Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

The Grapefruit Gal and I were fortunate to attend the Rays’ home opener against the Mariners last week from field-level seats, and as announced back in February, recent Bucs retiree Mike Alstott threw out the first pitch. Curiously, he was joined by an unannounced guest: Governor Charlie Crist, who also threw out the first pitch at last year’s home opener.

Certainly I’m not arguing the Gov was stealing the spotlight from one of Tampa Bay’s most popular athletes, especially being one of St. Pete’s native sons, but I noticed a peculiarity in the Rays’ treatment of their two guests that really stood out.

The Rays traditionally supply the honored first-pitch guest with a customized uniform featuring their name and some kind of relevant number. For Alstott, that meant his instantly-recognizable #40. Rays slugger Jonny Gomes caught for Alstott, and honored the tough-nosed running back by wearing an Alstott Bucs jersey. Yet the Rays skimped on Alstott’s jersey, giving him a cheap “replica” Rays shirt instead of the more expensive “authentic” ones like the players on the field wear. Note the lack of a ray patch on his sleeve and the cheap replica-style letters and numbers on the back.

Meanwhile, check out the jersey the Rays supplied Governor Crist with. It’s a legitimate authentic one, complete with Ray patch and authentic nameplate and numbers.

(Note to the Gov: tucking a jersey into your jeans makes you look like a dork. Plus, it shows off your fish-themed belt, which is also dorky.)

So why did the Governor get to share the spotlight with the A-Train? Why did he get a nicer jersey? I’m sure it has nothing to do with Rays ownership depending on his support for their new waterfront stadium plans. And what’s with his number? 12? I can’t see any immediate significance to the number, unless it’s a clever early promotion for a ‘12 presidential run.

Then again, this picture from last year’s opening day shows Crist sporting a #12 jersey yet again. (And that hideous fish-belt.) So what is it?

(Check out my full Flickr stream from opening day here.)

Hey Floridians!  You aren’t gambling enough.  Your kids will be more stupider if you don’t buy some scratch-offs right now.  You should probably smoke more cigarettes, too.  Think of the kids!

As I’m sure you have heard, McCain won half of Florida’s Republican delegates, and Clinton won the Democratic straw poll. Also, you overwhelmingly voted to pass Amendment 1, choosing to grab a bit of cash now instead of just hoping there is some later.

It looks like about 40% of registered voters made their way to the polls yesterday, higher than any other primary election since 1988. In Hillsborough, at least 37% voted in the election, while Polk County set a record with 39% turnout. 40% of Pasco made it to the polling places, 41% of Pinellas County voters cast ballots, and Hernando County saw a 45% voter turnout.

So how does that compare to past elections? Steve Bousquet knows:

Strong turnout, but not a record

The highest turnout for a presidential preference primary in Florida was 58 percent in 1972, the year of the state’s first primary, and the first year 18-year-olds could vote. Richard Nixon would go on to be re-elected over George McGovern. Primary turnout in Florida has generally declined steadily since then, to a low of 19 percent in 2000 and 20 percent in 2004.

OK, so who is gonna’ mark a ballot next week (or mail in an absentee ballott, or perhaps early vote)?

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Besides the Presidential Primary, the property tax amendment (Amendment 1) will be on the table for your consideration as well as other referendums and local items depending on where you’re voting….

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.

Donna Callaway is a member of the Florida Board of Education. She’s a former teacher and principal in Tallahassee, and a (presumably) proud FSU alumna.

She’s also anti-evolution, as she explains in the Florida Baptist Witness:

I firmly believe that a child can deal with the proof of science along with a personal belief in God as the Creator of the universe at the same time. The classroom should allow him, openly, that opportunity.

It’s neither here nor there that members of our state education board are commenting to Florida Baptist Witness, or that they have religious beliefs. We all do (the belief of absence is not the absence of belief). What’s great is the comment thread of the St. Pete Times blog entry about Callaway, which is comedy gold:

Evolution has not been proven and believe me I did not come from a monkey.

Gravity is a lie sent by Satan to fool us.

Religion should be taught in the classroom - of medical schools - and as a mild form of mental disease.

The thing that children need in this world is prayer, and for the children whose parents do not go to church school may be the only place for them to learn about religion.

Why are so many Southern Christians ashamed to admit they came from monkeys? I’ve been to the Cracker Barrel on Sunday, and trust me, the zoo is a lot more civilized.

Like I said, comedy gold. There’s hundreds of comments, go read and participate. BTW, the blog post was featured on Fark too (the comments are way less funny, which is a first).

Pinellas County school board member Nancy Bostock made a couple of anguishing decisions recently. First, after months of trying unsuccessfully to find affordable inpatient mental health treatment for her emotionally disturbed adoptive son, she and her husband Craig are relinquishing custody of the boy to the state so he can hopefully get the intensive care he needs.

The child had been in a theraputic group home, but the state would only pay for 18 months of care. He needs more - he has been violent to Nancy and the Bostock’s fear he will harm their two daughters - but the couple can’t afford the $70,000 a year tab.

On Monday, Bostock stepped forward at a meeting of the state Senate Committee on Children, Families and Elder Affairs and spoke publicly about the devastating situation.

Under the supervision of Department of Children and Families Secretary Bob Butterworth, foster and adoptive care in Florida is better than it used to be - but that isn’t saying much.

Many adoptive and foster families discover almost immediately that the system can be more fractured, neglectful and dysfunctional than the families that produced their scarred children.

And Florida’s limited interest in taking care of throw-away kids wanes when headlines of death and/or abuse fade.

Granted, such care is expensive. Overwhelming. Frustrating. It takes an enormous amount of time, money, community involvement and support to provide for these kids.

Politicians and bureaucrats are not heartless, but they are often spineless when confronted by an electorate that wants its taxes lowered at all costs, be damned the consequences. In the case of some of these kids, the consequences will be dire: a life of dysfunction, drug and alcohol abuse, promiscuity, more unwanted babies, more uneducated, unproductive citizens. Some will end up in prisons, on the streets or worse.

What makes this particular case so unnerving is that it’s so common. Through the years I’ve heard more harrowing stories than I can recount from adoptive and foster parents - most of whom were afraid to come forward because they were afraid of retribution, afraid of losing the kids they love.

Bostock should not have that concern. After all, she is a public figure, an elected official who has not only a tender heart, but political clout.

Taking on a child so troubled came with more problems than the couple expected.

“We naively thought our love and our stable home would be enough,” Bostock told the committee.

It wasn’t.

So now the couple has made what is certainly an anguishing decision.

Bostock can’t feel good about this. She must be humiliated, mortified. But she came forward anyway to try to change things.

The terrifying part of all this is that if someone with political savvy and influence - she is a conservative Republican, by the way - can’t get services for a seriously disturbed child, who can?

I didn’t have time to look deeply into this, but there are some interesting statistics about all of us folks who live here. Check out the Florida Department of Health county by county health reports. Pull up your favorite county, and tell us which stat worries you most.