Me: I was blogging about a Vanity Fair writer named James Wolcott. He rooted for the hurricanes.
Mr. Cracker: Lots of people root for the Hurricanes.
Me: No. He rooted for the hurricanes to smash Florida.
Mr. Cracker: That might happen. They're playing today.
Decorating maven, and current stripey-hole resident Martha Stewart has lost the big "Peace on Earth" prison decorating contest. Her ceiling-mounted, hand-crafted paper cranes were beaten out by a nativity scene.
No word on whether Stewart will be filing a complaint with the ACLU.
On her loss, Stewart was quoted as saying, "Clearly the concept of paper cranes symbolizing peace was over their heads. Bitches."
Through faith and quick thinking, a minister in Sri Lanka saved the children and staff of his orphanage. With the wave coming straight at them, he crowded them all onto a little outboard boat and headed out of a lagoon and into the sea.
They all survived. The orphanage was destroyed.
UPDATE:
His sister has vowed to help him rebuild.
Some of my faves culled from roanoke.com via F.R.:
You think that protestors outside nuclear power plants are dedicated activists, but protestors outside abortion clinics are dangerous zealots interfering with a legal activity.
You believe that even though the top 20 percent of taxpayers pay 80 percent of income taxes, that the rich are not paying their “fair share.”
You believe in global warming today just as firmly as you believed in global cooling back in the 1970s.
You mentally subtract 100 points from someone’s IQ if the person speaks with a Southern accent.
You are dedicated to helping the poor, the downtrodden and the less fortunate, but you have never given blood.
You have no problem with Hollywood movie stars flying around in private jets to give speeches on the evils of SUVs.
You deplore prejudice and bigotry in all its forms, but think that everyone in the “red states” is an idiot.
You are worried about how the French view Americans.
You believe that nativity scenes should be banned from public view, but that anyone objecting to pornography “only has to look the other way.”
I'll add one to the list:
From your Manhattan apartment, you root for hurricanes to kill Americans, but criticize President Bush for not showing empathy enough to suit you toward tsunami victims in Asia.
Rossi and Yanukovich: Show some character and just let it go, huh?
UPDATE:
Revote Washington is online for all you Evergreen-Staters.
Almost every time I check his site, I'm reminded what a bottom-feeder Matt Drudge is. His headline for today is "Fight Over Noodles!' It comes from a single line in an article from Banda Aceh, a town in Indonesia that experienced the full force of both the earthquake and the tsunami.
It goes without saying that in an absolutely desperate situation, people will fight over food. We would fight over noodles, or potatoes, or turnips. We'd fight over anything edible.
This disaster carries a million stories of human drama. It has no need to be "sexed-up" with sensationalism.
Drudge has repeatedly exploited horror and tragedy for his own gain. Despite his pretentions, he's not a journalist. He's not a blogger, either. He's not even a decent man. He's just a ghoul with a website.
Whatcha doing all the way down there, Duane?
Wail on, Skydog!
Yushchenko has won the election.
The election commision won't declare him the official winner, however, until all appeals have been heard. His opponent, Yanukovich, has vowed to challenge the results.
Meanwhile, in Tennessee, Tipper Gore said Al had a "real bad night" last night.
Someone who's been strangely MIA during this whole election is Jimmy Carter. I thought no election anywhere in the world was legit until Jimmy said so.
I'm giving through Save the Children, which has a four-star charity rating, and the Southern Baptist Mission Board.
Those of you wishing to donate can find a more complete list at the Command Post, and Tim Blair has a good list of links, as well.
Say a prayer for them too, please.
It's odd that all the relief agencies are sending clothing, as Teresa Kerry was very clear that disaster victims should go naked for a while.
That nitwit could have been our First Lady.
If Malkin's going to keep posting about her Roomba, I'm going to have to mention ours. We have a Roomba Discovery.
When I lifted up the bedskirt and saw Roomba under there, vacuuming away, I about swooned. The caves of Tora Bora get vacuumed more frequently than that place does. Also, it goes along the baseboards putting its little arm out, scooping up stuff- in our case, dog hair, in Michael Moore's case, dried-up Hot-to-Go burrito beans and sausage casings.
First they invented the Swiffer, now the Roomba. If they could make one of those pool crawlers that work in bathtubs, I'd be all set.
America rocks:
Love it, hate it, embrace it, deny it, American power, American influence and American values are the defining features of today's interconnected world.
Questions of an American "empire" — whether we have one, whether we want one, whether we can afford or keep one — aren't just the white-hot topic of the day among statesmen and political scientists.
The world really is becoming more "American."
I was never so thrilled as when I walked into the crowd at the Philadelphia airport after three years of being overseas. Seeing hundreds of sneaker-clad feet meant I was home.
