Palm Beach County
‘TAMIEKA’ CHARGED AGAIN
Calvin Edward Butler, 44, of Pahokee is “Tamieka.” He is again facing charges related to his alleged involvement in hosting parties where people are injected with silicone to enhance the size of their buttocks. He was arrested at the El Patio Motel in West Palm Beach during one such party where three people received injections.
Krazy Glue is then used to seal the injection sites, according to the arrest report. Several of the clients have been hospitalized due to infections and disfigurements, police said. Butler is already facing charges from his arrest last month over similar alleged incidents.
HOLOCAUST PROTEST
South Florida Holocaust survivors held protests outside the Broken Sound Club in Boca Raton where the Golf Championship was held. They were protesting against Allianz, an insurance company that had ties to Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. Allianz has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in claims to Holocaust survivors. Protesters said the company still owes more than $2 million in unpaid claims for companies it insured.
BAD DATE
Jean Remy, 23, is charged with burglarizing and robbing the neighbor of a woman after dropping her home after a first date. Remy met the woman online and after bringing her back to her Lake Worth home just after midnight following their first date, he broke into her neighbor’s home, police said. The family awoke to find him rummaging through their house. He made off with an Xbox video game system. During an investigation, he matched the description of the woman’s date and was taken into custody, police said.
Broward County
SHOW US THE MONEY
Despite laying off more than 100 workers and cutting the pay and benefits for others in recent years, Deerfield Beach Mayor Peggy Nolan and city commissioners are set to get automatic cost-of-living raises in March. Their pay hikes were implemented in 2004 and some residents are concerned they show an indifference to the plight of workers who have been laid off, had their pay cut and have to pay increased healthcare costs. The majority of the laid off workers are black and live in Commissioner Ben Preston’s district.
PAY ORDINANCE
Broward County’s Wage Recovery ordinance went into effect Jan. 2. The ordinance provides a means for employees of any organization or company, with the exception of the federal government, state agencies and Indian Tribes, to file complaints and receive an administrative hearing over allegations of non-payment of earned wages. The measure also requires all employers to post notices in their work places advising workers of their rights. The law is enforced by Broward County’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Professional Standards.
Miami-Dade County
MURDER ONE
After months of investigating the disappearance of his wife, police have charged Jesus Maqueira, 54, with murder and aggravated stalking. Raquel Calderin, 42, vanished last September after leaving her job as a custodian at Gloria Floyd Elementary School. Cell phone records put her at her job around the time she was last seen. Maqueira confessed to killing her, according to the arrest report, but would not cooperate or provide any details.
TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Marshall Ruffo, a science teacher at Centennial Middle School, is the 2013 Francisco R. Walker Miami-Dade County Teacher of the Year. He bested five finalists for the honor. Ruffo is founder of Centennial Ocean Academy of Science and Technology (COAST). COAST teaches students about marine and environmental conservation through scientific research, literacy and math. Ruffo has created a classroom laboratory to educate his students in the disciplines.
WILDERNESS WALKWAY
Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad is studying proposals for a 75-mile, 15-foot-wide paved pathway that will cross the Everglades. The pathway would be restricted to cyclists, pedestrians, hikers and people in wheelchairs, with no motorized vehicles allowed. The project is tentatively called the River of Grass Greenway. It would parallel Tamiami Trail, starting at Krome Avenue near Homestead, running through the Everglades National Park, the Big Cypress National Preserve and wetlands and ending up somewhere on Florida’s West Coast. The planned route is home to many wildlife species, including panthers, bears and alligators, which concerns environmentalists. The project has the backing of Miami-Dade County, Collier County and the National Park Service.
Monroe County
BLIMP NO MORE
Petitions are being sent to President Barack Obama in an effort to save Fat Albert, a high-tech military surveillance blimp based at Cudjoe Key. It has been in use for more than 30 years searching for, and eavesdropping on, drug smugglers. Due to budget cuts, Fat Albert will be deflated and decommissioned effective March 15. The blimp was part of the U.S. Air Force’s Tethered Aerostat Radar System which operated in numerous areas including the Florida Keys, Gulf of Mexico, Mexican border and Puerto Rico.
‘SEA HAG’ SENTENCED
Carolyn Dukeshire, 62, formerly of Conch Key, was sentenced to 30 years in the shooting death of her then 64-year-old neighbor Martin Mazur. Last year, Dukeshire, who is known also as the “Sea Hag,” asked Mazur for a can of beer. When he refused, an argument erupted during which Mazur was shot twice in the stomach, twice in the back and once more in the wrist. A grand jury returned a first-degree murder indictment and Dukeshire accepted a plea agreement in which she will serve no more than 30 years in state prison.
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