The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Chris Nocco

State funds sought for forensic training center

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State legislators will try to secure about $4.3 million in state funds to build a forensic anthropology training center – also known as a body farm – next to the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center, off U.S. 41.

A local campaign also aims to raise about $200,000 for a tactical training program on-site for Pasco’s K-9 unit. Those efforts will be spearheaded by the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco outlined details for the Florida Forensic Institute for Research, Security & Tactical Training, or F.I.R.S.T., at a Feb. 27 press conference.

The campus has the potential of becoming the “Silicon Valley” of forensic anthropology research and an economic boost for Pasco, Nocco said.

“This is really going to be a forensics hub,” he said. “It is a unique opportunity.”

State Rep. Danny Burgess, Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore, and Erin Kimmerle, associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida and director of the Florida Institute of Forensic Anthropology & Applied Science, were among those attending the press conference.

Burgess and State Sen. Wilton Simpson plan to request state funding for the project during the upcoming legislative session. The Pasco County Commission gave its approval to the project in January, and donated county land next to the jail.

The indoor and outdoor facility would be the seventh in the nation to study body decomposition as an aid in solving crimes, and identifying victims of murder or other trauma.

It also would bring together research and practical applications of crime solving, forensic anthropology and criminal prosecution in a single location.

Partners in the project are Pasco-Hernando State College and the IFAAS, with Kimmerle leading the anthropology team.

Kimmerle and USF are well-known for their work in identifying bodies found in unmarked graves at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

The campus in Pasco would include a laboratory for research and forensic casework, classrooms, a morgue and evidence storage. The educational focus would be on forensics, anthropology, geochemistry, legal medicine, forensic intelligence, aviation reconstruction and cyber forensics.

Technology will be a major part of the research, including virtual autopsies with 3-D scanning and chemical isotope analysis, Kimmerle said.

The K-9 portion of the project would be the first time Pasco has had a dedicated facility for tactical training for the K-9 unit, the Pasco Unified SWAT team, and sheriff’s deputies.

The new research center, called F.I.R.S.T. for short, would be a resource for universities, forensic scientists and law enforcement in the entire state. It can aid in tactical training and quick response to active shooter situations, missing person investigations, homicides and terrorist attacks.

Nocco said the recent attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando showed the need for greater preparedness and communications between local, state and federal law enforcement.

It also could help build a statewide database of an estimated 16,000 cold cases in Florida, Nocco said.

And, he added, it will provide career opportunities for college students through internships, as well as professional certificates and degrees.

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville was the first to establish a forensic training and research center in the 1970s. Others are at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Western Carolina University, Sam Houston State University, Texas State University in Carbondale, Southern Illinois University and Colorado Mesa University.

The “body farm” label came into use after crime novelist Patricia Cornwell wrote “The Body Farm” in 1994. Her protagonist, Kay Scarpetta, solves a child’s murder with help from a secretive research facility in Tennessee known as the Body Farm.

In 2015, USF proposed a forensic training center in Hillsborough County’s Lithia Springs. Nearby residents objected, and USF dropped the project.

Residents had concerns about safety and security with a “body farm” near their neighborhood.

The proposed site will be fenced off, and Moore said, “There’s no chance of anyone getting in here and disturbing the site. It’s a great opportunity not just for our people, but for people nationwide to come here and participate.”

Published March 8, 2017

Pasco OKs medical marijuana dispensaries

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The Pasco County Commission has approved medical marijuana dispensaries, on a limited scale, to open for business in the county.

Commissioners approved an ordinance on Feb. 21 that permits two medical marijuana dispensaries.

The permits will be issued only for a low-level form of the product, known as Charlotte’s web.

The permits also will be issued to two separate applicants, who will be able to open locations within the county’s industrial districts.

And, the ordinance stipulates that if the number of qualified patients exceeds 1,200, a third dispensary can be permitted.

