Fla. teen reels in 800-pound alligator

From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

It was a battle of man versus beast Friday evening on Florida's picturesque St. Lucie River.

Proud dad: 'I'm gonna mount the head for him so he can put it in his room'

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The contenders: Tim Stroh, a 6-foot-3, 160-pound 19-year-old against a three-legged alligator, more than 12 feet in length and 800 pounds in weight. Armed with what his dad described as a "puny" fishing rod, the teen triumphed.

Gator-hunting runs in Tim Stroh's blood. His parents, Steve and Rachel Stroh, own a taxidermy shop in their hometown of Hobe Sound, Fla. Steve Stroh told Florida's TCPalm.com that he's hosted guided gator hunts since 1989.

So naturally, the family was excited when they heard rumors of a large alligator in the locks of the St. Lucie River, reported TCPalm.com. The three of them, plus a friend, loaded up a gator-hunting boat Friday, not knowing what they would find — if anything.

Then, within an hour of being out on the boat, TCPalm.com reported, they spotted it.

"I thought it was just a 9-footer," Tim Stroh told TCPalm.com. "Then I saw how big it was."

Others on the boat tried reeling in the alligator first, but couldn't. Then Tim, using a "puny bass rod," tossed his line, Steve said.

Video: Teen catches 800-pound gator with fishing pole (on this page)

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The 12-foot, 3-inch reptile chomped down, according to WPTV. It wasn't until he was reeling in the alligator that Tim realized its true size — its tail alone was as thick as his waist, according to TCPalm.com. To guarantee his victory, Tim hit the alligator with a "bang stick," a .44-caliber gun shell on a stick.

"I had adrenaline pumping through me and I was just like, 'Oh my God,'" Stroh said, reported WESH.com. The alligator "came up and he was popping his jaw and stuff."

Once on land, four more friends joined to help carry the alligator, which was missing one of its back legs, into the family's truck.

"We have a big box cooler we normally would put a gator into, but he wouldn't fit. We had to keep him in the truck overnight and throw in ice to keep him cool," Tim said.

Stuffing its head, eating its meat
Up until Friday, the biggest catch the Strohs had ever had was a 400-pound gator, reported WPTV.

The family has special plans for this one.

"I'm gonna mount the head for him so he can put it in his room," Steve told WPTV.

As for the rest of the creature? According to TCPalm.com, Rachel Stroh will be making a lamp from the gator's back leg; the family has plans to make keychains from the gator's bony back; and there are 250 pounds of gator meat in their freezers waiting to be fried or made into gator sausage.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say they have had bigger catches. The longest gator ever caught in the state was more than 14 feet long; the heaviest was over 1,000 pounds, according to NBCMiami.com.

Alligator hunting season runs until Nov. 1. The Strohs have permits to legally hunt.

Tim Stroh, who did not return messages from msnbc.com, said the gator put up a good fight.

"He had a lot of character, and I had a lot of fun," he told TCPalm.com.

© 2011 msnbc.com

Treasure Hunters Find $500k Ring at Atocha Wreck

A crew from Mel Fisher's Treasures found the 10-karat emerald piece on Thursday

By Janie Campbell

from: http://www.nbcmiami.com/

Sharon Wiley/ Mel Fisher Treasures via the Florida Keys News Bureau /HO

An ancient gold ring with a rectangular cut emerald found Thursday is believed to have come from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha.

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The famed Atocha shipwreck site in the Florida Keys coughed up another treasure Thursday when salvagers said they discovered a 10-karat emerald ring initially valued at $500,000.

A crew with historic salvagers Mel Fisher's Treasures found the ornately carved gold ring while searching for the long-lost sterncastle of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the Keys during a hurricane in 1622.

The ring was found with two silver spoons and two other silver-encrusted artifacts about 35 miles west of Key West, within 300 feet of where a gold rosary and gold bar were found in April.

"It is exciting because we are moving into virgin territory, an area of the Atocha Trail that has never been worked," said vessel captain Andy Matroci in a statement.

Fisher's Treasures has been working the Atocha site since 1969, hauling up approximately $450 million in silver, gold, and emeralds after the wreck and its "mother lode" was first discovered in 1985.

An infamous eight-year legal battle over the treasure with the government ensued before the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in Fisher's favor.

The sterncastle of the Atocha has yet to be found, most likely having been scatered by a second hurricane that hit the area shortly after the ship was driven into a reef in the Dry Tortugas, according to Fisher's website.

The crew of Mel Fisher's Treasures believe that a second major treasure cache is hidden within the missing sterncastle, probably having been stored in the captain's quarters of the ship for safekeeping.

A spokeswoman has said the company will have the ring appraised by an independent party.

Ancient Human Trash Heaps Gave Rise to Everglades Tree Islands, Research Suggests

From: http://www.sciencedaily.com/

Everglades National Park Florida USA. Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development. (Credit: iStockphoto)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2011) — Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development.

---

Tree islands are patches of relatively high and dry ground that dot the marshes of the Everglades. Typically a meter (3.3 feet) or so high, many of them are elevated enough to allow trees to grow. They provide a nesting site for alligators and a refuge for birds, panthers, and other wildlife.

Scientists have thought for many years that the so-called fixed tree islands (a larger type of tree island frequently found in the Everglades' main channel, Shark River Slough) developed on protrusions from the rocky layer of a mineral called carbonate that sits beneath the marsh. Now, new research indicates that the real trigger for island development might have been middens, or trash piles left behind from human settlements that date to about 5,000 years ago.

