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'(Expletive deleted) you! I'll kick your (expletive deleted)'

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CRESTVIEW - A man who appeared to be "extremely intoxicated" took issue with a Crestview Police officer's role in the towing of a car and threatened retribution, according to an arrest report.

On Dec. 26 the police officer was overseeing the towing of a car after its driver was arrested for DUI and taken to jail. Suddenly, another man appeared and walked toward the officer in an aggressive manner, the officer wrote in the report. He appeared to be "extremely intoxicated" and was upset over seeing the vehicle towed.

He stopped about 6 feet from the officer and started screaming that the car was his brother's and wanted to know where he was. When the officer told him his brother was on his way to jail, the man yelled, "F--- you!" several times, and elaborated, "I'll kick your a--!"

The officer drew his weapon and ordered the man to lie on the ground. The man at first refused and took a step toward the officer, but then backed off and complied.

He was charged with assault on an officer and has a Jan. 29 court date.


Lawmen says woman kicked him in stomach

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CRESTVIEW - A woman is in hot water after she allegedly kicked a Crestview Police officer in the stomach.

On Dec. 18 the officer was taking the 28-year-old Crestview woman to the Okaloosa County Jail on an unrelated battery charge.

Along the way, the officer wrote in the arrest report, the woman began trying to choke herself with the seatbelt.

The officer stopped to untangle her. "... She appeared to calm down," he wrote. "At that point she kicked me in the stomach."

She was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and has a Feb. 12 court date.

Woman accused of pushing disabled adult

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CRESTVIEW - Police have arrested a 28-year-old after a disabled person said she was pushed by the woman.

On Dec. 18 Crestview Police officers went to Campbell Avenue residence to check into the alleged incident.

There, they were told by the apparent victim that she and Rebecca Anne Frey of Crestview had been arguing since the day before. The report didn't indicate what the two were arguing about.

She said Frey pushed her. 

The officer noted in the arrest report narrative the alleged victim is disabled, had trouble walking, and used a cane.

The victim said she wasn't hurt, but Frey knew of her disabilities.

Frey was charged with felony abuse of a disabled adult. Her court date is Feb. 12.

Officer says woman in wreck gave her mother's name

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CRESTVIEW - A woman who was involved in a traffic crash tried to pass herself off as her mother, according to a Crestview Police officer.

On Jan. 3 the 28-year-old woman was involved in a wreck on North Ferdon Boulevard. 

She gave officers a name and a birthdate with the year 1964. The officer, however, knew the woman from a previous incident and confronted her after he'd finished investigating the wreck. 

When the officer told the woman he knew who she really was and asked for her name again, the woman gave him her sister's name.

She also had a suspended driver's license.

She was charged with obstruction and driving with a suspended license, and has a Jan. 29 court date.

Tollway proposal sparks criticism (DOCUMENT)

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Some local officials are criticizing a state proposal to fold the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority into a new regional tollway agency.

Read the FDOT proposal. >>

The proposal from the Florida Department of Transportation, which has not been introduced as a bill to the Legislature yet, would “transfer the governance and control” of the Bridge Authority to the Okaloosa-Bay Regional Tollway Authority.

“It’s really eliminating the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority,” said Jim Vest, executive director of the Bridge Authority. “For the last three years, we’ve been a target of this kind of consolidation. This looks like it is a continuation of that effort.”

Vest said he sees the proposal as a way for the DOT to have “a lot more control” over future road projects in Northwest Florida.

DOT Secretary Ananth Prasad announced the proposal Wednesday at the Emerald Coast Transportation Symposium on Okaloosa Island.

The plan also would create the Northwest Florida Regional Tollway Authority for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties and the Suncoast Regional Tollway Authority for Citrus, Levy, Marion and Alachua counties.

Under the proposal, which would form the Florida Regional Tollway Authority Act, projects would be planned and developed by an authority and built by the DOT. The infrastructure would be operated and maintained by the DOT, which would be reimbursed through toll revenues.

Retired Air Force Gen. Gordon Fornell, chairman of the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority, said he was aware of the proposal but would have liked more information before it was announced.

“There was no collaboration,” he said. “I just don’t see the advantage. I’m all for regional control, but we have been so successful on the Mid-Bay Bridge and the connector. … We specialize in execution. We get things done.”

Fornell added that the Bridge Authority is “a model throughout the country on its financing” of various transportation projects.

Mid-Bay Bridge Authority member Jimmy Nielson said he wouldn’t want to see toll revenues from the bridge be used on road projects outside Okaloosa County.

