Keyonna Summers, Times Staff Writer
Keyonna Summers covers the city of Dunedin and social services for the Tampa Bay Times. Keyonna, a Detroit native, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Michigan University, with a double minor in Spanish and psychology. She covered immigration for the Washington (D.C.) Times, then reported on courts and education and served as an on-air anchor for Florida Today before joining the Times' Clearwater bureau in 2011.
Want to know more? Catch up with Keyonna on the Deal Divas blog.
Phone: (727) 445-4153
Email: ksummers@tampabay.com
Twitter: @KeyonnaSummers
Blog: Deal Divas
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Bodies of Dunedin couple found in wildlife area
05/20/13 Public SafetyWEEKI WACHEE — Kenneth Jones got a troubling call from his parents early Sunday morning, authorities say.
The call prompted Jones to ask Pinellas County sheriff's deputies to check on Michael and Glenna Jones, both 66, at their Dunedin home. When deputies arrived, the couple and their tan PT Cruiser were gone, but there were signs that Glenna had been bound at the house, the Sheriff's Office said. Investigators also found evidence leading them to believe that the couple might be in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area in northwest Hernando County....
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After sex-trafficking arrests, Backpage.com under fire
05/19/13CrimeIt was the third bust of a Central Florida sex-trafficking ring in as many days. Fed up, the leader of one law enforcement agency looked into television cameras and issued not a warning, but a promise.
"Backpage," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said, referring to the web-based classified ad service Backpage.com implicated in all three cases, "you're going to be criminally investigated and so are the people that are in charge of the organization....
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Dunedin proposes hiring PR firm to promote new brand to tourists
05/15/13 BlogMonths after launching a new city logo and slogan, Dunedin city staffers are looking into the cost of hiring an advertising or public relations firm to help promote the new brand.
The proposal will be presented to the City Commission Thursday, along with a briefing on the final marketing plan crafted by Wilesmith Advertising and Design (which designed the new brand).
Under the first phase of the brand rollout, Dunedin installed street banners featuring the new image and magnetic decals for city vehicles, among other things. For phase two, Wilesmith is recommending that the city wraps funds into its 2014 budget for billboard or airport advertisements, as well as embark on agressive social media and mobile marketing campaigns. ...
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Ugly, overweight or just plain uncool? You're also unwelcome at A&F
05/14/13 BlogTrying to drum up business for your clothing empire? Do you:
A) Use that old and busted marketing ploy of appealing to big spenders via creative print, radio and television advertisements? OR...
B) Alienate half your potential customer base, thus making them clamor for your product even more?
If your name is Mike Jeffries and you’re CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, option B is apparently the new hotness....
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Pinellas agencies make four more sex-trafficking arrests
05/13/13CrimeLARGO — Law enforcement agencies announced four arrests Monday in two separate human-trafficking rings that they say dispatched local women and at least two juvenile girls across the Tampa Bay area for prostitution.
Donell Jenkins, 21, alleged ringleader Antron Smith, 30, and his girlfriend Stacy Jo Bumgarner, 28, all of St. Petersburg, are accused of forcing two teen girls into prostitution....
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Two men accused of operating Pinellas-based human-trafficking ring
05/10/13CrimeCLEARWATER — The women, recruited from strip clubs and trained as prostitutes in a Pinellas County brothel, were offered drugs to fuel addictions that would help hold them prisoner.
If they refused the drugs, authorities said, they were controlled through sexual assaults and brutal beatings.
Their captivity in what Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi called "modern-day slavery" ended with the Friday arrests of two men authorities say were leading a Pinellas County-based human-trafficking ring involving at least 16 local women....
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Dunedin commissioners debate civility -- again
05/10/13 BlogDunedin City Commissioner Julie Scales has again found herself at the center of a squabble about civility (or rather, her alleged lack thereof) toward her fellow commissioners....
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Dunedin officials shoot down gun show proposal
05/09/13 BlogWith the Newtown school massacre still fresh in everyone’s minds and stories of new mass or accidental shootings popping up in the media seemingly daily, it’s probably no surprise that a recent request to hold a gun and knife show in Dunedin didn’t go over so well.
A representative from uBidGuns LLC emailed the city last month to inquire about rental rates to host two-day weekend shows every other month at the Dunedin Community Center.
“This would be an ongoing relationship,” representative Jay King wrote.
The city’s answer? A resounding “no.”
The replies ranged from succinct:... -
Dunedin struggles to balance 2014 budget without cutting service levels
05/08/13 BlogAs the city works to craft next year's budget, officials are finding that even the most basic departmental requests are threatening to break the bank.
With all the cuts the city has made during the recession, Dunedin finance director Karen Feeney says city officials are running out of options. The general fund budget alone has plummeted from $33 million in 2007 to an anticipated $23.5 million in 2014, she said....
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Dunedin struggles to balance budget without cutting service levels
05/07/13 Local GovernmentDUNEDIN — As the city works to craft next year's budget, officials are finding that even the most basic departmental requests are threatening to break the bank.
With all the cuts the city has made during the recession, Dunedin finance director Karen Feeney says city officials are running out of options. The general fund budget alone has plummeted from $33 million in 2007 to an anticipated $23.5 million in 2014, she said....
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Busing of Dunedin students through busy intersection still not resolved
05/06/13 BlogTwo state agencies have weighed in, yet it's still anybody's guess whether busing will actually cease next school year for more than 50 San Jose Elementary students.
In late March, the Florida Department of Education told city and Pinellas school officials that it was the state Department of Transportation's responsibility to study whether State Road 580 near the entrance to downtown is too dangerous for students to walk across....
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Opponents, supporters mull changes for Dunedin's vacant Nielsen property
05/06/13 BlogThe community is having mixed reactions to Wells Fargo's new plan for the former Nielsen Media Research property it owns at 375 Patricia Avenue in Dunedin.
The 23-acre property has been vacant for eight years. In an effort to finally attract a buyer, the bank recently approached city commissioners about changing the property's light-industrial land use zoning to a category that would accommodate anything from mostly residential to a mixed-use "village" community featuring apartments above offices, boutiques, restaurants and other retail shops....
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Owner of Dunedin Nielsen property testing waters on zoning change
05/03/13GrowthDUNEDIN — When Nielsen Media Research moved 1,600 employees out of its 211,000-square-foot office complex on Patricia Avenue, restaurateur Pat Illiano watched the area around it slowly devolve into a "ghost town."
"There's no reason for anyone to drive up Patricia whatsoever," said Illiano, owner of Umberto's of Long Island. "Anything that will go in that place right there is better than what's been there the last eight years."...
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Busing of Dunedin students through busy intersection still not resolved
05/03/13EducationDUNEDIN — Two state agencies have weighed in, yet it's still anybody's guess whether busing will actually cease next school year for more than 50 San Jose Elementary students.
In late March, the Florida Department of Education told city and Pinellas school officials that the state Department of Transportation would need to study whether State Road 580 near the entrance to downtown is too dangerous for students to walk across....
