Mark Kohl, who defeated 20-year incumbent State Attorney Kirk Zuelch last month, has hired
Ron Grimming, former director of the Florida Highway Patrol, as a special investigator. Grimmimg will
reportedly work on special cases and report directly to Kohl. Currently, Grimming is the director of the
School of Justice at Miami-Dade Community College. Kohl moves into the State Attorney's Office on Jan. 2.
Orin Opperman, one of the leaders of the Clean Up Stock Island campaign, says he plans to ask the County Commission to enact an "open container" law to give the Sheriff a tool to help clean out what Opperman calls "nests of vagrants who have set up camps around the island." But, he said, Sheriff Rick Roth apparently opposes that idea.
"This week, he sent two representatives to see me to ask me not to appear before the Commission on Jan. 17," Opperman said. "Instead of an open container law, he says he wants to try to encourage merchants not to sell alcoholic beverages to intoxicated people. Isn}t that sort of like asking Winn Dixie not to sell food to fat people?
Sheriff Roth did not respond to a request for comment.