Gonzo

My St. Johns Sun is looking for young writers to tell the story of what it's like to be a teen in northwest St. Johns County.

No experience is needed. You don't need to be an A student, but you must be able to meet deadlines and it wouldn't hurt if you could both speak and write conversational English.

What would you write about, you ask?

How about: What's going on at school? What are you and your friends into? What's important to people your age? What do you do for fun? Is there anything fun to do in St. Johns?

If you are — or you know — a young writer who would like to report on young people's issues for the Sun, please contact us.

In the wake of Barack Obama's speech yesterday in which he called for a new dialogue on race in the United States, we'd like to hear from you. 

Tell us about an experience that made you feel uncomfortable about race.

The Times-Union will publish the best answers later this week. For your answers to make the paper, we'll need to know a bit more about you than just your username — details like your age, race and gender, and contact info. Rather than post all that information on line, you can just send it in an e-mail to mark.pettus@jacksonville.com.  

A joint investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit ended with the seizure of 117 marijuana plants Wednesday night and the arrest of a Julington Creek Plantation resident.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Chuck Mulligan says a month-long investigation lead officers to a home in the 200 block of Hawthorn Hedge Lane, the site of the growing operation. Officers reported they could smell a distinct odor of marijuana coming from the house as they approached, and that when they contacted the resident, Pinto Nelson Duque, 34, he admitted he was growing marijuana.

Duque was arrested and charged with Cultivation of Marijuana and taken to the St. Johns County Jail.

Mulligan says the seized drugs have an estimated value of $117,000, and that investigators also seized $5,000 worth of chemicals, fertilizers and growing equipment.

Indoor pot cultivation is on the increase, Mulligan said, because better enforcement and improved investigative techniques are driving pot growers indoors. He cites the use of law enforcement aircraft and coordination with the FDLE and the Florida National Guard as a major factor in the reduction of outdoor marijuana cultivation.

St. Johns County Commission candidate Al Abbatiello hosted a media event last week and set out his platform for the coming election. 

At the meeting, which he hosted at the Julington Creek Plantation Community Development District Building on Davis Pond Boulevard, Abbatiello said he hoped to promote "scenic and historic St. Johns" as a tourist destination.

"People have referred to us as a bedroom community," he said, "But I think we have a lot more at stake."

Abbatiello is currently president of the William Bartram Scenic and Historic Highway Corridor Management Council, the group tasked with protecting and promoting the scenic highway (Florida 13) that parallels the St. Johns River, and also serves an elected supervisor on the board of the Julington Creek Plantation CDD.

We need your help. This week we are hunting the elusive apostrophe — you know, the one at the end of St. John's. Oh, that's right, there isn't one. Ever wonder why not?

For the next issue of My St. Johns Sun, we'll be focusing on the missing apostrophe, examples of it cropping up in places where perhaps it shouldn't, and the reasons why it is no longer part of the official names of either the river or the county.

If you know any amusing antecdotes about the apostrophe, or are versed in its history, please share them with us. If you or someone you know is a member of the grammar police and think the apostrophe needs to return, we'd love to hear from you.

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office issued the following release this morning:

A 20-year old St. Johns County man was arrested today on a charge of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer after being released from a Duval County hospital stemming from an incident involving a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer late Thursday evening.  The suspect, identified as Nicholas Arthur Kelco, 20, 2265 Marlee Rd. South, was booked into the Duval County Jail on a St. Johns County warrant with a bond of $100,000.

What do you think of the choices for the logos/graphics for the Creekside High School Knights?

Go to the schools web site:

www-ddd.stjohns.k12.fl.us/survey/

Cast your vote, then come back and tell us what you thought of the choices. Which is your favorite? Why? Is there a design you absolutely hate?

Let us know.

As part of a special story this week about the area schools' teachers of the year, I got whirlwind tour of the 12 schools that are zoned to serve students in northwest St. Johns County. I also got to see and talk to a lot of educators.

I didn't get to see Switzerland Point Principal Kyle Dresbeck. He wasn't at school the day I dropped by, but he had a good excuse:

Dresbeck was at the hospital with his wife (also a teacher) and his brand new daughter, who was born on Monday.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Dresbeck.

Britney Spears needs a lot of things: Better advice, possibly some psychiatric help, legal help, panties, parenting lessons, a new car ... 

But the top of the list of things she doesn't need should read: Help from Dr. Phil McGraw.

Brit's family asked McGraw to meet them at the hospital when she was released early after being involuntarily committed following a custody showdown between her and ex-hubby Kevin Federline.

After the medical doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center decided she shouldn't be held, McGraw went outside and essentially told the waiting media that the medicos were wrong and that Brit needed some serious care.

Now the Spears family has said he was out of line, but McGraw is sticking to his guns.

"Somebody needs to step up and get this young woman into some quality care — and I do not apologize one whit, not one second, for trying to make that happen," he told "Entertainment Tonight" on Monday.