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Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2001
Lawmaker: Let voters pick elections official
MIAMI -- A lawmaker wants Miami-Dade County's appointed elections supervisor to be elected instead, an effort which comes in the aftermath of the state's disputed presidential election.
The Miami-Dade supervisor of elections is the only one appointed in Florida's 67 counties. David Leahy has held the post for more than 20 years.
State Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, said the county's voters, not the county manager, should choose who gets the job. The lawmaker was a vocal opponent of the county's handling of the ballot recount.
Meek has drafted a resolution he plans to file with the Legislature on Tuesday which would require elections supervisors to run for office, bringing Miami-Dade in line with the rest of the state. It also would require the position to be nonpartisan.
A similar bill filed Friday by state Rep. Joyce Cusack, D-DeLand, also would make supervisors of elections nonpartisan, in an effort to eliminate voters' concerns about the presidential election.
ORLANDO -- A Boy Scouts chapter could be out a $300,000 donation from the United Way this year because of a national policy barring gays, a charity board member said.
United Way's 2000 fundraising campaign brought in $20.6-million in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties -- and roughly $300,000 of that could go to the Scouts this summer. If, however, the Scouts continue to abide by the national policy, the United Way board has little choice but to cut the group out of its donations, said Matt Zavadsky, a United Way board member.
WEST PALM BEACH -- Investigators said they have spoken to a man who admitted he clubbed a black swan to death on Donald Trump's golf course.
New York resident Cyril Wagner said in a a phone interview Thursday he killed the exotic bird in self-defense with one swing of a titanium driver, said Lt. Gina DiPace, a county animal control officer.
Wagner and his host, New York plastic surgeon Dr. Eli Milch, were playing a round at Trump International Golf Club in suburban West Palm Beach when the incident occurred.