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She is his tent buddy, his cohort and his sense of security. Sometimes, she can be a little like his mother, but more than anything, she is his best friend. He has her back and she has his.

OFFICIALS: NO. 1 THREAT TO THE U.S.

Cyberattacks Blitz Federal Agencies

DESCRIPTION OF GROVER FOWLER’S FRIEND, LYNNE RICE

RICE

Workers have been lured by phishing emails, tricked into sharing information. By MARTHA MENDOZA

Press analysis of records. They have clicked links in bogus phishing emails, opened malware-laden websites and been tricked by scammers into sharing information. One was redirected to a hostile site after connecting to a video of tennis star Serena Williams. A few act intentionally, most famously former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who downloaded and leaked documents revealing the government’s collection of phone and email records. Then there was the contract

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ERNST PETERS | LEDGER PHOTOS

GROVER FOWLER, a friend of Lynne Rice, the school crossing guard who was struck and injured by a pickup last month, stands next to Rice’s tent last week in a wooded area where the two live in Lakeland.

Praying for a Miracle

Website, Tax Issues Could Hamper Renewals

By STEPHANIE ALLEN | THE LEDGER

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A TEDDY BEAR, flowers and notes rest near Socrum Loop and Marcum Road where Rice was injured last month.

been gone. Grover Fowler prays every day that will change. Wanda Lynne Rice — although she prefers just Lynne — was hit by a pickup just before 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 15 near North Socrum Loop Road at Marcum Road. She is a school crossing guard at the intersection and was dressed in uniform, preparing to start her shift, the Polk Sheriff’s Of ce said. That morning, like she did almost every morning, Rice rode her bicycle out of the woods off Marcum Road where she lived in a tent next to Fowler and her other friends. When she got to the intersection, she parked her

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By BECKY BOHRER

Snow was expected to move over the northern high plains and into the upper Great Lakes by this evening, with accumulations of close to a foot in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin and up to 2 feet in the upper peninsula of Michigan, forecasters said. The storm peaked Friday with sustained winds of 70 mph and gusts up to 96 mph on Alaska’s Shemya Island. While it has weakened, it also is helping change the jet stream ow and anchoring a

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himself. Stevens, 60, owns the Music Ranch off Banana Road in North Lakeland, which has provided a respite for musicians from the toil of touring around the country since 1998. Axe-wielders, cymbal-strikMICHAEL WILSON | THE LEDGER ers and ivory-ticklers from bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, PHILLIP STEVENS, 60, a retired Air Force sergeant and Postal Service letter sorter, is owner and founder of the Music Ranch in North Lakeland. [ PLEASE SEE STEVENS, A7 ]

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WASHINGTON | With a bright look to its rebuilt website, version 2.0 of President Barack Obama’s health insurance overhaul represents another chance to win over a skeptical public. But more than possible computer woes lurk as HealthCare. gov’s second open enrollment season begins Nov. 15. The risks include an unproven system for those renewing coverage and a tax hit that could sting millions of people. Those tax issues are the result of complications between the health care law and income taxes, and they will emerge during next year’s filing season.

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JUNEAU, Alaska | A massive storm fueled by the remnants of Typhoon Nuri did not do much damage in Alaska’s sparsely populated Aleutian Islands, but forecasters say it’s anchoring a system that will push a frigid blast of air into the mainland United States and send temperatures plunging early this week. Parts of the lower 48 states could see temperatures between 20 and 40 degrees below average, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

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[ PLEASE SEE FRIGID, A2 ] L A K E _ D A I LY

LAKELAND hil Stevens lives a few yards away from an eardrum-busting stage that has featured some of the most historic Southern rock and country musicians ever to blow out speakers — and he couldn’t be happier. That’s because he built the four walls of the hallowed hall

“Things will not be perfect,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell, trying to set expectaBURWELL tions. “We are aiming for a strong consumer experience, and it will be better.” The Obama administration cannot afford to repeat last year’s online meltdown. Congress will be entirely in Republican hands in 2015, and GOP lawmakers will be itching to build the case for repeal. The Supreme Court’s decision Friday to hear another challenge

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Storm Remnants to Drop Freeze on Plains States

Music Ranch Provides Respite for Musicians THE LEDGER

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

[ PLEASE SEE RICE, A7 ]

MONDAY PROFILE | PHILLIP STEVENS

By BEN BRASCH

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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT ENROLLMENT

Lynne Rice’s Friends Hope for Recovery From Traffic Accident LAKELAND is graying hair falls into a curl over the shoulder of his tie-dyed T-shirt. He braids it into a ponytail and pulls a rubber band off his wrist to hold it together as he talks about her. She is his tent buddy, his cohort and his sense of security. Sometimes, she can be a little like his mother, but more than anything, she is his best friend. He has her back and she has his. They don’t always get along. They have their spats and their friendship quarrels. But they always make up. And they love one another — in a strictly friendship kind of way. It’s been almost a month since she’s

A $10 billion-a-year effort to protect sensitive government data, from military secrets to Social Security numbers, is struggling to keep pace with an increasing number of cyberattacks and is unwittingly being undermined by federal employees and contractors. Workers scattered across more than a dozen agencies, from the Defense and Education departments to the National Weather Service, are responsible for at least half of the federal cyberincidents reported each year since 2010, according to an Associated

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[ CONTINUED FROM A1 ] bike and walked across to a Hess gas station. While she was crossing back over North Socrum Loop, the pickup hit her, the Sheriff’s Of ce said. She was walking with a “Walk Now” crossing sign and had the right of way, according to the Sheriff’s Of ce. It was dark at the time and had recently rained, and 16-yearold Grant M. Hester, the Lake Gibson High School student driving the truck, told deputies he didn’t see Rice. Sheriff Grady Judd called it a tragic accident and no criminal charges are expected. But the accident left Rice critically injured and the 48-year-old has been in Lakeland Regional Medical Center since. No one is sure whetherher condition will ever improve. However, despite all odds, her friends say they won’t stop praying for her full recovery. And the mother of the teen who hit Rice said her family wants to do anything they can to help.

A SMILING FACE

When Rice’s radio broke, Fowler used his money to buy her a new one. He has her McDonald’s order memorized: a hamburger with just pickles, mustard and onions. She hates ketchup, he said. He likes to joke and pretend he forgets that. When she’s thirsty or needs a pick-me-up, he’ll go to the store and buy as many 2-liter bottles of A&W Root Beer as he can carry. He smiles, a wide and contagious smile, as he remembers carrying four bottles of the soda one day through the woods back to her tent. It’s her favorite, he said. She gave up drinking alcohol and she didn’t use drugs, Fowler said. She was married a couple times and has a family, but doesn’t talk about that much. The home life wasn’t her style. Rice has lived in the woods for several years. It’s not conventional, but that’s just the way she likes it. Every day, between her crossing guard shifts, she rides her bike to the Hope Center off U.S. 98 North. The tan ranch house is set back from the road, and to most people, doesn’t look like much. But every day a group of volunteers from several local churches opens up the building for those who don’t have a home. Most of those who come live in the woods nearby. They shower, wash clothes, eat hot meals and watch movies. They share stories and hugs with the volunteers and with one another. Jan and Jim Plumb, who volunteer at the Hope Center through Kathleen Baptist Church, said Rice is a sweetheart and loved by everyone who sees her smile. She loves Jesus, and might be homeless, but she certainly

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isn’t loveless, they said. It’s not traditional, but everyone is a family at Hope Center. A family that, since Oct. 15 has been missing one.

HOPE AND PRAYER

Rice has worked as a crossing guard since January 2010. It’s a part-time job where she makes about $17,300 a year, the Sheriff’s Of ce said. Pamela Noles, the principal’s secretary at Lake Gibson Middle School, saw Rice every morning. She said they would smile and wave to one another. On holidays, Noles said she would bring Rice goody-bags and bakery treats. She was caring and loved watching out for the children, Noles said. “She took her job very seriously, you could tell,” Noles said. “She was very vigilant.” The Sheriff’s Office said deputies have been in contact with several of Rice’s family members, including an estranged husband. However, Lakeland Regional is still waiting for her family to make important medical decisions, the Sheriff’s Of ce said. Denise Hester, the mother of the teen who hit Rice, said her family feels awful about the accident. And her son is struggling to come to terms with it. “Of course, he wishes it didn’t happen,” she said. “When he called me that morning, I knew something was wrong. He was just freak-

ERNST PETERS | LEDGER PHOTOS

GROVER FOWLER, a friend of Wanda Rice, the school crossing guard that was struck by a vehicle and injured last month, talks about his friend at the Hope Center in Lakeland last week. ing out.” The Sheriff’s Office said there were no signs that Grant Hester was impaired or distracted at the time of the accident. He told deputies he was waiting to turn north onto North Socrum Loop Road from Marcum Road when he saw a vehicle on the other side of the intersection that also wanted to turn onto North Socrum Loop. As that vehicle approached the intersection to turn, it stopped, the Sheriff’s Of ce said. Hester told deputies he thought that driver was yield-

ing to him so he could turn. He didn’t realize the vehicle was yielding because Rice was in the crosswalk, his mother said. Hester said her son wishes he could visit Rice and he wants to help in any way he can. “We would tell her that we’re sorry,” Denise Hester said. “We feel really horrible.” For now, her friends say the one thing everyone will keep doing for her is pray. [ Stephanie Allen can be reached at stephanie.allen@theledger. com or 863-802-7550. ]

JAN PLUMB, a volunteer at the Hope Center in Lakeland, helps Buzzy Bowman pick out some food to take with him. The Hope Center is a volunteer-staffed home where homeless people can visit to take a shower, have something to eat and wash clothing. Larry Carter, at left, packs up his belongings on his bike as volunteer Bob Gilmore cleans up around the center recently.

