NICEVILLE — Curiosity, and not a need to win, has driven Kyle Saleeby’s approach to life.

Recognition for his hard work has come, but not because Kyle vied for it. In fact, it was a surprise to the 18-year-old with a passion for engineering and asking questions when the accolades came.

In addition to performing well at the regional, state and international science fairs through the years, and a recent nod from the governor for his work, the Niceville High School senior was also awarded a $100,000 scholarship last month for his project exploring the power of water.

“This year as a whole has been amazing,” Kyle said. “... I’m very happy and extremely grateful for what’s happened.”

See Kyle's reaction upon learning he'd won a $100,000 scholarship. >>

The series of events that led Kyle to where he is started in middle school while he was exploring his passion for diving in local waters with his father. In the years that followed, he developed a water wheel that uses tidal power to produce energy that gained almost as much attention as the teenager himself.

When Kyle stepped forward to participate in the science fair his freshman year, he was quickly noticed by Shawnea Tallman, who oversees the science fairs for Okaloosa County students.

“The thing that struck me was he was excited about what he was doing ... he wasn’t doing it because he had to,” Tallman said. “Kyle always seemed ready for a challenge.”

At home, Kyle said he frequently came up with concepts he wanted to explore and it was always his father, Charlie, who helped him determine their viability.

“My dad knows what’s feasible and what’s not,” Kyle said with a laugh.

More than once, Charlie asked Kyle to run a computer simulation of his idea before they pulled out the tools and built something. Sometimes the concept worked and other times it didn’t, but no matter what, both his father and his mother, Nancy, supported his enthusiasm.

“I can always bounce ideas off of them,” Kyle said.

Science isn’t Kyle’s sole passion, though. He has been active in Boy Scouts and recently earned his Eagle Scout rank by building and installing bat boxes at the Okaloosa STEMM Center in Valparaiso.

He also played the French horn in band and participated in Niceville’s  Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas (NaGISA) program.

Kyle never went on a trip with NaGISA, but he willingly helped coordinate them.

As to the future, Kyle said he’s open to possibilities. The plan, for now, is to get the engineering degree at MIT and then head down to Vanderbilt University and enroll in medical school. He might go on to work in an emergency room or get into building medical equipment.

“He’s got the science skills, but he’s got people skills and a heart for service,” Tallman said. “I just think there’s a bright future for him.”

For Kyle’s part, he said if this is the best year of his life, that’s fine with him. It was a fun ride. If even more amazing moments are yet to come, that’s all the better.

“I’m just kind of waiting to see where life takes me,” he said.
 

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.

OKALOOSA ISLAND—Visitors hoping to brave the ropes course at Wild Willy’s Adventure Zone this summer will have to wait until next spring.

Kono Concepts, the Destin firm developing the amusement park, has delayed its opening until February 2014.

Crews have been working at the park, which was previously scheduled to open by the start of this year’s summer tourist season.

“Throughout the course of development we decided to incorporate a number of additional improvements to the old Lost Lagoon property, resulting in a later opening date,” said Blake Rogers, director of business development.

Read the lease agreement. >>

He said the company has incorporated a greater number of special effects, “making the miniature golf (course) more interactive.”

“Customers will be excited once they see some of the new state-of-the-art effects we will be implementing,” he said.

Rogers said the company “did not want to sacrifice quality in an effort”  to rush an opening this season.

“Ultimately, the long-term benefit will outweigh the loss of this season and we feel customers will appreciate it more,” he said.

Wild Willy’s should open to the public in mid-February 2014 followed by a grand opening celebration in March to kick off the spring break season.

Wild Willy’s sits on a 2.8-acre lot within the old Island Golf Center property, now a 35-acre county-owned park that sits between Santa Rosa Sound and U.S. Highway 98. The Gulf Coast Marine Life Center, a fish hatchery and educational facility backed by the Destin-based nonprofit AquaGreen, will be built on 4.5 acres adjacent to Wild Willy’s.

Okaloosa County has leased the property to AquaGreen and Dominion Capital to generate revenue that will be used to maintain the park, which has been left primarily natural.

