South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • A10

10A Sun Sentinel SunSentinel.com Friday, April 27, 2018 pn The school district is also protected from lawsuits by a state statute in that plaintiffs must give six months' notice before filing a claim. If it were treated as multiple incidents, the cap would apply to each case. Thursday, school district spokeswoman Nadine Drew wrote in an email: "The School District is not attempting to limit damages, but it is simply stating the law of the State of Florida that has been put in place by the Legislature." She said that other students seeking damage claims will be met with the same response. The outrage ballooned after a lawyer for Daniela Menescal, a student hurt in the shooting, filed a petition asking that a judge review whether the district can limit the amount paid to victims in this way. tim constituted a separate incident when reviewing the case of a fatal shooting at a fraternity party involving multiple victims.

Menescal was in Room 1214, her Holocaust history class, when Cruz opened fire through the glass panel in the door. The petite 17-year-old barely managed to hide behind a filing cabinet and was struck by shrapnel that injured her thigh and hip and lower back area In an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Menescal said the blood on her white pants jolted her out of denial she couldn't believe she was experiencing a school shooting. Nearby, classmates Nicholas Dworet and Helena Ramsay lay lifeless. The image of the pair is one Menescal says she will never forget. "It's really an image that's not going to leave my mind ever," she told the Sun Sentinel in March.

"I really just hate thinking about it. Even if I try not to think about it every day, I do. "It's part of my daily life now." rolmedaSunSentinel.com, 9S4-3S6-44S7, Twitter SSCourts and rolmeda LIABILITY Continued from Page 1A separate incident And Todd Michaels, an attorney who represents the families of two people killed during Nikolas Cruz's rampage Feb. 14, said that if the district doesn't adequately compensate victims, "we're going to make sure they're held accountable for their behaviors." Michaels added: "We were so appalled and taken aback by the adjuster's ridiculous quote." "The letter that went to this family is the same letter that will go to every family that provides the School Board with a notice of their intent to file suit," Drew wrote. Beyond the state statute limitations, victims can seek further compensation by filing a claims bill through the legislature that would have to pass like any other bill of law.

However, Lawlor says the Florida Supreme Court in 2003 ruled that the shooting of a separate vic weeks ago, Thunderbirds commander Lt Col. Kevin Walsh posted a YouTube video saluting Del Bagno, referring to him by his call sign, "Cajun." "We remember Cajun as an airman, a warrior, a talented fighter pilot, and a great friend with more than 3,500 flight hours in over 30 different aircraft," Walsh says in the video. "He lived to fly and inspire the next generation." The elite fighter-jet team, based out of Nellis Air Force Base north of Las Vegas, has performances scheduled at another 30 locations across the country through November. pvalyssouthflorida.com or 9S4-3S6-4364 AIR Continued from Page 1A Thunderbirds will not be performing, we totally respect their decision given the situation," Bryan Lilley, president of the Fort Lauderdale Air Show, said in a prepared statement Thursday morning. "We wish them the best as they recover from their loss." In response to the pilot's death, the Thunderbirds also recently called off appearances at Sun 'n Fun International Fly-In and Expo in Lakeland and Wings Over Columbus in Mississippi.

The Thunderbirds were billed as the Fort Lauderdale Air Show's headliner; their last Fort Lauderdale flyover was in 2016. Before the Air Show's announcement, Master Sgt. Christopher Boitz, a spokesman for the Thunderbirds' public affairs office in Nevada, had said Wednesday that the scrubbed shows allowed the Thunderbirds to mourn Del Bagno and to seek his replacement. Thursday morning, the Thunderbirds said in a news release that they had picked Maj. Nick "Khan" Krajicek to replace Del Bagno, adding that the canceled Fort Lauderdale date buys time "to facilitate Kra-jicek's requalification training." The crash is still under investigation, Boitz said, and the Thunderbirds resumed flying April 18.

