PANAMA CITY - Fugitive David Izaiah Faciane was located and apprehended in Slidell, Louisiana, Bay County Sheriff's officials said in a Monday news release.

Faciane is wanted in Bay County on five warrants: robbery, burglary, possession of burglary tools, felony criminal mischief and violating his probation for aggravated assault, and grand theft, officials wrote. BCSO investigators, members of the US Marshal’s Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, learned that Faciane, 20, had family members that lived in Slidell, Louisiana. They passed this information on to the US Marshal’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force in Louisiana.

On Friday, the task force located Faciane in a residence in Slidell. A total of four individuals were arrested at the home, officials wrote.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP has set up a hotline for people to report alleged fraud involving claims arising from the company's massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Monday's launch of the hotline comes a week after a federal appeals court heard BP's argument that it has been forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement money to businesses with inflated or fictitious claims. A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn't indicate how soon it would rule in the case.

Earlier this month, a federal judge appointed former FBI Director Louis Freeh to investigate alleged misconduct by a lawyer who helped administer BP's multibillion-dollar settlement with Gulf Coast residents and businesses.

Court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau announced in June that his office is investigating allegations that an attorney on his staff, Lionel H. Sutton III, received a portion of settlement proceeds for claims he had referred to a law firm before he started working on the settlement program. Sutton resigned a day after Juneau delivered a report to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier that outlined the allegations.

In a statement Monday, BP claimed Juneau's office has spent "substantially less" on anti-fraud efforts than the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which processed and paid claims before Barbier appointed Juneau last year to take over and administer the settlement program.

"This seems inappropriate given that the GCCF's fraud detection program enabled it to identify more than 7,000 claims as 'multi-claimant scams or even efforts at criminal fraud,'" the BP statement says. "The GCCF referred more than half of these to the U.S. Department of Justice for criminal investigation."

A spokesman for Juneau didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

BP said calls to the hotline can be anonymous and could entitle a caller to a reward if a tip leads to an indictment, recovery of money or denial of a claim.

The company said it will review the allegations to determine whether to report them to fraud investigators with Juneau's office or law-enforcement agencies.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A state agency is turning down a request from researchers at the University of South Florida who want to exhume human remains at a now-defunct Panhandle reform school.

Secretary of State Ken Detzner told USF researchers on Monday the state does not have legal authority to grant the request, even though the land in Marianna is state-owned. Detzner reports to Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson criticized the decision and called it a "classic run-around."

Earlier this year, a circuit judge rejected a request from Attorney General Pam Bondi to exhume bodies from "Boot Hill Cemetery" and surrounding areas. It is believed there may be unmarked graves and unaccounted bodies of boys who died.

The school is formally known as the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys.

PANAMA CITY — A 27-year-old Panama City Beach man was charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man after negotiations on the terms of an illegal drug transaction failed.

Sonny Eric Pierce was arrested Friday on a warrant after Panama City Police developed him as a suspect in a June 12 shooting in a 23rd Street parking lot that left a man shot in the chest and hand.

He’s charged with attempted felony murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, discharging a firearm in public and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

According to court records, Jeramy Ducharme and Devin Simmons met with Pierce in the parking lot outside Home Depot on 23rd Street to make a drug deal. Ducharme and Simmons got into Pierce’s vehicle, and as they negotiated, Pierce pulled a handgun, the records state.

Ducharme and Simmons got out of the vehicle and returned to theirs, but as they attempted to drive away, Pierce stood in front of them and fired a shot through the front windshield, striking Ducharme in the hand and chest, according to the court records.

Pierce fired another shot into the driver’s side door as the vehicle passed, the court records note. He was booked into the Bay County Jail and is being held on a $120,000 bond. 

PANAMA CITY - Bay District Schools superintendent appointed a new director of transportation and two new principals for the upcoming academic year, a school district news release stated.

Bill Husfelt, superintendent of schools, appointed Robert Downin as Director of Transportation, Carol Ann Whitehurst as principal at Deer Point Elementary and Amy Harvey as principal at Northside Elementary.