[ CONTINUED FROM A1 ] worker who lost equipment containing the con dential information of millions of Americans, including Robert Curtis, of Monument, Colo.. “I was angry, because we as citizens trust the government to act on our behalf,” he said. Curtis, according to court records, was besieged by identity thieves after someone stole data tapes that the contractor left in a car, exposing the health records of about 5 million current and former Pentagon employees and their families. At a time when intelligence officials say cybersecurity trumps terrorism as the No. 1 threat to the U.S. — and when breaches at businesses such as Home Depot and Target focus attention on data security — the federal government isn’t required to publicize its own data losses. Last month, a breach of unclassi ed White House computers by hackers thought to be working for Russia was reported not by of cials but The Washington Post. Congressional Republicans complained even they weren’t alerted about the hack. To determine the extent of federal cyberincidents, the AP filed dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests, interviewed hackers, cybersecurity experts and government of cials, and obtained documents describing digital cracks in the system. That review shows that 40 years and more than $100 billion after the rst federal data protection law was enacted, the government is struggling to close holes without the knowledge, staff or systems to outwit an ever-evolving foe. Fears about breaches have been around since the late 1960s, when the federal government began shifting its operations onto computers. Of cials responded with software designed to sniff out malicious programs and raise alarms about intruders. And yet, attackers have always found ways in, exposing tens of millions of sensitive and private records that include employee usernames and passwords and veterans’ medical les. From 2009 to 2013, the number of reported breaches just on federal computer networks — the .gov and .mils — rose from 26,942 to 46,605, according to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team. Last year, US-CERT responded to a total of 228,700 cyberincidents involving federal agencies, companies that run critical infrastructure and contract partners. That’s more than double the incidents in 2009. Employees are to blame for at least half of the problems. Last year, for example, about 21 percent of all federal breaches were traced to government workers who violated policies; 16 percent who lost

devices or had them stolen; 12 percent who improperly handled sensitive information printed from computers; at least 8 percent who ran or installed malicious software; and 6 percent who were enticed to share private information, according to an annual White House review. Documents released to the AP show how workers were lured in. In one incident around Christmas 2011, Education Department employees received an email purportedly from Amazon.com that asked them to click on a link. Of cials quickly warned staff that it could be malicious. The department did not release information to the AP about any resulting damage. Reports from the Defense Department’s Defense Security Service, tasked with protecting classi ed information and technologies in the hands of federal contractors, show how easy it is for hackers to get into DOD networks. One military user received messages that his computer was infected when he visited a website about schools. Of cials tracked the attacker to what appeared to be a Germany-based server. “We’ll always be vulnerable to ... human-factor attacks unless we educate the overall workforce,” said Assistant Secretary of Defense and cybersecurity adviser Eric Rosenbach. Although the government is projected to spend $65 billion on cybersecurity contracts between 2015 and 2020, many experts think the effort is not enough to counter a growing pool of hackers whose motives vary. Russia, Iran and China have been named as suspects in some attacks, while thieves seek out other valuable data. Only a small fraction of attackers are caught. For every thief or hostile state, there are tens of thousands of victims like Curtis. He declined to talk about speci cs of his case. According to court records, a thief in September 2011 broke into a car in a San Antonio garage and stole unencrypted computer tapes containing the Pentagon workers’ information. The car belonged to an employee of a federal contractor tasked with securing those records. Criminals have tried to get cash, loans, credit — even establish businesses — in Curtis’ name, according to court records. He and his wife have frozen bank and credit accounts. A lawsuit brought by victims was dismissed. “It is very ironic,” said Curtis, himself a cybersecurity expert who worked to provide secure networks at the Pentagon. “I was the person who had paper shredders in my house. I was a consummate data protection guy.”

Stevens

[ CONTINUED FROM A1 ] the Grateful Dead and the Charlie Daniels Band have all played at the 5,000-square-foot barn that holds about 300 people. Even during the day, light has trouble peering through the windows of the wooden room, which has a stage that stops about halfway up your shin and has had some of Southern rock’s historical gures scuf e across it. “The room is seasoned,” Stevens said. “It’s a bit of a spiritual place.”

A HOMEY VIBE

mer for Lynyrd Skynyrd and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, coming back to play at the Music Ranch. He was one of the few to escape the plane crash that killed core members of the band in 1977. Pyle, leader of the Artimus Pyle Band based out of Ashville, N.C., played the rst show at the Music Ranch. And he remembers it being a bit chaotic. “First night, they were working out the kinks, but the crowds enjoyed it and that’s what I do it for,” he said. Pyle has played at the Music Ranch several times since and still enjoys coming to the venue. “From the standpoint of a music fan, he has a home run there,” he said of Stevens. Even having played at thousands of locations around the world, Pyle comes back to the Music Ranch because of Stevens. “I’m old school, and our boy there at the Ranch is old school and you got to love it,” he said of Stevens. “He’s really a great guy, he’s living the dream, and he plays great guitar.” Pyle said the laid-back feel of the space and Stevens is a real slice of comfort. Stevens’ Southern hospitality makes sense when you consider he’s called that property his home for more than the past 50 years.

Stevens and his second wife, Christine, 41, are able to give off a homey vibe to musicians who play at the Music Ranch because they live next door. “I try to remain low-key and humble around them,” said Christine Stevens, executive assistant to the president and CEO of Sun ’n Fun. “We try to make them feel at home.” The Stevens have done everything — from making sure Trent Willmon, who has had six singles make it to the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, had enough towels for his shower to cooking steak for Pat Travers, the famed blues guitarist who has played beside members of Rush, Foghat and Mountain. Travers likes his steak cooked medium. “This place brings on a sweetness in people,” she said. “When you’re passionate, it SOUTHERN BOY comes out.” Phillip Dan Stevens was born It’s that attitude that has kept Artimus Pyle, former drum- Sept. 30, 1954, to two school-

PHILLIP DAN STEVENS AGE: 60. BIRTHDATE: Sept. 30, 1954. RESIDENCE: Lakeland. JOB: Owner of the Music Ranch. FAMILY: Wife, Christine; and children, Brian Kinch, 35, Lakeland, and Brandy Stevens, 30, Lakeland. TOP FIVE FAVORITE ARTISTS: Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Joe Bonamassa, Leon Russell and Lynyrd Skynyrd. ARTIST HE GOT MOST NERVOUS FOR: Leon Russell. Stevens spoke with Russell while driving for about the length of a football field. FAVORITE CONCERT: In 1977, Led Zeppelin managed to get about three songs into its set in Tampa before the concert was rained out. Stevens was 23 years old.

teachers in Livingston, Tenn., and moved to where he would later build the Music Ranch in 1962, at about the age of 7. The family moved when his father, Ray Stevens, became the rst band director at the current Kathleen High School location, which is where Stevens would graduate from 10 years later. His mother, Delilah Stevens, taught third grade at Winston Elementary School for 35 years. On a Monday in 1976, Stevens walked into an Air Force recruiter of ce and said: “If y’all can get me out of here in a week and with a desk job in Denver, Colo., I’m all yours.” By Wednesday of that week, he was in Jacksonville swearing in, Thursday at boot camp in San Antonio and six weeks

later, he was an inventory management specialist behind a desk in Denver. Four years later, he left the Air Force as a sergeant and came back home.

PARTY SPURS VENUE

The structure that would become the Music Ranch was an awning Stevens built to park his doublewide trailer. Stevens worked as a lettersorter for the United States Postal Service, mostly at the Lakeland Hills Boulevard location, for 31 years before starting the Music Ranch. Stevens realized he might want to run a venue when he made $1,000 on his 40th birthday party that was held on the property. He sold 240 tickets at $10 a person to help defray the

cost of the 55 slabs of ribs and, of course, a band. He said he remembered thinking during the party: “Well, this is cool. I didn’t know I could do this.” Since then, about 200 artists have lugged gear and baggage through the venue’s doors. Beyond the music, Stevens works with radio station 97 Country and donates 300 tickets to help raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital every year during the station’s Toys for Tots program. He said many people have held charity shows at the Music Ranch over the years. “Most people need to know people care,” he said. Stevens, who does not drink alcohol nor serve it at the Music Ranch, said it is important to give musicians a welcoming atmosphere to open up and play. A guitarist himself, Stevens said he knows how the musicians feel when they are on stage. “When we’re playing music nothing hurts ... I don’t got no bills when I’m playing,” he said. Without any formal training and playing mostly by ear, Stevens seems happiest playing the 1956 Hammond A100, formerly owned by David Muse of Firefall, that sits on the Music Ranch’s stage. “It plays by itself,” he said. “ You r f i nger s a re ju st moving.” Stevens lives for Southern music.

While he swayed in the rocking chair he made himself in the shed he built by hand, the stereo plays Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love.” “Oh, Jimmy (Hall) played that here!” he said of the song and the Grammy-nominated harmonica player. The ever-humming Stevens said as a fan of music, he runs the business at a loss because bands are struggling like never before. “We’ve lost our live music,” he said.

