Florida
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FCC Recognizes St. Johns County
Oct 10th
emergency services radio system, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently granted an
extension of the VHF/UHF narrowbanding deadline and noted that the County’s case met the high
standard for the granting of a waiver.
The FCC deadline for organizations to restrict their bandwidth use is January 1, 2013. Noting the progress
St. Johns County has made in transitioning from VHF band to an 800 MHz system, the Commission
stated that strict application of the narrowbanding rules would force the County to spend significant time
and money to narrowband a system it intends to abandon shortly thereafter. At the request of St. Johns
County, the FCC also granted similar waivers to all municipalities within the County.
“In granting the deadline waiver, the FCC acknowledged the significant amount of time and resources we
have dedicated to planning and executing the transition to a modernized intergovernmental radio system.”
said Carl Shank, St. Johns County Fire Rescue Chief. “Interoperable and reliable communications will
greatly improve the capabilities and safety of all St. Johns County emergency services providers to better
serve our residents and visitors to this area.”
St. Johns County entered into a contract in December 2011 to purchase eleven radio towers and an 800
MHz intergovernmental radio system capable of supporting and providing interoperable communications
between all public safety agencies and government services. The new system is projected to be
operational within the first 90 days of 2013. The extended FCC deadline of June 30, 2013 provides ample
time to complete construction, installation, and testing of the new system. The FCC noted that the new
radio system will significantly upgrade the County’s communications capabilities, improve the safety and
reliability of public safety operations, and better serve the public interest.
Source: St. Johns County BOCC
Portion of Artillery Lane to be closed
Oct 10th
Closure’s trial period starts on Wednesday
A portion of Artillery Lane, at its juncture with Avilés Street, will be closed to vehicular traffic for a trial period starting on Wednesday, October 10.
Wooden posts will be installed in the roadway to indicate the point at which vehicular traffic is prohibited. The change will result in the portion of Artillery Lane that remains open to traffic will be made two-way and, to accommodate the new traffic pattern, two parking spaces on the street will be taken out of service.
Following the trial period, expected to last until the end of the year, an evaluation will be made to determine if the closure should be permanent.
For more information, call the Public Works Department at 904.825.1040.
Source: City of St. Augustine
Flagler’s Eaton in spotlight after interview with former Cuban spy
Oct 10th
“I was back in Havana in 2010 and 2011 working on a book about Harley-Davidson riders in Cuba,” said Eaton, an assistant professor of Communication at Flagler College. “One day I was talking with one of the riders and he told me he knew Roque and asked if I was still interested in interviewing him. Sure, I said.”
Roque, a former fighter pilot, swam to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in 1992 and declared opposition to Fidel Castro. While in South Florida, he became a pilot for Brothers to the Rescue, a group dedicated to searching for rafters in the Florida Straits.
In 1996, Roque slipped back into Cuba the day before Cuban MiGs shot down two civilian aircraft flown by members of the Brothers group, who were accused of dropping political leaflets onto Havana. The attack killed four civilians and outed Roque as a spy, surprising not only the Cuban-American woman Roque had married as part of his cover, but also the FBI who had been paying him as an informant.
Eaton’s interview was Roque’s first in 16 years and was featured on Miami’s Spanish-language cable TV station, América TeVe, for four nights on a show called, “A Mano Limpia,” hosted by journalist Oscar Haza.
In the interview, Roque, who now lives in a cramped apartment and claims he is broke, said he wishes he had done more to stop the shoot-down.
“Perhaps now … I’d try to play a much stronger role in the things that happened,” he said. “I’d try to play a better role. If I played it bad or good, let the people decide. Let those who want to judge me, judge me.”
Eaton’s interview even produced an apology from the former spy.
“If I could travel in a time machine,” he said. “I’d get those boys off the planes that were shot down.”
In addition to the video interview, Eaton wrote two stories on Roque for the non-profit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, which distributed them to a network of news outlet, including the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. The stories generated more than 1,100 comments and were picked up by dozens of websites.
Source: Flagler College