Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Last week, Wayne Garcia found that Tampa was unflatteringly featured on the Colbert Report in a bit about that big flag at I-4 and I-275. If you haven’t seen the video, check it out.

3,000 miles away, and the local crazies are following me.

This Tampa drunk was just on the My Fox L.A.

Way to rep the 813!

I can only shake my head, you know.

Not only will you have the chance to be seen on ESPN all football season, you could also hang out with Big & Rich. Wear a generic shirt (not USF!), and get on over to USF tomorrow at 2pm.

Tedd Webb and the Famunda All Stars are throwing a party to help out the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

The Famunda All Stars are staging Koncert For Kiddz II Saturday night, May 17th at The Ritz-Ybor at the corner of 7th Ave and 15th Street in Ybor City. The Famundas will welcome local celebs such as Belinda Womack, Michael Clayton of the Tampa Bay Bucs, as well as TV giants like Brendan McGloughlin, Mike Deeson, pro wrestler Lanny Poffo, and newspaper elite Ernest Hooper, Steve Persall, and Bob Ross to sing for the benefit of The Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Bay News 9’s Jen Holloway, and Fox 13’s Charley Belcher will MC.

Tickets are on sale now, contact Tanya Loira at 813-839-9393. Corporate tables are $500 for 6 seats, while General Admission is $30.

This will be a great time, and I plan on hanging out there at the Ritz Theater in Ybor for a while, and partying with all the local celebrities: Michael Clayton of the Bucs, Sharon Taylor, Jeff Fisher, Belinda Womack, Lanny Poffo, Mike Deeson, Jerry Petuck, Brian Blair & The Oreos, Steve Persall, Ernest Hooper, Bob Ross, Jen Holloway, Charley Belcher, and more.

That’s this Saturday evening. The silent auction begins at 6pm, and the musical acts start around 8pm. As you can see be the list of guests above, there’s no telling what is going to happen.

Once they are finished, the Johnny G. Lyon Band starring Tommy Duncan is playing across the street at the Blue Shark, and you can be sure that we are going to party the rest of the night away there.

If you haven’t been to Ybor in a while, Saturday night is an excellent opportunity to reaquaint yourself. See you there!

Charley Belcher is a helluva guy.

I’ve had the opportunity to talk with him a number of times, and he’s a really cool cat.  He’s had some personal issues lately, which bums me out, but with all the good vibes he and his family deserve, I’m sure things will turn out just fine.

You know Charley from Fox 13.  He’s the Tampa representative that covers all of the American Idol nonsense from a local angle.  He also stars in the Charley’s World segments that used to run on the 10pm newscast (HEY WTVT, bring Charley’s World back to the 10pm broadcast, would ya?   PS, your "hotlinks" segment is lame.)

If you keep up with American Idol, you may know that contestant David Cook has been wearing an orange wristband in support of Charley’s daughter, Lindsey Rose.  Lindsey Rose was recently treated for leukemia, and … well, I’ll just let Charley tell you the story.

Anyway, I’ve been keeping up with the news through updates on Charley’s MySpace page.  The latest bulletin is terrible, but not very surprising:

Always someone out there trying to take advantage…

My daughter and her family are NOT selling wristbands… for any reason right now. We have not given permission for ANYONE to sell wristbands in her name or honor.

We WILL NOT sanction anyone to sell wristbands at this time… for any reason that is connected in anyway to my daughter and David Cook.

Please do not be fooled by imposters, or even people with good intentions who are doing things without asking first.

This was NEVER intended to be a fundraising effort.

If you see or hear about anyone offering to sell anything related to my daughter… please tell them they SHOULD NOT be doing such a thing… and report them to me.

Please repost this to all of your friends who could be affected by this.

Thank you,
-Charley Belcher

If you know of anything going on like this, let Charley know.  If you want to be anonymous, leave a comment here, and I’ll pass it on to Charley.

By the way, wifey says David Cook is a pretty good singer, even if he sorta looks like David Jenkins.

Holy Cow!

Tribune, WFLA Staffs Offered Voluntary Separation Deals

The Florida Communications Group said today it is offering voluntary separations, including severance packages, to about half its 1,326 employees, including those with The Tampa Tribune and WFLA, News Channel 8.

The program is aimed at reducing staff and other costs in a difficult economic environment in the Tampa Bay area, said John Schueler, president of Florida Communications Group, which oversees the operation of The Tribune, WFLA, TBO.com and other Florida media outlets.

Schueler said the program includes severance packages depending on years of service with the company for eligible employees.

For example, some employees would be eligible for severance up to 39 weeks. Schueler said that if not enough employees accept the severance offer, layoffs are possible.

No word on Media General’s website.

NBC is looking for physically fit adventure-lovers who crave a reprieve from their everyday lives. If you are the type of person that won’t back down from anything, you may want to check it out.

Here is the craigslist ad:

Crab fishing in the Bering Sea. Bridge painting, dangling 35 stories above a river . Oil rigging.. Rescuing an injured person from the icy ledges of North America’s highest mountain.. Sound like child’s play? Then you’re just who we’re looking for!

