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Hey, these new mail carriers have guns
© St. Petersburg Times Related News 10 Video After Hillsborough sheriff's deputies caught a couple of thieves who had stolen hundreds of pieces of mail from mail boxes in Valrico and Bloomingdale, they set about getting the stolen goods back to their owners. All 455 pieces. It's not every day you see deputies delivering the mail, but that's what they did this week. Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder, doing his job of getting the word out, was writing the press release when he tried to include the saying, "Neither snow, nor rain . . ." and became stumped. Was it sleet? Dark of night? No one knew, not even several postal inspectors. It took several calls and a big chunk of Reder's morning to track down the proper quote from a postal employee, who says it originally came from Herodotus in 503 B.C. "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, stays these carriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." KINDER, GENTLER: Since last fall, students at Williams Middle School have taken one day a week off from any pushing, shoving, hitting or kicking. Called "Fight Free Day," it is part of the efforts of SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere), a national organization sponsored by General Motors. SAVE began in North Carolina after a student there was killed while trying to break up a fight, said Williams school resource officer Dee Bryant. "His friends vowed not to let his death be in vain," Bryant said. The effort has trickled down to the 50 or so SAVE students who attend Williams. There are no posters or edicts announcing a Fight Free Day, Bryant said, "but the kids all know." "If one of them starts jaw-jackin', or talking trash, another kid will say, 'You know you're not supposed to be doing that,' " she said, and intervene before it gets physical. The school hopes to carry the effort a step further. Starting March 22, every day at Williams will be a Fight Free Day until the end of the school year. "I think they can do it," said Bryant, who says the campaign teaches kids that if you are violent, you create new problems for yourself. "Kids will surprise you, if you give them a chance." LUNEY TUNES: As head of the Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan (THAP), Chester Luney did personal favors for a city housing chief who gave him contracts, and got money from the Department of Veterans Affairs for homeless vets who did not exist. Luney's dealings have earned him scrutiny from federal investigators, and an unceremonious ouster from THAP and the VA. Two weeks ago, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Luney won another distinction: He was celebrated in song. The Law Follies is an annual show of skits and song parodies, put on by local legal types about people in the news. Those in attendance heard the Battle Hymn of Chester Luney, which started with these lines: "Mine eyes have seen the money, and it's going out the door; "It used to be the VA's, but it isn't anymore. "But where is Chester Luney? Why, he's sunning at the shore "And all the cash is gone." Karen Buesing, an attorney who directs the follies, said the show's songs were collaborative efforts of participants, with the aim of being "playful but not hurtful." Of the Luney song, she added, "There is nothing in the song that wasn't in the newspaper." -- Contact Christopher Goffard at 813 226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com or Amy Herdy at 813 226-3386 or herdy@sptimes.com.
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Times columns today Mary Jo Melone Gary Shelton Tampa Uncuffed |
