elgin_jones_web_13.jpgHealth

MIRACLE HERB
Turmeric is a plant, whose active ingredient is curcumin. It is used to make spices, such as curry. It also has been used as treatment for numerous ailments for thousands of years.

In recent years there have been more than 2,000 scientific studies of turmeric to treat inflammation, tumors, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and more. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg is finally embracing turmeric‘s medicinal uses. Pharmaceutical companies are in a rush to create proprietary formulations of the herb. The studies have been completed by some of the world’s most renown universities, governmental agencies and research institutions. Turmeric may be the world’s most important herb, and the proof is being validated by every day. More on turmeric and its remarkable uses to come.

Palm Beach County

BOSS BILKED
Deirdre Kimberly Barron, 31, of Boynton Beach has been charged after police say she stole her boss’s check and stole $29,000 over an eight-month period. She worked at Park Limousine, in the town of Palm Beach, as an office worker. She made out more than 19 checks to “cash” in various amounts and forged company owner John Campagnuolo’s signature on them said police. He said he somehow stopped getting bank statements and the transactions were erased from the QuickBooks program, and was slow to realize what was taking place. When he did, he called police and Barron was captured on bank surveillance video numerous times cashing the stolen checks. Barron is charged with larceny and 19 counts of fraud. Book  ’em Danno!

POLICE CONCERNS
Boynton Beach Police Chief Jeffrey Katz is working to calm residents’ concerns about alleged police rudeness, harassment and disrespectful treatment. He has been holding a series of meetings with citizens in the black community to address the issues. The Rev. Richard Danes, senior pastor of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church is leading the effort to bring change to the department, which he says has little respect for the residents and the elderly. Sounds like Katz needs to begin some diversity training, implement a community policing program and a community outreach effort, and quick!

Broward County

SPITTING WAITER
50 years after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic civil rights “March on Washington,” a white waiter at the Rock Bar, at 219 S. Atlantic Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale, spat on two black college students because he thought the tip they left him was too small. According to a police report filed regarding the incident, Milan Spasojevic pursued the women out of the club, all the while yelling obscenities and vulgar insults. He admitted “spitting at the car” the women were sitting in. However, according to several witnesses, and victims Alexis Frazier and her cousin Daneshia Toomer, he spat on them numerous times after they got into their cars to leave. Some of the witnesses helped wipe the filthy spit off of Frazier and Toomer. Fort Lauderdale police have filed charges against Spasojevic over his admitted act of filth and disrespect.

COMMISSIONER RESIGNS
Tamarac City Commissioner Patte Atkins-Grad has resigned amid a pending recall election. The resignation effectively cancels the special election that was scheduled to take place Oct. 15. Commissioners will appoint a replacement to complete Atkins-Grad’s term. She was charged with eight felonies, including bribery and
unlawful compensation, but was acquitted after her attorney convinced jurors she was simply naïve about the process. But some residents wanted her gone and mounted the fruitful recall petition.

INSTRUCTOR JAILED
Jennifer Efre Deberry, 30, of Coral Springs, has been charged after allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old boy. Deberry, manager of the Dance Effect Studio, located at 10351 Royal Palm Blvd. in Coral Springs, is charged with lewd and lascivious battery. The boy detailed accounts of the relationship on his Facebook page, and police also obtained 117 pages of text messages exchanged between the two.

Miami-Dade County

Help or HARRASSMENT?
Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami officials have asked a federal judge for permission to alter a 1998 settlement regarding its treatment of the homeless living on Miami’s streets. The requested changes include the right to arrest homeless people if they refuse to go to a shelter, which is callous and outrageous. Businesses are complaining that the very sight of homeless people is bad for their bottom line and want them removed. The city also wants to modify the agreement to ban littering, building fires and temporary structures.

HOSPITAL FRAUD
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Jackson Health System with misleading investors about to buy $83 million in bonds in 2009. The regulatory agency says the fraud took place prior to current Jackson Health CEO Carlos A. Migoya being hired in 2011. There will be no penalties, but the news comes just months before Miami-Dade voters will go to polls to cast ballots on an $830 million bond measure for the public healthcare provider.

Monroe County

KEY WEST RUM
Paul Menta, CEO of Chef Distilled, will open a rum distillery in Key West in a warehouse that once served as a Coca Cola bottling operation. Menta, 47, is a renown chef and professional surfer who holds the Guinness World Record for kite boarding from Cuba to Key West. His first product will be called Legal Rum, which is a take on the illegal rum-running business for which the Keys was known in decades past.

CAB FAIR
Key West officials have passed an ordinance that allows cab companies to impose a $50 surcharge on customers who throw up in their cabs. The fee is intended to compensate for the time the cab is out of service being cleaned up. Some cab companies are considering offering (selling) passengers barf bags as well.

GOLF CLUB ATTACK
Jesse Rizzo, 18, OF Fat Deer Key is charged after allegedly attacking a 34-year-old man with a golf club. The man was conscious when Monroe County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, but was airlifted to the hospital with multiple head injuries. He says Rizzo attacked him over Facebook postings, but no other details have been provided. Rizzo was arrested and charged with aggravated battery.