FLORIDA DIGEST October 27, 2007

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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbsheriff1027pnoct27,0,5712294.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

Lamberti appointed Broward sheriff: He'll finish Jenne's term and seekoffice

By Sofia Santana and Brian Haas
October 27, 2007

Mere hours after being appointed the post of interim sheriff on Friday,career lawman Al Lamberti said he was ready to make some changes at theagency.

"We're ready to roll up our sleeves and go to work now," said Lamberti, 53,who had been acting sheriff since former Sheriff Ken Jenne resigned Sept. 4in the face of a federal indictment.

However, Lamberti declined to go into specifics, saying he wanted to discussthe changes with his command staff.

Lamberti's appointment by Gov. Charlie Crist will keep him at the helm ofthe 6,300-member force at least until Jan. 2009, when the current termexpires. The job is up for election in Nov. 2008, and Lamberti, a registeredRepublican, has said he intends to run.

Lamberti was at an FBI leadership conference in Cocoa Beach when thegovernor's office called Friday afternoon. Crist wanted to talk to him, ithad to be in person, and it had to be at Fort Lauderdale-HollywoodInternational Airport, Lamberti was told. So, he immediately left theconference and drove south.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102602452.html?hpid=topnews

3 States Compete for Water From Shrinking Lake Lanier
Interior Secretary Is Dispatched to Mediate Clashing Priorities

By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007; A01

BUFORD, Ga., Oct. 26 -- No gauges are necessary at Lake Lanier to measurethe ravages of the Southeast's drought.

Wooden fishing docks tower 10 feet over dried mud that used to be squishylake bottom. Boat ramps begin at the parking lot and end in sand. Newislands emerge from shallows.

"If the water drops another foot, I don't know that anyone will be able toget a boat in," said Mike Boyle, 64, a resident who has long trolled thelake for spotted and striped bass.

The waters of Lake Lanier, funneled through federal dams along theChattahoochee River, sustain about 2.8 million people in the Atlantametropolitan area, a nuclear power plant that lights up much of Alabama, andthe marine life in Florida's Apalachicola River and Bay.

Now, amid one of the worst droughts on record, all three places feeluncomfortably close to running dry. That has prompted a three-state fightthat has simmered for years to erupt into testy exchanges over which one hasthe right to the lake's dwindling water supply and which one is or is notdoing its share to conserve it.

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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/458/story/286309.html

Crist: Accept lesser tax-cut plan

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS AND MARC CAPUTO
Posted on Sat, Oct. 27, 2007

Faced with a legislative stalemate on property taxes, Gov. Charlie Cristsaid Friday that lawmakers should be willing to accept a scaled-down planthat gives a break to homeowners who move.

That may be all the monthslong effort to trim property taxes may accomplishby Tuesday, the deadline to get a proposal to voters on the Jan. 29 ballot.

But ''that's a heck of a lot,'' Crist told The Miami Herald on Friday. Headded that he predicts legislators will pass something.

His statements, grounded in political reality amid the Legislature'ssquabbling, mark a retreat from a call he made as recently as Wednesday whenhe told the Walton County Chamber of Commerce: ``Mark your calendars and getready to vote yourselves a big, fat tax cut.''

The House and Senate agree on a plan to allow homeowners ''portability'' totransfer their tax savings to a new home. The predicted tax savingsstatewide: $2.1 billion over four years.

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Sarasota Herald

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071027/NEWS/710270738/1005/NEWS0104

Frustrated delegates miss top candidates

By ANNA SCOTT
anna.scott@heraldtribune.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- Democrats are gathered here for their biggest statewidebash in two years, but the celebration is tinged with frustrations.

The guests of honor -- top presidential candidates, including HillaryClinton and Barack Obama -- all snubbed their invitations.

Some disappointed delegates are staying home, unwilling to pay $200 to stayin hotel rooms for an event whose highlights include a performance by the1970s band Orleans.

If that wasn't enough, on Sunday, the party's executive committee will heara motion -- albeit one expected to fail -- to oust party chairman, KarenThurman.

One delegate has even used the convention to launch a campaign to convincehis fellow Democrats not to donate to any of the Democratic presidentialcandidates.

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St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/27/Southpinellas/YouTube_debate_gets_f.shtml

YouTube debate gets full GOP slate
Romney and Thompson sign on for Nov. 28 in St. Petersburg.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 27, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Bring on the snowman.

Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson agreed Friday to join the other majorRepublican presidential contenders at next month's CNN/YouTube debate in St.Petersburg, their campaigns said.

Romney and Thompson are the last candidates to commit to the Nov. 28 debateat the Mahaffey Theater downtown. Their announcements came within hours ofeach other Friday afternoon, after a St. Petersburg Times reporter asked whythey had not yet said whether they would show up.

Romney previously had criticized the format, where questions can come fromanyone - even as in the case of the Democratic YouTube debate a snowman. ButFriday, a Romney spokesperson said the former Massachusetts governor waseager to attend.

"Gov. Romney is looking forward to traveling to St. Petersburg for thedebate and looking forward to discussing issues important to voters inFlorida and across the country," Kristy Campbell said.

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Palm Beach Post

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/10/27/a12a_leadedit_adopt_1027.html

Now, make full amends for failing abused boys

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Saturday, October 27, 2007

Imagine that you want to adopt children, and the state of Florida offers you
three adorable brothers.

There's just one problem. Those brothers come with this label:

"WARNING: THESE BOYS LIVED WITH AN ABUSIVE MOTHER, THEN A PEDOPHILE FOSTERPARENT WHO MOLESTED THEM AND FORCED THEM TO MOLEST EACH OTHER. SOME THERAPYREQUIRED."

Maybe you still would want to adopt them. But you'd ask lots of questions.And you'd at least know what you were getting into. A Boynton Beach couple,though, didn't get any of that information when they adopted three brothersin 1998. One year earlier, when a therapist visited the boys' foster home,the youngest had clutched the therapist so tightly that she had to "peel himoff." The little boy begged her to take him away from the "bad man."

Even after going to their adoptive home, the boys showed the terribleeffects of the abuse that the state's negligence allowed to go on. And on.And on. In 2002, with the adoptive parents' consent, The Post reported thefamily's story. Here is an excerpt: "According to the parents, the brothershave set fires, molested each other, tried to molest classmates, tried tocommit suicide by drinking cleaning products, held knives to their throatsand broken their adoptive mother's jaw."

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