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Saturday
October 3, 2015
$2
Jacksonville ship lost in Joaquin
Flu bug
strikes
gators
QB Grier may
be out vs.
No. 3 Ole Miss
Sports, C-1
Rogers gets
win 45o as
bolles rolls
Prep Football, C-1
Duncan out
as Education
secretary
Nation, A-4
Coast Guard
is searching
for the cargo
ship, missing
since early
Thursday
By Dana Treen
dana.treen@jacksonville.com
A 735-foot Jacksonvillebased
cargo ship with 33
crew members is missing
and apparently caught in
Hurricane Joaquin near
Crooked Island, Bahamas,
according to Coast Guard
rescuers.
The El Faro was en route
from Jacksonville to San
Juan, Puerto Rico, when it
began taking on water, said
Storm Shifts East
Hurricane Joaquin
expected to veer out
to sea, but will still bring
drenching rains. A-3
Coast Guard Chief Petty
Officer Ryan Doss.
It was last heard from at
7:30 a.m. Thursday when
the ship’s crew contacted
the Coast Guard about the
leak to say it had been contained
but that the ship was
listing at about 15 degrees.
Doss said the El Faro was
believed to be in the eye of
the hurricane at the time.
The crew consists of 28
U.S. citizens and five from
Poland, according to the
Coast Guard.
“This vessel is disabled
basically right near the eye
of Hurricane Joaquin,” said
Coast Guard Capt. Mark
Fedor in Miami. “We’re go-
SHIP continues on A-8
Jacksonville
‘HEARTBREAKING’
City floods Eureka Garden with inspectors as mayor promises help for tenants
Bahamas
Atlantic
Ocean
Last known position
of El Faro on Oct. 1
as of 4:01 a.m.
Source: marinetraffic.com
Steve.Nelson@jacksonville.com
When mass
shootings
become
routine
The public must balance
outrage with moving on
when faced with tragedy
By David Crary & Adam Geller
Associated Press
The news from Oregon
was grim enough in isolation
— nine people shot
dead at a community college.
For many Americans
it was all the sadder as a
reminder of how frequent,
how depressingly routine,
mass shootings have become
— in malls, at churches,
and so often at schools
and colleges.
In Loveland, Colo., an elementary
school principal
mused on how security precautions
now preoccupied
her staff, including adultsonly
evacuation drills that
exempt the students in order
not to traumatize them.
“It’s a sad indicator of our
world right now that we
have to have a plan,” Michelle
Malvey said.
In Washington, U.S. Rep.
Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania
said he went into his office
and wept on hearing of
the Oregon tragedy, thinking,
“Here we go again.”
A school security expert
in Texas advised Americans
to brace for recurrences.
“This is the equivalent
SHOOTINGS continues on A-8
More inside
Accused gunman was Army
boot camp dropout who
studied mass shooters. A-3
Bruce.Lipsky@jacksonville.com
Mayor Lenny Curry leaves an apartment after talking to residents about the problems in their unit. Curry joined inspectors from
several city agencies Friday on a sweep of Eureka Garden Apartments to check into issues reported by tenants.
By Jim Schoettler
jim.schoettler@jacksonville.com
Years of neglect at one of Jacksonville’s most notorious
federally subsidized apartment complexes
drew a team of city inspectors Friday to the Westside
property as Mayor Lenny Curry promised to
do what he can to improve living conditions for its
hundreds of residents.
“Heartbreaking,” an anguished-looking Curry
said during a hastily called news conference at Eureka
Garden off Labelle Street. “Adults shouldn’t
have to live like this. There’s children living under
some of these conditions. It is unacceptable.”
Just how much the city can do remains unclear
as the federal Department of Housing and Urban
Development is responsible for holding owners of
such properties accountable for upkeep.
Bruce.Lipsky@jacksonville.com
Jeff Johnson, AARP Florida director, speaks at the meeting
marking the release of JCCI’s “Re-Think Aging” report.
A HUD spokeswoman said her
agency's inspectors were also on
the property Friday and will conduct
a monthlong review to decide
if fixes need to be made.
Marsha Oliver, a spokeswoman
Grant for Curry, said results of the inspections
won’t be known until
some time next week.
Inspectors from the city fire department, building
code office and other agencies flooded the
400-unit complex after Curry put together a team
earlier in the week to review a complaint letter
written by the tenants’ association to local, state
and federal officials.
Tenant association president Tracy Grant wrote
EUREKA continues on A-8
By Rhema Thompson
rhema.thompson@jacksonville.com
Over the next 25 years, Northeast Florida
is expected to double the percentage
of its older residents, and with that, will
come some significant changes — some
the area is ready to tackle and others it is
10
Plymouth Street
Lake Shore Blvd.
Lenox Avenue
Cassat Avenue
228
Eureka Garden
apartments
Park Street
Area of
detail
DUVAL CO.
N
Hamilton Street
Steve.Nelson@jacksonville.com
Planning for an aging Florida
A report on older residents suggests
ideas to tackle challenges ahead
not, according to a new study.
One big issue is the cost of housing.
The study indicates thousands of older
residents in St. Johns, Duval and Clay
County pay more than 50 percent of their
monthly income for housing and utilities.
Non-profit civic group, the Jacksonville
Community Council, Inc. — better
known as JCCI — released the findings
AGING continues on A-8
75 60
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Sunday
october 4, 2015
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Jags at Colts • 1 p.m. • CBS-TV
U.S. may
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World, A-6
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Sports, C-5
What happEned
to the defense?