Under the leases, Wild Willy’s must open the park by August 2014.

“We have hired a few full-time employees to assist with development,” Rogers said. “We will be hiring around 70 to 80 employees in February to kick (off) the spring.”

Okaloosa County Growth Management Director Elliot Kampert said he understands the delay.

“Of course, we’d like to see them open as soon as they can, but that’s their business plan,” he said. “I know they’ve got stuff they’ve got to take care of. We’ll work with them.”

Wild Willy’s will feature a 3,980-square-foot restaurant and a yogurt kiosk and a wide range of attractions including a ropes course, laser maze and shooting gallery, a fossil mining area, dinosaur park and a bungee trampoline.

“Stay tuned for more updates as we unveil our state-of-the-art effects,” Rogers said. “People are sure to see them rolling into town in the next few months.”

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.

Editor's Note: This series recognizes people who make a difference in their communities. To nominate someone, call Wendy Victora at 315-4478 or email wvictora@nwfdailynews.com.

It’s been nearly 40 years since Harry Fortenberry began leaving his mark on the world, one bowler at a time. 

The Fort Walton Beach man started teaching kids to bowl in 1976, back when his children were young.

Since then, his children have grown up and had children, who learned to bowl from their grandfather.

Now they have moved on to other sports, but Fortenberry is still at White Sands Bowling Center most Saturday mornings working with other people’s children.

Some are young first-time bowlers, while others are adult athletes with Special Olympics.

“I just love doing stuff,” says Fortenberry. “You’re giving something back to the community and hopefully I’m making a difference in somebody’s life.”

He is one of 11 coaches for the White Sands youth league.

“Bowling takes a back seat to soccer and Little League,” he says. “But we just keep hanging in there.”

Later this month, he will travel with a group of 18 local bowlers to a state tournament.

“As long as my health allows it and I still enjoy it, no signs of retirement for me anytime soon,” he says.

Contact Daily News Assignment Editor Wendy Victora at 850-315-4478 or wvictora@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @WendyVnwfdn.

Local law enforcement is asking the public to be skeptical of easy money.

The premise of scams has not changed over the years, said Ashley Bailey, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office crime prevention specialist.

“People need to be wary and remember nothing in this life is free,” Bailey said.

Walton County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Specialist Danny Garner said all of the scams are based on greed.

“(Scammers) are hoping for greed and they have greed on their side,” Garner said.

In one common con, the scammer overpays the victim for a product or service and then asks them to pay the difference, Bailey said. When the check bounces, the victim is stuck paying the bank back for the money they sent.

Many banks will process a check without connecting it to your account, Bailey said, enabling you to ensure funds are available before you start spending them. Banks usually charge a fee for this service, but the fee is small compared to the money you could be out from this scam, she added.

In what law enforcement have nicknamed the “granny scams,” scammers contact the elderly and try to convince them a loved one is in jail and needs bail money. The victim sends the money, only to learn their loved one is OK.

“Don’t get intimidated by phone calls,” Garner advised. “If you are, call us; we will call these people.”

Scammers also send letters that appear to be from your bank or credit card company, Bailey said. They ask the recipients to update their information. Bailey recommended contacting the bank directly to ensure the letter’s validity. 

Destroy all “junk” mail to ensure no one gets hold of any applications or personal information, Garner recommended. Make sure any medical forms or cards are destroyed as well; many have the bearer’s Social Security number on them.

“Treat your Social Security number like it’s gold,” Garner said.

Simply locking a car door or taking your personal information like military IDs or car registration can prevent identity theft, Bailey said.

Prosecuting scammers can be difficult, especially those involved in Internet scams, Garner said. Many live overseas.

Millions of scams are sent via email, phone, or mail every day, Garner said. Even if just 1 percent of the emails result in a payoff, a con artist has been successful.

“Their whole job is to scam people,” Garner said.

If you are a victim of a scam, call law enforcement, Garner said. Many people become embarrassed after being scammed, but he said there’s no need to be.

“We don’t judge, we just want to help,” Garner said.

