Tommy’s helpful hints #472:
If you are going to have a birthday party at a local park, make sure none of your children pull the pin on any of the grenades you find.
“Better judgment prevailed, and I called 911,” [David] Sapp, 70, said.
Good move, Mr. Sapp.
Tampa police’s bomb team arrived and took the grenades to another site to be detonated.
I’m sure the birthday party was a blast anyway.
… like a ten year old turd.
Here it is, two days after election day, and we still don’t have a full count of votes in Hillsborough County.
Freakin’ pathetic.
AND after both dailies and Weekly Planet endorsed Phyllis Busansky, Johnson continues to lead in the race for Hillsborough’s SOE.
As I mentioned before, I’m not sure voters know what the hell they are doing. And that’s REALLY freakin’ pathetic.
Check here to see if they have more than 377 of 384 precincts reported. Go to page three to see the race for SOE.
Update 12noon: Tampabay.com’s BayBuzz blog is on site at the vote-countin’ offices, and keeping us up to date on progress in Hillsborough County: Counting began again this morning, Buddy nowhere to be found, SOE legal team assures there has been no tampering, local Senators ask Guv for help.
The Tampa Housing Authority can now move to evict Karen Peoples. For those of you who have not been following this story, I recommend you read the original Tribune article. But here’s the short version:
The Tampa Housing Authority (THA) is responsible for about 8,500 residents living in sixteen public housing properties around the City of Tampa, and their annual budget is nearly $80 million.
The THA Board of Commissioners sets policy for THA, and board members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by City Council.
Karen Peoples moved into the C. Blythe Andrews public housing project in 1984, and has served as the resident appointee to the THA Board of Commissioners since 1998.
In May 2006, Mayor Iorio appointed Peoples to another four year term on the board, her third. Peoples also signed a new lease on her four-bedroom apartment at C. Blythe Andrews. At the time, she had four other people living with her, including two daughters and two grandchildren.
Her daughters and grandkids moved out in May 2007, and she no longer qualified for a 4-bedroom apartment. By HUD rules, she had 10 days to notify THA of the new living arrangements, so they could find a smaller place. But she did not tell them that.
THA found out she was living alone in August 2007, but did not do anything about it until January 2008. Three times they offered her a one-bedroom at three other complexes, yet she refused. It seems she desperately wanted to keep her 4 bedroom apartment. Because from here, it just gets downright screwy.
St. Pete cops call Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO): Get this illegal immigrant guy, he’s a suspect in a rape in St. Pete.
HCSO Deputies get the guy on a misdemeanor. Meanwhile, St. Pete cops called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asked for permission to hold the illegal immigrant further. They get no response.
So the HCSO lets the guy go free.
Two weeks later, guy (allegedly) rapes girls in Apollo Beach.
HCSO catches the guy again, this time for rape.
Citizens want to know why Sheriffs let him go the first time.
Head Sheriff David Gee claims St. Pete cops never told HCSO he was a rape suspect.
US Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite wants to know how this happened, blasts Gee.
Gee defends Sheriffs office, loudly complains “St. Pete cops never told us the guy’s a rape suspect.” Also points finger at Legislature, ICE, some guy standing nearby, and the blogosphere.
People are outraged and pointing their own fingers everywhere:
To be sure, ICE and your US Legislators deserve some of the blame for basic stupidity. But the HCSO makes ‘em look like geniuses. Especially after what happened today.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office spokesman revealed the truth: “Ohhhh THAT guy? Yeah, St. Pete cops DID tell HCSO about him.”
Main Entry: ap·a·thy
Pronunciation: a-pə-thē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek apatheia, from apathēs without feeling, from a- + pathos emotion
Date: 1594
- 1: lack of feeling or emotion - impassiveness
- 2: lack of interest or concern - indifference
One out of six. Imagine any six people you know, and then consider that only one of those six voted in the primary election that ended yesterday:
Voter apathy in Florida plumbed new depths Tuesday. The 2008 primary election drew the lowest statewide voter turnout for a primary in at least 50 years, and perhaps the lowest ever. Incomplete returns late Tuesday showed 16.5 percent of voters cast a ballot.
