R.J. Anderson Leads Off for Baylor Bears

The Baylor Bears opened the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 4x100-meter relay. Baylor was forced to use its seventh different relay combination of the season, due to injuries to Courtney Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) and Trey Harts (Lake Charles, La.). The Bears finished fifth in the third heat running 40.31. R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.) led off for Baylor, passing to Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) down the backstretch. Scheuerman ran the curve leg, and passed to Betters on the anchor leg. Baylor placed 13th overall in the preliminaries and did not qualify for the event finals.

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Big Pine Key Sex Offender Arrested

A convicted sex offender living in Big Pine Key will be the first person in South Florida federally prosecuted on charges of failing to register with authorities. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami filed a criminal complaint Monday against Richard Maurice Dumont, 55.

Dumont was convicted in February 2004 of second-degree child molestation for sneaking into a 12-year-old girl's bedroom and fondling her, according to charging documents. The incident happened in Woonsocket, R.I. A judge sentenced Dumont to eight years of probation, requiring him to register as a sex offender and inform his probation officer of any address changes.

Dumont wrote to his probation officer in March saying he had moved to Florida. Authorities determined that Dumont hadn't registered as a sex offender in Florida, which investigators said is required within 48 hours of moving to the state. U.S. Marshals arrested Dumont at a trailer park in Big Pine Key on May 16. He was charged with knowingly failing to register as a sex offender.

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Hugh Hefner sends help for feral cats (and bunnies)

While Playboy bunnies live relatively carefree lives, the Lower Keys marsh rabbits named after Playboy founder Hugh M. Hefner are not so lucky — and he's coming to the rescue. The scientific name given to the endangered rabbits is Sylvilagus palustris hefneri, honoring Hefner, who put money toward research identifying the subspecies in 1980. The rabbits' drastic decline in the National Key Deer Refuge — and refuge officials' upcoming efforts to trap feral cats that are preying on them — has gotten national attention.

"It has recently come to my attention that marsh rabbits ... in the [National Key Deer Refuge] have become endangered, and as a response, feral cats in the area may ultimately be euthanized," Hefner said in a statement released by his publicist, Rob Hilburger. "I have made a contribution to Stand Up for Animals, a local nonprofit that operates two animal shelters in the Florida Keys. It's an organization on the front lines, which I'm confident will provide the greatest chance of saving both the rabbits and the cats."

The amount of the donation was not disclosed.

Hefner's action comes after Linda Gottwald, director of Stand Up For Animals, voiced her concern about the feral cats on the Playboy Sirius radio station Friday morning.

Wildlife officials say the dark brown, medium-sized, cotton-tailed rabbits' population has dwindled over the past two years and that the animal, put on the federal endangered species list in 1990, could be wiped out if nothing is done.

Refuge officials plan to begin trapping feral cats on Big Pine Key starting Monday in an effort to protect marsh rabbits, silver rice rats and other animals and birds. The feral cats will be trapped alive and brought to local animal shelters before they are relocated. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently received $50,000 to remove the cats from federal refuges on Big Pine and Key Largo.

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