These middens, a mixture of bones, food discards, charcoal, and human artifacts (such as clay pots and shell tools), would have provided an elevated area, drier than the surrounding marsh, allowing trees and other vegetation to grow. Bones also leaked phosphorus, a nutrient for plants that is otherwise scarce in the Everglades.

"This goes to show that human disturbance in the environment doesn't always have a negative consequence," says Gail Chmura, a paleoecologist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and one of the authors of the study.

Chmura will be presenting her research on March 22, at the American Geophysical Union's Chapman Conference on Climates, Past Landscapes, and Civilizations.

In a previous scientific investigation of tree islands, Margo Schwadron, an archeologist with the National Park Service, cut through the elevated bedrock at the base of two islands and discovered that it was actually a so-called "perched carbonate layer," because there was more soil and a midden below. Later, a team including Chmura's graduate student Maria-Theresia Graf performed additional excavations in South Florida and found more of the perched carbonate layers.

Chemical analysis of samples of these curious perched layers revealed that they are made up partially of carbonates that had dissolved from the bedrock below, Chmura says. The layer also contains phosphorus from dissolved bones, she adds. Her team concluded that trees are key to the formation of this layer: During South Florida's dry season, their roots draw in large quantities of ground water but allow the phosphates and carbonates dissolved in it to seep out and coalesce into the stone-like layer.

The perched carbonate plays a key role in letting tree islands rebound after fires: because it does not burn, it protects the underlying soil, and it maintains the islands' elevation, allowing vegetation to regrow after the fire. Humans are now threatening the existence of tree islands, by cutting down trees (whose roots keep the perched layer in place) and artificially maintaining high water levels year-round in some water control systems, which could cause the layer to dissolve.

Chmura's team now wants to explore exactly when trees started growing on the tree islands.

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by American Geophysical Union, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Thousands of sharks spotted off Palm Beach

Courtesy: Steve Irwin
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

• By: Mollie Reynolds

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Pilot Steve Irwin has quite a fish tale, and he wasn't even fishing.
Irwin is a pilot with "Island Marine Services" based in Fort Pierce.
He said he was flying about 100 yards off of Palm Beach, at 80 mph, when he spotted thousands of sharks.
He pulled out his iPhone 4 and began taking pictures. He recorded the spectacular sight and wanted to share it.
One year ago this week a shark attacked and killed a man kiteboarding off of Stuart Beach.
In October a wave turned red following a shark attack in California. Two months earlier a shark terrified swimmers after it washed up on a New Jersey shore.
This is the time of year when sharks migrate and head for warmer waters. They also typically swim close to the shore while chasing after bait fish.
Experts point out that most shark bites are cases of mistaken identity. Following some simple rules can dramatically cut your odds of encountering a shark at all.

70-Year-Old Woman Discovers World's First Orange Alligator

by Jerry James Stone

from: http://www.treehugger.com

• 
  
• 
• 
  

Photo courageously taken by Sylvia Mythen

Sylvia Mythen, a 70-year-old grandmother from Venice, Fl, has discovered what appears to be the world's first orange alligator.
  She was returning from work on Thursday when she drove by the gator and promptly had to back up for a double-take. Luckily, Sylvia wasn't frightened enough to miss out on a great photo opportunity. "I thought this is great...I'm going to snap a picture and send it to my grandkids so they think I'm one of the coolest grandmas in Florida," she said.

You can see the full high-res photo here. She was not the only Sorrento Woods resident who saw the reptile. Phillip Crosby also told ABC 7 that "He was just sun basking right here on this cement pier minding his own business." After sending the picture to her local news station she also contacted a biologist who believes the gator is really just half-albino. That said, he says he has never seen or heard of one. But Gary Morse from Florida Fish and Wildlife feels the orange color might be from some environmental element. Regardless, the University of Florida Gators might have a new mascot.

Vending machine spits out gold bars and coins

From: http://www.usatoday.com/

Enlarge By Sean Gallup, Getty Images Thomas Geissler demonstrates his Gold To Go dispenser Oct. 21, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

By Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press

BOCA RATON, Fla. — If you're a shopper looking for something sparkly to put under the Christmas tree, you could skip the jewelry and just go for the gold.

A German company planned to install a vending machine that dispenses gold bars and coins Friday at an upscale mall in Boca Raton, a South Florida city of palm trees, pink buildings and wealthy retirees.

Thomas Geissler, CEO of Ex Oriente Lux and inventor of the Gold To Go machines, expects the majority of buyers will be walk-ups taken by the novelty. But he says the machines are also convenient for more serious investors looking to bypass the hassle of buying gold at pawn shops and over the Internet.

"Instead of buying flowers or chocolates, which is gone after two or three minutes, this will stay for the next few hundreds years," Geissler told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The company installed its first machine at Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace hotel in May and followed up with gold ATMs in Germany, Spain and Italy. Geissler said they plan to unroll a few hundred machines worldwide in 2011. He said the Abu Dhabi machine has been so popular it has to be restocked every two days.

The gold-leaf-covered machine at Boca Raton's Town Center Mall sits outside a gourmet chocolate store and works just like the two cash ATMs beside it. Shoppers insert cash or credit cards and use a computer touch-screen to choose the weight and style of gold. The machine spits out the gold in a classy black box with a tamper-proof seal.

Each machine, manufactured in Germany, carries about 320 pieces of different-size bars and coins. The machines are connected to the Internet and the company says prices are refigured automatically every 10 minutes to reflect market fluctuations. At one point earlier this week, a two-gram piece cost about $120, including packaging, certification and a 5% markup. An ounce cost about $1,470.

Buyer beware: A gram of the heavy metal is much smaller than you think, about the size of a fingernail. An ounce is a little larger than a quarter.