Nielson said it’s likely that the Bridge Authority “will mount an opposition” to the proposal in an effort to keep its autonomy.

“I would hope that our local legislative people, Rep. Matt Gaetz and Sen. Don Gaetz, would come to our rescue,” he added.

Don Gaetz, the Senate president, has criticized the Bridge Authority in the past for its overhead and administrative expenses. He said he still has to review the DOT’s proposal.

He also said he would like to know how the new regional tollway authority would function differently from the Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority, which spans Escambia to Wakulla County.

“It seems there are a lot of questions to be asked and answered before Secretary Prasad’s proposal would get all the way through the Senate,” Gaetz said.

He said he expects the proposal to get a sponsor, after which he would refer it to the Senate Transportation Committee.

“I think we should look at every opportunity to reduce duplicative government overhead,” Gaetz said. “And we should look at every opportunity to use the lowest possible interest rate on transportation bonding so that we can build more roads for the same amount of money.”

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn. 

No one injured by explosive devices detonated at Holt homes

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HOLT - No one was injured by explosive devices detonated in the front yards of two homes, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

A homeowner on Lighthouse Church Road in Baker discovered her destroyed mailbox Thursday morning, the Sheriff’s Office reported. She heard a large explosion around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday but thought it was a power transformer exploding. A firework or other device had been placed in the mailbox.

A homeowner on Richman Road in Holt awoke to find an area of burned grass in his yard along with an explosive-type device, the Sheriff’s Office reported. The homeowner investigated an explosion at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, but didn’t see anything.  

The Sheriff’s Office is helping the State Fire Marshal’s Office investigate both these cases.

Rosalynn Carter to speak at Chautauqua Assembly

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DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — The 2013 Florida Chautauqua Assembly is almost here, with former first lady Rosalynn Carter to be this year’s keynote speaker.

The four-day educational program will run Jan. 24-27 and feature performances, workshops and exhibits on the history of DeFuniak Springs.

“This is about self-fulfillment,” said Chris Mitchell, president of Florida Chautauqua Center. “We focus on issues relating on education, religion, art and recreation. There’s something for everybody at this, whether you don’t have any money to spend or you have the money to spend.”

Mitchell said this year‘s assembly is expected to break attendance records, with 10,000 to 15,000 people expected throughout the weekend.

The Chautauqua Assembly began in the late 1800s to bring educational opportunities to children through Sunday school teachers, according to Mitchell. The New York-based summer event added a winter assembly in DeFuniak Springs in 1885.

The assembly was held annually until 1927. During its heyday, Theodore Roosevelt called it “the most American thing in America,” Mitchell said.

The local assembly was revived in 1996 and has featured history exhibits and famous keynote speakers each year. Mitchell said visitors will come from across America and Canada this year.

“This will be the biggest and most historic event we’ve ever had,” he said. “We’re almost sold out of everything, literally.”

The kickoff event Jan. 24 will feature a historic trolley ride and a greeting by an actor portraying Theodore Roosevelt after he returned from Africa. The next day will have exhibits, live performances and former first lady Carter.

Jan. 26 and 27 will have activities for all ages, including an animal exhibit, bird cage-making tent and health expo.

This year’s theme, Journey of the Chautauqua Assembly, will look at the history of the assembly across the country.

“There is something happening nationwide with these events that the public is starting to notice and want to go to, and we’re so proud to have a first lady joining us,” Mitchell said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.

'Stand closer to the rhino' results in grave wound

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — When do you not listen to the African wildlife expert? When he tells you to stand closer to the rhino.

That suggestion by a South African game park owner resulted in serious injuries to a 24-year-old woman from Johannesburg.

The Beeld newspaper reported Tuesday that Chantal Beyer said the game park owner snapped pictures and suggested that she "stand just a little bit closer" seconds before the attack. Photos show Beyer and her husband only feet away from two rhinos.

The paper said that just after the photo was snapped, the rhino attacked, and its horn penetrated Beyers' chest from behind, resulting in a collapsed lung and broken ribs, the paper said. The Aloe Ridge Hotel and Nature Reserve, where the incident took place, declined to comment Tuesday.


Florida Supreme Court upholds pension law

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A law championed by Gov. Rick Scott that requires teachers, state and county workers and some municipal employees to contribute 3 percent of their pay to the state's pension plan was narrowly upheld by the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday.

The 4-3 decision reversed a trial judge's ruling that the law violated the collective bargaining, contract and property rights of about 600,000 public employees including police, firefighters and other first-responders.