By alerting the authorities to a scam in the area, victims help others not become victims as well, Bailey said.

The No. 1 thing to remember when receiving a sudden influx of money or apparent crisis is to take your time, Garner said. Do your research, and if you have qualms about a situation, contact law enforcement.

“If you think it’s suspicious, we’ll think it’s suspicious, too,” Garner said.

Numbers to know: 
Call the Walton County Sheriff’s Office at 892-1111 with any scam questions. Call the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office scam hotline at 651-7674. In Santa Rosa County, call the Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Unit at 983-1236.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Delgado at 850-315-4445 or ldelgado@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenDnwfdn.

WASHINGTON — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for police to take a DNA swab from anyone they arrest for a serious crime, endorsing a practice now followed by more than half the states as well as the federal government.

The justices differed strikingly on how big a step that was.

"Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court's five-justice majority. The ruling backed a Maryland law allowing DNA swabbing of people arrested for serious crimes.

But the four dissenting justices said the court was allowing a major change in police powers, with conservative Justice Antonin Scalia predicting the limitation to "serious" crimes would not last.

"Make no mistake about it: Because of today's decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason," Scalia said in a sharp dissent which he read aloud in the courtroom. "This will solve some extra crimes, to be sure. But so would taking your DNA when you fly on an airplane — surely the TSA must know the 'identity' of the flying public. For that matter, so would taking your children's DNA when they start public school."

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler agreed that there's nothing stopping his state from expanding DNA collection from those arrested for serious crimes to those arrested for lesser ones like shoplifting.

"I don't advocate expanding the crimes for which you take DNA, but the legal analysis would be the same," Gansler said. "The reason why Maryland chooses to only take DNA of violent criminals is that you're more likely to get a hit on a previous case. Shoplifters don't leave DNA behind, rapists do, and so you're much more likely to get the hit in a rape case."

Twenty-eight states and the federal government now take DNA swabs after arrests. But a Maryland court said it was illegal for that state to take Alonzo King's DNA without approval from a judge, ruling that King had "a sufficiently weighty and reasonable expectation of privacy against warrantless, suspicionless searches" under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The high court's decision reverses that ruling and reinstates King's rape conviction, which came after police took his DNA during an unrelated arrest.

Kennedy, who is often considered the court's swing vote, wrote the decision along with conservative-leaning Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. They were joined by liberal-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer, while the dissenters were the conservative-leaning Scalia and liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Kennedy called collecting DNA useful for police in identifying individuals.

"The use of DNA for identification is no different than matching an arrestee's face to a wanted poster of a previously unidentified suspect, or matching tattoos to known gang symbols to reveal a criminal affiliation, or matching the arrestee's fingerprints to those recovered from a crime scene," Kennedy said. "DNA is another metric of identification used to connect the arrestee with his or her public persona, as reflected in records of his or her actions that are available to police."

But the American Civil Liberties Union said the court's ruling created "a gaping new exception to the Fourth Amendment."

"The Fourth Amendment has long been understood to mean that the police cannot search for evidence of a crime — and all nine justices agreed that DNA testing is a search — without individualized suspicion," said Steven R. Shapiro, the group's legal director. "Today's decision eliminates that crucial safeguard. At the same time, it's important to recognize that other state laws on DNA testing are even broader than Maryland's and may present issues that were not resolved by today's ruling."

Maryland's DNA collection law only allows police to take DNA from those arrested for serious offenses such as murder, rape, assault, burglary and other crimes of violence. In his ruling, Kennedy did not say whether the court's decision was limited to those crimes, but he did note that other states' DNA collection laws differ from Maryland's.

Scalia saw that as a crucial flaw. "If you believe that a DNA search will identify someone arrested for bank robbery, you must believe that it will identify someone arrested for running a red light," he said.

Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, cheered the decision and called DNA collection "a detective's most valuable tool in solving rape cases."

"We're very pleased that the court recognized the importance of DNA and decided that, like fingerprints, it can be collected from arrestees without violating any privacy rights," he said. "Out of every 100 rapes in this country, only three rapists will spend a day behind bars. To make matters worse, rapists tend to be serial criminals, so every one left on the streets is likely to commit still more attacks. DNA is a tool we could not afford to lose."