The world will always want what our Founding Fathers built for us. It's not our pop-culture exports that matter, but the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that we offer the world. These resonate with every human being of good will.
What's that peeking out of Vanity Fair writer James Wolcott's Christmas stocking? A shiny new tsunami!
If 7,000 despoilers of Mother Earth getting their due doesn't call for a fine cigar chez Wolcott, then nothing does.
If you're going to blog about work, you need to more cautious than St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Daniel Finney. Even though he used a pseudonym on his blog "Rage, Anguish and Other Bad Craziness in St. Louis," it was pretty easy for the suits to figure out which of their staff writers it was that was dishing the dirt:
"In another entry he poked fun at the subjects of the Post's annual '100 Neediest Cases' feature: 'The bottom line is that there are a lot of poor people who need stuff. It is a worthy cause. And, at some level, I feel sorry for these people. But at another level, one in which your friend Crazy Roland is much more in touch with, I must admit I feel as if a good number of these needy cases could be avoided by a well-placed prophylactic.
"Six days later, a '100 Neediest Cases' installment carried Finney's byline."
Newspaper management seized his hard drive and suspended him from his job. On the bright side, he now has a lot more time to blog opinion columns from home, and he won't have to change out of his pajamas.
UPDATE:
Diane of Respublica has more.
from
Florida Cracker
Thanks so much to everyone who donated to those causes this year that moved my heart:
* The fund for the children of Lee County's Captain Daniel Eggers.
* The memorial fund for murdered Southern Baptist workers Larry and Jean Elliott.
*Hurricane disaster relief for the people of Florida and for our animals.
*Phone cards for the troops.
While I don't know everyone who contributed, I do know some, and I especially want to thank Paul of Paul and Carl's Daily Diatribe for giving again and again to disaster relief efforts for Florida's animals. They don't know to whom they are indebted, but I do. So, thanks, Paul.
And thanks again to everyone else who took action. Y'all rock.
Even sock monkey actors can't detract from the coolness of The Big Lebowski.
A middle-schooler was bounced from the school "holiday" dance in New Hampshire for wearing a Santa Claus outfit. His little friend was wearing an elf hat. No word on his fate as of yet.
Said the principal:
"It was a holiday party. It was not a Christmas party. There is a separation of church and state. We have a lot of students that go to Hampton Academy Junior High that have different religions. We have to be sensitive to that."
Santa needs to bring that school a new administrator for Christmas.
In Saudi Arabia the religious police try as hard as they can to stamp out Christmas. The word can't be mentioned, and even private celebrations have to be done on the sly.
When I was there, a fellow soldier was passing around a cassette tape of Beach Boys Christmas music he'd purchased in town. We were cracking up because the track listings were for the songs "Blue Winter," "I'll Be Home For Winter," etc. I asked "What? Does seeing the word 'Christmas' burn their retinas?"
It was kind of like being in Macy's, only without the hypocrisy of a big "After Christmas" sale.
I think it's a lovely dress. I'm as proud of my heritage as you are of yours.
Oops. I meant I'm Confederate on both sides and I'd cut my throat about it right now, but I've simply got too many chores to do around the plantation.
Clips from "Zahra's Blue Eyes", a new Iranian TV series about the Jews stealing body parts from Palestinian children, especially... their eyes! Is there nothing too depraved for the Zionists?
I made it into Tim Blair's year-end quotes. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't for "Wail on, Skydog!"
What a nice present. Thanks, Tim.
A five-year-old Arcadia boy is charged with gathering the family's drinking water at a Hurricane Charley relief point.
August 17, 2004
According to the AP poll, after the election and Iraq, the biggest news story of the year was the four hurricanes that hit Florida in a six-week period of time. It made me sad when bloggers I admire didn't think our being smashed to hell even rated a mention when it was going on. Let's see how we fare in the end-of-the-year wrap-ups.
Bitter? Just a tad. This was life or death for my people and the big blog news was Jessica Cutler.
Here's a promo pic from the first ABB album.
It was taken at the Rose Hill Cemetery, where two of these boys now rest forever.
Wail on, Skydog!
I've never wanted a pool. Having one out back is considered yankeefied. Reading this article, though, makes me wish I had one for my dog Lilly to enjoy. It would help her build up her withered hindquarters without stress on her back and hips.
I can't get this creepy workplace story from Hell in a Handbasket out of my mind.
I have a co-worker who's not strange at all. In fact, he's quite bright and personable. He has more stories of strange co-workers than one person should really have, though, as people tend to tell him too much.
One co-worker he had was a woman who'd been born without a vagina. She had to have one installed when she was twelve. She had no hightened sense of compassion for the misfortunes of others, however, and whenever she'd make fun of someone, which was frequently, he'd think, "Who are you to talk? They had to build you a vagina!"
