Plea deal for Winter Haven officer in pot bust case

WINTER HAVEN —

A Winter Haven police officer has pleaded guilty to charges that he stole a small amount of marijuana seized from a grow house.

As part of the plea deal 36-year-old Ricardo Flores accepted on Friday, he must give up his law enforcement credentials and serve a year of probation.

Winter Haven Police Chief Gary Hester said the profession is better off without Flores, who violated a position of trust.

Flores was accused of taking the marijuana in January as it was being processed as evidence.  Another officer saw Flores take the marijuana bud from a plant and hide it.

He reported what he saw, officers recovered the stolen drug, and Flores was suspended.

Hester says he’s proud of his officers for not tolerating the illegal actions of a colleague.

House fire blamed on boy playing with lighter

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LAKELAND —

 

A house fire that broke out Monday morning is being blamed on a child who played with a lighter.

 

According to reports, the fire broke out shortly after 11 a.m. on Golconda Road in Lakeland.

 

Firefighters said the blaze was contained to the back bedroom of the house, which was occupied by three adults and two children. One of the children was 5, while the other was 7 months old.

 

The mother smelled the smoke and got the children out of the home, the report said. No one was injured in the fire.

 

The investigator determined the fire was started by the 5-year-old child, who was playing with a lighter.

 

The Red Cross is assisting the family.

 

Former Klansman runs for mayor

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John Paul Rogers, a current district commissioner and former Florida Grand Dragon with the United Klans of America; which used to be the largest Ku Klux Klan group in America.

Mike Carter is running against Rogers. Only current commissioners can run for mayor. Carter says Rogers past is a “black eye” on the community.

“Mr. Rogers has a past that has been below the surface for a longtime,” said Carter.

Community activist Clinton Horne says Rogers may have hidden his past when he ran for commission three years ago but that’s not going to work now.

“People kept asking why doesn’t he denounce his former activity with the United Klans of America and he refused to denounce it,” said Horne.

Even though Rogers left the Klan three decades ago, local NAACP president David Smith says the wound is much too deep.

“To be on commission is hurtful but to run for mayor where he would represent the black people along with other residents is really heartbreaking because he’s representing people he has had his foot on for 50 years. He cannot represent me,” said Smith.

FOX 35 reached out to Rogers for this story. He said he was too busy to meet with them but told them by phone the media has blown this out of proportion. When asked if he regretted his time in the Klan he said he did not but said he didn’t condone violent acts, is not a violent person and does not condone racism.

The election is April 5

SIN CARA DEBUTS FOR WWE, PUNK AND MIZ VS. CENA AND ORTON AND MORE: WWE IN CHAMPAIGN, IL LIVE REPORT

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The WWE returned to the Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois tonight. Considering they chose to run Champaign during Spring Break (with the vast majority of the 40,000+ college students out of town), they drew a pretty solid crowd of about 5,000 people.2UUNAYESXKZD

 

The Miz opened the show by interrupting the National Anthem (which got big heat as you’d expect) and then cut a very long promo. He bragged about all of his talk show gigs & then called out Randy Orton, who he predicted would be too injured to face him.

WWE Championship Bout -The Miz (Champion, with Alex Riley) vs. Randy Orton (Challenger)

 

Our ref was local boy Jack Doan. This match only went 2:35 before CM Punk ran in and attacked Orton for the DQ. During the brief bout, Orton utilized an Austin/Thesz Press & punches, which drew a huge pop. Orton ended up avoiding the GTS & cleaning house. The GM texted Justin Roberts & Roberts announced (no surprise) Orton & Cena vs. Miz & Punk.

 

Tyson Kidd & the Usos vs. Santino Marella (with Tamina), Vladimir Koslov & Evan Bourne

 

This was a surprisingly long, but generally entertaining match. Santino was over with the kids definitely. Evan went for the Shooting Star Press on one of the Usos, but the other Uso broke it up. Then Evan was a face-in-peril for a while, and Boune was getting a lot of love. Eventually, Bourne tagged out and the heels were in trouble. Santino got a “can of Spinach” kiss from Tamina and then hit one of the Usos with the Cobra. He tagged in Bourne, and Evan hit the Air Bourne Shooting Star Press to great fanfare for the pin at 11:56. Decent match.

 

Zack Ryder vs. The Great Khali

 

Ryder ran down Champaign, the local ladies & their physical attractiveness (shouldn’t have run Champaign-Urbana during spring break then), and challenged anybody to a match. He got the Great Khali. Khali quikly chopped & pinned him in 22 seconds.

 

Primo Colon vs THE DEBUTING SIN CARA

 

Wow, this was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to Sin Cara hopefully bringing back this exciting style to Monday nights. Mistico errr Sin Cara did most of his trademark spos, including the Corkscrew Plancha, the Springboard Rana, the Spinning Flying Head Scissors and the running headfirst dive between the ropes. They weren’t all super smooth, but this is still night one. Sin Cara tried for another springboard rana but Primo reversed it into a power bomb. Primo tried for another Power Bomb, but this time Sin Cara reversed it into the La Mistica (!) for the submission win at 11:12. Good match and people liked Sin Cara, especially considering no one had seen him before or knew who he was.

