I've been wondering too about more pending charges. I think the only
way we will be able to find out on that one will be to contact the
Prosecuting Attorney's office. I did go ahead on Wednesday and fax
all of the copies I had to WEAR TV3 and to the NWF Daily News, but
haven't seen a follow-up yet. They may be waiting like we are to see
if there will be additional charges filed. Wilson has a court date
set for May 9th I believe (I'll double-check that on Monday), and I
have seen in the past Prosecuting Attorney's amend their case at the
plea date to add charges. This is what we're going to have to watch
for certain to make sure that they're not just going to drop the
ball on us.

To answer your other question, the State of Florida is a public
record state and you are able to either go online at
www.clerkofcourts.cc and search through the public records or come
into the office. On criminal you have the option of paying for a
criminal background check on a person and getting the information
that way. I'm not sure of the exact procedures in the Traffic
Division since I work in another area, but we can check. (Speaking
of which Wilson is only being charged (thus far) as a traffic
violation and not a criminal charge). I've even been wondering if we
can contact the State of Florida to see if they have any statistics
compiled for bicycle/vehicle accidents.

And finally, I'm in FWB also and have only started riding since
October of last year. It's a bit precarious, and I've been lucky so
far. I have just started riding on ranger road and I'm working on
building up endurance for longer rides. I always ride with my
protective gear and pay attention to these lousy drivers around
here. I'd love to see some sort of campaign put in for bike lanes
and stronger punishment for offenders.

Yes, lets work on this idea and I'm going to keep a close eye on the
Wilson case. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in the courtroom on
the day of her plea, but I'll be buried in work from my department.

Nerissa

--- In eccycling@yahoogroups.com, "Tom Gillen" <tomgillen@c...>
wrote:
>
>
> This is an outrage. If it weren't for the first-responders (the
Hurlburt PJ and the contractor) being there nearly simultaneously,
there'd be at least one fatality.
>
> I've just started (road) cycling and have been thoroughly freaked
at the lack of concern and even hostility I've witnessed around this
burg. (I'm in FWB.) In just three weeks, I've taken two spills,
both caused by traffic failing to yield. So today I rode Timberlake
for the first time, just for some peace and quiet.
>
> Draft a letter to the editor of the NWF Daily News. I'll help you
with it, if you'd like (I'm a writer and editor). I'm positive if
more people learned of the insanely light charge of "Failure to
Maintain Lane," half the community would immediately be on our side--
and thus receptive to our ideas.
>
> Before we leap though, is there any way to tell if other charges
against Wilson are still pending?
>
> I understand the precarious nature of you researching such
accidents at your job and on the taxpayers' dollars, but can't
someone, like any one of us, FOIA the information so that some clerk
will have to do all the grunt work and produce copies?
>
> Look into it, and I'll gladly file a request post haste. (That's
some legal talk.)
>
> Regards,
> Tom
>.