Free Republic

BROOKSVILLE - Try as he might, political activist Brian Moore could not uncover any wrongdoing on the part of the sheriff's office in the death of a fugitive who drowned two months ago during a pursuit.

TAMPA - A U.S. Marine reservist attacked a visiting Greek Orthodox priest he believed to be a terrorist, Tampa police say. When the priest tried seeking directions from Jasen D. Bruce, 28, of Tampa, on Monday, Bruce struck the priest with a tire iron and chased him. Police say he attacked the Rev. Alexios Marakis, 29, of Crete, Greece, who was visiting St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs and wound up lost in Tampa. Marakis had performed a blessing of another retired Greek priest in the West Shore area and then accidentally exited Interstate 275 north into downtown...

TAMPA, Fla. – The driver and the child in her lap survived when a pickup truck slammed into a 1,500-gallon aquarium at Tampa International Airport. The tropical fish were not so lucky. Airport officials said 36-year-old Yamile Campuzano-Martine lost control of her truck and drove into the saltwater tank outside the American Airlines baggage claim Monday night. Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said the driver had an unrestrained 6-year-old boy in her lap. About 90 percent of the 30 to 40 saltwater fish in the tank were killed. The aquarium was part of a public art program. The airport spent $200,000...

TAMPA - A judge is set to decide Thursday whether former teacher and convicted sex offender Debra LaFave can have limited contact with children of her family and friends.

A Tampa cigar maker hopes to set a new Guinness World Record by rolling a stogie 180 feet long. Longtime cigar maker Wally Reyes started Thursday and will finish the nearly block-long smoke during the city's Cigar Heritage Festival on Nov. 21. Reyes says he and his wife, Margarita, are building the cigar in 18 sections — each 10 feet long. An official from Guinness will be on hand at the festival to certify the record. Reyes held the record before when he and his wife completed a 101-foot cigar, but a roller in Havana, Cuba, outdid them last year...

Youssef Megahed was freed this evening after a judge dismissed the deportation case against the former University of South Florida student. Megahed was driven out of a detention facility by his father about 6:30 p.m. He is expected to return home to Tampa on Saturday. "I'm very happy for this," Megahed said, smiling and surrounded by his family. "This was the only correct decision the judge could have given." He said he wants to return to USF to take the remaining class he needs for his engineering degree. Megahed said he holds no bitterness toward the government but described his...

TAMPA - An arrest has been made in late Wednesday's shooting death of Tampa police Cpl. Mike Roberts. Humberto Delgado, 34, who gave his address as 324 Country Club Drive in Oldsmar, was arrested and charged shortly before 5 a.m. today with first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and carrying a concealed firearm. Roberts, 38, was an 11-year veteran of the Tampa Police Department. He recently had been promoted from the department's K-9 unit and just Wednesday took a position with the hit-and-run squad, where he was on track to become a...

Congressman Eric Massa releases August Town Hall Meeting Schedule Maintaining commitment to being open and available to his constituents, Massa announces public forums PITTSFORD, NY – Beginning the August District Work Period, today Congressman Eric Massa announced his upcoming Town Hall Meeting schedule for the month of August. Four of these public forums are centered on health care. The schedule is as follows: Health Care Town Hall Meetings Thursday, August 6th Mendon Community Center 167 N. Main Street Honeoye Falls, NY 14472 7:30-9:00PM Sunday, August 16th Olean John Ash Community Center 112 N. Barry Street Olean, NY 14760 5:00-7:00PM Wednesday,...

From poster's info about the video: We were able to get in because the Union people thought we were with them. It was obvoius that Union people, who were brought in from surrounding areas had reserved front-row seats. We were also given instructions on how express our support by one of Kathy Castor's goons. They handed out pro-Obamacare signs to us initially. Then they realized their opposition had "don't tread on me" and various other signs they didn't want in. So they told everyone they weren't allowed signs at all and took our signs back. They handed out lolly-pops/suckers. They...

Missouri and Tampa town halls turn violent, but the violence is coming from one side, which one?...hmmmmm

Fla. Town Hall Meeting Takes Explosive Turn Hundreds Turn Out For Health Reform Talk Shut Out; Scuffles Break Out TAMPA, Fla. (CBS) ― Angry protesters and strong supporters clashed at a health care reform town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida Thursday. The meeting which was scheduled to begin at 6:00p.m. drew hundreds of people who quickly began to overwhelm staff and event organizers at the front entrance. As the building filled to capacity and police started denying people entry. Hundreds were locked out of the event at the Children's Board Building and some of them started banging on windows and...

Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL) had a town hall meeting in YBOR City just east of Tampa August 6, 2009. It sounds like Castor had this meeting planned to exclude protesters that were in opposition to the ObamaCare health care debacle. I received this e-mail from my County Republican Chairman: Here is an eyewitness account of someone who was there last night and wanted me to get this out: “I was one of the first people in the forum.

They let people in the back door, while people waited for hours to get in the front door, (2 Videos + Video report from local news)

This is the actual headline at the home page of the Huffington Post tonight VIOLENCE BREAKS OUT AT TAMPA TOWN HALL ON HEALTH CARE Protesters Say They Had Been Spurred On By Conservative Activist Group, Fox News Host Clicking on the headline, the article drops the subtitle but goes on to say within the article: Many of the hundreds of protesters said that they had been inspired by a conservative activist group promoted by Fox News host Glenn Beck and some received emails from the county Republican party, according to the St. Petersburg Times: Instead, hundreds of vocal critics turned...

They filled the event with their own people, the protesters were not allowed in the room intentionally after waiting 2-3 hours. - VIDEO

If you were at the town hall in Tampa today, post your experience here. The media is building a narrative, fast, and it's an ugly one. Eyewitness truth is important.

TAMPA - Tampa police are trying to determine whether a shooting at an apartment complex was justified.

SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON - Last week, German authorities discovered that groups of terrorists may have been dispatched from training bases in Pakistan to launch crippling attacks.” SNIPPET: “They say as a minimum of 12 al-Qaida operatives who were trained in the tribal region of Pakistan have left the training camps and are headed back to their home countries. Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Egypt are just some of those countries. According to the source, the threat levels also were raised for many other Western European countries to include concerns for “Turkish Airlines flying passengers from Istanbul to the...

Television "pitchman" Billy Mays — who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets — died Sunday. Mays was found unresponsive by his wife inside his Tampa, Fla., home at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Tampa Police Department.

TAMPA - Tampa will lose part of its cigar heritage in August when Hav-A-Tampa shuts its factory near Seffner and lays off about 495 employees, closing a factory that has been operating since 1902. However, the company attributed much of its trouble to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, a federal program that provides health insurance to low-income children. It is funded, in part, by a new federal tax on cigars and cigarettes. McKenzie couldn't say how much sales of Hav-A-Tampa cigars had fallen off, but the numbers have dropped significantly, he said. Previously, federal excise taxes on...

Sales have been hurt by the spread of indoor smoking bans, which have forced people to go outside to smoke. Tampa will lose part of its cigar heritage in August when Hav-A-Tampa shuts its factory near Seffner and lays off about 495 employees, closing a factory that has been operating since 1902. The company announced the closing today. Many employees there make Hav-A-Tampa's iconic Jewels, inexpensive machine-made cigars known for their birchwood tips. Some workers have labored there for two decades or longer, including one who's been there for 50 years, said Richard McKenzie, a senior vice president of human...

TAMPA - Tampa will lose part of its cigar heritage in August when Hav-A-Tampa shuts its factory near Seffner and lays off about 495 employees, closing a factory that has been operating since 1902. The company announced the closing today. Many employees there make Hav-A-Tampa's iconic Jewels, inexpensive machine-made cigars known for their birchwood tips. Some workers have labored there for two decades or longer, including one who's been there for 50 years, said Richard McKenzie, a senior vice president of human resources for Altadis USA, which owns Hav-A-Tampa. Altadis tried to keep the plant open by closing it for...

Saudi Arabian Muslim Student Raed Al-Saif at Univ. of Tampa Tries To Get On Plane With 7 inch Butcher Knife in His Carry On Bag, the last name "Al-Saif" is linked to Al-Qaeda. Fifteen of the nineteen on 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia they used box cutters and small knives to take over control of the 4 airplanes on 9/11. The United States government determined that al-Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden, bore responsibility for the attacks, with the FBI stating "evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11 is clear and irrefutable". The Government...

TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio has decided to halt proclamations of an annual day in Tampa for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an organization that says it seeks to defend the civil rights of Muslims in the U.S., but has been accused of terrorist links. Iorio has proclaimed a "CAIR Day" each fall since 2005. The organization has an active chapter in Tampa.

A Sickles High School Yearbook Photo is making news today after a 16 year old student says she didn’t wear panties to school the day the photos were taken because she didn’t want panty lines showing up in her yearbook photos. However, the end result of going commando has meant an eyeful for thousands who have copies of the Sickles High School yearbook.