Owners say the machine, which will hold around $150,000 in cash and gold, will be flanked by an armed bodyguard for now. Several live security cameras are fixed inside and outside the machine.

The popularity of gold is cyclical, but it's riding high these days in part because of fears stoked by financial collapse.

Geissler, who plans to have a machine in Las Vegas by year's end, said the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment firm was the impetus for the flashy vending machines. His customers refused to buy bonds, stocks and other funds from the financial industry, so they focused on precious metals.

As investors continued to lose faith in the global finance market system, the company worked on the gold-leaf finished ATM, banking that the protection of purchasing power found in gold would lure market leery customers.

"Gold always comes back to its real value," Geissler said. "It's not diamonds, it's not silver, it's not real estate. It's just gold."

Dave Jones, who brokered the deal to bring the machines to the U.S., says there are plans to install about 40 more machines at upscale malls and hotels around the U.S.

"Gold has a place in everyone's portfolio," said Jones, of Boca Raton-based PMX Gold. 

Associated Press writer Suzette Laboy contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Personal Wingman Service: A Million Dollar Idea?

By Leslie Minora
From http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/

via Shutterstock.com

Now this guy can cover his tracks.

​
Jimmy H., a South Florida electrical engineer, developed Establishing Solutions to cover the asses of liars and cheaters with a paper trail and references to add credence to their sly-dog manipulations. His name is a pseudonym because he wants to protect his current career in case this fails.

New Times caught up with the "universal wingman" to learn more about his just-launched service. Like most small-business entrepreneurs, he hopes his business will end up being a million-dollar idea. They say everybody has one in a lifetime!

Establishing Solutions (with the tag line "We back you up!") offers these convenient "personal wing-man" services:

Pseudo Work History -- AKA embellished résumé and fake cover letter.
Pseudo Travel Agent -- Airline, hotel, and car rental confirmations that look like the real deal. "This package works well with swingers too!" the company's website boasts.
The "infinitely customizable" Pseudo Alibi Package -- Use your imagination, and Establishing Solutions will keep up with your every lie.
Pseudo Doctor's Office -- Is your boss wondering why a deep bronze tan is a side-effect of that 48-hour bout of food poisoning? Establishing Solutions will whip out its version of a physician's pad and get you out of jail free.
Pseudo Rescue Call -- Not like a 911 rescue call. This is just an "OMG, you need to leave that awful party because your third cousin from Arizona has fallen ill" call.
Pseudo Call In Sick -- For those fake illnesses that are too severe for you to call your boss yourself... or for bad actors.
Date Getaway Call -- You get the idea.
Private Shopping -- No, not like a stylist. This service is for people who don't want certain purchases showing up on their own credit cards -- like those assless chaps you've been eying for that certain someone unbeknown to your wife.

Having just launched this month, Jimmy has had a few inquiries but only one client.

So, Jimmy, tell us about your first transaction.

Last night, I actually got my first piece of business on a fake doctor's note. [The person] had taken a week off to go to Key West, and they needed a note to go back to work. The situation was that the lady, she had previously had cancer, and she was just finding out that everything has cleared up this week, and she wanted to take a week off.

We kind of added that into the doctor's note saying that she was clear of all the cancer and tumors. Testing was the excuse.

The note read something like this: From this day to that day, this person was under my care -- basically stating the doctor... on hospital letterhead and everything. I'm not going to divulge [which hospital]. It was a real one.

What gave you the idea for Establishing Solutions?

One day, I was just thinking about fake job references -- for no reason. I don't need them. I don't think I would have ever used this service in this way. I didn't see many sites that sell [them] specifically and look very professional.

As for the cheating part, I don't really cheat on my significant other, and she's completely aware of my job and the business I'm starting.

Do you think this is a million-dollar idea?

Well, I'm hoping it's a million-dollar idea, but it might just be something to do on the side to get extra money. I can go either way with it. Hopefully it blows up... It's something I can definitely outsource once business starts kicking in... I plan on expanding and outsourcing the work.

So, you actually write résumés and cover letters?

I got two inquiries from that. I can get you an address; I can get you a phone number that they can use and write up the résumé for you and the cover letter.

Is this service illegal?

No, it's just creating the paperwork and everything. No, that's not illegal. I mean, if we were doing it to a government job or something, it would be illegal. If they were going to the millitary or something like that, I would not allow it.

You have a "Cheater's Blog" on your website. Tell me about that.

It's just a place people can add in their stories about how they've used our service or how they've cheated in life. It's just a couple of stories people can read into and maybe get ideas.

What feedback have you received?

I've got some friends who have told me, you know, that's ingenious. My girlfriend's brother... is a little bit more judgmental of it. He thinks it's kind of wrong.

Do you think there are moral issues with a business like this?

Morality is just basically -- it's different for every person. Some people will find it immoral; some won't. I don't find it completely immoral, but I'm just looking at the market of it.

Is there anything you want to add about your service?

Don't think too much into it. If you need it, use it. If you don't need it, don't use it, don't worry about it.


This is the link to the Establishing Solutions Twitter account with posts like, "Cheating is a right, not a privilege!"

Florida Used Truck Dealership Offers Free AK-47 with Every Truck Sold

by Waffles McButter
from http://brobible.com

A central Florida used car dealership, Nation's Trucks, is currently running the best Veterans' Day promotion that planet Earth, and Ted Nugent, has ever seen. From the holiday (which was last Thursday) straight through the end of the month, any customer who buys one of their reliable, used trucks gets a sweet gift. No, it's not set of those ironic balls you hang from the hitch. It isn't even a signed copy of the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" DVD -- although, in this instance, that would be a very close second. Instead, each new truck owner gets a little toy known as a fucking AK-47 assault rifle. No better way to drum up some business than to make every central Florida redneck, with a twinkle in his eye, an army of one.

