Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Maj. Nextel spent a week and a half talking on his cellphone - a feat matched only rarely by 16-year-old girls.

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:13:26 -0500

Feb 17, 2003

Is This Guy Dumber Than A Sack of Bloomin' Onions?
Maj. Nextel spent a week and a half talking on his cellphone - a feat matched only rarely
by 16-year-old girls.

DANIEL RUTH

Uh-oh, he has gone and done it now!

Sheriff's Maj. Rocky Rodriguez really screwed up big time. We're talking boiling hot
water.

Why, by the time Cal Henderson, the high sheriff of Hillsborougham, administers his usual
brutal punishment,
Rodriguez probably will be promoted to brigadier general.

And let that be a lesson to him, too!

At the moment, Rodriguez is being probed more often than the Clintons for a variety of
alleged misdeeds as part of
an ongoing state and federal inquiry into courthouse corruption.

Who knows what will come of all that? But this much is fairly clear: A cellular telephone
in Rodriguez's hands is a
weapon of mass communication.

Holy cow, this guy likes to blab more than Larry King.

As a big shot in the employ of the high sheriff of Hillsboroughoria, Rodriguez was issued
a taxpayer- funded
cellphone.

Now, you would think that if you were a law enforcement officer and you were given a
cellphone by your law
enforcement agency, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch of logic to conclude the device
should be used for law
enforcement purposes.

But you are not Rodriguez, who seemed hellbent on spending more time with a cellphone
glued to his ear than the
guy who walks all over the country asking, ``Can you hear me now?''

Before you could say ``Catherine Zeta-Jones,'' Rodriguez racked up more than $6,000 in
cellphone charges over
the course of two years.

You know, on second thought, for this kind of transgression, Rodriguez is probably looking
at a promotion to
Supreme NATO Allied Commander.

Ah, Chivalry!

How much is $6,000 in cellphone charges?

Figure it this way: In October alone, Rodriguez reached out and touched someone for more
than 70 hours of
gabbing.

Or, put another way, Maj. Nextel spent a week and a half talking on his cellphone - a feat
matched only rarely by
16-year-old girls.

Obviously, having a serial dialer on his staff angered even the high sheriff of
Hillsboroughtania.

``I don't have any more patience for Rocky,'' Henderson said.

Uh-oh, this could be curtains for Rodriguez. Upsetting Henderson this much could get him
promoted to ambassador
to France before the sun sets.

For his part, Rocky Redial has blamed much of the intense scrutiny into his conduct on
mysterious forces of power
about town who are upset about his affair with Beth Basham, the estranged wife of Outback
Steakhouse
co-founder Bob Basham.

Now there's some chivalry for you! Get into trouble for treating your badge like it's a
passkey to the Playboy
Mansion and, when you're held to account for it, hide behind the skirt of your paramour.

Very classy.

In Henderson's world, that ought to earn Rodriguez a promotion to chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.

Whose Fault Is It?

Although it's probably more than fair to assume Rodriguez wasn't piling up thousands of
cellphone minutes ordering
shrimp on the barbie to go, his problems are largely of his own making.

It was Rodriguez, not Beth Basham, who improperly flew on a department helicopter that
just happened to land
overnight at a Mississippi casino.

It was Rodriguez, not Basham, who ran up a $6,000 tab on a phone provided by taxpayers.

And it was Rodriguez, not Basham, who got involved in a hinky floral import business with
a convicted felon.

At the same time, you would have to be dumber than a sack of Bloomin' Onions not to figure
out that your life
would hardly be a bowl of Chocolate Thunder from Down Under after cuckolding one of the
community's most
powerful and well-liked business executives.

Admittedly, though, in the parallel universe of the sheriff's office, having a very public
affair with the wife of an
influential Fortune 500 captain of industry might get you promoted to viceroy of India.

So it's understandable why Maj. Anytime Minutes would be a bit flummoxed over all the
attention being paid to
him.

Geez, since this guy first joined the department, his career has pretty much followed a
simple motto:

No rules. Just Rocky.

Columnist Daniel Ruth can be reached at (813) 259-7599.

This story can be found at: http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAN5HNQ9CD.html

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From: "Mike Edwards" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 18:09:48 -0500

Now wait just a min thats only $250.00 a month?
I would like to know what rate plan he was on ??
I have been in govt work for 22 years and my expierence tells me that ALOT
of these huge cell phone bills you hear about on the news etc for elected
offiicals and govt workers etc is because a GOVT IDIOT has his phone on the
WORST possible rate plan!
Lets not be too quick to judge till we know the WHOLE storey
Mike
Oxford GA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcel" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>; "WFHSG" <[email-masked]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 1:13 PM
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Maj. Nextel spent a week and a half talking on his
cellphone - a feat matched only rarely by 16-year-old girls.