‘LIFE’S A SONG’

Stevens said he lost $1,700 the night Vince Welnick, nal keyboardist for the Grateful Dead, played at the Music Ranch. It was one of the last shows Welnick played before he died in June 2006 — and Stevens has it recorded, along with thousands of hours of other performances. He said he got calls from national media outlets for days after Welnick died. “It teaches you to enjoy the day,” he said of the experience. “Don’t look at the bad in anything.” He said he is blessed to give so many people a place to enjoy live music as much as he does. “Life’s a song, there is no doubt,” he said. [ Ben Brasch can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7590. Follow Ben on Twitter @ben_brasch. ]

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POLICE, COMMUNITIES COME TOGETHER TO TARGET TRAFFICKING

CHARLIE RIEDEL | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BILL WILLIGER SPECIAL AGENT WITH HOMELAND SECURITY IN TAMPA

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By STEPHANIE ALLEN | THE LEDGER

he man kept her in the back seat when he pulled up to the Tampa strip club. Glowing neon lights advertised the best nude girls in town. Could she work the night as a dancer? he asked, handing her license to a manager. She didn’t say much, if anything. All the warning signs were there. Don Kleinhans, owner of the 2001 Odyssey strip club, said it was “cook ie cut ter sex traf cking.” The scenario had almost all the indicators Special Agent Bill

Williger with Homeland Security in Tampa had warned Kleinhans to look out for. The man was in control of the girl’s personal possessions and identi cation. He was holding all her money. She seemed fearful and not free to speak or leave. Kleinhans said his club workers turned the man away. He keeps Williger’s phone number on speed dial for situations like that. Sex traf cking is an international issue that’s been around for centuries. In its simplest form,

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White Female THE LEDGER

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In Encounters With the Police, FSU Football Players Get Special Justice Team members can escape serious consequences as cops play favorites.

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LAKELAND | A Santa Fe Catholic High School football player who became ill and was taken to Tampa General Hospital was in critical condition Saturday with what public health of cials said is a suspected case of bacterial meningitis. The illness does not appear to be associated with gastrointestinal illnesses reported last week at Santa Fe, the Florida Department of Health in Polk County said in a statement Saturday night. Classes at the Lakeland school, which has an enrollment of about 285 students,

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TALLAHASSEE | The 911 call could not have sounded more urgent: A man was beating a woman holding a baby outside their apartment as she tried to leave. “You just need to get someone out here right away because it is really bad,” the caller said, adding that the man was “punching” the

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JAMEIS WINSTON, LEFT, celebrates a touchdown on Oct. 4 with Mario Pender. The handling of a rape allegation against Winston has drawn attention to the actions of law enforcement and Florida State officials regarding football players’ behavior. mother and “grabbing the little day last January, the couple baby around the arm.” were back inside. The 19-yearBy the time the police arrived shortly after 3 a.m. one [ PLEASE SEE JUSTICE, A10 ]

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I STRUGGLED in my early school years and that experience has given me insight to help students now that I’m a principal at an elementary school in Lakeland.

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were canceled Friday after about 25 students were sick

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Thursday with what school ofcials said appeared to be a stomach virus that caused symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

“Health of cials are working closely with of cials from the school to monitor the situation and to take the necessary precautions to keep the students and faculty safe,” the Health Department statement said. An investigation is underway and health of cials said they would release more information as it became available. [ PLEASE SEE ILLNESS, A9 ]

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We’ve seen girls brutally beaten, brutally raped, sodomized, become drug addicts as a result of their pimps. There’s really no limit to the depravity of some of these pimps. And just when you thought you’ve seen it all, it gets worse.”

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Trafficking

[ CONTINUED FROM A1 ] , it’s a pimp who is prostituting someone through control, force, fraud and coercion. It’s a crime that, in short, is often refer red to a s moder n- day slavery. And it’s one that law enforcement of cials say is happening in Polk County. “We’ve seen it all,” said Williger, who has investigated numerous traf cking cases throughout Central Florida, said. “We’ve seen girls brutally beaten, brutally raped, sodomized, become drug addicts as a result of their pimps. There’s really no limit to the depravity of some of these pimps. And just when you thought you’ve seen it all, it gets worse.” Under federal law, sex traf cking is part of the broader human trafcking, de ned as “the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for forced labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud or coercion.” Often confused with human smuggling, traf cking differs because its victims aren’t always being illegally transported across international borders. Simply put, Homeland Security says human smuggling is a crime against a nation, whereas traf cking is instead a crime against an individual person. And the effects of traf cking are almost always severe trauma, Williger said. “Without exception, every victim that I’ve encountered, the trauma is comparable to the same as the guys seen coming home from war,” Williger said. “It’s post-traumatic stress disorder. And it is a long, painful road for both the adults and the children to come back.”

PICTURE OF A VICTIM

The scenario Kleinhans saw recently outside his strip club is not uncommon. And the girl sitting in the back seat of that car could have been anyone. Something made her vulnerable to the man’s control. Central Florida’s booming tourist industry is accompanied by a high demand for the adult entertainment business, which essentially makes it a hotspot for sex traf cking, Williger said. But the crime isn’t seen only in strip clubs, he said. Victims have been solicited on street corners, at truck stops and online on websites like Backpage. com, he said. They’re kept in welloff neighborhoods, abandoned houses and commercial brothels. It’s all based on supply and demand, Williger said. And it doesn’t affect only a speci c group of people. The victims vary in age, sex, race and economic status. Williger said he’s seen victims from gated communities and ones who grew up without homes. “You can’t hang a label on what a victim looks like,” Williger said. “They’re every race and religion and economic status. And they’re not just women; there are men and boys.” What the traf ckers look for, he said, is some type of vulnerability. They target people who have something missing in their lives, and the traf ckers then ll that void. “If it’s a need for emotional support, then the traf cker will provide that. If it’s drugs, the traf cker will provide that,” he said. With child victims, traf ckers usually ll a need for love and attention, said Sue Aboul-Hosn, a human traf cking specialist with the Department of Children and

By STEPHANIE ALLEN THE LEDGER

CHRIS O’MEARA | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (2012)

AN ENTERTAINER PERFORMS at the “Mons Venus” adult club in Tampa. The club — located less than 6 miles from where the Republicans gathered to nominate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate — was opened 30 years ago by Joe Redner, who almost single-handedly made Tampa’s adult entertainment world famous. Families. And in some cases, the children actually believe they’re in a romantic relationship with their traf cker. Under federal law, any minor who is introduced into the commercial sex trade is considered a victim of sex trafficking — even if the person isn’t forced into it. Aboul-Hosn said a very small percentage of children are actually physically forced into it. Sex ABOUL-HOSN traf cking in Central Florida doesn’t look like the movie “Taken,” with teenagers being kidnapped and sold, she said. Instead, children are most often groomed and introduced into the sex trade through deception and manipulation. And they don’t see themselves as victims. “In their mind, they think they’re completely in control of what’s going on,” she said. The girl sitting in the backseat of the man’s car outside 2001 Odyssey might have thought she was in control, too. She might have been a

when deputies were called to a hotel in Davenport after a woman said she was being forced into prostitution, according to the Sheriff’s Of ce. The woman said she was taken to the hotel by 43-year-old Christopher James Fryer, of 6103 Waterview Circle in Palm Beach, to meet with a “client,” whom Fryer found on Backpage.com, an arrest report states. After talking with the man for almost an hour, the woman conded in him that Fryer was driving her across the state, forcing her to have sex with men, the report states. She said Fryer would take whatever money she made and beat her if she refused him. The man then called deputies for help. Court records show Fryer is facing felony charges of false imprisonment and human traf cking. He was released from the Polk jail Sept. 2 on $6,000 bail, records show. His court case is still pending. Judd said getting victims to open up about what they’re going through is often a challenge. Out of the six cases the Sheriff’s

Sex trafficking in Central Florida doesn’t look like the movie “Taken,” with teenagers being kidnapped and sold, Sue Aboul-Hosn said. Children are most often groomed and introduced into the sex trade through deception and manipulation. And they don’t see themselves as victims. great dancer and made good money at the club that night. Kleinhans will never know for sure. But something didn’t seem right.

TRAFFICKING IN POLK

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he feels morally and ethically obligated to help save traf cking victims. It’s an issue about which he’s spoken publicly at recent news conferences and one he said his of ce has been seeing in Polk for several years. Since 2010, the Sheriff’s Of ce has investigated six cases of human traf cking, spokeswoman Donna Wood said. The most recent was in August,

Of ce has investigated, only four victims — all female and ranging from 15 to 24 years old — were cooperative, Wood said. The problem is many of the teenaged girls and women whom deputies have encountered didn’t realize they were victims, Judd said. They were so immersed in fear of their trafficker they didn’t recognize they weren’t living a normal way of life. Judy Dreher, a victim assistance specialist with Homeland Security, said she’s also seen that with suspected victims. Getting them to accept that they’re a victim is the rst step to rescuing them, she said. After that, the victims face a long road to recovery, starting with identifying what underlying issues made them

vulnerable to a traf cker in the rst place, whether it was a drug addiction, sexual abuse, or an emotional dependency. But not all women accused of prostitution are victims of traf cking. Judd said there are adults who freely choose to work in the sex trade, and if deputies can’t prove force, fraud or coercion in an adult c a se, it i sn’t con sidered traf cking. And that has happened, he said, even if the warning signs are there. After a four-day undercover prostitution sting in May, Judd said deputies identi ed 16 suspected “pimps” and 28 prostitutes, including a 15-year-old girl who was brought to Polk from Miami. Not all of the accused prostitutes were victims of traf cking, Judd said, but during that sting, several women told deputies they were being “worn out” by pimps in Orlando. The women said they’re threatened with violence and regularly given drugs to have sex. If they don’t make enough money for their pimps, the beatings can be brutal. In June, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation arrested 10 people accused of taking part in a vicious Orlando ring in which prostitutes told investigators they were beaten with crowbars, chained, kicked, punched and forced to use narcotics to create a dependency on their accused pimps. Women described incidents in which Orlando pimps would pour hot water over their bodies, scalding them if they d i d n’ t pr o d u c e enough work, Judd said. “To say it’s a victimless crime is being disingenuous. It’s not,” he said. “There’s a group of men out there that ROSE it is their job to try to find women to work for them in their stable of ladies, and then they torment them physically and emotionally in order to keep them under control.” And all it takes is someone being vigilant to help stop it, he said. Like Kleinhans, the club owner, when he noticed something wasn’t right when the man handed over the woman’s license. He immediately called some of the other strip clubs around Tampa Bay to warn them of the scenario. Then he called Williger for help.

