Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

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.

I promised to give away these tickets, and I put it off, and put it off.

I prCeltic Thunder will be performing on Monday night at the St. Pete Times Forum, and I have a pair of tickets to give to you.

Celtic Thunder is a new group of exceptionally talented young male singers from Ireland and Scotland, who perform an eclectic mix of songs, ranging from the traditional “Mountains of Mourne” and “Come By the Hills” to international hits such as “Brothers in Arms” and “Desperado,” as well as original compositions by Celtic Thunder’s musical director and composer Phil Coulter.

The ensemble songs reflect the power of the soloists, who range in age from 14 to 40 and share a common Celtic heritage.

For those of you who have never heard of the group, check out the review of Celtic Thunder from Wednesday night in Pennsylvania:

Tickets begin at $37.50 (plus service charges). You can get them at the McDonald’s Box Office and all Ticketmaster Outlets, or by phone - call Ticketmaster at 813-287-8844 or 727-898-2100.  For more information, call 813-301-2500 or visit www.stpetetimesforum.com. Advanced parking passes are available at www.ticketmaster.com and the box office.

OR…. you can have a pair if you are the first to send us a note via the contact form.  Check your email first thing Monday morning to see if you are the winner!

After delaying his ouster for two days, SOE Buddy Johnson finally got around to counting the early votes.

In the race for SOE, most of those early votes were cast for Phyllis Busansky, ending Buddy Johnson’s reign as Hillsborough County’s worst SOE ever.  The Times sums up Buddy’s five and a half years nicely:

His tenure included a host of complaints, errors and delays for nearly every election on his watch.

He still refuses to discuss this election day screw-ups, but at least Johnson came out of his cave to admit defeat.  Brian Blair has so far refused to concede, even after Kevin Beckner was confirmed the winner over Blair in countywide District 6.

In addition to wins by Phyllis Busansky and Kevin Beckner, congratulations are in store for other Hillsborough races.

Rob Turner remains as Property Appraiser, while Doug Belden will remain as Tax Collector.

It looks like Carol Kurdell will stay ahead of Stephen Gorham in the race for School Board District 7.

Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties to Close Elevated Portion of Friendship TrailBridge

Structural problems are forcing the closure of nearly all of the Friendship TrailBridge, a popular recreational link between Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.

On Tuesday, an inspection found the elevated portion of the TrailBridge has significant structural deficiencies. As a result, officials from both counties decided to immediately close much of the bridge.

Less than half a mile on each end of the bridge will remain open. The rest of the TrailBridge, including all of the humpback center span, will be closed off.

This is the old span of Gandy bridge, which was saved from demolition in 1999, and has since been used as a recreational park / hiking trail.  they have always had to deal with a shoestring budget. I don’t think it was ever used as a viewing area for boat races, which could have raised some funds to save this thing (as would a running race, etc.).

Speaking of Ernest Hooper…

Back in September, eastern Hillsborough County leaders were discussing names for the new high school.  Some want it named after strawberry farmer O.M. Griffin, while others want the school named after the strawberry itself - perhaps Strawberry Crest.

Of course, those that want “Griffin” are suggesting any school named “Strawberry” will be taunted by other schools.

Although not horribly original, it was somewhat entertaining when back in October, St. Pete Times columnist Ernest Hooper took that stance a bit further and imagined the football team at Strawberry Crest High and asked: “Who’s going to be the mascot, Strawberry Shortcake?”

But a month later, when St. Pete Times reporter Letitia Stein began her report with: ”home of the Fighting … Berries?“ that angle had already lost its punch.  And then the day after that, St. Pete Times columnist Sue Carlton basically rewrote Hooper’s very column, including: ”What, home of the Fighting Shortcakes?”

Journalists complain that not enough people read the newspaper anymore.  Funny that those ignoring the paper include their own writers.

… 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.

• “Hillsborough County stood out for Election Day miscues.“
• “To have more than 80,000 votes uncounted by the end of Wednesday and pushed into Thursday is a total meltdown of the system and incompetency on a level that we’ve haven’t seen around these parts in a while, at least at the Supervisors of Elections offices.”
• “Buddy Johnson’s performance was so flawed and suspect the federal government should come in, recount the vote and perform a thorough investigation.”
• “Johnson’s management of this election was a debacle and his behavior bizarre.”

Freakin’ pathetic.

AND after both dailies and Weekly Planet endorsed Phyllis Busansky, Johnson continues to lead in the race for Hillsborough’s SOE.

• “You have to wonder if the 198,249 citizens who voted for Johnson to manage their most sacred right - the right to vote - might want a do-over after witnessing his office’s breakdown”
• “There are 203,845 Hillsborough residents (so far, at least) who voted to keep Johnson as the county’s supervisor of elections.”
• As of 8:00 Thursday morning, the total for Buddy is 207,327 (page 3).

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.

First we got news that Warren Sapp was going to Rhumba across our television sets (and he is apparently doing something right, now in the top six five).

But now we get the news that Warren’s good buddy (heh!) Keyshawn Johnson is doing interior design in his own reality show! Can you imagine: “Just give me the damn paint swatches“?

What’s next?  Mike Alstott on Nanny 911?

In his speech last night, President elect Barack Obama referenced a voter in Atlanta:

“This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta.  She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.”

Not only is she 106 years old, but it’s Ernest Hooper’s grandmother!

That’s all I’m saying.

Update Thursday morning:  More from Hoop.

Quite the historic night last night.

Four years ago, I commented on the fact that Dallas County, Texas had elected a gay Hispanic female Democrat for Sheriff:

… change is measured in very small increments. Changes so small, you don’t even notice. But once in a while, something happens that makes you clearly see that progress being made.

And now we have elected a man of color to be our Commander in Chief.

Closer to home, it looks as if gay Democrat Kevin Beckner will beat conservative Republican Brian Blair in historically conservative Hillsborough County.

Forgive me for being redundant, but I’ll quote myself from 2004 again:

I don’t think it means that discrimination has been beaten or even that inclusion is the norm. But I do view it as one of the incremental steps toward that…  Take note… It’s not often you glance at the clock, and happen to catch the exact changing of the times.

Congratulations to America and Hillsborough County for electing people based largely on the content of their character, rather than some sort of prejudice.

Hooray us!