Lee County’s population grew about 5 percent last year. But the population of ownerless pets at Lee County Animal Services grew twice as fast — by 10 percent. Last year was a record year for animal services… by finding homes for more than 3,000 animals. The agency DOES have to put some of its animals to sleep—especially if they’re aggressive or very ill. But, spokesperson Ria Brown says she’s proud of the overall survival rate.

“When a stray comes in, we will hold that animal for five days to give the owner a chance to claim it. And while it’s being held as a stray, we’re evaluating its health and behavior. So, if it isn’t claimed by the owner, then it can be moved up to our adoption side. Once it gets up there, it just depends on how much space we have, how many more are coming in—as opposed to how many we’re adopting out—and how the animal’s doing. Once an animal gets up to adoption, it’s got about a 70 percent chance of getting a home.”

Lee County Animal Services doesn’t just accept strays. They also take pets that owners give up. Officials report a 27 percent increase in the number of surrendered pets last year. Animal Services director, Scott Trebatoski, says—quote—it’s a sad reflection of the trend to treat companion animals as disposable property—end quote.

A St. Petersburg man died late last week when his pickup collided head-on with a dump truck on Burnt Store Road in Charlotte County.
It’s the 11th traffic fatality in the county this year. That’s nearly twice as many as this time last year. The wreck closed Burnt Store for hours. Charlotte County Public Works Director - Tom O’Kane – says the county already had plans there for safety improvements later this year.

“This is a very narrow roadway…it’s only 20 feet of pavement, not unusual in Florida, that was the standard at one time…what we’re proceeding with is adding 4-foot shoulders on both sides. What that does is it gives people that travel the corridor the appearance of a wider roadway, and rather than having these drop-offs that occur because of truck traffic or buses or whatever, you’ll have a paved shoulder to improve safety in the corridor.”

The accident occurred where the edge of the road drops off sharply…with no shoulder. O’Kane says it’s a constant problem… adding that until Hurricane Charley, they were able to more regularly maintain shoulders. He says since the storm, crews have been unable to do it as often. There are several studies underway looking into widening Burnt Store Road to 4 lanes. O’Kane says it’ll be at least 5 or 10 years before it happens. But, he says speed’s always been a concern on the corridor, and that a wider road may add to the problem.

“As soon as we get those shoulders finished…you know the average speed is probably around 60 or 70 miles now is actually going to go up because people will feel that it’s safer to drive at those higher speeds. The posted speed at 55…I guess they think they’re in Montana where during the daylight hours you can drive at any speed.”

The Developer of Tern Bay - an 18-hundred home development about 3 miles north of the Lee/Charlotte line – has agreed to widen nearly two miles of Burnt Store Road near its project. A new study by The Road Information Program – a national transportation research group—shows Florida’s rural roads are among the most dangerous in the nation.

Free blood tests are now available for people who have lived with employees of the former American Beryllium facility in Tallevast near Sarasota. Other residents living within half a mile of the former facility are also eligible. The Florida Department of Health and the Sarasota County Health Department, will conduct the beryllium sensitivity testing this month. Florida Department of Health spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges says they can accommodate up to 200 people….

“We already have 91 household members and residents signed up, which means there are about 109 slots that are available at this point. The testing is being paid for by the Federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in Atlanta. If Individuals will need re-testing that will also be done free of charge and will be done in April.”

Beryllium is a lightweight metal used to build nuclear missiles and other military hardware. The test determines whether an individual was exposed to beryllium and has developed sensitivity to it. Exposure can lead to lung disease. The Manatee County Health Department recently tested residents and former employees of the American Beryllium facility will alsobe tested by the Department of Energy.

The now defunct American Beryllium Company plant employed hundreds of weapons manufacturing workers between 1961 and 1996. Recent tests show contamination from the plant has polluted about 50 acres of groundwater. And a host of potentially dangerous chemicals – including arsenic, lead and beryllium – are in the soil at levels above what the state considers safe.