BEFORE IT HAPPENS

Connie Rose of Tampa isn’t afraid to talk about safe sex. And drugs. And making mistakes. And pimps. And about being abused. She is a sur v ivor of sex traf cking. And she shares her story with girls and young women across Florida in hopes of preventing them from falling into the same fate. Rose talks about how she was sexually abused and exploited at [ PLEASE SEE TRAFFICKING, A9 ]

PROVIDED TO THE LEDGER

SPECIAL AGENT BILL WILLIGER, from left, victim assistance specialist Judy Dreher and group supervisor Deron Mangiocco contributed information to this report.

TAMPA | The adult entertainment industry can be an easy target to blame for sex traf cking. But Angelina Spencer, a former dancer and club owner, is fighting hard to tell people that the two don’t always go hand-inhand. Spencer and club owners across the country have worked with lawmakers and Homeland Security agents to help raise awareness of the crime. And they let people know many strip clubs are respectable businesses, she said. Special Agent Bill Williger with Homeland Security in Tampa said the supply and demand associated with the adult entertainment industry can sometimes contribute to sex traf cking. But after doing some research, Spencer said, of cials realized the wellrespec ted clubs a ren’t usually an issue. “Human traf cking is not strictly a strip club problem; it’s a U.S. problem,” she said. “You nd it everywhere.” Spencer is a representative for the Florida chapter of the Association of Club Executives, which regulates strip clubs throughout the U.S., and is executive director of the national Club Owners Against Sex Trafcking campaign. The idea for the campaign started in 2009 after lawmakers started proposing legislature that limited strip clubs, saying it would help prevent cases of traf cking, Spencer said. However, the laws didn’t make sense to most club owners. So, Spencer and a group of representatives decided to set up a meeting with law enforcement officials and lawmakers to explain their views. After initially being greeted with folded arms, she said, the two groups researched a little more and decided to tr y a par tnership. Since then, Homeland Security agents and COAST have trained thousands of people in the industry from more than 500 clubs in 30 cities across the country on what sex traf cking looks like, Spencer said. Williger helped with two training sessions in Tampa and is planning a third for January. He said the partnership with club owners makes sense for everyone. It helps law enforcement better investigate cases and shows that clubs are committed to r u n n i ng a c r i me -f r e e business. “It’s in everybody’s best interest to work together,” he said. “They’re not only trying to protect their business, but keep people safe.” Spencer agreed and said COAST is mostly about raising awareness to help save lives. “One of the things that we stress at the COAST meetings is if you see something, say something,” she said. “Saving a life is a valuable thing to do. You might be the only link between that person a nd their freedom.”

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SOLD FOR SEX

SEVERE RESPIRATORY AILMENT

Health Officials Say Michigan Toddler Dies From Enterovirus D68 By COREY WILLIAMS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT | A 21-month-old girl is the rst person in Michigan to die from the virus that has caused severe respiratory illness across the country, state health officials said Saturday. Madeline Reid died Friday afternoon from enterovirus D68, according to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. Its chief medical of cer, Dr. Rudolph Valentini, said in a statement that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention con rmed the illness after the Clinton Township girl’s arrival, but did not specify which day she arrived. “It is never easy to lose a child, and our entire health care team at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan is deeply

saddened by this family’s loss and mourns with them during this very dif cult time,” Valentini said. A New Jersey state medical examiner said last week that a 4-year-old boy died of the virus, and the CDC says ve people infected with the virus have died, but it’s not clear what role the virus played. The CDC said in a release this week that the virus has sickened 691 people in 46 states and Washington, D.C. Enterovirus D68 can cause u-like symptoms and respiratory problems. The virus can be spread through coughAs of Tuesday, 31 cases in ing, sneezing and contact with contaminated surfaces. There Michigan had tested positive is no vaccine or specific for enterovirus D68, according to Jennifer Smith, a treatment. spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Health.

Illness PIERRE DuCHARME | THE LEDGER

SHERIFF GRADY JUDD speaks during a briefing at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center in Winter Haven in May. Detectives served a number of search warrants and discovered eight of the suspects possessed multiple images and videos identified as child pornography.

Trafficking

[ CONTINUED FROM A8 ] the hands of her father, a serial sexual offender, for about 14 years. She was a child and teenager in the early 1970s and was so brainwashed and broken down by his control that she accepted that life, she said. Rose now works with Selah Freedom, an advocacy group in Sarasota that helps victims of human traf cking rebuild their lives while also focusing on prevention and awareness throughout Southwest Florida. The group has rehabilitation programs for victims and survivors, safe housing, community groups and holds prevention classes for vulnerable girls. As the director of survivor programming and leadership, Rose talks about her past as a way to help victims and girls ght back. Her hope, she says, is to give the girls a “tool belt” of knowledge about the world surrounding sex traf cking and how to keep from becoming a victim. That way, if one of the girls ever finds herself in a vulnerable situation, she has what she needs to get help. “You never know when you’re going to need to take one of those tools out and use it,” Rose said. Prevention is something law enforcement has been focusing on, too. Deron Mangiocco, a group supervisor with Homeland Security, said the agency has helped train law enforcement of cials throughout the Tampa Bay area on what to look for in potential human trafficking cases. Agents also teach officers what to do if they suspect someone might be a victim. That way, he said, instead being treated as a criminal, the victim has a better chance of getting help. “Ten years ago, if a 16- or 17-year-old girl was arrested for prostitution, she’d be treated as a prostitute,” Mangiocco said. “Through increased outreach and awareness, now she might be treated as a victim.” Homeland Security has also been reaching out to local businesses in industries that are frequently used in human traf cking schemes, such as strip clubs, hotels, and nail and hair salons, he said. Agents pass out flyers with information and teach employers the warning signs they might see in their industry, which is how Kleinhans knew something wasn’t right that night outside 2001 Odyssey. The club owner said he has posters listing the sex traf cking indicators that hang in various parts of his club, and the managers carry cards reminding them of what to look out for and whom to call if they ever suspect something’s wrong. “We try to be proactive,” he said.

WHAT TO DO

Last year, the National Hu-

POLK SENTENCED TRAFFICKERS MICHAEL GALLON, 48 Michael Gallon, 48, was sentenced May 29 to 33 years and nine months in federal prison for engaging girls under the age of 18 in commercial sex acts and producing and distributing a video of a minor engaged in sexual activity. Gallon’s operation revolved around house parties where he would take girls, make them dance and have sex with men in “VIP rooms.” Investigators identified at least five girls, ranging in age from 14-16 years old, who Gallon recruited at his house in Lakeland and then drove to house parties across the state. Federal officials say he had a 10-year career in the sex trade.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Paul Aaron Jr., 30, was sentenced in May to 21 years in state prison for forcing two teenage girls into his prostitution business. Investigators say Aaron, who worked part time supervising students on Polk County school buses, ran the business under the name Genuine Quality Entertainment. Aaron would force the girls, who were 15 and 16 years old when they started, to have sex with men, including a former Haines City Police Officer.

MARISOL RODRIQUEZ, 22 Marisol Rodriquez, 22, was arrested in January on charges of human trafficking after a 21-year-old woman said she was being held against her will at a house in Winter Haven. The woman told Polk deputies that Rodriquez solicited her to have sex with a man and threatened her if she didn’t do as she was told. When the woman said she wanted to leave, Rodriquez beat her, arrest reports state. Rodriquez accepted a plea deal in September with charges of deriving support from proceeds of prostitution, battery, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was sentenced to two years of probation.

munity to step up, be alert and report anything suspicious they see. “If you see something, say something,” Williger said. “You’re not going to stop it, but through awareness you can de nitely stem the tide.” And help rescue a victim, as Kleinhans did when he called Williger that night. Kleinhans said Homeland Security agents found her before the night was over and took her to a women’s shelter. Paying attention to the warning signs paid off. [ Stephanie Allen can be reached at stephanie.allen@theledger. com or 863-802-7550. ]

ABOUT THIS SERIES TODAY: As the problem of sex trafficking has gained attention, various groups have come together to try and fight it, from law enforcement to help groups to strip clubs. MONDAY: For the victims of sex trafficking, rescue is just the beginning of leaving the life behind. Recovery can be a long and difficult road.

ing safety measures.” Franzino said he could not provide any additional details of when the player became ill or went to the hospital. Of cials at the Health Department said the student’s illness is a suspected case of bacterial meningitis, which is described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as in ammation of the membranes near the brain and spinal cord. It spreads through close contact, such as kissing or sharing food or drinks.

