The Yellow Tabs

During the visit to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner, we viewed something extreme.  But I'm not going to talk about that -- I'm sure everyone else is, anyway.  The class went on a tour with Chief Medical Examiner, Vernard Adams.  He took us through the clerical files and answered some of our questions about the deaths and statistics that come through his office every year.  The different causes of death were organized by color of tabs on the files.  In 2009, there were 1,995 investigations conducted on bodies.  Of those 1,995 bodies, 600 were non-traffic accidents, 200 were traffic accidents, 68 were homicides, 900 were natural causes and 200 were suicides. Two hundred were suicides.  Two hundred yellow tabs.  Two hundred people in Hillsborough County were so unhappy with their lives that they decided to end it themselves.

Suicide rates have risen in the United States since 1995 and are continuing to rise.  In Florida, suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 years olds. It is also the second leading cause of death for 25-34 year olds.  My uncle happens to fall into this category.  At the age of 32, my father’s brother decided to take his own life.  I was only three at the time and it still affects me to this very day.  I was shocked to know there are about 200 people who took their own lives in Hillsborough County last year.  Suicides are something many people don’t talk about.  I always thought it was extremely rare until the trip yesterday. 

I was so surprised to see the amount of yellow tabs that accumulated over the years.  It really is sad to see how many people would actually go through with the act itself.  Let alone how selfish of an act it is.  My uncle put a gun to his head and didn’t think of his three-year-old niece who loves him.  He didn’t think of his brothers, his mother and the rest of his family and friends who love him.  He was so unhappy with his life that he had to make ours miserable as well.  So, he pulled the trigger.  And that was that.  We’ve gone through years of heartache and pure dismay because of one split second.  This is something I never speak about because it is so hurtful still 18 years later.  Then I realized how many people in Hillsborough County alone go through what I go through year after year.  It’s good to not feel so alone.  

USF Library Blog

As a mass communications student, research is an essential part of our academic makeup. We must research to report. How can we inform the people without researching our informative elements? We can't.  It is important to know how to use the different databases for research.  So many pieces of information are available to you through the internet and these research databases can make your research a lot easier.  Thanks to technology, with the click of a button we are able to check senators' salaries, the Florida lobbyist list and how much my boss's house costs.

Working for a senatorial campaign, I am able to use many databases to find public records.  At the office I had access to individual campaign contributions and voter registration records.  As a journalist, I can use public records for just about anything and it will make my story plausible.  

This trip to the library is always helpful when conducting research for a class project.  There are so many databases for so many different subjects.  It really is incredible the amount of resources that are available to us as students.

One day we will have to use public records to write a story.  Those databases such as Lexis Nexis and CQ Researcher will make the story better.  The facts you retrieve from the databases will make the story more credible, giving your reader more incentive to watch, listen to or read your stories again and again.

Steve Andrews.  Need I say more?  Well, I will.  Six-time Emmy award winner.  One of the best investigative reporters in the nation.  This man is a legend.  And I, for one, was in awe at the importance of this trip.  As journalists, we know who Steve Andrews is and we know how influential he is to investigative reporting.  I was sitting in the room at the News Center in downtown Tampa completely in shock at who was standing before me.  I guess you could say I was star struck.  This is the day I realized I was absolutely sure of what I wanted to do in life.

Steve showed the class several of his investigative reporting packages and they were amazing.  He and his multimedia photojournalist, Gordon Dempsey, went around Tampa and the surrounding counties finding stories to investigate.  Some were even ideas given to them by residents in the area.  One story I found so interesting was about Harry Lee Coe, a state attorney, who was gambling with other people's money.  He borrowed money from friends who happen to be some important people within the great state of Florida.  When Steve tried to interview some of Coe's friends, they laughed in his face and told him nothing.

One thing Steve told the class that is very important to a journalist is to "dog 'em."  Dog 'em, meaning be persistent.  Get a story out of your interviewee and don't give up.  Chase them if you have to, and sometimes you will.   Of course the chase will get to a point where you must stop, but the silence can sometimes tell a story better than a journalist ever will.

Steve and Gordon are a great team who just want to inform the people of the Tampa Bay and surrounding areas of the goings on in the world.  That is our job as journalists, to inform.  And Steve Andrews does it with such poise and persistence.

Visit to Courthouse

Our class visited the Hillsborough County Courthouse and met with a few people. The first woman was an elderly woman by the name of Pat Frank.  Well, that elderly woman happened to be a very important person. Pat Frank is the Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts and the county comptroller.  Those are two huge positions and I commend Miss Pat Frank for her wide variety of responsibilities.

We also met with Doug Bakke, who is the Director of Family Law at the Hillsborough County Courthouse.  Doug was fun. I chose to go in his group for the tour and we had a great time.  He was funny, and just seemed like one of us.  We had a smaller, more intimate group so we were able to do more 'behind the scenes.'

We went through the foreclosure office and behind the desk were the millions of files throughout the years.  Some students took pictures, my memory happened to be full at that moment.  Of course.  There were dozens of cubicles with paperwork piled high. This county is just screaming foreclosure.  Made me realize something needs to be done with this economy.

We also walked through the long line of people in the traffic department.  I was nostalgic of Orient Road Jail when the inmates were staring at us.  Felt the exact same.  Pissed off people looking at new meat to intimidate.  I was just waiting for someone to bark...

