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Around the state

Gallagher for tax-free hurricane accounts

By wire services
Published February 9, 2005

PENSACOLA - People in hurricane-prone areas should be allowed to set up tax-free accounts to save money for deductibles and other uninsured costs from storms, Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher said Tuesday.

He said he will seek support for the proposal from Florida's congressional delegation during an upcoming trip to Washington.

"You would be able to put some money away that would be tax-free and would be able to build tax-free," he said at a news conference. Homeowners would be able to reduce insurance premiums because their savings would enable them to choose higher deductibles, Gallagher said.

TALLAHASSEE - A church robbery in Fort Lauderdale inspired a bill to create tougher penalties for people who commit crimes in places of worship.

Any crime involving a threat, physical force or violence that occurs while people are gathered for religious services or activities would receive a one-degree upgrade in severity. For instance, a first-degree misdemeanor would become a third-degree felony.

"If there's enhanced penalties for hate crimes, there certainly should be an enhanced penalty for someone who attacks somebody who is simply trying to pray," said the sponsor, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Fort Lauderdale.

Ryan said he decided to sponsor the bill (HB 319) after reading about two men who burst into a church before a 6:30 a.m. service last November and robbed worshipers at gunpoint.

Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, is sponsoring an identical bill (SB 1096).

TALLAHASSEE - A bill proposed for the coming Legislature by Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, would require a court to terminate alimony payments if the payer can show his or her former spouse is cohabiting with a person of the opposite sex.

"I think ex-spouses who do receive alimony ought to receive alimony," Siplin said Tuesday. But he said people who get remarried or have a "de facto remarriage, then at that time alimony should cease."

His bill (SB 152) would not affect child support payments.

MIAMI - Derick Daniels, an award-winning newspaper editor and executive who became president of Playboy Enterprises, died of cancer Saturday. He was 76.

Born in Washington, Mr. Daniels was the grandson of the late editor and publisher Josephus Daniels, founder of the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

One of his earliest jobs after attending the University of North Carolina was as a reporter with the St. Petersburg Times. In 1955 he began a career with Knight Newspapers as a copy editor on the Miami Herald. He was executive editor of the Detroit Free Press when it won the Pulitzer Prize for its reporting of that city's 1967 riot, and in 1973 became vice president for news for the Knight chain. He was named president of Playboy Enterprises in 1976.

Mr. Daniels was credited with helping lead Playboy out of financial problems, pulling the company out of its movie theater and music publishing ventures as stock prices and profit margins grew. He stepped down in 1982.

HAINES CITY - Four people, including a 3-month-old girl, were killed when their compact car slammed into a sport utility vehicle at an intersection.

A fifth person was critically hurt in the Monday morning crash in this eastern Polk County city.

Authorities said the Dodge Spirit failed to stop and crashed into a Dodge Durango SUV, ejecting two people from the car.

Police identified the dead passengers as Hector Jaimes and Zenaida Mosqueda, both 17; their 3-month-old daughter, Jasmine Jaimes; and a sister, Jessinia Jaimes, 20. The car's driver, Luis A. Espinoza, 19, of Tampa, was airlifted to Lakeland Regional Medical Center in critical condition. Police said Espinoza was Mosqueda's brother.

The SUV driver, Dielita Bakken, 56, of Kissimmee, was treated for a broken wrist at Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center.

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE - The minimum-security Eglin Federal Prison Camp, dubbed "Club Fed" by critics who say it is soft on inmates, may face the budget ax.

Bureau of Prisons officials Tuesday confirmed the camp at this Florida Panhandle base and three others like it will be shut down to save about $38-million a year if Congress approves.

Also on the chopping block are camps at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.; and Allenwood, Pa.

FORT WALTON BEACH - A middle school girls' soccer coach has been charged with molesting a former player when she was between 12 and 15 years old.

Okaloosa County sheriff's deputies went to Bruner Middle School after classes Monday and arrested Ira Tryon Jr., who also taught emotionally handicapped children.

Tryon, 31, of Fort Walton Beach, was charged with lewd or lascivious battery, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison if committed on a child between 12 and 16 years old.

An arrest report says the girl alleged she was enticed to perform sex acts at Tryon's home, the school, her house and in neighboring Santa Rosa County.

[Last modified February 9, 2005, 00:42:04]