The law, which went into effect on July 1, 2011, also repealed 3 percent annual cost of living increases for benefits accrued after that date.

The ruling was vindication for the Republican governor — who had sought an even bigger 5 percent employee contribution — and the GOP-controlled Legislature. The decision was a bitter defeat for public employee unions, led by the Florida Education Association, which had challenged the law.

"The court's ruling today supports our efforts to lower the cost of living for Florida families," Scott said in a statement. "This means even more businesses will locate and grow in our state."

Scott argued it was unfair that Florida's public employees didn't contribute because workers in most other states and the private sector are required to help pay for their pensions if they still have that benefit.

The public employees' contributions, though, were not used to strengthen the Florida Retirement System, already one of the nation's strongest pension plans. Instead, they reduced contributions made by state and local government employers.

"Balancing the state budget on the backs of middle-class working families is the wrong approach," teachers union president Andy Ford said in a statement.

A ruling against the contribution law would have created a nearly $2 billion budget gap for state and local governments because they then would have had to return the employee contributions.

"We still believe that a promise is a promise," Ford said. "We are more determined than ever to change the face of the Florida Legislature. The next elections in 2014 can turn this decision around."

Although Democrats, who are closely allied with the unions, picked up a few seats in the Legislature last year, Republicans continue to hold large majorities in both chambers.

"The changes made to the Florida Retirement System reflect the Legislature's efforts to maintain a sound retirement system for our hardworking state and local government employees as well as the reality that Florida taxpayers can no longer bear the full cost of this benefit," said Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

A key legal issue was how to interpret a law passed in 1974 that declares the retirement rights of public employees are contractual in nature. That year, the Legislature, then led by Democrats, also eliminated employee contributions to the pension plan.

The high court majority cited a 1981 Supreme Court opinion that said the law protected rights and benefits already earned but did not preclude the Legislature from altering benefits prospectively for future service.

Justice Jorge Labarga wrote for the majority that the same principle applied to the new law that restored employee contributions, so it does not violate employees' contract rights nor take away property in the form of their pension benefits.

The new law also doesn't violate collective bargaining rights guaranteed by the Florida Constitution for public and private employees because it doesn't prohibit such negotiations between unions and employers, Labarga wrote.

"Although I understand the frustration of state employees, who have in effect taken a 3 percent pay cut in addition to years without cost-of-living adjustments, this case is not about the wisdom or fairness of the Legislature's decision," Justice Barbara Pariente wrote in a concurring opinion.

Labarga and Pariente were joined by Chief Justice Ricky Polston and Justice Charles Canady, the high court's two most reliably conservative members.

In a dissent, Justice James Perry argued the 1981 ruling was wrong and the high court should have receded from it. Justices R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince concurred with Perry.

"The retirement benefits protected by contract, as established by the Legislature, were simply taken from our first responders, those who protect us, those who teach and protect our children and others who have provided us services every day, to be used for other purposes," Lewis wrote in a separate dissent.

Un-rebutted expert testimony shows the law will cost each public employee from $12,446 to $329,684 over the span of their working years, Lewis noted. He pointed out the employee contributions, meanwhile, saved the state $861 million in the 2011-12 budget. That's money the state didn't need because the budget also included $1.2 billion in unspent general revenue, he contended.

Lewis wrote that the law also effectively, although not explicitly, impaired collective bargaining rights because "the Legislature has unilaterally predetermined the term or condition (of employment) through statute, rendering any subsequent negotiations futile."

Fla. Gov. Scott does about-face on early voting

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Rick Scott — who slashed early voting from 14 to 8 days, then defended the decision in court — said Thursday he thinks returning to 14 early-voting days will help ease long lines and delays in counting ballots that once again made the rest of the country question whether Florida knows how to run an election.

The Republican governor also wants more early-voting sites and thinks ballots should be shorter. The 2012 ballot was unusually long after the Republican-dominated Legislature crammed 11 proposed constitutional amendments onto it and didn't stick to the 75-word ballot summary that citizens groups must adhere to when placing a question on the ballot by petition.

"We need shorter ballots. We need more early voting days, which should include an option of the Sunday before Election Day. And, we need more early voting locations," Scott said in his statement.

In 2011, Scott signed an elections bill that cut early voting from 14 to 8 days and eliminated the Sunday before Election Day as an early voting day — one that was used by many black churches for "souls to the polls" voting drives.

