Chief Judge Mark Jones admitted this week that no court record exists for the hearing in September of 1999 at which Judge Sandra Taylor authorized the State Dept. of Children & Families (DCF) to take Nick and Carrie Nowatney's two young children, aged 1 and 3. The DCF's allegations of child abuse were subsequently shown to be false, but as a result of Judge Taylor's ruling, the children were held in three different foster homes for 200 days before Judge Jones threw the case out of court. And the Nowatneys were forced to incur more than $100,000 in legal expenses to clear their name and get their children back.
The Nowatneys say they were excluded from a portion of that hearing and that Judge Taylor refused to hear witnesses who were waiting outside her chambers to testify. Judge Jones said this week that the hearing was on a weekend and no court reporter was available. Judge Taylor has repeatedly refused to comment on any aspect of the hearing, including what evidence she heard that convinced her to allow the DCF to take the children.
At the trial last March, DCF Investigator Karla Buzzell admitted that she had conducted virtually no investigation before recommending to Judge Taylor that the children be taken. Immediately after Buzzell's testimony, Judge Jones stopped the trial and ruled for the parents, calling the state's case "insufficient."
Did Judge Taylor hear evidence not presented in Judge Jones' courtroom? She won't say. And
there's no court record.
A parasailer from Key Largo will attempt to break the Guiness Record for the longest and
highest non-stop parasail flight tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 14. The flight will begin in Key Largo on Saturday
morning and end here at the Schooner Wharf Bar in the afternoon, between 4 and 5. And, of course, a party
is planned.
World Record Parasail Flight Will End Here Saturday