Tampa uncuffed

Sex scandal hot Google topic

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER and CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD
Published December 16, 2004

Debra Lafave's arrest on charges she had sex with a 14-year-old student happened six months ago, but national interest in the pretty teacher's case is far from lukewarm.

According to Google.com, which ranks the most-used search terms on its Web site under a feature called Google Zeitgeist, the first week in December was a hot one for Lafave, 24.

The search term "Debra Lafave" ranked No. 6 among the top 10 gaining queries on Google for the week ending Dec. 6.

That was the week Lafave's attorney announced he will pursue an insanity defense, and the week prosecutors released a stack of incriminating evidence against Lafave.

According to the Zeitgeist poll, Lafave fell below longtime Jeopardy! champ "Ken Jennings," but ranked higher than college football coach "Urban Meyer," who that same week made headlines for taking the University of Florida football coaching job.

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised, given the tabloid-style interest in Lafave's case.

After all, one Web site, Not Safe for Work News, took the time to examine what Lafave would look like with a different chin.

No one did that for Jeopardy! winner Ken Jennings. At least not according to a Google search.

SHERIFFS EXPOSED: Speaking of Web surfing, local history buffs can get their fill of law enforcement lore on the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Web site, www.hcso.fl.us

Under the directory section, there's a link to Sheriffs of the Past and Present.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder said the histories were part of a research project done in 1995 for the agency's 100-year anniversary. It's been available in book form, but having it on the Web makes it easy to access.

There, you'll find a fairly detailed - and not always flattering - history of every Hillsborough sheriff dating back to John Parker, who in 1845 was elected the county's first sheriff. Back then, the sheriff's office was a one-man gig that often entailed menial jobs like cleaning the courthouse.

Parker's biography includes an excerpt written by the Tampa Historical Society in 1992:

"John Parker had a slave mistress, Rachel, with whom he fathered a son named Lloyd Davis. Rachel Davis and her children were a peculiar aspect of the antebellum South. It was not unusual to find children sired by the master or his sons. The children grew up among his children. Such was the case of Lloyd Davis. Lloyd, mulatto son of John Parker, became his bodyguard and trigger man for his sons."

Then there was William C. Spencer, who served three separate terms between 1913 and 1935. When he won the first time against incumbent Sheriff Robert Jackson, he openly admitted that the day before the election, he borrowed several wagons and transported as many voters as he could to a beer party he threw outside of town.

The party lasted until just before the polls opened. So he paid everyone at the party to go vote.

Spencer also favored bolita, the lottery-like numbers game, which was illegal at the time. He was heard to say, "They played bolita when I was a baby, they play it now, and they'll be playing when I'm dead," according to his biography.

But Spencer, who hated to see criminals get the death penalty, refused to carry a gun.

SANTA'S HELPERS: "Macho Man" Randy Savage, the pro wrestler, will accompany another big man, Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober, at DeSoto Elementary this morning. The occasion is a gif t giveaway to 325 preschool to fifth-grade kids, many of them poor. The State Attorney's Office has been collecting donations and filling "wish lists" the kids wrote in October.

A semi-truck will arrive at the school with the gifts - everything from bicycles and video games to dolls and gift certificates - and Hillsborough Judge Nick Nazaretian, playing Santa Claus, will hand them out with a few words for each child.

In some cases, the teachers supplied the wishes for kids who need more than toys.

"One child has no winter clothes," said prosecutor Kim Seace, who helped organize the event. "One child has nothing but flip-flops. The teacher asked us to get shoes."

Contact Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler at svansickler@sptimes.com Contact Christopher Goffard at goffard@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 16, 2004, 00:08:16]