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Former Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino vice president Eric Lemerand told me today that he knew nothing about the thefts being committed by two casino employees under his watch (read background here).

Lemerand acknolwedged that he was suspended shortly after the Florida Department of Investigation began investigating the theft, but said his October 18 departure was due to family reasons.

"The guys that were implicated did work for me and there was a paid suspension for me," said the 37-year-old Lemerand. "[Gulfstream executives] said, 'You have to get out of the way until all this is completed.' And I resigned during the suspension. I have family issues that I have to take care of in Michigan."

He said he had been considering leaving his employment before the investigation ever began and at one point had submitted his two-weeks notice, which he later rescinded. "I didn't really want to leave that kind of a job," he said of his high-ranking position at the casino.

He said he didn't want to discuss any further details of the case while the FDLE investigation is continuing.

What you're looking at above is the five-year stock chart for the Tribune Co., which owns the Sun-Sentinel. Its stock is worth about $3.7 billion now, down about half from its high in 1999. They're trying to complete a deal to go private with Chicago billionaire Sam Zell that I think Zell is going to lose his ass on.

No gloating at the Miami Herald, though. Here's the five-year chart for its parent, McClatchy:

That's a grim plunge, folks, the worst of all. McClatchy stock was going for an all time high of about $76 a share or so a few years ago. Right now the same share is checking in at $13.31. You do the math. It's ugly. But if you think those two companies are alone, check this one out:

That's the New York Times company, which is now worth about $2.4 billion on the market, down from its all-time high of about three times that.

That's all. Just wanted to cheer you up. It's the Pulp's mission during this holiday season. There is but one real hope for these companies: Finding a way to truly "monetize" the Internet while gradually shedding the flabby ways of the past. At the same time, they have to remain relevant -- and that means doing kick-ass journalism, not telling people how to buy an XBox 360. In other words, there's hope in this catastrophe -- and opportunity.

Broward County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin used her public office to help her husband make big money. I know she did because I investigated it and broke the story that led to the ethics charges (thanks to a good citizen, Ray McKinney, who filed the complaint).

And for this obvious violation of the public trust, the ethics board fines her ... $1000. Net profit: Many thousands of dollars for Wasserman-Rubin, who still sits in office collecting an $84,000 annual paycheck (or something like that) off the public dime. But I don't have to rant about it this morning because Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo has written a most excellent piece about it in this morning's newspaper.

Ah, what else? Law enforcement is still under siege in South Florida, only now it's more of an internal thing. The female BSO sergeant who was all over the TV this weekend for being stabbed? Well, she stabbed herself (read Sofia Santana's story here). And two deputies in Palm Beach County were killed when a fellow deputy in a cruiser hit them during a chase. It's like the bad moon won't go away.

What else? Oh, the Herald's Natalie P. McNeal gives us the latest on the Fitzroy Salesman gun incident. Just to clear this up: The reason the Miramar commissioner isn't charged with a felony is because they apparently can't find the guy who Salesman drew his weapon on in the Winn Dixie checkout line. Without a victim, you got no felony (or so they say -- a case could possibly be made on the videotape alone). Now police are hunting for a victim and they have found one in an 18-year-old who was present during the wild west moment.

Well, I don't believe Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker anymore than I do a dime-store detective. Parker announced yesterday that he believes the Sean Taylor shooting was random.

Parker claims to endorse a botched burglary. But I'm not buying that theory anymore. I had read early reports that said Taylor went looking for whoever was in his house, but it appears that the assailant knocked down a locked bedroom door to get to Taylor and shoot him.

Doesn't sound like a burglar's work. The robbers who hit the homes of Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry didn't feel the need to kill. No, the facts don't prove anything, but they indicate a hit, especially since nothing was stolen. A horrific, awful, goddamned hit. But who? Why? Former teammate and longtime friend Antrel Rolle, who plays corner for Arizona, says it was definitely no accident and that Taylor had been targeted by former friends in Miami for three years:

Rolle said he hadn’t talked to Taylor in a while, and that the Redskin had withdrawn from the crowd he hung around with to build a new life with his girlfriend and young daughter.