Qualified patients must be state residents who are added to the “compassionate use registry” by a physician licensed to receive the low-level marijuana from a dispensary.

Florida voters, in 2014, approved a referendum to allow Charlotte’s web as a medical marijuana option. It can be provided to patients who suffer from seizures. In some cases, late-stage cancer patients also can qualify.

State health officials didn’t approve guidelines for the program until last year. The first recipient was a resident of Hudson.

Now, Pasco and other counties are in waiting mode, again.

Last year, voters approved a new referendum that covers a broader range of medical conditions and allows for stronger potencies.

Dispensary permits for this expanded program are on hold until Florida legislators and state health officials craft new regulations and guidelines.

Pasco’s ordinance on Charlotte’s web had the support of Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco However, Chase Daniels, assistant executive director of the sheriff’s office, said, “We continue to (watch) what the legislature is going to do with Amendment 2.”

To prepare for medical marijuana within the county, Pasco county commissioners, in December, approved the framework for where and how dispensaries can operate.

Besides being restricted to industrial districts, the county also request a one-mile separation between the medicinal shops.  Dispensaries also must be at least 1,000 feet from such facilities as schools, day care centers and drug treatment centers. Buffering and adequate setbacks are required between a dispensary and any residential property.

Applicants must show they are licensed by the state to operate a dispensary and must meet the county’s zoning conditions for permitting.

Published March 1, 2017

Farewell, and Godspeed, to Adam Kennedy

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The call brought Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning out of an early morning meeting. Crews Lake Middle School was on the phone. The principal hadn’t arrived. There were reports of a terrible wreck along his usual commute, and they were worried.

Saying he was on it, Browning rang up Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco and put the situation to him. “I’ll call you back,” Nocco said. Ten long minutes ticked by. Then, Nocco, on the phone.

“My condolences,” he said.

Now, Browning. “Those are the words no one wants to hear.”

(Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

Thus began what Browning would come to know as “the worst I’ve had as the superintendent of schools.”

Adam Kennedy was, like many U.S. Marines, a Renaissance man. Smoker of savory meats; baker of perfect cheesecakes; housepainter, woodworker and cabinetmaker; golfer, triathlete, Xbox aficionado and Pokémon shark; tank driver and fan of Broadway musicals; warrior-philosopher, educator and servant leader.

And — and! — marvel his friends — he more or less mastered virtually all these skills before that maker of instant experts, YouTube, entered our lives. Adam Kennedy was old school.

Also, this: He is missed. As Nocco reported to Browning, the 46-year-old died on the way to work Jan. 20, when his 12-year-old Dodge pickup slammed into the back of a logging truck on State Road 52 that had slowed to make a turn just west of U.S. Highway 41.

A couple of weeks ago, some 800 mourners filled the school’s gymnasium to express, with tears and tender memories, why his premature passing left a sinkhole that will be slow to fill.

“He never gave you the answer,” Clarissa Stokes, his student, said into a melancholy microphone the other night. “He made you work for it.”

This was not College of Education theory at work. This was a revelation that came to Capt. Kennedy in the cockpit of an M1A1 Abrams tank on the outskirts of Baghdad. Deployed as part of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, it came to Kennedy he wasn’t sure exactly where he was, or what exactly motivated the Iraqis.

There in his war machine, Kennedy made a promise: If God saw fit to deliver him home, he would do whatever he could to make sure future generations of Americans did not suffer a similar fundamental shortcoming about the world.

It was a vow he followed as surely as if it had been an order from a commanding general.

Kennedy made it home, made his way into teaching, and began making his mark on young minds by inspiring them with the stories of those who went before.

Teaching rewarded him not only with young minds flickering to life, but also dedicated friends and a wife, Abigail, also a teacher, and their children, grade-schoolers Ethan and Hannah.

All were, and remain, staggered. Because Kennedy was young. And vibrant. But, as colleague Freda Abercrombie rightly noted, “It is not always the leaning tree that falls.”

