To Their Right Praise, and True Perfection!

To look back in the not too distant future of media and compare it with its present state can be very disheartening.

Looking at famous journalist such as Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings and even more recently Tom Brokaw it is hard to fully comprehend the media's fall from grace.

According to a 2003 USA Today article, "Trust in the media has dropped from 54% in mid-1989 — about the time of the fall of communism — to a low of 32% in December 2000, during the post-election confusion over George W. Bush and Al Gore."

However, a lot of this can be chalked up to the commercialization, sensationalized, subjectivity of the present state of the news; as pointed at quite aptly my Farhad Manjoo in his book True Enough.

According to Manjoo the overuse of terms such as "breaking news" have essentially created a boy who cried wolf scenario. As a result the news is harder and harder to believe.

This is perhaps chiefly because in the world of 24-hour news coverage there is a constant power struggle between networks to have higher ratings, so any new detail must be sensationalized to draw viewership away from the increasingly sedated American audience.

This competition has lead cable news to become more entertainment and speculation in stead of just the news and straight facts. As a result commentators such as Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck and Keith Olbermann have very successful shows and because the networks are always competing for first; the cycle is perpetuated.

Cable news has seemingly become a competition of who can be the loudest, most brash and best showman or woman. Naturally you can see the type of problem this creates with the public when this type of programming is presented as news on an "all news" network. As Stephen Colbert aptly put, "it's now what you say, but how loud you say it."

As a result and somewhat due to the hostile media effect less and less people believe that the media is unbiased and being truthful. The hostile media effect is a psychological effect where the media has become so untrusted and the consumers so staunch that anything is perceived as going against each individual. For example a democrat and a republican can watch the same segment of news and each will perceive it as hostile to their party or ideology.

To quote Manjoo: "On the left now, just as on the right, people believe the press is out to get them...Republicans and Democrats each claim to see some media sources as routinely favoring the other side."

As a result more than half of the country views the media as either too liberal or too conservative with a minority of people thinking the coverage is where it's supposed to be. The 24-hour news stations have seemingly become more polarized and anything in the middle seems foreign to the niche in viewers that they have created. "If I see the world as all black an you see the world as all white, and some person comes along and says it's partially black and partially white, we both are going to be unhappy."

This is illustrated here (which for some reason wont copy as a picture)

This sort of thinking is perpetuated by the idea that, "both sides think the other side is just being strategic." This stems from the belief of each party believing they are the only reasonable option. Accordingly everyone else who is reasonable must arrive at the same conclusion and anyone who arrives somewhere else is clearly unreasonable.

This fallacy in logic unfortunately is prevalent in most if not all conflict. Everyone takes this stance at one point or another Manjoo and myself included. When Manjoo questions the sincerity of people like Lou Dobbs and Anne Coulter when they say the things they say. The normal vitriol that often finds its way coming from Coulter and Dobbs mouths generally I find questionable at not. However, questioning their sincerity implies that you know better and your way is the only reasonable way. It is an odd situation though as I actually do agree with Manjoo on this in particular.

The counter to this argument is that personalities like the aforementioned are clearly labeled as being on opinion shows, not news shows. Paraphrasing Bill O'Reilly from a recent interview with Jon Stewart, said that anyone who didn't know his show was opinion was a pinhead. However, I am not sure it is as common knowledge as Mr. O'Reilly believes.

All this confusion and mistrust has resulted in Jon Stewart, a comedian whose show is self-titled fake news, to become one of the most trusted names in news. According to a recent poll on Time.com Stewart beat out fellow anchors, Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson.

I am a Jon Stewart fan, and this is disturbing. That being said reading True Enough was a strange sort of vindication, because I had grown so frustrated with the state of news that I was starting to think it was only me. So reading someone who had noticed the same things I had and felt as frustrated was relieving.

No, Sir, I Do Not Bite My Thumb At You Sir; But I Bite My Thumb, Sir.

Alfred L. Gordon was a 52-year-old Orlando Police Department veteran with almost 30 years of experience. That was until the night of Thursday October 4, 2007 when he was shot and killed during a botched ATM robbery.