According to the release, Downin’s tenure in the school transportation industry began in 1992 and, over the years, he’s worked in Louisiana, Indiana and Santa Rose County, Fla.

Downin began his tenure at the school district on Monday.

Whitehurst, formerly the assistant principal at Hiland Park Elementary, started teaching in Bay County in 1993 and became J.R. Arnold High’s assistant principal in 2004, the release stated.

Harvey had served as an assistant administrator for the past two years at Northside Elementary and is a former teacher at Jinks Middle School and Lynn Haven Elementary, the release stated.

Both newly appointed principals will begin serving as at their respective schools when the school year picks back up in the fall, the release stated.

GRAND RIDGE - Three people were injured Monday morning in a three-vehicle crash that left a tanker full of hot tar overturned near the intersection of State 10 and State 69, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

A 53-year-old Quincy man, Abilio Herndandez Avila, ran a red light around 8:30 a.m. and collided with a tanker truck that was passing through the intersection. Avila was taken to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.

The collision knocked over the tanker, which was carrying hot tar that spilled into road as a result of the crash.

The tanker hit a third vehicle, a pickup truck driven by 43-year-old Nelson Garlo of Marianna, and forced it onto a raised concrete island. Garlo was seriously injured and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The driver of the tanker truck, 32-year-old Christopher Owns of Chipley, was also taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.

CHIPLEY - A 28-year-old Westville woman was killed Monday morning after she crashed the pickup truck she was driving on Interstate 10 in Washington County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Misty Nicole Hanson was eastbound in a 1995 Chevrolet pickup that veered into the median on I-10 near mile marker 119. The truck then crossed back through both lanes off traffic and entered the south shoulder and overturned. Hanson, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected.

Another passenger, 54-year-old David Collier of Ponce De Leon, was taken to Northwest Florida Community Hospital with non-critical injuries.

PANAMA CITY — An expert witness and accused perjurer was arrested again last week after prosecutors in St. Lucie County filed another perjury charge against him.

John Lloyd is scheduled for trial in August in Bay County on 13 counts of perjury and a count of misrepresenting his academic credentials. He’s free on a bond that prosecutor Megan Teeple wants a judge to revoke because Lloyd allegedly committed perjury during a trial in June.

Lloyd testified as an expert in the defense of Kareem Farrell, who was ultimately convicted as charged of aggravated child abuse in St. Lucie County in July, said Assistant State Attorney Jason Bruin with the 19^th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office. Farrell received the maximum sentence — 30 years in prison — when he was sentenced last week for inflicting severe and permanent brain injuries on the then-8-month-old victim, Bruin said.

Bruin would not discuss the specifics of the charges in St. Lucie County because it is a pending case, but he said the allegations against Lloyd there are generally the same as the accusations here.

In February, Lloyd testified in the defense of Timothy Foxworth, who was charged with aggravated child abuse for allegedly inflicting severe and permanent brain injuries on his infant son. Foxworth was convicted of a lesser offense, child abuse, and sentenced to four years.

The State Attorney’s Office later filed charges against Lloyd, alleging he had lied under oath about his academic credentials.

Lloyd allegedly testified to being a professor of medicine at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, but investigators with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said that isn’t true.

Lloyd’s attorney, Michael Grabner, filed a response to Teeple’s motion to revoke Lloyd’s bond that says the St. Lucie County charges are “baseless.” Grabner’s motion also suggests the new charges against Lloyd were filed with encouragement from local prosecutors to disadvantage Lloyd’s defense.

Teeple said she shared information after she was contacted by prosecutors in St. Lucie County, which is routine, but denied “colluding” in any way.

“That’s just absolutely not true,” Teeple said.

Grabner could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

A hearing on Teeple’s motion to revoke Lloyd’s bond is scheduled for Aug. 5 and Lloyd is scheduled for trial on Aug. 19.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Stand-your-ground laws that allow a person who believes he is in danger to use deadly force in self-defense "sow dangerous conflict" and need to be reassessed, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday in assailing the statutes that exist in many states.

Holder said he was concerned about the Trayvon Martin slaying case in which Florida's stand-your-ground law played a part.

But he added: "Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation's attention, it's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods."