JaguarsExtra, C-1
Searchers spot life ring
from missing cargo ship
Auditors
red-flag
nonprofits’
conflicts
Inspector General takes look; group
Helpful Citizens denies violations
By Christopher Hong
christopher.hong@jacksonville.com
A local nonprofit accused of having a significant
conflict of interest while spending
city housing grants is a well-established
group leading two high-profile neighborhood
revitalization projects expected to
cost millions in public money.
The group, Wealth Watchers Inc., is
one of two nonprofits that paid more than
$186,000 in public money to construction
companies led by top members of their
own organizations, according to a report
released last week by the Jacksonville City
Council Auditor’s Office.
Auditors said the payments made by
Wealth Watchers and Helpful Citizens Inc.
appear to be a violation of their contracts
with the city, which gave the organizations
grants to renovate rental homes that are
Bob.Mack@jacksonville.com
Cheryl and Eddie Glenn pause on their way to a meeting Saturday evening at the local Seafarers International Union hall
in Jacksonville to seek information about their son, Sylvester Crawford, an engineer aboard the El Faro.
Rough weather again
hampers efforts to find
Jacksonville-based El Faro
By Andrew Pantazi
andrew.pantazi@jacksonville.com
In the middle of the night Tuesday, a
cargo ship left Jacksonville’s calm shore
and sailed into darkness and a violent
sea.
The cargo ship carried cars and groceries
and random goods. It made this
run from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico
every week. But this week, low pressure
met warm water and a tropical storm
whipped and crashed into a frenzied
Category 4 hurricane, leaving a path
of destruction through the Bahamas,
through the path of the El Faro.
Now, more than 62 hours later, on
Saturday night, the United States Coast
Guard completed yet another day of
searching for a crew of 33, some of
Searching for the El Faro
Hit by hurricane: The 735-foot container ship
El Faro was heading from Jacksonville to San
Juan, Puerto Rico, with 33 people on board
when it was battered Thursday by 20- to 30-foot
waves from Hurricane Joaquin.
The search: Coast Guard officials said their
three C-130 planes, one helicopter and a Navy
P-8 airplane were hunting for the ship.
Clue found: A life ring from the ship was
spotted 120 miles northeast of Crooked Island,
about 70 miles from the last known position of
the El Faro .
Jacksonville
Bahamas
Atlantic
Ocean
Last known position
of El Faro on Oct. 1
as of 4:01 a.m.
Source: marinetraffic.com
Steve.Nelson@jacksonville.com
AUDIT continues on A-5
Texas redistricting,
union issue on tap
for Supreme Court
Affirmative action also on docket as
nine-month session begins Monday
By Michael Doyle
Tribune News Service
WASHINGTON | Supreme Court justices will
face tough choices and political potshots
from both left and right when they reclaim
their seats Monday.
Over the next nine months, they could
restrict affirmative action, alter congressional
districts and weaken public service
unions. And though Republican presidential
candidates have been lashing the
court’s GOP-appointed chief justice, conservatives
still hold the upper hand.
“This term, I would expect a return to
the norm in which the right side of the
court wins a majority of cases,” said Irv
Gornstein, executive director of the Supreme
Court Institute at the Georgetown
University Law Center.
California teacher Harlan Elrich hopes
SHIP continues on A-4
TOTE Maritime
COURT continues on A-4
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COPYRIGHT 2015
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151ST YEAR
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Monday
October 5, 2015
$2
16 13
Search for the El Faro
Relatives wait and hope
Coast Guard discovers 225-square-mile patch of debris, oil slicks
Jaguars
had no
leg to
stand on
Kicker Myers misses
on two chances to
seal deal over Colts
Jaguars Extra, C-1
Photos by Bruce.Lipsky@jacksonville.com
Relatives of crew members of the missing cargo ship El Faro sit and wait outside Seafarers Union Hall in Jacksonville.
They Battled
flu, Ole Miss
and earned
No. 11 rank
Sports, C-9
Mary Shevory is waiting
and praying for her
daughter, Mariette Wright,
and others on the El Faro.
By Derek Gilliam
derek.gilliam@jacksonville.com
Mary Shevory waited Sunday for
her worst nightmare to end as the
Coast Guard narrowed the search
area for the cargo ship El Faro,
which vanished Thursday during
a hurricane with 33 aboard, including
her daughter Mariette Wright.
“They don’t know anything,”
Shevory said. “They don’t know
any more than we do. It’s kind of
scary. It’s very scary. I’m just praying
to God they find the ship and
everybody on it and they bring my
daughter home and that’s all I can
think of saying. I pray to God they
bring her home.”
The 790-foot Jacksonville-based
ship was taking on water while en
route to Puerto Rico on Thursday
morning, listing at 15 degrees,
and had lost power while being
whipped with winds spun up by
Hurricane Joaquin at the time a
Category 4 hurricane.
The search across a wide expanse
of the Atlantic Ocean near
Crooked Island was aided Sunday
by calmer weather now that
Joaquin has left the Bahamas and
was en route to Bermuda. Two
Coast Guard cutters, the Northland
and Resolute, were expected
to continue searching overnight
Sunday as the aircraft returned to
their bases.
Search crews have reported seeing
debris and oil slicks strewn
across a 225-mile area in the area
where they found items the day
EL FARO continues on A-4
the El Faro
The container ship was
heading from Jacksonville to
San Juan, Puerto Rico when
it was battered Thursday by
waves from Hurricane Joaquin.
Jacksonville
Bahamas
Atlantic
Ocean
Last known position
of El Faro on Oct. 1
as of 4:01 a.m.
Source: marinetraffic.com
Steve.Nelson@jacksonville.com
‘Record storm’ hits South Carolina
More than a foot of rain
dumped on Columbia;
stretches of I-95 closed
By Seanna Adcox & Jeffrey Collins
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. | Hundreds
were rescued from fastmoving
floodwaters Sunday
in South Carolina as
days of driving rain hit a
dangerous crescendo that
buckled buildings and
roads, closed a major East
Coast interstate route and
threatened the drinking
water supply for the capital
city.
The powerful rainstorm
dumped more than a foot of
rain overnight on Columbia,
swamping hundreds
of businesses and homes.
Emergency workers waded
into waist-deep water to
help people trapped in cars,
dozens of boats fanned out
to rescue people in flooded
neighborhoods and some
were plucked from roof-
tops by helicopters.
Officials said it could
take weeks or even months
to assess every road and
bridge that’s been closed
around the state. Several
interstates around Columbia
were closed, and so
was a 75-mile stretch of
Interstate 95 that is a key
route connecting Miami
to Washington, D.C., and
New York.
“This is different than a
hurricane because it is water,
it is slow-moving and
it is sitting. We can’t just
move the water out,” Gov.
STORM continues on A-4
Above: David Linnen
uses a rake to clear
drains in front of
Winyah Apartments
in Georgetown, S.C.,
Sunday. Much of the
state has experienced
historic rain totals.
Mic Smith Associated Press
New assessment reports
will rank students but
won’t show who passed
5 achievement levels
among questions still
being sorted out in tests
By Denise Smith Amos
denise.amos@jacksonville.com
In a few weeks Florida’s
parents will get reports
showing how each student
did on Florida’s new standards
assessments.
They’ll see how well each
child stacks up to peers
around the state and how
many points each student
earned for demonstrating
certain skills or knowledge.
But they won’t know
which students passed or
failed. And the reports
won’t show which achievement
level each student attained.
Level 1 is for lowest performing;
Level 5 for most
advanced and Level 3 is
passing.
And the reports won’t
have school or district state
grades; those will come
later.
“It’s going to be confusing,”
said Trey Csar, president
of the Jacksonville
Public Education Fund,
about the state reports.
“The communications
challenge, with every new
piece of information that
comes out, is going to be
significant because it is
new.”
Florida’s tests were taken
for the first time last
spring.
But testing glitches and
questions about validity led
to a review that delayed the
process of scoring and in-
TEST continues on A-4
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Tuesday
October 6, 2015
$2
Sinking of the El Faro
CEO: Fate of ship’s
crew ‘ends with me’
BODY FOUND Unidentified
crew member had survival suit
DAMAGED LIFE BOAT Found
empty; could have held up to 43
Jacksonville
12:50 a.m.
Wednesday,
Sept. 30
Miami
Thurs., Oct. 1
12:01 a.m.
0 250 miles
Tues., Sept. 29
9:32 p.m.
2:54 a.m.
9:32 a.m.
1:45 p.m.
BAHAMAS
Cuba
6:37 p.m.
Oct. 2
11 a.m.
130 m.p.h.
7:42 p.m.
3
4
Oct. 1
11 p.m.
135 m.p.h.
Oct. 3
11 a.m.
130 m.p.h.
H
3
Oct. 1
11 a.m.
125 m.p.h.
San
Juan
80° 75° 70° PUERTO RICO 65°
3
TS
Hurricane
joaquin
Sept. 30,
8 a.m.
75 m.p.h.
Tropical
Storm
Joaquin
Tues.,
Sept. 29
2
Oct. 4
11 a.m.
110 m.p.h.
El Faro’s track
Atlantic
Ocean
Storm path/category
Note: According to the U.S. Coast Guard, at approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1., watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Va., received an
Inmarsat satellite notification stating the El Faro was under siege by Hurricane Joaquin, having lost propulsion and listing at 15 degrees.
Source: marinetraffic.com, National Weather Service
Steve.Nelson@jacksonville.com
More Inside
THE CAPTAIN: A history
of the ship’s leader, who
had a past of not taking
unnecessary risks when it
came to his vessels. A-7
COURSE OF THE STORM:
The ship headed out, not
expecting trouble. A-7
THE CREW: A look at the
lives of the confirmed crew
members of the El Faro. A-6
In Money
PUERTO RICO TRADE:
Tragedy at sea highlights
how entrenched business
ties are between the First
Coast and Puerto Rico. B-8
By Dana Treen
dana.treen@jacksonville.com
While questions of why
the El Faro sailed into the
maw of a hurricane remained
mostly unanswered
Monday, Anthony Chiarello,
the CEO of the ship’s
owner, said late Monday
night that the responsibility
for the disaster that may
have killed all 33 aboard
“ends with me.”
“We put tremendous
trust in our captains and
our crews ... but in the end
the responsibility comes
to me,” Chiarello said at a
news conference at the Seafarers
International Union
Hall in Jacksonville.
The search will continue
Tuesday for the crew of the
790-foot cargo ship that
went missing Thursday.
By late Monday all but
one of those crew remained
missing. The Coast Guard
could not identify a body
found in a survival suit.
A 300-square-mile debris
field offered up parts of a
life boat, life rafts, wood
and other detritus of a ship
that was carrying cars,
groceries and other staples
bound for Puerto Rico.
The search concentrated
Monday in the vicinity
of the Jacksonville-based
ship’s last-known position
40 miles northeast of
Crooked Islands, Bahamas.
In addition to the body,
the Coast Guard found an
empty heavily damaged El
Faro life boat that could
have carried 43 people.
Other debris included a
partially submerged life
raft, life jackets, life rings
and cargo containers.
Coast Guard air crews also
saw an oil sheen.
“We are assuming the
vessel has sank,” Coast
Allen Baker Marine Traffic
Walter Michot Miami Herald
U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor (right) and Lt. Cmdr.
Gabe Somma brief the media on the search for survivors
of the cargo ship El Faro, which sank in Hurricane Joaquin.
30°
25°
20°
Guard Capt. Mark Fedor
said at a 10 a.m. news briefing.
The search shrank to two
debris fields, one about 80
square miles and one about
90 miles square within the
larger 300-square-mile
field.
Since the ship’s last radio
call Thursday morning, the
Coast Guard searched close
to 215,000 square miles of
ocean.
“We are still looking for
EL FARO continues on A-7
Council to
subpoena
Keane for
fund info
The retired pension fund
director must turn over
records for the audit
By Eileen Kelley
eileen.kelley@jacksonville.com
Over the course of the next few weeks,
John Keane, the retired executive director
of the troubled Jacksonville Police and Fire
Pension Fund and his South Florida attorney
will be asked to come to City Hall with
documents an outside pension expert says
he needs to complete his forensic audit.
The summons isn’t some friendly invitation
to pay the City Council committee a
visit.
The forensic audit, which
is typically a thorough audit
that seeks to uncover
wrongdoing, was ordered
by the council earlier this
year but has struggled since
then with complaints of a
lack of full cooperation.
By unanimous vote, the Jacksonville City
Council Finance Committee voted Monday
to use its subpoena powers to force the
pension fund to turn over records, appear
before the committee and testify under
oath regarding the audit.
“This is serious business,” Finance
Chairman Bill Gulliford said.
After a series of Times-Union investigations
raised questions about possible
wrongdoing at the pension fund last year,
Gulliford was instrumental in getting the
city to sign off on an $85,000 contract with
Edward “Ted” Siedle of Benchmark Financial
Services to do a deep dive into the
pension fund.
PENSION continues on A-3
By Nate Monroe
nate.monroe@jacksonville.com
City Councilman Bill Gulliford cast a
skeptical eye Monday toward JEA’s financial
management, brandishing a new study
that says Jacksonville’s electric and water
utility could save millions of dollars each
year by restructuring its organization.
The city-owned utility, Gulliford said,
could and should improve its bottom line.
That matters to city officials because
extra savings at JEA could be a future revenue
source for the city general fund.
JEA and the city are negotiating a new
agreement to spell out how much the utility
contributes to the general fund each
year. In lieu of property taxes a private
utility would pay, JEA’s makes the annual
contribution — which has become an important
source of City Hall revenue.
The current agreement expires after the
upcoming fiscal year. JEA’s contribution
maxes out at $114 million this year.
JEA continues on A-3
Keane
Gulliford eyes
JEA overhaul
as way to save
city millions
Savings could be used to pay down
city’s pension debt, study suggests
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NO. 279
151ST YEAR
4 SECTIONS
32 PAGES
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twitter | Follow us on Twitter, where it’s all of the Times-Union, 140 characters at a time.
Wednesday
October 7, 2015
$2
Weatherby
Standoff over
Resigns from JEA board after originally
refusing Mayor Curry’s request to step down
Metro, B-1
GENERAL:
U.S. NEEDS
NEW PLAN IN
AFGHANISTAN
Nation, A-3
Sinking of the El Faro
• NTSB arrives to begin investigation into sinking
• Owners: ‘Engineering incident’ left ship powerless
THE LATEST ON PAGE A-7
Family devastated by
two cousins missing
Both men have wives
and children hoping for
their safe returns home
By Jim Schoettler
jim.schoettler@jacksonville.com
Jacksonville first cousins
Jackie Jones Jr. and James
Porter deeply love the sea,
their families and each
other.
Those families recently
bonded closer together to
share their common link
with their men: the sorrow
and helplessness of knowing
they may have died
along with 31 other El Faro
crew members.
Some family members
are more hopeful than others
the men remain alive
and will return home soon.
All are devastated by the
silence of two voices they
cherish so deeply.
“I do believe that they’re
out there fighting for their
lives or sitting on an island,”
said Marlena Porter,
30, Porter’s wife of four
years and the mother of
their two young sons. “I’m
not going to give up.”
The 790-foot cargo ship
went missing Thursday
on the way from Jacksonville
to Puerto Rico. The
Coast Guard said Monday
the ship sank in Hurricane
Joaquin and left behind a
large debris field, including
one unidentified body.
Jones, 38, and Porter, who
just celebrated his 40th
COUSINS continues on A-7
More inside
THE CREW A look at the latest
confirmed El Faro crew members. A-7
Q&A: TOTE Maritime executives
answer questions about sinking. A-7
Above: El Faro
crew member
Jackie Jones (right),
his wife, Addreisha,
and daughter,
Jacquiecia, 18,
in June.
Below: El Faro
crew member
James Porter and
his wife, Marlena.
Photos provided by families
jacksonville.com
Get updates as the search continues
and on the El Faro crew lost at sea.
Data point to
fixes for poor
communities
Solutions involved both
city cooperation and
third-party investments
By Andrew Pantazi
andrew.pantazi@jacksonville.com
People in Jacksonville
make less money than before.
Rent costs have risen.
But the Jessie Ball duPont
Fund’s leader believes the
city can strengthen poor
neighborhoods using new
data released Tuesday.
“We have many of the
ingredients we need, but
we lack a firm vision and
an intelligent strategy,”
said duPont Fund President
Sherry Magill to city,
nonprofit and real-estate
New umbrella health
system formed with
Baptist and 2 others
Coastal Community
Health will have nearly
1,850 beds for patients
By Charlie Patton
charlie.patton@jacksonville.com
About two years ago,
Baptist Health, Southeast
Georgia Health System
and Flagler Hospital in St.
Augustine announced they
were exploring ways to
collaborate.
That collaboration has
now been formalized
as Coastal Community
Health, a nonprofit corporation
with a 12-member
board made up of representatives
of the three hospital
systems.
The goal of the new relationship
is for the three
leaders. The new data she
and others presented show
where the city can connect
resources in stronger and
weaker housing markets.
“The city of Jacksonville
is challenged financially,”
she said. “We simply must
be smarter.”
The new data — which
uses maps to show the
strength of each neighborhood’s
housing market
— has been used in cashstrapped
cities like Baltimore,
Detroit and others
to come up with low-cost
solutions for small neighborhoods.
“An attempt to
get blood out of a turnip,”
Magill called it.
HOUSING continues on A-5
health systems is to remain
community based
and locally managed while
achieving the cost efficiencies
and other advantages
of a larger health-care
organization, said Hugh
Greene, CEO of Baptist
Health, which operates
four hospitals in Duval
County and one in Nassau
County.
“This is a very important
affiliation and an opportunity
to position ourselves
to thrive in the future as a
highly integrated network
of community-based, locally
governed health systems,”
said Greene, who
will be CEO of Coastal
Community Health and its
1,835 beds.
HOSPITALS continues on A-5
City Hall sues Jacksonville Landing owners over parking lot
Owners tried
to back out of
buying the lot
but haven’t
paid taxes on
it since 2007
By Christopher Hong
christopher.hong@jacksonville.com
City Hall on Tuesday sued the owners
of the downtown Jacksonville
Landing, arguing the company can't
cancel its purchase of a nearby parking
lot eight years after it paid the city
and began collecting parking fees —
despite never paying property taxes
on the land.
The company, Jacksonville Landing
Investments, in 2007 paid the city $4.3
million for the parking lot, just east of
the riverfront mall on the other side of
the Main Street Bridge.
While the company paid the city for
the land, it never finalized paperwork
to officially record the purchase, according
to the city’s lawsuit. Then in
October 2014, the company demanded
the city take back the land and return
its money.
In its lawsuit, the city argues the
company doesn’t have the right to do
that and asks the court to make a judgment
that requires the company to officially
document its purchase of the
land.
Toney Sleiman, a co-owner of the
Landing, didn’t return a phone message
seeking comment.
In its October 2014 letter, Jacksonville
Landing Investments demanded
LANDING continues on A-5
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twitter | Follow us on Twitter, where it’s all of the Times-Union, 140 characters at a time.
Thursday
October 8, 2015
$2
Florida voters
Favor outsiders
Poll: Bush, Rubio continue to trail GOP field
Metro, B-1
Jaguars will
have hands
full facing Bucs
receivers Sports, C-1
Scrutiny grows over text blitz
New texts
show push
for fire
funds, with
Sunshine
questions
By Christopher Hong
christopher.hong@jacksonville.com
New text messages from Jacksonville
City Council members obtained
by The Florida Times-Union reveal
the president of the firefighters union
relayed communications between
council members during a meeting last
month as he worked behind the scenes
to sway a vote, which is prohibited by
Florida’s open government law.
IKEA COMING TO SOUTHSIDE
Popular megastore plans location at Gate Parkway and I-295 in 2017
By Drew Dixon & Dan Scanlan
The Times-Union
IKEA, the mega-popular home furnishing
store known for its flat-packed furniture
and other Scandinavian-design goods, is
proposing to open a 294,000-square-foot
store that would hire about 250 workers
in Jacksonville.
“We’re expanding our Southeastern
presence to the key metropolitan area of
North Florida,” said IKEA’s U.S. public relations
manager Joseph Roth at a packed
news conference Wednesday morning at
the JAX Chamber headquarters in downtown
Jacksonville.
Roth said the home furnishings company,
based in Sweden, pursued the site that
is proposed to be developed on 25 acres of
land at the northwest corner of Gate Parkway
and Interstate 295. IKEA officials see
the Jacksonville site as a potential regional
draw of customers from as far as South
Georgia to well inland, possibly as far
away as Tallahassee.
The Jacksonville store would be the fifth
IKEA to open in Florida. There are currently
41 stores in the United States and
over 370 stores worldwide.
Roth said development proposals have
been submitted to the city for review and
potential final approval by the Jacksonville
City Council. The site is currently zoned
mostly for commercial use with some zon-
IKEA continues on A-3
Above: A rendering of the proposed IKEA
at Gate Parkway and I-295.
What IKEA proposes for Jacksonville
294,000 1,200 250
square-foot store parking spaces to be hired
Gate Parkway
Area of
detail
DUVAL CO.
Butler Blvd.
295
Site of
proposed IKEA
N
Baymeadows Rd. E.
Source: IKEA, Wal-Mart, Costco and Target
Source: IKEA, Wal-Mart, Target, Costco
Several council
members have already
faced scrutiny
after the Times-Union
found they exchanged
text messages with
Wyse union president Randy
Wyse during the
Sept. 21 meeting. During that meeting,
the council voted against taking
$320,000 from the city’s stormwater
drainage system to prevent 17 recently
promoted district fire chiefs from
being demoted to a lower rank but
reversed its position to approve the
money in a second vote held later in
the meeting.
The newly released text messages
from Reginald Brown, Katrina Brown
and Reginald Gaffney provide new
details of Wyse’s real-time lobbying
push during the meeting and showed
TEXT continues on A-5
COMPARED TO AVERAGE
‘BIG BOX’ STORES
IKEA
Jacksonville:
294,000 sq. ft.
on two floors
Wal-Mart
Supercenter:
200,000 sq. ft.
Super Target
174,000 sq. ft.
Costco
142,000 sq. ft.
Steve.Neslon@jacksonville.com
Get a sneAk peak View a slideshow previewing IKEA’S proposed Jacksonville store. jacksonville.com/slideshows
Sinking of El Faro
Search
called off
by Coast
Guard
The transportation board has
started its investigation into
how and why the ship sank
By Jim Schoettler
jim.schoettler@jacksonville.com
The U.S. Coast Guard suspended
its search for the sunken El Faro
and its 33-member crew at sunset
Wednesday, nearly a week after
Category 4 Hurricane Joaquin
swallowed the engine-troubled
cargo ship heading from Jacksonville
to Puerto Rico.
At least half of the crew about the
790-foot El Faro was from Jacksonville
or has ties to the community.
Several families were stunned
the search was ending and that the
crew is believed dead in one of the
worst maritime cargo disasters in
U.S. history.
“It’s only been a couple of days.
How could you let it go just after a
couple of days?” said Marlena Porter,
whose husband, James Porter,
and his cousin, Jackie Jones, all
of Jacksonville, were on the ship.
“I feel like someone is still out
there.”
EL FARO continues on A-5
Investigators
try to explain
El Faro sinking
By Steve Patterson
steve.patterson@jacksonville.com
When El Faro sailed into the
hurricane that would sink it, were
restraints to hold tons of cargo in
place working? Were hatches that
kept water out sealed well?
And with the ship beneath miles
of ocean now, how can anyone tell?
A federal investigation of the
cargo ship’s disappearance last
week, less than two days after it
left Jacksonville, is starting with
yawning gaps in information and
few chances to gather direct information
about El Faro’s final hours.
“Sadly, there’s no one to ask,”
said Lindsey Brock, a Jacksonville
attorney familiar with the web
NTSB continues on A-5
inside
• A closer look
at the survival
suits. A-5
• A complete
list of the 33
missing. A-5
Online
Get the latest
updates on
El Faro and
its crew.
jacksonville.com/
elfaro
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news FriDAY · October 9, 2015 B
metro
Short-lived chase
Senate race
Woman fleeing arrest caught after
Poll: Democrats have the edge in
tripping on headstone Story, B-2
race to replace Rubio Story, B-6
HUD to revisit Eureka Garden after report
Complex passed
federal inspection
before city issued
citations, Curry
found conditions
‘heartbreaking’
By Andrew Pantazi
& Sebastian Kitchen
The Times-Union
Federal inspectors are
taking another look at the
subsidized apartment complex
Eureka Garden after
the city revealed mold,
pests and potentially dangerous
living conditions.
Just two months after
Eureka Garden passed a
federal inspection, city officers
issued citations in all
but two apartments examined.
Mayor Lenny Curry
and City Councilman Garrett
Dennis called on congressional
representatives
to ask federal officials to
re-inspect the apartments
owned by Tennessee nonprofit
Global Ministries
Foundation.
“I could not shake the
images of mold, deteriorating
stairwells, and other
conditions,” Curry wrote
to legislators. “Heartbreaking,”
he called it.
“I hope and pray that
I never forget Ms. Dwan
Wilson’s dining room
table, covered with medication
that she tearfully
explained that her young
children must take due to
breathing issues they now
suffer since moving into
their apartment.”
A federal inspection
gave 85 out of 100 points to
Eureka Garden in August.
It noted apartments had a
few health and safety issues
— cockroaches, mold,
tripping hazards — but
nothing urgent.
The city’s reports, on the
other hand, detailed “gross”
and “disgusting” findings,
said public records official
Alexis Lambert. Dirty, decaying
and peeling walls.
Broken refrigerators. Units
infested with insects. Sinks
without plumbing. The
city gave those reports to
the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
Dennis asked the
EUREKA continues on B-4
Tears, love, hope at
vigil for El Faro crew
Family and
friends gather
near JaxPort
Thursday
By Joe Daraskevich
joe.daraskevich@jacksonville.com
Carla Newkirk stood
in the middle of a circle
Thursday night surrounded
by more than 100 people
clenching candles and
holding out hope.
She was with 32 others
representing the crew
aboard the cargo ship El
Faro, which sank last week
during Hurricane Joaquin.
The group prayed together
in a field near JaxPort on
Talleyrand Avenue as they
shielded their candles from
a strong wind coming off
the St. Johns River.
Cargo containers like
the ones on the missing
ship were stacked on top
of each other near the field
and most of the 33 people in
the inner circle cried as the
names of their loved ones
were read off a list.
Some in the middle of the
circle were family members
of the crew and others held
Tidal flooding may
block some streets
over coming week
Part of San Marco could
close Friday morning;
winds, lunar cycles cited
By Steve Patterson
steve.patterson@jacksonville.com
High water backing up
near the St. Johns River
could block some Jacksonville
streets Friday morning,
and a City Council
member said city officials
expect about a week of tidal
flooding.
Streets in San Marco and
the South Shores area on
the Southside began flooding
about 10 days ago, said
Councilwoman Lori Boyer,
who said city officials met
Thursday with a National
Weather Service meteorologist.
Boyer said the meteorologist
cited offshore winds
and lunar cycles as part of
the reason.
She said the meteorologist
reported water levels
were close to 2 feet above a
level labeled “mean higher
high water,” a threshold
used to design roads and
drainage systems.
The Weather Service
projected tides would start
gradually decreasing in
about a week, but could
rise again near the end of
October, she said.
Low-lying roads near
Hogans Creek in Springfield
were also flooded late
Thursday, with some areas
near Confederate Park barricaded
to keep cars from
becoming stuck.
With high tide Friday
coming around 8:30 a.m. in
San Marco, Boyer said part
of San Marco Boulevard is
expected to be closed then,
with motorists detoured to
WATER continues on B-4
EL FARO continues on B-4
inside
Florida Bar investigating
Orange Park attorney who
took out advertising directed
at family members of the El
Faro crew. B-2
Photos by Will.Dickey@jacksonville.com
Missing crew member Larry Davis’ daughter Carla Newkirk (left) hugs
her mother and Davis’ wife, Terri Davis, during a candlelight vigil for the
sunken cargo ship El Faro crew and their families Thursday evening.
Steve.Patterson@jacksonville.com
An SUV turning onto LaSalle Street in San Marco splashes
water standing in the road Thursday. San Marco near the
St. Johns River is an area susceptible to tidal flooding.
Jacksonville brothers
given 9 life sentences
They were convicted in a
2013 assault, arson and
attempted murder case
Evangelist Barbara Ward (center) prays with family members of the El Faro crew during a candlelight
vigil for the sunken cargo ship Thursday evening.
By Joe Daraskevich
joe.daraskevich@jacksonville.com
A pair of brothers who
tied up two women and a
man in a Jacksonville hotel
room and then sexually assaulted
the women before
shooting one in the head
and lighting the room on
fire were both sentenced to
nine life sentences Thursday,
according to the State
Attorney’s Office.
Donald Jerome Dickerson,
34, and James Lamont
Dickerson, 32, were both
convicted in August on two
counts of attempted firstdegree
murder, attempted
manslaughter, three counts
of kidnapping with a weapon,
two counts of sexual
D. Dickerson J. Dickerson
battery with great force,
armed robbery and firstdegree
arson, according to
the State Attorney’s Office.
Authorities found the
three victims when they responded
to a fire at a Motel
6 on Dix Ellis Trail in July
2013, prosecutors said.
The investigation revealed
one of the female
victims made arrangements
to hang out with Donald
Dickerson, but a short time
later James Dickerson arrived
with a gun and forced
the women to remove their
clothes.
James Dickerson forced
SENTENCES continues on B-4
Daily Editor Scott Butler · (904) 359-4566 · scott.butler@jacksonville.com

events | Looking for something to do this weekend? Our online calendar can help
Saturday
October 10, 2015
$2
Keane pension exceeds IRS limit
BollES
Crushed
Fleming, Lee,
Bartram Trail
triumph
Prep Football, C-1
U.S. has new
strategy on
syria rebels
World, A-6
Portion of his retirement pay
will come from fund’s budget
By Eileen Kelley
eileen.kelley@jacksonville.com
Retired Jacksonville
Police and Fire Pension
Fund Executive Director
John Keane joined a small
El Faro Disaster
John Keane is
set to receive
about $324,000
a year after
retiring from the
pension fund.
group of retired Jacksonville
government workers
whose pensions are
so generous that some of
their bi-weekly retirement
checks come from various
agencies’ operating budgets
and not directly from
their pension accounts.
The IRS sets limits on
income levels when calculating
future pensions.
In the case of Keane, his
income level exceeds that
limit by about $31,200 a
year.
The money, plus $1,500
for a health-insurance
subsidy, is expected to
come from the police and
fire pension fund, a fund
that has about 43 cents for
every dollar promised to
retired police officers and
firefighters.
That is if pension fund
employees can take the
money from that account,
because not everyone involved
in the one-hour
debate at the pension fund
Friday agreed whether that
was legal.
The revelation that
Keane’s pension exceeds
IRS limits and portions
will have to supplemented
KEANE continues on A-9
Minister to the mariners
big raise,
bonus for
thrasher
Metro, B-1
Judge gives
approval
for new
districts
Map adopted by Judge
Terry Lewis was backed
by voting-rights groups
By Brandon Larrabee
The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE | In a ruling
that could reshape the
state’s political landscape,
a Leon County judge recommended
Friday that
the Florida Supreme
Court adopt congressional
districts proposed by
a coalition of voting-rights
groups.
The decision by Circuit
Judge Terry Lewis was a
blow to House and Senate
leaders who argued for
other maps of the state’s
27 congressional seats in
a three-day hearing last
month. Lewis was charged
with recommending a plan
to the Supreme Court,
which will make the final
decision, after the House
and Senate failed to agree
on a new map during an
August special session.
The map would affect
the congressional district
held by a Republican seeking
to become the next U.S.
MAP continues on A-9
Bruce.Lipsky@jacksonville.com
Milton Vega, director of the Apostleship of the Sea Catholic Port Ministry branch, holds a picture of Jesus protecting sailors in rough
seas. He said he often uses it to comfort sailors, as the center offers services to crews aboard the JaxPort ships.
