The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • D3

Orlando Sentinel: PRODUCT: OS DESK: LOC DATE: 03-15-2006 EDITION: MET ZONE: MET PAGE: D3.0 DEADLINE: 20.6 OP: wjackson COMPOSETIME: 01.02 CMYK Orlando Sentinel WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2006 D3 CENTRAL FLORIDA THIS WEEK'S SPOTLIGHT: i Birthplace: Washington, D.C. Occupation: President, First Amendment Foundation i Age: 53 Family: Married 30 years Barbara Petersen is the president of the First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee, a nonpartisan group financed in part by the state's newspapers, including the Orlando Sentinel. Her job includes working with the Florida Legislature to stop or at least shape the dozens of new exemptions to Florida's public-records laws that lawmakers consider each year. She also acts as a government watchdog, and you'll often see her quoted in news articles about politicians meeting or communicating in private in potential violation of the state's open-meeting laws. Petersen is in the midst of Sunshine Week, an annual spotlight on the public's right to know.

She spoke recently with Sentinel Tallahassee reporter Jason Garcia. How would you describe what you do? I act as an advocate of the public's right to oversee government through application of Florida's open-government laws. It's my job to make sure that everyone understands the importance of open government, the importance of access to government records and meetings, and that they also understand their rights and responsibilities under the law. How do you balance that with concerns about identify theft? It's hard sometimes to make people understand why this is important. For example, I have a cousin who is an actress.

She was fairly well known a few years ago, and she had a stalker. And her mother is calling me, screaming at me on the phone because why should I be advocating access to records when her daughter is threatened by a stalker? But if you can get people to sort of step back for a minute and make them understand why it's important we have access to these records, they tend to understand. In fact, we have protections in place for people who are victims of crimes like stalking. They can get their home address exempt anywhere it appears in a public record. It's difficult sometimes to balance an individual's interest in protecting personal sensitive information with the public's right of access, but it's not impossible.

Does it get more complicated with the Internet? The Internet certainly puts pressure on us, in ways that other technologies have not. So, yes, it does make a difference. But it's not the fact that it's easier to get access to it in fact, we have exemptions in place. So Social Security numbers, for example, are exempt from public disclosure whether they're in a traditional paper document or whether they're in an electronic document. So they shouldn't be on the Internet.

What's your favorite public record? I love property records. When you buy a house and you do a title search, you have a real sense of history of your own property. Which exemption to the public-records law bothers you the most? A. The rabies vaccination certificate exemption under Florida law, you're required to get your dogs and cats vaccinated against rabies. At some point in the '90s, the Legislature required veterinarians to report to the local sheriff who was getting rabies vaccinations.

As soon as the veterinarian reports, it becomes public record. And the veterinarians wanted to close off access to that information because they didn't want direct marketers to find out who owned dogs so that they could market pet-care products at significantly reduced prices. They were claiming things like "pet-vet confidentiality." Do you prefer Democrats or Republicans? I don't have a choice. The organization is nonpartisan. But when it comes to these issues, they're not partisan issues.

What's your Social Security number? Laughs It's out there. You can get online and get it right now. Laughs The Area i in Brief ORLANDO 300 urge Iran not to develop nukes To a chant of "Stop Iran Now," about 300 people rallied Tuesday evening in protest against the nation's possible attempt to build nuclear weapons. The rally, organized by the Greater Orlando Board of Rabbis and other groups, focused attention on how nuclear armament and anti-Semitism in Iran could threaten nearby Israel. It took place at Congregation of Reform Judaism in Orlando.

Three years of inspections by an international nuclear regulatory agency failed to clear up whether Iran is running a program to make atomic weapons. Iran faces possible United Nations sanctions after the Security Council discusses the issue this week. PORT ORANGE Boy, 7 months, drowns in pool A 7-month-old Port Orange boy drowned Tuesday after falling into a backyard pool, police said. The mother of Bradley Juarez found him in the pool at their Surrey Park Drive home about 5 p.m., police Cmdr. Tim Girard said.

She carried him to the front and shouted for help. Neighbors called 91 1 and tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Rescue workers took Bradley by ambulance to Halifax Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. It appears Bradley crawled a short distance through an open door, across the patio and into the pool, Girard said. ORLANDO Clues sought in gas-station shooting Police searched for leads Tuesday after a Sorrento teen suffered serious injuries during an early morning gunfight at a busy downtown Orlando gas station.

Christian Michael Orr, 18, was shot while standing in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven at Magnolia Avenue and East Colonial Drive about 12:45 a.m., said Orlando police Sgt. James McDonald. After Orr was hit, his friends tried to drive him to the hospital but stopped when they found a police officer, a police report states. Orr was in stable condition Tuesday night. From the number of shell casings on the ground, the exchange of fire was intense, McDonald said.