Gordon was withdrawing money from an ATM on the corner of Silver Star and North Hiawassee roads in Pine Hills (colloquially known as Crime Hills) , a suburb of west Orlando. When he was approached and later killed by South Florida teens: Davin Smith, 19 (at the time) and Hugo Terry, 18 (at the time).

What made the trial of Davin Smith, which is the trial I attended, even more interesting was that formal boy band mogul Lou Pearlman testified against Smith. Pearlman, who is currently serving a 25 year sentence for bank and wire fraud, testified that while in prison Smith had bragged that he had killed a police officer.

While in court there was a very interesting witness who unfortunately I was not able to get the name of, because I arrived after he had been called to the stand. He was an interesting witness, because he had been called to basically echo the sentiments of Lou Pearlman, saying he had heard Smith brag about killing a police officer. However, unlike Pearlman this witness, apparently had a history of “snitching,” on other inmates. Accordingly the defense tried to show that he just wanted attention and a day out of prison. The inmate did not help himself by talking back to the defense and coming off as more of a trouble making blow hard than a viable witness.


Another interesting fact about the trial was that you were able to see some of Gordon's last moments as there was a security camera mounted above the ATM. This piece of evidence was of vital importance to the prosecution, but there was a certain degree of difficulty in getting the surveillance video to work. While it was never quite clear what exactly the hold up was the delay lasted some 40 minutes.

Towards the end of the trial the jury did not take long to find Smith guilty and recommend a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Another interesting fact I learned and perhaps less to do with the trial itself was that there was only one camera allowed in the courtroom at a time. During this particular case Channel 9 WFLA the Orlando ABC affiliate was on duty. After the case adjourns for the day the other local news stations can request the tape from the trial so they can run it on their news.

Too Early Seen Unknown, and Known Too Late

There is one huge hole in the proposed plan to widen Bruce B. Downs Boulevard into either a 6 or 8 lane road. That problem is that this $50 million+ expansion of Bruce B. Downs is hinging on the passing of either a Light Rail system or at the very least another route for the Hartline bus services.

As the Hillsborough County Department of Public Works puts it, "Should the reconstruction of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, between Bearss Avenue and Palm Springs Boulevard, scheduled for 2011, widen the existing 4-lane road to 8 lanes as currently designed or widen to 6 lanes and preserve more space for future rapid transit?"

The cost of construction on the 6 lane road totals $52 million and the 8 lane road totals $55 million. Accounting for a $3 million difference.

However, the problem with merely widening the road is that if the road is widened to 6-lanes it will fail by 2012. This is particularly problematic when the estimated completion date would be between 2013 and 2014. The forecast is a little better for an 8-lane road which would not fail until 2025.

That being said that's still $55 million down the drain to last a little more than 10 years. That is why the Hillsborough County Department of Public Works is pushing for a Light Rail track to alleviate congestion and further accommodate the growing population of the North Tampa and Tampa Palms area.

The thought process of course being while you cannot keep widening Bruce B. Downs to suit the traffic you can keep adding cars to the Light Rail trains.

The Public Works department is pushing for a swift decision in order to avoid delays to the road project.

The planned Light Rail could be constructed as early as 2018 if:
-Planning, Environmental, and Engineering Studies support Rail on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in first phase of construction.
-Transportation Referendum on 1% sales tax is placed on the November ballot
and passes by popular vote.
-Federal matching grants are obtained as/if needed.

If the Light Rail fails to pass the options are limited to either a Hartline or simply wider road. An idea which most do not seem particularly fond of due to the still present congestion and in the case of simply widening the road, imminent failure.

Seen below is Plan One with the Light Rail running in between the two directions of traffic.











Below are links to helpful websites to learn more about the proposed road:
A slide-show presentation of the proposal.
The Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Millage Like Mileage for Your House

Today Preston Trigg, Director of Administration & Special Projects for the Hillsborough County Tax Collector's office made his triumphant return to Public Affairs Reporting.

This time however, Trigg was not here to talk about the tricks and tools of dealing with public records; but about how to decipher a government budget and of course the infamous millage.

