Deers of joy: Seemingly dead fawn pulled from icy waters 'licked' back to life by family of deer

It’s like the Enchanted Forest out there.

Suffolk County cops pulled a seemingly-dead fawn out of icy waters in Fire Island today — and a family of deer came up to it and licked it back to health!

Suffolk County PD

Marine Bureau officers Robert Femia and Peter Bogachunas were nearing the Davis Park Marina on their boat about 1:04 p.m. when they noticed a little baby deer’s head among pieces of ice and slush floating on the water about 30 yards from shore.

“They don’t know how long it’s been there, so they maneuver their boat close to the deer, pick it up and throw it into the boat,” said Lt. Raymond Epp, of the Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau, who met the officers on the dock as they tried to rescue the little animal.

The cops quickly covered the brown-eyed deer in several thick blankets but, despite their best efforts, the little guy remained freezing wet and motionless.

Suffolk County PD

Suffolk County police officer with the fawn.

Suffolk County PD

Suffolks County police officer feeding fawn popcorn.

“It wasn’t flailing or kicking, it was just sitting there,” Epp said. “We weren’t sure if it was in shock of hypothermia.”

That’s when the Enchanted Forest-like miracle happened: Three deer — an adult and two young babies that appeared to be members of the fawn’s family — came out of the woods and began to lick the little guy.

Slowly, he started to come back to life, first blinking its big brown eyes, then getting up slowly and moving around the dock.

The officers took the fawn over to the station house and fed it warm popcorn, which the little guy took gladly. “We had limited food,” Epp explained.

After a few minutes, the fawn started to get even more alert and ran off with the other deer.

“I couldn’t wait to go home and tell my daughter about it,” said Epp, who has an 11 year old. “It was just such a nice, heartwarming story.”

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Sign up for Feb. 21 Miami Herald Small Business Forum

Prepare your best pitch for the Miami Herald’s Small Business Forum, Feb. 21 at the south campus of our sponsor, Florida International University.

In addition to how-to panels and inspirational stories from successful entrepreneurs, our annual small business forum will include interactive opportunities with experts to learn about financing options and polish your personal and business brands.

During our finance panel, audience volunteers will be invited to explain their financing needs to the group. During our box-lunch session, they will be invited to pitch their business or personal brand to our coaches.

Those who prefer just to listen will be treated to a keynote address by Alberto Perlman, co-founder of the global fitness craze Zumba. Panels include success stories from the local entrepreneurs who founded Sedano’s, Jennifer’s Homemade and ReStockIt.com; finance tips from experts in small business loans, venture capital, angel investments and traditional bank loans; and insiders in the burgeoning South Florida tech start-up scene.

Plus, it’s a real bargain. $25 includes the half-day seminar, continental breakfast and a box lunch.

Register here.

Program

8 a.m.

Registration and continental breakfast, provided by Bill Hansen Catering

8:30 a.m. Welcome

Host: David Suarez, president and CEO, Interactive Training Solutions, LLC

•  Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

•  Alice Horn, executive director, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE South Florida)

•  Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge Overview:

•  Nancy Dahlberg, Business Plan Challenge coordinator, The Miami Herald

8:45 a.m. Session I – Success Stories

Moderator: Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

Speakers:

•  Jennifer Behar, founder, Jennifer’s Homemade

•  Matt Kuttler, co-president of ReStockIt.com

•  Javier Herrán, chief marketing officer, Sedano’s Supermarkets

10 a.m. Session II – All about Tech

Moderator: Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Speakers

•  Susan Amat, founder, Launch Pad Tech

•  Nancy Borkowski, executive director, Health Management Programs, Chapman Graduate School of

Business, Florida International University

•  Mark Slaughter, CEO, Cohealo.com

•  Chris Fleck, vice president of mobility solutions at Citrix and a director of the South Florida Tech Alliance

11:15 a.m. Keynote

Speaker: Alberto Perlman, CEO and co-founder of Zumba® Fitness

Introduction: Jane Wooldridge, business editor, The Miami Herald

11:45 a.m. Session III – Show me the money: Financing your small business

An interactive session featuring audience volunteers who will be invited to make a short investment pitch before a panel, including experts in microlending, SBA loans, traditional bank loans, venture capital and angel investing. Audience volunteers should come prepared with a two-minute presentation that includes details about current backing, how much money they are seeking and a brief synosis of ow that money would be used.