Two MASTER SGT. CHRISTOPHER BOITZCOURTESY Air Force, Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, left, died April 4 when his aircraft crashed in practice. Teacher uprising spreads Broward Sheriff Scott Israel stands for the Pledge of Allegiance during memorial service Thursday to honor those deputies killed in the line of Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies handled the response to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Scott's position Thursday was to wait and see what becomes of that investigation.

"Gov. Scott believes that people must be held accountable for the reported failures in response to the school shooting in Parkland, which is why he immediately called for a full and systematic FDLE investigation into the matter," said John Tupps, a spokesman for the governor's office. "Once that investigation is complete, and we have all the facts, the appropriate steps will be taken to hold people accountable." Scott also took a swipe at Peterson, who has since resigned. "Gov. Scott is absolutely disgusted the BSO deputy did not rush into the school to save these victims," Tupps said.

ISRAEL Continued from Page 1A ship out at sea with no power adrift" Although the plan is to present the results of the vote to Gov. Rick Scott and urge him to remove or suspend Israel, the vote is largely symbolic and does not translate into immediate action or consequence for the sheriff. Israel wrote off the vote as "inconsequential" and an attempt to extort a pay raise while Scott punted on how he'll proceed. "I am accountable to the citizens of Broward County. My job is to continue to do the job I was elected to do, which is to ensure the safety of Broward County's L9 million residents," Israel said in a prepared statement after the union vote was announced Thursday afternoon.

"I will not be distracted from my duties by this inconsequential union vote, which was designed to extort a 6.5 percent pay raise from this agency. "Those who purportedly voted in this straw ballot reflect only a small number of the 5,400 employees. The unions representing the vast majority of our employees solidly support the leadership of this agency." To that, Bell said: "The sheriff is a complete liar, capital letters on that This has never been about a contract." The union is in the last year of a three-year contract. It hasn't begun talks on a new one but has been negotiating in recent weeks for raises and been told there isn't money for more than a 2.5 percent increase, Bell said. The association, a chapter of the International Union of Police Associations, called for the "no confidence" vote April 20, citing a list of grievances topped by crushed morale amid national criticism over the agency's disastrous response to the Feb.

14 Parkland school shooting and the sheriff's response to the negative feedback. An ex-student, Nikolas Cruz, armed with an assault-style rifle, MEGRATH Continued from Page 1A Megrath says his heartache will be easier since a man long accused in the killing at the old Palm Beach Mall and ultimately acquitted will be serving a prison sentence for other crimes. Megrath spoke this week from his home in North Carolina about the recent punishment for Jesse Lee Miller Jr. five years in a Florida prison for heroin dealing charges from 2016. "It's not going to bring Nicholas back, but I'm glad they got Miller on something that will keep him locked up for a while," Megrath told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Miller, 36, pleaded guilty this month, rather than risk a trial on counts punishable by up to 75 years. With credit for 500 days already spent in jail, Miller likely will be free in about three years. Then he'll have 20 years to pay off a $52,500 fine. By taking the plea deal, Miller dropped a claim that he had been entrapped by West Palm Beach MIKE STOCKERSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER the Broward Sheriff's Office's annual duty. Meanwhile, another union, the Federation of Public Employees, on Monday announced it had renewed its contract by a vote of Llll to 38, which correlated with a vote of support and confidence in the sheriff.

"This is also a vote of confidence in how you treat us and how our bargaining unit feels about you," the union's director, Anthony Mar-ciano, wrote in a letter to the sheriff. At 2,500 members, the federation is the largest union representing sheriff's office employees, the letter said. Israel, a Democrat, was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2016. He's not scheduled to face voters again until 2020. 9S4-3S6-4S42 or Twitter talanez locations in West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach, records show.

Miller sold the heroin in capsules, exchanging the pills for cash payments of $300 and $600, with Miller delivering the drugs in his Chevy van, according to reports. Miller was arrested in September 2016 inside the Palm Beach County Courthouse. The cops intercepted him just ahead of a planned speech to local defense attorneys. The topic was his experience of serving seven years in prison until he was cleared in the Chick-fil-A robbery-murder case. Miller, a former employee, emerged as a suspect early in the investigation.