Trigg started out by saying, "All facets of media and journalism have to work through and around budgets." Certainly a sobering statement for those who wished they could just ignore it.

One of the bigger surprises I learned during Mr. Trigg's presentation was that not all government budgets are balanced meaning your revenue meets your expenses. States like California in addition to the United States federal budget are unbalanced.

When writing a report involving a government budget it is very important to use simple language and explain everything in the simplest terms. A budget is a simple it consists of revenues and expenses. Revenues being money coming in and expenses being money going out.

Types of revenues include: taxes, licenses, fees and utility payments. There are three types of expenses: personnel, operating and capital. Personnel is people; Operating is recurring; Capital is one-time.

The government can also incur debt. This happens when the government sells bonds which is money borrowed by government from investors and paid back over time with interest. Bonds are usually issued to pay for big-ticket items like roads or expansion.

As journalists the biggest sin you can make is publishing false information and working with numbers is not always the easiest or most exciting. To counter any misunderstandings Trigg harped on one point in particular. ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Ask budget officials, they are usually very helpful, because if you publish incorrect information it is more of a headache for them. So be safe and be mutually beneficial.

Last but not least is millage. Millage is a tax levied on your house based on the property value. For instance mil = 1/1000 and if 1 mil = $1,000 property value and the tax rate is 5 mils then your millage rate is $5.

There are several deductions that can be made on your millage rate. For instance the Homestead exemption if you live in your home and you're not renting it you get to subtract $50,000 from property value. There is also the Elderly tax exemption - If you're a senior citizen you get another 25,000 off of your property value.

Here are some helpful links in learning about Millage:

Online Millage Calculator
Some frequently asked questions about millage on the Hillsborough County Property Appraisers website

Where Civil Blood Makes Civil Hands Unclean.

Mayor Charlene Glancy























My trip to the Casselberry City Commission meeting this past Monday March 22 went about as expected. It ran a little more than three hours and consisted mostly of readings regarding proposed redistricting, increased development and zoning amendments. Most of which went right over my head.

The council members were seemingly kind, generally energetic and concerned with the well being of their city. An energy that was perhaps only matched by their garrulousness.

However, that all changed when Mr. James Fraleigh took to the podium during the citizens' comments section of the meeting. "What's the matter with you? Are you stupid? Are you morons? You're ignorant and you're wasting the tax payers money!"

In what turned out to be a three minute verbal assault on the council's intelligence and integrity, Mr. Fraleigh managed to jump-start the council who did not take very kindly to words.

After Mr. Farleigh's time was up (citizen speakers are allowed three minutes)the meeting got back underway.

Mayor Charlene Glancy proclaimed April to be water conservation month in the City of Casselberry.

Mayor Glancy then recognized the 60th anniversary of the Woman's Club of Casselberry.

Adam Reichbach, a Special Projects Coordinator, working for the U.S. Census did a presentation about why the census was important. Perhaps the most important thing to take away was that for every 18 people who do not fill out the survey it costs the U.S. government 80-90 million dollars to send out agents to collect the information.

Then began the public hearings which took up the majority of the time. There was a second reading of Ordinance 10-1315 - Annual Capital Improvement Schedule 2009/10 - 2013/14 (LPA 09-08) which adopted the city's 5-year capital improvement schedule to meet growth management plan requirement for cities and counties to submit an annual capital improvement schedule to the Department of Community Affairs. This passed unanimously.

Then there was a first reading of a series of several ordinances which all how to do with increasing development around major roads that pass through Casselberry. So I thought the excitement for the most part was over. I was wrong.

During the citizens' comments section of Ordinance 10-1321 Mr. Fraleigh made his triumphant return to that podium and returned to his venomous rhetoric. Only this time he had been warned and this time it resulted in him being removed from the premises by two large security guards.

I could hear Mr. Fraleigh protest after he had been removed from the council room, but had no idea until the next day that due to his comments and resulting struggle leaving the premises Mr. Fraleigh was arrested for trespassing.