Media Alert For Immediate Release Contact: Angelette Aviles 813-679-0515 aaviles@americasmarketing.com Marco Rubio Heads to Tampa I-4 Corridor Important for his Election to Senate TAMPA, FL – Cinco de Mayo, 2009 - U.S. Senate Candidate, Marco Rubio, will make his first campaign appearance in Tampa on Friday, May 15 where he is scheduled to speak during the Hispanic Republican Fiesta & fundraiser hosted by the RHCHC (Republican Hispanic Club of Hillsborough County). Be present where he will further discuss his role in the Senate and the importance of the Hispanic and Youth vote. Now that he has officially announced seats are...

TAMPA - A modern-day tea party protest overtook downtown Tampa today. No one spilled crates of Earl Grey into the already tea-colored bay, but there were a lot of American flags wrapped around shoulders and a few "Don't Tread On Me" flags flying in the breeze. The rally bemoaned the recent federal stimulus packages that bailed out bankers, investors and big money industrialists. Well over 500 people showed up at the noon rally, one of two set for today. Many carried homemade signs and waved flags. Chants of "Throw the rascals out," "No more bailouts" and "Stop printing money" filled...

Why the evil eye Lloyd?

Here are some images from the Tampa Tea Party today. Local cops estimate about 3000 people. I had a great time. American flags were waved not burned. Cars were not flipped over. Storefront windows were not broken. ------------------------------------------------------ Playing with the panoramic function of the phone :-) -------------------------------------------------------- This was how it looked as we approaced Gas Lykes park in downtown Tampa. This is Kennedy Blvd, more or less the main street going thru downtown. Until the speakers got going, most were along the sidewalks waving signs at the cars going by and getting people to honk their horns in...

TAMPA - A park memorializing Confederate veterans will officially open April 25 with cannon fire, live music and re-enactors impersonating famous Southern generals. The park, near the junction of Interstates 4 and 75, gained notoriety last summer when the Sons of Confederate Veterans raised a 30-by-50-foot Confederate flag there. In October, the group replaced the first flag with a larger one. The veterans group said they raised the flag to draw attention to the 1.9-acre memorial park at its base. David McCallister, a lawyer and officer with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the park was built to relate the...

Perhaps someone involved with Britney Spears' tour should be put in charge of circling important dates on the calendar – like the day the clocks spring forward. Daylight Savings Time apparently snuck up on Spears, so her show Sunday night at the St. Pete Times Forum was pushed back from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. No problem, apparently, for what appeared to be a capacity crowd. Judging from the text messages being flashed on the screen during intermission – professing love and worship and declaring Spears "r queen," she could have held the show at 2 a.m. in a minefield...

Largo police stopped a Clearwater man early this morning because they say he was driving a car that had only three tires. A short time later, they arrested him for having a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the level at which the state presumes a person is unable to safely drive. Henry C. Romeu, 27, faces DUI charges. According to police, Romeu was traveling on East Bay Drive just after 2 a.m. without a rear passenger tire, something Largo police Lt. Mike Loux said “isn’t as uncommon as you think.” Romeu displayed uneven balance, had bloodshot eyes and registered 0.200 and...

HUDSON -- An investigation into a highly organized oxycodone ring -- allegedly led by Arde Harry Olsen, known as the King of Hudson -- ended today with 19 arrests, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The agency says the group obtained the potent prescription drug by using "doctor shoppers" who visited various physicians throughout the Tampa Bay area. The headquarters of the trafficking operation, according to authorities, was 11923 Pine Forest Drive in Hudson -- the address of Arde Olsen Auto Repair. The investigation involved the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S....

TAMPA Mohammed Abu Sayed was wiping Lotto-card scratchings from the counter of his Friendly Meat and Grocery when two men in ski masks and hoodies dashed through the front door. One pointed a revolver to Sayed's head as the other headed to the cooler for a six pack. "They told me, 'Give me money! Don't move!' " Sayed recalled Thursday as he stood in the bullet-resistant enclosure of his store, a 9mm pistol tucked in his pants, his feet planted, his fingers pointing. "I move. Very quick I move." It was the fourth attempted robbery of Sayed's convenience store since...

Tampa, Florida - A Hillsborough County middle school teacher shot and killed a burglar who burst into her home Friday morning. Sheriff's deputies say 62-year-old Juanita Enzor was in her bedroom around 5 a.m. when a man kicked in the front door. Detectives say when the man confronted Enzor, she grabbed her gun and fired, shooting the man in the chest. The bleeding, injured suspect then started attacking Enzor, but she managed to escape and run from her home. Deputies arrived at the scene on Kirkland Drive and found the suspect dead inside. Enzor was slightly injured in the attack....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2009 – Some Air Force fighter pilots may miss out on watching Super Bowl XLIII, but for a worthy cause. They will be flying to protect the skies around Raymond James Stadium during the Feb. 1 game in Tampa, Fla. Airmen flying fighter jets may be visible enforcing the Federal Aviation Administration's temporary flight restriction over the greater Tampa area during the National Football League's championship game, officials said. "America's [air operations center] will be closely monitoring all air activity while the FAA temporary flight restriction is in place," Air Force Col. David Kriner, commander of the...

