The event, produced by Bobby Rodriguez Productions, features entertainment from hundreds of performers on 12 stages, mounted performers jousting on horseback, sword fighters, minstrels, magicians, wenches, and over 100 merchants and artisans demonstrating and selling their wares, including blown glass, hammered pewter, wooden toys, unique pottery, and clothing.

Barry Feinstein and David Gilmore were at home watching television when a fire broke out that quickly spread to the carport of their Northwest 28 Court house. A car that was parked in the structure also caught fire, causing a loud explosion which alerted the couple to the blaze, which also struck a nearby tree and fence.

Feinstein, 63, and Gilmore, 60—a couple for more than three decades—were awaiting the arrival of out-of-town friends when the fire started at around 12:50 a.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation, with the findings expected in up to several weeks.

Brian Denby is charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 15 years old, and two counts of lewd or lascivious exhibition. Police had circulated an artist’s rendering of their suspect, which was posted around the community

Wilton Manors Police Sgt. Charles Howard told reporters that Denby encountered the teens sometime after 3 a.m. on January 7, after approaching the Kids in Distress facility. After talking with the underage victims, Denby jumped the fence and proceeded to perform sexual acts with two of the teens.

Surveillance cameras at Kids in Distress captured images of the man Howard identified as Denby walking near the shelter’s entrance, stopping to talk to the teens. Detectives say that witnesses reported him jumping the fence, and performing sexual acts with the two girls in the open.

The victims and witnesses did not inform shelter officials about the assaults until days later. Administrators alerted police once they were aware of the crimes. Howard said.

Kids in Distress serves approximately 10,000 children each year; many of them are homeless or the victims of neglect and abuse.

The victims, who were described as being in their early teens, are receiving counseling in a different care facility.

Howard told the Agenda that at least four other children witnessed the assaults. Investigators received an anonymous tip on Friday from someone who knows Denby. The informant told police that Denby had bragged about his assault upon the teens.

Detectives learned that their suspect was on a weekend cruise that had left the Port of Miami on Friday. When the ship docked on Monday morning, federal agents and Wilton Manors police were waiting for him.

Last week, administrators fired two child care workers who worked during the overnight shift for negligence in failing to keep tabs on the teenagers during the incident. Officials with the shelter say that because it is not a lock-down facility, the teens had access to the environs outside their living accommodations.  Nevertheless, the overnight care personnel should have been aware of the presence of a predator and been able to respond accordingly.

WILTON MANORS — What Boyd Corbin says what started as a joke has turned into anything but.

Corbin has been charged by the Broward State Attorney’s Office for an alleged Halloween assault on at Georgie’s Alibi on Michael Walters, who emcees at the popular nightclub under the professional name Florida’s Dame Edna.

Corbin, who was decked in KKK a outfit complete with a tiki torch, wooden cross and a sign that read “Stop the race war against whites: Vote for Romney,” has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery. If convicted on both charges, Corbin could be sentenced to a minimum of five years.

Corbin was arrested on Nov. 12 and has been out on bail ever since.

“I’m taking this deadly serious,” he told the Agenda.

But on Halloween night, he says he was just having a little fun and being ironic.

“Hey, it’s a joke. I’m a hundred percent Democrat and I support Obama.”

Walters, according to a Wilton Manors Police Department report, accuses Corbin of trying to light him on fire with the tiki torch. Walters also accuses Corbin of grabbing his wig and pulling Walters off the three-foot stage upon which he was hosting Alibi’s costume contest.

Walters declined to be interviewed but said in a statement that he sustained a leg injury “that hinders my daily life and my ability to do my job. I know little or nothing about Mr. Corbin and I have only seen him on the evening in question as he was assaulting me. I believe it’s only fair that the police investigate this matter and that the responsible party face[s] some sort of consequence for his wrongdoing. I’m thankful to the Wilton Manors Police Department for their swift and careful assistance.”

According to Corbin, Walters told him to put his torch out and then blew it out himself. After that, he says, Walters grabbed the torch and started “crushing” it. “I let him grab it. I didn’t move it at all,” said Corbin, who claims that he is the one who was assaulted.

“I stepped back and pulled harder. Instead of releasing my tiki torch, he stepped down off the stage and knocked my hat off. I pulled his wig off with two fingers and threw it on the floor.”

After that, Corbin says that Walters punched him, scratching his nose with one of his sharp rings. “I couldn’t back up any more so I pushed him with my left hand and he fell down for the first time. He was wearing high heels. He stood up and kicked me in the groin with his right leg. I blocked most of that kick and caught his knee with my left hand, and he fell down a second time.”