Talk about being shallow.
(Via Pious Agnostic.)
UPDATE:
The co-workers of Paul, of Sanity's Edge, aren't strange- they're just pigs. And there's only one thing worse than being a pig.
Here's a jolly Pakistani who's making all the small PC forest animals twitch their whiskers and quiver.
Liberal Larry ponders the Stinnett case:
Yes, I know the fetus has cute little "baby hands" with cute little "baby fingers" and makes cute little "baby noises", but that doesn't make it any more human than a baby-shaped intestinal parasite. Furthermore, I don't recall this fetus being "born", nor have I read anything remotely hinting that the host organism wanted it to be. She could have been on her way to the abortion clinic for all we know. So lacking a physical birth or any sort of written documentation certifying an intent to carry the pregnancy to term, we must protect a Woman's Right to Choose and err on the side of inhumanity. It's a FETUS, and will remain one until the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals says otherwise.
The Amber Alert people must have felt the same way. The sheriff had to get his Congressman to intervene to get the alert issued:
"Because of the fact that this was a fetus, it didn't meet the criteria (for an Alert) initially," said [Sgt. Sheldon] Lyon [of the Missouri Highway Patrol].
The same Congressman is planning to introduce legislation to modify the Alert system to include those things that grow in the womb and which sometimes get stolen by crazy ladies.
Here's something for my fellow dog-lovers. Have a nice cry- The Greeks would tell you to go for it; it's good for you.
So. Did the author of this story commit an actual crime or not?
And for those of you who haven't seen it yet, here's an updated link to the online video of Carolyn Scott and Rookie, the canine world's John Travolta. Underneath the video box is a link for viewing an even larger version of the same vid.
Why are people surprised when Ana Marie Cox says something she's said a hundred times before?
She's always looked down on blogging, bloggers, and blog-readers.
Why throw yourselves at her head? She's been as clear as she possibly could be. She's just not that into you.
If Time can do it, so can I.
The person who most inspired me this year is a Lakeland boy named Zachary Howlett who knows that good wishes alone just don't cut it. He backed up his pity for the people of Charley-devastated Wauchula with a whole lot of hard work. He's a good kid who'll grow up to be a good man. He's the very best of Florida.
"If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, and you say to him, `Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,' and then don't give him clothes or food, what good does that do?"
-James 2:12
As a legacy of Hurricane Charley, an artificial village has sprung up outside of Punta Gorda. This is Femaville, population 1000.
In the grassy field where eight-year-old Bobby Pruitt, left homeless by Charley, waited to find out if his family would have to evacuate their FEMA trailer to get clear of the path of Hurricane Ivan, there are now named roads of crushed shell.
These months later, Christmas has come to Femaville, and it's time to decorate:
You decorate your yard
And you string up your lights
This lady is out-Christmasing her neighbors
Mrs. Robertson has her little tree all decorated, and a wreath on the door too
James Williams has nailed a pine branch to the wall, calling it his Christmas Tree
A little girl arranges shells from the street on her decorated porch
The decorations are small, but they are numerous. Some come from unexpected sources: a man who had lost his home to Charley, but was now back on his feet, drove into the village with $1,200-worth of Christmas lights he had purchased for the people of Femaville.
I think the Christmas spirit and the human spirit have a whole lot in common. They both help us rise above.
George W. Bush, American Revolutionary:
For sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years, George W. Bush is TIME's 2004 Person of the Year
Today we took the dogs over to Vista View Park, alias the Davie Landfill. It's an 160-acre dump that they covered and turned into a park. It has a view in an otherwise naturally flat Florida, because of its wild and untamed peaks of covered-over debris. Here and there there are vents to let the garbage gasses escape. Hiking the park was a rush because periodically and unexpectedly we'd walk into a god-awful stench. It reminded me of the Fire Swamp in "The Princess Bride."
Shiloh tried to lead Lilly down to the lake in the center area. We overheard her saying "Alligator rides are just a buck, Lil!" Although we could tell Lilly wanted to punish Shiloh for boisterous behavior and other infractions of that Draconian code of conduct Lilly adheres to, this was the farthest she's ever walked in her life and she was simply too tired.
The new Barney Christmas movie is up over at the Whitehouse site. My favorite part: Karl Rove removing all the blue ornaments from the Christmas tree and replacing them with red ones.
Some Brevard County elementary schoolers got some inmate interaction right out of Scared Straight when their tour of the local stripey-hole veered off into the inmates' housing unit. When the convicts started jeering and catcalling the little munchkins, the helpful tour guide put his hands on the shoulders of one boy and asked them if this was the one they wanted.
Naturally, the incident is being investigated.
I'm very sorry to hear that the Nazi Gestapo, unemployed since the fall of the Third Reich, are once again plying their special brand of law enforcement, this time in Fayette County, Georgia, of all places.
