Newspaper Page Text
4A Saturday, December 1,2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
Schools hit by Hurricane Michael
recovering ‘one day at a tune’
Photos by PATTI BLAKE I Associated Press
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos chats with students at Cedar Grove Elementary, Nov.
26, to see how Hurricane Michael effected students and staff in Panama City, Fla.
Colby Diagle reacts while looking over a bag of donated
clothing and school supplies, Nov. 10, in Panama City, Fla.
Woman pleads not
guilty in death of
anti-gang crusader
BY MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press
ORLANDO — Since
students in the Florida
Panhandle county hardest
hit by Hurricane Michael
returned to classrooms in
early November, they’ve
dealt with power outages,
sporadic internet, missing
friends, large classes and
shared buildings.
Students displaced
from heavily damaged
Bay County schools have
moved into less damaged
schools, where one school
holds classes in the morning
and the other school holds
classes in the afternoon.
Teachers have struggled
with how much homework
to give students when they
didn’t have internet at home.
The district dropped its
dress code because students
and staff lost their clothes
to the Oct. 10 hurricane and
wore donated clothing.
“You can see the staff,
they’re taking it one day at
a time. They say they’re OK,
but I don’t know if they’re
OK. They’re putting on a
smile and a brave face for
the kids,” said JoBeth Davis,
a special education teacher
at Deer Point Elementary
School in Panama City.
As recently as Monday,
schools were still dealing
with sporadic power out
ages. Davis’ school had some
right before Thanksgiving.
“At first we thought every
thing was going to be OK —
the kids are very resilient
— but they started crying.
They thought another storm
was coming,” Davis said.
“We tried to keep them calm
and told them these things
happen.”
For Gavin Polenz, the
hardest part of returning to
school has been the piles of
debris. The fourth-grader
uses a wheelchair because
of cerebral palsy and the
debris on streets made get
ting to his new bus stop two
blocks away difficult. His
parents, Amber and Josh,
worry the debris made it
hard for cars to see him.
Gavin is at a new school,
but he has the same teacher
and many former class
mates, which he found reas-
BY WAYNE PARRY AND
MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press
FREEHOLD, N.J.- A
New Jersey businessman
was financially sound and
had no reason to kill his
brother’s family, defense
lawyers said Friday, but an
emerging picture of their
lives suggests their bond as
business partners could have
frayed as one thrived and the
other struggled years after a
serious car crash.
Paul Caneiro, 51, limped
into court Friday to plead
not guilty to killing Keith
Caneiro, 50; Keith’s wife,
Jennifer; and their two
young children two days
before they were to host
Thanksgiving at their sleek
$1.5 million mansion in Colts
Neck. He also pleaded not
guilty to arson charges stem
ming from the fires set at
both their homes.
Prosecutors have called
the motive for the slay
ings “financial.” However,
defense lawyers said they
have no evidence Paul
Caneiro was financially
strapped. He owns a $550,000
suburban home with an in-
ground pool and a white
Porsche convertible parked
in the driveway, and helped
run two family businesses.
“Paul Caneiro loved his
brother, loved his sister-in-
law like a sister, loved those
children, and would never
do anything to harm them,”
attorney Mitchell Ansell
said after Friday’s hearing.
“There’s no reason on earth
for him to have harmed
them.”
His client said little in
court except to answer “yes,”
”no” or “I do” to a series of
procedural questions.
A friend said that the
wreck five years ago left
Paul Caneiro “immobilized”
for a time, and that he’d
had repeated surgeries, and
taken painkillers, for injuries
to his back, legs and knees.
“He was never, never the
same person after he got in
that accident,” the friend,
New York-based hairstylist
suring. During the first week
of classes in early Novem
ber, they made bracelets,
colored and talked about
the hurricane, not the usual
class activities.
“We were trying to get
used to being at school,”
Gavin said in a telephone
interview. “It felt good to
talk about it.”
District officials are still
trying to get a handle on how
many students they have.
Two district administrators
are devoting their time to
tracking down students to
figure out if they’ve moved.
A little more than 29,000
students across the district
were enrolled in schools on
the last day of classes before
Hurricane Michael hit
the Panhandle with winds
topping out at 155 miles
per hour. Enrollment had
dropped by more than 2,600
students, almost 9 percent,
districtwide by the Friday
before Thanksgiving.
District officials said
that drop could increase
as requests for transfers to
other school districts catch
up with the number of stu
dents who have left. Some
individual schools have had
drops in enrollment as high
as a fifth of the student body.
“I still have kids that we
can’t find, and even their
friends can’t find them.
When teenagers can’t find
Demetris Potamianos, said
Thursday. “It was bad. It was
bad for a very long time.”
Paul Caniero moved out
of his family’s Ocean Town
ship home for about
six months this year
but had recently
moved back in,
said Potamianos,
44, who has been
friends with the
extended Caneiro
family for years. He
called them smart,
close-knit and
unassuming.
“I know it looks very bad
(for) Paul at this point, but
knowing both of the fami
lies, I can’t put it together
why would he do this
horrific crime,” he said.
“(Keith) was just a simple
person. Why would some
body get jealous of him? ..
He was never a show-off.”
The killings have startled
the affluent horse-country
community of Colts Neck,
home to Bruce Springsteen
and where former “Daily
Show” host Jon Stewart
and his wife run an animal
sanctuary.
Authorities say Paul
Caneiro shot his brother,
shot and stabbed his sister-
in-law, and stabbed the
children on Nov. 20, then
set the mansion on fire and
returned home to set fire
to his own home as his wife
each other on social media,
that gets serious,” said
Alexis Underwood, who
teaches seventh-grade lan
guage arts at Mowat Middle
School in Lynn Haven. “I’m
sure if they were in town, we
would have found them.”
