The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.   Published Friday, March 3, 2006

Five state prison employees were fired for their role in a brawl that broke out at softball banquet last year, Corrections Secretary James McDonough announced Friday.

They were among nine employees suspended without pay Monday by McDonough. He reopened an investigation of the disturbance at Tallahassee's Florida National Guard Armory shortly after he was appointed last month by Gov. Jeb Bush.

The other four employees, including the son of Florida's top law enforcement officer, remain on unpaid leave pending an investigation into a second altercation, said Department of Corrections spokesman Robby Cunningham.

"I am disturbed by the actions described in the investigation on the armory brawl," McDonough said in a statement. "The behavior of those involved was reprehensible."

Among the terminated were: Maj. James Bowen, Col. Richard Frey, executive secretary Barbara Durrance, Sgt. Eric McMillon, and Assistant Warden Georgia Arnold.

McDonough said he also has begun the process of decertifying the department's former Region 1 director, Allan Clark, as a corrections officer.

"I expect officers to act as officers, both on and off duty," McDonough said. "The absence of integrity, the brutality displayed and unleashed on others, and the dearth of leadership was totally unacceptable."

The employees remaining on unpaid leave include Bradley Tunnell, son of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell. The younger Tunnell was involved in both fights, according to McDonough.

The second brawl took place in Jacksonville and left one man with a broken jaw.

Bush appointed McDonough after asking for and receiving the resignation of former Corrections Secretary James Crosby.