Moderator: Melissa Krinzman, founder and managing director, Venture Architects

Panelists:

•  Marjorie Weber, chairman, SCORE of Miami-Dade

•  Cornell Crews, Jr., program director, Partners for Self Employment

•  Darius G. Nevin, co-founder, G3 Capital Partners, a mid-market and early-stage investment company

•  Boris Hirmas Said, chairman of the board, Tres Mares S.A. (Santiago, Chile) and entrepreneur in

residence at the Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center

1 p.m. Lunch session - Polish your Pitch, Brighten Your Personal Brand

An interactive session featuring audience volunteers who will be invited to make short pitches about their businesses and themselves. Audience volunteers should come prepared with a two-minute presentation.

Coaches: Melissa Krinzman of Venture Architects and Michelle Villalobos of Mivista Consulting

advise audience volunteers on how to best pitch themselves and their products.

Box lunch provided by Bill Hansen Catering

All speakers confirmed unless otherwise noted. Agenda is subject to change without notice .

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Green card ends terrible chapter for South Floridian

Juan José Correa Villalonga looked at the envelope, felt its contents and held it close to his chest, but he would not open it. He let his mother do it, because the permanent residence card inside represented long years of her struggles.

And thus, the young Venezuelan became one of the few people who have been deported and later allowed to return to the United States. He is perhaps the only Venezuelan ever to have accomplished this.

“I feel very fortunate for this,” Villalonga said in an interview this week, just days after receiving the green card. “I know there are many people being separated from their families and they never reunite again, so for me this is a blessing.”

His mother, Helene Villalonga, is a well-known activist for human rights and a critic of Hugo Chávez’s government. In 2000, when Juan was 11 years old, the family fled Venezuela because of political persecution. They sought political asylum in the United States but were ripped off by two lawyers who did not represent them properly. The family’s petition was denied.

Venezuelan exiles, unlike Cubans, do not enjoy special immigration privileges, though officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the number of deportations of Venezuelans had diminished in recent years. According to ICE numbers, more than 400 Venezuelans were deported every year between 2007 and 2010. In 2011, however, the number of deportations dropped to 290.

Villalonga graduated from high school with honors in 2007, was awarded a scholarship, and was accepted into Florida International University — but due to his undocumented status he did not have access to his scholarship funds. After his first semester as a psychology major, he realized he could not continue to pay tuition on his own. Then he decided to go to Canada, where he had also been offered scholarships by several universities.

He drove for six days in his gold Dodge Neon, and was close to the Canadian border when, on June 27, 2009, he stopped on a road in Vermont and was arrested by a highway patrol officer.

“Are you aware that you have a deportation order?” he said the officer asked him.

“I explained to him that my family had an open case of political asylum, but it was there that I learned that there was a deportation order against us and our lawyer never notified us,” Villalonga said.

He went through three prisons in two months and, though his family warned immigration authorities that he would be in danger if he were returned to Venezuela, one night in August he was deported without having time to inform anybody.

He arrived in Caracas at 5 a.m. with $195 in his pocket. Villalonga remembered two telephone numbers of relatives in Venezuela, those of his aunt Vivian and his grandmother Blanca.

“I knew nothing about Caracas because I had never been there,” said Villalonga, whose family is from Valencia, west of Venezuela’s capital. “But I did know that it is one of the most dangerous cities in South America.”

During the two years Villalonga was in Venezuela, his mother launched a campaign to demonstrate that her son’s life was in danger.

Villalonga said that while in Venezuela he received threats by email. One day when he was alone at his aunt’s house, he heard someone enter the back yard. When he came out to check, he found three armed men wearing red shirts and red berets.

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'Escape from Planet Earth' Premiere

Jessica Alba, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson and the rest of the voice cast of Escape from Planet Earth hit the red carpet on terra firma this week to premiere their fun new movie. Will Jessica's kids see the movie over and over and over? Watch the video highlights!

Pics: 'Star Wars' Scoundrel Casting: Young Han Solo

In theaters February 15, the out-of-this-world 3D animated comedy also features the vocal talents of Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner, Sofía Vergara, Rob Corddry, George Lopez, Steve Zahn, Chris Parnell, Ricky Gervais and Jonathan Morgan Heit.

Pics: 13 Must-See Movies of 2013

Told from the alien point of view, the fast-paced family comedy-adventure follows the misadventures of famed interplanetary astronaut Scorch Supernova from the Planet Baab and his buddies. Trapped by evil government forces on the distant "Dark Planet" (aka Earth) and tossed behind bars in Area 51, it's up to his nerdy brother Gary to navigate the third rock from the sun's strange customs and inhabitants in order to save him.

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Lohans hit with court papers over Long Island manse

A process server slapped Lindsay and Dina Lohan with court papers today — part of Chase Bank’s years-long battle to foreclose on their Long Island mansion, sources said.