Once a commander, in the classroom he was commanding.

“He told us, ‘Never present a problem without offering a solution,’” Stokes recited, “‘because then, you’re just complaining.’”

Witness after witness said much the same thing: Everything about him encouraged others to be better.

Mike Pellegrino admired him because Kennedy boosted his game.

Pellegrino noticed the new guy at Weightman right off, as you do men who wear suspenders and bowties.

Pellegrino and Kennedy wound up playing golf, training for triathlons and repairing houses together.

Pellegrino stood by him, when Adam took Abigail’s hand.

As Jim McKinney, a tech specialist who found a fellow traveler in Kennedy, said utterly without irony, “He liked retro things.”

As proof, he noted the singular time Kennedy shed his 1920s-teacher look to come to school, instead, dressed as Ben Franklin.

Browning imagined big things ahead.

Kennedy made assistant principal before he was 40, and rose to principal in 2015. All of which added to the devastation from the horror of that Friday morning.

The boss pauses here. There is a sniff. He remembers excitedly calling Kennedy to tell him about his new command. “He said [in Marine Corps monotone], ‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Right away, sir. Thank you, sir. Have a good day, sir.’ …  I thought I’d messed it up.”

He hadn’t, of course.

Kennedy, it turned out, absorbed the rigors of responsibility the same whether his view was through the periscope of an Abrams, or across the panorama of a middle school campus.

Only the rules of engagement changed. As did the lives of those who were blessed, in recent years, by that engagement.

Tom Jackson, a resident of New Tampa, is interested in your ideas. To reach him, email .

Published February 8, 2017

Casting a wider crime-fighting net

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If, like me, you grew up on “Dragnet” and graduated to “Hill Street Blues,” the new face of crime-fighting in Pasco County isn’t what you’d expect.

But, if you came of age following the exploits of the “CSI” franchises, in which sharp and attractive young people foil bad actors by tapping on keyboards, then it’s exactly what you’d expect.

Ashlyn Reese, Chase Daniels and of course, Ally Gator, are using social media to boost communications from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
(Tom Jackson)

Either way, it’s high time anyone concerned about law and order in our region met Ashlyn Reese, 23, and Chase Daniels, 28, two intrepid nerds whose combined age matches, precisely and exquisitely, that of Jeff Harrington, Sheriff Chris Nocco’s second-in-command.

We mention Harrington, 51, a no-nonsense cop in the mold of TV’s legendary Sgt. Joe Friday, because of his assessment of what the fresh-faced, wide-eyed Reese and Daniels mean to the agency.

Says Harrington, “They help us cast a wider net.”

You might not get this at first glance. As the agency’s social media coordinator, Reese, brought aboard in September only months out the University of Florida — Nocco has fondness for Gators, as we shall see — spends much of her time posting cute pictures and videos to the sheriff’s Twitter feed (@PascoSheriff) and Facebook (Pasco Sheriff’s Office) page. There is a method to her charm.

And, Daniels — whose avocation is knowing UF athletics as well as any of the university’s paid media staff — shoulders, as Nocco’s assistant executive director, the task of maximizing community outreach.

Together, however, they combine, in ways both subtle and overt, to expand Pasco residents’ awareness of — and involvement in — local policing. This soft-touch pair helps put a toothy chomp on Pasco County crime.

“The easiest method of getting information out to the public is through social media,” Nocco says.

The sheriff’s social media accounts are not new. But, until last summer, all three — Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — suffered from being over-institutionalized. Nearly all of the posts, mostly grim, were official business: suspects sought, road closings, sinkhole alerts. Not that such alerts aren’t important, but they suffered from an old social media complaint: Who wants to follow streams of relentlessly bad news?

Last summer, Nocco ordered up a fresh and amped-up approach. His staff not only would post far more frequently, the subject matter would be spiced with upbeat chatter, happy pictures of dogs and horses — because who doesn’t like dogs and horses, of which the sheriff has plenty. The posts also would offer light commentary on items and entities of community interest.

