Week in Review

FACULTY SUPPORTS AL-ARIAN: A union representing University of South Florida professors voted Thursday night to throw its full support behind fired professor Sami Al-Arian as he fights to regain his job at USF. The meeting of the United Faculty of Florida was attended by Al-Arian, a union member, and about 40 faculty members. "We are on record saying they did the wrong thing," said Roy Weatherford, president of the union's USF chapter.

USF president Judy Genshaft decided to fire Al-Arian on Dec. 19, saying that his presence on campus created a safety concern and that he had failed to distance himself from the university when presenting his views on U.S. policies in the Middle East.

Al-Arian, a USF professor for 16 years, received death threats after appearing on the FOX News show The O'Reilly Factor and being grilled about his alleged ties to a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader.

After a three-hour meeting Thursday that was closed to the press, union members emerged with a multipointed resolution blasting Genshaft and the university's board of trustees, which had recommended Al-Arian's firing to Genshaft.

Al-Arian has until Monday to respond to a letter from Genshaft informing him of her decision to fire him. Should Genshaft not change her mind by Monday, and should Al-Arian file a grievance instead of accept his firing, the union will offer monetary and legal support, said Weatherford.

THEY ALL WANT TO WORK AT TARGET: More than 1,000 job applicants lined up to compete for 300 positions at the soon-to-open SuperTarget just over the Pasco County line in New Tampa. They waited as long as five hours for $7-an-hour jobs, and store manager Rick Jablonski expected as many as 3,000 by week's end.

The store at County Line Road and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard near New Tampa is scheduled to open March 10. Job benefits include an investment plan, health and dental insurance and a tuition reimbursement plan.

"We've been pretty picky. When you have close to 3,000 candidates to fill 220 to 300 positions those are good odds for us," Jablonski said as his red-shirted underlings interviewed candidates at tables in the store's garden section.

The store, which includes a grocery section, opens March 10. The turnout was a tangible demonstration of rising unemployment. The national unemployment rate at last report was 5.8 percent. As of November, the Tampa Bay area's unemployment rate was 3.8 percent. PRINCIPALS TRANSFERRED: The Hillsborough County School Board on Tuesday approved the transfer of two principals to high schools opening this fall. The board named King High principal Richard Bartels as principal of the new Freedom High School, and Chamberlain High principal Henry Washington as principal of the new Middleton High.

Bartels and Washington are longtime school employees and former teachers. Their new positions are effective Feb. 11.

A school employee for 31 years, Bartels previously served as assistant principal at East Bay, Bloomingdale and King high schools. He has been principal at King since 1999.

Washington was hired in 1997 and served as an assistant principal at McLane Middle School and Chamberlain and Brandon high schools before becoming principal at Chamberlain in 1997.

Washington is a graduate of Middleton High, a historically black school that closed in 1971.

MUTINY FOLDS: Citing a lack of local ownership, Major League Soccer's 11-man Board of Governors voted unanimously Tuesday to fold the Tampa Bay Mutiny immediately. The Miami Fusion was also eliminated.

"We needed an owner in Tampa," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. "We spent an enormous amount of time trying to find that owner."

MLS is a single-entity league that owns all teams, and investors buy the right to operate them. Teams share in profits and losses.

Tampa Bay, like most MLS teams, has been a money loser since the league's inception in 1996 -- reportedly an average of $2-million per year. Unlike every other team but Dallas, the Mutiny has been league-owned for six years. Dallas is reportedly close to securing an investor.

MLS chief of operations Mark Abbott, in Tampa to announce the Mutiny's demise, said MLS has talked to six to 12 possible investors in the Mutiny since 1996.

The most promising possibility was the Glazer family, owners of the Bucs. Discussions dissolved last season when the Glazers balked at the Mutiny's revenue projections.

STABBING DEATH NEAR USF: A 29-year-old Tampa man was fatally stabbed Sunday night at the stairwell of his girlfriend's apartment building. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said David Anthony Miller was found bleeding about 7:30 p.m. Sunday at 12206 N 16th St. by his girlfriend. Miller was pronounced dead at University Community Hospital.

Miller and the girlfriend, Latasha Kinsler, had dated for several years and have a 11/2-year-old daughter, said Ms. Kinsler's sister, Stacey Jones. Last year, they had moved to Tampa from their hometown of Pahokee, in Palm Beach County, where Miller had worked at a country club, Ms. Jones said.

TOWN 'N COUNTRY WOMAN FOUND DEAD: A 73-year-old woman was killed Thursday inside her small home in Town "N Country. Anna Geraldine Erwin, of 5822 Sussex Drive, was found dead by her husband, Robert, after he returned from Tampa Bay Downs about 1:40 p.m. Police would not say how she died, other than to say she suffered trauma to her upper body. They had no suspects as of Thursday.

PETTYJOHN GETS 10 YEARS: Accused animal abuser Robert Pettyjohn was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting two Odessa bulls with a bow and arrow. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ron Ficarrotta's sentence allows Pettyjohn, 19, to get out after three years. He also received two years' house arrest, five years' probation and 150 hours of community service to be served with an organization that deals with animals. Pettyjohn, who will serve his time as a youthful offender away from the regular prison population, must also pay $15,000 in restitution to the owner of the bulls, Kay O'Rourke.

Last January, Pettyjohn and Brandon Eldred, 18, jumped a fence at the Tradition Ranch in Odessa and killed one bull and injured another. According to prosecutors, Pettyjohn bragged about the killing saying, "I got my jollies off by shooting the cow."

Eldred pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing. Pettyjohn, of New Port Richey, still faces trial on separate Pinellas charges of animal abuse.

O'Rourke said it was obvious that Pettyjohn suffers from major psychological problems and "lives in a different world then we do." She said she thought the thrill of killing animals would wane and Pettyjohn would move on to harming people.

"He lives in a very dark world," she said. "I hope he can get help and turn things around."

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