The promotion, as you probably guessed, is fuckin' killing it. Nation's Trucks general sales manager has said that since the hand cannon promotion started last week, the dealership has more than doubled their sales. This just goes to show you how fucking dumb some people are when the smallest incentive presents itself. The gun, while really really awesome, retails for only $400! And, civilians can buy one. I know this because the dealership is just sending them to a gun shop to get their free gun. So either these people all just needed non-certified used trucks or they are fucking idiots.

This incentive package, as you probably also could have guessed, has not gone without complaint, either. I mean, anytime you decide to hand out guns to the general public, there is bound to be both whiners and casualties. So far we only have whiners, but I'm hopeful for more. The sales manager, however, fires back at those opposing this idea by saying, "My buyer is absolutely a gun owner, no question." Well, chief, it's kind of impossible for them not to be, now isn't it?

Check out Tiger Woods' sparkly new $50 million bachelor pad

By Jay Busbee

From: http://sports.yahoo.com/

Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

If you happen to be a single dude in south Florida and you think you're going to impress the ladies with your car or your oceanfront condo, you might just want to pack it in now. Tiger Woods is in town, friends, and his place has room to store yours in a forgotten corner of the attic.

Behold Tiger Woods' personal Xanadu, the recently completed $50 million estate in Jupiter Island, Florida. In this aerial photograph, commissioned by Jeff Lichtenstein Realty, you can clearly see not only the $35 million original estate but much of the $15 million sunk into improvements. As FanHouse noted when Woods purchased the property in 2007, the original estate was 9,729-square feet on a 12-acre lot. The additions included a 6,400-square-foot gym/media room/bar, as well as an elevator, a reflecting pond, and a slim lap pool.

[More obscene wealth: Adam Sandler gives $800,000 worth of wheels to 'Grown ups' co-stars]

Eagle-eyed observers will note that there appears to be several golf-type formations scattered around the estate. Cary Lichtenstein, part of the real estate group that took the photographs, offered this assessment of the golf aspects of the estate. [Note that this photo is taken looking eastward, so north is to the left and south is to the right.] Lichtenstein's take:

It appears he has one tee box in the southeast ... corner to hit drivers. The entire area just west of the lap pool can be used to hit long, medium and short irons into any of the 4 greens. Each green is guarded by a single trap except the green in the northwest corner which appears to have 3 pot bunkers.

Tiger has enough open space to practice his short game from any angle, any wind condition, which really appears what this practice area is all about.

His putting green is totally surrounded by dense vegetation. One wonders if he is trying to block out the wind by doing this or if he is cutting off both sunlight and air circulation. He probably has a sub-air temperature/humidity control system beneath the green, otherwise it would be worthless in the heat of the summer, especially if the grass there is bent or some northern grass.

What, no windmills?

News broke about Woods' mansion right about this time last year, and at the time it appeared to be a fortress for him and his beloved Elin to hide from the world's prying eyes. Shortly after that, Woods had a close encounter with a certain hydrant, and pretty much everything changed forever.

[Photos: Latest images of the world's greatest golfer]

Regardless of all the hue and cry about Woods, both pro and con, the guy made his own bed, and now he's going to have to sleep in it. Clearly, though, that bed's going to be in one heck of a swank house.

[Visor tip: FanHouse]

[Photo by Terry Yeager, Above & Beyond Aviation Services. Cary Lichtenstein is a former rater of golf courses for GolfWeek Magazine. He started playing at the age of 7, and has played all top 100 golf courses in the United States. Cary served on the greens committee at Admirals Cove, and now sells homes in Admirals Cove, Jupiter, Florida, with his son Jeff Lichtenstein at Illustrated Properties & Christies Great Estates.]

Shocking Pics of Deputy Posted on Facebook by Soon-To-Be-Ex

by admin

from: http://rawjustice.com/2010/10/23/

The estranged husband of a Tampa sheriff’s deputy recently posted some pictures of her on Facebook that raised a few eyebrows. The photos of veteran Deputy Lisa Latimer show her in uniform, seated in her police cruiser, putting a gun in her mouth, drinking alcohol and smoking what looks to be a marijuana cigarette.

Todd Latimer says that his estranged wife has become a different person since he married her because of her job and the pressures that exist for female officers to be “one of the boys.” He claims that while he was with Lisa, male deputies sexted her constantly and that a career in law enforcement exposes women to a sexually-charged culture.

The Latimer’s divorce is messy due to allegations of domestic violence and an Internal Affairs Investigation regarding a mysterious discharge of Lisa’s department-issued Tazer gun. Todd denies that he was trying to get back at Lisa by posting the pictures, but honestly, what other motive could he have had?

The Tampa Sheriff’s Office says it will investigate the pictures and Lisa Latimer will likely be suspended pending the outcome. She is currently on vacation.

Vanilla Ice Jumps a Car Through Fire Into a Lake

By Michael J. Mooney
From: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/

VanillaIce.com

​At an undisclosed location north of Palm Beach, Wellington resident Vanilla Ice -- also known as Rob Van Winkle -- finally completed a stunt he's been working on and planning for months. He lit a '67 Cadillac on fire, then drove it off a jump and into a lake.

Rob bought the car nearly a year ago with this jump in mind. This is the first glimpse of the jump, though Rob is hoping people will still tune into the reality show he's starring in, scheduled to begin airing in September.



