Round-up, 07.08.09

A few items I wanted to highlight today:

Sheriff to send letters for prostitution offences. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office plans to start sending a letter to owners of vehicles used in prostitution offences. The letter preaches about sexually transmitted diseases and threatens (apparently without much legal foundation) to seize vehicles involved in prostitution offences, which are misdemeanors. These letters are a really bad, really stupid idea.

County Commissioners blew $6,220 on resort trip. Four of the five Escambia County Commissioners recently attended the four-day Florida Association of Counties conference, held at a resort on South Florida’s Marco Island. Commissioner Wilson Robertson alone spent $2,099 because he decided to drive there, costing the County more in the the form of gas bills and two extra hotel stays. We commend Commissioner Kevin White for his prudent decision to skip the trip.

Hugh King’s cocaine conviction overturned. The appellate court found that Mr. King’s detention and search had been the result of racial profiling. Judge Charles Kahn: “Upon careful consideration of the facts and the foregoing authorities, we conclude that the only objective information upon which the officers ultimately relied was the race of the alleged perpetrators.” Duh.

Marco Rubio is coming to town. Marco Rubio, the insurgent Republican U.S. Senate candidate and emerging darling of conservatives, will be in Pensacola next Wednesday, July 15. Mr. Rubio will speak at a luncheon held by the Gulf Coast Economics Club.