Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • 38

-f-l FLORIDA 10B Sunday March 9, 2008 flor1datodiy.com NEWS EDITOR JIM LEVEIIAX, jlinehan floridatoday.com or 242-3643 ORLANDO Mom arrested for hosing itl Nelson sees mail-in vote as solution If 4 i child at carwash. Authorities have arrested a mother who was videotaped spraying her daughter with a high-pressure water hose at a carwash. Deputies arrested Niurka Ramirez on Friday on a child abuse charge. Ramirez says he was trying to discipline her 2-year-old daughter, who was throwing a temper tantrum. The incident was caught on tape.

Ramirez told authorities she did not use the high-pressure feature on the hose when spraying the child. She was released from jail early Saturday after posting $1,000 bail. Jail records do not list an attorney. it I hi rx Second primary might resolve delegate mess ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLAHASSEE Sen. Bill Nelson believes that the only practical way to settle the state's delegate mess is to hold a second Democratic presidential primary by mail, his chief of staff said Saturday.

The state has three options to try to seat its delegates at the Democrats' national convention: Hold another primary at the polls, vote by mail or hold caucuses, said Nelson chief of staff Pete Mitchell. A primary would be too expensive and would require the Republican-led Legislature to approve it. Caucuses would be difficult to organize in a state as large as Florida, especially since the state isn't used to holding them. Also, caucuses wouldn't draw nearly as many people as the 1.7 million who voted in the Jan. 29 primary, Mitchell said.

"We're trying to research that mail-in option," Mitchell said. There's high level discussions taking place." On Thursday, Nelson, who supports Clinton, called for a new primary, though he didn't suggest how it should be held. Nelson was planning a meeting Saturday afternoon to dis cuss logistics. The effort to try to seat the state's delegates at the August convention has become more critical as the race between New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen.

Barack Obama has hit a deadlock. "Nothing is going to work unless the campaigns mutually agree," Mitchell said, adding Nelson has "tried everything a lawsuit, he's pleaded and cajoled and we're still stuck." The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates because they violated party rules by holding primaries before Feb. 5. Now the DNC is suggesting the states hold some sort of do-over in order to seat delegates. The state party considered a vote-by-mail option months ago, but the cost was too high.

The original plan called for two postcards to be sent to each of the state's 4.1 million Democrats to give them notice of the plan before sending ballots out. That would have cost an estimated $8 million. If only the ballot is sent out, the price could drop to $4 million, Mitchell said. Nelson's office has been speaking to party officials in Oregon about how they handle voting by mail and it's encouraged by what they've heard, Mitchell said. It's still unclear where the money would come from to pay for the vote.

"1 i 14 1 "a AP photos. Sad reminders. Horst and Luisa Ferrero of Gainesville look at some of the toys their son Sebastian used to play with. In October, they took their healthy and happy 3-year-old to a hospital for some tests because he was small for his age and doctors thought he might be a candidate for growth hormone therapy. Two days later, he died after a medical mistake.

Months later, the Ferreros started a foundation with hope of providing better care for children and eventually building a children's hospital. Child's death springs nope Preservation group short of money as land prices drop Florida Forever fears opportunity to purchase could be lost forever I if ,7 1 FORT LAUDERDALE Grandmother sentenced to 15 years for boy's death. A judge has sentenced a woman to 15 years in prison for failing to get medical care for her severely burned 3-year-old grandson, who eventually died. Annie Williams said Friday she could not explain her failure to get medical care for her grandson, Jacquez Mason. Williams had custody of Jacquez.

Against a court order, she allowed a visit with the children's mother, Valerie Kennedy, on Christmas Day 2005. Kennedy dunked Jacquez into scalding water as punishment for soiling his diaper. Williams took the boy to her home and cared for him with powder, ointments and children's medication. He stopped breathing a week later. LAKE CITY Residents clean up after deadly storms.

Residents cleaned up Saturday after deadly storms raked North Florida a day earlier, spawning tornadoes, fierce thunderstorms and high winds. National Weather Service meteorologists estimated that a tornado that hit Lake City on Friday measured about a quarter mile wide and stayed on the ground for about a half mile. It was designated as an EF-2 tornado on an ascending scale that estimates wind speeds. The tornado killed a woman when a tree fell on her mobile home. Another person who lived outside the tornado's path also died trying to hook up a generator after he lost power Friday.

KEY WEST Long-time conch blower wins contest. A man who began blowing conch shells as a toddler took top honors at the an nual Key West conch shell blowing contest Saturday. Clinton Curry, 34, played a traditional seafaring song before raising two shells to his lips and blowing a melodic chord. The fifth-generation Key West resident also won the adult men's category of the contest in 2004. LOTTERY Next Mega Money jackpot rises to $1.4 million.

No tickets matched the four winning numbers plus the Mega Ball number, so the jackpot rolled over to $1.4 million in the Mega Money game, the Florida Lottery said Saturday. Four tickets won $2,632.50 each forpicking 4-of-4. 59 tickets won $391 each for picking 3-of-4 plus the Mega Ball number. 1,155 tickets won $59.50 each for picking 3-of -4. 1,980 tickets won $24 each for picking 2-of-4 numbers plus the Mega Ball.

