Quick Pick – Merit Retention Vote “YES” for Judge Craig C. Villanti for 2nd District Court of Appeal

Florida Second District Court of Appeal

Judge Craig C. Villanti

Appellate Judge

Judge Villanti received his B.A. degree in 1974 in political science from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he attended on a New York State Regent’s Scholarship Award. He received his J.D. degree from Stetson University College of Law in 1977. While at Stetson, his team won first place in the Senior Moot Court Competition, and he represented the school at state competition.

Upon graduation from law school in 1977, Judge Villanti entered private practice in New Port Richey. He was primarily a sole practitioner, personally handling all appeals for the firm. His appellate practice included cases in the Second District Court of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Villanti held all offices of the West Pasco Bar Association before serving as president in 1985. While president, he received three statewide awards for the Association: Volunteer Lawyer’s Program (pro bono), Fee Arbitration, and Judicial Poll. He received The Florida Bar Award for Meritorious Public Service (1988) and an award for Outstanding and Dedicated Service from the Community Aging and Retirement Services, Inc. (1989). In 1991 he founded Helping the Elderly with Legal Problems (H.E.L.P.) to provide weekly pro bono services to the needy elderly population in Pasco County.

In 1990 he was appointed as a traffic court magistrate for the Sixth Judicial Circuit. In 1992 he was elected circuit court judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit. He was reelected without opposition in 1998. After an initial one-year assignment in Pinellas County, he served in Pasco County until his appointment to the Second District Court of Appeal in February 2003 by Governor Jeb Bush.

Judge Villanti has served on Florida Bar Committees for Civil and Criminal Procedure and chaired a Bar Grievance Committee. He has lectured at the Judicial College on Advanced Education on topics concerning probate and guardianship law, and he has taught as an adjunct professor at Pasco-Hernando Community College and at St. Leo College on subjects involving real estate and torts. He is an Eagle Scout and has been the keynote speaker for Eagle Scout recognition ceremonies on several occasions. He has coached boys and girls in various recreational youth sports and served as a volunteer for the National Parks.

Judge Villanti was born in Flushing, New York, in 1952. He is married, has three children, and one granddaughter.

Commentary: I will have to merit retention vote “YES” for Judge Craig C. Villanti on the 2^nd District Court of Appeal.

via District Court of Appeal’s Website.

Quick Pick – Merit Retention Vote “YES” for Judge Stevan T. Northcutt for 2nd District Court of Appeal | James Patrick Guerrero

Florida Second District Court of Appeal

Judge Stevan T. Northcutt

Appellate Judge

Judge Northcutt attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he received a B.A. degree in mass communications in 1975. He earned his J.D. degree from the Florida State University College of Law in 1978.

In the early and mid-1970s Judge Northcutt worked as a journalist, both free-lance and in the employ of The Tampa Times, The Tampa Tribune, and the Washington, D.C., bureau of The Chicago Tribune.

In 1976 Judge Northcutt was awarded a Florida Legislative Fellowship, and for the next two years he served on the staff of the Florida House Judiciary Committee. From 1978 to 1986 Judge Northcutt practiced law, first as an associate and then as a partner, with the law firm of Levine, Freedman, Hirsch & Levinson, P.A., in Tampa. From 1986 to 1997 he was a shareholder in Levine, Hirsch, Segall & Northcutt, P.A., in Tampa.

Governor Lawton Chiles, Jr., appointed Judge Northcutt to the Second District for a term beginning January 6, 1997. The voters of the district retained him in office in the general elections of 1998 and 2004. Judge Northcutt served as the Second District’s chief judge from July 2007 through June 2009. During the same period, he was chair of the state’s District Court of Appeal Budget Commission, which oversees the budgets of Florida’s five district courts. He continues to serve on the Budget Commission. In the summer of 2010 Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady appointed Judge Northcutt to three-year terms as a member of the Florida Courts Technology Commission and as chair of the Appellate Courts Technology Committee. Judge Northcutt is president-elect of the Florida Conference of District Court of Appeal Judges.