 

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

 

Dolph really stirred up the crowd by baiting various people in the crowd before the bout. The match itself was pretty good. Dolph worked over Morrison with some Minnesota Offense early, namely the Rude Awakening & the Hennig Running Neck Snap. Morrison came back and went to the top rope, hitting a flying crossbody. However, Morrison’s momentum carried him over and Dolph got a nearfall. Morrison tried for the Moonlight Drive Neckbreaker but Dolph reversed it. He tried for a Zig Zag, but JoMo blocked it and then sorta hit the Starship Pain for the pin at 10:04. Pretty good.

 

R-Truth appeared, sang “What’s Up?” and then chose 4 fans to compete in a dance-off for a chance to go backstage. A little kid in a John Cena shirt won (shocker).

 

Eve Torres & Natalya Neidhart vs. Alicia Fox & Melina

 

This was really long. Eve hit a standing moonsault, and then Eve pinned Melina after a neckbreaker at 12:07.

 

United States Championship Match – Sheamus (Champion) vs. Daniel Bryan (Challenger, with Gail Kim)

 

As expected, this was a very good match. I was pleased that Bryan was really over. Bryan connected with a dive through the ropes and a Missile Dropkick and went to the top for a Flying Headbutt. Sheamus moved, and Bryan crashed hard. Sheamus used the Irish Curse backbreaker for a near fall. Sheamus tried for the High Cross, but Bryan escaped and turned it into a sunset flip for a nearfall. Bryan applied the LeBell Lock, but Sheamus got to the ropes to force the break. Sheamus tossed a chair into the ring to distract the referee, and then used a second chair to KO Bryan as he was trying to another dive through the ropes. Then Sheamus ditched the chair and covered Bryan for the pin at 13:20 to retain the title. Like I said earlier, it was a very good match.

 

John Cena & Randy Orton vs. CM Punk & The Miz

 

Before the match, Punk explained to the good people of Champaign that even though most of the world considers champagne to be one of the finer things in life, it is merely pee-water to him. Therefore, our town Champaign and its residents are nothing but pee-water. Also, he ripped on us for being so close t indiana. The Miz and the referee were in stitches at this point. Cena and Punk started the bout in the ring, and when Cena tagged in Orton, Punk ran to his corner and literally hid behind Miz. Then Punk tagged in Miz. Orton dropped Miz with a powerslam and a 2nd rope DDT for nearfalls. Then Orton laid out Miz with a beautiful top rope superplex for a huge pop and another nearfall. Punk drilled Orton with a kick to the back as Orton was running the ropes, and Miz followed it up with a skull crushing finale for a nearfall. Miz also used the People’s Elbow on Orton, tossing his elbow pad to a way-too-excited Punk (man, Punk and Miz are a really entertaining tag team). Eventually, Orton connected with the RKO on Miz at the same time as Cena dropped Punk with the Attitude Adjustment (apologies to Lex Luger) at the same time Orton RKO’s Miz for the stereo pin at 16:51. It was a really good main event, and the crowd was loving it. Cena was super, super over.

 

In conclusion, this was a great house show. There were several really entertaining matches. Most of the guys worked really hard, and it was just under 3 hours long including intermission. It was also really cool to see the debut of Sin Cara. I hope he will be a top guy in WWE for years to come

NEW FCW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS CROWNED

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At the Florida Championship Wrestling show on Friday night at the Miami-Dade County Fair, Richie Steamboat and Seth Rollins defeated Titus O’Neill and Colonel Damien Sandow to become the new FCW Tag Team Champions.

 

After the match, Sandow and O’Neill broke up as a tag team with Titus O’Neill turning face.

UPCOMING TNA PPV AND TV DATES

TNA will be holding pay-per-views at Universal Studios in Orlando on these dates:

May 15th – Sacrifice
June 12th – Slammiversary
July 10th – Destination X

TNA will be holding TV tapings at Universal Studios in Orlando on these dates:

March 28th & 29th
April 19th & 20th
May 2nd, 3rd, 16th, 17th, 30th & 31st
June 13th, 14th, 27th & 28th
July 11th, 12th, 25th & 26th

SMACKDOWN 3-25-2011

Last night’s Smackdown saw good matches and angles to hype the Rey Mysterio–Cody Rhodes and Edge-Alberto Del Rio bouts at Wrestlemania.  We also had Wade Barrett picking up the Intercontinental Title from Kofi Kingston in a solid match.  Everything else on the show was short, and in some cases uninspired, but had a Wrestlemania connection. After a dull Raw, and whatever you want to call TNA, it was nice to watch Smackdown.  While not their best effort, the three highpoints of the show made it worth watching and it certainly came out ahead of the other two “major” weekly shows.

