Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Two local writers see their dreams turn into disappointments, seemingly because of the sheer number of people who appear to have given up on any dreams they may have had.

St. Pete Journalist Bill Maxwell had ideas of giving back to our nation’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). He went for it, and ended up very disappointed. Read the three part series:

• I had a dream
• A dream lay dying
• Are HBCUs worth saving?

In a similar time frame, St. Pete Journalist Cathy Salustri (she writes for the Gulfport Gabber) had dreams of living in mostly black Bartlett Park. She says the neighborhood turned her into a racist:

• I could not find part one online. You’ll have to find an old Gabber
• Another Great Day in St. Petersburg
• I had a dream published version and (original from Cathy’s blog)

Cathy’s admission has spawned quite the discussion on Blurbex and on Cathy’s blog, Just Keep Swimming. Bill’s op-ed series is scaring up comments nationwide.

Both pieces bring up all sorts of questions about race, parenting, expectations, assumptions, apathy, choices, etc… Good reading.

25, of New Port Richey, Fla.

assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed Dec. 12 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

To earn a spot with the Marines, Joshua W. Dickinson gave up cigarettes and cut back on beer. When he got off work, he strapped on a weighted vest and went for a 5-mile run. Even his leisure time had a military focus: His favorite video game was “Medal of Honor.”

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If a National Park was being devastated by 15,000 tire tracks slashing up an ecologically valuable area, we’d put a stop to it. So what are we going to do about our own Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve? Its shallow seagrass meadows are being chewed UP by motor boats which have caused an estimated 15,000 propeller scars. And every day irresponsible boaters do more damage to the magical mud flats and seagrass beds which are crucial to the health of Tampa Bay.

I’ve already posted details about this issue and since then Saturday’s Trib explained it well. (See also the Times.)

Now I just want to remind everyone of the public meeting this week:

Thursday, May 31, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
South Shore Regional Library
15816 Beth Shields Way
Ruskin, FL 33573

This is our chance to discuss and help shape the draft seagrass management plan for Tampa Bay. Proposals include a new “pole & troll zone” and stronger enforcement of current speed zones and other laws.

While everyone can see we have a serious problem, not everyone agrees on the solution. If you care about Cockroach Bay I hope I see you at this meeting so we can work something out to protect this precious piece of Tampa Bay. If you can’t make the meeting, you can send your comments to Barbara Motte, at the Environmental Protection Commission.

A vocal few are opposed to any new regulations in Cockroach Bay, so if the public doesn’t back a plan for better management, nothing will change, and the destruction will continue until this critical marine habitat is obliterated.

Friday, I was thrilled to begin day one of a four-day weekend with a seven-hour visit to my mechanic over in Drew Park to have my car’s brakes replaced (and if you know how rare it is for me to get a two-day weekend, you can imagine just how thrilled I was). Normally, brake jobs only take about a quarter of that time (not to mention a quarter of the price) but Jeeves is an extremely rare and unique model of car, commonly referred to as a “sh*tbox,” so special care and handling like this from time to time is to be expected.

Now there is only so much Tetris a person can play on their cell phone (and I play it like it’s 1986 and it just came out), so out of sheer boredom I took a nice long walk and explored the neighborhood. I can tell you that I don’t know much about Drew but I sure didn’t see a park. Unless by “park” you mean “lingerie modeling studio.” And by “lingerie modeling studio” I mean “seedy wh0rehouse.” I saw a whole bunch of those.

I also saw low-income apartments and some houses but I was struck by how there sure are an awful lot of adu!t enterta1nment establishments in a residential area. The marketing slogan for the Drew Park Convention & Visitors Bureau must be “Come for the wh0res, stay for the houses.” Drew Park might be the oddest neighborhood I’ve ever seen, as it seems to be comprised of equal parts adu!t entertainment, auto repair shops/small, nondescript manufacturing plants and people’s homes, all scattered among each other, with several of each on every street just randomly strewn about with no apparent thought given to placement. This must be the land that zoning laws forgot.

I find it interesting because as long as I’ve lived here, there has been almost constant hand wringing over the rampant pr0stitution problems on Nebraska and east Hillsborough avenues. Yet, there’s a thriving red l1ght district within walking distance of Raymond James Stadium, Legends Field and Hillsborough Community College that nobody seems to know (or is it care?) about. Maybe it’s because these are all professional, licensed businesses where nothing untoward happens (I know - are the emoticons for wink, wink but what do you use for nudge, nudge?). Or maybe since both the Tampa Police Department and Florida State Highway Patrol have substantial bases right in the heart of the neighborhood, we all rest assured knowing that no illegal activity of any kind takes place there. Or maybe we just kind of like having it tucked away there; you know, close to the airport, hotels and the, um, show bars that cater to (and collect sales tax from) a certain segment of tourists but not on the main drag where the nice people who live here would have to worry about it.

But ladies, if you come across hubby’s credit card bill and you see charges from a business located on Lois, Alva, Osborne, Hubert or Cayuga, you might want to know the going rate for a brake job before you ask him about it. Just sayin’.

(Cross posted at Ridiculously inconsistent trickle of consciousness)

31, of Edgewater, Florida

Williams died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, when his unit was conducting a dismounted patrol and was attacked by small arms fire. He was assigned to the 44th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Howze, Korea. Died on December 8, 2004.

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20, of Orlando, Fla.

assigned to the 144th Transportation Company, Florida Army National Guard, Marianna, Fla.; killed Nov. 29 when his Humvee was involved in a traffic accident in Iraq.

A former Iowan who died in Iraq was outgoing and popular, and liked motorcycles and partying, family and friends said Thursday at his funeral.

Although he wasn’t old enough to drink legally, his family urged friends to remember him with a beer anyway. “Daryl liked beer, and if you go to his gravesite, take a beer and sip it with him,” his grandmother, Lillian Rosado, told a crowd of more than 600 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Davis was known as “Double D” in this northwestern Iowa town, where he attended high school and joined the Iowa National Guard in 2001. He moved to Orlando, Fla., to attend the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in April 2004 and transferred to the Florida National Guard…

Before he left town, Davis and his friends started an informal motorcycle club. Wearing bandanas that read “RIP Double D,” the 15 remaining members rode their motorcycles behind the funeral procession, the sounds of revving engines drowning out the sobs of mourners leaving the church.

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22, of Panacea, Fla.

assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; killed Nov. 28 by enemy action in Babil province, Iraq.

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34, of St. Augustine, Fla.

assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed Nov. 15 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

Patrick Rapicault was born in France, and came as a foreign exchange student to the United States - to Mississippi, to be exact, and his use of the colloquialism “y’all” always came with his thick French accent. The young immigrant later attended college there, earning a degree in business.

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