Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

One of the things I don’t really like about where I live is this strange envy of other metropolitan areas that we seem to have. It’s like we’re not happy enough with what we have and feel this need to justify our existence as a “real” city, whatever that means. In that way, Tampa Bay is a lot like a small child impulsively begging for a puppy.

Chicago has an aquarium; we want an aquarium. Cleveland has a major league baseball team; we want a major league baseball team. Detroit has a convention center; we want a convention center. New York has the New York Post a daily tabloid newspaper with lurid, sleazy headlines; we have TBT, which is a smaller, racier, tabloid version of the St. Petersburg Times.

A couple of weeks ago TBT devoted it’s daily front pages to the Elijah Dukes “baby mama” saga. Last week, we were treated to big, red headlines that screamed “SHE WAS HIS SEX SLAVE” (Thursday, 6/12) and “WHO IS MASTER DREW?” (Friday, 6/13). The story being, some guy named Andrew Kobik (Master Drew), had signed a 19-year-old woman named Alyssandra Cardillo with a history of mental illness to a 10-page, five-year contract to be his sex slave and was arrested on prostitution charges by Pasco County sheriff’s deputies acting on a tip (there’s more to it, of course, but that’s the gist).

Apparently, much like craftsmen who hang drywall or install plumbing, sex slaves are contractual labor. Huh. Who knew? Although, in spite of the fact that the woman wasn’t paid for her services, I’m not sure “slave” is an accurate depiction of her position. After all, in order for there to be an executed contract with terms, provisions and opt-out clauses, there has to be some sort of agreement between the two parties, which would imply some level of mutual consent, an element missing in what we traditionally think of as slavery. But I guess it’s a sign of the litigious society in which we live today. After all, you have to have legal protection in the event that the services provided are not satisfactory and you want to be protected if you decide to withhold non-payment to your sex slave.

But yet again, I digress.

I’m not a prude. At least, I like to think I’m not. Seeing this kind of thing on the front of a newspaper really doesn’t bother me at all. I’m very much an advocate for free speech and I vehemently oppose censorship, especially in the guise of morality or decency standards. Yet, I feel for parents of small children who have to answer questions from their wee ones who are phonetically savvy enough to pronounce the words “sex slave” and want to know what that means. That can’t be much fun. But I guess that’s just life in a “real” city.

(Cross posted at Ridiculously inconsistent trickle of consciousness)

This post was originally written on Tuesday, and is now updated with the most recent information.

A Tampa man is in jail for violating Florida’s flag-desecration law.

Police say 45-year-old Donnie White stomped on the flag, sat on it, and “rubbed it on himself.” He’s charged under Florida statute 876.52, under the category “Criminal Anarchy, Treason, and Other Crimes Against Public Order” (check it out, it’s almost entirely made up of laws aimed at the KKK):

Public mutilation of flag.–Whoever publicly mutilates, defaces, or tramples upon or burns with intent to insult any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States or of Florida shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

First degree misdemeanors are punishable by a $1,000 fine and a year in jail. It isn’t White’s first clash with the cops; Hillsborough County records show several open container and disorderly conduct violations. Yet Donnie may have more than a public defender on his side this time around; flag desecration laws were struck down by the 1989 Texas v. Johnson Supreme Court case (one my Public Speaking students know very well).

I love America. I cheer for us in the Olympics and World Cup. I vote. I blow sh*t up on Independence Day. I have a flag I fly from time to time. Yet I recognize the semiotic difference between signifier and signified. Donnie White wasn’t stomping on America; he was stomping on the symbol of an idea — an idea that, by way of the First Amendment, protects his right to stomp on it (though I doubt Donnie had any particular political expression in mind).

Flag desecration laws are fairly ludicrous on their face, however — regardless of their unconstitutionality. This is for several reasons:

1. The U.S. Flag Code is regularly violated. Here’s a few examples:

2. To ban desecration of an object, you have to define that object. How do you define the American Flag? If I draw it on a blackboard with chalk, am I not allowed to erase the blackboard? If I make an American Flag cake am I not allowed to eat it?

3. What, exactly, is desecration? How do you delineate between burning the flag in protest and burning it to dispose of a used or worn flag?

Certainly if this story makes any kind of national news, the ACLU will come to Donnie White’s aid — and they should, as Florida’s law is in clear violation of Texas v. Johnson. Interestingly enough, Donnie would be in the same situation if he’d stomped on the Confederate flag — that’s illegal in Florida too.

Thoughts?

– UPDATE –

Donnie’s out of jail.

The First Amendment gives people the freedom to desecrate the American flag.
That’s why the state attorney’s office decided to drop charges Thursday against a Tampa man police say stomped on the flag this week. The archaic Florida law holding him was unconstitutional, officials said.

Nice of them to realize that — but why did it take three days?

Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said the arresting officer was not aware of the Supreme Court’s decision.

