HNS REPORTS---SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
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CIVIL TRIAL BEGINS IN DUI DEATH OF 13-YEAR OLD
The survivors of a 13-year old who was killed by a drunken driver two and a half years ago began trying to convince a six-person jury to award them hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages on Tuesday. Shelby Hagman's mother and grandparents are suing the driver who caused the Ridge Manor collision that took the girl's life in April 2007. The defendant is Christopher Marcone, who was 25 at the time he hit a car containing the grandparents and Hagman at the intersection of Sherman Hills Boulevard and Park Ridge Drive. Marcone was later sentenced to 13 years in prison for DUI manslaughter and has not contested the liability issue, so that the trial that got underway Tuesday will focus solely on damages payable to the survivors, presumably from Marcone's insurance company.
COUNTY SEEKS PASCO FINANCIAL HELP FOR COUNTY LINE ROAD
Hamilton County Administrator David Hamilton says the County Line Road project needs better coordination with Pasco County, and commissioners and staff may need to talk to Pasco officials about moving the long-delaying road improvements along. Hamilton's comments came after County Engineer Charles Mixson told the County Board sitting as the Metropolitan Planning Organization that county staff has been asking for a Pasco financial commitment for years but that each time Pasco officials say they have other priorities for their funds. The administrator said some conversations are needed at the highest levels of the two counties to impress on Pasco the importance of their financial commitment to the County Line Road project, and that it should be more than paper promises. The two counties have an interlocal agreement for cost-sharing on the project, but as the cost has spiraled over $200 million, Pasco's contribution remains in the hundreds of thousands while Hernando and the FDOT have spent almost $100 million to date.
BUS CUTS TO ADD TO OTHER TRANSIT COSTS?
Brooksville Council member Lara Bradburn is also a member of the MPO for transportation planning, and she said Tuesday that she fears budget cuts for public transit will mean more spending for other transit services. Bradburn says cutting bus service in half will lead to more calls for para-Transit and transportation disadvantaged services which are funded separately from THE Bus. She questioned just how much will be saved by reducing the bus schedule so the public transit runs only once in two hours. Several speakers on the subject differed on transit priorities, with two decrying the expense of public transit in a county the size of Hernando, while others complained that cutting schedules would make bus service too inconvenient for its riders.
MPO STAFF DEFENDS FUNDING OF BIKE TRAIL PROJECT
In other action, the MPO went through five public hearings with no public input at all, as they re-aligned some spending priorities for long range transportation planning and defended use of federal stimulus money for resurfacing the Suncoast bike trail. The $1.2 million could only be used on ready-to -go projects, and the trail parallel to the Parkway was ten years old and in need of preventive maintenance. The action didn't make Brooksville representative Lara Bradburn happy, since she wanted to see stimulus money allocated to the Good Nieghbor Trail but was told it didn't meet the federal criteria because of a lack of right of way and ready-to-go plans.
CAR DEALER'S PROPERTIES IN $6 MILLION FORECLOSURE CASES
County clerk's records show two separate foreclosure suits have been filed against the owner of two local car dealerships that closed their doors this year. One of the suits says Leon Kreisler, his wife Denise, and their company, Hernando Suzuki, owes almost four million dollars now in default for the property on Cortez Boulevard at Wiscon that housed the now-defunct dealership. A separate Kreisler-controlled company also owned Hernando Mitsubishi on US 19, and the Bank of Florida Tampa Bay is suing for almost $2.2 million claimed in default for that property. According to the filings, Kreisler personally guaranteed the loans, which called for combined monthly payments of more than $10,000. The bank says no payments have been made since June, when the two dealerships suddenly closed.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS CANCELED PENDING COUNTY BOARD REVIEW
Druzbick Hernando County Commissioners may be ready to reconsider their controversial committee system. The October meetings of the Budget and Finance and Business and Economic Development Committees were canceled Monday. Business Development Director Mike McHugh told county administration staff that Business Committee Chairman John Druzbick "confirmed that we should cancel the meeting scheduled for 10/20 due to the BOCC discussion on the committees scheduled for 10/13." The committees were set up earlier this year after a brainstorming session with a facilitator. The committees caused citizen concern from the beginning, with several saying that the five-member County Board was elected to do the work and not to delegate it to committees of two commissioners and three citizens. One vacancy on the budget committee has gone unfilled since a resignation two months ago, and with confirmation that the committee system may be on the chopping block at the Board's October 13 meeting, it seems unlikely that position will be filled anytime soon.
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CIVIL TRIAL BEGINS IN DUI DEATH OF 13-YEAR OLD
The survivors of a 13-year old who was killed by a drunken driver two and a half years ago began trying to convince a six-person jury to award them hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages on Tuesday. Shelby Hagman's mother and grandparents are suing the driver who caused the Ridge Manor collision that took the girl's life in April 2007. The defendant is Christopher Marcone, who was 25 at the time he hit a car containing the grandparents and Hagman at the intersection of Sherman Hills Boulevard and Park Ridge Drive. Marcone was later sentenced to 13 years in prison for DUI manslaughter and has not contested the liability issue, so that the trial that got underway Tuesday will focus solely on damages payable to the survivors, presumably from Marcone's insurance company.
COUNTY SEEKS PASCO FINANCIAL HELP FOR COUNTY LINE ROAD
HamiltonBUS CUTS TO ADD TO OTHER TRANSIT COSTS?
MPO STAFF DEFENDS FUNDING OF BIKE TRAIL PROJECT
In other action, the MPO went through five public hearings with no public input at all, as they re-aligned some spending priorities for long range transportation planning and defended use of federal stimulus money for resurfacing the Suncoast bike trail. The $1.2 million could only be used on ready-to -go projects, and the trail parallel to the Parkway was ten years old and in need of preventive maintenance. The action didn't make Brooksville representative Lara Bradburn happy, since she wanted to see stimulus money allocated to the Good Nieghbor Trail but was told it didn't meet the federal criteria because of a lack of right of way and ready-to-go plans.
CAR DEALER'S PROPERTIES IN $6 MILLION FORECLOSURE CASES
COMMITTEE MEETINGS CANCELED PENDING COUNTY BOARD REVIEW
Druzbick
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