One brave mother called them by their true name and attempted to fight them as they were dragging away her son, the burglarizing and dope-possessing grandson of a former President, from the family home to which he had fled after being discovered in a neighbor's house ripping off their X-box.
Unable to letter in playing guitar and partying, Duane's enthusiasm for high school waned.
Wail on, Skydog!
A cold weather emergency has been declared in Broward County as the temperatures will be down in the 40's tonight. People are being warned that if they must venture out, to cover all exposed skin, dress in several layers of clothing, and wear a hat. Emergency shelters are being opened for those without heaters.
We're praying we'll make it through to Spring.
If you want to commit suicide by plunging your car off a parking garage, remember not to buckle up.
It's like jumping off a bridge wearing a life-preserver.
The would-be suicider's family couldn't be reached for comment.
One year ago today they found something nasty in a spider hole.
Local boy Val Prieto and his Babalu blog made into the Sun-Sentinel in a story about Che Guevara merchandise. It would have been nice if they'd provided a link to the blog in their online edition. This newfangled Internet stuff is tough on the mainstream media.
Congrats to Val for helping to try to give a flying dropkick to the memory of Che. Guevara was a thug, not James Dean.
Bill of INDC Journal is in a WAPO article giving tips on how to have a successful blog. He suggests providing material that is unique somehow. I agree with him completely. That's why I have lighthearted posts about my dogs' bowels and post a weekly pic of a slide-guitarist who died in 1971. Absolutely no one else is doing this and now I have a readership in the hundreds.
A doctor has determined that Michael Moore was not poisoned with Dioxin.
(Via Country Store.)
Lilly is doing much better. Her EPI test came back with great numbers, and we're looking at something with similar symptoms called Giardia. That made Shiloh perk up her ears, as she heard "LaGuardia" and thought Lilly was going on a trip.
Years ago when we first got Shiloh, she had an unfortunate habit, which was bedwetting. She was an adult dog, and we housebroke her, but she had that one problem, and it was purely psychological, as it's against canine nature to soil their nest. Experts say it's a poorly understood behavior, and may have to do with stress-relief. She'd get on the bed, make eye-contact with us, and pee. It was a joyful time for us.
Thank goodness that ended years ago. Only now it's returned, after a fashion.
As the new and still as yet unloved-by-Mr.-Cracker dog, Lilly is kept off the master bed. We've experimented three times having both dogs together with us on this bed. Twice Shiloh has peed on it. I guess the other time she was on empty. The guest bed is far too high for crippled Lilly to jump up on. Only Shiloh can get up there.
Is Shiloh sending a message about territory or is she relieving her stress? If she had thumbs would she shoot Lilly with a .38 or would she be chugging Jack Daniels and popping Valium? The canine mind is so fascinating.
We've halted any further experiments for the time-being.
The first U.S. commercial flight to Vietnam in thirty years arrived in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday carrying plague in the form of David Hasselhoff.
It's payback time, you little bastards.
The Germans sent Lenin to Russia in a sealed railroad car, we send Hasselhoff.
Actually, it's been a while since David brought down the Berlin Wall, and he's itching to topple another communist regime. With his music, he'll be conquering Vietnamese "charts and minds" in no time.
Blogger DGCI, an air-traffic controller by trade, relays a three-way radio exchange he had with a civilian plane and a B-52 Bomber.
(Via Speed of Thought.)
No matter the forces ranged against him, Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko remains single-minded in his focus
Brains...yaaarghhh...
The Cell Dogs program really seems to have taken off all over the country. What happens is that carefully-screened inmates are taught about dogs and how to train them, then a group of Animal Control dogs are brought in to live with them 24/7 and learn commands. It helps make death row dogs adoptable, and it gives the inmates something healthy and positive to do. After two months, the dogs take an obediance test and graduate from the program. Karen Feldman, the reporter who wrote about my Lilly, gives an in-depth look at the first batch that went through the program at the Lee County Stockade.
I think what this gunman did was a form of suicide. He did everything he could to force the police's hand.
Taken by an amateur photog. The guy in the black shirt is the unarmed off-duty deputy who'd been trailing the gunman. Agent Merrill still has his gun trained on the suspect as he calls for aid.
---
Gunman was in trouble with law
The man who was shot dead by an off-duty agent in St. Petersburg was facing drug charges.
ST. PETERSBURG - William Gearhart knew police were looking for him.
A registered sexual predator, Gearhart wasn't allowed to move without notifying the state. But he had left the house he shared with his girlfriend in early November and police were searching for him. A court date loomed on drug charges.
On Nov. 21, he showed up at his girlfriend's and threatened to cut off her head and kill himself.