Getting DNA swabs from criminals is common. All 50 states and the federal government take cheek swabs from convicted criminals to check against federal and state databanks, with the court's blessing. The fight at the Supreme Court was over whether that DNA collection could come before conviction and without a judge issuing a warrant.

According to court documents, the FBI's Combined DNA Index System or CODIS — a coordinated system of federal, state and local databases of DNA profiles — already contains more than 10 million criminal profiles and 1.1 million profiles of those arrested. According to the FBI, the DNA samples from people whose charges have been dismissed, who have been acquitted or against whom no charges have been brought are to be expunged from the federal system. But states and other municipalities that collect DNA make their own rules about what happens to their collections.quot;

Maryland's DNA collection law only allows police to take DNA from those arrested for serious offenses such as murder, rape, assault, burglary and other crimes of violence. In his ruling, Kennedy did not say whether the court's decision was limited to those crimes, but he did note that other states' DNA collection laws differ from Maryland's.

Scalia saw that as a crucial flaw.

Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, cheered the decision and called DNA collection &

&

Getting DNA swabs from criminals is common. All 50 states and the federal government take cheek swabs from convicted criminals to check against federal and state databanks, with the court's blessing. The fight at the Supreme Court was over whether that DNA collection could come before conviction and without a judge issuing a warrant.

According to court documents, the FBI's Combined DNA Index System or CODIS — a

In the case before the court, a 53-year-old woman was raped and robbed but no one was arrested. Almost six years later, Alonzo King was arrested and charged with felony second-degree assault in a separate case. Relying on the Maryland law that allows warrantless DNA tests following some felony arrests, police took a cheek swab of King's DNA, which matc

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Police officers are investigating a burglary at the Walton County Chamber of Commerce offices over the weekend.

Employees arrived at the Chautauqua Building on Baldwin Avenue Monday morning and found someone had forced their way through the rear doors of the building, according to the DeFuniak Springs Police Department.

Once inside, the intruder then busted the hinges of the door leading to the chamber’s offices.

Desk drawers and other furniture were rummaged through and a small amount of money, a digital camera and some cold medication were stolen, police reported.

Damage to the interior door is estimated at $50, according to police. The rear door to the building suffered negligible damage.

Officers were continuing to investigate the burglary Monday night. They did not have a suspect or suspects in the crime.

FORT WALTON BEACH — A 59-year-old man who is a registered sex offender was arrested Friday and charged with exposing himself to two girls, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

The man, Alvarez Moreno, was classified as a sexual offender in 1997 after he was convicted of performing lewd and lascivious acts in front of a child in Okaloosa County. He lives on Mayflower Avenue in Fort Walton Beach.

The girls, age 12 and 13, told investigators Moreno pulled down his pants and touched his genitals in front of them on May 24 while he was sitting in a rolling chair in the doorway of a home on Winter Park Court, the Sheriff’s Office reported. They said several times during the day he also walked past them on the street and grabbed or rubbed his genitals.

Moreno was charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition in the presence of a victim under the age of 16.

He was being held in the Okaloosa County Jail on $10,000 bond on Monday.

CARYVILLE — Morrison Springs remained closed to swimming Monday awaiting results from a water test.

The springs were closed over the weekend after samples taken May 29 and 30 indicated a high fecal bacteria count.

Samples were taken again Monday and results should be available by Tuesday afternoon, according to the Walton County Health Department.

The park remains open, but swimming is not allowed.

SANTA ROSA BEACH — A 25-year-old woman was arrested and charged with drunk driving after she hit two cars on U.S. Highway 331 on Monday night.

Allison Timmons, who lives in DeFuniak Springs, was driving north on U.S. 331 just past Chat Holly Road about 8:20 p.m., according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Traffic was stopped in front of her due to construction on the Clyde B. Wells bridge over Choctawhatchee Bay.

Timmons failed to see the cars in front of her even though the construction area had advance warning and lights were placed near the person who was flagging and directing traffic, the FHP reported.

