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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 8, 2002
NEW SCHOOLS WILL OPEN EARLY: Faced with a rapidly expanding population in New Tampa, Hillsborough County school officials will open four new schools a year early, including three in the northern county.
Elementary school "W" and middle school "OO" in the Live Oak Preserve, just south of the Pasco border, will open in 2004 instead of 2005. Another elementary school also will open near Gunn Highway and Van Dyke Road.
"Our days of dragging 18 to 20 portables onto a campus as a stopgap measure are over," said William H. Person, director of pupil administrative services for the Hillsborough County School District.
The new Freedom High and Liberty Middle schools have eased some space concerns, but crowding at elementary schools will soon be a serious issue. Already, Pride Elementary is over its 895-student capacity and Clark Elementary is at 92 percent of its 941-student capacity. Heritage Isles is expanding, the city recently annexed K-Bar Ranch, and home building in Live Oak could begin after the new year.
GATOR SPOTTED AT LIBERTY MIDDLE: At least he was on time. Officials gave that much to the 8-foot alligator who moseyed onto a Liberty Middle School bus ramp Thursday morning just as students were arriving for class.
It was 8:45 a.m. when a bus driver pulling onto campus spotted the gator plopped in her path -- just beyond a "Wildlife Crossing" sign.
"The kids weren't fazed by it at all. I mean, this is Florida," said principal Deborah Rodgers.
The bus driver radioed to the 15 buses behind her to keep kids on board. Rodgers drove to the bus ramp while another administrator hurried toward the alligator, which was sitting about 150 feet behind Liberty's campus. Two maintenance workers moved their truck to block the reptile from getting any closer to campus.
Eventually, the group corraled the gator near a greenhouse and, while they waited for a trapper, escorted the gator toward nearby woods.
"We just kind of walked along with it," said Rodgers, who said she has seen wild deer and cranes on campus, but never carnivores. "He was kind of fascinating to watch."
CONFUSION OVER TWO DENISES: Reporters and debate moderators are prone to confuse Denise Lasher with Denise "Dee" Layne, and with good reason: Both are 47-year-old Republican women who live near Lutz's Livingston Avenue. Now voters stand to be confused, as both are running to replace Jim Norman on the Hillsborough County Commission.
"I've not seen anything like it, where the names were that close together," said Wayne Garcia, a consultant to Jim Davison, who's running against the Denises and Ken Hagan.
Both candidates foresaw the dilemma. Layne adopted the nickname "Dee," a remnant of the childhood "Dee Dee." Lasher hammered home "Denise Lasher" in big horizontal signs using both names. Garcia said he believes Lasher has more support, and therefore more to lose if her voters come to the polls confused.
"Of course, this is Florida," he said. "And voters do get confused."
SHOTS PRESCRIBED AT DAY CARE: A hepatitis A outbreak at a Town 'N Country day care center has prompted county health officials to give preventive medication to all children enrolled there and to staff members as well.
"We're taking all the precautionary steps," said Sandra Clark, director of La Petite Academy at 7511 Paula Drive. "All the children are getting shots, or will."
Health officials said the first case of hepatitis A at the day care center was confirmed Aug. 26, and everyone in contact with the child was tested for the virus. When two other cases were confirmed, employees were given immune globulin. But when a fourth case was confirmed late last week, health officials called for immune globulin for all children who attend the center.
Immune globulin, which is injected, is not a vaccine, but it gives short-term protection against the disease.
Hepatitis A is contracted through the bowel movement of an infected person, close contact with an infected person, or consuming food or water contaminated with the virus. The illness usually lasts one to two weeks and generally does not have long-term health effects.
Transmission also can occur through exposure to contaminated water, ice, or shellfish harvested from sewage-contaminated water, or from uncooked fruits or vegetables.
Symptoms include fever, malaise, nausea and abdominal discomfort and jaundice. Symptoms can take two to six weeks to appear.
APARTMENT RESIDENT DROWNS IN CARROLLWOOD: Hillsborough County sheriff's investigators were investigating the drowning of a Carrollwood man found dead in an apartment complex hot tub Wednesday morning. James Donald Cousins, 35, was discovered by a neighbor about 5:45 a.m. in the hot tub at the Arbors of Carrollwood apartment complex on Ehrlich Road. Cousins, a resident of the complex, was last seen sitting near the hot tub on the pool deck about 12:30 a.m. Foul play was not suspected.