ORLANDO Reward runs to Sunday in Kesse case The anonymous donor in the case of a missing Orlando woman that gained national attention extended the deadline for a $100,000 reward. The deadline for tips leading to the safe return of Jennifer Kesse, 24, is now Sunday. It had been set to expire today. The donor set the deadline to encourage tipsters to come forward quickly, and extended it because he said he hadn't seen much publicity about the original date. Anyone with details can call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.

SANFORD 5 finalists to vie for Seminole manager Seminole County's search for a new top administrator narrowed to five finalists Tuesday, and unless something derails the process the next county manager will be a woman or minority. Two women, including former Volusia County Manager Cindy Coto, and three black men, including the top deputy administrator in Fulton County, near Atlanta, will sit through one-on-one interviews with commissioners March 24 and 27. A final decision is expected by the end of the month. The five are vying to replace former County Manager Kevin Grace. The job pays between $125,000 In addition to Coto, the other finalists are: Pam Brangaccio, former Bay County manager; Keith Chadwell, Fulton County's deputy county manager; Milton Dohoney chief administrative officer for the Lexington-Fayette urban county government in Kentucky; and Donald Elliott, chief administrator in Lancaster County, Pa.

ORANGE COUNTY Deputies say backyard shooting hurts 1 Accusations over a hooker in the backyard led to a shooting late Monday. Dairy West, 21, became upset when Tyrone Muldrow, 41, accused him of taking a prostitute behind his house near Interstate 4 and South Orange Blossom Trial, according to the Sheriff's Office. Angry words led to gunshots after West tried to strike the side of Muldrow's car about 9 p.m., and Muldrow responded by opening fire, deputies said. A bullet hit West in the left leg, and he was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. Muldrow, who claimed West shot at him, was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm.

Muldrow was in the Orange County Jail on Tuesday with bail set at $3,500. Willoughby Mariano, Erin Ailworth, Amy L. Edwards, Robert Perez and Henry Pierson Curtis of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. JACOB LANGSTONORLANDO SENTINEL Auto salvagers get environmental refresher i By RICH McKAY SENTINEL STAFF WRITER Don't call Forrest Teipel a junkman. A dead-car's undertaker is closer to the mark, but he prefers automotive salvage engineer for the 500 or so vehicles a year that get towed or carted to his family's Apopka scrap yard.

He and about a dozen other local automobile salvagers sat through a four-hour refresher course Tuesday from the state's Department of Environmental Protection about how best to dispose of auto parts to avoid polluting the land or water. Teipel, 31, who runs A-l Auto Salvage in Apopka, says that the business is nothing like the days when his grandfather started the company decades ago. Back in the 1960s, a junk car would sit rusting outside until someone stripped parts off its metal carcass, creating the possibility of anything from leaking petroleum to toxic metals contaminating the ground or water. To help keep drinking water clean, the state now regulates every bit of the salvaging process right down to the removal of bulbs from state from now through April. Tuesday's class in Orange County was the second.

"We want everyone to know that they just can't crush an old car without removing all of the fluids," she said. "Or they can't just let it sit outside without either draining everything or inspecting it for leaks." Burson said the DEP doesn't want to come down hard on people, but the goal of the regulations is to protect the water and environment. "Stormwater regulations aren't going to go away. It's only going to get more stringent," she said. "If you keep a clean facility, you'll make more money if you ever sell, because you'll protect the value of the land." And she reminded them that penalties could be as high as $10,000 a day.

"Good housekeeping and good record keeping are the key," she said. "If we show up, don't panic; we really are here to help." The next workshop in this area will be at the Daytona International Airport in Daytona Beach on March 28. Call the Florida DEP at 850-245-8782 for information. Rich McKay can be reached at rmckayorlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5470. RED HUBERORLANDO SENTINEL Lu Burson of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection leads a workshop on complying with state regulations for auto salvagers at the Orange County Cooperative Extension Services auditorium in Orlando on Tuesday.

headlight lamps and mercury switches that make car trunk lights turn on. Salvagers are required not only to remove every fluid, gas or potentially toxic metal but to document every step. Antifreeze, brake fluid, oil and even used oil filters are collected in leak-proof containers and "It's kind of like a dis-assembly plant," Teipel said. "It's a lot of facts, figures and reports." Lu Bursona DEP code-enforcement manager who led the voluntary class, said she's on a mission to educate everyone in the car-salvage industry. She and other DEP officers are holding nine seminars across the.