Symptoms, which can appear in just a few hours, include severe headaches, high fever, stiff neck and fatigue. School of cials said Santa Fe’s football game against Seffner Christian scheduled for Saturday had been postponed inde nitely. T he g a me h ad b e en initially scheduled for Thursday but was moved because of what Santa Fe of cials described as an outbreak of a stomach illness that affected students and faculty at the school.

Promising Pill for Bacterial Infection Not So Hard to Swallow By PAM BELLUCK

PAUL AARON JR., 30

man Trafficking Resource Center received 1,724 calls about suspected human trafcking in Florida — the third h ig he st a mou nt i n t he country. From those calls, of cials found 370 potential traf cking cases, with more than half referencing sex traf cking. Though the number of reported cases seems high, Aboul-Hosn said that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s happening more in Florida. It just means people are more aware, she said. And that’s exactly what law enforcement and community activists want. But they can’t do it alone. It takes everyone in the com-

[ CONTINUED FROM A1 ] School of cials con rmed the student had become ill but did not identify him. Santa Fe Catholic Principal Matt Franzino released this statement Saturday: “One of our st udents was taken to the hospital because of a serious illness. He is in critical condition, and his prognosis is unknown at this time. As a precautionary measure, we did report the student’s admission to the hospital to the Department of Health. We have received no further instructions regard-

This pill goes down easier if you forget what is in it. Inside the experimental capsule is human feces — strained, centrifuged and frozen. Taking them for just two days can cure a dangerous bacterial infection that has de ed antibiotics and kills 14,000 Americans every yea r, re sea rcher s sa id Saturday. If the results are replicated in larger trials, the pill, developed at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, promises an easier, cheaper and likely safer alternative to an unpleasant procedure highlighted in both medical journals and on YouTube: fecal transplants. Studies show transplanting feces in liquid form from healthy people to patients with stubborn Clostridium dif cile infections can stop the wrenching intestinal symptoms, apparently by restoring healthy gut bacteria. But fecal transplants are not easy. The procedure requires delivery of a fecal solution via the rectum or a tube inserted through the nose. As with colonoscopies, patients must ush their bowels rst. Finding and screening donors is time-consuming and can delay the transplant. And the costs can be signi cant, certainly higher than taking a simple pill. “Capsules are going to replace the way we’ve been doing this,” said Dr. Colleen Kelly, a gastroenterologist with the Women’s Medicine Collaborative in Providence, Rhode Island, who was not involved in the study. Kelly does five or six fecal transplants a month, but demand is so great she’s booked through January. “It’s so labor-intensive,” she said. “You have to nd a donor, have to screen a donor. If you can just open a freezer and take out a poop pill, that’s wonderful.” While the pills are not being marketed yet, the authors of the study, published in JAMA, are already making them available to quali ed patients without requiring participation in clinical trials. Their study was small and preliminary, but results were striking: 19 of 20 patients with C. difficile infections were cured of diarrhea and related symptoms. Most saw improvements after one two-day round of pills, the rest after two or three rounds, said Dr. Ilan Young-

ster, the lead investigator. Other research teams, and at least one private company, are developing and testing fecal pills. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration effectively permits doctors to give fecal transplants to qualied patients with recurrent C. dif cile infections. Pills marketed commercially would have to meet FDA drug-licensing regulations. Dr. Lawrence Brandt, an emeritus chief of gastroenterology at Monte ore Medical Center who was not involved in the study, noted that “capsules are easy to take and do not have any kind of offensive odor.” Some experts said they also hoped that pills would discourage people from potentially dangerous do-it-yourself fecal transplants, which have been featured in YouTube videos. People have used stool from family or friends, often administering it via enema.

to control. After one round of dosing (two days, 15 capsules per day), diarrhea cleared up in 14 patients. Five others, sicker than the rest beforehand, responded after a second two-day dosing about a week later. One of this group relapsed and needed another dose. One patient may not have responded because of liver problems, Youngster said. There were no serious side effects, not even the vomiting researchers had expected. Six patients had mild cramps or bloating. Deirdre, 37, a technology consultant in Boston, acquired C. dif cile after receiving antibiotics for a breast infection and struggled with recurrences for months before learning of the study. “At rst I was kind of grossed out,” said Deirdre, who asked that her last name be withheld because of privacy concerns. But about a week after taking

While the pills are not being marketed yet, the authors of the study, published in JAMA, are already making them available to qualified patients without requiring participation in clinical trials. “I know of at least one person who did it at home and came in with a very severe infection in his bowel,” said Youngster, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General. That patient, treated by a colleague, “did a home brew of stool from a 2-year-old infant.” In their study, Youngster and colleagues recruited donors via Craigslist and screened their stool to make sure it was healthy. The stool was mixed with saline and put through sieves to remove “the yucky stuff,” Youngster said, then centrifuged and mixed with glycerol to keep bacteria alive when frozen. It was piped into capsules, which were stored in deep-freeze and transferred to a regular freezer before patients swallowed them. Youngster said the capsules could be stored for 250 days or longer. The capsules are clear, so “the fact that they are frozen is actually good, because then you can’t see what’s in them.” The patients, 11 to 89 years old, had each experienced at least two episodes of C. difcile that antibiotics had failed

the capsules, which “kind of felt like small ice cubes,” her digestive system began to normalize. “If this is a treatment that was 90 percent effective and you can get over the gross factor, it seems to be kind of a nobrainer,” she said. Interest in fecal treatments has grown since a 2013 study found transplants are nearly twice as effective as antibiotics for recurring C. difficile. A nonpro t in Cambridge, Massachusetts, OpenBiome, sends frozen stool samples to hospitals for fecal transplants. Pills are being tested with promising results elsewhere, and a company called Seres Health is in advanced trials of a pill incorporating certain bacteria from stool. Dr. Alexander Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota, said some researchers were trying to freeze-dry stool samples so they could be made into powders that could be stored at room temperature. Dr. Josbert Keller, a Dutch gastroenterologist who led last year’s fecal transplant study, said he would try capsules. “It’s much easier for the patient,” he said.

TRAFFIC MAP | T ONLINE TODAY O

LIFE

SCULPTURE EXHIBITS

CHECK FOR TRAFFIC BEFORE YOUR COMMUTE | THELEDGER.COM/TRAFFIC

POLK & FLORIDA STATE ENROLLMENT IN HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS INCREASES B1

PIECES IN ANNUAL ART COMPETITION ON DISPLAY FOR THE NEXT YEAR B7

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Bullying : More

FREQUENT ACCIDENTS AT INTERSECTION

Crash Kills 3 in Family From Dade City

Laws Needed?

Three children also injured in collison with semi-truck trailer on State Road 33. By STEPHANIE ALLEN

Of ce said Tuesday night. A 3-month-old girl, Aryane Sims, was not seriously injured. She was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center and then taken by the Department of Children and Families to Arnold Palmer Hospital to be with her sisters and grandfather, the Sheriff’s Office said. Aryane was the only person in the car properly restrained in a car seat. Deputies said none of the other children nor their parents was wearing a seat belt. Justin Sims was driving a white 1998 Buick Century that collided with a semi-truck trailer at Deen Still Road and

THE LEDGER

PROPOSED BULLYING LEGISLATION SPURS DEBATE By STEPHANIE ALLEN | THE LEDGER

C

LAKELAND hildren can be mean. They say harsh words, call each other names, push small kids around and make their weakest peers feel bad about themselves. But is that criminal? Under a proposed Florida law, it could be, and it could leave many more children with police records. Tricia Norman of Lakeland has

2014

fought hard to persuade Florida’s Legislature to pass the law that would criminalize bullying since her 12-year-old daughter, Rebecca Sedwick, committed suicide in September after months of bullying by classmates.

A Search for Solutions

At several news conferences announcing the proposed legislation, Norman said she doesn’t want any other family to feel the pain of losing a child to bullying. But some experts on bullying, including law and psychology professors from across the country, argue that making childish acts illegal might have unintended side effects, and the proposed law could do more harm than good.