George Zimmerman was acquitted over the weekend of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in Martin's 2012 death in Sanford, Fla. Holder said the Justice Department has an open investigation into what he called Monday the "tragic, unnecessary shooting death" of the unarmed Miami 17-year-old.

He urged the nation then to speak honestly about complicated and emotionally charged issues. A day later, he seemed to shift away from the specific case to one of those issues — the debate over stand-your-ground.

"There has always been a legal defense for using deadly force if — and the 'if' is important — no safe retreat is available," Holder told the NAACP.

The country must take a hard look at laws that contribute to "more violence than they prevent," Holder said during a speech before an NAACP convention in Orlando, about 20 miles from the courthouse where Zimmerman was cleared of the charges three days earlier. Such laws "try to fix something that was never broken," he said.

Martin's shooting shined a light on Florida's stand-your-ground and similar laws around the nation. Most say a person has no duty to retreat if he is attacked in a place he has a right to be and can meet force with force if he fears death or great bodily harm.

Sanford's police chief cited the law as his reason for not initially arresting Zimmerman in February 2012. Zimmerman told police Martin was beating him up during the confrontation and that he feared he would be killed.

Though stand-your-ground was never raised during trial, Judge Debra Nelson included a provision about the law in the instructions that allowed jurors to consider it as a legitimate defense.

"But we must examine laws that take this further by eliminating the common-sense and age-old requirement that people who feel threatened have a duty to retreat, outside their home, if they can do so safely," Holder said.

The defense skipped a chance to ask that Zimmerman have a stand-your-ground hearing before trial. If the judge had decided there was enough evidence that Zimmerman acted in self-defense, she could have tossed out the case before a jury heard it.

"Stand-your-ground laws license vigilantism and we should all worry about that," said Benjamin Jealous, the NAACP's president and CEO, after Holder's speech.

Holder on Tuesday only briefly touched on a possible federal civil rights case being brought against Zimmerman. And legal experts say such a case would be a difficult challenge.

Prosecutors would have to prove that Zimmerman was motivated by racial animosity to kill Martin. The teen was on his way back to his father's fiancee's house after going to a store when the neighborhood watch volunteer saw him and followed him in the community of about 50,000, which is about one-third black.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, who has been one of the most vocal champions of a federal investigation, acknowledged Tuesday there are possible legal hurdles. Still, he said "there is also a blatant civil rights question of does Trayvon Martin and the Trayvon Martins of this country have the civil right to go home."

Saturday's acquittal has inspired "Justice For Trayvon" protests around the nation. Most have been peaceful, although vandalism and violence happened in Los Angeles.

Dozens of protesters carrying signs demanding justice for Martin crammed into the lobby of Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office Tuesday and refused to leave until the governor either met with them or called lawmakers back to Tallahassee to address issues like the state's stand-your-ground law. Many planned to spend the night in the Capitol building.

Despite the challenges of bringing a federal civil rights case, some NAACP members said they wanted swift action.

Tony Hickerson, an NAACP member from Seattle, said he would be disappointed if he doesn't see the Justice Department taking action within a month.

"I heard what he (Holder) said, and I don't question his sincerity, but I'd like to see swift action in this case, and I haven't seen that yet," said Hickerson. "His words were eloquent but I need to see some action before I get enthusiastic."

Added Hickerson, "This is a very obvious case. How much thinking do you have to do?"

In his comments referencing the Zimmerman case, Holder offered a story from his own personal experience — describing how when he was a young black man his father had told him how to interact with the police, what to say and how to conduct himself if he was ever stopped or confronted in a way he thought was unwarranted.

"I'm sure my father felt certain — at the time — that my parents' generation would be the last that had to worry about such things for their children," Holder told the NAACP convention. "Trayvon's death last spring caused me to sit down to have a conversation with my own 15-year-old son, like my dad did with me. This was a father-son tradition I hoped would not need to be handed down."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — University of South Florida researchers are asking state officials to reconsider their request to exhume bodies at a former state reform school in the Florida Panhandle.

Secretary of State Ken Detzner on Monday told USF his department doesn't have the authority to grant the request to exhume human remains on the site of a now-defunct reform school.