Oh wait… That is the statewide turnout. You cared even less than that:
In Pinellas County, turnout was just over 12 percent, meaning just 75,000 out of 620,000 eligible voters showed up at the polls. That set a record for primaries. The previous record for the lowest primary vote in Pinellas was 13 percent.
In Pasco, just over 12 percent of the county’s 260,593 registered voters — or about 33,000 voters — cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary.
Hernando had the highest turnout in Tampa Bay, just under 15 percent.
And Hillsborough County?
Hillsborough’s turnout was even more abysmal — fewer than seven people out of 100 went to the polls.
Less than seven percent. That’s one in fifteen.
[Update 11:45am: Hillsborough SOE reports 10.08% voter turnout, 1 in 10.]
Don’t ever again ask: “How can someone like [insert name here] get elected?”
You have your answer: You really don’t give a rat’s ass.
Investigative journalism is crucial. In addition to exposing unethical immoral and illegal behavior, sometimes those journalists find simple (but expensive) stupidity and laziness.
Back in 2004, Greg Neal of Keystone Ventures envisioned a Tampa Sports Centre near Raymond James Stadium. A couple of months later, HCC envisioned a retail complex including a hotel, conference center, restaurant, medical complex, public pool and sports facility in their “Front Yard” facing Dale Mabry.
In early 2005, Neal approached HCC, and suggested he could build the world-class sports-medicine destination with a luxury hotel and a culinary institute. Four hundred jobs would be created, and students could learn from sports nutrition experts and hotel management programs. In return, HCC would guarantee low rental rates on 40+ acres to Keystone for fifty years.
HCC was rightly intrigued, and asked for a proposal with details.
After collecting proposals from them and other parties in 2006, evaluators for HCC placed Keystone fourth behind Cheeseburger in Paradise, Steak N Shake, and a hotel from a George Steinbrenner company. Although they found problems with the Keystone proposal, those top three did not include using the facilities for education, and HCC leaders kept Keystone on the short list.
HCC then paid $768,000 to a real estate firm to oversee the project, and that firm gave HCC more specific reasons for denying Keystone’s proposal, such as a lack of experience and unfavorable lease terms.
In an email sent in May 2007, HCC VP Ron Wolf suggested they look out for “smoke and mirrors” from Keystone at a scheduled meeting. They met with Greg Neal again, and were again blown away by his excitement and vision. Seems they forgot about the smoke and mirrors, and were still talking about the grandiose opportunities in March of this year.
Luckily, the St. Pete Times took an interest in the story. Doing the job that HCC leaders, HCC evaluators, and an $768,000 hired gun should have done, SPTimes reporter Thomas Lake has found that Greg Neal is full of sh*t.
A St. Petersburg Times investigation of Neal’s claims and credentials found nearly 20 statements that were exaggerated, misleading, disputed, or downright false. And public administrators repeated some of those claims in official documents without independently confirming them.
What an outrage! You would think that these basic background checks would be PART OF THE PROCESS by those entrusted to evaluate the proposal, yet none of it was discovered until the paper got involved.
Of course, in an attempt to save face, HCC plans to give Greg Neal an opportunity to address these new concerns in a meeting next month.
Thanks to Thomas Lake and the St. Pete Times for uncovering this nonsense. It’s a damn shame we must have journalists doing the job of lazy, uninspired “leadership.”
Have you been reading about the soap opera-like story of Winters & Yonker’s breakaway from long time bay area TV commercial lawyer Richard Mulholland?
The St. Pete Times points out it is “A case of money, deceit, sex and lawyers,” where W&Y were found liable for theft from their former boss.
