Last of sextuplets to go home today

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 21, 2007

Wesley chapel

Charlie Craig Byler, the last sextuplet at All Children's Hospital, is scheduled to be released today, just in time for Thanksgiving.

"He may have to be on a small amount of oxygen," said father Ben Byler.

To be released, babies must weigh at least 4 pounds and be able to eat and breathe on their own. Charlie now weighs about 6 pounds and is feeding a lot better now, Byler said.

Charlie will join his sister, MacKenzie, and four brothers - Brady Christopher, Eli Benjamin, Jackson Robert and Ryan Patrick - at the family's home in Wesley Chapel. They also have a 4-year-old sister, Zoe.

Karoline Byler, 29, delivered the sextuplets, Florida's first surviving set, by caesarean section Sept. 1 at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

Dover

Man reported missing died of bullet wound

A 43-year-old Dover man was found dead Tuesday, 48 hours after his wife reported him missing.

Marty Sewell apparently killed himself, according to Hillsborough Sheriff's Office officials.

A sheriff's report said Sewell's vehicle was found in a remote area off State Road 62 in Manatee County.

Sewell's body was about 25 feet away, with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Sewell's wife, Marie, reported her husband missing after he failed to meet her for a lunch date Sunday.

Sewell was a strawberry and pepper farmer.

Family members described him as a homebody who rarely ventured far from home.

Tampa

Officials move to fire ex-Plant band director

After text messaging a student more than 525 times, the former band director at Plant High School was suspended Tuesday pending dismissal proceedings.

School officials say John Sinibaldi, 46, a music instructor at the South Tampa school, engaged in unprofessional behavior. In a letter, they told Sinibaldi: "Your contact with the student was not desired by the parents, which caused them to question your motives, and perceived your communication with their child as inappropriate, unprofessional and overstepping your boundaries as a classroom teacher and band director."

After Tuesday's School Board vote to suspend him without pay, district officials say they will move to termination proceedings.

Sinibaldi could not be reached for comment.

[Last modified November 20, 2007, 23:57:14]