sound advice amphitheater

During this year's Marathon Toy Drive with Real Radio's The Love Doctors, talk show pros Rich Dickerson and Glenn Curtis, sidekick Lexxus and producer Jason will do something they haven't done in years: sleep through the night.

The popular radio hosts will forgo their traditional 24-hour nonstop stint and instead split the campaign into two shows broadcast Nov. 28 and 29, airing on WZZR 94.3 FM and WCZR 101.7 FM. They're also streamed live at www.wzzr.com.

The first 12-hour show, Nov. 28, will air live from the Patio Restaurant in Vero Beach beginning at 10 a.m.

The Docs will return the next day at 10 a.m. from 88 Keys Piano & Tiki Bar in Palm Beach Gardens.

Throughout the drive, the Docs and gang will chat it up with callers as they do during their regular show.

After years of proving they can hack 24 hours of live radio, Dickerson said, it was time to mix it up.

"We've done it to death," he said. "But also, we've got volunteers there all night manning phones and virtually nothing happens after 2 a.m., so we're not raising any money."

By appearing at two locations -- at opposite ends of their listening area -- it's likely more fans will stop by, and ideally donate cash or a new toy.

"And we'll have people there for two different meals: lunch and dinner," Dickerson said. "So we think the donations will do real well."

As usual, they'll have special guests stopping by and other surprises. Several Real Radio personalities will be at collection sites, gathering donations and talking with fans.

And while new, unwrapped toys are welcome, donating cash helps The Love Doctors Charities provide even more gifts to youngsters. They buy only toys on sale or get discounts from retailers.

In 2006, the nonprofit charity helped nearly 7,000 children and raised $251,000.

Families wanting to register for toys must sign up online at www.lovedoctors.org.

Once registered, parents will be able to select toys during events Dec. 8 at the St. Lucie County fairgrounds, and Dec. 15 at Sound Advice Amphitheater in West Palm Beach.

If you can't make the marathons, you can donate at the charity's Web site or mail a check to: The Love Doctors Charities, P.O. Box 880862, Port St Lucie, FL 34988.

PAHOKEE ― A moment of silence is tough to find on a football field Friday night in Pahokee.

This is playoff time, remember, so the ever-loving Pahokee High School marching band is brassier than ever and the unbeaten Blue Devils, with a second consecutive state title in sight, are blowing opponents away.

Two deputies killed

Wallace: Loved Pahokee too much to leave | Guest book


Manuel: Officer 'for all the right reasons' | Guest book

Law-enforcement officials who have lost their lives:
Palm Beach County
Treasure Coast

Video reports:
A day of tragic loss
Mayor of Pahokee mourns
Sherriff Bradshaw on Stop Sticks
How Stop Sticks work

Audio:
Sheriff's office communications during chase



Photos from the scene


View interactive map of area




Graphic: How the crash happened

Timeline: How events unfolded


Deputies arrested Ernie Kirk Daley Jr., 19.

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Jonathan Wallace loved this small-town, big-stakes atmosphere. Lived it, too. He worked last week's Pahokee-King's Academy game, providing security in his job as a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy. Just a few years earlier, he was out on the field with the Pahokee band, trumpeting all the way.

Yet when the planned moment of silence came to Lair Field just before kickoff Friday, it came in tribute to Wallace and to Donta J. Manuel, two cops lost in duty to their community in a Wednesday morning tragedy that hangs low like an impenetrable fog, over the Glades.

The connections are tighter out here. Family and football are the binding agents, strong enough to make everyone feel like they're second cousins, at the very least, and brothers and sisters more likely.

Imagine, then, how the phone lines burned and the teary eyes stung at sunrise Wednesday as Pahokee awoke to the news that Wallace and Manuel, both former Pahokee High School students, had been accidentally struck and killed in the darkness by another deputy who was racing along State Road 715 in pursuit of an auto theft suspect.

Many knew that Wallace was engaged to be married and that Manuel was to be his best man.

As more information about the accident trickled out - how two suspects abandoned the stolen car to go scurrying for cover into the dark cane fields - the wounds grew even deeper.

The one suspect who has been arrested is Ernie Daley Jr., 19, not much older than the kids playing football Friday night at Pahokee and surely known to many of them.

Connections.

Daley, charged with aggravated manslaughter in the case, once sang with Wallace in the Harvest A.M.E. Church choir, which was founded by Wallace's mother and sits just beyond the western goalposts at Pahokee High.

Connections. Cruel connections.

The Rev. Patricia Wallace, that same church leader and grieving mother, long made a practice of serving breakfast to the Pahokee High School football team on Saturday mornings, the better to know them and perhaps even to fill a gap at some of their homes.

"Mrs. Wallace, she's always been the biggest baby sitter in this town," said Blue Devils defensive coordinator Ricky Lammons, who also is directly tied to this nightmare as deputy Manuel's cousin.

As startling as it may be, Lammons estimates half the players are related in some way to one or the other of the fallen officers. No wonder there was weeping at the team's Wednesday practice, coaches and players alike.

"We spoke to the team about the boys who did it," Pahokee head coach Blaze Thompson said of the auto theft suspects, "and tried to make it a lesson about decisions. If those boys hadn't made that decision the other night, this whole thing wouldn't have happened."

On Friday night, the tears were wiped away as those same Pahokee players, game faces firmly in place, went charging onto the field to represent the town against Frostproof, another proud high school team that journeyed here across 100 miles of two-lane darkness to try to win a spot in next week's state title match.

Pahokee, strong from the start, won 41-13. Does it matter? More than any outsider could ever comprehend.

Deputy Wallace's brother Jeremy, a Pahokee 11th-grader, decided to go to Friday's game. He's a band member, just like Jonathan was, and normally would have played the quad drums, a four-pack of percussion. Instead, he came in street clothes, standing with the band in the stands, which is as close to a comfort zone as exists for him now.

Jeremy declined the opportunity to comment on his brother, but he was there, having walked across the street from his mother's church.

"I really didn't know if we would see Jeremy tonight," band director Ollice Davis said. "When he came into the band room tonight, all the kids just jumped on him and hugged him. Our kids are like that. They're a very close group."

There's another group hug coming at 6 p.m. Tuesday, when Pahokee residents will gather at the school again for a candlelight vigil for Wallace and Manuel. Another service is scheduled for Wednesday morning at Sound Advice Amphitheater, and thousands from the South Florida law enforcement community are expected to attend.

"We know the community around us and all around the Glades is in mourning," Desmond Harriott, a Youth for Christ representative, said in a pre-game invocation broadcast throughout the stadium. "Some are in a somber mood. Some are weeping.

"Heavenly Father, we pray that your spirit would move within the hearts and minds of the Glades."

Next came a loud chorus of amens from coaches and fans and band boosters, who wore green and yellow ribbons on their shirts, representing the colors of the deputies' uniforms.

"No game makes up for the