"He said he has nothing to live for because he is going to court," the woman, April Einwalter, wrote in seeking a restraining order. "He told me to tell his kids that he is sorry and goodbye ... He then spit on me and said he was going down soon."
On Saturday, he stole his sister's car and swiped a .22-caliber gun from a friend's home, waving it in the friend's face.
The downward spiral ended Tuesday evening near a busy intersection, when Gearhart threatened drivers with a gun and was shot dead by an off-duty state tobacco and alcohol agent.
Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said it is not clear what motivated Gearhart's behavior Tuesday night. He suggested the autopsy might be "telling."
Gearhart had in his possession seven pieces of crack cocaine, a crack pipe, drug paraphernalia, three .22-caliber bullets, three packs of cigarettes and a small bottle of Jack Daniels.
The events Tuesday began about 5:30 p.m. when Gearhart, 46, sideswiped a Honda on Park Street near Tyrone Boulevard. He left his car and tried to break into others in a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot and had a confrontation with an off-duty detention deputy. He waved his gun and tried to commandeer cars from drivers.
David E. Merrill, 42, an agent for the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, saw Gearhart in the parking lot, banging on the window of a car with a gun.
His wife and two children, ages 10 and 14, were in his minivan with him when he swerved into the parking lot to confront Gearhart.
According to sheriff's officials, Gearhart pointed a .22-caliber revolver at Merrill and fired one shot at the agent. The agent returned fire, striking Gearhart in the chest. Because the exchange of fire was almost simultaneous, Merrill was not able to identify himself as a law enforcement officer, officials said.
"When he saw the gun, he knew he had to do something," said Bill Foster, St. Petersburg City Council chairman, who is a friend of Merrill's as well as his attorney. "His training immediately kicked in. He didn't even think."
Merrill was unhurt; Gearhart collapsed and died within the hour at St. Petersburg General Hospital.
Merrill has been placed on paid administrative leave from his job as an agent. It's an indefinite leave that will last a minimum of three days.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is interviewing about 20 witnesses and will complete an investigation and forward it to the State Attorney's Office, McMullen said.
"But on the face right now, from what we're seeing ... it appears the agent was justified in his actions based on the threat the subject presented," McMullen said.
Foster said he knows Merrill from Starkey Road Baptist Church, which they both attend.
"He's a very devout Christian," Foster said. "He believes he was there for a reason, that he was put in the right place at the right time."
Gearhart, who worked for a Seminole septic and sewer company, had been charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia in August and he faced a court date Monday.
Gearhart's uncle, John Robbins, who lives across the street from Gearhart's home, said his nephew had gotten involved in drugs and was unable to break his addiction.
"He just got off on the wrong track," he said, speaking from his doorway. "And he went the wrong way."
Robbins said he spent Tuesday night with relatives.
"They're all upset," he said, pausing. "They all had an opportunity to help him and they tried, but it didn't work."
Several neighbors said Wednesday that Gearhart had changed dramatically in recent months. They described how he transformed from a friendly man with whom they would exchange jokes into someone who became aloof, keeping odd hours and disappearing for stretches of time. They attributed it to a breakup with Einwalter and using drugs. Einwalter, 28, could not be reached for comment.
"He got real strange," said Cheryl Perry, a school bus driver, who lives across the street. "Six months ago, I wouldn't have thought anything like this would have happened."
In his better days, Gearhart was a "man's man" with a perpetual smile and a big sense of humor, said a longtime friend, Al Whitlock. Gearhart loved to cook, and even recently showed up at friends' houses with a batch of baby back ribs or chicken and yellow rice for dinner, said 51-year-old Whitlock, who grew up with Gearhart off Starkey Road.
The drugs were wasting Gearhart's muscular 240-pound frame, and kept him awake for days in a hopeless, paranoid state, Whitlock said.
So much had gone wrong, Whitlock said, that Gearhart didn't know how to find his way back.
"He was in a desperate situation," Whitlock said. "He'd been up for days, smoking crack, the cops were onto him."
Gearhart stopped by Whitlock's apartment early Monday morning with an unloaded gun and disheveled clothes. Whitlock gave him a new outfit, and had the sense that something bad was going to happen.
"Once the snowball started rolling, everything went to hell," Whitlock said. "That's what crack does to you.
Still, Whitlock said: "He was a good guy. I'm going to miss him."
Gearhart had an extensive criminal background dating back to 1978, when he was convicted on a charge of armed robbery.
In 1994, Gearhart was charged with sexual and aggravated battery. He served two years in prison and was released on probation in 1996, according to the state Department of Corrections. His probation ended Jan. 31, 2001, but he was registered as a sexual predator in 1997.
The best part of my online day today was reading Liberal Larry. Just start at the top of the page and work your way down. Don't rush. This is good stuff.
