Oregon school shooting & mosquito helicopter crash

Good morning everyone and thank you so much for joining us here on Fox Tampa Bay Live on this Friday, October 16th. My name is Regina Gonzalez, your host and executive producer with you for the next hour as we move through several different live conversations, live events, and get you up to speed on all the headlines you want to know about. And tragically, the start of our show is going to be a lot of heartbreaking headlines. And we're going to get to those momentarily because of some of the live conversations we have planned right off the top. We are not going to have a meteorologist join us for a weather update today. But really quickly, I do want to just give you a live look at this seven-day forecast that they provided us. So a chance for some showers tonight, even a higher chance of some showers for tomorrow. But overall, after Saturday, it looks like it gets a little windy, but then we really welcome in some Florida fall weather. And those chances of rain really diminish as we start next week on Monday. So cold front expected Saturday, average high 86, average low 70 degrees. So that should feel pretty nice if you're going to get out this weekend for any fall activities. We've got the Bucs playing the Steelers at home on Sunday. And then in a little bit here on the show, we're going to take you out to Cleveland, Ohio, because weather has been the big topic of conversation as the Rays continue to take on the Guardians. Instead of starting at, I believe, 8 o'clock tonight, they're going to start at 8.08. I'm going to work to get more information on why that is. We've been in touch with our sports team. But here's a look at your weekend forecast here in the Tampa Bay area. But again, we do want to get started with some heartbreaking headlines. And the first headline is actually going to take us nationally today. So this is a look at the scene from yesterday as we learned that three children and a teacher are dead after authorities say a teenager opened fire inside an Oregon elementary school Thursday afternoon. We know the suspected shooter is also dead and two other people are hospitalized with critical injuries. So where does the community even go from here after something so tragic. It looks like in this video, they held a vigil last night at Drake Park in the area. So what we want to do right now is we want to head out live to Bend, Oregon, where Fox's Amalia Joy is joining us with an update. Amalia, your heart just breaks for this entire area, the families, the victims. What does that scene look like this morning? I know that daylight really just broke. It's earlier there. Tell us what you're seeing. Yes, we're starting to see the sun come up. There are people in the community, they're coming out for their morning walks, walking their dogs. But then there's also police tape all around the school behind me. And then there's also flowers up against the sign saying Silver Rail Elementary School. And yes, there's the vigil last night where the community was mourning both the people who were killed in this attack, but also this attack on their community. So it was a time for them to come together in group prayer. The superintendent actually said yesterday that this is just not something that they saw happening here. No community should have to do what we're doing right now. I don't have any words for what this community is feeling right now and I don't think anyone does. We are heartbroken, we are horrified. This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places and pray that it never happens here. And it has happened here. No community should have to do what we're doing right now. Amalia, your heart, again, just shatters into a million pieces hearing that. I know police say the school's doors were locked. So what have they learned about how the attacker got inside and how quickly this all unfolded? Well, we learned yesterday that this really happened quickly. The attacker, they said that he shot at the locks of the locked doors and got into the school that way. But beforehand, 911 had already been called, more times called once he was coming into the school. And it was actually a bystander that shot and killed the suspect before police even arrived. They came shortly afterwards, and authorities are saying that he prevented what could have been an even worse attack. Wow, let's listen into some of that sound here. I know we heard from the governor yesterday as well. I do apologize, Amalia. It doesn't look like we have that sound from the governor for some reason. But I mean, what does this investigation entail today? I know that, I'm assuming the children don't have school. No, there is no school and it is something that is ongoing. The FBI has also gotten involved with this investigation. We expect to hear more information later today. All right, Amalia, we really appreciate you joining us here on Fox Tampa Bay Live with this update. You stay safe out there, and I know our team's going to be checking in with you again soon. Thank you. All right, everyone. We are going to take our first quick two-minute commercial break of the hour. When we come back, we've got another heartbreaking story to bring you up to speed on a pilot killed in a helicopter crash after flying overnight to respond to the dengue fever outbreak. He was part of the mosquito control team, and we are learning