TAMPA -- The arrest of Fox 13 news anchor Russell Rhodes, who has a black eye and bloodied face in his mugshot, is under review by Internal Affairs, officials from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said today. "Any time there's a high-profile incident or any incident that the sheriff wishes to have reviewed," an internal review is initiated, said J.D. Callaway, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. "We'll look at all the available evidence and make sure the deputies acted properly." Rhodes, a morning news anchor for Fox 13's Good Day Tampa Bay, was arrested Friday night, allegedly after resisting...

Ahmed Bedier is recognized by the Tampa Government as a "protector of human rights. Which means that Tampa is either blind or has a strange definition of "human right." Bedier, the former head of CAIR in Tampa has a long history of supporting terrorism. For example when two Muslim college students, Youseff Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, were found with pipe bombs one of whom has admitted to making a video about how to use remote-controlled bombs against American soldiers), Bedier claimed that the pipe bomb material was just fireworks and said, “Both of them are really naïve kids.” On a...

Ahmed Mohamed, one half of the Goose Creek two, received the maximum sentence yesterday for creating a jihad video that was to be used by Muslim “martyrs” fighting American soldiers in Arab countries. He and his apologists still insist on painting Mohamed as a regular college guy. The judge didn’t buy it. Good: ~~~ Former University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed received a maximum 15-year federal prison sentence Thursday for providing material support to terrorists. In court, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday pondered the 27-year-old’s potential aloud, gazing at the former engineering doctoral student and teaching assistant who...

Citizenhip issue was reported today on Baynews9. Can anyone post a copy of the report? The news channel is in the Tampa area and has wide coverage.

SPC suspect jailed in Michigan The man, who tried to buy St. Petersburg College vehicles, has terrorist ties, police say. By NORA KOCH, Times Staff Writer Published October 28, 2004 A former Clearwater man who tried to buy an old ambulance and two surplus police cruisers from St. Petersburg College in August is an "affiliate of a terrorist organization," according to police documents obtained Wednesday. Abdalla Deiab, 51, was arrested in Michigan on Wednesday on a warrant charging him with failing to return a hired vehicle, a Largo rental car, Pinellas County sheriff's and Largo police officials said. In a...

TAMPA - The Tampa Tribune laid off 18 newsroom employees today as the newspaper works to reduce its costs and cope with a worsening advertising economy. The job cuts included top managers, mid-level editors, photographers, reporters and some of the paper's most visible faces, including longtime columnist Dan Ruth, who has worked more than 36 years in the newspaper industry, and editorial page editor Rosemary Goudreau. "We have tried to make these cuts so the results are not so obvious to the reader," said Janet Coats, executive editor of the Tribune. At the same time, she said "We've tried to...

My daughter and her friends voted in Tampa today. She stood in line for 2 1/2 hours. During that time one woman who wasn't registered to vote and was told to stay in line while they looked again and checked for her name , waited till they went back to table to check,Then she went and voted! they came back to tell her she would have to fill out a special ballot that would be verified she was gone, Tina said workers became frantic. Now if my daughter saw that while she was there, How many other times did that...

Video here. Classic line when she refers to the flag pin, an "accessory" Obama dislikes. Anyone who has pictures of Sarah Palin, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Laura Ingraham, and other both principled and attractive conservative women, please post them all here. Who can post the most? Let the contest begin.

Elizabeth introducing Sarah Palin, the uninteruputed version. If you have seen the News video from AP , it is edited and reduced to a sound bite.

Video here.

Governor Sarah Palin LIVE now

Please excuse the vanity, but I have my tickets, and will be going, but have a smaller child, and didn't want to go too early. Does anyone know a typical schedule for these? The ticket says doors open and 9AM, program starts at 11AM.

Anyone else here going?

KEY REGION COULD BE DIFFERENCE; STATE'S A DEAD HEAT With less than two weeks until Election Day, a new Orlando Sentinel poll hints that Republican Sen. John McCain may be gaining the traction he desperately needs to win Florida -- a state that's still too close to call. The poll, by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, shows McCain leading Sen. Barack Obama 46 percent to 45 percent. With a margin of error of 4 percentage points, that's a dead heat. Pollsters interviewed 625 likely voters Monday and Tuesday. The numbers represent a 3-percentage-point shift from early this month when Obama held...