TAMPA - Law enforcement officers this morning were stopping drivers who weren’t wearing their seat belts at busy intersections to warn them of an upcoming change in the law. They were lucky, though. Instead of getting a citation that comes with the new law, they were given warnings.

Beginning June 30, officers will have the right to pull people over solely for not wearing a seat belt. Under the current law, officers could only pull over drivers suspected of other driving violations. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist in early May.

A citation comes with a $30 fine; $60 if a minor is unrestrained. Added to those fines is court costs, which in Hillsborough County is $71.

Cpl. Demetrios Antoniadis of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said he’ll have no problem writing the citations “because it is a violation of the law.”

“Some of us quite often forget that driving is not a right, it’s a privilege,” he said. “The law allow us to drive our vehicles as long as we play by the rules, and this is one of those rules that I feel strongly about because seat belts do save lives - they do work.”

The law is intended to reduce the number of injuries and deaths from car crashes.

According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, more than half the people killed in crashes each year are not wearing seat belts.

For some local drivers like commuter Jeff Stokes, today’s warnings were a good reminder of what he has heard at home.

“I think it’s a good law,” he said. “My wife tells me to put on my seat belt all the time. It’s a bad habit, and I’m going to start doing it.”

Drivers who have a note from their doctors that says they have a medical condition that causes the seat belt to be dangerous will not get a citation.

Article from: www.tbo.com

Three traffic crashes in Hillsborough County since Saturday have killed a man and a woman and left a man in critical condition, officials said.

A medical condition might have caused Joan Holda, 83, of Sun City Center, to careen off the northbound side of Pebble Creek Boulevard about 1 a.m. today, killing her, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.

Holda’s 2007 Toyota Camry struck several utility boxes and street signs, vaulted over a canal, landed on a sea wall, struck several palm trees and overturned, the sheriff’s office said. Holda was ejected from the car and died at Tampa General Hospital from her injuries. A 21-year-old Dover man was killed Monday night when his motorcycle crashed into the side of a minivan.

The accident happened at about 8:15 p.m. at White Cliff Place, between Durant Road and Brandon Boulevard, in Hillsborough County’s Dover area.

Deputies said Shane Burke, of 4731 Fietzway Road in Dover, was riding north on South Dover Road and had just passed a vehicle when his 2006 Honda motorcycle collided with the van.

Deputies say the 2001 Toyota Siena minivan was traveling south on the two-lane road and had just turned left at White Cliff Place when Burke’s motorcycle crashed into the van’s passenger side. Burke was thrown from the motorcycle and died at the scene.

The van’s driver, Rebecca Morton, 54, also of Dover, was transported to Tampa General Hospital along with two teenaged children who were traveling with her. All were treated for minor injuries and released. No charges were filed. An investigation is continuing.

The sheriff’s office said another motorcyclist, Martin Turner, 37, of Plant City, was in critical condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital after a crash in Plant City on Saturday.

Turner was eastbound on Lone Oak Road about 6:13 p.m. that day when he lost control of his 2004 Kawasaki and slid down the roadway, investigators said.

Article from www.tbo.com

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WASHINGTON — Seventeen-year-olds will soon be allowed to buy morning-after contraceptive pills without a doctor’s prescription after federal drug regulators complied with a judge’s order and lowered the age limit by a year.

The decision on Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration, which overturns one of the most controversial health rulings of the Bush administration, was scorned by abortion opponents and hailed by their abortion rights counterparts.

The long-running controversy involving Plan B has had more of a political impact than a public health one. The drug consists of two pills that can prevent conception if taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse, and is not related to RU-486, the abortion pill. Since 2006, when Plan B became widely available to women 18 and over without a prescription, it has had no measurable effect on the nation’s abortion or teenage pregnancy rates.

Like their older counterparts, 17-year-old women will now be able to go to almost any pharmacy, clinic or hospital and, after showing proof of age, buy Plan B without a prescription. Men 17 and older may also buy Plan B for a partner.

The agency’s decision came after Judge Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court in New York ruled last month in a highly unusual case that the agency’s decision to limit easy access to Plan B to those 18 and older was driven by politics, not science. He gave the agency 30 days to lower the age limit to 17.

In a brief statement, the F.D.A. said that it would not appeal Judge Korman’s order and that it had sent a letter to the drug’s manufacturer saying that the company “may, upon submission and approval of an appropriate application, market Plan B without a prescription to women 17 years of age and older.”

