Only in Florida minute for April 25th, 2014

Florida woman calls police over sun halo in the sky

     The residents of Tampa were treated last week to a sun halo. A sun halo is a when the light from the sun is refracted by the ice crystals of very high clouds, making sometimes a darker patch of sky around the sun with a rainbow ring at its edge. While most simply enjoyed the view, a Tampa woman panicked, ran to a bus station and called 911.

     "This has never happened before in Tampa, Fla. Please go outside and look up in the sky and look at this weird object," she said pleadingly. "It's a big dark circle and it's all the way around and it has never been in the United States of America. Never, ever."

     I love the confidence of this woman. Not content to stop with the city, she brings the entire country into it. As it turns out, sun halos are not that rare of an event. The 911 dispatcher is recorded promising the woman that she would send an officer to her location to check it out. The woman was apparently confused why they would send someone to her, told the dispatcher that it could be seen from anywhere.

GOP Lawmaker Arrested After He Allegedly Ran A Red Light Leaving Taco Bell Drunk 

     A Florida lawmaker's early morning taco run was cut a bit short when he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence around 2 a.m. Monday morning.

     Rep. Dane Eagle (R) was taken into custody after officers saw him nearly hit one curb, then veer into another after running a red light. Eagle's eyes appeared to be bloodshot and offices claimed they could smell alcohol on his breath. Eagle refuted the last claim, saying the smell was not from him, but from some friends who had been to a bar and had ridden with him earlier.

     Eagle refused to take a sobriety test, telling the officers that he was good to go home on his own, despite stumbling out of his car after the officers pulled him over. Eagle was taken to jail, but he was not there long. He made it back to the statehouse to vote on an issue Monday afternoon.

     Tuesday, Eagle released a written statement saying, "While there are some decisions that I would have made differently, I do not believe there is a complete and accurate picture of the events,". Eagle continued by saying, "Under advice of my legal counsel, I cannot discuss all the details right now, but I look forward to publically (sic) sharing the entire story at an appropriate time. Until then, I humbly ask for everyone's patience. I know that I am accountable for my actions, and I look forward to communicating with my constituents in the near future on this matter."

     Hands up, how many people think he really looks forward to talking about this with his constituents in the near future? Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Only in Florida 7/29/2013

     Airports have become some of the most secure places on the planet. If you ever want or need to be placed in police custody quickly, try acting weird or carrying around a suspicious looking package at an airport. With this being the case, it is no wonder that officials at the Opa-locka Executive Airport were concerned when they were informed that an anonymous tip indicated that there was a radioactive 55 gallon drum in one of their maintenance areas.

     After verifying that the tip was true, Police and firefighters sealed off the area and shut down the airport as radiation meters at first indicated that the uranium could be leaking. The drum, which was filled with radioactive and nonradioactive airplane parts, was near a plane that was being disassembled.

     The airport, which did not have the resources to handle such a situation, had to call in the hazardous-response team from Miami International Airport for assistance. After a few hours, the area was declared safe, but neither the fire department, nor the hazmat crew had the resources to dispose of the radioactive material. With no where else to turn, officials called the EPA, and left the clean up and disposal of the materials to the local Department of Environmental Protection. They in turn had to start searching for a contractor who could safely remove and dispose of the material.

     While no one was injured and the site is being cleaned, the question still remains, where did the uranium come from? As it turns out, many older model planes used it to balance the plane while it was flying, as well as for some navigational purposes. Someone took these parts off an older model plane, and then, apparently because the cost to properly dispose of it would have been too high, mixed them in with some other parts. From the article, it appeared that no one wanted to take the blame for what happened, with each person passing the blame down the line. While we may never know exactly who did it, at least the mess is being properly disposed of.


Other news in brief:

Police: Man chokes teen over middle finger - If you flick someone off and they start to follow you, for the love of all that is holy, don't stop!

Man tells lawmen his drinking buddy punched him, breaking his hearing aid - That will show him.

Woman arrested for DUI after police find her asleep behind the wheel in Abacoa - She had her child, her cat, and a partridge in a pear tree in the car with her.