Week in Review

K-BAR DEAL HELD UP FOR QUESTIONS: New Tampa's newest subdivision would provide the city millions in tax dollars. But it also would put more cars on the roads and more kids in its packed schools. With residents speaking out about those concerns Thursday, the City Council postponed a vote on a plan to annex a 2,280-acre ranch into the city limits.

The K-Bar ranch on the Hillsborough-Pasco border would give way to 2,000 homes, lines of minivans and rows of four-car garages.

The council delayed action until at least Aug. 8. Meanwhile, city officials will hold a meeting in New Tampa to address residents' concerns.

Residents said a draft annexation agreement doesn't do enough to protect people already in New Tampa. K-Bar's owner should give taxpayers more money for roads, donate more land for schools and provide more acres for parks, they said.

Ron Rotella, an aide to the mayor who worked on the deal, called it one of the toughest the city has negotiated.

Under the deal, the landowner will pay the city $900,000 up front to help improve to three roads. A future developer will pay impact fees as new homes are built. The ranch will donate 4.3 acres for parks for every 1,000 residents.

The ranch owner already gave the School Board 20 acres several years ago to build Pride Elementary, which opened in August 2000. "We donated this land up front," said attorney Fred Ridley, who represents the ranch owners. "We're good neighbors."

Pride, already full, isn't big enough to educate the hundreds of new children who would move into 2,000 new homes, residents said. Ridley said the ranch owner would be willing to sell more land to the School Board.

The ranch owners, who have kept the land on the Hillsborough-Pasco border for generations, asked to join the city last month. The annexation would allow them to sell to developers, who prefer to build homes inside the city rather than in unincorporated Hillsborough.

HAPNER DROPS OUT OF JUDICIAL RACE: Elizabeth "Betsey" Hapner ended her candidacy for circuit judge, citing a serious illness. "I found out today that I am facing major surgery in the next month that will require about a six- to eight-week recovery period," the Carrollwood attorney wrote in a news release faxed to the St. Petersburg Times. Hapner said her troubles during her earlier tenure on the bench ,which included being removed from a county judgeship in 1998 because of a pattern of irresponsible and dishonest behavior, had nothing to do with her decision. On Wednesday, the Times published a story detailing her past problems and some recent ones.

Hapner, 45, did not disclose her illness. "While serious, it is not terminal," she said. Her resignation comes as she faced new questions about how she handled the sale of property for her deceased grandmother, Tempa B. Thomas of Safety Harbor. The Times was researching allegations about how Hapner handled $30,000 from the 1995 sale, and had asked her Tuesday for documentation. Hapner did not respond to the Times' inquiries.

She filed to become a candidate for an open circuit court seat two weeks ago. The action surprised many, coming four years after the Florida Supreme Court removed her from office, saying that she was unfit to be a judge. The court later suspended her law license for 90 days and placed her on probation, which ended this month.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which polices Florida judges, accused Hapner of giving misleading testimony during a divorce and giving untruthful and inaccurate answers to an appeals court's request that she finish an overdue legal brief. The JQC also said Hapner neglected her clients while running for office, a charge she denied.

"I would like to think that public service is still in my future," Hapner wrote in her statement.

LUTZ TEEN CHARGED IN SHOOTING: Pasco County sheriff's deputies on Tuesday arrested a 16-year-old boy they say fired a gun into the apartment of two men he had been arguing with.

Deputies said the teen, who lives in Lutz, banged on the door at 26646 Player's Circle, Apartment 12, about 11 a.m., demanding to be let in. The Times is withholding the boy's name because of his age. Lewis Evans, 18, and Stephen Loury, 21, were inside and refused to let the boy in, although sheriff's reports were unclear what the argument was about.

Deputies said the boy vowed to return with a gun and did just that. They said he kicked in the door and fired a shot into the apartment with a handgun. Reports stated that Evans fired a shot back. No one was injured.

The boy, who has a tattoo reading "Thug Life" on his left arm, fled, but deputies arrested him later. He faces charges of armed burglary and aggravated assault. Because he is a minor, deputies took the boy to the Pasco County juvenile detention center.

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