The reality show follows Rob purchasing and "flipping" luxury houses in posh South Florida neighborhoods. Each episode will also feature footage of Rob performing on the road and participating in extreme daredevil stunts like this one.

He had scheduled the jump on a few other occasions, but something got in the way each time.

I spoke to Rob last night, and he told me the jump was "perfect."

$75M mansion near Orlando selling 'as is'

From: http://news.yahoo.com/
By:

AP – In a Friday, June 11, 2010 photo, realtor Lorraine Barrett looks at a rendering of what the unfinished …

WINDERMERE, Fla. – The brochure promises a "monument to unparalleled success."

The 90,000-square-foot home for sale outside Orlando has 23 bathrooms, 13 bedrooms, 10 kitchens and three pools. All that and more for $75 million "as is."

The catch? It's not finished.

Click image to see more photos of the $75M unfinished mansion

AP

Nicknamed "Versailles" by owner and timeshare tycoon David Siegel, the mansion hit the market recently as the largest home for sale in the United States. Construction was halted last year to save money in a recession that proved particularly hard on Siegel's industry.

The home also has a 20-car garage, a bowling alley, an indoor-roller rink, a movie theater, a video arcade, a fitness center, a baseball field and two tennis courts.

But the mansion's interior has no carpet, tile or interior walls.

Superscraper in Miami Could Steal Dubai's Crown

From: http://www.decodedstuff.com/

Plans have been floated for a new superscraper in Miami that could steal the world’s tallest crown from Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

Despite Miami’s financial woes, having a reported 100,000 plus properties in foreclosure according to the Miami Herald, Kobi Karp has submitted designs for Miapolis - a ‘city within a city’ planned for Watson Island.

The 160 storey building would be more than 183 metres higher than the Burj Khalifa if built and would house an amusement park, observatory, restaurants, 1.96 million sq ft of shops, over 1000 apartments, 1 million sq ft office space and a 792 room hotel.
The project has been around for more than a decade but it is reported that developer Guillermo Socarras has been in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration to secure approval for the height of the tower.
The project is currently looking for funding from investors.

Source:  World Architecture News

Living alone in 32-storey tower 'like a scary movie'

VALERIE ROCHE, FORT MEYERS NEWS PRESS/AP PHOTO

Victor Vangelakos, a New Jersey firefighter, looks out from his seventh-floor condo balcony in a new and virtually empty luxury building.

Sole family in 200-unit Fort Myers, Fla. condo eerily symbolic of U.S. foreclosure crisis

Christine Armario
Associated Press Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Vangelakos' southwest Florida condominium has marble floors, a large pool overlooking a river and modern furnishings that speak of affluence and luxury. What they don't have in the 32-storey building is a single neighbour.

The New Jersey family of five paid $10,000 (U.S.) down on their unit four years ago in the midst of Fort Myers' housing boom, watching as an empty lot transformed into an opulent highrise that now symbolizes the foreclosure crisis.

"The future was going to be southwest Florida," said Victor Vangelakos, 45, who paid $430,000 for the unit, took out a $336,000 mortgage and planned to retire to the condo.

Most buyers in the 200-unit building didn't close and others moved to an adjacent building owned by the same company.

Their mortgage lender won't let the Vangelakos do the same, leaving them the sole tenants of Oasis Tower I.

"It's a beautiful building," said their attorney John Ewing, who represents 27 others. "The problem is it's a very lonely building."

When the Vangelakos visit from Weehawken, N.J., they have exclusive use of the pool, gym and game room but no neighbours.

"Being from the city, it's very eerie," Vangelakos said. "It's almost like a scary movie."

An outside fountain is dry. The doors to the front lobby are locked. On the front desk is a guest sign-in sheet. The last entry: Feb. 13, 2009.

"It's like time froze here six months ago," Ewing said.

The Vangelakos closed in the fall. At Christmas, they didn't think much of the emptiness. Later, the building grew more deserted.

The lights went off on the pool and parking garage. The garbage chute was sealed, replaced by a trash bin.

Security concerns arose. Late one night, someone pounded on their door. Police found no intruders, just an open pool entrance. Another morning, they awoke to find lounge chairs in the pool. Vice-president and general counsel Betsy McCoy said the Related Group's offer of a unit in the next-door building was refused. She said some deposit payers lost jobs or couldn't get a mortgage; others were unnerved by the economic collapse.

The Fort Myers area reportedly has some of the worst economic stress in terms of foreclosures, unemployment and bankruptcies in the country. Vangelakos said they don't want to move next door because they would still be paying the mortgage and maintenance costs on the condo they own.

Ewing said he filed two lawsuits for buyers because the building wasn't finished with a clubhouse, marina, cinema and restaurants. Those could be developed, but weren't promised, McCoy said.

On Friday evening, the pool area was dark, most of the doors locked. Cathy Vangelakos and her 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, stepped into an elevator to head up to their unit. "Going up," an automated voice chimed.

"Going up," Cathy Vangelakos said. "That's all we hear."

Florida's Marijuana Boom: House-Grown, and Potent

By Carmen Gentile / Miami

Marijuana plants grow under hot lights and an irrigation system in the kitchen of a private residence

Carisa McCain / Mississippi Press / AP

California may be the center of the marijuana trade and the controversies over its legalization. But Florida has surpassed it in one important category: the Sunshine State is now the country's leader in indoor marijuana cultivation. It is a potent distinction because most of the marijuana grown this way is cultured hydroponically — that is, mostly without soil and with a carefully calibrated cocktail of chemicals and lighting — to create some of the highest level of highs on the market.