THE LAWS’ ROLE

[ PLEASE SEE BULLYING, A4 ]

Bullying:

U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 13

Republican David Jolly Wins Congressional Race By MICHAEL J. MISHAK & TAMARA LUSH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEARWATER BEACH | Republican David Jolly defeated Democrat Alex Sink on Tuesday in a Tampa-area House district where President Barack Obama’s health care

INSIDE

Advice B9 Business C6 Editorial A12

overhaul got its rst test ahead of November’s midterm elections and both sides spent millions auditioning national strategies. With almost 100 percent of the vote counted, Jolly had 48.5 percent of the vote to Sink’s 46.7 percent. Libertar- JOLLY

Life Lottery Nation

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ian Lucas Overby had 4.8 percent. The election was to replace 4 2 year Republican Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, who died in

October of cancer, and the evenly divided district had been considered a toss-up. The implications of the dueling messages for the midterm elections inspired both parties to call in star advocates like [ PLEASE SEE ELECTION, A5 ]

LOW 63 | HIGH 76

Mostly cloudy and breezy today with o showers and a thunderstorm. Clear to partly cloudy tonight. Weather B10

[ PLEASE SEE CRASH, A8 ]

POLK COUNTY SCHOOLS FIVE-YEAR PLAN

District Is Facing $238 Mil. Shortfall By GREG PARLIER

perintendent of operations. The district’s nancial picture has deteriorated over the past several years as funding from several sources has declined. The state has not given out Public Education Capital Outlay, or PECO, funds for new construction since 2009. There have been no PECO funds for minor maintenance for the last two years. Plus, 84 percent of the district’s sales tax revenue is dedicated to debt service for bonds the district took out several years ago to pay for renovation of schools in critical need and

THE LEDGER

BARTOW | The School District is facing a $238 million shortage over the next five years to address critical needs in facility maintenance, district staff told School Board members Tuesday. Staff presented a detailed report that showed more than $274 million in needs, including for roof replacements, air-conditioning units and coolers and freezers in school kitchens. There are only about $36 million in projected revenues over the next ve years slated to address those needs. “It is a very bleak picture,” said Greg Rivers, associate su-

[ PLEASE SEE SCHOOLS, A10 ]

TORTURE IN TERROR CASES

Senator Accuses CIA of Meddling in Investigation By DONNA CASSATA

move d do c u ment s a nd searched a computer network set up for lawmakers, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a long and biting speech on the Senate oor. In an escalating dispute with an agency she has long supported, she said the CIA may well have violated crimina l laws a nd t he U. S. Constitution.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON | In an extraordinary public accusation, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee declared on Tuesday that the CIA interfered with and then tried to intimidate a congressional investigation into the agency’s possible use of torture in terror probes during the Bush administration. The CIA clandestinely re-

TIP OF THE DAY

“Sweet Charity.” 7:30 p.m. $50-$65. Youkey Theatre, The Lakeland Center.

[ PLEASE SEE CIA, A8 ] L A K E _ D A I LY

ILLUSTRATION BY AMARIS MERCADO | SPECIAL TO THE LEDGER

POLK CITY | A Dade City couple and their 5-year-old son were killed early Tuesday in a crash at a Polk City intersection that has had other deadly crashes, of cials said. Justin Sims, 31, who was driving the car, and his frontseat passengers, Sharonda Sims, 28, and their son, Savion, died. The crash also sent the couple’s three young daughters to the hospital, two with serious injuries. The two oldest girls, Ariel Sims, 7, and Kitty Sims, 2, were airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando where they underwent surgery. Both were expected to recover, the Sheriff’s

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Bullying: A Search for Solutions | THE LAWS’ ROLE JAYLEN ARNOLD

Bullying

[ CONTINUED FROM A1 ] “You’re criminalizing a behavior that the child really doesn’t understand as criminal,” said Richard Marshall, a psychology professor at the University of South Florida in Lakeland. “Even teenagers who bully don’t really fully appreciate the consequences of what they’re doing.” The Polk County Sheriff’s Office spent more than a month after Rebecca’s suicide interviewing her classmates and investigating the circumstances leading up to her death. Detectives searched through thousands of Facebook messages, eventually leading them to arrest two girls — then 12 and 14 years old — on felony aggravated stalking charges. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd’s decision to arrest Katelyn Roman, now 13, and Guadalupe Shaw gained national media attention and fueled a debate on law enforcement’s role in bullying incidents. And although the Polk State Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the girls, Judd said he didn’t regret making the arrests. He said the girls’ actions went beyond simple bullying and reached a criminal level. Both girls received counseling, and that — along with their arrests — could prevent them from bullying other children, the sheriff said. Yet Judd said he doesn’t support p r o p o s e d l aw s criminalizing bullying. He said Florida already has laws, including assault, battery and stalking, that allow authorities to arrest children when bullying goes too far. In most cases, bullying isn’t JUDD criminal. “If bullying becomes extreme, we have laws to take care of the crime,” Judd said. “We don’t want to make criminals out of these children. We need to treat them as kids, and we need to discipline them, but we do not need to make criminal charges against them.” Marshall, a licensed school psychologist who specializes in children and adolescents, said criminalizing all bullying doesn’t address the real problem and could cause lasting emotional harm to children labeled bullies. Instead, he said, the focus should be on identifying the reasons a child bullies and determining which children are more susceptible to bullying — and why. “We’re talking about factors that go beyond bullying — mental health issues,” he said. “Not all victims of bullying commit suicide, and so, I think what we need to understand is why are some children more affected by bullying? Is it more about the bullying or about the child? Those are the important questions: What is it about the victimizers, the bullies? Should we solve their problems by putting them in jail?”

Lakeland Boy Takes Message On the Road By GARY WHITE THE LEDGER

GARY WHITE | THE LEDGER

JAYLEN ARNOLD IS FILMED BY A CNN CREW AT A SCHOOL FOR A SEGMENT ON “THE HUMAN

FACTOR.” JAYLEN, WHO HAS TOURETTE SYNDROME AND LEADS PRESENTATIONS AT SCHOOLS TO COMBAT BULLYING, WAS JOINED BY ACTOR DASH MIHOK, CENTER, WHO CURRENTLY STARS IN SHOWTIME’S “RAY DONOVAN” AND WAS DIAGNOSED WITH TOURETTE’S AT AGE 6.

Teasing, name-calling and intimidation only contribute to suicide in children who are at risk of harming themselves for underlying reasons, Marshall said. At a news conference after Rebecca’s death, Judd said the seventhgrader was a troubled girl, and not just because of bullying. Sheriff’s Office documents show the Florida Department of Children and Families started an investigation into the girl’s family after an incident in November 2012 when Rebecca did not come home after school. Rebecca told deputies she was afraid of going home because her mother slapped her in the face a few weeks prior, according to an incident report. Rebecca had previous self-

esteem issues, Norman said after her daughter’s death. Norman pulled Rebecca out of Crystal Lake Middle School in February 2013 after she said bullying escalated to physical violence. Rebecca was home-schooled until August 2013, when she started seventh grade at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy. Norman said she knew her daughter had trouble handling the bullying, and she was enCONNELL rolled in counseling, but she said she thought the bullying had stopped, and Rebecca was doing better at her new school. But Rebecca continued to be bullied and harassed by her former classmates through socialmedia applications, according to the Sheriff’s Of ce. She received

RICK RUNION | THE LEDGER

AIMEE GALASSI HOLDS A SIGN DURING A CAR WASH

FUNDRAISER FOR REBECCA SEDWICK AT A LAKELAND 7-11 IN SEPTEMBER. THE 12-YEAR-OLD COMMITTED SUICIDE AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF OF BEING BULLIED AT SCHOOL AND ONLINE.

messages including “Drink bleach and die” and “Go kill yourself.” Some legal and psychology experts agreed the messages Rebecca received were harsh, especially for children, but they said many children have been bullied over social media without commit ting suicide. About 20 percent of students ages 1018 have been cyberbullied at some point in their lifetime, according to a 2010 study by the Cyberbullying Research Center, which operates a website at cyberbullying.us. Nadine Connell, a criminology professor at the University of Texas in Dallas, specializes in decreasing juvenile delinquency and has studied bullying prevention programs. She said a lot of times children don’t fully understand the words they’re using, and in most incidents, the children are learning the harsh phrases from adults around them. “Sometimes, adults forget that there are a lot of bad examples of adults out there,” Connell said. “We are giving children a language and a script to then take to the schoolyard. It’s really important as adults that we model the behavior we want to see.” Connell said she fears Florida’s proposed law would set a bad example for children because it is primarily aimed at school-aged children. Bullying isn’t limited to students, she said, and in many cases, the children learn how to bully from watching the adults [ PLEASE SEE BULLYING, A5 ]

NO FEDERAL LEGISLATION

49 States Have Passed Anti-bullying Laws Since 2000

EXTRA COVERAGE AT THELEDGER.COM

SUNDAY

THE LEDGER AND POLK VISION ARE PARTNERING TO SPONSOR A COMMUNITY FORUM ON BULLYING FROM 6:30 TO 8 P.M. THURSDAY AT THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE COMMUNITY ROOM, 1891 JIM KEENE BLVD., WINTER HAVEN. SPEAKERS INCLUDE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS FROM LAKELAND, WINTER HAVEN AND THE COUNTY AS WELL AS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AND A LOCAL PSYCHOLOGIST. PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED AT THE END. SEND QUESTIONS THAT ARE EDUCATIONAL FOR ALL TO BULLYING@ THELEDGER.COM BY WEDNESDAY.

passed in 2008 after a 15-year-old Cape Coral boy committed suicide in 2005 following years of being bullied. The law prohibits the bullying and harassment of any public school student or employee while on school property or at a school-sponsored event. It was updated last year to include cyberbullying,

MONDAY

Schoolyard bullying has been around for as long as many people can remember, but lawmakers have only been involved in trying to prohibit it for a little more than a decade. Georgia was the first state to pass anti-bullying legislation in 2000, following the 1999 Columbine,

Colo., shootings and a bullying-related death in Georgia. Since then, every state except for Montana has passed an anti-bullying law. Montana does, however, have a model antibullying policy for public school districts to follow. Florida’s current statute — dubbed the “Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act” — was

TUESDAY

By STEPHANIE ALLEN THE LEDGER

VIEW POLK AND FLORIDA SCHOOL DISCIPLINE DATA | THELEDGER.COM/ BULLYINGDATA

TODAY

WEB PRESENTATION, INCLUDING VIDEO: WWW.THELEDGER.COM/BULLYING

which prohibits the electronic bullying of a student or teacher while on or off school property. It defines bullying as “systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students,” including teasing, social exclusion, intimidation, stalking and physical violence.

