Long time local news anchor Hugh Smith passed away Sunday.
TBO’s Walt Belcher and Tampabay.com’s Eric Deggans have all the information plus a look back at his career, and you can find more information about him on Tedd Webb’s “where are they now?” site, Mike Clark’s Big 13 website, and Tony Zappone’s new blog.
You may have read about the fire that destroyed the Imago Art Colony. 
A fundraiser is being held this Wednesday evening.
If you are not able to attend, but would like to make a donation, please make your checks payable to P.A.V.A., and mail them to PO Box 2665, Dunedin, FL 34697. For more information on the benefit and other volunteer opportunities, check in at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center website, http://www.dfac.org/.
Thanks to Megan Voeller at art squeeze (and the art critic for Creative Loafing, where I interned at this time last year) for posting about the event in her blog.
Although he appeared calm, sitting still in the audience of the public hearing, the Executive Director of the Planning Commission, Bob Hunter, had to have been aghast as he watched the County Administrator blithely break the county’s promise to protect his agency from state-sponsored meddling. I know I was flabbergasted. Was this the blatant act of insubordination it appeared to be on the surface? Or was the County Administrator carrying out a hidden agenda, contrary to her public charge and contrary to the will of the people?
On Dec. 7, at the annual public hearing on proposed laws affecting Hillsborough County, state legislators were considering a bill that would change the balance of county and city representation on 3 local boards, to give the county more power on each: the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC), the Sports Authority, and the Planning Commission. The public has been largely opposed to this change to the Planning Commission ever since it was first proposed last year, so citizens were relieved when our County Commission seemed to respond to the public will and voted unanimously to support the bill only if the Planning Commission were removed from it.
Commissioners had asked Rep. Ambler, as the bill’s sponsor, to amend the bill so that it would not affect the Planning Commission. Rep. Ambler did so, but the amendment became controversial among the other legislators, so Ambler finally suggested that his amendment be withdrawn, and offered his bill with the Planning Commission in it after all. Even though this went against the express direction of our County Commission, the County Administrator, Pat Bean, smiled knowingly (she practically winked!) and told the legislators that the County Commission would be fine with it.
>>[County Administrator] PAT BEAN: OKAY. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THE BILL THAT YOU’RE LOOKING AT NOW IS A BILL THAT CONTAINS ALL THREE AGENCIES, THE EPC, THE PLANNING COMMISSION, AND THE SPORTS AUTHORITY.
…[lots of talk about the sports authority]
>>[Representative] FAYE CULP: … I HAVE A QUESTION AS TO THE OTHER TWO PARTS OF THE BILL. WHAT IS YOUR FEELING OR — ON THE EPC AND THE PLANNING COMMISSION, …?
>>PAT BEAN: WELL, THE EPC WAS INCLUDED IN THE BILL THAT THE BOARD VOTED ON WHEN THEY TOOK THEIR POSITION ON THE LOCAL BILLS. … AND THEY VOTED TO SUPPORT THE BILL … THE BOARD DID NOT — AT THE TIME THAT THE BILL WAS BEING CONSIDERED, THEY ACTUALLY RECOMMENDED TAKING OUT THE PLANNING COMMISSION FOR THIS YEAR, BUT I AM CERTAIN THAT THEY WILL SUPPORT THE BILL AS — IF YOU PASS IT TODAY AS IT HAS BEEN AMENDED HERE. BUT THEY DID RECOMMEND TAKING THAT OUT. …
>>PAT BEAN: … AS I SAID, I’M CERTAIN THE BOARD WILL SUPPORT THE BILL THAT YOU’VE GOT NOW AS AMENDED [emphases added]
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern, Bob Hunter and several citizens spoke against including the Planning Commission. (Terry Flott & I also spoke against Pat Bean’s move.) Bean was the only person to speak in support of this unpopular legislation.