But in a statement released Tuesday USF officials said that the agency has "misunderstood" the law. USF released the statement after meeting with the office of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

USF said the remains are in danger of being destroyed.

USF researchers have verified the deaths of two adult staff members and 96 children between 1914 and 1973 at the Dozier School, located about 60 miles west of Tallahassee. At least 22 bodies remain unaccounted

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE – An unmanned Air Force QF-4 drone, assigned to the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, crashed on the drone runway during take-off at 8:25 a.m. today, officials wrote in a news release.

No personnel were injured during the incident.

Base and local police and safety officials have closed Highway 98 and are anticipating that it will remain closed for up to 24 hours, the news release states.

"This closure is being done strictly as a precautionary measure due to fires resulting from the crash and a small self-destruct charge carried on board the drone," the news release states. "The status of this device is unknown however, it is powered by a short-life battery which will be fully depleted in 24 hours."

The charge is used to destroy the drone if it leaves its pre-approved flight plan, officials added.

Motorist traveling from Panama City to Mexico Beach, should use State 22 east to State 71 south, and from Mexico Beach to Panama City State 71 north to State 22 west.

More details are coming officials said.

Another drone could be seen flying over the base this morning after the crash. Tyndall officials confirmed to The News Herald that drone was destroyed over the Gulf of Mexico in a planned event. The training excercise ended when a fighter pilot shot a missile at it and destroyed it, officials said. That is what the drone is for and it was destroyed correctly, officials said. 

The News Herald is requesting that those with photos or videos of the incident can email them to pcnhnews@pcnh.com

PANAMA CITY — The owner of one of Bay County’s largest employers pleaded guilty Wednesday to environmental violations and paid the largest criminal fine ever assessed in Florida for wetlands violations.

Brian D’Isernia, 69, of Panama City Beach, was ordered to pay $100,000 and his company, Lagoon Landing LLC, was ordered to pay $2.15 million after D’Isernia and the company pleaded guilty to violating the Rivers and Harbors Act and the Clean Water Act, respectively.

“The defendants failed to secure required permits and damaged environmentally sensitive wetlands,” Maureen O’Mara, special agent in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal enforcement program in Florida, said in a statement.

D’Isernia admitted before U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak that he dredged a basin and a channel connecting the Allanton shipyard, where Eastern Shipbuilding is located, to East Bay without a permit so the company could build and move larger vessels. D’Isernia previously had a permit that would have allowed the dredging, but it lapsed.

Additionally, Lagoon Landing will make a community services payment of $1 million to the nonprofit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), which manages money obtained in settlements. The money will be spent as quickly as possible on projects to preserve natural resources in three area coastal counties, NFWF Eastern Partnership Director Amanda Bassow said after the hearing.

As part of the plea agreement between D’Isernia’s attorneys and the federal government, D’Isernia and his businesses will not be barred from entering into contracts with government in the future, which was a crucial consideration, said David McGee, one of two attorneys who represented D’Isernia in court Wednesday.

McGee said the repercussion of D’Isernia being prohibited from contracting with the government would have been “huge for the company, D’Isernia and this community.” Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc., another D’Isernia holding, is in the running for an $8 billion contract to build a fleet for the U.S. Coast Guard.

The property where Eastern Shipbuilding sits, while owned by another D’Isernia company, is adjacent to the Lagoon Landing property.

Eastern Shipbuilding builds ships for the oil industry, McGee said, and the need for larger ships has increased as oil wells have moved farther offshore into deeper waters. The basin at Eastern’s Allanton facility wasn’t deep enough to accommodate the larger ships, he said.

McGee said the average time to get a new permit is more than two years; in that time, D’Isernia would’ve lost business to competing companies in China who have fewer regulations. The dredging was a matter of necessity for D’Isernia and his nearly 1,600 employees, McGee said.

D’Isernia’s attorneys and Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Hensel agreed to skip the reading of a statement of facts explaining exactly where and how D’Isernia and Lagoon Landing broke the law, so specific details are not clear, although it appears materials dredged from the basin and the channel ended up in alleged wetlands on Lagoon Landing property that is adjacent to Eastern’s Allanton Yard and East Bay. There was no showing what, if any, environmental damage occurred because of the actions.