On the slow-loading Winters & Yonker website, you can find out that they are known for their “Attentive Personal Service,” their first priority is “Top-Quality Medical Evaluation and Care,” and they brag about their efficiency.
Nowhere does it mention that they would rip off their own mentor in order to increase the chance of business success.
But remember, not all attorneys are like this. As the old saying goes, it’s that 99% of lawyers that give the profession a bad name.
No matter. This isn’t really about Mulholland v. Winters & Yonker. The real loser in all of this is Beltz & Ruth. Well, them and Morgan & Morgan. And Catania & Catania (no direct link, cuz Google don’t like the site).
With the wacky story being played out in the media, the names Winters, Yonker, and Mulholland have been all over the place, giving them all a bunch of free publicity.
Now look for the others to counter with something just as crazy. Come to think of it, forget the “soap opera” comment - this is more like rasslin’. We ought to get Morgan, Ruth, Winters, Catania, Mulholland, Catania, Morgan, Beltz, & Yonker in a Battle Royal and crown one the King of Ambulance Chasers.
The Redington Long Pier extends over 1,000 feet into the gulf. Pier owner Tony Antonious charges $2 to walk out there, and $10 to fish along the pier.
In the 4th of July edition of the St. Pete Times, Outdoor editor Terry Tomalin says he was kicked off Redington Long Pier by some tarpon fishermen.
“Hi,” I said to two anglers fishing off the end of the pier. “Are you guys in the tarpon tournament?”
“What does it look like?” one of them responded.
After a moment of awkward silence, a second angler, who also refused to give his name, asked, “Do you feel welcome?”
“Not really,” I responded.
“Good …” he said. “Time for you to leave.”
With only a notebook and pen in hand, I clearly wasn’t there to fish. Instead, I began interviewing 14-year-old tournament angler Dustin Gable of St. Petersburg about a 98-pounder that he released.
That’s when another tournament angler called the pier manager. “Get the (expletive) off the pier,” the angler told me.
Tomalin was there checking it out after another fisherman complained that he was “asked” to leave the pier.
Pier owner Tony Antonious says anyone is welcome to fish from the pier but added that the West Coast Anglers have “exclusive rights” to the “T” area at the far western end of the pier. And just who are these West Coast Gangster Anglers?
Apparently, there has been a split among local tarpon fishing enthusiasts. Used to be that when you fished for tarpon, it didn’t matter if the fish died or not. But in this day of “love all, kill nothing,” all the local tournaments switched to no-kill. St. Petersburg’s 74-year-old Suncoast Tarpon Roundup was the last local contest that went to the all-release format.
That didn’t sit well with a group of mainly pier fishermen, so the West Coast Anglers Association (BEWARE: Auto-Audio!) began their own brand new Killing is OK With Us tournament. They want you to know that…
Florida’s tarpon population is not considered endangered because most anglers who target the species have been practicing catch-and-release for more than a decade. State regulations require anglers to purchase a tarpon tag to kill a tarpon. .
So the West Coast Trawl & Brawl aim to protect their turf (& surf!?!) as well as the right to murder the tarpon they catch:
“We kill tarpon,” said Paul Herrington, a member of the West Coast Anglers, the group hosting the Redington Shores tournament. “That is what we do.”
This brainiac also explains the “exclusive” rights to the pier: “It costs $150 for members to enter the tournament, and we give (Antonious) 15 percent of all the entry fees.”
So pier owner Tony Tony lets some chuckleheads police his property for a couple hundred bucks. And then he wants to pretend he’s not responsible:
“I go down there when I get a complaint, but the troublemakers are always gone. Nobody will tell me anything. It is like a mafia line.”
This is the same guy who complained that the city was out to get him AFTER he attempted to strong-arm Redington Shores into buying the pier for an inflated price.
This is nothing but a bunch of fishin’ hillbillies defending their right to kill and enforcing their turf while a greedy pier owner claims that his hands are tied. Losers all around.
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