Dateline Florida

By Times Wires
Published November 24, 2007

'BACHELOR' GETS AN UNSCRIPTED REALITY CHECK

Mary Delgado, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader who was proposed to on the reality TV show The Bachelor, punched her fiance in the mouth, Pinellas sheriff's deputies said. Delgado, 40, received a proposal on the show in 2004 from professional bass fisherman Byron Velvick. On Wednesday, just after midnight, Delgado was taken into custody on a battery charge and was under the influence of alcohol when she was arrested, according to an arrest report. The report does not name her fiance but says the pair have lived together "as a family" for the last three years. The couple appeared together the day before in a special episode of The Bachelor called "After the Final Rose." During the show, Delgado told the audience she had taken up her fiance's sport of fishing, that the pair was doing a lot of traveling and they planned to get married in November. "I love this man so much that I have fallen in love with the sport that he loves," Delgado said.

Murderers selling their 'murderabilia'

The Cross-Country Killer has received $330 since January 2005. The Killer Baby Sitter received $207. The leader of a vampire cult received $120. Despite a law banning felons from profiting from their crimes, some of Florida's most notorious inmates are receiving deposits in their prison accounts from collectors of their art, letters and personal items. Collectors sell the items, called "murderabilia," for prices that can reach thousands of dollars. Lawmakers have banned the sales in five states and are now pushing for a federal law. Florida bans felons from using their notoriety for profit, but violations are hard to prove and rarely enforced, according to the Gainesville Sun.

Floriland traffic office reopens

Traffic hearings at the Floriland Business Center will resume Dec. 3. A mold outbreak forced court officials and the clerk's office to shutter their traffic operations at the center in September and reschedule hearings for weekends and nights at the downtown courthouse. The clerk's traffic division reopened at Floriland this week. Customers can now pay traffic tickets or set court dates at that location.

Tampabay.com

New tradition

While most people's day-after-Thanksgiving tradition is fighting the crowds on Black Friday, Steve Spears' is watching Stop Making Sense, the concert film by the band Talking Heads. Watch the video in the Stuck in the '80s blog at blogs.tampabay.com/80s.

[Last modified November 23, 2007, 23:26:17]