a lot more about his career, his life. He even had just recently worked closely with our very own Fox 13's Kimberly Quezon not too long ago as she was doing a story about dengue fever response. So we'll have more updates later on when we come back. All right, welcome back in to Fox Tampa Bay Live, everyone. As we continue getting you up to speed on some of the headlines we are getting more information on. One of those was a heartbreaking update out of Safety Harbor, a situation that happened earlier this week. First, we want to play for you the body cam footage from Pinellas County deputies after an arrest was made. And then we will bring you the latest on what just happened. Put your hands up. All right, so this is the moment deputies took Christopher Dodge Smith into custody. And this morning, he's facing a first-degree murder charge. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says his girlfriend, 30-year-old Jessica Antolini, died last night, two days after he allegedly shot her and ran her over outside a Safety Harbor bar. And I want to preface that this was outside of the bar. Ariel Plasencia following this story today. And I know that the owners of that bar wanted to make it very clear that this did not happen inside of Harbor Bar. It was outside. So investigators say the two had been arguing outside of Harbor Bar on Main Street. This was Tuesday night. Smith then shot Antolini and ran over her as he drove away with his five-year-old daughter and dog inside of the vehicle. Witnesses helped deputies identify his vehicle and he was arrested a short time later. the child and dog were safely reunited with their family. But this is a look at Smith. Smith's attempted murder charge has now been upgraded to first degree murder. He also faces a child abuse charge. And we wanna preface, if you or someone you know needs help regarding a domestic violence situation, support is available through several local and national organizations. There's Casa Pinellas, a 24-hour domestic violence hotline, 727-895-4912 is that number. You also have Hope Villages of America, the National Domestic Violence 24-7 hotline, as well as the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Victim Advocates Line, which is 727-582-6259. All right, as we continue on, we are going to head out live right now inside the courtroom in Hillsborough County. This is also an incident that we have been following for quite some time. Today, though, we're monitoring sentencing for Jameer Moore, a teenager found guilty last month in the murder of 14-year-old Javario Bowie. And we actually just heard a very emotional family impact statement from Javario's grandfather. His grandson was shot killed back in April of 2024 near railroad tracks between Bush Boulevard and Rome Avenue in Tampa. Police saying surveillance video showed Moore walking with the victim minutes before the shooting than leaving the area without him. Investigators also uncovered messages linking Moore to the killing. It took nearly eight months to make an arrest. So what we wanna do right now is we definitely wanna bring you some of this emotional family impact statement from Javario's grandfather because you truly just fail to think about sometimes how this impacts a victim's family all the way through not just the immediate family, grandparents, extended family. So here's a few minutes of his remarks. My name is Michael Baldwin. I am Javarrio's grandfather. Young man, at first, I had prepared myself to fight for your life. I want you to really understand something, young man. that I know what it feels like to sit in your spot. You did not only kill my grandson, you shattered our whole family. You robbed his mother of her child. You stole a future before it had a chance to fully unfold. You took birthdays, holidays, family gatherings, laughter, dreams, and memories that we'll never get to make. And for what? For what, Jermaine? What could my grandson have possibly done to you that was worth his life? I have spent a significant part of my life surrounded by violence. I have seen what happens when young men confuse fear with respect, guns with courage, and taking another man's life with being somebody. I know that world, and I know it's lies. And I know that the destruction it leaves behind, but what I cannot understand is how could you take my grandson's life and then come into this courtroom and take the witness stand, look at this family in our face and try to assassinate this boy's character after you had taken his life killing Javarrio was not enough for you you had to try to kill the truth about him you told this courtroom that my grandson tried to kill you when in fact he was laying on the ground with his slides still on you and him tussled his slides would have came off he was laying there with those shots in him with his slides still on which is a true indication that he didn't tussle with you. That you shocked him. You know what, Jameer? Javario did not need a gun to stand up for himself. If you two had gotten into a one-on-one fight, I believe my grandson would have whooped your ass. And then he would have got up, dusted you off, and hugged you and said, come on, man, it's good. Because that's the type of boy we was raising. We taught him that being a man was not about how much pain you could cause or inflict on somebody else. It was about how you carried yourself afterwards it was about character