Each of Florida’s public school districts is required under the law to write an anti-bullying policy detailing the prohibited behav ior a nd possible consequences. Currently, there are no federal bullying laws. [ Stephanie Allen can be reached at stephanie.allen@theledger. com or 863-802-7550. ]

ABOUT THIS SERIES SUNDAY: High-profile cases, especially last year’s suicide of a 12-year-old Lakeland girl, have made the issue of bullying the topic of a contentious national conversation, and one problem is answering the basic question: What is bullying? ■ MONDAY: What part do parents play in bullying? Do they create bullies? When should they step in if bullying is suspected? ■ TUESDAY: How do schools handle problems with bullying? How should they? What problems do unfounded complaints create? ■ TODAY: Should bullying be outlawed? Legislation is proposed that would criminalize bullying, and it moves beyond actions already illegal, such as stalking or assault. ■ THE ARTWORK: The main artwork for each day of this series was created by Amaris Mercado of Poinciana, a sophomore visual arts student at the Lois Cowles Harrison School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Lakeland. Other artwork used online — theledger. com/bullying — was created by children at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lakeland. The Ledger asked Mercado and the younger children to create art that illustrated four questions: Day 1) How do you feel when you are bullied? Day 2) What do your parents do when you are sad? Day 3) What does bullying look like? Day 4) What does a bully look like? ■

LAKELAND | Jaylen Arnold is going Hollywood. Jaylen, a 13-year-old Lakeland boy with Tourette syndrome and other conditions, leads a foundation he and his mother founded ve years ago with a simple message: “Bullying No Way!” He has given presentations at schools in Polk and other counties and is about to embark on his rst trip out of state. Jaylen and his family, along with Jaylens Challenge Foundation volunteers and a video crew, will depart Friday on the Bullying No Way! National Tour. A news conference and official send-off will take place in Seffner at the corporate of ce of Lazydays RV, the company donating use of two motor coaches for the trip. “This will mean a lot, especially since it’s across the country,” Jaylen said. “Jaylens Challenge has good publicity just here with me in Lakeland. It’s all about getting the message out to kids, and so us doing tons of presentations across the country will be great, especially in Los Angeles, where everybody knows somebody, and there’s a big population.” The 5,200-mile round-trip tour has stops planned in Mobile, Ala.; Gulfport, Miss.; Dallas and Phoenix on the way to a scheduled arrival March 22 in Los Angeles. Jaylen, a seventh-grader at Victory Christian Academy in Lakeland, created his campaign in response to the bullying he endured as a young child. At age 2, he began showing symptoms of Tourette syndrome, a disorder that causes involuntary movements or speech, known as “tics.” He has also been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. Jaylen is scheduled to appear at educational forums and to shoot a television commercial during a ve-day press junket in Los Angeles. He will rendezvous there with actor Dash Mihok, who has Tourette syndrome and is a board member for the foundation. Robin Arnold Eckelberger, Jaylen’s mother and executive director of the nonpro t foundation, said she approached Lazydays CFO Randy Lay to ask for support. She said Lay responded enthusiastically, offering the use of two 31-foot motor coaches, each of which has sleeping room for eight people. Eckelberger said four Hillsborough County re ghters volunteered to drive the vehicles. Jaylen has given presentations to an estimated 60,000 people in the past ve years, his mother said. He has been featured on Tampa TV stations and CNN. Jaylen’s tics have become more pronounced recently, a common occurrence at the onset of adolescence. During an interview at his family’s home Monday, the involuntary motions of his arms and upper body and his intermittent squeaking sounds were much more noticeable than they had been a year earlier. Eckelberger said she thinks the increased obviousness of Jaylen’s Tourette symptoms will only heighten the impact of his message on the bus tour. The schedule in Los Angeles includes the shooting of a publicservice announcement at the high school used for exterior scenes of the TV show “Glee.” Eckelberger said the foundation will own the spot and hopes to have it broadcast in nine states. The crew is scheduled to send video updates to BayNews9 during the trip. Eckelberger said she hopes the tour will generate new grant opportunities for the foundation. Eckelberger said the family — including Jaylen’s sister Nina, 11, and his step-father, Neil Eckelberger — will have one day for tourist activities in Los Angeles. She said Mihok has promised a tour of the set of “Ray Donovan,” the Showtime series in which he appears, and meetings with other actors. [ Gary White can be reached at gary. [email protected] or 863-8027518. He blogs about tourism at http://tourism.blogs.theledger. com. ]

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T H E L E D G E R • T U E S D AY, M A R C H 1 1 , 2 0 14 • W W W.T H E L E D G E R . C O M

Bullying: A Search for Solutions | SCHOOLS’ ROLE

SCOTT WHEELER | THE LEDGER (2010)

NANCY WOOLCOCK, ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT

OF LEARNING SUPPORT FOR POLK SCHOOLS, SAID THE DISTRICT HOLDS SESSIONS NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR TO TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO REPORT BULLYING.

Bullying

are. A lot have developed clubs and core groups,” she said. [ CONTINUED FROM A4 ] Many schools had shirts CONSEQUENCES made with words like ‘‘courBullying is deemed a “seri- age’’ and ‘‘acceptance,’’ she ous breach of conduct” in the said. district’s code of conduct, on “If you’ve got other kids dopar with calling in a bomb ing the role-modeling, then threat, arson, assault or you’re going to see a shift in battery. how other kids behave,” she According to the code of said. conduct, the principal can reSeveral Florida counties are act in several ways, anything doing one thing that Polk has from calling in parents to re- yet to implement: a bullying mov ing a st udent from hotline. school. Anyone can call, text or go Woolcock said administra- online to report a crime or bultors try other methods before lying incident on the anonyresorting to suspension or ex- mous hotline, and each report pulsion, like changing the involving schools is reported class schedules of students to the principal of that school, involved, calling conferences she said. with parents and administraDuval County’s bullying tor s , a n d a f te r- s c h o ol hotline, which re-launched in counseling. September, allows tipsters to Punishment is call in anonysimilar for stumously between dents who file 8 a.m. and 4:30 false reports. p.m. weekdays Karen Teston, when their call a child psychiawill be antrist at Watson swered by a disClinic who has trict counselor. worke d w it h Tipster s ca n both perpetraleave a message tors and victims after hours on of bullying, said the hotline. suspension and Woolcock, expulsion are Polk’s district counterbullying specialproductive. ist, said Polk is “Just kicking considering addt hem out of ing a hotline. school m ig ht Polk received solve the probhigh marks in lem in that school the state’s asfor that week, but sessment of its if you consider it bullying resourcsomething that’s es in its audit last detrimental in school year. school, work“I would like place and home, to commend you then it’s not effor your comprefective,” she said. hensive effort “They are just toward bullying going to end up awareness, predoing it somevention and rewhere else.” sponse,” wrote Bullying is just Shelley Hatton, a way of gaining program specontrol over cialist in the ofEDGAR SANTIAGO ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL someone else, so f ice of sa fe MULBERRY HIGH SCHOOL you have to help schools at the them understand Florida Departthat, and nd anment of Educaother way to get control, she tion in a message to Woolcock said. in July. Decker said bullying is a Hatton commended Polk’s school cultural issue. curricula and student aware“If students understand ness initiatives, and suggested what bullying is, they end up the state could use Polk as a policing themselves.” model. She also liked the reShe said the support system sources easily available on the around the district’s policy district’s website, she wrote. — the school community that Rachel Annunziato, assisincludes all staff, parents and tant professor of clinical psystudents — must work togeth- chology at Fordham Univerer to create a positive sity, said the most successful environment. school-based initiatives to “We must teach them not combat bullying are comprejust that they shouldn’t but hensive approaches that eduwhy they shouldn’t,” she cate all the players — stusaid. dents, teachers, administrators and parents — that there is HOW POLK STACKS UP “no tolerance” for bullying. Other districts in Florida “Bullying is part of an overare following a similar com- all culture where kids get prehensive approach to bully- away with doing something ing prevention as Polk. like this, where kids are eggLisa Page, the safe and ing each other on. You have drug-free schools specialist in to change the entire culture,” Seminole County, said their she said. preventative approach to bulGetting teachers on board lying is showing results in is one thing, but parents can c h a n g i n g m i n d s e t s o f be more dif cult. Annunziato students. said some schools use parentMiddle and high school stu- teacher conferences or hold dents there are asked to cre- workshops to engage parents, ate public service announce- but that it may be skewed toments about the dangers of ward parents who already are bullying. In previous years, paying attention to those she said, every PSA was about things. suicide. Regardless, she said, it is This year, every PSA had a vital to get every piece of the happy ending. She said that community engaged. goes to show the paradigm shift in students’ attitudes [ Greg Parlier can be reached at 863-802-7547 and greg. about bullying. “We worked to have kids parlier@theledger or 863-802buy in. It’s not 100 percent, 7547. Follow Greg on Twitter @ but I would say most of them Gregparlier. ]

“Parents have ‘bullying’ thrown at them. Parents come in, and they’re not saying, ‘I’d like to inquire about what’s going on with my child.’ They’re saying, ‘What are you going to do about this bullying?’ ”

