The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office will be out in force next week guarding the safety of children returning to school.

School Resource Officers and School Crossing Guards will return to their posts Monday at schools throughout the Keys. In addition, Sheriff’s Office Traffic Enforcement deputies will patrol school zones in the county and will be watching to make sure everyone follows the rules of the road when it comes to school buses. Road Patrol deputies will also be spending any free time they have concentrating on areas surrounding schools and school bus stops. This means they will be writing tickets to anyone not obeying the speed limits in school zones or those illegally passing school buses, so keep that in mind and slow down.

Children should also remember: if you ride a bicycle to school, Florida law requires anyone under the age of 16 to wear a helmet. You may receive a $25.00 citation if you are caught riding without one. And remember, bicycles have to follow the same rules of the road as motor vehicles, so make sure you stop at stop signs, signal when you are going to turn, and if you are riding on a sidewalk, yield the right of way to pedestrians.

Anyone driving in the county next week should make an extra effort to watch out for students, who may not be paying attention to traffic in their excitement about returning to school. Be especially careful around residential neighborhoods, areas with bus stops, and around schools themselves.

A deputy interrupted a group of men stripping a boat of its engine and electronics after an alert neighbor reported suspicious activity on Ramrod Key early last Friday.

Just after midnight, Deputy John Gabay responded to St. Vincent Lane to check on a report that a boat was being stripped. When he arrived, he saw a truck with a boat on a trailer; it was backed in at a house on the street. Three or four men were on and around the boat. When they realized a deputy had arrived, they fled, jumping into a canal behind the house.

Further investigation revealed wires had been cut to the engine and the electronics had been removed from the center console. The owner, who was from Glades County, was staying at the Big Pine Fishing Lodge. He had left his boat tied up at the dock and was unaware it was missing.

A search of the area failed to turn up any of the suspects, but the truck and trailer left at the scene were seized. The investigation into the incident continues.

A traffic stop for a headlight that was out led to the arrest of a Hialeah man for drugs and a gun recently.

Deputy Evan Calhoun saw the Chevy Impala on MacDonald Avenue, Stock Island at 9:15 p.m. He saw the headlight was out, so he pulled it over. The driver, 23 year old Jesus Hernandez said he was aware it was out, but couldn’t afford to fix it. When he reached into a bag to get his license, Deputy Calhoun could see a large amount of cash in the bag. He asked Hernandez for permission to search the bag and Hernandez agreed. He found $1,000 in cash in the bag; he then asked Hernandez for permission to search the car, which Hernandez granted. The deputies found marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy in the car; under the driver’s side floor mat, and also found a loaded semi-automatic pistol.

Hernandez was arrested. He was charged with possession of marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and carrying a concealed firearm. He was booked into jail.

Monroe County Sheriff Bob Peryam will meet with community members county-wide in August to hear what they think about the Sheriff’s Office.

His purpose: to have an informal discussion with the public about the state of the Sheriff’s Office a year and a half into his first term as Sheriff.

• Marathon: Tuesday, August 17, at the Marathon Government Center from 6 – 8 p.m.
• Big Pine Key: Tuesday, August 24, at St. Peters Church from 6 – 8 p.m.
• Key West: August 31, at the Harvey Government Center from 6 – 8 p.m.

Sheriff’s detective needs help in finding a stolen traffic control light.

The light, valued at about $4,000, was stolen July 29 from the road construction project on Boca Chico Road, Big Coppitt Key. It is three feet tall, with an antenna mounted on the top, in new condition.

If anyone knows where this light might be, contact Detective Manny Cuervo at 305-292-7060 or call Crime Stoppers of the Florida Keys. Callers to Crime Stoppers may remain anonymous and will be eligible for a cash reward if their information leads to an arrest. The Crime Stoppers hot line number is 1-800-346-TIPS and tips can be submitted on line at www.tipsubmit.com.

Marathon statistics:

• Criminal Resource violations (notice to appear in court issued): 11
• Warnings issued: 23
• Vessel stops: 310
• Lower Keys statistics:
• Vessel Stops: 82
• Warnings: 28
• Citations: 3
• Boat ramp checks: 14

Crews continue to work on the widening of US 1 through Big Pine.

Several land closures and detours are expected during the course of the work.

If you must traverse Big Pine between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. be prepared for traffic delays as in-place flag men direct traffic around the construction crews.

You can dial 511 for traffic information.

In light of the hurricane season, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind everyone about Hurricane Re-entry issues in the event of an evacuation order in the Florida Keys.

Hurricane Re-entry decals, color coded for different areas of the Keys, are currently available at all Sheriff’s Office substations and the Sheriff’s Office Headquarters building on Stock Island. They are also available from all tag offices in the Keys, Key West City Hall, Islamorada City Hall and the Ocean Reef Public Safety Communications Center. The decals will be used to identify Monroe County residents at the re-entry point in Florida City after a storm has passed. The city of Key West is issuing its own decal, which will also be honored at the re-entry point in Florida City. A re-entry decal is meant to speed up the re-entry process, but is not mandatory to re-enter the Keys. If a person does not have a decal, he or she may also present a driver’s license with a Keys address, or some other proof of residency or proof of home or property ownership.

The hurricane re-entry stickers are orange in color for lower Keys residents (from Key West to the south end of the Seven Mile Bridge), blue for middle Keys residents (from the north end of the Seven Mile Bridge to the south end of the Long Key Bridge) and yellow for the upper Keys (from the north end of the Long Key Bridge to the county line, including Ocean Reef.

The Monroe County rumor control hot line number is 1-800-955-5504. When calling the rumor control number during or after a storm, however, residents need to be patient.

A Big Pine Key man was arrested Monday after fingerprints tied him to one burglary, and DNA tied him to another.

The two burglaries took place in April of 2009. According to Detective Diane Mimosa, 32 year old Michael Manning first broke into a house on Ixora Drive sometime between April 8 and April 9. He allegedly stole jewelry, cash and a couple of cameras from the home. He left behind fingerprints on the outside of the home’s sliding glass door. They were collected by Crime Scene Detective John Underwood and sent off to Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for comparison with their fingerprint database.

Between April 11 and April 12, Manning allegedly burglarized another home on Avenue G, Big Pine Key. According to Detective Mimosa, to get in, he broke a window; when he broke the window he cut himself leaving his blood behind. He took a laptop from the home. His blood was collected by Detective Underwood and sent off to FDLE for comparison to their DNA database.

Recently, the results from both the fingerprint and the DNA comparison returned from FDLE identifying Manning as the perpetrator of both burglaries. Warrants were issued for his arrest. The warrants were served Monday. He is currently in Monroe County jail.

Fire damaged Coco’s Cantina on Cudjoe Key overnight Sunday.

Deputy Peter Garcia was on patrol, northbound on U.S. One at 12:15 a.m. today when he saw smoke coming from Coco’s Cantina at the 21 mile marker of the highway. He called for firefighters and then evacuated two residents from an efficiency apartment in the rear of the building. Firefighters found the fire appeared to have originated in the rear of the building. There was no one inside. There was damage from smoke and heat throughout the building.

The State Fire Marshal responded and will be investigating the origins of the fire.