Several corporations D’Isernia controls entered into agreements with the EPA to guard against future environmental problems that will result in thousands of dollars in costs and fines, and the restoration of nearly 60 acres of wetlands. Nearly all of his employees have or will undergo environmental and ethics training, and complete environmental audits have been or will be conducted at all the operation’s facilities, McGee said.

All told, the illegal dredging and its consequences will cost D’Isernia about $10 million. Attorneys representing all parties could not tell Smoak if that total exceeded the profits the business reaped as a result.

“I can’t say we’ve waved a magic wand and made everything all better,” Hensel said, but he told Smoak the settlement was a step down a path headed that direction.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

PANAMA CITY — The president of Eastern Shipbuilding and one of his companies pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to one count of dredging without a permit.

Some of the details of the case came to light during a hearing at the federal courthouse in Panama City on Wednesday. Under the deal, Brian D'Isernia's corporation, Lagoon Landings LLC, will pay $2.15 million in fines. D'Iscernia must pay $100,000 personally as part of the plea deal, according to statements made during the hearing. According to records found online, D'Isernia also owns the Eastern Shipbuilding Group, which builds and launches large vessels from its shipyard in Allanton.

Lagoon Landings will have to pay an additional $1 million fine to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, officials said. Also, the company was placed on a three-year probation but there will be no probation or jail time for D'Isernia.

The fine is the largest criminal fine assessed for wetlands violations in Florida history, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

D’Isernia pleaded guilty to charges that he knowingly violated the Rivers and Harbors Act. Specifically, D’Isernia admitted to his involvement in illegally dredging an upland cut boat basin in Allanton and the channel connecting it to East Bay between December 2009 and February 2010, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Lagoon Landing, LLC, pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act for knowingly discharging a pollutant into waters of the United States without a permit. Between 2005 and 2010, Lagoon Landing used tractors and other heavy equipment to alter and fill wetland areas of property it controlled in Allanton without obtaining a permit. The wetland areas were adjacent to East Bay.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will use the money to fund projects for the conservation, protection, restoration and management of wetland, marine, and coastal resources, with an emphasis on projects benefiting wetlands in and around St. Andrew Bay.

This is a breaking story and we will have more details as they become available.

BRISTOL -- The superintendent of Liberty County Schools turned herself in to the local sheriff’s office Wednesday after being charged with grand theft, official misconduct and failing to disclose information in a public records request, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Gloria Gay Uzzell, 51, is accused of opening a credit card in the name of the Liberty County School Board, and using the card for personal purchases including clothing, lodging, lingerie, fuel, beauty supplies and alcohol.  The school board was unaware of the personal purchases, which amounted to more than $2,000, according to FDLE.

Investigators believe Uzzell, who was elected superintendent in November, altered credit card statements. She allegedly blacked out personal purchases and changed travel vouchers to match her credit card purchases.

The state attorney’s office will prosecute the case.

Uzzell is a former Teacher of the Year in Bay County, according to her Liberty County Schools online profile.

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE — A 35,000-pound drone crashed at the end of a runway during takeoff Wednesday morning, closing U.S. 98 for more than 24 hours.

The drone is a converted Phantom jet fighter referred to as a QF-4.

“We crashed a QF-4 on the runway at Tyndall,” said Col. James Vogel, commander of the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group (WEG), who is in charge of the drone program at Tyndall.

To compound the problem, Air Force officials, as of Wednesday evening, said they did not know whether an explosive device or “charge” was used to destroy the drone if it veered off course during its in-flight mission.

“We don’t know of any evidence that the charge was detonated or not,” Vogel said.

Air Force officials also said they would not search for the device until the battery inside ran down, which usually takes about 24 hours.

“We don’t know where it is yet, so we are going to wait until its time has completely expired and we will more forward from there,” Vogel said.

Mission Support Cmdr. William Grund said fire and smoke surrounding the drone was hampering the effort to learn the status of the device. Grund said the Air Force cordoned off a 4,000-foot radius around the area until the fire goes out sometime Thursday.