The St. Pete Times has a dramatic and well-written story about a gunman on a drug-fueled rampage. An off-duty agent with the Department of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, the guys who nab clerks for selling cigarettes to minors, was Christmas shopping with his wife and kids and had to take the mad dog down.
---
Gunman shot after threatening drivers
The 46-year-old Largo man pounded on passing cars before trading shots with an off-duty agent in St. Petersburg. He died.
JAMIE THOMPSON
Published December 8, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - It started as a simple fender-bender in the middle of rush-hour traffic.
But the driver left his maroon station wagon on busy Park Street. Then he walked to a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot and tried to steal another car, authorities said.
An off-duty Pinellas detention deputy confronted him.
"Back off!" said the driver, 46-year-old William E. Gearhart, pulling a gun on the deputy.
Gearhart returned to Park Street and began wildly waving his small gun and banging on several passing cars, ordering them to stop. The cars swerved and kept driving.
"He was absolutely crazy," said witness Helen Ibbitson.
A state alcohol and tobacco agent, pulling out of Wal-Mart parking lot with his family, noticed the commotion and got out of his minivan. Armed with a handgun, the agent ordered Gearhart to stop. He didn't, witnesses said.
Both men fired. Gearhart collapsed on the pavement, a hole in his torso. He died within the hour at St. Petersburg General Hospital, authorities said. The agent, David E. Merrill, 42, was not injured.
Dozens of drivers got out of their cars at the congested intersection, wondering what had happened, fearing more gunshots would follow.
"We thought someone was playing a practical joke," said 42-year-old Leslie Hughes, who watched from her car on Park Street and was still shaking an hour after the incident.
Gearhart, of Largo, had a criminal history dating back to 1977, and faced charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and sexual battery, authorities said.
After the incident, several people wept near the crime scene tape, telling witnesses they knew Gearhart and that he had been on a drug binge.
The incident unfolded just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, as hundreds of Christmas shoppers filled the Lighthouse Crossings shopping center near Tyrone Boulevard and Park Street.
Gearhart was traveling north on Park Street in a maroon Chevrolet Cavalier when he sideswiped a Honda driven by a St. Petersburg woman, ripping off her side mirror, authorities said.
The off-duty detention deputy saw the crash and watched Gearhart walk away.
The deputy, 24-year-old Thomas Akin, parked his car and followed Gearhart into the shopping center parking lot. Dressed in a Sheriff's Office T-shirt, the deputy told Gearhart he needed to go back to the crash scene, according to Marianne Pasha, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.
Gearhart ignored the deputy and tried to break into several unoccupied cars on the southwest corner of the parking lot, outside a Subway and Fantastic Sams.
Akin again confronted Gearhart, who pulled out a gun and told him to back off. The unarmed deputy obliged, but followed from afar as Gearhart walked into traffic on Park Street.
Ibbitson, 41, a witness, was returning home from her nursing job in Clearwater when she heard Gearhart shouting at cars traveling north and south on Park Street: "Get out of the car!"
She saw Gearhart holding something black in his hand as he began banging on cars. Drivers swerved and kept going.
Merrill, a veteran agent with the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, was pulling out of the Wal-Mart parking lot in his gold minivan with his wife and two children. He got out of his car and repeatedly shouted at Gearhart to drop his gun, witnesses said.
Gearhart pointed his gun at Merrill and fired one shot, which did not hit Merrill, authorities said. Merrill also fired, and Gearhart collapsed on the ground, witnesses said.
"Whoever he was, that man was a good mark," Ibbitson said. "He shot him right in the chest, there was blood everywhere."
Authorities did not say late Tuesday how many times Merrill fired.
Ibbitson drove around the intersection, heading to see if she could help administer CPR.
She, and other drivers, were confused, as the agent wasn't wearing a uniform. Initially, they didn't know who was the bad guy.
Drivers pulled out their cell phones and began dialing 911, including Hughes, a Tierra Verde woman who had just dropped off her 9-year-old at cheerleading.
She thought the gunfire was firecrackers, but started shaking when she saw the man lying dead on the ground. She called 911, but was so upset she dialed the wrong number.
"Cars were veering and swerving, then everybody stopped to see what was happening," she said. "You're not used to hearing gunfire around here. I thought I might be next."
Authorities remained at the scene late Tuesday, still trying to unravel the details of the incident. The investigation was complicated because some witnesses called the St. Petersburg Police Department and others the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
An autopsy will be conducted today, but results of toxicology tests won't be available for several weeks, authorities said.
Gearhart was in state prison from 1994 to 1996, authorities said, and was registered as a sexual predator in 1997. In August, he was charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, authorities said. At the end of last week, the Sheriff's Office issued an alert about Gearhart because he was suspected of stealing a car and a gun, authorities said.