The school district has
ordered 200 modular build
ings with the goal of having
students back at all but three
of the 50 or so campuses
sometime after the new
year, using a combination of
the prefabricated buildings
and existing structures.
Donors from all over the
country have purchased and
shipped new supplies for the
teachers and students.
The lack of available
housing, closed stores and
debris piles were factors in a
and two daughters slept.
After his arrest in that fire
the next day, his lawyers
said his family believed he
had rescued them.
Prosecutors
haven’t elaborated
on the motives
behind the crimes.
They said Paul
Caneiro set the fire
at his own home to
destroy evidence
and to make it
appear someone
was targeting his
family. He was at
the police station being
interviewed about that fire
when the smoldering fire
erupted at his brother’s
house just after noon, hours
after investigators think
it was set, and the bodies
were discovered.
The brothers had started
a computer consulting busi
ness in Brooklyn that had
grown to have 26 employees
by 2001, with clients includ
ing Citibank. They had
renamed it Square One, and
moved to the quieter New
Jersey suburbs. They mar
ried and started families
, and added a pest control
company along the way.
Paul Caneiro was lately a
frequent presence at their
small offices in Asbury Park,
where Square One now had
just a few employees, while
Keith Caneiro more often
number of teachers leaving
and likely will make recruit
ing new teachers difficult,
said Underwood, president
of the teachers association.
“Most teachers are going
to walk over coals to get back
to their students because as
a profession, that’s what we
do,” Underwood said. “So
it has to be pretty bad for a
teacher to leave.”
Teachers and staff mem
bers with damaged homes
are still dealing with insur
ance adjusters, roofers and
contractors but can’t take
calls while they’re in class
rooms. Many teachers who
lost their homes are living
with friends or family mem
bers, or driving two hours to
work from where they found
new housing.
worked from home.
In recent years, Keith
Caneiro had earned under
graduate and graduate
degrees through Columbia
University; started work
ing out with a trainer and
lost weight; and spent time
with his family on Greece’s
Aegina island, where his
wife’s father grew up and
they hoped to retire.
Aspire Fitness owner
Brian Bott said Keith was
a fun-loving fixture in the
mornings since joining the
gym four years ago. He was
excited about some job inter
views he had lined up since
getting his master’s degree
this year. Bott did not know
if Keith hoped to move on or
continue working with Paul.
Funerals for the family,
including 11-year-old Jesse
and 8-year-old Sophia, are
planned Sunday.
BY MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.
— A woman who drove
her SUV over a New York
mother saluted by Presi
dent Donald Trump for
her crusade against MS-13
gang violence pleaded not
guilty Friday to a charge
of criminally negligent
homicide.
Annmarie Drago, a
58-year-old nurse, surren
dered to police in
the morning.
She also faces
charges of crimi
nal mischief and
petit larceny in the
Sept. 14 confronta
tion that led to the
death of Evelyn
Rodriguez, who
became a sym
bol in the fight
against gang
violence after
her 16-year-
old daughter,
Kayla Cuevas,
was hacked and
beaten to death
along with a
friend on a Long
Island street.
Prosecutors
said Rodriguez
was killed as
she confronted
Drago for trash
ing a memorial
set up for the
anniversary of
the girl’s death near the
spot where she was slain.
The fatal SUV strike was
recorded by a television
news crew that was rolling
as dignitaries, including a
congressman, prepared to
head to the scene in Brent
wood for a vigil.
Drago, a mother of two,
stood silently in a gray
winter coat as her lawyer
entered the plea on her
behalf. The top charge car
ries a maximum penalty of
four years in prison.
Her lawyer called the
matter a “tragic accident”
and said Drago extended
condolences to the family.
Drago hid in the corner
of an elevator, surrounded
by officers, after she was
freed following the hear
ing. She ignored shouted
questions from reporters.
“When all the facts
and circumstances sur
rounding this incident are
revealed, it will be shown
that my client’s actions
that day were neither
intentional nor reckless,”
Kunken said. “She is hope
ful, and I am confident,
that she will be found not
guilty of any criminal
conduct.”
Assistant District Attor
ney Marc Lindemann
said Drago was selling
her mother’s home near
where Kayla was found
in 2016 and was worried
the memorial would scare
buyers.
Drago tossed candles
in the trash, popped bal
loons and stuffed a floral
arrangement in her car
hours before the
deadly confronta
tion, Lindemann
said.
A neighbor saw
the destruction
and alerted Rodri
guez, who showed
up with Kayla’s
father, Freddy
Cuevas.
According to
prosecutors,
Rodriguez
demanded
that Drago
return what
was taken.
Video of
the confronta
tion showed
Rodriguez,
50, and Cue
vas shouting
and gesturing
and standing
in front of
Drago’s car,
blocking her
from driving
away.
Rodriguez was a half
step from the front tire
and Cuevas was circling
around the back when
the vehicle lurched for
ward, striking her. Drago
remained at the scene and
called 911.
“As she put up the
memorial, Evelyn had
no idea that she would be
joining Kayla that day,”
Lindemann said in court.
Rodriguez’s death came
two years after her daugh
ter’s body was found, a
short distance from the
corpse of her best friend,
15-year-old Nisa Mickens.
Their deaths brought
attention to a string of kill
ings of teenagers in the
Long Island suburbs that
had largely gone unno
ticed and, in some cases,
uninvestigated by police.
After he became presi
dent, Trump visited Brent
wood and vowed a national
crackdown on MS-13. He
recognized Rodriguez,
Cuevas and Mickens’ par
ents at the State of the
Union address in January.
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NEW JERSEY"
Man struggled before slaying of brother’s family
Caneiro
Drago
As she put up
the memorial,
Evelyn had
no idea that
she would be
joining Kayla
that day.’
Marc Lindemann
Assistant District
Attorney
