. "So it's necessary to do more research."
Pete Bihorel, a senior investigator with the Hillsborough M.E.'s office, said he hasn't seen any particular circumstances emerge as a common cause in the cases used for the drowning study.
"But one thing I hear a lot is, "I just left them for a minute."'
MORE AUTHORITATIVE FIGURES: Bailiffs at the Hillsborough Courthouse will soon be losing their distinctive green blazers.
The aim: to promote "a more authoritative and professional image" for the bailiffs and to provide "a stronger deterrent to bad behavior," according to a Hillsborough Sheriff's Office memo obtained by the Times.
The March 15 memo, from Lt. Robert Simpson to Chief Deputy David Gee, notes that much of the public perceives the green-blazered bailiffs as security guards, since the blazers tend to cover their badges.
"The sheriff's patch displayed on the green blazer does not seem to communicate authority or command respect," Simpson wrote, leading some people to challenge bailiffs' authority.
What's more, with their current uniforms, only a small nameplate distinguishes rank between bailiffs, making it tough for the public to tell at a glance who is a supervisor.
So starting as early as next month, Hillsborough bailiffs will look like other deputy sheriffs, plus long sleeves and ties. Projected savings: $69.34 per year, per bailiff.
OPENING SHOTS: Election season is heating up. One need only look to the courthouse for evidence of this.
Last week, four young men pleaded no contest to felony battery charges in a case involving sex with a 14-year-old Plant High School girl. Discrepancies in the girl's story made it tough for prosecutors to prove stronger charges.
For months, prosecutors negotiated with prominent defense attorneys retained by the families of the young men. In the end, the plea deal, which the girl's family did not object to, kept the young men out of prison.
Attorney Robin Fuson, who is running to take Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober's job, has criticized Ober's handling of the case.
"I don't see any real problem with the way the case ended up," Fuson said, but he questioned whether poor defendants with less prominent attorneys would have enjoyed such access to prosecutors for negotiations. Fuson said he would have filed charges of lewd and lascivious behavior against the young men.
"I made this decision after great reflection," Ober said. "The victim's family and I stand by this decision."