The server tacked the court papers on the front gate of the troubled Starlet’s childhood house in Merrick — where Dina and Lindsay brawled in October.

Today’s court documents — which a source said names both Lindsay, 26, and her mom, Dina, 50 — were inside an envelope notes that simply: “Important Information Enclosed.”

The delivery man confirmed to The Post that he was a process server and that the papers were related to a “Chase Bank” mortgage issue.

Splash News

Lindsay Lohan arriving at amfAR gala.

Financial woes run in the family.

Hard-partying Dina has racked up over $1 million in debt in the past decade, barely avoiding foreclosure on the $1.3 million house in 2005 and 2012, court documents show.

In October, Lindsay helped her mom pay the loans, plunking down a reported $40,000.

That set off an October brawl between Lindsay and her mother — which took place in the driveway at the house — there the starlet demanded Dina pay back the huge loan.

“I was like, ‘Give me my money back! Give me my 40 grand back, that I just gave you!’” the actress said, recounting the fight to her father, Michael, in a phone conversation he recorded.

“You gave Mom $40,000?” Michael asked.

“Because she needs to keep her house,” Lindsay responded.

Lohan owes more than $200,000 in back-taxes — which Charlie Sheen reportedly help her pay in November 2012.

“Thank you Charlie Sheen for having Lindsays back!” Dina tweeted today.

But in December, the IRS froze Lindsay’s accounts.

In 2005, Dina Lohan took out a loan totaling more than $700,000 and now holds a $422,723 mortgage on the property, records show.

In 2008, she was forced to pay off a $301,715 lien for money borrowed from another lender, records show.

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Miami startup that turns text to video receives $1 million in seed funding

Guide, a new technology startup based in Miami, announced Tuesday it has closed a $1 million round of seed funding from investors including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Sapient Corp., MTV founder Bob Pitman, actor and producer Omar Epps, and early Google employee Steve Schimmel. The Knight Foundation is supporting Guide through its new early-stage venture fund, the Knight Enterprise Fund.

Led by CEO and founder Freddie Laker and COO Leslie Bradshaw, Guide’s team of seven is focused on turning online news, social streams and blogs into video for users who may be cooking, exercising, commuting or getting ready in the morning. The free application offers consumers a selection of about 20 “anchors” — including a dog, a robot and an anime character — that will read the article and present the accompanying photos, pull-out information and video clips in its video presentation. Revenue drivers for Guide could include in-app purchases, advertising-based anchors and customizations from publishers, said Laker, a former vice president at SapientNitro.

Laker and his team plan to launch a public beta next month, which they plan to do with a splash at the huge technology conference South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

Read more about Guide here on the Starting Gate blog. Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg

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Judge angered after learning mentally ill Miami man was placed in assisted living facility, and escaped

After Cristobal Abreu was arrested for stabbing a Hialeah SWAT officer with a large BBQ fork in December 2009, doctors deemed his mind too ravaged by mental illness to stand trial.

For years, he bounced around mental health facilities.

Then a stay at a Miami Gardens assisted living facility, where funds for his medications ran out and his mental state deteriorated, ended last month when the 72-year-old Abreu was shipped without a judge’s permission to Jackson North Medical Center.

Then last week, a Jackson case worker — again, without permission from the court — sent him to an ALF in Little Havana. He promptly escaped.

“I’m free! I’m free,” Abreu yelled as he shuffled away from the San Martin de Porras facility Tuesday, according to lawyers and court personnel who aired the episode over two days in court this week.

Abreu’s ping-ponging treatment has drawn the ire of Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer, who has now ordered hospital and state-contracted mental health administrators to court Friday to explain what happened.

“The system is broken,” Venzer said angrily in court this week, adding: “What would have happened if Mr. Abreu had decompensated and gone out and hurt somebody else in our community?”

Abreu’s escape was short-lived: police quickly detained him, committing him back to Jackson Memorial Hospital for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation.

The unusual episode underscores what mental health advocates in Miami-Dade’s criminal justice system say has been a reoccurring problem: “incompetent” defendants are often shuffled between facilities without the knowledge of the court tasked with supervising them.

ALFs mostly house the elderly and others with mental health issues or disabilities. It is not unusual for incompetent defendants, usually non-violent ones, to be placed at an ALF in a residential neighborhood.

“The people in the social services arena have to recognize that a court-order is sacrosanct,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Wednesday. “I really understand the judge’s ire. She has the absolute right to be livid with everyone in the system.”

Subpoenaed to appear before the judge on Friday: Representatives from Jackson, the South Florida Behavioral Network, which contracts with the state to manage cases of the mentally ill defendants, and New Horizons Community Mental Health Center, which monitored Abreu’s case.