The incident prompted Air Force officials to close U.S. 98 on Wednesday morning, forcing a lengthy delay for traffic traveling between Parker and Mexico Beach. The highway is expected to remain closed until Thursday afternoon, officials said late Wednesday.

Cars were lined up on U.S. 98, which runs through Tyndall, for miles as Air Force security blocked off traffic.

The crash happened as a second drone was already in the air. Tyndall officials said they blew up the second drone with a missile over the Gulf, as planned.

Recent incident

Wednesday’s crash was the second incident within a week involving a drone. On July 11, a drone out of Tyndall had to be destroyed, causing it to plunge into the Gulf of Mexico near St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, the Gulf County Sheriff’s Office said.

GCSO Lt. Paul Beasley said a 911 dispatcher received a call about 10:30 a.m. EDT that a flaming object had plunged into the water just offshore.

“They saw a big flash of fire that landed in the Gulf,” Beasley said at the time of the incident.

At the time of the July 11 crash, Herman Bell, chief of Tyndall’s 325th Fighter Wing public affairs, said the drone had gone “haywire” and the controllers were forced to destroy the craft.

But, Vogel said Wednesday, the July 11 drone destruction was done because of incidents that interrupted bringing the drone back to base.

“The second approach there we came in and there was a jet skier off the runway who had breached our control boats’ (space) and put the public in danger, so we turned the drone around again,” Vogel said.

Drones can be controlled in most of the restricted areas in the Gulf of Mexico, Vogel said.

Boats are a major impediment to get clear air space to shoot weapons in the Gulf, he noted.

Grund said the highway is routinely closed on a temporary basis when drones are launched and return to the air base.

Witnesses at the scene of Wednesday’s crash reported black smoke rising from the base just before 9 a.m.

“They (Air Force security) stopped us on Highway 98 by the fire station when they launched the drones,” said Dylan Dunaway, who commutes from Port St. Joe to Panama City to attend Gulf Coast State College. “We were stopped when we saw a plume of black smoke getting bigger and bigger coming from the airfield. The fire trucks started moving and we knew something was wrong.”

Motorists traveling between Parker and Mexico Beach should use State 22 and State 71 as a detour.

The drones assigned to the 53rd WEG run about 100 unmanned drone sorties, or missions, each year, Vogel said.

The QF-4 is referred to as a “reusable drone,” according to the U.S. Air Force’s official website. The drone is 63 feet long, rising to 16 feet high and weighs 30,328 pounds. With jet fuel added, the weight of the plane rises to about 35,000 pounds, Vogel said.

 The investigation into Wednesday’s incident is expected to continue Thursday.

Click to read earlier versions of this story.

LYNN HAVEN -- The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents of an identity theft scheme involving mail fraud.

Targets of the scheme are mailed a letter from U.S. Airlines, a fictional company. The letter states the victim has won two round-trip airline tickets valued at $1,398, and provides a phone number to claim the tickets. If the victim calls the phone number, according to BCSO, they are asked to provide their Social Security number and birthdate to claim the tickets.

The Sheriff’s Office urges Bay County residents to not give personal information over the phone.

PANAMA CITY — Tyndall Air Force Base security on Thursday reopened U.S. 98, which cuts through the Air Force base property.

The highway had been closed after the crash of an unmanned Air Force drone on Wednesday.

Col. Mark O‘Laughlin, 325th Fighter Wing vice commander, reiterated what officials have been saying since the crash, that the closing of the road was precautionary.

“This closure was done strictly as a precautionary measure due to a small self-destruct charge carried on board the target,” O‘Laughlin said. “We understand that the closure of Highway 98 was a huge inconvenience to our local community and we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we put the safety of first responders and populace as the top priority.”

 The drone was a converted Phantom jet, which was used extensively in the Vietnam War, according to the U.S. Air Force.

Air Force officials had said the road will remain closed until they find a “device” that is designed to destroy the drone during flight if  required. Tyndall officials did not say if the device was found or destroyed in the crash.