it was about knowing when enough was enough that is the difference between the young man that we raised and the choices that brought you into this courtroom i do not know everything that you were taught growing up Jameer but i can see the choices that you made and what those choices say about the values that placed that you placed on another human life is heartbreaking and i know that my grandson was not the first life that you took you got a couple more bodies under you young man you lost sight of something that should have been sacred another person's life and perhaps the saddest thing about all of this is that you did not only destroy my grandson's future you destroyed your own if you look around this courtroom Jameer there's no winners here today nobody wins man i'm not happy that you about to get this issue not me not my family not my daughter not your family nobody wins here today Whatever sentence this court gives you is never going to bring my baby back. There's no verdict that can restore his heartbeat. No prison sentence that can give his mother one more chance to hold him. No punishment can give us one more birthday, one more conversation, one more embrace, one more chance to tell him how much we love him. You took something from us that this entire justice system does not have the power to return. And what I want you to understand is the weight of that. and when these proceedings are over when the courtroom is empty and everybody else has gone home you will be left with something that no lawyer can argue away you'll be left with yourself your thoughts your memories your conscience and the truth about what really happened to Jabario prison has a way of stripping away distractions young man i know it i lived it there will be nights when the noise stops and the conversation's end and there's nobody left for you to impress and while you lay in that bed staring in the darkness the only person that you're gonna see is in your mind and when those moments come Javario gonna visit you you're gonna see him face to face and you're gonna see the damage that you've done to him my hope is that you'll feel guilt and regret but you cannot change what you did not by changing the story that you tell about him when your conscience finally asks the questions that you've tried to avoid your mama will not be able to answer them for you your homeboys will not be able to answer them for you and the gun that you chose to use will not be there to protect you from that truth there is no weapon powerful enough to silence your conscience that has finally decided to speak there is no prison wall thick enough to keep a man from having to live with himself Jameer i want you to hear this and i don't need you to feel threatened i don't need to wish no violence upon you. I do not need to become the very thing that took my grandson away from us. I've already spent enough of my life learning what violence cost. Standing here today looking at you, young man, I refuse to let your actions dictate the kind of person that I'll be. You took my grandson's life, but you will not take my humanity. You will not take my ability to love. You will not take my ability to recognize that even the person who caused my family unimaginable pain is still a human being. And perhaps that's the greatest tragedy, man. You were born with humanity, Jameer. You were once an innocent little boy, and somebody held you. Your mama held you, boy. She had dreams on you. She had hopes of what you would become. This ain't what she imagined for you. You understand? My grandson is dead, and you're responsible for it. There's some other people that's gone and you're responsible for them and they're not gonna hold you in court for them but i hung out with some of your homeboys i was in your hood homie they helped me find you you understand what happened to the innocent boy that you once was what happened before the streets before the guns before the violence before taking a human life became something that you could do is what i'm hoping that you get to a point where you reach maybe you're sitting there telling yourself that none of this even matters right now maybe you're sitting there trying to convince yourself that you were justified. But I really want you to believe in what you want you to know is that if you ain't a sociopath, that one day your conscience gonna wake up. And right now you might have been advised not to show no emotions. That is bad advice. You understand? All right, everyone, we have been listening in to Javario Bowie's grandfather addressing the court, sharing the emotional impact of losing his grandson as the judge considers Jameer Moore sentencing. He is talking directly to Jameer Moore, who is being blocked a little bit by the judge over there. He's in the left-hand corner sitting in the courtroom. This is Javario. He was just 14 years old when he was shot and killed near railroad tracks in Tampa in April of 2024. The investigation lasted nearly eight months before police arrested Moore. A jury found him guilty of murder last month. So today the court is hearing from the family about the life lost and what that loss has meant to them. So we're gonna continue monitoring this sentencing hearing and bringing you the judge's decision when it is announced. Fox 13's Erin Mezmer is there and has been keeping us posted. But I just wanted to bring you some of that emotional victim