Category: Non-Fiction

Breaking the Cycle

January 7, 2014 Brody No Comments

This article appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in September 1992:

A year ago, Rick J. ate garbage from trash bins behind an Orlando shopping center.

A cocaine addict and alcoholic, the 44-year-old Melbourne man had abandoned his wife, kids and job with the Internal Revenue Service for a life of petty crime.

An embezzler and thief, he was sentenced to prison. Like other inmates now in the Brooksville Drug Treatment Center, he committed crimes to feed his addiction.

Now, using an innovative approach, officials hope to break this cycle of crime and addiction.

At the Brooksville center, and in a similar program in Gainesville, inmates spend four to six months dealing with addiction and learning to become productive. Inmates must apply for the program, a more extensive and personal alternative than is offered at most prisons, where inmates get only a few hours in counseling.

If inmates succeed, by adhering to strict codes of conduct, they can get an early release.

“If the state didn’t have a center like this, I don’t think I’d make it,” said Rick J. during a group session. “I would not learn how to live life on life’s terms.”

The Naked Truth

January 7, 2014 Brody No Comments

This article appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in July 1996:

In the late 1930s, Tampa tax lawyer Ara Brubaker, son of a Pennsylvania Mennonite minister, invited friends to go skinny-dipping in a sparkling lake in central Pasco County.

So began Lake Como Club, the first nudist retreat in Land O’Lakes.

More than half a century later, an area once known for its citrus groves, lumber mills and cattle ranches has become a nudist mecca.

Land O’Lakes has two major clubs (with a third on the way) and two smaller hideaways.

The west Pasco community of Hudson is home to the Florida Naturist Park. Pasco has more clothing-optional facilities than any other Florida county, and is second only to Palm Springs, Calif., in the United States.

Tens of thousands of nudists swarm into town, contributing tourist tax dollars, eating in local restaurants and shopping in local stores.

And hundreds of permanent residents pay property taxes, enroll children in local schools and involve themselves in the community.

On Monday, the American Association of Nude Recreation kicks off National Nude Recreation Week. It’s the one time of year that nudists invite outsiders, or “cottontails,” to look behind the walls and determine if the lifestyle is right for them.

“It’s a matter of freedom,” said nudist Christie Musick, who lives in Paradise Lakes in Land O’Lakes. “You shed the constraints of clothing, take off the trappings of the outside world and no one cares whether you’re perfect or not. You’re not going to find many Cindy Crawfords out here.

“Most people look like your mother, your kids, your best friend, your next door neighbor, people you see at church.

“Just ordinary people.”

The New Boom

January 7, 2014 Brody No Comments

This article appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in August 1997:

Joey Holloway remembers quieter days.

Born and raised in Land O’Lakes, Holloway, 36, recalls days when traffic whispered through town.

Now it roars.

“Everything’s moving north up here,” said Holloway, owner of Holloway’s Farm Supply on U.S. 41. “Tampa’s filling up. People are coming here to get away from the violent areas.”

Growth, like death and taxes, is a fact of life here.

Where cattle and citrus trees once dominated, dirt-hauling trucks and minivans roam.

“I don’t mind the growth really,” Holloway said, “as long as county commissioners control it and make sure we have sufficient water and sewage and roads to keep up with the growth.”

Local districts continue response to Newtown tragedy

January 7, 2014 Brody No Comments

This article appeared in The Herald-Sun in December 2012:

Orange County Schools may take the unprecedented step of putting school resource officers in elementary schools in the wake of Friday’s shootings in Newtown, Conn.

For at least this week, before breaking for the holiday, law enforcement officers are on campus in collaboration with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Hillsborough Police Department. But they could become as permanent as the SROs already found in middle and high schools.

“They will be providing an increased presence through the end of the week,” said Michael Gilbert, OCS public information officer. “Over the break (Superintendent Patrick) Rhodes and the (Board of Education) will be discussing the possibility of placing SROs in our elementary schools with our local law enforcement agencies.”

In a statement issued to parents, Rhodes wrote: “We are all deeply saddened by Friday’s tragic incident in Connecticut. While we hope such incidents never happen, Orange County Schools and our law enforcement partners view the safety of our children as our top priority.”

He outlined several steps taken to improve school security and emergency response planning, such as:

— Site-specific school safety plans.

— Specialized training in threat assessment.

— Crisis response measures.

— Regular presence and close monitoring of schools by the Sheriff’s Office.

— Full-scale and tabletop drills with law enforcement and emergency responders.

— Video surveillance in all schools.

Journalism, Non-Fiction, Sample News Articles