“There was so much surrounding him,” Rolle said. “Everyone was talking about him bad, so he just had to distance himself from everyone and live a life of his own. ... Within the last year, I’ve never seen anyone make such a dramatic change.”

Withdrawing from a bad crowd isn’t easy, though, Rolle said.

“They say it was a burglary. It absolutely was not a burglary,” he said. “Down South, where we’re from, there were many people targeting Sean, a lot of jealousy, a lot of angry people.

“Sean, he had a large group of friends, and he no longer hung out with those friends, so you never know where this came from.”

The way he talks, it sounds like gang shit. There've been previous incidents. On November 17, Taylor's home was broken into and the perpetrator left a knife on the bed. Last year, Taylor had some ATV's stolen and there was some fighting and shooting involved in that conflict. Jeremy Shockey, who played with Taylor at UM, said he was, like Shockey himself, a "wild child."

I've heard several women say they believe it was a female that did it, due to the shot in the groin/upper leg shot. But a man involved in what we like to call a "love triangle" might have done the same thing (and put the knife in the bed as well).

Or it could have been a lucky shot by an assassin. Or a wild shot by a berzerk burglar, or ...

The Sun-Sentinel's Omar Kelly opens his defense of the dead football player this way:

"Sean Taylor isn't here to defend himself from those who choose to assassinate his character, connecting the dots from his past to his recent murder."

The Sentinel ran Kelly's rather personal take on the front page. Sentinel columnist David Hyde's own piece on Taylor's death -- which did little more than connect the dots from Taylor's past to his murder -- ran on the front of the Sports page.

I think the Sentinel picked the right story for the front page (though it's reversed on the Sports web page where Hyde's story leads). Hyde's column makes little sense to me. He talks of "lessons" that haven't been learned from the past, but I'm not sure what they are. Shut up and behave? Don't drive fast? Make sure to have a better security system -- or at least a couple of good watchdogs -- in your home?

For it to make any sense at all, Hyde has to make the dangerous assumption that Taylor's killing was basically a hit by an enemy from his past. "Now there's another murder, of Taylor, in his bedroom, in what a dime-store detective would say came from an assailant intent on killing him," Hyde writes.

The dime-store detective in this case, of course, is Hyde. He reiterates his hunch a little farther down the column.

"No one knows why Taylor was killed. But would anyone be surprised if he had an enemy, somewhere in that previous world he lived, who didn't care that he had grown up and changed for the better? Who didn't consider Taylor changed at all?"

Now I've been wondering about whether this was a planned hit or a botched burglary myself. The facts are that Taylor was woken up in the middle of the night by loud noises in his home. He grabbed a machete and left the bedroom to investigate and was shot in the dark.

It could go either way. We don't know that answer anymore than we know what the hell Hyde was writing about. Hell, at the end of the column Hyde admits he has no idea what he means.

"What's the lesson in this? Watch who you run with? Watch your back? That the young, black male is the most dispensable currency in America? I don't know. Maybe all of it. Maybe it's also this: If you ignore warning signs and keep cheering, you might end up crying."

Thanks Dave. We'll take that to heart, since there's absolutely nothing about it that appeals to the brain.

The newest installment of the Sentinel's Seminole series is about Tribal leaders living in huge houses while most members live in modest homes. They have aerial shots of the Cypress brothers' mansions to bring it, uh, home to the reader.

I liked it, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking, why don't we do the same thing to CEOs across America? Have you seen Huizenga's unbelievable spreads on the New River in Fort Lauderdale? I know he built his business empire, but these guys who run the big companies all make hundreds of millions of dollars and live like filthy kings. When it becomes known that a CEO is taking way too much booty (i.e. Terry Semel at Yahoo last year) the tribal members -- er, I mean shareholders -- can sometimes get pissed too.