In 2006, Florida law enforcement here discovered 480 homes growing marijuana indoors. Last year, 1,022 grow houses were busted. "This isn't your grandma's marijuana," quipped a Miami-Dade narcotics officer at one bust as he tossed garbage bags stuffed with confiscated marijuana into an unmarked police truck. Levels of THC — the agent in marijuana that produces feelings of euphoria, and in some users mild hallucinations and paranoia — have risen dramatically because of indoor techniques. Thirty years ago, most marijuana contained about 7% THC. Today, indoor growers boast THC levels of 25% or higher thanks to the additional care that indoor plants receive. (See pictures of 4/20, the unofficial pot holiday.)

Indoors, high-powered lights that stimulate growth can remain on all day, their nourishing rays reflected off the metallic-coated paper covering walls. The chemical fertilizers used are just as powerful and nourishing, spawning fast-growing plants that produce more THC than those raised outdoors. (See pictures of America's cannabis culture.)

TIME accompanied undercover agents on a recent bust on a quiet street of a working-class Miami suburb. As soon as the agents enter the front door, they know they've acted on a good tip. The pungent smell of plant life fills the air. The ceiling of the master bedroom is a constellation of high-powered lightbulbs emitting a nourishing glow onto what officers estimate is more than 100 lb. of particularly potent marijuana plants with a street value upwards of $800,000. (See pictures of stoner cinema.)

While most of the marijuana is freshly cut and drying on a clothesline stretched across the room, pots of smaller plants still months away from maturing line the walls. An irrigation system supplies water and chemical fertilizers to the plants via a hose that runs into the adjacent bathroom, where the toxic brew used to accelerate plants' growth is dumped down a drain.

On the Florida market, a pound of indoor grown marijuana goes for upwards of $4,000. But in the Northeast, the best market for Florida growers, the same marijuana goes for about $8,000 a pound. Unlike their closest regional rivals, Florida growers can produce up to four crops annually.

"These operations are mushrooming all over the state of Florida," says State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle for Miami-Dade County, the de facto capital of the state's indoor pot industry. Taking these operations down is dangerous work. Some growers stockpile automatic weapons to protect themselves — and to fend off thieves who are after the valuable crop. (Watch TIME's video "Medical Marijuana Home Delivery.")

Miami Police Major Charles Nanney says informants played a crucial role in the success of a statewide crackdown in June that resulted in the seizure of 6,828 marijuana plants and 120 residential marijuana labs over the course of a few days. Among the best tipsters, they say, are electricians paid big money by growers to wire the sophisticated network of lights and air conditioners used to cool plants and subject them to round-the-clock illumination. The energy-chugging networks require an expert's touch to bypass the electric meter and tap straight into the grid. A sharp increase in electricity used to be a telltale sign of a grow house. Some growers have caught on, however, and are learning to mask their energy profile.

Money-laundering is an attendant crime. But so is trafficking in undocumented migrant workers. A single marijuana growing operation can consist of a dozen homes or more, requiring many hands to tend to the plants. And when arrests are made, those taken in are often neither the homeowner nor the person named on the lease. The actual operators usually elude capture. Still, workers are lured by the promise of a piece of the profits and rent-free living, sometimes raising children among the deadly high-voltage lights and other potential life-threatening apparatuses associated with indoor marijuana. (Read "Is Marijuana the Answer to California's Budget Woes?")

The state's real estate catastrophe contributes to the problem as well. Captain Joe Mendez from the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), says operators flush with cash are attracted to the abundance of cheap homes in Florida, particularly in Miami-Dade, which leads the state in foreclosures. While Florida's legitimate economy continues to flail, the HIDTA captain says indoor marijuana is thriving even though law enforcement is arresting more people every year. Says Mendez: "If the economic downturn remains as it is, I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel."

Florida Epidemic: Teachers Sleeping with Students

By Tim Padgett / Miami

Maria Guzman Hernandez

If you're the parent of a teenage boy in Florida, you probably muttered "Not again" while reading your morning newspaper this week. There on the front page was yet another case of an adult female teacher being arrested for admitting to having had sex with an underage male student. This time the alleged perp was Maria Guzman Hernandez, a 32-year-old instructor at the private Our Lady of Charity school in Hialeah; her victim was 15. But she just as well could have been the 34-year-old Jacksonville public-school science teacher arrested last month for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old student, once in her SUV; the 32-year-old St. Petersburg teacher collared in March for allegedly "sexting" nude pictures of herself to an eighth-grade boy; or the 45-year-old teacher at a private Christian academy in South Daytona who was arrested days before for allegedly having sex with a boy from her class in various Daytona Beach hotels.

Other female teachers in Florida have been booked for the same crime this year — and scores of others have been arrested or disciplined in the past few years for sexual misconduct with students, according to a recent investigation by the Orlando Sentinel, which noted the problem is rising in the state "among female educators in particular." Florida, of course, is hardly the only state where female teachers have been nabbed for preying on boys. And nationwide, male teachers still commit far more acts of sexual misconduct than females. A 2004 Education Department study found that about 10% of the nation's 50 million public-school students had experienced some kind of improper sexual attention from teachers and other school employees, and a 2007 Associated Press report indicated that men were involved almost 90% of the time. What's more, even in Florida, those offenders are a small fraction of the state's more than 200,000 public- and private-school teachers. (See the top 10 crime stories of 2008.)

But parents and prosecutors alike are nonetheless asking why the female version of pedagogue perversion seems more common on their peninsula compared with other places. "It certainly seems more prevalent, although we can't say for sure if it's worse than other large states," says Michael Sinacore, the Hillsborough County assistant state attorney who in 2005 prosecuted one of Florida's most high-profile cases, that of Tampa middle-school teacher Debra Lafave, a blond siren who pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious behavior after being charged with having sex with a 14-year-old boy. (In a controversial decision, a judge did not make her serve prison time.) "None of us can really say why at this point."