NBC is currently casting adventure lovers who are craving a change from every day life for a new series entitled “I Can Do That”. If you’re interested in escaping your cubicle and computer screen for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if you’ve got physical moxie, mental fortitude, nerves of steel, and the ability to psyche-out your opponents when everyone else is cracking from the pressure, this could be the chance of a lifetime. Cut-throat competitors with a daredevil spirit should apply now for your chance to travel America on a 50-day action-packed adventure.

And did we mention the prize? THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS to the last man - or woman! - standing.

We are looking for confident and charismatic men and women over the age of 18 who are genuinely interested in changing their lives. Applicants must be legal residents of the United States who can commit to the experience for up to six weeks. Our OPEN CASTING CALL will be at the Green Iguana at 1200 N Westshore Blvd, Tampa, FL 33607 on Saturday, March 15th from 1-5.

Please email icandothattampa@gmail.com with any questions.

Best of luck.

Also, if anyone decides to go tomorrow, we would love to hear what you see there…

According to the News Hounds, Fox News is still insinuating that the plane that crashed into the Bank of America (nee Barnett) building in downtown Tampa back in 2002 is linked to terrorism. In truth, it was a 15 year old boy who stole a plane and used it to commit suicide.

There is another video making its way around the world. Instead of a wheelchair dumping, this time Tampa Police Officer Kiet Truong was dragged down the street for blocks. How scary is that? He could have been killed. Because of the very real dangerous situations they are often in, I tend to give cops the benefit of the doubt, as I did with the wheelchair incident.

Now let’s be clear here. Street cops have to be alert to many more variables than jail cops. But I don’t think you can say that those jail cops have an easy job, either. Still, I’m beginning to feel very foolish for simply suggesting we wait for all the facts.

Ever since the worldwide outrage toward the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for tossing a paraplegic from his wheelchair, the law enforcement agency has been inundated with phone calls from people who claim they too were treated abusively during their stay in the hoosegow. A handful of those have found video that supposedly backs up their story, and have been featured in your local news outlets.

• While under arrest for grand theft and drug related offenses Tammy Lynn Mojica says Deputy Marshall-Jones roughed her up in a jail bathroom Jan. 10. HCSO says Mojica tried to swallow some drugs, and the deputy was simply trying to get the evidence.
• Charlana Irving was busted for DUI, and says a deputy broke her arm while at Orient Road. HCSO says detention deputy Milton Fassett had to physically remove Irving from a cell after repeated attempts to calm her verbally failed.
• In November of 2006, Marcella Pourmoghani was booked for driving on a suspended license, which was a violation of probation stemming from a previous DUI arrest. She says a detention deputy grabbed her by the hair and yanked her out of a chair, and punched her repeatedly with a closed fist. HCSO says Pourmoghani was being disruptive during the booking process and continued causing problems after “being counseled several times,” and that Pourmoghani grabbed the deputy’s leg, and that the deputy had to use force.

Because of all of that, the HCSO is “looking at ways to better train deputies.” But the accusations keep on coming.

The latest is another handicapped man who was also dumped from his wheelchair. But in this incident, HCSO says the dumping was justified, because the guy threw a crack pipe at deputies. Besides, they say, this guy shot someone earlier, so “the use of force was justified…”

It is becoming clear that the original incident was simply the tip of the iceberg. In that first video, remember looking at the reactions (or really, the lack of any reaction) by the nearby deputies? That suggests that this kind of thing goes on every single day. Prisoners are treated as the scum of the earth, whether they are guilty or innocent.

And look at the official responses for each of the above incidents. Basically, “the use of force was justified,” “the use of force was justified,” “the use of force was justified,” and “the use of force was justified.” Mostly against drunks and drug users.

By using that excuse every time, and with folks like myself giving law enforcement the benefit of the doubt, it could very well be that these institutions think they can get away with murder. In fact, in the hands of these jailers, it’s not too surprising that some folks have died in there.

Of course it’s not just here in Hillsborough County. Polk County jailers have similar problems. There are deaths in jails all over the country.

But who is upset? Not many. Complaints have been made against law enforcement, but they are dismissed with “appropriate use of force” arguments. Maybe it’s because they are just (alleged) criminals. People think “even if they are innocent of this charge, they probably deserved it.” And video cameras don’t show everything. So with not much proof, media shrug their shoulders, and just move on to another story. Steve Otto ALMOST admits it, and says the allegations are “easy to dismiss”:

I’ve been almost as guilty. Not too many days go by I don’t get an envelope stuffed with pages of handwritten material from an inmate in Hillsborough County. The pages are filled with detailed references to that inmate’s experiences in jail, along with the news that he has been unfairly charged.

When I get these I go back and check the records and usually find that the writer has been locked up for multiple reasons and generally for a string of violations.

I received one this week from an inmate who wrote that he is diabetic and went on to describe how his treatments have been messed up in jail, and he identified correctional workers and how they had abused him.

These are letters that are easy to dismiss, or at best taken to an editor to deal with it or not.

But when evidence is overwhelming, the editorial boards are aghast. St. Pete Times: Punish Now Severely. Tampa Tribune: casual cruelty is an outrage.

Which brings me to another question. If the deputies are guilty of just standing around doing nothing while inmates are treated as punching bags, what are we to say about the media?