When voter rights groups sued to stop implementation of the law, Scott not only defended in court, but repeatedly backed it in interviews. When many called for him to issue an executive order extending early voting to alleviate long lines, as his predecessor Gov. Charlie Crist did in 2008, Scott continued to stand by the law.

Republican lawmakers had passed the law, which also included tighter restrictions on voter registration drives, after President Barack Obama carried Florida in 2008 in large part due to strong advantages in voter registration and in ballots cast during in-person early voting.

The state, however, was widely criticized last fall for six-hour-long voting lines and for not being able to confirm for days that Obama narrowly carried the state over Republican Mitt Romney.

The changes Scott is calling for are supported by county elections supervisors, who have already made the same recommendations.

The League of Women Voters of Florida and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida praised Scott's announcement, even though they said he had caused the problems to begin with.

"Politicians don't generally take responsibility for their screw ups," said ACLU of Florida executive director Howard Simon. "These problems occurred because he signed that bill into law. I know he's been trying to evade responsibility saying, 'It wasn't my idea, it was the Legislature's bill,' but the fact of the matter is he signed it into law. And more than that he spent a good deal of the state's money defending in federal court precisely what he announced today that he's prepared to scrap."

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Follow Brendan Farrington on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bsfarrington

A foster home for ferrets (SLIDESHOW, VIDEO)

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NAVARRE — Each of the more than a dozen animals at Navarre Ferret Rescue has a story and a personality.

There’s Brutus, a 4½-pound mass of muscle. He’s learning to be loving, as he wasn’t handled much in his old home. Being picked up frightens him at first, but then he settles down for a cuddle.

Cruiser and Vault have bonded, and seek one another for comfort and company. Like people who experience a loss, the ferrets could go into depression if they’re separated.

Adalei had large patches of her white fur missing when she came in with four other starving ferrets. Her coat has come in now, but the other ferrets don’t care. Her mischievousness makes them squeak indignantly as they try to scurry out of her way.

The rescue’s goal is to provide a “forever home,” but only one that matches its mischievous residents, said Heather Owens, the shelter’s founder and foster mom.

Check out the rescue's residents in this slideshow. >>

Watch a video of the ferrets in action. >>

Owens fell in love with ferrets after getting one of her own. As she learned more about them, she soon found there was no dedicated, knowledgeable shelter in the region for the animals. She opened Navarre Ferret Rescue in April 2012.

Lisa Vaughn, another foster mom, also caught the ferret bug, transmitted about a week after she bought her daughter’s “soul ferret.” Now the family has six ferrets. Vaughn fostered three of them before they became family.

“They’re like Lay’s potato chips,” Vaughn joked. “You can’t just have one.”

Since starting the rescue, the women have saved sick ferrets left starving at their former homes and reunited stray pets with their owners.

Their goal is not only to find homes for their charges, but to correct misconceptions about them. A major reason owners surrender their ferrets is a lack of knowledge before they get one, Vaughn said.

“I can’t stress this enough: Do your research,” Vaughn said.

Ferrets are high maintenance pets, she said. One of the biggest misconceptions is that ferrets can survive in the wild. Ferrets have been domesticated for centuries. If they do kill something, they were probably playing with it and don’t recognize it as food, Vaughn said.    

Most people think ferrets eat grains, but they actually require a high-protein and high-fat diet, Owens said. They also need a dry climate and temperatures in the low 70s. Yearly vaccines are another must.

Although they sleep from 18 and 20 hours a day, they still need to be let out for playtime or else they become frustrated and unhappy in their cages. When let out, they need to be watched so that they don’t slip into a tight spot.

“They’re like a toddler on a tornado,” Vaughn said.

Since their start, Owens and Vaughn have worked to take in and rehabilitate their ferrets. No ferrets leave until they’re ready.

“We make sure from nose to tail that they’re healthy behaviorally and physically before they go to a home,” Vaughn said.

If for any reason an owner can’t keep a ferret, Owens and Vaughn require it to be returned to the rescue.

“We need to know that they’re going to be safe for the rest of their lives,” Owens said.

WANT TO HELP? Navarre Ferret Rescue needs baby blankets, fleece blankets, pillow cases and hammocks. For a list of needed foods, contact the shelter through its Facebook page or at navarreferret@hotmail.com. Donations can be made at its PayPal account found on the Facebook page.

Representatives of Navarre Ferret Rescue will be at Pet Supermarket in Uptown Station in Fort Walton Beach from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 26.

Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Delgado can be reached at 850-315-4445 or ldelgado@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenDnwfdn.