The agent, Merrill, declined comment on the scene. A former St. Petersburg police officer, Merrill joined the state agency in 1989, records show. Authorities gave his wife and children a ride home and offered counseling.
Pat Parmer, the acting director of the ABT, also declined comment Tuesday evening.
The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco is part of Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
The ABT, with about 380 employees, licenses the alcoholic beverage and tobacco industries, among other tasks. The division is split into three bureaus: licensing, auditing and enforcement.
ABT's law enforcement agents are sworn officers who enforce the state's liquor and tobacco laws. ABT agents might be best known for helping bust hundreds of store clerks each year who sell liquor and tobacco products to minors.
The officers also investigate the sale of illegal drugs at business licensed by the ABT, sales of false identifications and sales of untaxed cigarettes.
Told ya.
Iraq vets are going to be the new whackos. They can only be heroes if they're victims.
As evidenced by this publicity photo for the Allman Joys, even Duane couldn't always look cool.
Wail on, Skydog!
It appears my bloghosting service is going out of business. I had no idea.
They've been very helpful, and I'm sorry to see them throw in the towel.
I'm also sorry that I'll have to be troubled to find a new skeeter hole for this blog. This will cut into some quality SuperTetris time.
The "heart attack on a plate" folks are very upset about Hardee's Monster ThickBurger and are upping the comparison ante:
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocate for nutrition and health, dubbed the Thickburgers "food porn," the Monster "the fast-food equivalent of a snuff film."
At this rate they'll burn through all the shocking appellations before they run out of food they don't approve of. Then they'll have to resort to calling all of it BushHitler: food BushHitler, the fast-food equivalent of BushHitler, BushHitler on a plate.
Meanwhile Hardee's CEO Andy Puzder is living as large as his burgers:
"We want Hardee's to be known as the place for big, juicy, decadent burgers," he says. "Every time (comics or critics) come out with something, it helps us advance the impression of the brand. This all helps."
Here's the fate of all the Japanese ships in the strike force that attacked Pearl Harbor: We get mad and we get even.
There are lots of Pearl Harbor survivor stories in the papers today.
Treasure these folks while they're still around.
Congrats to President Karzai and the people of Afghanistan:
"We have now left a hard and dark past behind us and today we are opening a new chapter in our history in a spirit of friendship with the international community."
There's a bit of video from the ceremony and press conference with Vice President Cheney here.
It turns out that the University of Texas is the only place in the country that can test for EPI. The doctor owns the patent on the test, which is the sole accurate one for the disease, so at whatever college he sets up shop, that's where the testing gets done. Sweet. Here's to building a better mousetrap- the world really does beat a path to your door. So Lilly's blood's taking a trip out to God's country.
Shiloh said they should FedEx the whole dog, just in case they need more.
I wouldn't let the vet do other tests right now. She's not in crisis, so I just wanted him to treat the symptoms until we find out the results from Texas.
She's lost four pounds since I got her, so my fattening up job isn't going so well. She eats like a hyena, but gets little nutrition from her food.
I'm done Lillyblogging for the duration.
In Britain the medical association is pushing for something called "presumed consent" in organ donation. Unless you carry a card stating you don't wish to donate, your organs would be harvested.
I've opted to be a donor, but I can't imagine the State presuming ownership of my innards if I hadn't. The idea is bad, even if it's for a good cause.
Someone's walking toward the kitchen
Lilly doesn't know what Christmas is, but she's sure she'll like it
Shiloh thinks Lilly's real problem is "cranial insufficiency"
We're back to the vet on Monday. I'm going to ask that she be given the blood test for something called exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which occurs 70% of the time in German shepherds. If she has it, it would explain a lot. After that I would just add enzymes or raw ground pancreas to her food to help her digest.
I keep waiting for her to go glossy. That's one of the best parts of getting an Animal Control dog- watching their fur turn luxurious. But it's just not happening. And she still looks emaciated despite having the most voracious appetite of any dog I've ever met.
We'll see what the vet has to say.
According to the captioners at AP and Reuters you get:
Traffic jams and pollution:
Abdul Saboor, 37, an Afghan traffic police officer, regulates the vehicles circulation at the rushed hours in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday Dec. 2, 2004. For 12 years Saboor does his duty as a traffic police officer in Kabul where he has experienced a few regimes in the past as like, Najibullah's regime, Mujahedeen's and Taliban's regimes too. But he says ' In the past regimes there wasn't so traffic jam as it is now. ' Since the ousting of the Taliban over two years ago, the number of vehicles on Kabul roads increased to 350,000 in a city designed for 40,000 vehicles resulting in traffic chaos and air pollution.
It looks to me like he's directing the hellish post-Taliban traffic with flair. I guess he must be crying on the inside.