The Miami Herald, meanwhile, did its own version of the story. The newspaper cites the Sun-Sentinel, but very pointedly does not give it credit for the federal investigation. Here's the lede from Amy Driscoll and Mary Ellen Klass:

The Seminole Tribe, owner of the Hard Rock chain with more than $1 billion a year in estimated revenue, remains under federal scrutiny by the National Indian Gaming Commission years after initial reports surfaced of lavish expenditures within the tribe.

Commission Chairman Philip Hogen characterized the current investigation as ''a continuing inquiry'' into the way the tribe uses its revenues. Under federal law, the tribe must spend its gambling revenues in broad areas that benefit the tribe as a whole. Non-gaming revenues are not federally regulated.

''This is an ongoing process,'' Hogen said Monday. ``Great progress has been made, but I don't know that we're there yet.''

In other news, Sean Taylor is dead, bringing another tragedy to the University of Miami football program, which has already had more than its share. The Herald's Linda Robertson goes down the list:

The list of tragic incidents to befall UM grows again, just more than one year after senior defensive tackle Bryan Pata was slain at his apartment complex in Kendall. His killer is still on the loose. Police need a new lead.

UM linebacker Marlin Barnes and a friend were beaten to death at his campus apartment in 1996. Shane Curry, a lineman for the Colts, died violently when he was shot in the head outside a Cincinnati bar in 1992. Jerome Brown, Al Blades, Kevin Gibbs and Chris Campbell died in car accidents. All these men were in their 20s.

Not to make light of a horrible event, but you can't help but feel that one group of people in this world are feeling a little bit of relief at the news: NFL receivers. Taylor could flat out hit.

And, while we're in the football world, Joey Porter's brilliant performance against Pittsburgh last night proved once and for all that he is still a great player. Too bad it's only when he damn well feels like it.

The mysterious Ellen Dalton messaged the Pulp this morning with this missive about the Sun-Sentinel's Seminole investigation:

Well, well, well. The crowing from Las Olas Boulevard is that this week's Seminole tribe story is their Pulitzer winner. Already, there are bold predictions of sweeping reforms and other corrective actions that will arise out of this expose. It's an impressive report involving an amazing amount of documentation. They deserve some serious props for doing the story, and uncovering what they uncovered. It's good, solid journalism. But as for a Pulitzer and other recognition? We shall see. You heard it here first: The expectation is that this will capture The Big Prize.

From Sally Kestin, Peter Franceschina, and John Maines, I concur that it is excellent journalism. And I commend the Sun-Sentinel and Executive Editor Earl Maucker for going pretty much balls-to-the-wall on it despite the pressure from the Tribe (which has been rumored about plenty). This certainly offsets that whole Gulfstream Park spike thing.

And the Pulitzer? I'm with Ellen on that, waiting on the sidelines. It's big, well-written, and interesting, but reports about the Seminole leadership's rampant, insane spending are nothing new (and mostly it boils down to David Cypress). A decent amount of the supporting info comes from a five-year-old court case, in fact.

Read this lede:

Tales of uncontrolled spending, lavish lifestyles, allegations of kickbacks and dozens of luxury cars paid for with casino profits caught the attention of Seminole tribe members and curious courtroom observers at this month's trial of three men accused of stealing millions of dollars from the Seminoles.

Take away the court stuff and it could have been the top of the first story of the series. But it appeared in the Sentinel five years ago on Dec. 27, 2002. Or how about this line:

But unfettered spending and an utter lack of accountability were also on [gaming commission chairman] Hogen's agenda. He warned the Seminole tribal council that it must institute restraints on its infamous slush funds.

That's from the Herald's Fred Grimm, circa 2004.

In a sense, this is a follow-up to the previous stories saying, "Um, nothing has changed."

Let's face the facts. This is an internal fight between factions of Indians who are filthy rich and will spend their fortune one way or the other. Without oversight, we in the United States can hem and haw, but nothing much is ever going to change. Back about nine or ten years ago the St. Pete Times did a similarly ambitious Seminole investigation. It's a distant memory now.