Suddenly, the sheriff’s social media teemed with mentions of the Buccaneers, Rays, Lightning and the USF Bulls; celebrated the morning’s first cup of coffee; wished followers a good night’s sleep; and celebrated the region in every season — to name only a few items you’d never see on the standard police blotter.

You can’t argue with success. Twitter followers have more than doubled, to more than 25,000. The sheriff’s Facebook page is up to nearly 81,000 fans. Combined, the sites get about 100,000 views daily. “That’s what we used to get in a month,” Daniels says.

And, there’s growth: Each adds between 100 and 150 new followers daily.

It would be one thing if all this were simply about putting a happy face on the agency’s activities (and there’s no arguing about the smile potential of a German shepherd in a hat). But, as spokesman Kevin Doll notes, if you snare your audience with cute pictures and giggle-inducing gifs, they’re still around for notices about missing persons, road closures and suspects sought.

There’s seriousness, too, in the lock-your-doors hashtag campaign: Every night at 9, followers get a reminder about making sure their doors — house, garage, vehicles — are secure.

This is no small thing. A significant portion of property crime results from easy opportunity, Nocco says.

“You see surveillance video of cars driving down a street, teenagers hopping out and trying the doors of cars as they pass. If they’re locked, they keep moving. They don’t want to spend a lot of time or make a lot of noise getting in.”

Where’s this going? Just here: An informed public is a more secure public. And, the larger audience, the more likely important knowledge is going to be spread through sharing and retweeting.

“Eighty-thousand Facebook followers becomes 200,000, even 400,000 shares,” Doll says. And, that sort of citizen-dissemination has led to assorted arrests, among them a suspected bank robber and a suspected burglar, both of whom were fingered by civilians when surveillance video was posted on the sheriff’s online sites.

The only downside: users who think tweeting is a substitute for dialing 9-1-1. It’s not. Got that? In an emergency, do not tweet or post to Facebook. There are trained dispatchers waiting for your call, but they are not monitoring the sheriff’s social media. OK.

Come for the adorable dogs in hats. Stay for the bad-actor bulletins and the body-cam video. This, say Nocco and Daniels, is the future of law enforcement, and — just the facts — it’s helping the good guys sleep better.

Tom Jackson, a resident of New Tampa, is interested in your ideas. To reach him, email .

Published January 25, 2017

School shooting threats now a felony

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The consequences just got tougher for Florida students who threaten to shoot up a school.

The Anti-Terroristic Threat and Public Servant Protection Law. The law, which went into effect Oct. 1, makes false reports about using firearms in a violent manner a second-degree felony. Bomb threats have carried a second-degree felony, but only charges of “disrupting a school function”—a second-degree misdemeanor — could have been brought against someone making a gun threat.

Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning address the new Anti-Terroristic Threat Law during a Sept. 30 press conference. The law, which took effect Oct. 1, makes false reports about using firearms in a violent manner a second-degree felony. (Kevin Weiss/Staff Photo)
Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning address the new Anti-Terroristic Threat Law during a Sept. 30 press conference. The law, which took effect Oct. 1, makes false reports about using firearms in a violent manner a second-degree felony.
(Kevin Weiss/Staff Photo)

The law also makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to threaten with death or serious harm a law enforcement officer, state attorney or assistant state attorney, firefighter, judge, elected official or any of their family members.

In the Pasco County School District, there already have been three incidents of students making gun threats through the first six weeks of the 2016-2017 school year.

Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning described such threats — regardless of the degree of seriousness — as being “incredibly disruptive” to the community.

“When someone makes what they consider a joke to shoot up the school, people panic,” Browning said during a Sept. 30 press conference. “I’ve pleaded with students, and I’ve asked their parents to plead with them, to think before posting an idle threat on social media, or to make any kind of verbal threat to carry out a shooting at any of our schools.”

