Is Charles Perez too gay?

Miami Herald columnist Steve Rothaus is reporting that WPLG Channel 10 anchor Charles Perez has filed a discrimination complaint with Miami Dade County's Equal Opportunity Board:

Charles Perez, bumped two weeks ago from WPLG-ABC 10's weeknight anchor seat, has filed a discrimination complaint with Miami-Dade's Equal Opportunity Board. He's too gay, he claims in paperwork delivered to the county on Friday.

Perez's complaint and narrative can be seen here.

Things started unraveling professionally for Perez earlier this year after the Herald's Joan Fleischman reported that Perez's former partner claimed that "Perez reached out to [a] therapist 'for counsel with his `gender identity issues.'"

Perez's complaint alleges - among other things - that Channel 10 news director Bill Pohovey told Perez during a "performance review" that he came across on the air as "too soft," didn't sound "main anchor-like" and smiled too much with co-anchor Laurie Jennings. "Like girlfriends."

Yikes!
...
UPDATE: Channel 10 news director Bill Pohovey responds to Perez's complaint with this statement:

WPLG emphatically denies the claims made by Charles Perez that the Station discriminated against him based on his gender and sexual orientation. His complaint is filled with misstatements and untruths.

The changes he complains about are simply schedule changes and they were not made as a result of the publicity surrounding Charles Perez’s breakup with his partner. In fact, his transition to weekend anchor started months before that publicity. His gender or sexual orientation had nothing to do with the Station’s decisions. Charles has been open about his sexual orientation and it was known to the Station at the time he was hired.

As a result of these changes, Charles now anchors the Saturday and Sunday evening newscasts. The fact that the Sunday 11 pm newscast has the largest audience of any of WPLG’s late newscasts is simply not consistent with Charles’ claim that the Station was uncomfortable with his sexual orientation.

Like most businesses, local television stations have been negatively impacted by this severe recession in the economy. To help offset the sizeable loss in revenue, stations across the country like WPLG have been working to reduce their expenses and their staffing levels. The Station has had to make difficult decisions which have impacted a number of WPLG’s staff, including Mr. Perez.

VP and News Director Bill Pohovey said “This is an outrageous accusation. As a gay man myself, I can safely say the Station does not discriminate against gay people. Charles’ claim that the Station discriminates against gay people is untrue and offensive.”

WPLG has a reputation of being a leader in this community with a very diverse staff. The Station does not discriminate. The Station will bring the facts out in the appropriate legal forum and fully expects to be completely vindicated.

Is Maureen Dowd out of her mind?

Miami police chief John Timoney
The other day New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd weighed in with her opinion on the Henry Louis Gates arrest. (Hasn't everyone by now?)

Twenty-two words into her column, Dowd invoked the name of the country's most noted proponent of police restraint - Miami police chief John Timoney:

[M]y friend John Timoney, the police chief of Miami, observes: “There’s a fine line between disorderly conduct and freedom of speech. It can get tough out there, but I tell my officers, ‘Don’t make matters worse by throwing handcuffs on someone. Bite your tongue and just leave.’ ”

Holy Jeebus!

Are you kidding Maureen?

Is that the same John Timoney who cost the City of Miami hundreds of thousands of dollars because of the storm-trooper tactics used by his police department against protesters at the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas conference?

Not that John Timoney?

Or the same John Timoney who once said "F**k the Cubans"?

Or the same John Timoney that Miami New Times called "America's Worst Cop"?

Is that the John Timoney you're talking about Maureen?

"Eating everything in sight!"

Joe Wasilewski
As if we didn't already have enough to worry about here in South Florida, Miami wildlife biologist and reptile expert Joe Wasilewski shows up on TIME.com's Quote of the Day feature this week with these frightening lines:

"They're eating basically everything in sight. That's the problem."

Joe made the quote while talking to CNN about the problem of Burmese pythons taking over the Everglades.

Actually, the problem is not a new one.