Here’s my thoughts on the show, as it happened:

So, Edge and Alberto Del Rio are not allowed to have contact prior to Wrestlemania.  Might have made sense to make that ruling a little earlier.

CM Punk and Rey Mysterio had a good match, pretty much picking up where they left off with their excellent series of bouts from last year.  Quick pace, and some nice spots, with then going back and forth early, then Punk dropping Rey on the security wall to set up Punk going on offense.  Rey came back with the big dropkick, then Cody Rhodes, some would say predictably came out and attacked Rey, giving us a DQ finish.  Couldn’t realistically expect either man to lose clean this close to Mania.  Rhodes used his protective mask to headbutt Rey, then revealed a knee brace to crush Rey’s face.  Perfectly fine segment to build up Rhodes-Mysterio, but it would have been nice if the announcers pointed out that when Rey injured Cody’s face, it was Cody who had pulled the padding off Mysterio’s brace, exposing it, instead of just saying “that was an accident” repeatedly to counter Michael Cole’s “eye for an eye” yapping.

Edge vs. Drew McIntyre was a short, solid match that established two things for Wrestlemania.  One, that Edge will be going into the match with an injured arm, which should favor Alberto Del Rio.  Two, Edge can beat you one armed, as he did McIntyre with his Cloverleaf variation.  The spear afterwards was the icing on the cake.  Good segment, unless you are a fan of McIntyre, in which case hearing how McIntyre is “good, but not as good as Alberto Del Rio” had to sting.

LayCool coming out and mocking Snooki was worth a chuckle.  Kelly Kelly was KO’d by Michelle McCool kicking her with the protective boot, and Rosa was finished off with a Layla neckbreaker faster than I could type this sentence.  Total squash.  This might be why no one cares about the Divas division anymore.  Quick LayCool promo and we’re done.

I suggest watching Wade Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston with the volume off.  The Cole-Booker arguing is just painful early in the bout.  Wade Barrett came off like a monster for much of the match, throwing Kofi all over the place, before missing an elbow drop off the ropes, followed by Kofi floating out of a slam and hitting a pendulum kick and top rope bodypress.  The Corre caused a distraction, giving Barrett time to recover and we had the cool finish of Barrett blocking the Trouble In Paradise kick and turning it into Wasteland.  New Intercontinental Champion.  Not a bad bout, and post-match Gabriel gives Kingston a 450 splash.  I really wonder what the future holds for Kofi right now, especially if he doesn’t end up somehow joining with Big Show & Kane to battle Corre at Wrestlemania.  He hasn’t exactly been booked strong over the past few months with losses to Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus and now dropping the belt to Barrett. We’ll have to wait and see.

Theodore R. Long lays down the law to Alberto Del Rio, and I like when WWE presents Long as a strong authority figure, because he should be.  I always hated when they had Vickie Guerrero reversing his decisions and negating his rulings.

Okay promo from the Undertaker to set up this Monday’s face-to-face with Triple H on Raw, but to be honest, I’m tired of the talking.  Because there is no backstory between them here (all their past matches, even Mania 17, are being ignored in the storyline), it is all just “I’m going to stop the streak” and “You’re not going to stop the streak” so once you’ve established that, what else is there to say?

Well, R-Truth did get in a little offense during his match with Jack Swagger, but this was essentially another squash win by Swagger.  Hard to believe R-Truth was in a main event match at the last PPV, because he seems a million miles from being on the Wrestlemania card.  Honestly, noting here we haven’t seen before.  A Swagger squash and a lot of Cole ranting.  I did like Josh Mathews pleading to Jerry Lawler to shut Cole up at Wrestlemania.

Rather strange to see two men in a regular match one week after having seen them battle in a steel cage, but that is what we got with Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian.  Big dive off the top rope to the floor by Christian early in the match.  Shortly after the break, Alberto took over and worked on Christian’s arm until Christian came back with the rana off the ropes.  Nice back and forth with Alberto avoiding the bodypress and Christian avoiding the enzugiri.  Great false finish with Alberto hitting the enzugiri after Brodus Clay had laid Edge out on the floor, only for Christian to kick out.  The actual finish, with Alberto hesitating on his armbreaker to look at Edge, who had killed Clay with the chair, and Christian getting the pin was really well done.  Also, a bit shocking, as Christian has now beaten Alberto two weeks in a row.  Sort of strange for a Mania main eventer to lose two weeks in a row against someone who isn’t even on the card.  I loved the post-match, with Christian keeping Edge from touching Alberto, protecting him from getting in trouble with Teddy Long, while hitting the chairshot for him.  That’s what friends are for!  Unique bit of booking there.

REAL MOLE KNOWS WRESTLING UPDATE 3-25-2011

REAL MOLE KNOWS UPDATE 3-16-2011 cfwf update

SPECIAL ST. PATTY’S DAY SPECIAL UPDATE BY THE REAL MOLE