There had been two drone mishaps in a week’s time where on drone needed to be destroyed; on July 11 and another on takeoff on Wednesday.

Tyndall officials said the incidents were not related.

The investigation into the Wednesday crash continues.

Previous Story: Drone Crashes at Tyndall

PANAMA CITY — The acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin may have put salt in a locally unhealed wound.

Six years ago, a jury ruled seven officers and one nurse at a local boot camp were not guilty of wrongdoing in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, who like Trayvon Martin, was African-American. Several groups protested the ruling in the case, which had drawn national media attention, but at the state level the case was closed.

“There is obviously an emotional situation when you have a young person die — especially in circumstances that seem to be hard to believe,” said Benjamin Crump, attorney at the Tallahassee firm of Parks & Crump LLC, who represented both the Anderson and Martin families.

“Both of them were young people; they had their whole lives ahead of them,” Crump said. “It’s tragic in both situations. You say, ‘How could things have been done differently?’ ”

Crump said the families met at a church gathering before the Zimmerman verdict “and they just hugged one another.”

“They belong to a fraternity that no parent wants to belong to,” he added.

The grieving associated with those types of deaths is longstanding and the implications of not guilty verdicts in both cases will have a lasting impact on local young African-American males, said the Rev. Rufus Wood Jr., president of the Bay County branch of the NAACP.

“It sends a signal and a message to young black men (that) is not a good one — because no one is held accountable,” Wood said. “It devalues the life of young African-American males” and there rises “a cause for them to be fearful, a cause for them to be afraid.

“In fact, throughout the whole Zimmerman trial, I just felt like I was reliving what I went through with the (Anderson) family in 2006 and 2007,” Wood added. “I felt that I was retraumatized.”

Crump identified a similar trauma line.

“It certainly sets some precedence in both matters, that if this happens in the future, that the person won’t be held accountable. And that’s why so many people are so passionate about these two cases in particular; we worry about our children,” Crump said.

The cases

In January 2006, Anderson was in his second day as an enrollee at the Bay County Sheriff Office’s Boot Camp when he collapsed. A boot camp video appered to show drill officers roughhousing him prior to the collapse. He died the following day in a Pensacola hospital. The jury determined the cause of death had not been related to actions by the drill officers or nurse.

Martin, on the other hand, had been walking in a neighborhood in Sanford in February last year.

“We’ve often heard of scenarios where police and law enforcement officials have been charged with using excessive force against minorities. However, in Trayvon Martin’s case, this wasn’t a police officer,” Crump said. “So, many people were troubled by a private citizen trying to take the law into his own hand against our children.”

As a result of litigation in the Anderson incident, all state-run boot camps were closed and the family obtained a $7.5 million settlement outside of court.

And, although the United States Department of Justice did not pursue criminal civil rights violation charges in the Anderson case, Wood said the incident further broadened “the racial divide.”

“When that verdict was rendered, we advocated for peace,” Wood said. “The way I felt that day, I felt like I was losing faith. You want to believe in a system … [but] you have to renew your faith because the struggle continues. We’ll have to do what we can do in order to make sure we don’t have another Trayvon Martin [and] Martin Lee Anderson.”

The NAACP and thousands of citizens are pushing for a federal investigation of civil rights violations in the Zimmerman incident. The organization has set up a petition on moveon.org, and since Saturday’s ruling, more than 500,000 people have signed the petition. On Monday, the Department of Justice set up an email account to take tips on its civil rights investigation to determine whether it would bring criminal charges against Zimmerman.

See the petition

“I think there needs to be [an investigation] because we have to answer that question: Is it allowed for you to profile and follow and confront individuals based only on the fact that they belong to a certain ethnicity,” Crump said, noting if it is allowed, “then we just need to know the law so we know what to tell our children.”

In the Anderson incident, the accused included three minority drill guards — two were African-American and one was Asian; the rest were white. In the Martin incident, the accused, Zimmerman, considers himself Hispanic.

When asked if he believed race played a part, Crump said: “I certainly think in Trayvon Martin’s case, you ask yourself why did his killer profile him in the beginning.