So finally, we crossed over to the other wing of the courthouse.  We were brought into the evidence room. Well, not actually brought into. They allowed us to stand on one side of the doorway.  No one is allowed in the evidence room, for obvious reasons.  Some crazy USF student could have tampered with the one knife and the one picture that was in there.  Nothing interesting is going on in that room either.  A knife and a blown up picture of a Google Earth map.  No fingers like we heard about.

So, after that evidence room, we left.  My roommate and I decided to go to our favorite dive bar, Gilligan's, in downtown Tampa.  That was the highlight of my trip.

Taxes make the world go 'round

Our class met with Preston Trigg, Director of Administration and Special Projects for the Hillsborough County Tax Collector.  His career choice may seem boring, but I was actually intrigued during his lecture to our class. It made me realize the importance taxes serve.

Taxes are a major part of a city, county, state or country's economy.  Taxes collected by counties are distributed to improve schools, police and fire departments, infrastructure and other services.  By putting money into these services, you are helping to expand and improve the quality of the area in which you live.  The economy then grows once tourists come to your civilized area.  Taxes are an essential part of the American way of life.  Without them, there would be very little money flowing into your city and into your bank account.  Every paycheck an American receives is taxed.  Your payroll tax goes into a social security fund in order to help out financially when you are retired or no longer able to work.

In essence, taxes help you in the long run.  It may be a pain to pay them at the time, but they will benefit your country and your life eventually.  I don't think people realize how important taxes really are.  Without them, we won't have enough money to support wars, fire departments, police departments, teachers and safe roads for travel.  They truthfully do make the world go 'round.  Many of the privileges we have in this country are a result of taxes.  Something as simple as a dirt road in Mexico can be paved because of a tax on the residents of that area.  We take many things for granted and do not realize the importance of some of the privileges we have in this country.  

On a side note -- I would like to add that I am a Republican and fully support Tax Reform and the Bush Tax Cuts.

To Protect and Serve...

All my life I've had a difficult time smiling when I think of a law enforcement officer.  My reaction to the thought is more like a cringe.  Hey, there's a reason they're called "pigs," right?  These are the guys who cost you time and money when they pull you over, the ones who direct traffic yet seem to make it go slower, the ones who make you walk on eggshells.  They are also the ones who are here to protect and serve.


During the class visit to the Orient Road Jail, I realized these men and women are people too, not just the people we try to avoid.  They crack jokes and can be just as funny as the next.  But they have three purposes in mind and that is to protect themselves, other officers and the people.


I was interested to learn more about the officer inmate ratio.  I was in shock to hear that there is only one deputy managing 72 inmates in a direct supervision environment.  I would also like to add that they do it unarmed.  Their biggest form of weapon is the pepper foam.  They use foam instead of spray because otherwise it would disperse everywhere into other deputies' eyes.  The Orient Road Jail is constructed into six housing units with four pods in each.  Each pod houses 72 inmates who are either in one cell individually or with another roommate.  They are allotted a certain amount of time each day for meals, recreation and bathing.


One can only imagine how difficult it is to get along with a few roommates, let alone 71 others.  These men and women are locked up in small corridors and are allowed to partake in very few activities throughout the day.  This must get frustrating and I can only imagine an inmate lashing out on an deputy at any given moment.  This can be a domino effect and once one goes, they all go.


That one deputy is given some mace and a two-way radio.  With only those resources, he can call for help and fend off the attackers.  Within the amount of time before other officers are running into the pod, anything can happen.  A deputy has to start fighting for his life instantly and hopefully only for a few seconds until he gets help.


That one person, defending himself all day every day, is a scary thing.  In a 2008 article from the Tampa Tribune, one officer stated that there are nights when "everybody is congenial" and there are nights when "everybody wants to fight. It depends on the moon. It's very erratic and sporadic." Knowing that, I would be scared every single second of the day.  The average stay in Orient Road Jail is 18 days.  That's 432 hours -- 25,920 minutes -- and 1,555,200 seconds to think of a way past their managing deputy and a way out.  


So now when I think of a law enforcement officer, I'm not going to think of the guy who gave me a speeding ticket, I'm going to think of the men and women who put their lives on the line every single day -- to protect and serve.

No Words To Describe

Our class had the opportunity to visit Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) in Ybor City.  We met with J.D. Callaway and Cristal Bermudez Nuñez, employees within community and media affairs.  They explained to us the importance of public records and what the media can and cannot find out about certain cases.

In addition to all that, Nuñez and Callaway told us how the HCSO is one of the first police departments to have a channel on YouTube.  HCSO posts many videos of press conferences, advertisements, surveillance videos and extended coverage of stories.

Most recently, they posted tributes to the nation's fallen.  One of them being Nathaniel Schultz, a 19-year-old Marine who was killed during combat operations in Afghanistan.  Schultz was deployed only a month before his death.  The four videos for Schultz show the emotions of his family throughout his funeral.  There truly are no words to describe the emotion I felt while watching.  You can look on YouTube to view his tribute and other videos.

I believe police departments having channels on YouTube and putting videos on their websites is an efficient and excellent idea.  Cristal told us how much it has helped the media when they cannot make it to press conferences.  The websites are easily accessible and give an ample amount of information to make a story.  They provide pictures and videos to better enhance your story as well.