A new Department of Homeland Security program has been overwhelmingly successful in catching sexual predators, many in Florida. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers applauded the program and promised continued support. Benjamin Shaw reports from our Capitol Hill Bureau. (AUDIO)

Civil War re-enactors gather Saturday at the site of the Raid on Gopher Ridge – in the Collier County town now known as Immokalee. The original encounter was between soldiers from the Confederate Cow Calvary and the U.S. Second Colored Infantry based in Ft. Myers. The Confederate soldiers were in the area rounding up wild cattle to provide beef and leather to the confederacy. The Union soldiers encountered the Confederates on a journey inland for food. David Southall, education Coordinator for the Collier County Museum, says this plays into civil war history and black history.

“ the members of the U.S. Second Colored Infantry were young black men, mostly from Florida, it was a unit raised here in Florida. Some of them were free blacks, some of them were Bahamian fishermen who enlisted in the army because it was good money, but it was also a lot of young black men who had escaped from slavery and decided to join the union cause”.

No was injured in the skirmish between the Union and Confederate soldiers. But, diaries from the time record the event. The re-enactment of the Raid on Gopher Ridge this Saturday is a day long event highlighting Collier’s civil war history with activities from 10 to 4. The re-enactment itself takes place at 2:00 at Roberts Ranch in Immokalee.

Medical students will soon have a chance to complete some of their training in southwest Florida. Final preparations are underway for the July opening of the Florida State University College of Medicine’s Sarasota campus. The school is community-based...which means it employs local physicians to help train students. Dean Dr. Bruce Berg says the Sarasota campus expands FSU’s so-called “distributed model.”

“That means that medical students go for the 1st two years…which are the basic science years…to Tallahassee proper. The 3rd and 4th year, which are the clinical years where the students really learn how to take care of people…are then accomplished, that is their training is accomplished, in campuses that are around the state. This is the 4th one.”

Berg says 9 students have already been selected to work in Sarasota… and start training in July. They’ll do clinical rotations in family and internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, surgery and psychiatry. The school will have as many as 40 students in a few years. Dr. Berg also hopes programs like this will help bring doctors to…and keep them in…Florida…by getting them to establish local ties during their hands-on training.

Last year's hurricanes touched nearly every coastal region of the state. Of the 855 miles of sandy coastline in Florida - 322 miles were critically eroded. Estimates put damage to the state's beaches at more than 42 million dollars. Many areas are still cleaning up. Bureau chief for the Department of Environmental Protection's beaches and coastal systems division, Michael Barnett, says his office is still engaged in weekly teleconferences with state and federal agencies.
"It's a cooperative effort to try to provide emergency restoration of several, I think there's 15 different shoreline segments that are under federal jurisdiction for shore protection. These are projects that have previously been constructed and to varying degrees suffered significant damages attributed to one of the four land falling hurricanes."
During a special session last fall, state lawmakers passed a recovery plan totaling almost $70 million for federal shore protection projects and dune restoration. Meanwhile, President Bush plans to slash federal funding for sand replenishment projects. He's requesting $46 million for "shore protection" projects in his 2006 budget -- less than half what Congress provided this year. The President wants to eliminate all federal funding for beach renourishment in Lee and Sarasota counties.

A 24-year-old Florida Gulf Coast University student is the first woman in Southwest Florida to have an ovary removed and frozen-—hoping reproductive technology catches up by the time she’s ready to have children. Amy Tardif explains. 

Quiet is something people expect when they visit the library. But the Charlotte county branch of a group called S-H-H-H – or Self Help for Hard of Hearing People – is using the library to help spread a message about ending silence. Valerie Alker reports. (Audio)

The building of Ave Maria University— and its surrounding town will create a need for construction workers. There are hopes those workers can come from neighboring Immokalee. Ryan Warner reports. Immokalee’s Bethune Education Center is training local residents with just that in mind. Last night, 20 students were the first to graduate from Bethune’s new Building Construction Trades Program. Administrator Dr. Leo Mediavilla says the grads got special training in heating, air conditioning, and ventilation work.

“They’re doing many things right now. Many of them might be migrant farm workers. Many of them could be looking for work. And so our goal was to be able to give them an opportunity to get some self confidence and some training, to learn more about the trades. And also to give them some tools so that when they went to a job site, they would be better equipped to get the job.”

Students underwent about 60 hours of workplace training. The Bethune Education Center is part of the Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology.