Wednesday Quote

Sing out loud in the car even - or especially - if it embarasses your children.

~Marilyn Penland

Children's Tylenol Recall

Just an FYI ... I saw this on the news this morning. Johnson & Johnson is recalling a number of infants' and childrens' liquid Tylenol products. The products being recalled were made between April and June 2008 and there are about two dozen varieties. Click on the link for the Tylenol Website for a list of the recalled products.

Undercover Drug Investigators Play Wii During Raid

''Certainly this was a case of bad judgment,'' Auburndale Police Chief Nolan McLeod said.

Ummmm ... ya think? Saw this on the web and had to post. Unreal. Here is a copy of the published story:

With guns drawn and flashlights cutting through darkened rooms, Polk County undercover drug investigators stormed the home of convicted drug dealer Michael Difalco near Lakeland in March. As investigators searched the home for drugs, some drug task force members found other ways to occupy their time. Within 20 minutes of entering Difalco's house, some of the investigators found a Wii video bowling game and began bowling frame after frame.



While some detectives hauled out evidence such as flat screen televisions and shotguns, others threw strikes, gutter balls and worked on picking up spares. A Polk County sheriff's detective cataloging evidence repeatedly put down her work and picked up a Wii remote to bowl. When she hit two strikes in a row, she raised her arms above her head, jumping and kicking. While a female detective lifted a nearby couch looking for evidence, another sheriff's detective focused on pin action.



But detectives with the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Auburndale, Lakeland and Winter Haven police departments did not know that a wireless security camera connected to a computer inside Difalco's home was recording their activity. The recording obtained by News Channel 8 showed several members of the county's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force entering the house shortly after 8 a.m. According to the search warrant, their mission was to search for drugs, stolen property and the fruits of any illegal drug activity. Now there are questions on how the impromptu bowling tournament might affect the case against Difalco.Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd denies it will have any effect.



"That absolutely is not true; that doesn't invalidate the search at all," Judd said. "Now the defendant would like for it to invalidate the search, but unfortunately for him, it won't." Judd, who watched the video during an interview last week, called the situation an embarrassment.
"I'm not pleased that they played that Wii bowling game," Judd said. The sheriff's office oversees the drug task force. Judd said he initiated an internal administrative investigation of the incident.
"That is not appropriate conduct at a search warrant," he said. "But I am less pleased with the supervision that didn't walk in and say, turn that off. That's what supervision should have done."
Task force members played the video game at various times during the day, for a total of a little over an hour of playing time. The competition proved to be quite competitive at times. A task force supervisor from the Lakeland Police Department, gun at his side, pumped his fist after picking up a strike on the first ball he threw. The video showed he continued bowling frame after frame, competing with another undercover detective.



"Obviously, this is not the kind of behavior we condone," Lakeland Police Chief Roger Boatner said. "There was a lot of down time, but that does not excuse the fact that we should act as the consummate professionals."

"Certainly this was a case of bad judgment," Auburndale Police Chief Nolan McLeod said. "We will handle it appropriately."

Winter Haven police Sgt. Brad Coleman said Chief E.C. Waters had not viewed the video. "If there is any indication that someone did something inappropriately, we will do something about it," Coleman said. Court records show detectives placed Difalco's home under surveillance as far back as December 2008.

"We knew he had weapons," Judd said. "He's a bad guy." His history includes an extensive arrest record dating back to 1995. Difalco, 43, served three years in state prison from 2002 to 2005 for trafficking drugs, owning and operating a chop shop, and grand theft. In what Judd called "brilliant police work," the task force placed Difalco under surveillance and took him into custody, away from his home and weapons, during the early morning hours of March 6, in the parking lot of a Circle K convenience store on Highway 98. Documents filed with the court say, in the March raid, detectives removed methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, weapons and more than $30,000 in stolen property. The 11 charges against Difalco include trafficking methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and operating a chop shop.

According to sheriff's office records, 13 detectives and three sergeants spent nine hours searching Difalco's property, for drugs, stolen property and signs of any illegal drug activity.
The raid cost taxpayers more than $4,000. Judd, Boatner and McLeod agree the bowling was inappropriate. But they challenge the notion that taxpayer dollars were wasted. "It was an expansive scene, a lot of searching to be done, a lot of waiting," Boatner said. "The nature of a search warrant is hurry up and wait," Judd said. "Am I trying to defend the fact that they were bowling, not at all. That was inappropriate."

Not just inappropriate, but Tampa defense attorney Rick Escobar would argue the moment detectives turned on that video game and effectively seized it, they turned the search warrant into an illegal search. "I've never seen anything like this," Escobar said after he viewed some of the video. Escobar does not represent Difalco and has no connection to the case. "All the citizens are thinking, 'Wait a minute, we are paying these people to go out and protect us and here they are playing bowling on our time,' " he said. "The real question here is have they seized property that wasn't described in the search warrant?" Escobar asked. "Clearly if they're using it, they've seized it and for totally improper purposes, because it's for entertainment. Investigations are not for entertainment."Difalco's attorney declined comment.

Chip Tulberry, a spokesperson for the Polk County State Attorney, declined to comment on the video, or the validity of the search warrant. "That's a discussion that will occur in court," he said.

September 23, 2000

9/23/00 was our original wedding date. Before, well ... before we found out. :) Today, what would have been our 9th anniversary, was actually spent at the first parent/teacher conference of the year. The irony. The order in which things happen may not be as traditional as some people expect, but, for lack of better words, whatever. I wouldn't change a thing if I could. At all.

So my baby is brilliant, although we all knew that. His teacher absolutely, no doubt, has him pegged. Which is tough for some people. She has children of her own, her babies are also boys, and in their twenties. She sympathized. And then laughed at us a couple of times, and then apologized. But only because she had been in our shoes also. When her boys were in their early teens. She also sorta, kinda empathized because Cam is only 9 and exhibiting some of the same behavior. But in the next sentence, she made it clear that he was the type to graduate early, become a lawyer and perhaps a Supreme Court Justice someday. Wow. Seriously? You're his 4th grade teacher, but yet ... I wasn't surprised. At all. I was damn proud. His report card was fantastic. His grades were exceptional. He was on honor roll. Again. The grade he got in citizenship was the highest possible, and to be perfectly honest, I was pleasantly surprised. Not that he's bad. At recess he's aggressive. He's competitive. In soccer. In basketball. In football. In whatever. He plays hard. And he's a boy. He's not mean. He's a leader. And he's not one to say, "alright gang ... let's tone it down a bit." So I was very proud of him for this. This grade says more to me than anything. And the blatant love for which his teacher has for him made me so very happy. How could she not? :)

Oh - and Bryan created the above artwork while we waited for our turn outside Cam's classroom. Talk about blatant love. :)

And the plot thickens ...

Did I leave you guys hanging?

Racking your little brains

trying to figure out

what in tarnation

SK8 ASYLUM is? :)

Well ... I won't leave you hanging anymore.

That would be cruel.

And you can stop calling our parents' for details.

Thank heaven for you.

And them, I suppose.

So without further ado ...

If all goes according to plan ...

SK8 ASYLUM will be ...

the name of the Peterson's new business. You heard correctly! We are currently waiting for the "2 of 2" packet of information on Bryan's route. Once this arrives, and everything has been filled out and submitted, the business will officially be up for sale. We are in the process of selling it all, getting rid of it completely (Yay! Seriously ... YAY! I might or might not be more excited about THAT than anything ...) and will reinvest in building an indoor skatepark/board shop. Again, not kidding. This is an idea we've had probably since Cameron began his skate lessons about two years ago. Little things have been popping up the past few months - signs perhaps? - that have given us that push we needed. The purpose of our last trip to Vegas was to meet with the owners of the facility Cameron spent a week at for a summer skate camp. We loved the atmosphere of the indoor park and the family feel of the facility in general. Bryan spent quite a bit of time working behind the scenes with the owner at this facility, and Cameron was able to skate non-stop all weekend - he was in heaven!





It's kind of a scary thought to be opening a new business right now, but we've been doing our homework and are pretty confident that it would work. We're combining our likes and dislikes from BOTH facilities, here and Vegas, and creating what we feel is the ultimate skating experience for kids (and adults ... we won't forget those old schoolers that want to push the board around again ...!) We've looked at some building space and met with the owner and broker, as well as neighboring business owners, have drawn up some business plans, drawn up the design of the park/shop, met with the architect and are waiting for the sketches from him, figured out rent and start up costs, labor and materials to build, equipment, staffing, etc. You name it, we've probably already taken care of it. And thanks to my talented friend Heth, we've already got logo, t-shirt, and board designs drawn up! So .. there you have it folks. We are really into step 9 and 10 already with planning, but can't proceed until the first step is finished, which is selling the business. So ... say your prayers, cross your fingers, do whatever it is you need to do for us! We would greatly appreciate it! We will certainly keep you posted once we have more details. :)