Joblessness and homelessness:
An Afghan refugee woman carries her child as she enters a tent at a center for returnees in the Afghan capital Kabul, December 1, 2004. Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, about 3.5 million Afghans have returned to their country, but many have found difficulty finding jobs and places to live and are forced to live in temporary shelters, mostly provided by the United Nations
Since they've been living in refugee camps in Pakistan for God knows how long, isn't their coming home at least a step in the right direction? Having their first election ever is also pretty good news. It's also nice that WHO is able to get in there now and inoculate all the children against polio.
We'll get cracking on the condos and top-flight employment any time now.
(Via Bohemian Conservative.)
From today's Krauthammer article on support of democracy in the Ukraine:
That is why this comity between the United States and Europe is only temporary. The Europeans essentially believe, to paraphrase Stalin, in democracy on one continent. As for democracy elsewhere, they really could not care less.
They pretend, however, that this opposition to America's odd belief in spreading democracy universally is based not on indifference but on superior wisdom -- the world-weary sagacity of a more ancient and experienced civilization that knows that one cannot bring liberty to barbarians. Meaning, Arabs. And Muslims. And Iraqis.
Hence the Bush-Blair doctrine of bringing some modicum of democracy to the Middle East by establishing one country as a beachhead is ridiculed as naive and messianic. And not just by Europeans but by their "realist" allies here in the United States.
I hear this often. Still, I think there's a need in people to have their voice heard. Don't people want to be free? Or is there an exception for Arabs, who'd rather be oppressed? Most of the people in Iraq are excited about the election and have high hopes for the future. I have to support these people's aspirations.
People are standing with the Ukrainians- I wish they'd do the same with the Iraqis.
That carpet shampooer I bought a few years ago then stuck in the garage has earned itself a post-Thanksgiving place of honor in the dining room. It stands there tall and proud, my ally as we deal with the daily chronic diarrhea of two dogs who may well have had a few too many hot turkey sandwiches with gravy.
I've got gravy to spare.
Since I took Lilly to the vet last Friday with what I suspected was an infection from her female operation and the vet found exactly JACK; I can't take her tomorrow without arousing suspicion that I'm doing some sort of Munchausen-by-proxy thing with a dog. So tonight I dosed both of them with Pepto-Bismol and am giving it another day.
Currently, their bowels are my life.
Let's get this blogiversary posting off to a good start.
On the 19th of this month, Florida Cracker will be one year old.
That's four hurricanes, a Presidential election, and 52 Duane Allman pics.
Thanks to Country Store for my first link, and to Tim Blair, whose site, month after month, is my largest referrer. Mine might be the only blog in the world whose readership is mainly Southerners and Australians.
I'm surprised and honored by all the folks who've come here over the past year. I don't understand why you keep coming back, but I'm very happy that you do.
Thanks, y'all.
Some righteous Halagonians sending out the love for the family Bush
Canadian editorialist Tom Velk has two columns out that are both worth reading and re-reading.
Bush is coming. Canadians should line the streets, waving U.S. flags, since the visitor will not be – as John Kerry would have been – coming up to take "outsourced" jobs away from us.
Instead, all he will want is Canadian hot air – "support" for a missile defense program that we couldn't stop no matter how hard we tried, and which won't cost us a cent. He'll want more hot air by way of "support" in Iraq – he won't ask for, since we don't have them to give, any front line troops. He'll be quite happy to get a few Canadian folks way back in the supply line, offering medical care or what have you, just so there can be another nation in the coalition of the willing.
In exchange, we get real stuff – reasonable consideration of our problems with cows, fish and lumber. Something for nothing is a deal we should grab with both hands – or at least with one hand, using the other to wave that flag.
If a simple recognition of our own self-interest isn't enough for us to be welcoming, understanding a few things about American politics and international disarray should get us to do the necessary thing.
Bush is the strongest president to take office in many years. He has no operational domestic, and little effective international, opposition. Defying him or insulting him only has the potential of angering him.
And what did they do?
Had Prime Minister Martin gathered what little courage it would have taken to defy the nut left in his caucus, and offered to co-operate in the war, Bush was in a position to pay a big reward. Martin's refusal to do something symbolic in support of U.S. policies, including missile defence, is especially foolish, since our noisy criticism will not change American policy one bit.
Yet Martin stood dumb. We watched as Bush opened the door, waited for Martin to walk in, and then shut it again.
Now all they'll get from us for Christmas is a lump of coal.
I'll pitch in some tickets for front row seats so they can watch Iran pummel the crap out of the impotent UN they hold so dear.
I'll be watching for more from this Tom Velk. He's got us pegged.
Here are those brothers from Daytona with their hepcat band the Allman Joys.
Those haircuts are due to be back in style any. time. now.
Wail on, Skydog!