Texas v. Johnson is one of the most well-known U.S. Supreme Court decisions — I learned about it in HIGH SCHOOL. You’re telling me that not one person, from the arresting officer, to the booking officer, to the prosecutor, to the JUDGE AT THE ARRAIGNMENT had never heard of it?

Donnie White spent three days in jail for no reason. Hillsborough County residents will foot the bill. Are there graver injustices in the world? Of course. But this case might be a microcosm of other problems in the Hillsborough County system…

An update on our previous USF bomb scare story…

Cooper Hall remains closed as of noon today, with all Thursday classes rescheduled to different campus locations.

Thanks to those of you who messaged me about this having been on the news last night — I teach pretty early in the morning and I miss the evening news sometimes.

A message went out to most USF students around 9pm last evening informing them of the situation. The USF Oracle is reporting the bomb threat was found in the fourth-floor men’s bathroom, not the bomb itself.

Police say Cooper may be open as early as this afternoon. Speculation is that a student was trying to get out of taking their final today, but that seems awfully ludicrous (if obvious).

The warning was sent via the new “MoBull” emergency warning system that text messages students whom have registered for the service. An earlier incident in which police elected not to use MoBull may have prompted this decision.

This isn’t the first time crisis has hit Cooper Hall. A squirrel attack in 2003 left the building without power for four hours (in a building that has very few windows).

Updated 2007 Jun 21 11am: corrected the call-in time

A bomb threat has been called in this morning last night to Cooper Hall, forcing the postponement of classes today in all classes taking place in that building.

Police are being stingy with information, but I’ve ascertained through personal research (I myself hold classes in the building, and have one scheduled in only a few minutes) that the threat was specific, to a fourth-floor men’s bathroom.

There is only one men’s bathroom on the fourth floor, and there really is little to be found on that floor at all, which makes the claim particularly interesting, and perhaps worthy of the enormous perimeter of yellow CRIME SCENE tape that surrounds Cooper Hall.

Today is the final day of Summer A term, the day when most professors (including myself) give final exams. Tests are rescheduled to different times and places; sheets of paper are taped to the crime scene line to inform students of where and when they should be.

Sticksoffire.com is on the scene and will continue to monitor this story as the day continues.

A followup to last week’s story about Kris Scheppe, the blind Fort Myers student in town for a conference:

Punk thug Michael “Mike-Mike” Watts has been busted for the heinous crime, bringing hilarity to the otherwise disgusting act:

Detectives subpoenaed phone records for Scheppe’s stolen cell. They learned the mugger had called his mother 57 seconds after the attack.

“Mike-Mike” called his mommy to pick him up after brutally beating a blind man, and the intrepid Tampa cops traced it right to him. “Mike-Mike” is now in jail, awaiting trial on felony charges of robbery and “adult abuse.” It’s not his first time; he’s already been in the clink for assault, and if you ask me, both “Mike-Mike” and his mother deserve being locked up for a very, very long time.

Tell me the jail, and I’ll come heckle him. Of course, that’s assuming he’s convicted. Let’s hope his public defender has never seen Twelve Angry Men.

A blind man from Ft. Myers in town for a conference was mugged Friday as he asked for directions to the bus stop.

At 2:30 p.m. Friday, in broad daylight, the 27-year-old — in town from Fort Myers for a conference for the blind at the Wyndham Westshore — asked a man for directions to the bus stop.

The man grabbed Scheppe’s T-shirt.

“Give me the money,” he demanded. Then came a rain of kicks and punches.

When it stopped, and the man ran away, Scheppe felt for his belongings.

His cane was gone. His phone. The duffel bag was gone, and with it his clothes, digital camera, about $190 and National Federation for the Blind shot glasses to sell to raise funds for the group. He also lost a checkbook belonging to the Student Division of the National Federation for the Blind of Florida, for which he’s treasurer.

The Ft. Myers newspaper lets potential visitors know: Local man attacked, robbed in Tampa

Pathetic.

Tampa Police are looking for the attacker. He’s described as a black man, 18-21 years old. He’s 5′4″ tall and weighs about 140 pounds. He was last seen wearing a knit cap, dark shirt and light shorts.

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.

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)

Westfield Brandon (formerly known as Brandon TownCenter) is the most dangerous mall in Tampa Bay according to the TBBJ.

On the cover story of today’s Tampa Bay Business Journal, reporter Michael Hinman took a look at safety and security records of thirteen local malls (Paid TBBJ Print Subscribers ONLY).

Hinman compared the number of instances of robbery, shoplifting, vehicle burglary, grand theft auto and violent crimes (based on calls only), divided it by the number of square feet of the mall, and then multiplied it by 10,000 so that we could get instances per 10,000 square feet. With this methodology, the smaller malls have a disadvantage.

According to the list, University Square Mall consistently ranks among the highest with “violent” crimes.

The safest mall per square foot is the Seminole Mall in Seminole. International Plaza comes in second safest.