Reward Upped To $16K-plus in Beating of Army SGT Stationed At Centcom

Posted May 16, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated May 16, 2012 at 06:17 PM

I was trying to be good the other day and not looking at any messages coming over the Blackberry on my day off.

So I ignored the media alert from Tampa police about a brutal beatdown caught on video, figuring it was at best a blurb and possibly a package for TV.

Then my MacDill google alerts started blowing up.

Johnny Aparicio, the victim, was from the base, according to other local media. At midnight Monday, I fired off emails to various folks at MacDill. Finally, while out with my wife Tuesday afternoon, I found out that Aparicio was an Army sergeant assigned to U.S. Central Command.

There is a reward out for the men who beat up Aparicio. Here’s the latest on the case from my colleagues at TBO:

A reward of $16,250 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspects wanted in the beating of a MacDill soldier on early Sunday.

Aparico, 24, was beaten by four people after his car broke down in an Interbay neighborhood.

Aparico has been released from the hospital where he was treated for facial injuries during the attack and robbery, police said.

The Winters and Yonker Law Firm has offered $10,000; Without Walls Church, $5,000; a citizen from Virginia, $1,000; and a citizen from New Jersey, $250; according to the Tampa Police Department.

Aparico was new to the area, said Tampa police Lt. Mary O’Conner, who added it was likely a random crime.

His car had broken down about 3:30 a.m. on South West Shore Boulevard in the Sun Bay South area on the Interbay peninsula.

Aparico was walking east on West Iowa Avenue when he was approached by three men at Renellie Drive. One of them asked Aparico for a dollar, police said, and as he replied, the three started hitting him in the face and upper body.

Video from a security camera shows another man running up Iowa Avenue and joining the attack. All four are shown hitting and kicking Aparico after he fell to the ground.

The men also went through Aparico’s pockets, taking his cellphone and wallet, according to police. They fled south on Renellie Drive.

The video shows Aparico struggling to get to his feet. He eventually was able to get up, knock on a neighbor’s door and call police.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477).

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Romney endorses Mack

Posted May 16, 2012 by William March

Updated May 16, 2012 at 03:29 PM

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has endorsed Rep. Connie Mack in the Florida Republican Senate primary.

“Connie Mack is a friend, a strong conservative and the type of principled leader we need in Washington to restore fiscal responsibility,” Romney said in a statement from his campaign. “By electing Connie Mack, the people of Florida will be sending a clear message to Senator Nelson and President Obama that their failed policies have not worked to change the borrow and spend ways of Washington.”

The endorsement isn’t a big surprise—Mack backed Romney in the 2008 Republican presidential primary, and backed him strongly during campaign for this year’s January primary.

However, Mack apparently won’t be attending any of Romney’s fundraising campaign events today and tomorrow in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and Boca Raton. He didn’t make the St. Petersburg speech or Tampa fundraiser today, and campaign spokesman Rick Gorka said he didn’t know of any plans for Mack to join Romney at the coming events.

Mack has been engaged in an increasingly bitter primary battle against George LeMieux, including a contest to amass big-name endorsements. He immediately put out a statement crowing about the biggest endorsement coup yet—“United with our next president, we will put the country back on the road of freedom and prosperity.”
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Update
The Mack campaign’s response when asked why he’s not appearing with Romney during his Florida swing, even though he’s getting Romney’s endorsement, from spokesman David James:
“While Connie is delighted with the news of a united conservative front against (Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill) Nelson and Obama, Connie is voting in DC today and is chairing a prescheduled hearing on Cuba’s Network of Terrorism tomorrow morning.  He is also giving a major speech at the Heritage Foundation on Friday morning.  There will be many opportunities for joint appearances in the weeks and months to come in their joint effort to defeat liberals Bill Nelson and Barack Obama.”

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Mack announces social conservative backers

Posted May 15, 2012 by William March

Updated May 15, 2012 at 03:59 PM

Rep. Connie Mack has announced a team of social conservative backers in his U.S. Senate campaign, with former state Sen. Pat Neal of Bradenton, a former state Christian Coalition chairman, as the most prominent name.

Others on the team include Conservative activist and blogger Christian Camara of Tallahassee; Tarpon Springs school headmaster and political activist John Giotis; pro-life activist Lois Jones of Homestead; Warren Lutz of Cutler Bay; Mike Rodriguez of Miami; former Jeb Bush admnistration official Leslie Steele of Tallahassee; and Stand Inc. president Bob Touchston of Palm Bay.