After Mr. Fraleigh's second disturbance the rest of the meeting went smoothly with the rest of the ordinances also carrying unanimously in their first reads.

One final interesting note from the meeting was that city attorney
Catherine D. Reischmann reitterated the importance of public records and constant compliance with Florida Sunshine Law. According to Reischmann, Walton County, Florida was recently hit with $155,000 in attorney fees for sending work related e-mails on personal e-mail accounts. Reischmann sought to remind the council that the city of Casselberry could not financially afford to be so careless and that anytime business e-mails were being exchanged from personal e-mail accounts to just forward them to their own work e-mails which would in return be sent directly to the office computers and placed in public record.

NASCAR, Public Records and Autopsy Photos

"So how did you get into pathology?"

"I just sort of fell into it." said Dr. Vernard Adams.

That brand of dry humor, made the trip to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Complex that much more enjoyable.



Unfortunately at times, due to space constraints I had a difficult time hearing and seeing what Dr. Adams had to say. That being said I think I learned enough valuable information to make my blog somewhat enjoyable.

To start it is perhaps most important to understand what exactly a Medical Examiner does. According to Florida Statute 406.11 the Medical Examiner in the district in which the death occurred or where the body was found is to determine the cause of death when a person dies from the following:

Criminal violence
Accident, suicide or poison
Suddenly, when in apparent good health
Unattended by a practicing physician or other recognize practitioner
In any prison or penal institution
In any suspicious or unusual circumstance
By criminal abortion
By disease constituting a threat to public health
By disease, injury or toxic agent resulting from employment

Any death that falls into one of these categories, under this statute, provides the Medical Examiner with the authority to perform the autopsies or laboratory examinations deemed to be in the public interest.

During this trip I was also able to learn a good deal about public records and what is and is not made readily available.

For instance, autopsy reports are public record, and up until 2001 autopsy photographs were also public record. However, due to the media frenzy surrounding the death of NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt congress changed this law making autopsy photos illegal to the public.



Earnhardt's widow filed a Complaint for Declatory and Injunctive Relief
which slapped an injunction prohibiting disclosure or dissemination of any of the autopsy photos.

The Orlando Sentinel which had previously been investigating safety in auto-racing had earlier requested autopsy photos (as per usual) to further investigate their story and this injunction prevented them from proceeding. In response the Sentinel filed a Motion to Intervene

Long Story short Mrs. Earnhardt was able to pass new law in Florida that prevented autopsy photos from becoming public record, in what chiefly seems to be due to her husbands celebrity status.

I also learned that there are two death certificates. The medical death certificate that includes cause of death is not public record, however the memorial death certificate is available to the public.

Frank Talk

Once again I was unable to attend this particular field trip to the Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts due to my internship, but from the sounds of it, this may not have been the worst of fates. After watching the video I am more than floored by the shear amount of information that Pat Frank is able to manage.

The world of legal reporting is admittedly not my first choice. In fact it is not even really in the running. Perhaps backwards and seemingly contradictory in nature, I would rather be a lawyer than a legal reporter. This is simply because if I am going to be doing that much research, deciphering, legal work, managing and seemingly monotonous work I want to make the most money I can.

However, this does nothing if not further my admiration for Pat Frank. Keeping track of records for longer than a good amount of people live is a task not for the feint of heart. Felonies stay on your record for 75 years and the clerk's office is responsible for keeping these records of every person in the county who has ever committed a felony, misdemeanor or whatever the crime may be.

So needless to say I was somewhat baffled by Frank's admission: "...in our case there are 20 circuits in the state but there are 67 clerks so this is very confusing because you've got in some circuits multiple clerks and that leads to some confusion. In our case we're the 13th Judicial Circuit and we're only one county...Hillsborough, so it's a very simply relationship."

While the statement of having one clerk in stead of multiple makes sense in order of a hierarchy, it fails to take into account that Hillsborough is it's own Judicial Circuit, because it makes up such a large portion of the Florida population thus making Frank solely accountable for that much more information.

In summation: it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to work there.

Anyone who wants to can visit Pat Franks blog cleverly entitled Frank Talk by clicking here.