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Lawyer punished for leaving town, clients

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 22, 2006

DADE CITY

Lawyers tempted to play hookey had better think again: Circuit Judge Linda Babb will all but make them stand in the corner. Carolyn Van Zant found out the hard way when she turned her back on three clients. Babb found Van Zant in willful contempt of court Thursday after the lawyer closed her Tampa practice last year and moved to Miami, leaving three Pasco defendants in the lurch.

For her penance, Van Zant will have to take a legal ethics course, perform 200 hours of community service and write an essay explaining what she has learned and how she can guarantee this won't happen again.

Rows of houses may replace rows of citrus

Another orange grove will fall to bulldozers, if plans materialize to turn 100 acres on the outskirts of Dade City into about 400 single-family homes.

But regulators are already looking askance at the proposed four homes per acre, a density that might not sit well in an area largely characterized by low-density development and open land.

The project, driven by Clearwater's Bayshore-Broadway Developers, is tentatively called Citrus Ridge.

It sits just north of St. Joe Road, between Ramsey Road and Skyline Drive.

Bayshore-Broadway is under contract to buy the property, which is owned by URADCO, a subsidiary of Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative.

CLEARWATER

Salvation Army serves more families this year

The number of families served by the Salvation Army's Joy Center has risen from 1,096 last year to 1,337 this year.

Those families include 3,443 children, a 50 percent increase from the number of children served last year, said Major Bobbie Wolf, the Salvation Army's volunteer coordinator.

In 2005, the St. Petersburg Area Command raised nearly $886,000 in donations through its kettle campaign and mail appeals. This year, donations are down 12 percent. Also, the number of individuals and companies "adopting" families and children for Christmas has dropped off. But the organization will purchase toys to fill the need, then seek assistance from the community to help replace the funds.

BROOKSVILLE

Rocco is sworn in; Robinson plans appeal

Rose Rocco was sworn in Thursday morning as the fifth member of the Hernando County Commission after a judge ruled that she is eligible to take the disputed District 2 seat.

"It's a complete win," said Ronald G. Meyer of Tallahassee, one of Rocco's lawyers.

But it may be a temporary one, said Robert Morris, a lawyer for ex-Commissioner Nancy Robinson, whom Rocco defeated in the November election. Robinson was disappointed by Booth's ruling on Thursday, Morris said, and determined to appeal it.

[Last modified December 21, 2006, 23:58:22]