Joe - who's the go-to guy whenever the national media wants someone to talk to about our exotic South Florida wildlife - talked to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough almost four years ago about our "python proliferation."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The "biggest python?"

Click image to enlarge.

There it was.

Right there on the front page of the Miami Herald today.

Biggest python yet is bagged -- a 17-footer

The story went on to say that the snake "turned out to be one the biggest Burmese python found yet roaming free in Florida."

But what the story neglected to mention is that it wasn't the largest python ever captured in South Florida.

Not by a long shot.

Twenty years ago this month, Miami urban wildlife trapper Todd Hardwick made headlines around the world with his capture of a 250 lb., 20 ft.-long reticulated python from under a house in Ft. Lauderdale. (see photo above)

7 TRAPPERS COAX 20-FOOT PYTHON FROM UNDER HOME

Friday, August 18, 1989

by RACHEL JONES Herald Staff Writer

David Spalding spotted the 20-foot-long snake in his Fort Lauderdale backyard a month ago, calmly feasting on a raccoon.

On Thursday, after two days of planning, plotting, digging and prodding, a courageous crew of seven men held a wriggling, writhing, 250-pound, reticulated python that had made its home under Spalding's house on Northeast 19th Street.

It's called reticulated because of its diamond-shaped, net- like markings. The reptile seemed gigantic, as thick through the middle as a child.

The Spalding family had little to say about the matter, which made the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on Thursday evening.

"You can understand," David Spalding said, "this whole thing has us very upset."

In the weeks after spotting the python, Spalding frantically made calls trying to find someone to help him remove it from his property. He called a snake museum, a biologist, a herpetologist and the Discovery Center.

He finally found Todd Hardwick , who runs Pesky Critters, a Dade business specializing in removing animals. A recent job involved moving a bull from a runway at the Opa-locka Airport, he said.

"We'll remove everything but dogs and cats," said Hardwick , a small, wiry man with a Bowie knife hanging from his belt. "There's not anything too unusual for us."

The python, 12 inches in diameter, might have been released by someone who once owned it as a pet, Hardwick said. "It's common for exotic snakes to be released in South Florida."

Reticulated pythons are native to southeast Asia, where they nest on riverbanks and wait for unsuspecting prey. They aren't poisonous -- they kill by squeezing their victims to death.

The python grew fat on a diet of raccoons and squirrels preyed upon in nearby Hugh Taylor Birch State Recreation Area. It could tackle anything up to 75 pounds, he said.

Removing the snake was tricky because of its size and location. It had nested in an 18-inch-high crawl space under the Spaldings' living room.

Hardwick was ready with a python-catching kit: a noose, a hypodermic syringe filled with a tranquilizer and a pointed metal "snake stick" used to hold down the snake once it was located.

Then it was a matter of prodding the snake out. By Thursday afternoon, the men poked the snake through a tunnel in the front of the house.

Catching the python turned into a neighborhood event as residents and curious onlookers piled into the Spaldings' front yard.

"I've got two little dogs. I've been afraid to let them out," said Claire Elhatton, who lives next door.

"Piece of cake," Hardwick said as they folded the snake and placed it into a sleeping bag. He planned to keep it overnight for observation and then decide what to do with it.

"It's the biggest one we've ever trapped."

Oh, and one more thing. Hardwick caught his python without shooting it!

Jim DeFede exposes some press conference grandstanding

From today's Miami Herald: 53 people arrested in South Florida gang probe

BY VYTENIS DIDZIULIS

vdidziulis@MiamiHerald.com

North Miami Beach police and federal agents arrested 53 people in a two-day sweep ending Thursday that authorities said was a significant blow to local street gangs.

Operation Dead End, initiated after the slaying in North Miami Beach of off-duty Miami police Officer James Walker by a gang member in 2008, culminated a 15-month investigation into eight gangs that operated as far north as Plantation and as far south as South Miami, authorities said.

If you saw that item in this morning's paper you probably said to yourself that it appears that the police have once again made South Florida's streets a little bit safer.