Denise Bradley, a spokeswoman for Teva Pharmaceuticals, a giant Israeli generic drug maker that manufactures Plan B, said in a statement that the company supported the agency’s decision and that it would “work closely with F.D.A. to ensure that all provisions of this decision are met.”

Contraception advocates hailed the news.

“Today’s announcement by the F.D.A. is a strong statement to American women that their health comes before politics,” said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a group that provides reproductive services, including abortions. “The U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy among the most developed countries in the world.”

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, a conservative advocacy organization, said the agency’s decision was driven by politics and a mistaken judicial decision. “Parents should be furious at the F.D.A.’s complete disregard for parental rights and the safety of minors,” Ms. Wright said.

Contraception advocates have pushed for easy access to Plan B for girls and women of all ages because the longer a woman delays in taking the medicine after unprotected sex, the more likely she will become pregnant. Eliminating doctors from the transactions, it was hoped, would lead to far fewer pregnancies and abortions.

Indeed, advocates once predicted that widespread and easy access to emergency contraceptives would cut the number of induced abortions in half and slash teenage birth rates.

But young people in the United States have so much unprotected sex — one in three girls under the age of 20 will get pregnant, with 80 percent of the pregnancies unplanned — that Plan B has been little more than a sandbag on an overtopped flood wall. Even women who are given the medicine free often fail to take it after having unprotected sex.

“This is not going to be a cheap cure to the unintended pregnancy epidemic in this country,” said James Trussell, director of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. “It’s very depressing.”

But while the promise of emergency contraceptives has been largely unrealized, so have the predictions of disaster. Abortion opponents said easier access to Plan B would lead women to have more unprotected sex and more abortions. There is no evidence that either has happened.

The debate surrounding the medicine is seen even by the pharmaceutical industry as having tarnished the F.D.A., and the Obama administration’s low-key change of the drug’s age limit was a typical effort to avoid becoming ensnared in a cultural controversy.

By contrast, the Bush administration delayed issuing a decision for three years and acted only after members of Congress threatened to block the confirmation of the next F.D.A. commissioner. The agency’s own scientists were united in supporting over-the-counter sales to those at least as young as 17, although staff members said in depositions that they were convinced that no amount of scientific evidence would have persuaded Bush administration appointees to approve such a decision.

Such “political considerations, delays and implausible justifications” showed that the agency had acted without good faith, Judge Korman wrote in his decision.

Article from: www.nytimes.com

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FDA News

FDA Alerts the Public to Uncle Chen and Lian How Brand Expanded Recall
Sauces, oils and oil blends, in addition to dry spices, may be contaminated with Salmonella

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting the public to the expanded, voluntary recall by Union International Food Company (Union City, Calif.) of sauces, oils, and oil blends sold under the Uncle Chen and Lian How brands.

The expanded recall is based on the investigation into the ongoing foodborne illness outbreak of Salmonella Rissen. It is in addition to the recall announced last month by the company of its dry spice products.

The sauces, oils, and oil blends being recalled were distributed under the Uncle Chen and Lian How brands to retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and restaurants in the states identified to date of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. The products were sold in containers ranging from 6 ounces to 1 gallon in plastic or glass bottles and are used, for example, as spices and seasonings for cooking and as table top meal seasonings.

A complete list of all of the products recalled by Union International Food Co. is available at: http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/unioninternational_list3.html

The company has stopped the production and distribution of these products as the FDA, the California Department of Public Health, and Union International Food Co. continue their investigations. To date, 57 cases of illness caused by Salmonella Rissen have been reported, mostly in the western region of the country.

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LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida sheriff says a potential crisis was averted when a deputy found out that a high school student brought a loaded gun to school.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says the school resource deputy at Lakeland’s Kathleen High School acted on a tip and found the loaded .32-caliber revolver in a student’s book bag Wednesday morning.

Authorities said the 16-year-old boy admitted he brought the gun to school because of a dispute with another boy. The book bag was hidden in another classroom and was found during a search.

The student was arrested and charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property.

Article from: Associated Press

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PINELLAS COUNTY — The victim in a car crash in Safety Harbor will never walk again, says his sister. Andrew Hall, 18, has cerebral palsy. The crash severed one of his legs.

“His whole entire life he strived to overcome his cerebral palsy, live with it,” said Tina Hall. “He’s had over five surgeries to be able to walk and for something like this to happen to my brother, it’s hard. It really is.”

Hall was waiting outside his apartment in Safety Harbor, when an out of control car drove on the sidewalk and hit him. Besides his severed leg, he has broken arms and a broken pelvis.