He added: “When kids and their parents see these things, the fears spread quickly.”

Such threats, Browning said, often cause Pasco schools to become “half-empty” the following day.

“Students and parents are not going to take any chances when they hear rumors or see the posts on social media,” the superintendent said.

“It means that students who do show up are not going to learn much that day. It means that some teachers may decide not to teach the lesson that they had planned, because half the class will miss it,” Browning said.

Ava Cahoon, a junior at Land O’ Lakes High, said fellow classmates oftentimes become “very scared” when they hear such threats.

“We have to go into lockdown, and we don’t learn at all,” Cahoon said. “We have to sit in the dark, and the teachers don’t get to teach at all.”

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said many of the threats are discovered via social media, including Twitter and Facebook.

“The sad reality,” Nocco said, “is a lot of times these are kids that are just playing a game or just messing around.

“If the kids in our own community realize they’re now going to have a felony charge…they’re not going to play with this game anymore.”

State Rep. Jimmie Smith, the house sponsor of Senate Bill 436, said the rise of social media has created a “sad state of affairs” for making terroristic threats.

“This legislation is going to ensure that those people who make these threats are properly punished,” Smith said.

Browning’s message to students: “Think before you act.”

“It has long-term consequences,” Browning said. “Your chances of getting into college almost disappear, chances of getting jobs almost disappear.”

“It can ruin your future,” Nocco agreed.

Published October 5, 2016

Pasco sheriff updates crime efforts

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At The Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco talked about a wide range of law enforcement issues.

He touched on many topics, including drug-related offenses, human trafficking, and the rise of officer-involved shootings nationwide.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco talks about many topics, including the recent nationwide string of officer-involved shootings. (Kevin Weiss/Staff Photo)
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco talks about many topics, including the recent nationwide string of officer-involved shootings.
(Kevin Weiss/Staff Photo)

Addressing a crowd of about 100, the sheriff said “shake-and-bake” meth and prescription drug usage continue to be a pervasive problem countywide, ultimately leading to a sizable percentage of the county’s burglaries.

Last year, nearly 2,400 burglaries were reported in Pasco County, according to the Federal Department of Law Enforcement.

“That’s the driver of crime in our community — the addiction issue,” Nocco said, at the Aug. 4 breakfast meeting.

“All the burglaries, that’s what really is hurting us right now — people breaking in because of their addictions.

“That is a major disease that law enforcement can’t fight by itself,” Nocco added.

Though he declined to provide many details due to active investigations, the sheriff noted the fight against human trafficking is “going very well.”

“In the next couple of weeks, you’ll hear about some cases we’re working on,” he said. “We’re just working with the State’s Attorney Office to make sure we’ve got a prosecution.”

In May, Pasco sheriff’s deputies busted a New Port Richey human trafficking ring that targeted women in strip clubs along U.S. 19.

Curbing those instances of illegal activity, Nocco said, starts with residents reporting suspicious behavior.

“We need your help in fighting human trafficking,” he said. “The places you’re going to see that is in smaller restaurants, nail salons and massage parlors; if you see a massage parlor with lights on at 12 o’clock at night, something’s not right.”

He continued: “We go to Dade City a lot because of the migrant population and the fields, where a lot of horrific things happen.”

Throughout the meeting, Nocco spent time discussing the recent attacks on law enforcement officers nationwide.

“The stress of our families right now is tremendous,” Nocco said. “We’re in the uniform and we feel the stress, but at the same time…our spouses and our children are living through a time right now that they’ve never really had to live through before.”

As of July 20, there’s been a 78 percent spike in firearms-related officer fatalities, according to a report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Thirty-two officers have died in firearms-related incidents so far this year, including 14 that were ambush-style attacks, the report shows. During the same period last year, 18 officers were shot and killed in the line of duty, including three that were considered ambush-style attacks.