impact statement. All right, everybody, as we continue you with more emotional news. We want to head out to Manatee County, and that is because we are now getting more information on the horrific helicopter crash that killed a pilot last night. This is actually a photo of him. His name was Isaac Moore, known as Ike. The district calling him a beloved family member, saying he had more than 25 years of helicopter flying experience. According to the district, Moore was on a mosquito control mission when his helicopter collided with an unlit radio tower and crashed. No one on the ground was hurt. But, I mean, you just have to think about his family and the team and everybody impacted by this. And somebody who had just actually worked with him to cover the local dengue fever response was our very own Fox 13's Kimberly Quezada. She is actually joining us live from Manatee County right now. Kim, I'm so sorry because I know that you just got to interact with this incredible man and this hits really close to home. How are you doing? How is this community doing? Good morning to you, my friend. Good morning, Regina. Well, this is really hard for everyone, especially with the Manatee County Mosquito Control District. So I was over there last week because the Mosquito Control District here has been really ramping up efforts, helping out Hillsborough County as they work to battle dengue fever there with their mosquitoes. And I actually met Isaac Ike Moore last week. He helped me, he drove me out to my car when I had forgotten a piece of equipment. And he was just such a down to earth man. And just in our few minutes of interaction, we had about 15, 20 minutes together. You could just tell how much he loved his family, how much he loved his job, how much he loved flying. Just speaking with him, he was retired law enforcement. He flew with the Columbus Police Department, had retired after a number of years of service there. Had retired here to Florida and just took this job because he loved flying so much and he still wanted to continue to help the public and he saw this as a way that he could continue to do so. Yeah, and I mean, I know that you have been incredible, Kim, in providing us this photo that we're showing viewers right now so people can put a face to his name. And I know that the Mosquito Control Department and the county also made a statement that we are showing our viewers. I mean, what did you just gauge about how much people care for him in this area and his team? Yeah, well, you have to think about the service that he was providing, protecting us from mosquitoes, especially with the dengue fever out there. And then for decades working in law enforcement, being the eyes in that helicopter, letting people know what was happening. And he was just truly a selfless servant here. He worked so very hard to protect the communities that he served. And again, it just came down to the love of flying for him. And that's why he was back out here, employed with Manatee County Mosquito Control District. They do have a number of pilots that work for them. It's a handful. I think it's about three or four. But they are just very, so much so, a close-knit family over there, including everyone that works within the district. So this is just extremely hard. He was out last night spraying once more here in Manatee County. There were two helicopters when this happened. And we can tell you that the NTSB is on scene right now. They're also working with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. Crime scene unit is out here. They're helping the NTSB take some measurements and try to figure out what exactly happened. And I did get done talking with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office probably less than an hour ago. And they said that they hope that this investigation will lead to what exactly happened. But they did say sometimes these investigations may not, but they're going to work and try to figure out what happened last night. Yeah, and I know that you will do an incredible job at continuing this coverage. Kim Quezada, we will let you get back to work. We appreciate you. Again, we're so sorry for you and for this community. We appreciate you, we'll talk to you soon, my friend. Yeah, well, thanks Regina. And if you think about this community too as well, this is very hard for them. A lot of these community members, when they saw the helicopter crash happen, they actually ran out and pulled Isaac from the helicopter trying to save him, but at that point in time it was too late. So this is a very hard thing for a lot of the people that live out here as well. We haven't talked to any of the people, but you can just tell by facial expressions, by by what they went through last night, but this is hitting a lot of people today. Yeah, I can imagine. And the fact, I didn't know that, Kim. I didn't know that people rushed to go and help him. It just says so much about, oh, you really feel for everyone. Kim, thank you. Thank you so much. We appreciate you. Be safe out there. Thanks. All right, everyone. We are going to take a quick two-minute commercial break when we return. We're going to delve into some Hurricane Isaias coverage really quickly. Governor Ron DeSantis just got wrapped up speaking in the panhandle, little less than a week from when it made landfall as a Category 2 storm. You've still got thousands of people without power, a