All of the usual press conference buzz words, quotes and catch phrases were in the story: "15 month investigation," "53 people arrested," "8 gangs," "We have made an impact...."

But CBS4's Jim Defede, who also attended the press conference announcing the arrests, wasn't impressed.

In a "web column" on CBS4's website, the former Miami Herald columnist proves once again, why he's one of South Florida's best newsmen.

DeFede takes a closer look at some of the numbers and claims made by cops at the press conference:

"...[W]as this really a major blow to gangs in North Dade?

Looking more closely at the charges, it was obvious the chief was padding his stats. Included in those 53 individuals were two homeless guys, one of whom was arrested for public intoxication. Another of the defendants was detained for not having a valid driver's license. Seven were charged with simple trespassing. There were also individuals arrested for disorderly conduct and for resisting arrest without violence.

Several times during the press conference the chief talked about how violent the drugs gangs are and how their use of assault weapons, such as the AK-47, have led to innocent civilians being killed.

But it is worth noting that in the course of 15 months, police only recovered six guns, and none of them were assault weapons. Obviously, getting six handguns off the street is better than leaving them in the hands of accused drug dealers, but the notion that Operation Dead End made a significant dent in the gangs' ability to perpetrate violence is clearly overstating it.

The press release for the arrests said the operation made an "impact" on eight gangs. But when asked at the press conference what kind of impact, the chief wasn't able to say.

Compare DeFede's "web column" with the taped report that made air by DeFede's colleague Peter D'Oench.


CBS4 reporter Peter D'Oench
In his report, D'Oench basically parrots the news release claims made at the press conference.

D'Oench is a South Florida veteran newsman who should know better.

D'Oench doesn't ask any of the hard questions that DeFede does.

And D'Oench conveniently finds a couple of relieved North Miami Beach residents who give him the perfect "sound bite" with which to end his report: "I'm very happy to be safe," said another neighbor, Sabrina Presume. "I feel safe."

Perahps if D'Oench had been doing his job he would have included this moment from the press conference recounted by DeFede:

The most surreal moment of the press conference, however, came when the chief, with much fanfare, held up a photograph of a poster from the movie Scarface, which was hanging on the wall of one of the houses they raided.

The chief made a point of saying that it was Tony Montana – the Al Pacino character from the famous movie – that these gang members idolized and sought to emulate with their violent ways.

To which I told the chief: "Either that or they're just really big Pacino fans."

Not surprisingly, it was around this point in the conversation that Chief Hernandez called me "a smart ass."

DeFede continues:

The chief is right. I was being glib. But it came out of frustration with these sorts of dog-and-pony-show press conferences that appear designed to convey the sense that something more is happening than actually is.

And DeFede has every right to be frustrated.

But perhaps some of that frustration should be directed at his bosses at CBS4 who send reporters like D'Oench to cover press conferences that make the evening news without so much as a hard question and bury DeFede's reporting on the Internet.

In closing: Are the streets of North Miami Beach safer?

That might depend on which CBS4 reporter you ask.

Superstars on the skids

Carlos Justo
Former Miami New Times reporter Tamara Lush, who's now a writer for the Associated Press in Miami, has written an incredible story on "superstar" Miami real estate agent Carlos Justo, who was once worth $20 million but who's now bankrupt, 20 million in debt and owes another $6 million to the IRS.

"His financial picture was summed up in one dry sentence in the bankruptcy filing: 'At the current time, the debtor has no income due to the state of the real estate market.'"

(You can also read Lush's story on the Herald's website along with the always insightful and entertaining comments by Herald readers.)
...
Allen Salkin of the The New York Times, in a piece for Sunday's paper says this of noted photographer Annie Leibovitz: "If money and fame are the yardsticks, Annie Leibovitz is one of the most successful photographers of all time."

But Salkin goes on to report that Leibovitz is facing "extraordinary financial troubles, with the possibility of losing her Civil War-era town houses in Greenwich Village, a home in upstate New York and the rights to decades of her work."

Salkin asks: "If Annie Leibovitz can’t make it in New York, who can?"

Indeed.