Russia Preparing Counterproposals on Ukraine By MARIA DANILOVA & JIM HEINTZ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KIEV, Ukraine | Russia said Monday it is drafting counterproposals to a U.S. plan for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis, denouncing the new Western-backed government as an unacceptable “fait accompli” and claiming that Russian-leaning parts of the country have been plunged into lawlessness. The Kremlin moves came as Russian forces strengthened their control over Crimea, less than a week before the strategic region is to hold a contentious referendum on whether to split off and become part of Russia. In a televised brie ng with President Vladimir Putin,

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister said proposals made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are “not suitable” because they take “the situation created by the coup as a starting point,” referring to the ouster of Ukraine’s proKremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych. Referring to a document Lavrov received from Kerry explaining the U.S. view of the situation in Ukraine, Lavrov said: “To be frank, it raises many questions on our side.” “Everything was stated in terms of allegedly having a con ict between Russia and Ukraine, and in terms of accepting the fait accompli,” he said. Lavrov said Kerry delayed a visit to Moscow to discuss

the situation, and Russia had decided to prepare new proposals of its own, though he did not say what they were. “We suggested that he come today ... and we were prepared to receive him. He gave his preliminary consent. He then called me on Saturday and said he would like to postpone it for a while,” the minister said. But in Washington, State Department of cials said that it was Russia’s refusal to discuss the American proposals that was hurting prospects for a negotiated solution — in particular, the idea of direct talks between Russian of cials and those of the new Ukrainian government. “We are still awaiting a Russian response to the concrete

questions that Secretary Kerry sent Foreign Minister Lavrov on Saturday in this regard,” State Depar tment spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. “Secretar y Kerr y made clear to Foreign Minister Lavrov that he would welcome further discussions focused on how to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine if and when we see concrete evidence that Russia is prepared to engage on these proposals,” she said. The statement said Kerry, in weekend discussions with Lavrov, reiterated Washington’s demand that Moscow pull back its troops from Ukraine and end attempts to annex the Crimean peninsula.

Malaysia

[ CONTINUED FROM A1 ] on so far, aviation experts explored a number of plausible scenarios to explain the loss of the plane, and investigators said they could not yet conclusively rule out almost any potential cause, including terrorism, hijacking, crew malfeasance, pilot error or mechanical failure. An object bobbing in the Gulf of Thailand that from a distance looked like a life raft turned out to be the lid of a large box, Vietnamese authorities said. An oil slick in Malaysian waters was found not to contain any jet fuel. A nd what was initially thought to be an aircraft tail oating in the sea was actually “logs tied together,” according to a Malaysian of cial. The lack of results so far ra ised questions about whether the ships, planes and helicopters from nine nations that were scouring the waters near the aircraft’s last reported location, some of them using highly sophisticated equipment, were looking in the right place. Arnie Reiner, a retired captain with US Airways and the former chief accident investigator at Pan Am, noted, “If they somehow got turned around or went off course when the thing was going down, it could be 90 or 100 miles away from where the ight data disappeared.” It was not yet known whether the Malaysian plane deviated from its planned ight path or how long the pilots could still y the aircraft after the last reported contact. After more than two days of fruitless search, Malaysian of cials said Monday that they were expanding the search area. This much seemed clear: The aircraft took off from Kuala Lumpur after midnight Saturday bound for Beijing and lost contact with ground controllers when it was over the Gulf of Thailand, making its way toward Vietnamese airspace in good weather under a moonless sky. The airline said there was no distress call. Transponders on commercial airliners automatically report their location, altitude, speed and other data by radio. The last two readings from the devices on Flight MH370 were recorded at 1:21 a.m. local time, some 40 minutes after takeoff, and they did not include altitude, according to Mikael Robertsson of Flightradar24, a Stockholm-based organization that tracks aircraft around the world. Robertsson said that might be coincidence: Readings are often incomplete because of transient interference from other aircraft. Boeing of cials and investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board began conferring with Malaysian officials about Flight MH370 on Monday, U.S. and Malaysian of cials said. The FBI has offered to send agents and forensic specialists to Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, but so far those countries have declined the assistance, U.S. law enforcement of cials said. One locus of speculation Monday was the report from the Malaysian government that two men had boarded the plane using stolen passports from Italy and Austria. It was not clear whether the two men, whom Malaysian officials described only as “not Asian,” had anything to d o w i t h t h e p l a n e ’s disappearance. The men, who were scheduled to connect in Beijing for

ights to two different European cities, used one-way tickets issued by a travel agent in the Thai resort city of Pattaya. The police there said they were booked not by the passengers themselves but by an Iranian man known to the police only as Ali, who ordered them by telephone. Another Iranian man paid for the tickets in cash, and the police questioned that man Monday, according to Supachai Phuikaewkhum, the chief of police in Pattaya. The Malaysia A irlines plane is not the rst modern jet to vanish mysteriously. Searchers sometimes take months to locate crash debris in remote areas, deep water or difficult weather conditions. But the Gulf of Thailand is busy with fishing boats, commercial vessels and natural gas platforms and is no deeper than about 260 feet. By contrast, an Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 was recovered from a depth of about 13,000 feet. Aircraft and surface vessels from several countries have joined the search, among them P-3C Orion military planes whose radar systems are capable of locating oating objects as small as a basketball. In a sign of how uncertain of cials are of the plane’s whereabouts, a U.S. Orion spent part of Monday searching off the western coast of Malaysia, several hundred miles from the ight’s last reported location, of cials said. Although of cials have not ruled out terrorism in the Malaysia Airlines case, no evidence of foul play has yet come to light.

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NOTICE OF A PUBLIC HEARING ON AN AMENDMENT TO THE POLK COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AND LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT on Tuesday, April 1, 2014, at 1:30 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the particular case may be heard,in the Board Room,County Administration Building,330 West Church Street, Bartow Florida, the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) will hold a Public Hearing on the following cases: 1.Case File #CPA 14S-03/DMS #56714 An ordinance of the Polk County Board of County Commissioners regarding the adoption of CPA 14S-03, an amendment to the Polk County Comprehensive Plan, Ordinance 92-36, as amended, to change the Future Land Use designation on 4.38 +/- acres from Residential Low (RL) to Institutional (INST) within the Transit Supportive Development Area, located on the northeast corner of Pollard Road and County Road 540A, west of US Highway 98, east of Lakeland Highlands Road, south of Lakeland, north of Bartow in Section 15, Township 29, Range 24; providing for severability; and providing for an effective date. 2.Case file #CPA 14S-04/DMS #56772 An ordinance of the Polk County Board of County Commissioners regarding the adoption of CPA 14S-04, an amendment to the Polk County Comprehensive Plan, Ordinance 92-36, as amended, to change the Future Land Use designation on 1.33 +/- acres from Residential Medium (RMX) to Institutional (INST) in the Urban Growth Area (UGA), located between 34th St NW and 35th St NW, north of Avenue P NW and south of Avenue R NW, west of the city of Winter Haven, Florida, in Section 13, Township 28, Range 25; providing for severability; and providing for an effective date. 3.Case File #CPA 14S-05/DMS #56779 An ordinance of the Polk County Board of County Commissioners regarding the adoption of CPA 14S-05, an amendment to the Polk County Comprehensive Plan, Ordinance 92-36, as amended, to change the Future Land Use designation on 4.87 +/- acres from Residential Medium (RMX) to Employment Center (ECX) in the Ronald Reagan Parkway Selected Area Plan (SAP) and the Transit Supportive Development Area (TSDA), located on the southeast corner of Meadows Boulevard and Ronald Reagan Parkway,south of the Osceola County line in Section 05, Township 26, Range 27; providing for severability; and providing for an effective date. 4.Case File #LDC 14D-01/DMS #56715 An ordinance of the Polk County Board of County Commissioners regarding the adoption of amendment LDC 14D-01, an amendment to the Polk County Land Development Code Sub-District Map (Ordinance 01-69), as amended to change 4.83± acres from Institutional-1 (INST-1) to Institutional-2 (INST-2) within the Transit Supportive Development Area, located on the northeast corner of Pollard Road and County Road 540A, west of US Highway 98, east of Lakeland Highlands Road, south of Lakeland, north of Bartow in Section 15, Township 29, Range 24; providing for severability; and providing for an effective date. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, persons with disabilities needing special accommodations or an interpreter to participate in this public hearing should contact the Board’s Communications Division,located in the Neil Combee Administration Building, 1st Floor at (863) 534-6090, not later than four days prior to the public hearing. If hearing impaired call: (TDD) (863) 534-7777 or 1-800-955-8771, or Voice impaired call: 1-800-955-8770, via Florida Relay Service. The public hearing may be continued to a time and date certain by announcement at this scheduled public hearing without any further published notice. Written comments may be submitted to the Land Development Division in person at 330 W. Church Street, Bartow, Florida 33830, or by mail to Drawer GM03, P.O. Box 9005, Bartow, Florida 33831-9005 prior to such hearing for consideration by the Board in making a decision on the case. All files are available for public inspection, during office hours, at the Land Development Division, Neil Combee County Administration Building, 330 West Church Street, Bartow, Florida. (Phone # (863) 5346792) and on the web at www.polk-county.net/hearings. Should any person decide to appeal any decision made by the Board at this meeting, such person will need a record of the proceedings and may need to ensure that the record includes a verbatim transcript. L9229 3-11; 2014