lot of response, people from all across Florida traveling up there to help. And I do want to let you know that, I mean, you can certainly count on Kim Cuisin for any more updates about that horrific helicopter crash and any more information we find out on the pilot. We'll be right back. On Fox. All right, everyone. Welcome back on into Fox Tampa Bay Live, a little after 11.30 here in the East Coast. But we are actually getting some video in Central Time. This is from the Panhandle. Video coming in from Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, because they are up there in the Panhandle traveling from Orlando. I really genuinely don't know why a lot of this video is turning black this weekend. I don't know why. Okay, here we go. This is more video from Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. So what we're seeing here is tents set up, supply drives, people helping people. Tragically, in the event of a storm that causes damage and causes disaster, you really just see the best in people. And that's what matters. A lot of people still without power. We did just hear from Governor to Ron DeSantis, but we are going to get to that a little later today as we end the show because we want you to hear from him. He did speak for about a half hour, so we'll get you the nuts and bolts of his remarks and we'll play that in just a few minutes. But the next story, the next conversation that we want to have here is absolutely storm related. So we last week marked two years since Hurricane Milton came through and damaged Tropicana Field, caused so much damage across the Tampa Bay area, especially in Pinellas County. Well, that's something you think about when you see the Tampa Bay Rays in the spotlight right now. Everything this team has been through. Really quickly, we can take you out to Cleveland, Ohio, where we did just learn that they are moving the game back a few hours because they're expecting some rain. I know rain was a big deterrent of the game yesterday. They moved it to 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Today, they started 8-0-8. Why that's so specific, I'm not too sure. But this series isn't over. I know we didn't get the results race fans wanted yesterday, but there's still time to turn it around. So we'll be monitoring some rain in Cleveland. If anything else changes, we'll let you know. But like we said, with the postseason and the Rays in the spotlight, it is a reminder of everything they've been through, including the damage to Tropicana Field. And the players were not the only Rays who needed somewhere else to go in that whole predicament. The actual stingrays, the stingray tank is such an iconic part of the Tropicana Field experience. But what happened to those stingrays? They've actually been a part of the ballpark experience since 2006. And there's a whole team working behind the scenes to care for them. So what I want to do right now is I want to welcome into the conversation Christy Barrett with the Florida Aquarium. She is one of the curators. And she is going to answer all of our questions that we have about the stingrays, who takes care of them in the offseason, what this effort looks like. Christy, thank you so much for joining us. How are you? Good, how are you doing? I am good. It's funny, my producer and I were joking that we don't really know who cooked this up. But we were talking, my goodness, the Tampa Bay Rays have been through so much. We know the stingrays had to get moved from the trop when it was damaged. But I mean, baseball season only goes for so long. So we're like, what happens to the stingrays in the postseason. How do you move a stingray? So lots to cover here. But I wanna backtrack from when the trap was damaged, cuz I know you guys provided us video of getting them out of there, returning them when everything was fixed. Can you walk us through what that timeline was like for the Florida Aquarium? Well, yeah, we were really lucky after the storm. Obviously, we all knew about the damage to Tropicana Field. And we were lucky to have a security guard there that was updating us in real time, letting us know the rays were okay. They actually let us come in about two days after the storm and just do some checkups on the rays, add some oxygen to their water so they could breathe okay. And then it was another two days before the building was safe enough for us to bring our whole team there to move the rays out. And if there was no power, normally we use an elevator. We were having to be very creative with how we got them out of there and how we got them back to the main aquarium, something I'll never forget. Yeah, and I know they had a few stops before coming back home. So walk me through this Florida Aquarium Tropicana Field collaboration. So they actually came straight from Tropicana Field after the storm, they came straight back to the main campus. Typically in years past, we would keep them at the Manatee Viewing Center in the off season. But the Manatee Viewing Center was devastated by the hurricane as well. So we actually had to get really creative and set up a holding spot for them back here, which is where they were while we repaired both habitats. And in that time period, we were able to evaluate our program and we decided that we're not gonna move the rays back and forth anymore. So the rays that are at Tropicana Field right now are gonna be there in the off