>> BOB HUNTER: … AT THE PRESENT TIME, LEGISLATORS, THERE IS NO LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPPORTING CHANGE TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION. NO LOCAL GOVERNMENT IS ASKING FOR THIS.
Not publicly, anyway.
Pat Bean is nobody’s fool. She knows her 6-figure salary would be in jeopardy if she defied her 7-headed boss, the County Commission. So why was she smiling as she told our state legislators that our county would support something the commissioners unanimously voted to oppose? Did she have reason to think commissioners would support her in her job, even after her apparent betrayal of their public position?
Bean has often been used by the commissioners to do their dirty work. In this year of painful staff and budget cuts, she proposed that their monthly car allowances should be doubled to $600 — so they wouldn’t have to propose this let-them-eat-cake raise themselves. She has also been dispatched to campaign against tax cuts, and citizen initiatives like Ruskin incorporation and the county mayor proposal. Citizens are often told “the administration” is pushing an unpopular road, borrow pit or development, while county commissioners remain politically unscathed —and unaccountable.
In speaking for legislation which the county commission had not (publicly) supported, it is unlikely Bean was acting as a renegade. It is much more likely that she was doing the bidding of her bosses while they pretended to go along with the citizens’ position. I called Commissioners Mark Sharpe and Rose Ferlita to see where they really stand. Both seem appalled that the board’s unanimous vote was dismissed at this hearing. Commissioner Sharpe wrote the legislators after the hearing, detailing his objections to the proposed legislation.
Unless the other commissioners were just pulling the wool over our eyes with their unanimous vote against this change to the Planning Commission, they all ought to direct the County Administrator to write the legislators explaining the true position of the board. And the commissioners should ensure that Bean does not intentionally misrepresent the county again.
That’s what I told them, anyway. You can tell them what you think, too.
We don’t elect Pat Bean, and she has no authority to act independently of our elected officials. We pay her (a lot!) to carry out the publicly determined positions of our elected officials, not the secret agendas of a few of those commissioners.
WMNF is the only news outlet that reported on Pat Bean’s maneuvering. (Move the time slider to 5:40 to skip to this audio story.) The Tribune reported on the legislators’ maneuvering.
For the first time in their history, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have returned a kickoff for a touchdown. After more than 1,880 kickoffs, Micheal Spurlock did the job today.
Just found Point of No Returns - a website dedicated to the Bucs futile effort on kickoffs. According to them, the feat eluded the team for 11,400 days.
WooHOO!!!
Just a temporary heads up for those surfing Sticks: I’m trying a few things behind-the-scenes here on the site and that may or may not lead to weirdness on site.
Tampa Bay needs just one more win to clinch the division, which they should get this weekend against the helpless Atlanta Falcons. No team is in more disarray than the Falcons who just this week saw their former star Michael Vick sentenced to 23 months in the slammer and their head coach leave them for Arkansas. The latter having led the Falcons players to describe Petrino as a “coward” and a “liar”.
BY THE NUMBERS (DVOA explained here)
Buccaneers
Offense: ppg, 19.6 (#19) - DVOA, 12.8% (#8)
Defense: ppg, 16.5 (#2) - DVOA, -7.9% (#6)
Falcons
Offense: ppg, 14.2 (#30) - DVOA, -3.9% (#26)
Defense: ppg, 23.5 (#21) - DVOA, 12.6% (#29)
The defense is the strength of the Falcons’ team although strength is a relative term. Rich McKay, who used to be the GM for Tampa Bay, has invested a lot of money and draft picks in a defense which has so far failed to live up to expectations. The Falcons offense has been a mess with the constant quarterback carousel which has seen three different quarterbacks start this season. The rare offensive highlights for the Falcons this season have been from Jerious Norwood (who continues to be the #2 back despite having a higher value per play than Warrick Dunn) and Roddy White (who does his best to make a fool of himself when does get into the endzone).