To represent him, Corbin has hired Fort Lauderdale attorney Thomas Morse and is urging anyone who saw the incident between him and Walters to contact him at (321) 278-1718, or his attorney at (954) 522-3205.

Trantalis and Rodstrom finished ahead of Chuck Black and Lester Zalewski in a special election that drew fewer than 2,500 voters.

The road to the runoff between Rodstrom and Trantalis began when the latter, an LGBT rights advocate and attorney with a practice based in Wilton Manors, left the District 2 seat after serving a single term from 2003 to 2006.

Rodstrom succeeded Trantalis as District 2 commissioner, and won two additional terms, the last one in January 2012.  Weeks later, she announced that she would run for the Broward County Commission seat being vacated by her term-limited husband, former Broward Mayor John Rodstrom, a move that drew sharp criticism and accusations of careerism.

Because of Florida’s resign-to-run law, passed in 1970, Rodstrom was required to give up her city commission seat in November, having already lost the race county commission seat in August.

In Tuesday’s matchup, the results with all precincts reporting showed Rodstrom with 1,154 votes (47 percent) and Trantalis with 1,026 votes (42 percent). Black in third and Zalewski in fourth place, respectively, garnered a total of 291 votes, or 12 percent combined.

Because no candidate netted a required 50 percent of the vote-plus-one, the runoff between Trantalis and Rodstrom will be held on March 12.

“The results from yesterday have shown that we can win this race,” Trantalis told the Agenda.

He also blamed lackluster media coverage of the District 2 race for apathy at the polls. “The lack of attention given to the election by the gay press is reflected in the poor turnout of LGBT voters. We should be ashamed of ourselves for being so complacent.

“At a time when our rights are continually being challenged, our failure to support candidates in high profile positions will only lead to our personal defeat,” Trantalis added. “We seemed obsessed with national figures and their personal lives and personal tastes. A lot of good that will do us. We cannot let down our guard in our struggle for equal rights. Our success lies right here at home.”

“We collected over 1,500 toys, distributed to 6 different organizations and many families,” stated Ronni Dowd, Chairperson of this year’s Toy Drive. “We collected almost $1,000 in cash donations and sponsorships and had a dozen volunteers,” she added. “We had donation boxes placed in more than 20 different locations throughout Broward County.”

In its seventh year, the event benefited Thurgood Marshall Elementary, Children’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center, and other area agencies.

“It’s been a privilege to be associated with such a hard working group of volunteers,” said Donna Woessner, the coordinator of the Pride Center’s Women with Pride project. “Each one of us had the kids in mind as we began the Drive. And each one of us had Judy’s voice in our head as we delivered toys and bikes and love.”

In that role, Gray will develop strategies to increase global travel and tourism to Greater Fort Lauderdale.

“The CVB has just created a unique position which is strictly for LGBT tourism: we are so pleased they have appointed Richard Gray,” said Keith Blackburn, President of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (GFLGLCC), whose organization has spearheaded a number of initiatives to attract global LGBT tourists and commerce to the area.

Gray explained that Greater Fort Lauderdale has the only CVB that has created a unique marketing position with a focus on the LGBT market, and that his “role is the only full time position to be dedicated to LGBT tourism. This is an important step.”

Additionally, retail businesses that locate in existing buildings in the City’s Transit-Oriented Corridors (Dixie Highway, NE 11 Avenue, NE 13 Avenue and portions of NE 26 Street) will not have to provide additional parking, and businesses within the City’s Transit-Oriented Corridors that expand buildings will have parking requirements that are significantly reduced.

“As policy makers, we know that incentives to encourage retail diversity and a ‘Shop Local First’ attitude enhance the commercial landscape and contribute to a thriving economy,” said Vice Mayor Julie Carson.

FORT LAUDERDALE— On his final day in office, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti told the Florida Agenda that as the county’s chief law enforcement officer, he was proud of the national attention he helped draw to hate crimes against some of the most vulnerable and often-overlooked members of our society, including the homeless and even LGBT persons.

In an exclusive interview conducted on January 7 Lamberti, who was appointed Sheriff in 2007 by then-Gov. Charlie Crist following a 35-year career with the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), said that the report this week by the Florida Attorney General’s office ranks Broward County as fifth in the state for total hate crime offenses reported in 2011, the last year for which data is available.