“As we talk about these shootings, one of the things…that’s a bigger issue in my eyes is the sovereign citizens movement,” Nocco said. “It was not just about anti-law enforcement, but it was about anti-government. Law enforcement — we’re the forefront of government, we’re the symbol of government and everything that’s happening, we’re just the tip of the iceberg.”

Sovereigns reportedly believe that they get to decide which laws to obey and which to ignore, and don’t think they should have to pay taxes.

A 2011 FBI bulletin called the sovereign citizens movement “a growing domestic threat to law enforcement.”

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the sovereign citizens movement totals about 300,000 members and “has been growing at a fast pace since the late 2000s.”

The 29-year-old gunman who killed three Baton Rouge police officers in an ambush-style attack on July 17 was later found to be a member of an anti-government sovereign citizens group, multiple news outlets reported.

“Sovereign citizens — that is an alarming sound,” Nocco said, “because they have killed law enforcement officers across the country; we actually had a sovereign citizen in Spring Hill who had 14 AK-47s and was ready for a shootout with law enforcement.”

The increasingly risky climate of working in law enforcement has altered the handling of response procedures within the department, the sheriff said.

“We do not have enough deputies to put two in a car, but when we’re responding to a call, we’re sending two deputies,” Nocco said. “And, that could be anything — it could be a shoplifter at a convenience store, but now we’re sending two (deputies) because you never know what the call may be.”

Published August 10, 2016

Code enforcement crack down in Pasco

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A code enforcement sweep along U.S. 41 produced a slew of warnings, citations and three building condemnations.

Code enforcement officers with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, county code enforcement inspectors, county building inspectors, and employees of animal control joined for a two-day sweep of the Land O’ Lakes corridor from State Road 54 to State Road 52.

The sweep — conducted on July 5 and July 6 — resulted in 70 warnings and seven citations. Three buildings were condemned, and one residence failed to meet minimum housing standards.

County officials said many of the warnings and citations were for junk and debris, illegal signs and banners, and inoperable vehicles.

The sweep prompted a half-dozen phone calls to Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader, with callers complaining of unfair treatment. They told Schrader citations were handed out, without prior warnings.

Last year, commissioners adopted an ordinance to enforce minimum standards for the upkeep of commercial buildings on corridors such as U.S. 41, U.S. 301 and U.S. 19.

Some Land O’ Lakes business owners lobbied against the ordinance, citing excessive government regulations.

Property owners who might need to repair their buildings were given until May 1 to bring them up to code.

“I thought they were going to be giving out warnings,” Schrader said during a recent Pasco County Commission meeting.

 

But, county officials said the recent sweep on U.S. 41 was a general sweep and not solely focused on commercial buildings.

“They are sweeping for everything,” said Don Rosenthal, assistant county administrator for development services.

Tharpe said residences and businesses were included in the sweep. To date in 2016 more than 45 sweeps have been completed including ones on Moon Lake Road and U.S. 19.

During the U.S. 41 sweep, the sheriff’s office participated for one day only and issued citations.

More than a year ago, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco created a code enforcement unit.

“It’s a new mission that the sheriff wanted to do to improve the quality of life,” said sheriff’s spokesman Kevin Doll.

Law enforcement officers can issue citations for code violations on the spot, said Doll.

That is a tool that county code enforcement inspectors don’t have, said Micah Tharpe, the county’s code compliance manager. “We are not law enforcement officers,” he said.

Instead, county inspectors first issue warnings and give people up to 30 days to correct problems prior to a reinspection.

“We expect full compliance,” Tharpe said.

On this sweep, county inspectors only handed out warnings, Tharpe said.

The next step would be to issue citations.

Published August 3, 2016

False alarms could prompt hefty fines

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Pasco County is considering fines ranging from $50 to $500 to help reduce the volume of false alarm calls that waste deputies’ time.