“As it relates to Martin Lee Anderson, you just think that had it been a white child who got killed in the videotape, that people would have been held responsible,” he said.

The local NAACP branch, in conjunction with several churches, has scheduled a youth empowerment rally for Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at Love Center Missionary Baptist Church, 3100 E. 11th St.

Following the rally, a prayer vigil for Trayvon Martin will be held at 8 p.m. at the Juvenile Justice Courthouse, 533 E. 11th St.

WANT TO GO?

- What: Prayer vigil for Trayvon Martin

- When: Sunday at 8 p.m.

- Where: Juvenile Justice Courthouse, 533 E. 11 St.

- Details: 763-5381

PORT ST. JOE -- A Georgia man was killed late Friday night when the vehicle he was driving ran off U.S. 98 in Gulf County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

According to FHP, a Lexus driven by Glenn S. Tompkins was traveling west on U.S. 98 at about 11 p.m. when the driver lost control of his vehicle. The Lexus began to rotate as it traveled off the road and hit two palm trees.

The Lexus then struck a GMC Yukon parked at a residence, causing the Yukon to hit one of the support posts holding up a residence, which is a beach house on stilts.

Tompkins was pronounced dead at the scene by Gulf County EMS. Passenger Christopher Watkins, also from Georgia, was taken to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System, where he is listed in stable condition.

The crash is still under investigation.

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A veteran Palm Beach Sheriff's sergeant is facing sex charges after allegedly using his department-issued video camera to record a teenage girl.

The Palm Beach Post reports that Sgt. Mario Pradere was arrested Thursday on allegations of lewd conduct and video voyeurism.

According to Pradere's arrest report, a teenage girl alleged that the 50-year-old police sergeant massaged her feet while touching himself. The girl also alleged that he hid a department-issued video camera in her bedroom and recorded her while she undressed.

Police say Pradere later admitted to fondling the girl's feet and videotaping her. Authorities say the sergeant said his behavior resulted from a "fetish."

On Friday, Pradere's attorney said, quote, "People get arrested all the time, and they're presumed innocent. In Mr. Pradere's case, it's no different."

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two swimmers were missing in separate incidents late Saturday after entering the Gulf on a day that the National Weather Service warned of high risk of dangerous rip currents.

When dusk arrived, a helicopter gave up the search due to darkness, but a search boat could be seen patrolling the water, shining its search light over the waves. There was no sign of the missing swimmers, and it was unknown whether they managed to get out of the water in a different location.

One of the swimmers was missing from the area west of the county pier, while the second was behind Pineapple Willy’s on Front Beach Road. Their identities were not released.

Earlier Saturday, the weather service, working with beach officials, upgraded the risk of rip currents to high along the Panhandle coast, and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office posted double-red flags, closing the beach to swimmers.

Meanwhile, meteorologists said Saturday flash flooding is a lingering risk as the area struggles to dry out after extremely heavy rainfall in early July.

Earlier Saturday, a flash flood warning was issued for the Panama City area by the NWS.

Almost daily rain showers have prevented water levels from returning to seasonal norms, according to NWS meteorologist Mark Wool. 

“It’s been raining nearly every day,” Wool said, “and when that happens we keep reducing the amount of water the ground can hold before it runs off.”

Scattered showers and thunderstorms continued in the Panama City area Saturday afternoon, but the flash flood warning was canceled during the afternoon. But poor conditions and strong winds forced officials with Aquapalooza to cancel the annual boating event Saturday at Shell Island. Aquapalooza will be rescheduled.

Wool said that weather patterns in the area have been “unpredictable” lately, and noted that flash flood warnings are issued as a precaution.

It would take three inches of rainfall in about six hours for flooding occur, he said. In late summer, when more tropical weather patterns are likely to develop, the area could be especially at risk.

“We remain under the gun because we haven’t had any lengthy period to dry off,” Wool said. “And we’re really wondering if we get under a tropical cycle in the summer — where it’s raining nearly every day — we could be in trouble.”

Wool estimated at least one week of dry conditions is needed to reduce the risk of flooding. 

But it may not be this week. A high chance of showers and thunderstorms is forecast through Thursday, according to NWS.