He had been
to cargo ship
a handful of
times, prayed
for the lost
seafarers
By Jim Schoettler
jim.schoettler@jacksonville.com
When Milton Vega got a cellphone
bulletin in his car Monday that the
El Faro had sunk, he found a nearby
chapel, dropped to his knees and
wept for the type of gritty men and
women he knows so well.
As director of the Apostleship
of the Sea Catholic Port Ministry
branch in Jacksonville, Vega had
been to the Blount Island-based
cargo ship a handful of times to offer
his greetings, pass out religious
pamphlets and magazines and
spread goodwill.
He never imagined not being
able to board her again. He couldn’t
imagine what her 33-member crew
went through as Hurricane Joaquin,
a Category 4 storm, smacked their
ship with 50-foot waves as it headed
from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico.
Vega, to become an ordained deacon
in December, said he asked that
God take care of the lost seafarers.
“We don’t know their levels of be-
VEGA continues on A-8
‘One-hit wonder’ called out by coach
Keyboardist from band mentioned by
Gators’ McElwain lives in Gainesville
By Phillip Heilman
phillip.heilman@jacksonville.com
Half a century after John Lennon gave a
rowdy fraternity band its name and Paul Simon
helped pen the lyrics that would keep
the group on the airwaves for generations,
University of Florida football coach Jim
McElwain stood in front of the media Monday
and briefly traded his playbook for his
playlist.
“I’m kind of interested to see if our team
is a one-hit wonder,” said McElwain, whose
team dispatched then-No. 3 Mississippi 38-
10 last Saturday to improve to 5-0 under the
first-year coach. “You know, like Cyrkle,
“Red Rubber Ball.” C-y-r-k-l-e, right. I
mean, how many hits have they had?”
Just a few miles to the west in Gainesville,
Earle Pickens knows exactly how
PICKENS continues on A-9
Inside
El Faro investigation:
National Transportation
Safety Board
investigators meet with
Sen. Bill Nelson — leaving
him with more questions
than answer. A-8
Great depth: A look
at maritime disasters
and the gear needed to
examine them on the
ocean floor. A-8
Gainesville Sun
Earle Pickens, a Gainesville surgeon and former
member of the group, Cyrcle.
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October 11, 2015
$3
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El Faro Disaster
‘AT THE MERCY
OF THE SEA’
What is known
about how the
worst U.S. cargo
ship disaster in
60 years unfolded
By Matt Soergel
matt.soergel@jacksonville.com
Gregory “Scooby”
Melvin saw Hurricane
Joaquin’s angry
swirl of clouds on
the TV and heard all
the concern about
it heading eventually to the
U.S. coast. But he had more
immediate worries: What
about the El Faro?
He knew the cargo ship
well; he’d worked its Jacksonville-to-Puerto
Rico route
as a steward, making meals
for hungry mariners. And
he knew it was down there,
somewhere near or in that
storm.
He thought of the men and
the women he knew on the El
Faro, and he thought of the
steward Theodore Quammie.
He and Quammie were
friends, shipmates, for more
than 30 years. Weeks before,
Melvin was assigned to the
El Faro, but he gave that slot
up at the request of a friend
and instead went to Europe.
The friend then traded it to
Quammie, who’d wanted to
stay close to home.
Melvin looked at the storm
on the TV in his comfortable
Jacksonville home: That could
have been me, he thought.
EL FARO continues on A-6
Bob.Mack@jacksonville.com
Fateful trade Gregory “Scooby” Melvin had been assigned
to the El Faro but gave up that slot at the request of friend. “You
are small,” he said. “You are totally at the mercy of the sea.”
A deadly storm Hurricane Joaquin looms off the eastern
Bahamas on Thursday, Oct. 1. El Faro left Jacksonville on Tuesday,
Sept. 29 headed for San Juan. On Oct. 1, the ship is believed to
have went down in the storm killing all 33 aboard.
Work to do
for a new
contract
for rivalry
Jags’ club seat changes
delay talks for Georgia-
Florida; all sides hopeful
By Gene Frenette
Gene.frenette@jacksonville.com
With three weeks remaining
before the annual
Georgia-Florida football
game at EverBank Field,
there’s potentially heightened
anticipation for the
82,000-plus spectators and
a national television audience
because an SEC Eastern
Division title could be
at stake.
But an equally big story
in the next month — with
huge future economic implications
for Jacksonville
and those committed to
preserving the game’s rich
history — will take place
away from the TV cameras
and behind closed doors:
renegotiating a Georgia-
Florida contract that expires
after the 2016 game.
While these negotiations
are often viewed as a foregone
conclusion — Jacksonville
has been the series
host since 1933 (except
1994-95 when the stadium
was rebuilt to accommodate
the NFL expansion
Jaguars) — it’s possible
things could get a little dicey
this time around.
Both universities and the
city of Jacksonville aren’t
prepared yet to start negotiations
because they’re
waiting to see the Jaguars’
plans for renovations to the
EverBank club seat areas in
the east and west stands,
a place normally reserved
for the wealthiest boosters
of each school.
Those renovations are
expected to reduce the
club seat capacity for Jaguars
games in 2016 from
11,000 to around 8,000,
which team president Mark
Lamping says will improve
the game-day experience
and be a more appropriate
number for the city’s NFL
market size.
But as it pertains to the
Georgia-Florida game, two
possible sticking points for
GAME continues on A-4
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151ST YEAR
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