Police find working moonshine still at Bartow home

Bay News 9 reports that Polk County Sheriff's deputies, acting on a tip, discovered a fully-operational moonshine still Thursday at the Bartow home of 54-year-old Kenneth Wayne Wilkerson and 36-year-old Rockie D. Smith.  According to the arrest report, the men told deputies they used the still to make moonshine for their own use, and that they'd also sold some to their friends and coworkers.  Authorities seize the still, along with seven jars of moonshine.  Both Wilkerson and Smith were arrested and charged with possession of a still, possession of moonshine, and conspiracy to violate beverage law.

(Photo:  National Park Service)

Pack of raccoons mauls 74-year-old Florida woman

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) -- A 74-year-old Lakeland woman was hospitalized after being mauled by a pack of raccoons she tried to shoo from her yard.

Gretchen Whitted fell when five raccoons surrounded and attacked, suffering extensive cuts from her neck to her legs.

"We're not talking about a lot of little bites here," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "She was filleted."

A neighbor called for help after hearing the woman's cries and seeing her covered in blood.

Whitted received dozens of staples and sutures and was treated for rabies, though officials doubt the animals were infected.

Fire crews flooded nearby drains where some of the animals escaped, but none turned up. Animal Control officers hope to catch them in traps baited with wet cat food and sardines.

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Man loads gun, a bullet for each family member, but wife was ready

A Winter Haven man was at home early Tuesday when he began loading a handgun, "stating which member of his family each bullet was intended for,'' police told The Ledger.

Then he raised the gun and pointed it at his wife.

But Dawn Christoff was ready, having armed herself with a 9 mm handgun. She fired several shots at her husband, Troy Christoff, 34.

He survived and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police concluded the shooting was in self-defense, so Mrs. Christoff, 35, won't be charged.

Firefighter accused of target practice while driving

A firefighter with Polk County Fire Rescue was arrested Wednesday in Dade city, accused of shooting his 9mm handgun at “various objects on the road and in the air” while driving along Curley and Prospect roads, according to a Pasco Sheriff’s Office report.

The driver of a car behind Jeffrey A. Morgan, 33, of Dade City called the police about noon, the report said. The report said that Morgan admitted to firing the gun out the window of his 2004 GMC Sierra truck but that he stopped shooting when he saw a vehicle behind him.

Morgan was taken to the Land O’Lakes jail and charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle within 1,000 feet of a person. He was released later that day on $10,000 bail.

Read more of this St. Petersburg Times story here.

Erin Sullivan, Times Staff Writer

Escaped monkeys found on ranch

Several monkeys that escaped from a Polk County facility months ago are creating mischief on a nearby ranch, the Associated Press reports.

The remaining five patas monkeys that escaped from nearby Safari Wild in April have turned up at a 600-acre ranch.

The owner of the ranch says corn has vanished at an alarming rate from deer feeders and the switches and knobs on his tractors were tampered with, draining the batteries on both.

The tiny footprints helped unravel the mystery.
Safari Wild owners Lex Salisbury and Stephen Wehrmann are hopeful the monkeys will all be captured.

Wildlife officials say they have no role in trapping the monkeys and that it's up to Safari Wild to round up the monkeys.

Woman seeks Guinness record for longest dreads

A 46-year old Polk County woman has submitted her eight feet of hair to the Guinness World Records people, hoping to garner the record for longest dreadlocks, according to the Orlando Sentinel.  Asha Mandela of Davenport told the newspaper she starting growing out her hair 20 years ago, when she was still living in Brooklyn.  Each time she washes her hair, she said, it requires an entire bottle of shampoo and an entire bottle of conditioner.  To dry it, Mandela said, she wrings it out like a towel.  If she sits by the pool to dry it on a hot, sunny day, it takes two hours to dry, but when the humidity is high, it can take all day.

"I try not to have any errands that day," she said. "I used to wash it three times a week. Now I do it once a week. It's very tiring. Sometimes I don't have the energy."

Trucking company wins naming rights to sewer plant

The results are in.

Webber International University put the naming rights to its sewage plant up for bids on eBay in late September. And the winner is T. Wayne Hill Trucking Inc. of Bartow. The winning bid was $6,100, according to TheLedger.com.

Frankly, we are surprised that nobody decided it was worth more to put an unfavorite politician's name on a sewage plant.

Pet resort by sheriff's facility was grow house, deputies say

Parkway Pet Resort is an animal boarding facility about 500 feet from the Polk County Sheriff's Office fleet maintenance section in Lakeland, according to TheLedger.com.

It's also a marijuana grow house, the Sheriff's Office contends.

Owner Jeffrey Greer told deputies he grows the plants for his personal use, the Sheriff's Office said. Deputies said three buildings were used in the operation.

It just wasn't his day

Polk County deputies realized that Kenneth Wilson Jr. of Lakeland wasn't the man they were looking for. Unfortunately for Wilson, who ended up in jail anyway, that discovery came a little late, according to theledger.com. And to add injury to insult, he was bitten by a police dog along the way.

After deputies stopped Wilson because he resembled a suspect in an assault, a police dog was able to get out of a patrol car and bite him. Wilson, 22, was taken to a hospital and deputies stayed with his two children, ages 5 and 2, who were in the sport utility vehicle.

The deputies reported seeing a gun on the back seat between the children and smelling marijuana. They said a search of the SUV turned up 22 small bags of marijuana. They learned the gun had been reported stolen.

Wilson faces charges of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of marijuana of more than 20 grams, possession of drug paraphernalia, grand theft of a firearm and storage of a firearm with minors having access.

Their troubles grew after 911 call

Deputies responding to a home invasion in Winter Haven left with two people in handcuffs - the ones who called for help.

The Ledger.com reports a woman called for help at about 4 a.m., saying that two men with guns had broken into her home. The call went dead. Polk County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the house and found a man and woman in a closet. The man had been pistol whipped and handcuffed.

While searching the house for the suspects, deputies found something else - about 100 6-foot-tall marijuana plants, an irrigation system and ultraviolet lights.

The residents of the house, Virgilio De La Paz, 33, and Barbara Rodriguez, 28, traded the closet for jail and are facing charges of cultivation of cannabis, maintaining a dwelling for drug use and trafficking in cannabis, according to a Sheriff's Office report.

The home invasion suspects were not found.