VIA Email: pam.bondi@myfloridalegal.

com April 28, 2017

Attorney General Pam Bondi

Office of Attorney General
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050

Public Records Request. F.S. 119.07(1)(c) All public records requests shall be acknowledged
promptly and in good faith. Access to public records and meetings, Art. I, Sec. 24, Fla. Const.

Dear Attorney General Bondi:

The Ocala Star-Banner reported January 29, 2016, "Racial incident at West Port: 3 students face
discipline after taunts while waiving Confederate flags." (PDF attached).

Provide records for this hate crime against an African American student attending the West Port
High School, a public school in Marion County, Florida.

Provide the 2016 Hate Crimes in Florida Report for this hate crime required by the Hate Crimes
Reporting Act, section 877.19 Florida Statutes.

Thank you for the courtesy of a response.

Sincerely,

Neil J. Gillespie
8092 SW 115th Loop
Ocala, Florida 34481
Tel. 352-854-7807
Email: neilgillespie@mfi.net

Cc: Leslie Jacobs, Email: Leslie.Jacobs@myfloridalegal.com

Enclosures
http://www.ocala.com/news/20160129/racial-incident-at-west-port-3-students-face-discipline-after-taunts-while-waving-confederate-flags

Friday Posted Jan29,2016at5:20PM

By Joe CallahanStaff writer

Three West Port High School students who taunted classmates on Thursday by
waving Confederate flags during school will be disciplined, according to Marion
County School District officials.

West Port High School Principal Jayne Ellspermann said moments after the white
students two boys and a girl began taunting, an argument ensued and one
black female student threw a punch at the taunters. Within a few minutes,
teachers and the school's resource officer broke up the disturbance, which at that
point was almost entirely verbal.

Poor decisions of a few of our students led to this, said Ellspermann, adding
that she was pleased with the quick response from staff to keep things from
escalating.

Ellspermann, who was the nation's principal of the year in 2014, said social media
after the fact is now the biggest problem.

By late Thursday night, and all day Friday, posts on Facebook have portrayed the
incident as a race riot. School staff are looking into reports of related videos on
http://www.ocala.com/news/20160129/racial-incident-at-west-port-3-students-face-discipline-after-taunts-while-waving-confederate-flags

Facebook.

Ellspermann said that many more students, who are escalating the situation on
Facebook, will be disciplined by the time their investigation is completed.

Some people may argue that the students have freedom of speech when it comes
to Facebook postings, or even for waving the Confederate flags. The district says
that is not the case if those actions are causing a disruption at school.

For example: If an after-school Facebook post indicates that one person will do
harm to another student at school, the district can act and impose a suspension
because the actions could disrupt school.

Marion County Public Schools spokesman Kevin Christian said the flag-waving
students' prime objective was to disrupt school. And for that, they can be
disciplined.

It was a planned, calculated incident, Christian said. They were trying to solicit
a reaction.

One West Port High parent, Erika Boone, has a freshman attending the school.
She had heard rumors of race riots and called the Star-Banner. Once she was
contacted, she said she had since found out that the situation was handled
properly at West Port, but wished she would have known about it.

They should have called all the parents, said Boone, specifically talking about
the district's automated calling system.

The Ocala Police Department issued the female student who threw a punch a
citation in lieu of arrest, Christian said on Friday.

Joe Callahan can be reached at 867-4113 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com.

Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.
 http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0800-0899/0877/Sections/0877.19.html

Select Year:

The 2016 Florida Statutes

Title XLVI Chapter 877 View Entire Chapter

CRIMES MISCELLANEOUS CRIMES
877.19 Hate Crimes Reporting Act.
(1) SHORT TITLE.This section may be cited as the Hate Crimes Reporting Act.
(2) ACQUISITION AND PUBLICATION OF DATA.The Governor, through the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement, shall collect and disseminate data on incidents of criminal acts that evidence prejudice based on
race, religion, ethnicity, color, ancestry, sexual orientation, or national origin. All law enforcement agencies
shall report monthly to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concerning such offenses in such form and
in such manner as prescribed by rules adopted by the department. Such information shall be compiled by the
department and disseminated upon request to any local law enforcement agency, unit of local government, or
state agency.
(3) LIMITATION ON USE AND CONTENT OF DATA.Such information is confidential and exempt from s.
119.07(1). Data required pursuant to this section shall be used only for research or statistical purposes and
shall not include any information that may reveal the identity of an individual victim of a crime.
(4) ANNUAL SUMMARY.The Attorney General shall publish an annual summary of the data required
pursuant to this section.
History.s. 1, ch. 89-132; s. 2, ch. 91-83; s. 1, ch. 94-125; s. 432, ch. 96-406.

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Civil Rights

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