Timmons' pick-up truck hit the back of a sport utility vehicle driven by Darcy Hall, a 39-year-old from Freeport. Hall's SUV was pushed out of the northbound lane, across the southbound lane and onto the gravel shoulder on the west side of the road.

Timmons then went on to hit the back of a car that had been stopped in front of Hall's SUV.

Hall and her seven-year-old daughter, who was properly restrained in the back of the car, were taken to Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast for precautionary measures, according to the FHP.

No other injuries were reported.

Timmons was arrested and charged with driving under the influence with property damage, having an open container and failing to carry a driver's license, the FHP reported.

The Memorial Day weekend at Navarre Beach was as beautiful as ever — great weather, beautiful beaches and tons of fun.
Our family has had a house at Navarre Beach since 1971, so it’s safe to say we have a lot of positive emotion invested in the community. However, the traffic leaving Gulf Boulevard on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 25 and 26, was appalling. Our home is 1.5 miles west of the four-way stop (by Tom Thumb), and it took me more than 90 minutes to get off the island onto U.S. Highway 98 about 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
I saw a policeman Sunday morning and stopped him to ask what could be done about traffic that afternoon, as it looked like it would be bad again. He replied that there were no funds to dedicate a police officer on U.S. 98 or at the four-way stop.
I witnessed plenty of frustrated visitors waiting in the traffic and wondering what in the world was going on. Surely among them were some tourists who were left with a bad taste in their mouths, or potential property owners who said to heck with Navarre as a future second home community.
Yes, lots of tourists spending money is what we all desire. But I don’t think May 25 and 26 were Navarre’s finest hours as it relates to traffic flow and having a welcoming attitude to frustrated tourists.
Despite the traffic snarl, Navarre Beach is still one of the best-kept secrets in America.
Cheers!

— TOM LUCKIE
Navarre Beach
 

Aversion therapy is a process used to deter people from engaging in self-destructive habits by subjecting them to painful sensations whenever they do — say, giving them an electric shock when they light a cigarette or take a drink. The idea is that soon they will learn that these once-pleasurable pastimes are something to avoid.
We have all had years of aversion therapy for our addiction to military intervention. But it’s had a strange effect on John McCain: The worse it hurts, the more he wants to keep doing it. The American public may be weary after more than a dozen years of nonstop war, but McCain is eager to wade into a new fight in Syria.
He was there on Memorial Day, having sneaked in to meet rebels fighting the government of Bashar Assad. The trip was obviously intended to put pressure on President Obama, who has so far resisted demands from McCain and other Republicans to help the insurgency with air power and weapons.
Why anything McCain does should influence Obama is a mystery. The endorsement of the Syrian rebels comes from the wise mind that thought Sarah Palin should be one heartbeat away from the nuclear codes. It was no secret in 2008 that McCain would be more apt than Obama to launch random invasions of countries Palin couldn’t find on a map. For some reason, the American people opted for Obama.
But the president seems open to the idea that his opponent was right. He reportedly has ordered the Defense Department to draft a plan to impose a no-fly zone over Syria. That sounds neat, safe and antiseptic. But it means going to war, a momentous enterprise that rarely goes as planned.
American military intervention over the past 12 years has been a trail of tears, littered with pulverized buildings, dead bodies and piles of burning cash. We have a reverse Midas touch: Every success turns to failure.
Remember when President George W. Bush mounted a military surge to stave off defeat in Iraq? Foreign policy hawks regard that as his greatest achievement. But today the country is sliding toward civil war. April was the deadliest month in nearly five years, with 712 people killed, and May was nearly as bad. Some 66 people died in bombings on just one day, May 27, bringing the month’s fatalities to more than 500.
Afghanistan is no place to find reasons for hope. Our allies in the Afghan army are distrustful of us, often hostile and generally substandard in performance. Last year, “insider” attacks by supposedly friendly Afghan security personnel killed 61 troops from the U.S.-led coalition forces.
We have been there since 2001 and there is no happy resolution in sight. The former top commander in Afghanistan, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, says that “there’s going to be an international military presence in Afghanistan for a long time.”
Libya looked like the mission that finally changed our luck: We unleashed air power, toppled the regime of Moammar Gadhafi and made a brisk exit. But things haven’t gone quite as swimmingly as we had hoped. Maybe you’ve heard of Benghazi?
That disaster may be the least of our troubles. The Daily Beast reports that the upheaval in Libya has been a boon to al-Qaida: “Libya has now become the main base of the terror group in the region, heightening the instability of what is already a volatile country.”
If we still can’t make these countries right, why do we assume we’ll do better in Syria? It could easily turn out worse. McCain says U.S. ground troops won’t be needed, but what if we take on Assad and he survives? Once we commit to his removal, interventionists will demand that we expand the fight rather than abandon it.
And what if a limited intervention does work? Our reward could be a government worse than the current dictatorship. One of the chief rebel factions is publicly affiliated with al-Qaida — and others are equally extreme in outlook. U.S. intervention may deliver victory to people we wouldn’t dream of letting through a TSA checkpoint.
If we go to war in Syria, it will be without any real assurance of what it will take, how long it will last, how many lives we’ll lose and what the outcome will be. But if the past is any guide, we’ll do it, and we’ll be sorry we did.