But the most important thing in terms of the Pulitzer, as El-D alludes to, is the impact. I hope the series has a profound one. It's about time the S won the P.

As for that Miramar commissioner, all I was going to say was this: He should have been charged with aggravated assault. The Miramar police went ridiculously easy on him. Anybody that says pulling a fucking gun on someone in a Winn Dixie is a misdemeanor has got to be whacked in the head.

Michael Berke's story of gender crisis, church intervention, and transexual regret is a great one. It's so good, in fact, that the Associated Press stole it.

The AP's Kelli Kennedy came out with the Berke story over the weekend and it's been spreading across the world ever since. What she didn't mention in the text is that she ripped it off from the New Times.

NT staff writer Ashley Harrell broke the Berke story in October. Read it here, if you haven't already (it was a popular piece). Kennedy sure did read it -- and then redid it as her own, failing to mention that she'd lifted it from the New Times. That's bad any way you cut it, but for the Associated Press to do it, well, that's just disgusting. The AP, after all, was built on sharing other newspapers' stories, not stealing them.

And here's the kicker: Harrell and Kennedy are friends, having worked together at the Boca News. Note to Kelli Kennedy: Friends don't steal stories from friends and claim them as their own.

And at Thanksgiving time, too. The shame.

Oh, and here's another kicker: The same reporter, Kennedy, committed a similar (though less egregious) offense against this newspaper a few months ago. When writing about the state's investigation of Judge Larry Seidlin, she wrote that it was prompted by a "newspaper," failing to mention which one (yes, it was New Times). I wrote about it, noting the irony of the AP failing to cite the original source. That prompted a comment on the blog from Terry Spencer, the AP's Florida news editor, saying that 90 percent of what the AP does is original reporting.

Well, congratulations to Spencer and Kennedy on another "original" piece. You must be proud.

(I was going to write about gun-drawing Miramar Commish Fitzroy Salesman's supermarket meltdown, but lack the time. Tune in later).

In light of John DeGroot's essay-rant on Plight of the Poor stories yesterday, I must bring attention to the Miami Herald website this morning, where this "Miami Herald Wish Book" story is leading the page. The headline: "Readers Make Holiday Wishes Come True." And the Herald's photograph, reproduced above, not includes a wheelchair (which DeGroot all but predicted for us) but also a cute, cute dog. Brilliant is all I can say.

The Sun-Sentinel also got in the act this morning, with a front-page-dominating package about an aging volunteer who needs a ride to the halfway house where he does good works for "young criminals."

And filling up about half of the Palm Beach Post's front page was this tear-jerker was a bit more news-oriented. It's about slain BSO Deputy Chris Reyka's family coping with their loss and includes a plea for donations to the Sheriff's Foundation of Broward County.

So, after much deliberation, the Pulp's first annual "Thanksgiving Day Weeper Award" goes to ... the Miami Herald. Putting it over the top (literally and figuratively) wasn't the Disney-inspired headline or the crucial wheelchair shot. It was the dog.

We know, however, this is only the beginnning. The holiday season has just begun. To the Sentinel and Post, I suggest that they give us, in the spirit of Bruce Dickinson, more wheelchair.

John DeGroot used to make everyone read them and weep. Now he's exposing the cottage industry of holiday weepers you're going to come across this season in the South Florida media:

It’s that time of year when the ghost of Tiny Tim will return as South Florida’s media launch their annual campaign to trumpet the needs of the deserving poor come the Holiday Season.

Time was when the Holiday Season and the needs of the poor were linked to Christmas and the lowly birth of the baby Jesus with wisemen bearing gifts to the poor babe in the manager and so on. But all that became politically incorrect and thus loudly offensive to those seeking offense.
Which is how we got the annual Season of Giving now celebrated for its “goodness” and “spirit” – whatever the hell that might be.