He credits the dramatic drop two “the tenacious attention to this issue that we have shown, and the commitment of our agency to letting the victims know that they can feel comfortable reporting these crimes to law enforcement, and that we have done something about it. In other jurisdictions, that number is skewed,” Lamberti added.

As we reported last year (Agenda, January 12, 2012, “Broward Sheriff on Hate Crimes: We Don’t Want to Be Number One”), “Broward County again led the state in overall reported hate crimes with 19 cases, three less than in 2009. Of the 32 reported hate crimes in Florida that were motivated by sexual orientation, eight of them—25 percent—occurred in Broward.”

“Simply put: we don’t want to be number one in terms of these stats,” Lamberti told the Agenda at the time. That wish was fulfilled last week by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s report.

The state of Florida defines a hate crime as an act committed or attempted by one person or group against another –or that person’s property –that in any way constitutes an expression of hatred toward the victim based on his or her personal characteristics.

As he took in his last day in office, Lamberti said that he is especially proud of the recent National Coalition for the Homeless Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Report, which credits BSO with helping secure passage in 2010 of House Bill (HB) 11 to protect Florida’s homeless, which made attacking one of that vulnerable group a hate crime. Advocates insist that BSO support for the law has led directly to a dramatic drop in the number of attacks against the homeless.

“This was the same legislation that had tried and failed four times before,” Lamberti explained. “I read the hate crimes reports in 2006 and saw that we led the state and said, ‘This isn’t acceptable.’”

Lamberti appointed Capt. Rick Wierzbicki, a former Chief of Police of Wilton Manors, as commander of the BSO Hate Crimes/Anti-Bias Task Force, a unit that has been recognized as one of the foremost in combating hate, fear, and bias.

Among the other accomplishments of which he is most proud, Lamberti noted the fight to close Broward County’s “pill mills,” those clinic and health care facilities that are believed to play fast-and-loose in prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances.

“Kids were dying,” Lamberti told the Agenda. “Broward was ground zero. We went overnight from four of these places to 130,” he stressed. “Something needed to be done. We have managed to cut deeply into that number, with the result being that today there are about 50.”

Lambert’s appointment in 2007 came shortly after former Sheriff Ken Jenne was sentenced to prison for tax evasion and fraud. Elected to a full term in 2008 against former North Bay Village Police Chief Scott Israel, Lamberti once again faced Israel in November, but with the opposite result. The new Sheriff officially took office on January 8.

Lamberti capped his 35-year career with a press conference at the Sheriff’s Headquarters on January 4.  Joined by representatives from several local organizations including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), as well as Pride Center CEO Robert Boo, Lamberti echoed his comments from precisely one year earlier.

“I am pleased to say we are no longer number one.”

Lamberti noted that when crimes are reported, there is inevitably a spike in the statistics. “Victims are coming forward—very much like what happened in the case of domestic violence. When victims knew they could report without fear, there was a surge in the number of new cases. These cases weren’t real ‘new,’ they just hadn’t been reported before,” he explained.

“This is precisely what will happen in the case of hate crimes. We are going to see victims feeling safe enough to report their crimes, and then the numbers will begin to even off as society begins to deal with educating people on the evils of bias and hate.”

Lamberti says he has no immediate plans for the future (“Maybe CIA Director,” he joked), but says that for now, he is pleased to have accomplished what he set out to do with the agency he once helmed, and with the positive impact he made for some of the most vulnerable members of his charge.

“Victims aren’t Democrats or Republicans, they aren’t gay or straight: They are people,” he noted.

“We lost the most genuine, quick witted and funny person I have ever met in my life,” friend and former co-worker Rob Pucci posted. “I am truly a better person for have known René Fernández.”

At an online condolences guestbook, business owners Dawn and Lori Tanner praised Fernández, saying that, “It was truly and honor to have worked with you, Rene!! The Pink Submarine will always have your fun loving spirit here!! You are so missed already, we love you!!”

According to the legacy.com guestbook, Fernández is survived by his parents, Patricia and René, his sister, Paola, and brother, Roberto. A ceremony was held on Thursday, January 3 at Guiding Light.

A friend of Fernandez who is familiar with his situation, and who asked not to be named, said that his undocumented status led him to refrain from seeking treatment, for fear of official consequences.

Stephen Fallon, Executive Director of Latinos Salud, a Wilton Manors-based non-profit that provides outreach and HIV prevention services to the Hispanic LGBT community, said that any death related to unsought treatment is tragic on many levels.

“It’s just a tragedy when people assume that if they seek treatment it will automatically be linked to systems that will get them deported,” he told the Agenda.