alexis morris

Published Wednesday, February 15, 2006 ALEXIS MORRIS, 18 McKeel Academy LAKELAND -- Miss Alexis Kuuipo Morris of Lakeland died of injuries suffered in an automobile accident Monday (Feb. 13, 2006) at Tampa General Hospital. She was 18. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Jan. 10, 1988, she came to Lakeland from there in 1995. She was a student at McKeel Academy in Lakeland where she played volleyball and basketball. She also was involved with the TV production program at McKeel. She had just started her internship with the Polk County Sheriff's Office. She was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Lakeland. Miss Morris is survived by her parents, John and Jacqueline Morris, Lakeland; brother, Rick Morris, Lakeland; sister, Kelly Kaimilani Sheather, Honolulu; maternal grandmother, Beverly Cooper, Lakeland; paternal grandmother, Laura Morris, Honolulu. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Victory Church chapel. Gentry-Morrison Dukes Steen Funeral Chapel.

Published Tuesday, February 14, 2006

2 Dead in Crash That Snarls I-4 for Hours

By Gabrielle Finley
The Ledger

PLANT CITY -- A Lakeland woman and her boyfriend were killed in an accident on Interstate 4 early Monday, the first fatalities on I-4 in Hillsborough or Polk County so far this year, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

The 5:15 a.m. accident shut down traffic for several hours, the FHP reported.

Anthony S. Boswell, 20, of Plant City, and his passenger Alexis Morris, 18, of Lakeland, were in a 2001 Hyundai Tiburon headed east on I-4 near Plant City.

Their car collided with the back of 56-year-old Luis E. Cordoves' 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis, according to an FHP report.

The Tiburon went into the median and crossed into the westbound lanes, colliding with the left rear of a tractor-trailer, the report said.

Upon impact, the tractor-trailer smashed into a concrete barrier wall and overturned, cutting off westbound traffic just east of the Alexander Street exit, the report said.

Boswell, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the crash scene, the report said.

Morris was flown to Tampa General Hospital where she died about 4:30 p.m., the FHP said.

Cordoves was not injured, and 54-year-old Richard Briseno, the tractor-trailer driver, suffered minor injuries, the report said.

Briseno was taken to South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City.

Traffic was shut down for five hours, backing up to the edge of Polk County, said FHP spokesman Larry Coggins.

Troopers routed traffic to Frontage Road while crews worked to clean up the road and move the tractor-trailer.

There have been no traffic fatalities on I-4 in Polk County so far this year, Coggins said.

Gabrielle Finley can be reached at gabrielle.finley@theledger.com or 863-802-7590.

The Met

So in the course of a week I have decided to move to providence RI and not to move. Amanda is willing to move to Providence for me to start working at the Met, assuming I got the job. I think I have decided that we are going to wati one year, let me finish my masters and then apply. Who knows. Working at the Met would be a dream come true for me. I don't see myself at McKeel forever anymore. And I really feel peaceful about leaving McKeel. The stress is uprooting my family adn moving them to a completely new place. Waiting one more year, would give us the chance to really put things in place.

It is crazy how this process all begun. I discover Alfie Kohn, loan the book to HM, he looses it, buys me the book by Dennis Littky, and the rest is history. I guess I have those two people to thank for all of this :-)

sigh.

I'm so disturbed that Betsi would want to call a project for her regular classes a "non-honors project." So many educators are blind to the damage that they could possibly be doing to their students.