No matter.

As a journalist for nearly a half-century, I wrote way more than my share of stories detailing the plight of various children and families in need at “this time of year.”

On my best day, my Plight of the Poor (POP) stuff could give Charles Dickens a run for his money.

No brag. Just fact. As the late Walter Brennan used to say.

Like the Devil, Dickens’ trick was in the details. Which I figured out early on. Like it or not, there’s a Dickensonian secret to causing your average TV viewer, or newspaper reader to donate guilt money for people living in neighborhoods into which only a crack buyer would willingly venture.

Or, more to the point, it’s all in how you “package” the poor to spark the spirit of guilt and giving in response to your POP story.

First, as Dickens knew and wrote, the poor must be portrayed as tragic victims of vast and mysterious forces far beyond their control. Like if they’re not victims….then where’s their plight?

Which means any disease or disability will add stunning vulnerability (and middle class guilt) to a Holiday POP tale told by the media.

And there must also be faith in either God, the basic goodness in people, or a better tomorrow. Take your choice.

Finally, their meager abode must always be humble and neat – or un-described if not.

Oh yes.

Minority status is a real biggie. In short, what we’re talking about here is an African American, or Hispanic Bob Crachit family – ideally with some suffering version of Tiny Tim – to get those checks in the mail.

Trouble is, South Florida is saturated with all kinds of mass media. Which means we’ll soon be up to our ass in a Guilt Storm of POP tales – each urging us to give with our hearts to a growing legion of

More

-- CBS-Channel 4 reporter Brian Andrews is leaving South Florida for more southern climes to become a freelancer. He's started a website about his ballsy move to Colombia that includes a blog and a plea to buy his house in Miami Shores.

Dan Ricker's Watchdog Report quotes an email from the intrepid reporter:

I'll be leaving CBS on 11/28 and flying to Caracas on 12/1 to cover the 12/2 referendum. My first clients will be the Miami Herald, CBS Radio, WIOD Radio, and possibly CBS News. Then, its back home to Miami to pack up my life and move to Colombia on 12/10.

In a way, I am doing what you are doing... being my own boss and pursuing stories that really interest me. I am scared and am worried about making ends meet, but I am trusting God I will be OK. I want to live in Bogotá, Lima , and Buena’s Aires. I am planning to be in a new city every few months.

-- Speaking of reporters taking off for Colombia, the Pulp belatedly welcomes Kirk Semple back to Miami, where he will head the New York Times bureau. Semple, a former Miami New Timeser, trekked to Colombia around the turn of the century and did some great freelancing work there that landed him a spot on the Times. Having just returned from Iraq, he should be well-prepped for his new assignment.

-- Word coming from the Daily Business Review is that former Palm Beach Post investigative reporter John Pacenti has been hired as that newspaper's federal courts writer. Congratulations to John.

-- Pacenti fills the spot left by Julie Kay, who is now with the National Law Journal. Here's her brand new piece about courthouse blogs with an emphasis on JAABlog. I'm posting it despite the fact that Kay's scintillating interview with the Pulp didn't make the cut. Then again, none of my quotes were as good as this one from Fort Lauderdale lawyer Russell Adler, who compared being exposed on a blog to being, well, let him tell you:

"It's like being shot by a sniper — you don't know where the shot is coming from and you don't know what the motivation is."

Ultra-violent imagery aside, I suppose that can be true when it comes to anonymous comments, but on JAABlog and other good blogs, there is often greater transparency than what you get from the dailies.

Everybody knows that newspapers have had a hell of a time "monetizing" the Internet. They are putting more and more resources into it because they know it's the future, but damned if they're making much money on it, which is one reason stock in the newspaper industry has plummeted in the past few years.

So when a newspaper puts a veteran reporter on almost full-time web duty, you have to wonder if they're getting any bucks for the bang. What got me thinking about it this morning was this Michael Koretzky interview with Morning Brew print jockey Sonja Isger (which mentions the Pulp's musings on Isger's blog). She's putting in a solid four hours a day on the thing and I can guarantee you it's not generating half her paycheck in revenues.