Figures collected by the sheriff’s office reveal that deputies responded to more than 17,000 alarm calls from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.

Most of the calls came from residential alarms.

Of the alarm calls received, nearly 80 percent of total calls to homes and businesses were false alarms, the data showed.

“Most were caused by systems not being maintained,” said Chase Daniels, sheriff’s spokesman.

At a Pasco County Commission meeting on July 12, Daniels told commissioners that Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco agreed with a county initiative to craft an ordinance that creates a registry for alarm systems and approve fines for excessive alarm calls.

Commissioners directed the county’s legal staff to draw up such an ordinance for future consideration.

Of the more than 17,000 calls recorded in 12 months, about 13,500 were false alarms.

Daniels said one business had 187 alarm calls within 12 months.

Most residential calls occur when the owners are not home, and most business calls occur when the business has closed for the day, data showed.

The proposed ordinance would create an annual registry of alarm systems that would be maintained by the sheriff’s office. The registry would include information on the owner of the alarm system, the type of system in use, who monitors the system and individuals to contact when deputies respond to alarm calls.

A $50 fine would be levied for failure to register, and also failure to update registration information. Failure to respond to the premises within two hours of notification would cost $100.

Two warnings would be given for false alarms for those with registered alarm systems, but a $50 fine would apply for a third false alarm call. Fines would increase by $100 for subsequent false alarms to a maximum of $500.

If the sheriff’s office responds to a false alarm at a location with a nonregistered alarm system, no warnings would be issued. Instead, fines would begin at $100 and increase to $500 on the fourth and subsequent offenses.

Published July 27, 2016

Apparently, we think Pasco is on the right track

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With November’s quadrennial Election Day looming ever larger on our calendars, the importance of what Americans tell pollsters about the condition of the country swells almost by the moment.

Indeed, it scarcely matters just now, in the middle of July 2016, whether you’re with Hillary or you’re aboard the Trump train, or even if you’re checking out the shrewd looniness of Libertarian Gary Johnson. What genuinely matters, because it will guide your inspection of our sorry gaggle of presidential contenders, is what you think about the direction the country is headed.

It’s called the “right track/wrong track” poll, and it’s supposed to reveal the electorate’s general mood — which, at the moment, isn’t pretty. Lately, the Real Clear Politics average favors “wrong track” by a whopping 65.1 percent. And, the trend is in the direction of a widening, worsening gap.

Obviously, a poll that provides only a this-or-that option cannot effectively identify what might prompt someone to choose one track over the other. Most likely — given the stubborn, roughly 50-50 split within American politics — it’s even-money your reasons for thinking we’re on the wrong track are different from your neighbor’s, or mine.

But, the mere fact that two-thirds of us find our direction disturbing reinforces the notion that whatever November brings, the outcome will reflect the nation’s desire for some sort of change.

You know, unless, by delivering another round of division and stalemate, it doesn’t.

Anyway, it is against that stormy backdrop that an utterly counterintuitive, if not downright weird, thing happened recently in Pasco County. The date for candidate qualifying came and went a few weeks ago, leaving in its wake a robust — if intensely localized — argument against the dug-in disgruntlement that plagues America.

An even dozen Pasco-linked candidates, officeholders and first-time office-seekers alike, won election without opposition: a congressman, four constitutional officers, two school board members and five of six members of Pasco’s state legislative delegation. Only Pinellas-based Jack Latvala, a Republican state senator, will see his name on a ballot, and that’s only because a couple of write-in candidates signed up.

Even so, there will be local tussles, and they could be lively.

All three county commission seats will be contested. The property appraiser’s job, opened by Mike Wells’ retirement, lured two Republicans (including District 1 County Commissioner Ted Schrader) and a Democrat. County Clerk and Comptroller Paula O’Neil has drawn a lightly financed return challenger.

And, as they always are, both Mosquito Control Board races will be contested — which, given the pest-borne Zika virus threat, will require our particular attention this year.