Whatever the reason, the crime appears to be getting more cavalier in the Sunshine State. According to police in Hialeah, a mostly Cuban-American enclave adjoining Miami, Hernandez had been having sex with the 15-year-old boy since March, often in the apartment he shared with his mother (who herself is now under investigation for allowing the abuse to occur).

After the principal at Our Lady of Charity (a private Catholic school that is not formally affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church) heard of the illicit relationship last week, she reported it to the state's Department of Children and Family Services. Police questioned Hernandez last weekend — after she returned from a trip to Disney World with the boy — and she made a taped confession, they say. She was charged with sexual battery on a minor, akin to statutory rape, but has not yet been arraigned.

One theory for the growing number of cases like these, says Sinacore, is what he calls "the more relaxed if not blurred boundary lines between teachers and students as teachers try to communicate with kids in this day and age." Today's kids, as the media have reported recently, are far less shy about innocent physical contact like hugging than their parents were as teens. That can be exploited by any male pervert overseeing a classroom. But it can also embolden predatory female teachers, whom experts say are often in emotionally needy states. "The trend with female offenders, more than males, is that they have emotional turmoil going on in their lives," says Sinacore.

Lafave's pregnant sister, for example, had been killed by a drunk driver before Lafave began hitting on a student; Hernandez is estranged from her husband. Such problems certainly aren't excuses for pedophilia, but they can compel women like Lafave to seek out emotional comfort — or a feeling of control that they might not experience in relationships with adult men. (Read about the notorious Mary K. Letourneau teacher-student affair.)

It doesn't help that society already brings a double standard to these cases, the notion that somehow it isn't as harmful for a boy to be seduced by a woman as it is for a girl to have sex with a man. In fact, it's not uncommon in the wake of news like Hernandez's arrest to hear morning-radio jocks in Florida declare congratulatory high-fives for the boys.

"This isn't an 'affair'; it's abuse, and we have to shift that paradigm," says Terri Miller, president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation (SESAME) in Nevada. "We say, 'Bully for the boy and his conquest of the geometry teacher,' but that makes it harder for boys to vocalize their victimization." Indeed, studies by psychologists like Julie Hislop, author of the 2001 book Female Sex Offenders: What Therapists, Law Enforcement and Child Protective Services Need to Know, note that boys who are sexually abused by women often develop alcoholism, depression and their own sexual dysfunctions, including rape, as men.

But why should Florida seem to be experiencing an especially high number of such cases? Are those women, and for that matter, the hormonally charged boys they target, somehow egged on by the state's more sexually relaxed atmosphere, with its sultry climate and scantily clad beach culture? (California also has a high rate of teacher sexual misconduct.) Or are Floridians simply reporting more cases like Hernandez's? It is a crime in Florida, as in most states, not to report such cases, but perhaps the tabloid publicity of the Lafave case has prodded Sunshine State denizens to be more vigilant, to no longer be in denial about cases like these or take them so lightly.

And yet paradoxically, says Sinacore, it might also be engendering more cases. As potential female predators see more and more headlines about teachers like themselves bedding boys, it can seem like more acceptable behavior in their eyes — especially when they see that offenders like Lafave get relatively light sentences. (That might be changing, however: a Florida judge recently slapped a two-year prison term on a 28-year-old female teacher in Pensacola convicted of unlawful sexual activity with a 15-year-old male student.)

Activists like Miller are calling for stricter hiring processes for teachers — the kind of psychological and polygraph testing, for example, that police are subject to — and they have complained that school boards and teachers' unions have blocked legislative efforts to more effectively ferret out potential or actual abusers. But Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Teachers Association, the state's major teachers' union, insists the group is doing its part to attack the problem and raise teacher awareness. At the same time, he points out, unions have an obligation to help teachers who are themselves victims of bogus accusations, which is also a problem. "There needs to be an understanding," says Pudlow, "that even when a false accusation hits the newspapers, it can ruin a teaching career."

True enough. But for the moment, Florida seems more concerned with the growing number of valid complaints. (Jacksonville alone saw two female teachers arrested last month.) So it's no surprise that a Florida Congressman, U.S. Representative Adam Putnam, recently co-introduced a bill, the Student Protection Act, to set up a scholastic version of the national sex-offender database and prevent teachers like Lafave from getting classroom jobs in other districts or states. Whether or not the legislation passes, it's a sign of the emotional turmoil that women like her have wrought in their communities.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

A Brief History Of Spring Break

By Lauren Bohn

Hundreds of students enjoy their spring break in Acapulco, Mexico.

Claudio Vargas / AFP / Getty

It's that time of year again: the birds are beginning to return to snowbound northern cities, the first buds of spring are sprouting on trees and hordes of college students are descending on the beaches of Mexico, the Caribbean and the southern U.S., turning them into twisted cesspools of sunburn, margaritas and wet T shirt contests. Ah, spring break.