--

Steve Chapman blogs daily at newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/steve—chapman.
 

Only two of Walton County’s commissioners sat through last Tuesday’s entire presentation by Art Miller of the Institute of Senior Professionals, who was there to brief county officials on ways to improve economic development. The other commissioners seemed only politely interested.
Let’s hope their interest runs deeper. Mr. Miller offered useful criticism and worthwhile advice.
The Institute of Senior Professionals is based at Northwest Florida State College. Its analysis — officially the Walton County Economic Development Alliance Strategic Plan 2013 — was provided to the county at no charge.
The strategic plan pointed out what Mr. Miller called “glaring weaknesses” in the county’s efforts to recruit businesses and encourage business expansion. Walton suffers from a “lack of creative and strategic thinking,” it said, and has a “slow and uncompetitive county permitting process.”
The county also is saddled with a limited pool of labor and an us-vs.-them mentality between its northern and southern sections.
But the plan did more than list Walton’s shortcomings. It recommended beefed-up funding and staffing for the county’s economic development team, the setting of clear goals, and perhaps partnering with an economic development agency in a neighboring county.
Mr. Miller also suggested the commissioners push for smaller, sustained growth rather than try to land a big company.
At this point, some taxpayers might wonder why county government is even involved in business recruitment. It’s involved because many factors that business owners weigh in deciding where to locate — factors such as property taxes, regulations and permits — are controlled by government. It’s up to government to make these elements more attractive to potential entrepreneurs.
And, of course, there’s this: Other county governments are busily recruiting businesses. If Walton County doesn’t, the jobs will go elsewhere.
Walton officials have been given some carefully thought-out advice. They should pay attention.
 

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A judge on Tuesday accepted James Holmes' plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, setting the stage for a lengthy mental evaluation of the Colorado theater shooting suspect.

The court clerk placed a written advisory of the ground rules of the plea before Holmes so he could examine it as Judge Carlos Samour Jr. read through all 18 points.

When Samour asked if he had any questions, Holmes replied no. Samour then accepted the plea.

"I find Mr. Holmes understands the effects and consequences of the not guilty by reason of insanity plea," the judge said. "He was looking at the advisement and appeared to be following along."

Holmes is accused of opening fire in a packed Denver-area movie theater last summer, killing 12 people and injuring 70. He is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Holmes' lawyers repeatedly have said he is mentally ill, but they delayed the insanity plea while arguing state laws were unconstitutional. They said the laws could hobble the defense if Holmes' case should ever reach the phase where the jury decides if he should be executed.

The judge rejected that argument last week.

Hundreds of people were watching a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at the Aurora theater when the shooting occurred July 20.

The dead included a Navy veteran who threw himself in front of his friends to shield them, an aspiring sports journalist who had survived a mall shooting just two months earlier, and a 6-year-old girl.