Throughout his career as an attorney, Judge Northcutt concentrated his practice in the field of appellate advocacy, both civil and criminal, state and federal. He developed a statewide practice and lectured and published often on topics related to appellate practice and family law. He is a long-standing member of the Appellate Court Rules Committee of The Florida Bar. He was a charter member of the Appellate Practice and Advocacy Section of The Florida Bar and was the first chairman of the section’s Civil Appellate Practice Committee.

Other of Judge Northcutt’s professional activities have included membership in The Florida Bar Public Interest Section and the Florida Academy of Public Interest Lawyers, service on The Florida Bar’s Journal-News Editorial Board, and membership on The Florida Bar’s Young Lawyers’ Section Legislation Committee. He is a member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association and has served on its Family Law Section Executive Council, on its Appellate Court Liaison Committee, and in its Appellate Practice Section. Judge Northcutt is a member of the Family Law Inn of Court in Tampa.

His civic activities have included participation in the Hillsborough County Commission’s Charter Review Board and its Citizen’s Advisory Committee, and the Arts Council and Law Library Boards of Hillsborough County. He has served as a board member and president of Older Adult Services, Inc., of Tampa and as a board member and as chairman (1994-96) of Hospice of Hillsborough, Inc.
Judge Northcutt was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1954. He has one child.

Commentary: I will have to merit retention vote “YES” for Judge Stevan T. Northcutt on the 2^nd District Court of Appeal.

via Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal’s Website.

Quick Pick – Merit Retention Vote “NO” for Judge Nelly Khouzam for 2nd District Court of Appeal | James Patrick Guerrero

 Florida Second District Court of Appeal

Judge Nelly Khouzam

Appellate Judge

Judge Khouzam received her B.A. degree in history from the University of Florida in 1979. She received her J.D. degree from the University of Florida College of Law, with honors, in December 1981.

Following law school, Judge Khouzam served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jack R. Schoonover of the Second District Court of Appeal. After completion of her clerkship, she entered private practice where she became a shareholder at Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal and Banker, P.A., and later a shareholder at Silberman and Khouzam, P.A. While in private practice, she received an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating given to attorneys. Prior to joining the Second District Court of Appeal, she served for fourteen years as a circuit court judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, which is comprised of Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Judge Khouzam was appointed to the Second District Court of Appeal by Governor Charlie Crist and began serving as a member of the court on August 1, 2008.

A frequent author and lecturer, Judge Khouzam has written articles for The Florida Bar Journal, Nova Law Review, Litigation Magazine, and the Trial Advocate Quarterly. She is a frequent lecturer at judicial conferences and is a faculty member of the Florida Judicial College and the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies. She is a past chair of the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges.

Judge Khouzam has received the following awards: the A.B.O.T.A. “Florida Jurist of the Year Award” (2002); the William Castagna Award for Judicial Excellence for displaying the highest standards of judicial excellence in knowledge of the law, ethics, civility, professionalism, and demeanor (2006); and the John U. Bird Distinguished Jurist Award presented by the Clearwater Bar Association in recognition of extraordinary service as a Trial and Appellate Judge (2008). She has been a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (A.B.O.T.A.) since 1993, and is past president of the Barney Masterson Inn of Court. She was nominated Great Woman of the Year for 2008 by the American Biographical Institute.

Judge Khouzam was born in November 1958. She is married and has one daughter.

Commentary: I will have to merit retention vote “NO” for Judge Nelly Khouzam on the 2^nd District Court of Appeal.

via Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal’s Website.

