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Governor asks for ideas for faith-based initiatives

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday he wants to expand faith-based programs in Florida and does not see it as a threat to the constitutional separation of church and state.

Bush issued an executive order Monday requiring a 25-member Faith-Based and Community Advisory Board to issue a written report within 90 days on how to expand faith-based initiatives to improve education, strengthen families and reduce crime, poverty and homelessness.

"I think there's all sorts of faith-based and community-based organizations that extend the reach of government to help deal with a lot on the social service side," Bush said. "We just want to make sure that faith-based organizations are given the same opportunity as secular organizations. Not to get special treatment, but not to be discriminated against."

His brother, President Bush, also supports faith-based activities. The governor said more faith-based programs "won't violate the Constitution."

WEST PALM BEACH - A state appeals court upheld the DUI conviction and 90-day sentence given a former FBI agent involved in a wrong-way crash that left two brothers dead.

Agent David Farrall was driving drunk on Interstate 95 in November 1999 when he smashed head-on into a car carrying Lauderhill brothers Maurice Williams, 23, and Craig Chambers, 19.

Farrall, 41, was acquitted of DUI manslaughter in 2002, in part because jurors said the Florida Highway Patrol mishandled the investigation. The FHP mistakenly concluded at first that the brothers were going the wrong way.

Farrall was convicted instead of six misdemeanor charges for driving drunk and recklessly. He served one day of his sentence in January 2003 before he was released on $10,000 appeal bond.

The appeals court rejected his contention that his records and blood samples were improperly obtained from a hospital and should have been kept out of the trial.

TALLAHASSEE - The state Department of Agriculture will ask legislators next month to approve more than $5-million in additional money for fighting citrus canker, a disease spread by hurricanes that hit Florida this summer.

"Citrus canker has been blown into several additional counties," said department spokesman Terence McElroy. "We will be seeking something in the neighborhood of $5-million to $10-million in the special session."

He said Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson will tell lawmakers thousands more trees will need to be cut down to contain the disease, which blemishes fruit and threatens the state's multibillion-dollar citrus industry.

The Legislature is expected to convene in mid December to implement a constitutional requirement for creating statewide voluntary prekindergarten.

Several hurricane-related measures are also expected to be presented, but the chances of the canker-fighting money being appropriated aren't clear. Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said this week he wasn't inclined to spend much money responding to hurricane needs right away because it's not clear exactly what the needs are. He didn't rule it out, however.

TALLAHASSEE - The state Supreme Court told a trial judge to decide whether a death row inmate condemned for the fatal beating of a woman is mentally retarded.

In Thursday's ruling, Florida's high court upheld the murder conviction of Demetris Thomas but declined to review his death sentence for the 1997 murder of Brandy Howard in Okaloosa County.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of mentally retarded people, saying it violated the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. But it left it to states to develop their own systems to ensure that mentally retarded people are not executed.

Retardation is generally defined as having an IQ of 70 or lower. Defense attorneys say Thomas, 32, has an IQ of 61.