Still, not counting the County Court judge’s election and assorted hyper-local CDD races, that’s seven contests out of a possible 19 in a year portrayed as the most contentious in living memory.

Our comparatively peaceful election landscape figures, at least in part, from Pasco’s increasingly rightward tilt. As of late last week, Republicans, who’ve held a registration plurality in the county for 17 years, owned a record 21,000-voter edge over Democrats.

Not unexpectedly, then, the GOP has a virtual lockdown in Pasco; New Port Richey-based Democratic state Rep. Amanda Murphy, also re-elected without opposition, is the lone exception. Pasco hasn’t elected a Democrat running countywide since Michael Cox bumped former pal Steve Simon off the county commission in a memorable revenge match in 2006.

Still, as occasional Democratic successes suggest, what recently prevailed here isn’t entirely about party advantages. Instead, it seems easily as likely what is afoot is a conviction among Pasco voters that their county, and to the extent they can influence it, their state, are on the right track.

That sense of well-being would naturally flow to their representatives. And why not?

In Tallahassee, a rising Speaker of the House (Richard Corcoran) and a probable Senate president (Wilton Simpson) give Pasco influence disproportionate to its size. And Rep. Danny Burgess, of Zephyrhills, carries an air of earnest concern for his constituents.

Back home, a unifying theme of openness, accessibility, accountability and citizen-service runs through all Pasco’s constitutional offices, and their elected chiefs deserve a mention: Sheriff Chris Nocco, Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley, Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning, Tax Collector Mike Fasano, as well as the aforementioned O’Neil and Wells.
No, these acknowledgements aren’t intended to represent the views of all Pasco voters, just as right-track/wrong-track polls don’t attempt to ascertain what bugs those who are unhappy. But, if anywhere close to even 40 percent of us were genuinely upset with those who were re-elected by acclamation last month, you can bet they would have drawn some sort of organized resistance.

After all, if the presidential primaries taught us anything, it is the year for electoral arson. Come the general, the national friction may yet spark a local fire, but it will pass, and those who look after our day-to-day concerns will remain, unsinged.

Because that, evidently, is just how we like it.

Tom Jackson, a resident of New Tampa, is interested in your ideas. To reach him, email .

Published July 13, 2016

Honoring Vietnam War veterans for their service

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The City of San Antonio received an official Certificate of Partnership from the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as a Commemorative Partner Flag during the city’s commission meeting on June 21.

Brig. Gen. Thomas V. Draude, a retired member of the United States Marine Corps, presented the flag and award to the city, according to Lou Rinaldi, who is involved in the commemorative efforts.

San Antonio Mayor Tim Newlon, left, and Brig. Gen Thomas V. Draude display the flag. (Courtesy of Richard K. Riley)
San Antonio Mayor Tim Newlon, left, and Brig. Gen Thomas V. Draude display the flag.
(Courtesy of Richard K. Riley)

The Vietnam War Commemoration, being led by the Secretary of Defense, is supported through funds approved by the U.S. Congress in legislation that was signed into law in 2008.

President Barack Obama officially announced the Commemoration at a Proclamation Ceremony on Memorial Day in 2012 at The Wall in Washington D.C.

The Commemorative Partner Program is designed for federal, state and local communities’ veterans’ organizations, and other organizations, to help the country thank and honor Vietnam Veterans and their families, according to a fact sheet about the program.

Commemorative Partners must commit to conduct two events a year for three years, Rinaldi said.

The Commemoration is a way to respect and honor those who served in the Vietnam War, Rinaldi said, noting, “some of us remember how we were treated when we came back.”

The Commemoration program seeks to give those who served in the Vietnam War the respect and honor they were denied in the past, he said.

San Antonio is the first city in Pasco County to adopt the program, Rinaldi said. Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco has adopted it, and so has the Pasco County Commission.

Published June 29, 2016