Bay County Commission Oil Update
Panama City - Bay county commissioners had some strong words for b-p and the local public information officer Vani Rao. They say they want b-p to hire more bay county citizens for beach clean-up jobs. B.P. considers anyone from Florida to be local, but commissioner Jerry Girvin said he doesn't believe someone from Miami hits the definition of local. Commissioners also pointed to a Largo, Florida, worker, with a criminal record, who was arrested over the weekend on robbery charges. Rao said she will discuss the issue with B.P. contractors.
Posted: 5:52 PM Jul 20, 2010
Reporter: Amber Southard
Email Address: amber.southard@wjhg.com
ORIGINAL STORY
Panama City - Bay county commissioners had some strong words for b-p and the local public information officer Vani Rao. They say they want b-p to hire more bay county citizens for beach clean-up jobs. B.P. considers anyone from Florida to be local, but commissioner Jerry Girvin said he doesn't believe someone from Miami hits the definition of local. Commissioners also pointed to a Largo, Florida, worker, with a criminal record, who was arrested over the weekend on robbery charges. Rao said she will discuss the issue with B.P. contractors.
Bay County emergency management director Mark Bowen had good news and bad news regarding the spill. The good news is the oil is the farthest from our coastline it's been in weeks. The bad news is a tropical depression in the gulf could push the oil in out direction. "If it came into the gulf and came into where the oil is it could really create a lot of havoc I’m afraid. But there's a lot of models out there right now and I’ve watch them but I’m certainty no expert. But we need to watch it close, but I don't think it will be a danger in the next few days", said Bay County Commissioner Jerry Girvin.
If the tropical system heads this way, Bowen says the county will have to remove the special boom system from the St. Andrews pass. Workers completed the boom yesterday, but it still has to be tested.
source: http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/98876119.html
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BP oil spill contract worker in Panhandle charged with armed robbery
Published: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 11:43 AM
Updated: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 11:46 AM
Name: Jeremiah Jordache Wynn
Address: 1315 Crosby Street, Largo, FL
Age: 28
Race: B
Date: 7/17/2010
larceny, robbery - with firearm, possession of weapon - or ammo by convicted fla felon
LINK
Panama City Beach Police Department officials told the News Herald of Panama City that Wynn confessed to taking a wallet and cell phone from 2 juveniles on the beach Saturday behind the Summit Condominiums. They said he also confessed to stealing from a Summit condo several days earlier.
COMMENT:
The P-R staff elected to omit a curious bit of information from their blurb: "Jeremiah Wynn, 28, was charged with two counts of armed robbery, grand theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Panama City Beach Police Department."
source: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/bp_oil_spill_contract_worker_i.html
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BP cleanup contractor charged with robbery
July 19, 2010 09:23:00 PM
PANAMA CITY BEACH — An armed robbery on the beach this weekend behind Summit Condominiums ended with the arrest of an out-of-town BP contractor, but the Panama City Beach Police Department said contractors are not presenting a persistent crime problem.
At 3:30 a.m. Friday, two juveniles visiting Panama City Beach with their families reported they were robbed at gunpoint while walking on the beach behind the Thomas Drive condos. The juveniles said the man, described by witnesses as a black man with dreadlocks and a goatee, bumped into them and said, “Give me all your stuff,” while pointing a handgun at their chests.
The suspect took a wallet with $3 and a Samsung Rugby cell phone from the boys. The total value of the items was $58.
Witnesses said the man fled the beach by jumping a fence between the condos and Spinnaker Beach Club & Paradise Grill.
Witnesses at The Summit Condos recognized the suspect and gave officers a variety of aliases including “Marcus,” “Douglas,” “T,” “Jay,” “James,” “Juice,” and “Taiwan.” They said the suspect was thought to have stolen property from Unit 1001 of The Summit the previous day, and they believed he was staying at Coconut Grove Motel.
Officers were unable to locate the suspect; a chance second sighting by one of the victims of the armed robbery led police to him in a motel room registered to another person. When investigators questioned the suspect, later identified as Jeremiah Wynn, 28, of Largo he admitted to both crimes, according to the incident report.
Wynn was one of more than 1,200 people employed by contractors working to clean up the BP oil spill in Bay County.
Although preference is given to county residents, the clean up has brought in people from across the state.
Several things made this case difficult for officers, Maj. Dave Humphreys said. They had no name or address for the suspect and because he was from out of town, few people knew him.
“It presents a challenge for law enforcement to get your key players in hand quickly,” he said.
The influx of contractors is challenging for law enforcement, but Humphreys said most of the obstacles they present are familiar to Panama City Beach Police officers, who are accustomed to patrolling a resort town full of out-of-towners.
The beach community has seen an uptick in crime this summer, but Humphreys was hesitant to attribute the increase directly to BP contractors.
“Obviously, when you have more people you have more crime and more crime victims,” he said.
Humphreys said there is no evidence that there have been a disproportionate number of crimes involving BP workers.
An earlier version of this report:
A Largo man in town working on the BP oil spill cleanup effort has been charged with armed robbery after he held two juveniles at gunpoint, police said.
Jeremiah Wynn, 28, was charged with two counts of armed robbery, grand theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Panama City Beach Police Department.
Investigators said Wynn confessed to robbing two juveniles on the beach Saturday behind the Summit Condominiums, taking a wallet and a cell phone. They said he also confessed to stealing from a Summit condo several days earlier.
Beach police also arrested an Orlando man this weekend on charges he slashed another man during an altercation over a stolen guitar.
Christopher M. Blackwood, 36, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in the Sunday incident behind Reggae J’s. The victim, Daniel Lott, was treated at Bay Medical Center for a small laceration on his left arm.
source: http://www.newsherald.com/news/charged-85506-beach-police.html
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