17,822 tickets won $2.50 each for picking l-of-4 plus the Mega Ball. 36,705 won $2 each for matching 2-of-4. 45,052 won a free Quick Pick ticket for matching the Mega Ball. The numbers drawn Friday night were 2-29-41-44 and the Mega Ball was 7. 2 Fantasy 5 players share $271,409 top prize.

Two winners of the Fantasy 5 game will collect 1 35,704.98 each. The winning tickets were bought in Perrine and Crestview. 334 tickets matching four numbers each. 11,785 tickets matching three numbers won 1 0 each. 119,335 tickets won a Quick Pick ticket for picking two numbers.

The numbers drawn Friday night were 8-9-22-25-31. FLORIDA TODAY wire report Family pushes for more patient safety after son's tragedy ASSOCIATED PRESS GAINESVILLE It's a parent's worst nightmare. Horst and Luisa Ferrero took their intelligent, healthy and happy 3-year-old, Sebastian, in for a medical exam last October. The 25-pound boy was small for his age and doctors had recommended that he take a routine test to determine if he might be a candidate for growth hormone therapy to give him a boost. Two days later he was dead, killed by a massive drug overdose accidentally administered to him and a series of other medical errors.

But rather than be bitter, Sebastian's parents have taken their grief and formed the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation and plan to give it the $850,000 settlement they received from Shands Healthcare at the University of Florida. Its goal is to promote patient safety programs the Institute of Medicine estimates that as Hope for future. Sebastian Fererro's parents hope they can turn his tragic death into hope for others in their push for a new children's care hospital. developer Steve Henke. His company began buying land five years ago with plans to build homes, stores and a golf course.

As conservation land, however, the land near Ocala would connect with an adjacent state park. Henke couldn't name a fair-market price for the land, but it is appraised at $10.4 million. Lawmakers don't think more money for purchases are likely with the state already scrambling to deal with revenue shortfalls. Florida Forever will likely get $300 million again. But there probably won't be any additional money this year, said Sen.

Burt Saunders, R-Naples, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environmental Protection and Conservation. That worries some environmental groups because the program is set to end in 2010 and has already decided how it will spend all but $4 million over the nexttwoyears.B ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLAHASSEE An Indiana developer has more than 6,000 acres in Marion County that he's willing to sell to the state for preservation, but the state is short on money and homes and a golf course could wind up on the land instead. Environmental groups want the state to buy the property and save it from development, but Florida Forever, a state program that spends $300 million a year purchasing and preserv- ing land, is nearly out of money. Environmental groups say that unless more money is found, the Marion County property and others could be lost to development. The groups want the state to buy additional land for conservation as soon as possible, especially since many landowners are eager to sell in tough economic times.

"If the state could come up with a fair-market price, we'd be interested in selling it," said Marion County landowner and To help For information on how to help the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation, go to: www.sebastianferrero.org. many as 98,000 people die each year in U.S. hospitals due to medical injuries and plant the seed for a stand-alone children's hospital in Gainesville. His parents, who are developers, believe if Sebastian had been treated at such a hospital, the cascade of mistakes that led to his death might have been avoided, or at least caught before they turned fatal. Their goal is to build a $300 million, 125-bed state-of-the-art hospital within five years.

They estimate they must raise about 10 percent of the money $30 million with the remainder See HOPE, 9B Ex-NFL player trades helmet for prayer shawl Former lineman converts to Jewish Orthodoxy ASSOCIATED PRESS CORAL SPRINGS Shlomo Veingrad's broad shoulders are wrapped in a prayer shawl, and at six-foot-five, he towers over 1 -mm 1 A I I AP are "tzitzit" knotted fringes that serve as a reminder of his commitment to Judaism. Back then, before he wore a yarmulke on his head, before he grew a long, thick beard, before he kept kosher, he studied play-books instead of scriptures. His inspiration was Jimmy Johnson; his most prized possession was his Super Bowl ring. That Super Bowl was in 1993, and it would be his last. Newly married and his body aching from Johnson's "bloodbath" practices, Veingrad retired.

But like many professional athletes who become reliant on built-in structure and motivation from coaches, Veingrad felt lost when the cheering stopped. An Orthodox cousin invited him for Sabbath dinner, and thus began his metamorphosis. After spending most of his life in a violent, macho world where men bragged about material possessions and sexual escapades, Veingrad was intrigued by the simpler, gentler Orthodox way oflife. He went to Israel and came back wearing a yarmulke and calling himself by his Hebrew name, a man transformed. "I'm one of those guys who was always starved for inspiration, had every Vince Lombardi book, Zig Ziglar tapes, and I realized the Torah was not a boring history book, but a very inspirational guide to life," Veingrad said.

See PLAYER, 9B the other Orthodox Jewish congregants at the Coral Springs Chabad. He hoists the heavy Torah scroll over his head with ease: Those same long, mighty arms spent seven years shoving aside NFL defensive linemen to clear space for Troy Aikman and Em-mitt Smith. As an offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys from 1 986 to 1 993, Alan Veingrad, 44, a Miami Sunset High grad, wore giant shoulder pads under his jersey. Now, his undergarments Quite a contrast. Shlomo Veingrad, walking in the Chabad synagogue in Coral Springs, is a former Dallas Cowboy turned Orthodox Jew.

After his structured NFL career was over, he found that he needed to find igspiration from another source..