season and we're gonna continue to go out and take care of them the same way we do when the baseball is being played. I love that so much and the video that we're showing I mean to see the stingray mascot and all the mascots even Raymond everybody there DJ Kitty gets so excited when they came back I mean this is to my understanding the only ballpark in the country that has live stingrays am I right? right. And the way the people at Tropicana Field, the way they welcomed us back, I mean, I could tear up right now talking about it. It was such an amazing experience. Everyone over there loves those animals so much. And the day that we brought the seven rays back that went through the storm there was one of the coolest days in my career. And what's really cool too is the video of transporting stingrays. I mean, how? I have so many questions. Is it basically an aquarium truck that does this? We actually rent a truck and we outfit it with a couple of tanks in the back. And we transport them and you see the little rolling bins. We transport them from the truck in the rolling bins. They have to stay in water. They need oxygen throughout that whole process. So it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool to drive stingrays over the Skyway Bridge. Not a lot of people can say they do that. I was gonna say very casual, just taking the stingrays real quickly for a road trip. I understand, talk to me about feeding them. Do I see here in my notes that they are trained to follow a target at feeding time? How does that work? And what do stingrays eat? So stingrays eat a variety of fish, crab, shrimp, crustaceans. But yeah, we were able to train them to a target. So when we get in the water with them, we have an orange circle. We actually wear it on our leg and they know when they see that target that it's time to come over and get food. We feed them every day, seven days a week, sometimes twice a day if we're out there for a long enough period of time. But it's nice to have that target on when you're feeding because they know it's feeding time. Because we also have get in to clean and do other things in the habitat. And when the target's not out, they know it's not time to eat. Yeah, and I mean, this is also a touch tank. For any fans who may have not tried before or maybe done it wrong, is there a proper way to touch the stingrays? Sure, we ask people to use two fingers and that's only to just be as gentle as possible with them. We ask you to only touch them on their backs tips of their wings, avoid their eyes. We just like people to be very gentle with them and treat them with respect when they're touching. I love it. This year, I know you said they are staying at the Trop during the off season. So what is one thing you just wish every fan understood about these animals beyond getting to touch them at games? I wish every fan would understand how important it is to keep their environment clean and healthy and to do their part every day for the environment to protect animals like them and all the other animals that are out in the ocean. But these animals are particularly adorable. So we hope that people resonate with them and they pull at their heartstrings a little bit. I know, do you ever have to, this is just me walking around thinking as a fan. When you guys clean the tank, do you have to clean out popcorn and people's game day trash out of there? I really hope not. People at Tropicana Field are really great about not throwing trash in there. And we have a group of fan hosts that actually hang out up at the Habitat when it's open. So if anything like that starts to happen, they're like our raised security guards. If anything like that starts to happen, those people, that's taken care of very, very quickly. So it's honestly not a problem at all. What a cool job. Lots going on at the Florida Aquarium. I know you guys are hosting Guppy Ween. Am I seeing that? talk to me aside from stingrays, what you guys are doing on a daily basis and have coming up. Yeah, Guppy Ween is gonna be really exciting. So there's gonna be two weekends where you can come and actually trick or treat here at the aquarium. We like to do the not so scary Halloween, so bring out the kiddos that might be a little scared of some of the bigger attractions in the area. And you get to see some really cool live animal ambassadors and there's some really cool crafts and different things you can do throughout the day. Look, and Raymond's doing it too. I love that so much. Letting Raymond loose in the Florida Aquarium, what could go wrong? Christy, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you. We appreciate the inside look at how this is taking care of all the stingray love that the rays get, both in the tank and then, of course, Go Rays, our team trying to hold it down in Cleveland. Go Rays. Go Rays. All right, Christy, take care. Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you. All right, everyone, we are going to take another quick two-minute commercial break. Speaking of a guppy wean, there is also another Halloween event happening right in that area, Florida Aquarium located right next to Sparkman Wharf. Well, if you've got a pet, maybe not a stingray, but a four-legged friend, then you'll be able to dress them up and participate in a halloween parade we're gonna have that coming up after this break all right everyone we are back here on fox tampa bay live with Ben Prukopkin one of the owners of modern paws in sparkman wharf and mister dresses buzz light year does it get better than that on a friday i really don't know um ben we have you and mister here today because halloween is returning to Sparkman Wharf on Sunday. Is it the sixth or seventh year? It's the seventh year, actually. Wow, that's so wild. I love when we cover this every year. I have not gone out to it myself, but I look back at the video we get in on Monday, and the costumes are just impeccable. It is incredible how hard everyone goes. Yeah, everyone's so extremely creative. They come up with the wildest ideas, and just sometimes they do the human and dog dual costumes. And it's just amazing. You have a whole family of their pets and then the kids, the mom and the dad, so it's so much fun. I'm so excited. So are there any costume rules? What do viewers need to know if they wanna participate with their furry friend? Yeah, so we have two categories. One's gonna be just best dog costume, and then the other category is gonna be human and dog dual costumes. So there's really no criteria. Whatever you imagine, you could definitely go all out. So were you Woody? What did you guys do? Were you Mr. Potato Head? Actually, my wife and I, we have a slinky costume. No. Okay. I'm so glad you said that. I was trying to convince my husband to do that this year. He was like, but if you're off running, is it hard to be attached to one another? It definitely is. You have to be dedicated. That's for sure. yeah yeah um what does it mean so tell me how obviously Sparkman Wharf is huge it's a whole entity but Modern Paws i love your biscuits i love all the creative toys oh and mister's done with us yeah do you bring him to work every day we actually don't we bring him from time to time but he actually just enjoys laying around the house yeah yeah yeah because at the store this would just be him so he's like i prefer just being in my own space oh so what do you feel is your favorite costume that you have seen at halloween oh my goodness that's a very very tough one i know we have some pictures from the past right you guys were really good at providing those the i i love when the i think i saw beanie babies yep there's that's one of my favorites Last year, we had a Red Bull race car with the dog dressed up as a race car driver. So that was amazing. That was a good one. But yeah, all sorts of just very, very creative. Not the Hogwarts train. Okay, so can people come and enjoy the contest even if their dog isn't competing? Oh, most definitely. So on top of the actual costume contest, we actually have the pet caricature drawings that's going to be complimentary. And then we're also even going to have other vendors around as well, too, other pet vendors. So even if your dog's not participating, they could definitely still be a part of it. And then even if you just want to bring your family, you could definitely bring them by, too. It's just a fun atmosphere. There's plenty of food and restaurants nearby that would be happy to give you a nice Sunday experience. So was this your idea? My wife and I did come up with it, talking over with the team at Sparkman. We just want a very pet-friendly environment over there. So it's definitely, it's just grown year after year. Tampa is so pet-friendly. Coming from New York, no hate to where I grew up. But I felt like there wasn't too much to do with your dog in public spaces. So to have an entire parade dedicated to dressing up with your animals just makes my heart happy. For people who want to go, then what time, what do people need to know for Sunday? I know parking gets a little tricky over there. It can. It can get tricky. There's a couple parking lots around us, though, so it's not too, too terrible. but we do ask all the participants that want to be a part of the actual costume contest to register in front of our store at Sparkman Wharf at 3 p.m till 4 p.m and then the actual judging starts at 4 p.m okay what what are we talking about like prizes here prizes there's some great great prizes um the nice thing though is that even if you're just participating you don't have to be a winner but you still get an awesome goodie bag filled with all sorts of stuff i love it i I love it. What does it mean to you? Your wife and you created this. It gets bigger and bigger every year. What is it like to see that? It's truly amazing. I mean, the support of the whole community, the whole Tampa Bay region, to be honest, as we get people from not only in the downtown area, but we have people from up in Lutz, Land O'Lakes, Wesley Chapel that come all the way down just specifically for this event. So it's nice to see. And then I know there's other events happening just throughout the next couple of weeks through halloween at sparkman do we know anything about those well um actually for this sunday uh the water street um market is actually happening beforehand so it's kind of a nice way you could actually make it a whole day out of it um and then i know uh water street's having a uh event i believe on october 28th um it's their Whispers After Dark, I believe it's called. So yeah, kind of some fun stuff happening over there. Get in the spooky season. Mr. Hi, buddy. Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much for coming on. I'm so excited for you and to see all the costumes. Is Mr. going? Is this his costume this year? Yeah, he'll probably be either this or we also have him as a postman as well, too. I love it. Well, he's so chill. I'm obsessed with him. He's a whole Friday mood. Ben, Mister, thank you so much for joining us. Have the best time this Sunday, guys, at Sparkman Wharf. Halloween, a parade and costume contest. We will be right back after this break. And we're all going to nap like- All right, everyone, welcome on back into Fox Tampa Bay Live on this Friday, October 16th. As promised, we do want to wrap up our show with a few minutes of remarks from Governor Ron DeSantis, who just spoke in Milton, Florida, about response efforts that are continuing after Hurricane Isaias made landfall last week as a Category 2 storm. We've gotten a lot of video in from local church groups that have traveled from central Florida to the Panhandle to help deliver supplies, to help cut down trees. That seems to be one of the biggest issues, is the amount of trees that fell on power lines, on homes. There have been several deaths reported due to this storm. So this was a half-hour press conference. We'll let you listen in to the first few minutes, and then we'll send things over to the News at Noon with Linda Hurtado. Well, good morning. We're back in Milton. I'm here with Rep. Salzman, as well as Jared Perdue, our Division of Emergency Management Executive Director. I know everybody's been working hard in the aftermath of the hurricane. All these ones, they always have a little bit different wrinkle. And I think this one, with the power of the winds on the northwest part of the storm, that's not how any of the more recent hurricanes have been. And you go where it hit in Destin and then compare Milton, which was miles away from the impact and more interior, and yet you see major damage in Milton and Jay and other parts of Santa Rosa County. So these are things you've got to deal with. But those are really significant impacts. And I know everybody's been working hard to do. We have, as of this morning, currently have completed more than 1,600 response missions just with the State Division of Emergency Management. We continue to provide critical supplies and resources to folks impacted in the recovery efforts. Can you move forward? We have 11 pods, points of distribution, throughout the region, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Walton, and Washington counties. Those provide free essential supplies, water, shelf-stable meals, ice, tarps, other recovery items. I know a lot of people have been able to get tarps over the last few days. And, you know, unfortunately, you get a lot of wind damage to your home and have roof damage. You know, sometimes you've got to do the tarp. It's just a fact of life and a strong hurricane. And so those will be there as long as people need it. Now, we did certainly notice as people's power came back on, You had fewer people that would go to the pods, but we understand there's still a need for the pods, and so they'll be there as long as people need it. We have already distributed more than a quarter of a million meals, half a million boxes of water, 26,000 bags of ice, 26,000 tarps, and close to a quarter of a million gallons of fuel. So yesterday, Florida submitted to the Trump administration a request for a major disaster declaration. This is a step that we need to do in order to unlock support from FEMA. And so our request includes public assistance for 15 Florida counties, obviously, including the ones here in northwest Florida. All right, everyone. So as promised, wanting to give you a few minutes of a listen to Governor Ron DeSantis up in Milton, also joined by Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Jared Perdue. Just talking about the state's response to all of these communities that have been impacted by Hurricane Isaias making landfall in the Panhandle last week as a Category 2 storm. So you still got people without power. They're working to restore that. And then they're working to get supplies and other necessities to some of these residents. I mean, this is a look at some of the response that was seen out in the panhandle. This is video coming in from Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. You could see pallets of water, food, tents, just people out there trying to do what they can to help folks. And of course, we know all too much what this is like. So we will have more coverage of this coming up on Fox 13 News throughout the day. More on everything that Governor Ron DeSantis and Jared Perdue had to say. But as you can see, in his final few weeks as governor, I mean, I know that he's going to have even, you know, till the turn of the year. But a big thing coming up as far as the election goes is how the new governor of Florida is going to handle hurricane response like this. because it's something that Governor DeSantis had to do a lot. We are going to wrap things up here on Fox Tampa Bay Live and send things over to Linda Hurtado for the news at noon. Lots of stories to cover. I know, Linda, a heartbreaking thing that we've been following is the pilot killed in a mosquito helicopter crash. I know Kim Quizon doing a great job learning more about this man, about the impact he had on his family, on this team. Just so heartbreaking to hear that. Yeah, a man just out trying to help his community. We will have a live report. Thanks, Regina, and have a great weekend, okay? Thanks, you too.