But that's the plight of newspapers. They're sinking resources into the Internet, knowing it's the future and that they really have no choice. And they're bleeding money on it. Hopefully the advertising gurus are going to figure out how to make a good profit from page views, because that stock isn't going to rise until they do.

Earl Maucker's Sunday column in the Sun-Sentinel begins with a letter from an angry British reader over the lack of international news in the Sentinel. Here's Maucker's answer:

In the past couple of months, some readers have expressed concern that we've reduced the amount of national and world news, especially on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Not so.

The ratio of advertising to news has increased because we've been running promotions — particularly early in the week — that allow moreadvertisers to run full-page advertisements.That has actually increased the size of the sections, which allows us to accommodate more news.

No, Earl. First that proves nothing and second, why didn't you tell your readers the truth -- that you killed the national/foreign desk last month?

Maucker's not new to this kind of Texas two-step. And the column also includes a beautiful example of another Maucker habit -- talking down to readers as if they sitting in rigid plastic desks in a grade school classroom. Listen to this.

The front page is primarily local news, the rest of the "A" section is devoted to national and world.

More local news is featured in the "B" section, with Sports following in the "C" section and Business in the "D" section. All of these are run "live," meaning they are produced the night before publication.

The Sundaypaper also includes advance sections produced prior to publication, including Lifestyle and features sections such as Travel, the TV book, plusCommunity News and Outlook.

But let's get back to the issue of world news for a moment and the question raised by Wendy in her e-mail.

The reality is the news business has changed dramatically. Readers and viewers have an ever-expanding range of choices , never imagined just a few years ago.

Cable TV, the Internet, dozens of special-interest publications, plus morning and afternoon network and local news in addition to the traditional evening broadcasts.

All right, where did that spitball come from? And quit squirming in your desks. This is IMPORTANT. Who would have thought that television and the Internet might affect newspapers? It's brilliant.

highlighting the executive editor's habit of writing down to his readers like they are sitting in rigid little desks in a grade school classroom. Here's an example:

This morning we have a couple instances of wasteful and/or stupid government at work. From the Miami Herald's Amy Sherman, we have the story of county hall west. It was supposed to be a "one-stop shop" for government permits and licenses in Plantation but instead is a ghost town, municipally speaking. Why? Because the county bought the building expecting that the beverage company renting half of it would vamoose. No such luck. It renewed its lease and there's not a damn thing the county can do about it. At least assistant county administrator Dick Brossard admitted he screwed up. [Update: Sherman did a nice story on this, but so did the Sun-Sentinel's county reporter Scott Wyman ... last week. Here's his ditty.]

The second involves code enforcement officers. Now the Pulp isn't down on code enforcers. They have a job to do -- and sometimes they save the day. But the overzealous types, well, they can be the biggest, most anti-American pains in ass (especially on the wallet-side cheek) that ever lived. They can swoop down on your property and fine you thousands while nitpicking you with some rule that nobody really cares about. Basically, the most important traits for code enforcement officers to have are cool and restraint. Fort Lauderdale, which has a history of bad code enforcement, too often lacks that in spades. The story, as told by the Sun-Sentinel's Alexia Campbell, begins with some yahoo's anonymous letter complaining about outdoor tables on Las Olas. The code enforcement office should have taken this anonymous letter and quietly tucked it away in the trash. Instead, Manager Mike Maloney ordered several restaurants to move their tables inside, killing both business and cty ambiance.

I told Barry Epstein this morning on his radio show that Ken Jenne should get about a year in jail -- and that's just what he got. All the corrupt politicians in South Florida should get a good look at the former sheriff. It's like a crystal ball.

For those of you who believe Jenne got a raw deal, go here for (im)moral support. And for those that believe he should burn in hell without passing go, well, you can stay here. I think justice was done. That is all.