Quick Pick – Merit Retention Vote “YES” for Judge Patricia Kelly on 2nd District Court of Appeal | James Patrick Guerrero

Florida Second District Court of Appeal

Judge Patricia J. Kelly

Appellate Judge

Patricia J. Kelly was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 25, 1956 and received her J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law in 1986 and her B.A. degree in political science from the University of South Florida in 1983. In 2001, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Judge Kelly to the Second District Court of Appeal. Before being appointed to the court, Judge Kelly practiced law with firms in West Palm Beach and Tampa before leaving private practice to serve as a staff attorney to the Honorable James E. Lehan at the Second District Court of Appeal. After returning to private practice, Judge Kelly limited her practice to appellate matters and in 1998, she obtained board certification in appellate law from the Florida Bar. Judge Kelly has served on various committees including the Appellate Court Rules, the Pro Se Appellate Handbook, CLE, and Publications Committees of the Appellate Practice and Advocacy Section of the Florida Bar, and the steering committee for the 2007 Florida Appellate Justice Conference. She is also a member of the Bruce R. Jacob Inn of Court. Judge Kelly and her husband, Mark, have two children, Mark Patrick and Megan Elizabeth.

Commentary: I will have to merit retention vote “YES” for Judge Patricia Kelly on the 2^nd District Court of Appeal.

via Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal’s Website.

Quick Pick – Merit Retention Vote “NO” for Judge Marva L. Crenshaw on 2nd District Court of Appeal | James Patrick Guerrero

CRIST NAMES CANADY REPLACEMENT TO SECOND DCA

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Marva L. Crenshaw was tapped Wednesday by Gov. Charlie Crist to replace Charles Canady on the Second District Court of Appeal. Canady was named last year to the state Supreme Court. Crenshaw, 57, has been on the circuit bench since August 2000 and was a county judge before that. She was also an assistant state attorney for the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office from 1976 to 1978 and served as attorney and deputy director for Bay Area Legal Services in Tampa from 1978 to January 1989. Judge Crenshaw earned a bachelor’s degree from the Tuskegee Institute in 1973 and graduated from the University of Florida College of Law in 1975. “Judge Crenshaw is a distinguished jurist of high integrity. She has served as a role model of fairness and hard work not just in legal circles, but in the community, where she speaks to youth groups about the importance of education,” said Crist. “With her nearly three decades of experience handling a variety of cases, I am confident she will make a wonderful addition to the Second District Court of Appeal.”

Commentary: I will have to merit retention vote “NO” to Judge Marva L. Crenshaw on the 2^nd District Court of Appeal.

via http://www.newsserviceflorida.com/cgi/as_web.exe?rev2009+D+169955.

MUG SHOTS: Berry, berry big bust: 6 Immokalee men caught with 5,000 lbs. of palmetto berries » Naples Daily News

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A berry picking excursion in Hernando County landed six Collier County men in jail earlier this week.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Oct. 4 arrested six Immokalee men after commission officers discovered 5,000 pounds of palmetto berries in the bed of their truck.

The men – Jose Santos Lopez, 26; Arturo Velazquez Barcenas, 49; Pedro Aquilar Bodinez, 32; Jose L. Ayala-Mejia, 40; Rolando Domingo Aguilar, 18; and Melvin Alvarado Nazar, 38 – were charged with illegal entry into Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area and with possession of a palmetto berry.

The men were arrested, according to a FWC report, after officers learned a pickup truck had entered the wildlife management area and were attempting to exit without properly checking in or out, and not paying the required daily-use fees. FWC officers stopped the vehicle before it left the wildlife management area, and found the men as well as the 5,000 pound of berries.

Palmetto berries are a common food source for wildlife, like the Florida black bear and turkeys, said Ed Carlson, the director of the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County. The berries are also a target for people looking to make some money, especially since palmetto berries are said have medicinal uses and can be sold to pharmaceutical companies for profit.

Carlson said the berries are used as herbal remedies to treat “male prostate problems.”

Collectors can get up to $1.26 a pound, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for FWC.

That means the Immokalee men’s haul could have went for about $6,300, said Chad Allison, the Chassahowitzka manager.

While Chassahowitzka just started cracking down on berry pickers, Allison said there have been several instances where people were caught picking berries, or loading them up in their trucks, since the palmetto berry season began. “It’s been pretty bad, and it may be on the rise as the price increases,” Allison said.

Palmetto berries are in season from mid-August to mid-October.

Chassahowitzka isn’t the only place where picking has become a problem. Carlson said FWC officials have been called out to Corkscrew in the past to deal with poachers. “It’s a big problem for us every year. What I would like to see happen would for the large land owners to control this … and have people come on their property like farm workers and pick,” Carlson said. “But right now, it’s just like the wild west.”