Prosecutors say Holmes spent months buying weapons, ammunition and materials for explosives and scouted the theater in advance. He donned police-style body armor, tossed a gas canister into the seats and opened fire, they say.

The insanity plea is widely seen as Holmes' best chance of avoiding execution, and possibly his only chance, given the weight of the evidence against him.

But his lawyers delayed it for weeks, saying Colorado's laws on the insanity plea and the death penalty could work in combination to violate his constitutional rights.

The laws state that if Holmes does not cooperate with doctors conducting a mandatory mental evaluation, he would lose the right to call expert witnesses to testify about his sanity during the penalty phase of his trial. Defense lawyers argued that is an unconstitutional restriction on his right to build a defense. They also contended the law doesn't define cooperation.

Samour rejected those arguments last week and said the laws are constitutional.

The next step is an evaluation of Holmes by state doctors to determine whether he was insane at the time of the shootings. That could take months.

Colorado law defines insanity as the inability to distinguish right from wrong caused by a diseased or defective mind.

If jurors find Holmes not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be committed indefinitely to the state mental hospital. He could eventually be released if doctors find his sanity has been restored, but that is considered unlikely.

If jurors convict him, the next step is the penalty phase, during which both sides call witnesses to testify about factors that could affect why Holmes should or shouldn't be executed.

The jury would then decide whether Holmes should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

If jurors impose the death penalty, it would trigger court appeals and open other possibilities that would take years to resolve.

NICEVILLE — The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is trying to find a possible witness in the death of a Fort Walton Beach woman whose body was found floating in Rocky Bayou in April.

Investigators have video surveillance of a light-colored pickup truck that was in the area where 30-year-old Misty Medrano’s body was found by a passer-by at the end of 11th Street in Niceville.

View surveillance footage of the truck >>

Medrano is believed to have been in the water for 12 to 24 hours before she was discovered.

Officials think the pickup’s driver was fishing or kayaking in the bayou late April 13 or early April 14.

Medrano’s body was found about 7 a.m. April 14. Officials do not believe foul play was involved.

READ MORE:

Woman's body found in Rocky Bayou

Police release sketch of woman found in Bayou

Officials identify woman found in Rocky Bayou

Officials continue to seek ID of woman found in Rocky Bayou

Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michele Nicholson said investigators still are waiting on Medrano’s toxicology report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

“The main point is that we’re trying to conduct a thorough investigation on the death of Misty Medrano,” Nicholson. “We don’t know if people even have a clue we’re looking for them. We wanted to get the location out there and, hopefully, they may have heard something.

“We’re trying to determine what happened to her and how she ended up in the water. This person may have heard or seen something.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 609-2000 or Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers at 863-TIPS.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.

DESTIN — A 44-year-old man was arrested Monday after he was accused of pointing a shotgun at his roommates and threatening to kill them.

Alfred George Price was at his home on Indian Trail when he allegedly threatened his two roommates, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

The roommates told deputies they fled from the apartment and yelled and stomped on the floor to alert neighbors. The noise prompted neighbors to call law enforcement.

Deputies found a 12-guage shotgun and a Glock .22 handgun in Price’s room.

He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and violation of a domestic violation injunction for possession a firearm.

He is scheduled to appear in court July 9.

FORT WALTON BEACH — A Shalimar man was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon Monday after he shot a gun inside an apartment on Eglin Street, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Enrique Jamah Hill, 32, is accused of waving a shotgun outside of the apartment where his girlfriend was talking to neighbors. Hill’s girlfriend said he had been drinking throughout the day, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

After waving the gun outside, Hill went back in the apartment and fired it, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies found a hole in the top of a dresser inside a bedroom closet and another hole in a flat-screen television found in the bathtub.

They found the shotgun between mattresses in the bedroom.

Hill is scheduled to appear in court July 9.

MARY ESTHER — A 28-year-old man is accused of firing a gun inside a condominium at The Cedars while intoxicated, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Joseph Ryan Dobson’s fiancée told deputies the Fort Walton Beach man pointed the gun at her and a friend early Tuesday after watching a documentary on Adolf Hitler. Dobson then pointed the gun at the ceiling and fired two shots.