Good news for the Bucs it looks like Jeff Garcia will be back at quarterback after a three game absence because of a back injury. Garcia could have likely played last week but Gruden made the wise decision and made sure his quarterback was 100 percent before coming back. It is almost a lock at this point that the Bucs will have the #4 seed and a home game in the playoffs.
Bucs Blog Post of the Week: St Petersblog
Ok, they aren’t really a Bucs blog but kudos to the Sblog guys for pointing out that the Sports department at News Channel 8 are not exactly gifted wordsmiths.
Cheerleader of the Week: Nikky the Shooting Comet
I have thing for cheerleaders who don’t know how to spell their own name, especially those that imagine themselves as giant flaming comets.
YouTube Video of the Week: Coaches Telling Lies
Bonus YouTube Video of the Week: Petrino Calling the Hogs
Two clips involving former Falcons coach Bobby Petrino, the first a song from Ryan Parker, the Weird Al of sports songs. The second video is a favorite of mine, with Petrino and a room of reporters repeating the Arkansas “Calling of the Hogs.” Atlanta may have dodged a bullet with the Petrino quitting.
I arrived at work early Tuesday morning to give a final, and found the CIS building covered in chalk and window paint. Most of the graffiti consisted of crude drawings of the AOL Instant Messenger “yellow man” mascot and cryptic references to web sites that either don’t exist, or appear to have no connection whatsoever to USF. The statements took, for the most part, the form of AIM “away messages.”
The most intriguing references were to a “Dr. Liu,” always in the form of the phrase “Dr. Liu what? Change your major!” (There are numerous Dr. Lius who work at USF, so which one they might be referring to is beyond me.) There were also several references to a “Coby” who may or may not be found at Peabody’s in Tampa Palms.
The culprits even managed to climb up the side of the building, marking many of the windows facing the library parking lot. The whole scene reminded me of the Toynbee Tile phenomenon.
So what is it, folks? A promo group hired by Peabody’s? The work of the mysterious “Coby”? A student disgruntled with his/her advisor, Dr. Liu? Gallery of pics below, click to see the full size.
Jamie Leigh Jones of Houston filed a federal lawsuit in May against Halliburton Co., its former subsidiary, KBR Inc., and others claiming she was raped by co-workers while working for a Halliburton subsidiary at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005. On the heels of a congressional inquiry into the handling of that case, another inquiry is made by Senator Bill Nelson into a second victim, this one from Tampa.
In the Florida woman’s lawsuit, filed earlier this year and now in arbitration, she alleges she was raped by a drunken male KBR coworker in Ramadi. But federal authorities have failed to file charges in the two years since then, a contention about federal foot-dragging that mirrors a charge also leveled by the Texas woman.
Two years, and files are still not charged charges are still not filed? Is this “foot-dragging” or a cover up? AND Bill Nelson thinks there may be more victims.
Pushing Rope’s Michael Hussey wants your Department of Defense to come clean, and plans to keep us updated as the story unfolds.
Art After Dark is moving forward a week this month; it will fall on Friday, Dec. 14 and start at 8 p.m.
I’ve been a big fan of Art After Dark for a couple of years now. Only one thing mars the beauty of corporate-run catering, loud rock music, and night-time art exhibits.
The museum makes its own collection look sparse. The building is neither cozy nor awe inspiring. It’s lackluster. There was even an editorial in The Tampa Tribune about photos in a Frida Kahlo
exhibit stuck in a dark hallway, past the elevators, without proper illumination. With Riverwalk looming over the horizon, things are bound to get better, right?
Thankfully, the last Art After Dark this year will be an outdoor event. And, its promotional materials promise it has something for everyone.
There will be live music by The Vera Violets, 60 artists representing a number of forms from digital art to sculpture, interactive photo shoots and fire jugglers.
I find the art that will be on display intriguing, especially the whimsical mixed media works of Carol Cleere. My favorite local photographers, Ryan Prado and Bradley Valentine, will also have their work on hand.
The price of admission is $10, although Tampa Museum of Art members are free.
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