A lawyer for the Florida Department of Children and Families will also appear.

“It sounds like all these different agencies are treating these individuals like hot potatoes,” Venzer said in court Wednesday.

Abreu was initially arrested in December 2009 for attempted murder and aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer. The attempted charge was later dropped; the SWAT officer was not hurt because the knife pierced his shield.

During a jailhouse interview with a psychologist, the incoherent Abreu admitted that he sometimes hears voices and see visions of “flowers [and] gold diamonds.”

The court determined that Abreu was “incompetent” to proceed to trial, meaning he could not assist his lawyer in defending the accusations.

After stays in several other facilities, Abreu wound up at the Graceful Gardens ALF, 18101 NW 47th Ct., in November.

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EXCLUSIVE: BTS of Austin Mahone Flo Rida Say Your Just a Friend

The music video for Austin Mahone's smash single Say You're Just a Friend, featuring Flo Rida, is debuting Thursday, but today we're taking you behind-the-scenes of the video shoot in this exclusive clip.

PICS: New Music Tuesday!

In the video, Mahone goofs off with backup dancers and shows off one impressive hat trick all while giving a sneak peek of his flashy dance moves.

The 16-year-old YouTube sensation has been drawing strong comparisons to Justin Bieber, what with his loyal fan base (called Mahomies) and immense talent as a singer/songwriter.

You can see Mahone in person when he joins Taylor Swift on her Red tour starting May 4.

Watch the full video when it premieres on MTV tomorrow night!

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Upper West Side molestation trial in jury deadlock

A Manhattan jury deadlocked today in the molestation trial of an Upper West Side school aide, with only five out of 12 jurors believing the nine-year-old alleged victim's account of repeated unwanted stripping and "massaging" in the boy's room and auditorum.

Gregory Atkins, 57, remains accused of on four occasions last winter bringing the boy into a bathroom at PS 87 and telling him to undress so that he could "check for bruises." On the final occasion, Atkins allegedly asked the boy to perform a sex act -- which the boy refused, later that day telling his therapist and father.

Steven Hirsch

Gregory Atkins, 56, a teacher's aide at PS 87 on the Upper West Side accused of requesting a sex act from an 8-year-old boy

The jury acquitted Atkins of additional child pornography charges stemming from ten images recovered from his home computer. Testimony showed the images had been downloaded and then deleted, jurors explained after their verdict that they couldn't be sure that Atkins had personally downloaded the images.

He remains held in lieu of $250,000 bail. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro set Feb. 15 for his next court date, during which both sides will discuss a possible retrial on the molestation counts.

The five pro-conviction jurors found the boy credible despite the troubled kid's furious responses to a defense lawyer's grilling on the stand last month. "Shut up!" the kid had snapped at the defense lawyer. "And stop being a bully!"

"He was provoked," one male pro-conviction juror told reporters after the verdict. "He didn't like authority and his buttons were pushed. But that doesn't matter," the juror said. "For me, it was an open and shut case."

The boy had told consistent accounts of the molestation from the day he reported it until his time on the witness stand a year later, the juror noted.

But defense lawyers had argued that the boy's trouble with authority extended to Atkins himself -- and that the boy manufactured a molestation tale to get back at the strict school aide.

The pro-acquittal majority agreed that the boy's emotional and authority problems, along with a lack of corroborating evidence, raised reasonable doubt as to Atkins' guilt, said one female juror from the not-guilty camp.

"It was a very tough judgement call," said another female, pro-acquittal juror. "There wasn't enough evidence."

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Miami startup that turns text to video receives $1 million in seed funding

Guide, a new technology startup based in Miami, announced Tuesday it has closed a $1 million round of seed funding from investors including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Sapient Corp., MTV founder Bob Pitman, actor and producer Omar Epps, and early Google employee Steve Schimmel. The Knight Foundation is supporting Guide through its new early-stage venture fund, the Knight Enterprise Fund.

Led by CEO and founder Freddie Laker and COO Leslie Bradshaw, Guide’s team of seven is focused on turning online news, social streams and blogs into video for users who may be cooking, exercising, commuting or getting ready in the morning. The free application offers consumers a selection of about 20 “anchors” — including a dog, a robot and an anime character — that will read the article and present the accompanying photos, pull-out information and video clips in its video presentation. Revenue drivers for Guide could include in-app purchases, advertising-based anchors and customizations from publishers, said Laker, a former vice president at SapientNitro.

Laker and his team plan to launch a public beta next month, which they plan to do with a splash at the huge technology conference South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

Read more about Guide here on the Starting Gate blog. Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg

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