The store's evening manager was bound to a chair with duct tape in an employee bathroom and shot once in the back of the head after the restaurant closed for the night Miller was arrested in 2000, but the charges were dropped a year later after prosecutors said they couldn't support an initial claim of a DNA match to Miller from a sld mask discarded near a mall trash bin. In 2003, a jury convicted Otto Wright, now 37, in the murder, By Melissa Daniels and Anita Snow Associated Press PHOENIX A sea of teachers clad in red shirts and holding "Money for Schools" signs reached the Arizona Capitol to press lawmakers for action Thursday, a key event in an unprecedented walkout that closed most of the state's public schools and built on an educator uprising that bubbled up in other parts of the U.S. Tens of thousands of teachers and their supporters headed through downtown Phoenix to a rally to demand increased school funding on top of big pay hikes offered by the Republican governor. Widespread walkouts also were underway in Colorado, where teachers protested at their own Capitol and some schools were shut down. Educators in both states, who want more classroom resources, have received offers either for increased school funding or pay, but they say the money isn't guaranteed and the efforts aren't enough.

The walkouts are the continuation of an uprising that spread from West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky. A lack of resolution led Arizona educators to launch the first-ever statewide strike to force their demands. based on a confession that he was the lookout for the crimes pulled off with two accomplices. He did not name Miller as an associate. Wright, who later recanted, is serving a life sentence.

Miller was re-arrested in 2007, after more DNA testing, and new evidence allegedly linking Miller to a note left at the scene. Miller had two trials in 2009: the first ended in a hung jury and the second resulted in a guilty verdict and life sentence. A successful appeal led to a third trial, when Miller testified, "I didn't have anything to do with this." The jury took less than three hours to find him not guilty. But Mike Megrath says he's certain Miller is responsible for the slaying of his son. And he's confident Miller will have future run-ins with the law.

"He's a career criminal," Megrath said. "He'll get out and he'll do something again." 561-243-6642 or Twitter marcjfieeman gunned down 34 students and staff, killing 17. When it was realized that Scot Peterson, the Broward deputy assigned to protect the school, did not storm the building to confront the killer, but remained outside and gave incorrect information to other arriving deputies, Israel publicly castigated him. Bell said Israel has refused to take responsibility, personally or as the leader of the agency, for the failures at the scene of the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook. "It's always everybody else's fault besides the sheriff," Bell said.

The association represents 1,050 members and its contract covers 1,300 deputies and sergeants. The vote was open to all of them, and 628 voted, including 94 who said they still have confidence in the sheriff. Under orders from Scott, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating how the police. Miller's lawyer believes the agency retaliated against him soon after a jury cleared Miller in his third murder trial four years ago. "I have no doubt police targeted him none," said Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Ramsey, who represented Miller in his last trial and the heroin case.

Miller had no history of illegal drug use or drug arrests until this case, she said. Under the plea terms negotiated with Assistant State Attorney John Parnofiello, Miller was convicted of one count of trafficking in heroin and one count of possession of heroin with intent to sell. As part of the plea agreement, Circuit Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo on April 11 approved a furlough requested by the defense. Miller got permission to leave Palm Beach County Jail for nine days and spend time with his family and friends before surrendering for the prison term. In approving this special break, the judge said Miller would automatically get hit with a 20-year prison sentence if he failed to turn himself in.

Ramsey said Miller, now a convicted felon, should qualify for a work release program that would let him provide financially for his wife and children. The West Palm Beach police narcotics investigation of Miller began at the end of 2014, court records show. That's when the cops said they got a tip from an informant that Miller was dealing under the street name "Red." Ramsey claims that although police reports say the informant first tipped off the cops about Miller, she believes the police decided to go after Miller and sought the informant's help. Police arranged for the informant to make heroin buys from Miller in January and February 2015, but follow-up attempts to have Miller deal with an undercover cop failed when Miller didn't play ball. The investigation of Miller resumed in February 2016 with another tip, records show.

Police arranged to have an officer pose as a heroin addict looking to buy narcotics from Miller, which led to a series of phone calls and transactions that summer, at.