 Deputies found Dobson highly intoxicated on the bathroom floor.

He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and discharging a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.

He is scheduled to appear in court July 9.

FORT WALTON BEACH – A man was spotted rummaging through the contents of a car and was later arrested for burglary, lawmen report.

Early in the morning of May 25, a neighbor at a Memorial Parkway residence stepped outside to let the family dogs out. She later told Fort Walton Beach Police she saw a man walk past her yard and enter a neighbor’s vehicle. Using a flashlight, the person went through the vehicle’s contents until the dogs started barking at him.

Meanwhile, the woman went back inside and told her husband what was happening. When he tried to confront the man, the man fled.

The victim was awakened and told what was going on. She said she’d been having problems with a man who fitted her neighbors’ description peering through the windows late at night. She said she’d reported this to police multiple times.

Officers found the man, identified as 32-year-old Michael Ishaq Powell, walking along Coral Drive. He was positively identified by one of the witnesses.

Powell was charged with burglary to a vehicle at the felony level. His court date is July 9.

Two homeless men are under arrest in separate incidents reported by the Crestview and Fort Walton Beach police departments.

On May 23 a Crestview Police officer went to the Publix grocery store on Ferdon Boulevard after being told employees had detained a man for stealing groceries. As the officer entered the store, the man fled through the exit. The officer recognized him and ordered him to stop, but the man merely looked back over his shoulder and continued running.

The man ran into a wooded area behind the store and was eventually captured near the intersection of Goodwin Avenue and Brookmeade Drive.

He was identified as Mark Anthony Brooks, 49, no address listed.

He was eventually charged with obstruction without violence, resisting a merchant in the recovery of stolen property, petit theft, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, and trafficking.

His court date is June 11.

Meanwhile, in Fort Walton Beach, police were called to a convenience store on May 28 after a manager said a homeless man was in the parking lot asking customers for money.

The man had been issued a trespass warning for the Dodge Store on Eglin Parkway on May 27. The manager showed officers a photo he took with his phone of the man standing by the store Dumpster.

The man, who is 58 and had no listed address, was charged with trespass after warning.

His court date is June 18.

The Teacher Education Department at Northwest Florida State College recently held a pinning ceremony to recognize the 18 students who completed the Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education degree and two students who completed the Bachelor of Science in Middle Grades Mathematics degree during the Spring term.

Graduates of the Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education program have successfully completed professional certification exams, including Elementary Education K-6 and are Reading and ESOL endorsed. Graduates of the Bachelor of Science in Middle Grades Math program have successfully completed professional certification exams, including the subject area exam for Middle Grade Mathematics Grades 5-9.

The NWFSC Teacher Education Department initiated the pinning ceremony in Fall 2010. The teacher education pin symbolizes the graduate’s steadfast commitment to both learners and the profession. Held in the college’s Tyler Recital Hall, the pinning ceremony recognized graduates, college faculty and staff, supervising classroom teachers, family, and friends for their guidance, support and encouragement throughout the program. Graduates Steven Turner, Alex Infinger, Amelia Cantu and Jeannine Abadie delivered commencement speeches to their peers. A small reception followed.

Spring Graduates 2013

Bachelor of Science in Education, Elementary Education

BAKER: Amber Meeks;

CRESTVIEW: Mary Brown, Asheigh Moore, Steven Turner, Courtney Luke;

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS: Amy Davis, Alex Infinger, Nyssa Williams;

FORT WALTON BEACH:  Michael Buckley, Trish Buckley, Heather Mims;

EGLIN AFB: Amelia Cantu;

NICEVILLE: Kala Blackmon, Nakara Belivea, Rachel Fuller, Caitlyn Williams;

PAXTON: Olivia Hamilton;

SHALIMAR: Jessica Means.

Bachelor of Science in Education, Middle Grades Mathematics

CRESTVIEW: Felycia Chatman;

SANTA ROSA BEACH: Jeannine Abadie.