While it isn’t illegal to pick palmetto berries, Allison said people can not collect berries in a management area.

The men were all charged with second-degree misdemeanors, and each charge is punishable by a fine of up to $500 and/or 60 days in jail.

Connect with Naples reporter Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster at http://www.naplesnews.com/staff/jenna-buzzacco

via MUG SHOTS: Berry, berry big bust: 6 Immokalee men caught with 5,000 lbs. of palmetto berries » Naples Daily News.

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SENATE CANDIDATES DIFFER ON HIGH SPEED RAIL | News Service of Florida

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Oct. 7, 2010……….The candidates for U.S. Senate disagreed in a debate Wednesday evening over whether Florida should build a long-proposed bullet train connecting Tampa, Orlando and eventually Miami as the state awaits a decision on another $1.12 billion request for the project.

Earlier this year, the federal government gave Florida half the money it requested for a bullet train connecting Tampa and Orlando and the Department of Transportation already has $66 million of the $1.25 billion in high speed rail money it was awarded.

But with the decision pending on the remainder of the $2.6 billion the bullet train is projected to cost from the federal government, at least one potential United States Senator said the government should not shell out any more rail money.

“Our enemies dream of a Greece-like day of reckoning for America as much as they do another 9/11,” Republican Marco Rubio said when asked if the bullet train should continue to be funded, suggesting he thought it should not. “This national debt issue has to be confronted and solved, it is perhaps the predominant issue facing our country, along with economic growth.”

via http://www.newsserviceflorida.com/cgi/as_web.exe?rev2010+D+8722364.

‘One on One with Jeff Lytle’ … Tom Henning … County government seeking court ruling on public funding for private Jackson Laboratory » Naples Daily News

Though endorsed by all county commissioners except him, county government is seeking a court ruling on millions in public funding for private Jackson Laboratory to make sure it’s legal, says Tom Henning, this week’s guest on “One on One with Jeff Lytle.’’

via ‘One on One with Jeff Lytle’ … Tom Henning … County government seeking court ruling on public funding for private Jackson Laboratory » Naples Daily News.

RUBIO BREAKS OWN FUNDRAISING RECORD IN 3Q | News Service of Florida

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Oct. 6, 2010……….Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio outdid himself in the fundraising quarter that ended Sept. 30, raising $5 million in the three month period to break the record he set last quarter for highest quarterly fundraising haul in Florida history.

Rubio’s take, announced Wednesday afternoon by his campaign, put the former speaker of the Florida House among the most prolific cash collectors nationally this year. The numbers also again provided a stark reminder of how much the Senate race has changed since Rubio announced he was challenging Gov. Charlie Crist – then the GOP front runner – and promptly was outraised by Crist 12-to-1 back in 2009.

Crist, now running as an independent, has not released his third quarter totals, though his quarterly fundraising has fallen drastically since he took in $4.3 million in his first quarter in the Senate race. Crist’s early haul prompted rumors that Rubio, who raised just $340,000 during that period, would quit the race and run for Attorney General. Rubio responded to the wide disparity by replacing his fundraising team.

Now, Rubio is leading in many polls and has $5.5 million left in the bank for the final month of campaign, his campaign said.

via http://www.newsserviceflorida.com/cgi/as_web.exe?rev2010+D+8692369.

Related Articles

• Rubio’s Fla. rivals running out of time (politico.com)

Collier schools, union debate teacher evaluations, merit pay in Race to the Top » Naples Daily News

NAPLES — With millions of dollars coming to Collier County in Race to the Top funds, officials want to make sure their application is perfect.

But the biggest hurdle in the presentation could come over the agreement as to how the district will establish and implement teacher evaluations and a performance pay plan for its educators.

Commentary: A great performance enhancer would be that teachers allow Christian prayer and the bible back in school. Their pay would go sky-high.

via Collier schools, union debate teacher evaluations, merit pay in Race to the Top » Naples Daily News.