School bus brakes catch fire

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DESTIN - Students from St. Mary’s Catholic School were evacuated from their bus on Harbor Boulevard about noon Thursday after a small fire broke out on the vehicle’s brakes, the Destin Fire Department reported.

No one was injured. The fire was out when the firefighters arrived, but they sprayed water on the brakes to cool them.

The students used other transportation to get home.
 

Navarre man convicted in 2011 beatings

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A Navarre man accused of beating two people has been convicted by a Santa Rosa County jury.

Timothy Donald Helton was found guilty Thursday of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon causing great bodily harm and battery, according to a State Attorney’s Office news release.

The 43-year-old was arrested May 31, 2011 after he struck one person with a “homemade weapon” and threw a pipe at a second man, the release stated.

The second man had to have a titanium plate inserted in his skull after it was crushed by the pipe, the release said.

Sentencing for Helton is schedule for March 12. He faces up to 60 years in prison.

Judge David Rimmer can sentence the habitual offender who has already been to prison to no less than 30 years for the crimes.

Officer says man kicked him 20 times

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CRESTVIEW - An Okaloosa Island man is accused of kicking an emergency medical technician and a Crestview Police officer, according to an arrest report.

The attacks occurred on Jan. 5, the report says.

Austin William Allen, 25, is accused of kicking a medic with Okaloosa EMS in the leg and groin.

The officer who witnessed the attack says Allen kicked him approximately 20 times.

The report didn't describe what led to the apparent attack or why Allen kicked the two.

He was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, firefighter or EMT, a felony.

His court date is Feb. 26.

Report: Man retrieves cocaine from between his legs

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CRESTVIEW - A 21-year-old Crestview man was charged with drug possession after officers stopped him for non-working taillights and found that he had cocaine.

On Jan. 6, Jeffrey Maurice Duncan was stopped as he drove along James Lee Boulevard after an officer noticed his passenger-side taillight and tag light weren't working.

As Duncan was receiving warnings for the non-working lights, another officer approached his vehicle and asked if he had any illegal narcotics.

"The above named defendant then reached between his legs and retrieved two small plastic bags containing cocaine," the arrest report stated.

He was arrested and taken to the Okaloosa County Jail.

HIs court date is Feb. 26.


Battle at Waffle House, elsewhere, leads to woman's arrest

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CRESTVIEW - A spat that erupted between a man and woman at Waffle House carried over to their home, and it was the woman who ended up being arrested for battery.

On Jan. 5 the two were at Waffle House when they began arguing. The report didn't describe the nature of the argument.

The man got up to leave and left his wallet on the table, so the woman put it in her purse and left, the report indicated.

When they got home, the argument continued. At one point the man picked up the woman's purse and started emptying it to get his wallet. The woman tackled him, and they wrestled on the living room floor.

The man then collected their children and put them in the car to leave. The woman apparently followed with a baseball bat to hit the car as he was trying to leave, the report said.

She was charged battery - touch or strike and has a Jan. 29 appointment with a judge.

Seaside voted best family beach

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Lori Leath Smith has no way of knowing exactly whose votes placed Seaside’s beach in the top spot of a survey of Best Beaches on Earth by Travel + Leisure magazine.

But she’s pretty sure that at least some of the votes came from folks who have been coming to the South Walton community for decades.

“We have folks who began coming here as a child with their parents and have now grown up and are having their own children and coming back,” said Smith, the director of public relations and marketing for Seaside. “I believe that once people found out about the survey, they wanted to vote.”

Seaside’s beach was voted “Best for Families” in the online survey. Two other Florida beaches made the list: Cayo Costa on an island in the Gulf just west of Fort Myers was ranked No. 5 in the “Best for Seclusion” category and South Beach in Miami Beach was voted No. 1 for “Best for People-Watching.”

Read Travel + Leisure's list of best beaches>>

The magazine selected 54 beaches for readers to vote on, and online voting narrowed that list to 30. Although beaches from all over the world were included on the initial list, U.S. beaches ranked first in five of the six categories.

In promoting Seaside’s victory, Travel + Leisure wrote that the community’s “wood-paneled houses border dunes on this picture-perfect Gulf Coast Beach. After games of waterfront Frisbee, the entire crew can take cruiser bikes into town for a casual seafood dinner.”

Smith said that although the survey specifically recognized Seaside for its beach, you can’t really separate the wide strip of white sand from the community.

“You almost can’t talk about the beach here without talking about the community,” she said. “All roads in the community lead to the beach.”

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Wendy Victora at 850-315-4478 or wvictora@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @WendyVnwfdn.

Officials warn residents of 'a relative is in trouble' scam

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CRESTVIEW — An elderly woman was scammed for nearly $2,000 during what officials are calling "a relative is in trouble" scam.

The 78-year-old woman told officials she received a call Wednesday from a man claiming to be her grandson. The man told her he was in a Mexican jail and needed money to get out and come back to America, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office press release.

He explained that he had been jailed after a car accident. She said the man didn't sound like her grandson, but thought the stress may have been affecting him.

A second man also spoke with the woman claiming to be her grandson's lawyer. The man said he needed $1,900 to get her grandson out of jail and instructed her to send it to a Western Union bank account.

The woman was told not to say anything so her grandson's plight to get back into the U.S. would not be disrupted.

The woman was able to send the money over, but later spoke with her grandson and learned that he had not been jailed or been outside the country. Later, though, the man claiming to be a lawyer called back asking for additional money.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

Snowbirds and their pets: A special relationship

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DESTIN — The saying goes that you’re known by the company you keep. Perhaps that’s why Jim Wilson is known as “Jim and his girls.”

For the last several years Wilson, of Rochester, N.Y., has gone everywhere with his girls Abby, Chloe and Becca, his Shetland sheepdogs.

On any given morning along Scenic Highway 98 in Destin, dozens of snowbirds can be spotted walking with their pets that traveled with them days, nights and thousands of miles to get to the Emerald Coast.

The dogs are their friends, vacation comrades and family.

“It’s a lot easier than what you might think,” Wilson said as he held tight to the three leashes restraining his small dogs. “We always take them with us.

“People that know me know that if they want me they have to welcome the dogs. I try not to go anywhere without them.”

Many vacationers take their dogs out three to five times each day.

Pat Brurnback of Clarkston, Mich., says her day starts with hugs and kisses in bed from her 4-year-old golden retriever Scamp. She then grabs the “poop bag” and heads out the door for her five-mile morning walk.

She says she prefers to go to restaurants that cater to dogs, such as Camille’s by the beach. In the afternoons she and Scamp tour the same paths for another several miles.

“It’s wonderful having him with us,” Brurnback said. “It’s such a joy to see him run around the pool and just smile."

Her friend and travel companion, Maryann Hennign, says her 11-year-old dog Sally is not able to go as far as Scamp. The dog goes on what Maryann calls “senior walks.”

“Anytime I can include Sally in my travel plans, I do,” Hennign said. “I have to baby her a little, but it’s important that we make her feel like she’s a part of everything.

“She’s very happy to be here and very comfortable.”

On a sunny Wednesday, Jack Churney from London, Ontario, hobbled with a broken foot while walking Willow, his 3-year-old Australian labradoodle. He said his Jeep Cherokee was converted into a cozy home with the dog’s bed in the middle.

“She travels better than my children used to,” Churney said, laughing. “She comes with us most places we go. The key is looking ahead and finding out what places are dog friendly.”

Churney says his day does not fully revolve around his dog, just his mornings and some time in the afternoon and evening. He says he likes to take her for morning walks, play fetch at a local park and keep her in the car with the window cracked when he’s eating out with his wife.

“We really rely on each other,” Churney said as he petted Willow. “Dogs are very loving, very forgiving. There’s a good bond between the dog and its owner. She makes us laugh and comforts us and I think we do the same for her.”

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.

Man sentenced for bank robbery

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FORT WALTON BEACH — A man will spend at least 15 years in prison after he was sentenced Thursday for robbing Beach Community Bank on Mary Esther Cut-Off nearly 18 months ago.

Okaloosa County Circuit Judge John Brown sentenced 39-year-old Robert Nicholas Dykes to 20 years for robbery without a weapon and fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, the state attorney’s office announced. Because of his status as a prison release reoffender, Dykes must serve 15 of those years day-for-day.

Dykes robbed the bank within three years of being released from prison, according to the state attorney’s office.
Dykes entered the bank on Aug. 18, 2011, and demanded money at the counter. An employee hit a panic alert button to alert law enforcement.

No customers were in the bank at the time.

Dykes took money and raced off on a motorcycle. A witness told officers after they arrived that a man was driving a motorcycle erratically near the bank.

Dykes was captured later on Poplar Avenue after he abandoned the motorcycle and ran off.

He had $775 when he was caught. The bank reported that $780 had been stolen, and all the bills with recorded serial numbers were found with Dykes, the state attorney’s office said.

The bank teller and the witness positively identified Dykes in a lineup.

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