His family is having a hard time dealing with everything.

“To know he’s in the hospital right now with one leg and will never be able to walk again,” Hall said.

Deputies believe the driver was 24-year-old Joshua West. He’s hospitalized but isn’t cooperating with deputies.They say he and the other man in the car, 24-year-old Douglas Zeiglar, are pointing the finger at each other.

Bay News 9 has learned the car belonged to West’s girlfriend and he has five previous arrests, including DUI and cocaine possession.

Deputies believe alcohol was involved.

“I hope he sits and rots in prison for the rest of his life,” Hall said. “And I hope people around know this is what happens to people who drive drunk.”

For now, the focus is on Hall’s recovery and everyone is rooting for him, including his former weightlifting coach at Hudson High School. He says Hall has never given up before.

“We’re hoping he can pull through and make the best out of this,” said Tim White. “Andrew is that kind of kid that will never stop fighting.”

Family say they’ve used more than 30-units of blood at the hospital to save him. They are also asking people to donate blood at a local blood bank in his name so that it can be used if he needs more.

The crash is under investigation. No charges have been filed

Article taken from: www.baynews9.com

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Homosassa, Florida - Florida Highway Patrol is looking for the vehicle that hit and killed a man on a bicycle. According to WTSP, troopers say Guy Leslie Ketelhut was hit on Homosassa Trail west of Rock Crusher Road around 9:45 Tuesday night.

The 46-year-old man died at Tampa General Hospital. Troopers believe Ketelhut was going west on Homosassa Trail when the vehicle hit him from behind.

Troopers says there were no witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to call Trooper Tod Cloud at 352-754-6767 extension 151.  Florida Highway Patrol

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Tampa, Florida - Friends who last saw Tina Harrison say she had her life in order. Al Chisholm says that just a few days ago she explained that she’d been putting off signing some important life insurance papers, but felt compelled to get it taken care of. She did.

Chisholm is the band leader of On Que Players. He performs with the band that’s been around since 1987. He’s known Tina, who went by the stage name Tina Lad’e, for years because they attend the same church together. He says Tina’s father is a minister at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Clearwater. Tina was the choir director there.Monday night, Chisholm and other members of the band gathered together at his home in a state of disbelief, watching some of their recent performances together. He says, “You go back to rewind and it’s just, like, wow. You have to say, ‘I thank God for the times because we know time is His.’”Tina was at a stoplight at the intersection of Dale Mabry Highway and Mapledale Boulevard early Sunday morning. Florida Highway Patrol says 25-year-old Ryan Carll was driving 70 miles an hour when he slammed into the back of her car. Troopers say he had alcohol and drugs in his system.

 Tina’s passenger, LaChan Knowles, was injured. Knowles’ company represents Tina. Tina was killed in the crash. Sherri Vaughn has been shooting pictures and video for the band for the past four months. She says she shot the last images of Tina when the band performed at The Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel. She says Tina wanted to make sure the audience was getting into the performance and enjoying themselves.

 Vaughn says, “She gave her all in every song.” Chisholm says they’ve had several vocalists over the years but no one like Tina.Jim Null, who’s a Bass player with the band, says, “She had zero attitude. She was classy and never acted like a diva.”He believes she’s the reason why they’ve had so many more bookings recently, despite the slow economy. The band is booked to play at MJ’s Martini Jazz & Tapas Lounge, located at 445 99th Avenue North in St. Petersburg, in May, June and July, but now they’ll have to play without their lead singer.

 Bruce Turner, the general manager of MJ’s, says Tina was talented and mesmerized the audience. “You felt her presence when she was singing in your soul.”Turner was visibly shaken at the news of her death. He says as the news spreads, her fans are going to be just as devastated.
“It’s going to be very sad.” Tina Harrison’s viewing is going to be held on Friday, April 10th. Her funeral will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m. on April 11th at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, which is located at 1182 Brownell Street in Clearwater. The church’s phone number is 727-461-7524.

 Tina leaves behind three children and one grandchild. On Wednesday, April 15th, there’s a special music tribute in her honor at the Hip Hop Soda Shop, located at 1241 East Fowler Avenue in Tampa, at 7 p.m.Ryan Carll has been arrested numerous times. In 2006 he was arrested for DUI. In 2007 he was arrested for reckless driving and disorderly conduct. A year later he was arrested for (battery) domestic violence, possession of cocaine and cannabis and reckless driving.In this case he is charged with vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=103635