The news release announcing the team includes a letter from them to fellow social conservatives that bashes Mack’s leading opponent the GOP Senate primary, George LeMieux.

It says LeMieux “has shown support for many socially liberal programs, both before and after he orchestrated Charlie Crist’s election” as former campaign manager and chief of staff to the former governor.

The letter says Crist was “an early and vocal supporter of the gay agenda as a candidate for state representative” and “orchestrated many liberal initiatives including the Crist era policy of cap and trade and the endorsement of President Obama’s failed Stimulus Plan” while working for Crist.

LeMieux, however, has won the support of at least one prominent Florida social conservative leader, state Sen. Dennis Baxley.

But some social conservatives say neither candidate has excited the constituency, and Mack has his own problems with them, including his support for embryonic stem cell research while in Congress.

“A lot of people are just watching that race, waiting to see whether somebody else get in it” before making a decision whom to back, said religious conservative talk show host Bill Bunkley of Tampa.

Mack has one advantage in seeking social conservative support—backing of veteran Florida political strategist Brett Doster, a veteran of the George W. and Jeb Bush campaigns who has close ties to social conservatives.

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USF To Unveil New Center For Strategic and Diplomatic Studies

Posted May 15, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated May 15, 2012 at 03:45 PM

I have to admit that when it comes to geopolitics, I am a geek.

So the University of South Florida’s launching of a new Center for Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, which will “unite interdisciplinary research and expertise to help inform policy decisions,” is something that intrigues me.

As I am rushing out the door to interview another soldier about his experiences in Iraq, I will defer to the press release issued by USF.

According to the university:

The Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies is a unique approach linking the latest research in geopolitical issues to policy making, said professor Mohsen Milani, whose expertise on Iran, Afghanistan and the wider region has earned him a place as a frequent commentator on the BBC, Voice of America and media outlets around the world. The center will develop academic programs, organize lectures, workshops and conferences to explore the critical international issues of our times, as well as conduct research and formulate policy recommendations in a non-partisan setting.

“Our goal is to bring down the walls disciplines have created for themselves as well as the walls that have separated the public sector from academia and academia from government,” Milani said.  “We will explore alternative policies that enhance our national security and which also contribute to peace and harmony.”

The center was created through the guidance and support of Karen Holbrook, USF’s Senior Vice President for Global Affairs & International Research; USF Provost Ralph Wilcox and Eric Eisenberg, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. The effort builds on several high-level conferences organized by Milani and College of Public Health Professor Tom Mason exploring security issues in the Middle East and Central Asia, including ones which brought military leaders such as Ret. Gen. David Petraeus, now the CIA director, and Gen. John Allen to campus.

Milani said the times require a new approach to discussing international affairs that require researchers and scholars to contribute their knowledge to create practical and workable policies to ensure security on many levels.

“We can no longer talk about American prosperity or American security unless we understand the connections between our domestic policies and international events,” Milani said. “There is an everyday impact on how we do things, such as the connection between events in the Persian Gulf and Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz and the price of gasoline that we pay.

“We really need to have a paradigmal change in the way we look at foreign and domestic policy. We can no longer look at them as two independent entities. They are closely linked.”

The new center, lead by internationally-recognized Middle East expert Mohsen Milani, will hold its first event Monday, May 21, when it hosts journalist Christopher de Bellaigue, author of the newly released Patriot of Persia, a biography of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. The British and American-led coup against Mosaddegh is considered one of the rallying points that fueled the eventual Iranian Revolution and continues to shape Iran’s modern –day interaction with the West.

De Bellaigue’s public lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 206 of C.W. Bill Young Hall, 12303 Maple Drive, on the USF campus in Tampa. The event is free to the public

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Romney campaigns in St. Pete

Posted May 15, 2012 by William March

Updated May 15, 2012 at 10:56 AM

Mitt Romney will hold what his campaign is calling “an event,” with no further details, at the Mirror Lake Lyceum in St. Petersburg Wednesday.

The campaign hasn’t released any details about the nature of the event or even said for certain that it’s open to the public, but presumably it is.

That will begin two days of fundraising and possibly more public campaigning by Romney in Florida, including a mid-day fundraiser at the Avila Golf and Country Club.

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