Blame the debauchery on those hedonistic ancient Greeks and Romans. The arrival of spring, the season of fertility and awakening, was historically celebrated in tandem with the veneration of Dionysus or Bacchus — the Greek and Roman gods of wine. More immediate responsibility, however, lies with a swimming coach at Colgate University, Sam Ingram, who brought his team down to Fort Lauderdale in 1936 to train at the Casino Pool — the first Olympic-size swimming pool in Florida. In 1938, sensing a marketing opportunity, the city hosted the first College Coaches' Swim Forum at the Casino Pool; according to one source, by 1938 more than 300 swimmers were competing at the event, and a bacchanal was born. The tradition of college swimmers traipsing to Florida in droves continued well into the swinging 60s. TIME first highlighted spring break in an April 1959 article titled "Beer & the Beach" ("It's not that we drink so much," noted one attendee, "it's that we drink all the time."). Two years later came the release of the spring break-themed hit movie Where the Boys Are starring a young, preternaturally tan George Hamilton. The Fort Lauderdale-set film spread the tale of collegiate men and women voyaging to the halcyon shores of Florida to find fun, sun — and maybe even true love — far and wide. (See how the recession is affecting spring break.)

By the free-loving '70s, Fort Lauderdale's fun and sun had become decidedly raunchier. With gratuitous PDA and "balcony-diving" — negotiating one's way from balcony to balcony to get to other floors or rooms, a practice typically performed in a drunken stupor and thus madly dangerous — the norm, many communities began questioning why the heck they had invited such unruly houseguests in the first place. By 1985, some 370,000 students were descending on Fort Lauderdale (or fondly, "Fort Liquordale") annually — prompting yet another exploitative film, Spring Break starring Tom Cruise and Shelley Long. But by the end of the '80s, the town had enough: stricter laws against public drinking were enacted and Mayor Robert Dressler went so far as to go on ABC's Good Morning America to tell students they were no longer welcome. As a result, spring breakers were pushed even farther south, and to destinations outside the U.S. where the sun was hotter and drinking ages lower. (See 50 authentic American travel experiences.)

Meanwhile, the spring break scene and its lusty young demographic was getting noticed. In 1986, MTV launched its first spring break special from Daytona Beach, Fla., a program which has continued from varying locales ever since. The images it broadcast only reinforced spring break's reputation for alcoholic and sexual excess. The American Medical Association began warning of the dangers of binge-drinking and risky sexual behavior; fingers have also been wagged at young women for prebreak "anorexic challenges" and documented promiscuity. Many universities have taken to distributing "safe break bags" to students — including sunscreen, condoms and a sexual-assault manual. Such shenanigans also became the metier of spring break's most controversial enthusiast: Joe Francis, the man behind the Girls Gone Wild video series. Francis' videos of topless coeds made a him fortune — quite literally off the backs (and especially fronts) of young women — until an ill-advised shoot in Panama City, Fla., in 2003 earned him an eleven-month prison sentence for videotaping underage girls.

While the dire economy has taken some of life out of the party — travel website Expedia estimates that flights to spring break destinations in the Caribbean are down as much as 20% this year — the collegiate rite of passage, which traditionally occurs between the first weekend in March and Easter Sunday in April, is still very much in full cry: according to student discount-travel agency STA Travel, the average spring breaker spends $1,100 for their seven-night trip (many of which they will be too drunk to remember). In Florida, while annual visitor numbers dropped for the first time in seven years, student bookings to Panama City Beach are up by more than 20%, according to studentcity.com. Meanwhile, the nature of spring break continues to evolve. Alternative trips include everything from tutoring migrant farm workers in Florida to registering voters in rural Mississippi. Break Away, an organization that trains and helps colleges across the United States promote alternative break programs, has projected 65,000 college students will participate in its 2009 programs, up from 48,000 in 2007. No bacchanal, perhaps, but at least you won't return to school with as many regrettable pictures on Facebook.

Bike week through the years in Daytona Beach [LOTS O PICS]

Bike Week comes to Daytona Beach and other parts of Central Florida from Feb. 27 to March 8, so the Orlando Sentinel took a look back at years worth of the event. Including female bartenders dancing on the bars in bikinis. Made you look.


click here for the pics and read more | digg story

Don't Dial 911 if Burger King Runs Out of Lemonade (w/AUDIO)

Florida patron dials cops over lemonade-less combo meal

FEBRUARY 9--"You cannot dial 911 'cause you're unhappy with your burger." That's what a police operator told a Florida man early Saturday morning when he called 911 to complain about his order at a Burger King in Boynton Beach. As can be heard on the below police recording, Jean Fortune, 66, called 911 when a Burger King employee told him that they did not have lemonade. Fortune told cops that he had placed an order for a #7 combo meal (chicken fries, French fries, and a soda for $4.49) while in the drive-thru line. But when he got to the window, Fortune was told the fast food outlet did not have lemonade. He was offered Coke, but Fortune decided instead to call police. "Sir, come on. I know you don't seriously think that the police need to make Burger King give you food faster. I cannot believe that," said an exasperated 911 operator. She also noted, "Customer service is not a reason to call 911. 911 is if you're dying. Do you understand that?" Fortune was charged with abuse of 911 communications, according the below Boynton Beach Police Department report. Pictured above is the Burger King at which Fortune did not find lemonade. (1 page)

AUDIO: Click here to listen to Fortune's 911 call.

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Sun Harbour Apartments: 60 Days Notice Required Before Dying

By Ben Popken

When Consumerist reader Eric Zissen's brother died in his Florida apartment, he made a big mistake. He failed to give the landlord 60 days advance notice he was going to die.

Or so it would seem judging from the fact that the Sun Harbour apartment complex jacked his security deposit and charged his estate rent for the remaining three months of the lease contract.

Sun Harbour says they are "just following the letter of the lease."

Since the video was shot, the family took the case to court and won. But then the landlord appealed and now they're waiting for a decision from the judge in the appellate court. "A $2000 bill is now costing in court costs and lawyers fees 17k," says Eric. Luckily, the family was awarded attorney fees in the first case and if they win the appeal, they will go for attorney fees as well. The entire estate is on hold until the case is resolved.