Headlines through the years

A look back at the events, people and places that made North Pinellas the unique place that it is. The information is compiled from past editions of the St. Petersburg Times.

By Times staff writers
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 15, 2002

Sept. 10, 1937: First train car full of grapefruit rolls north

CLEARWATER -- The first citrus fruit from Pinellas County for the 1938 season -- a solid train carload of grapefruit -- will roll out Monday night bound for Cincinnati, it was reported today by Major A.D. Tomasello, in charge of the citrus inspection for this district, including Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Last year the first was shipped about Sept. 8.

Inspector Tomasello said the first fruit this year will be shipped from the Fugazzi plant in south Clearwater. It is being picked this week.

The first shipment of oranges is expected to move out next week, several weeks earlier than last year, when the first did not move until Oct. 10. A favorable growing season is responsible for the early oranges, which are expected to command the highest prices.

Last season, Pinellas groves shipped out 1,841,000 boxes of grapefruit and oranges. The inspector declined to make an estimate on the value of the citrus crop last year but said the growers and shippers received satisfactory prices.

The district will have 22 plants operating this season.

Sept. 7, 1912: County convicts hired

CLEARWATER -- Chairman S.S. Coachman of the Board of County Commissioners of Pinellas made arrangements today to hire the county convicts out to R.T. Youngblood of Safety Harbor. At the present time there are only three or four convicts, but it is expected that there will be an additional number after the circuit court session, which will begin next Tuesday.

Sept. 13, 1981: Arts can't survive here, says pianist

LARGO -- Nobody in Florida is interested in culture, says retired concert pianist Wladslaw (now William) J. Cedzich. Certainly nobody in Largo.

The old folks come down here to die, not to go to concerts, he says, and the young ones just aren't interested.

And that's why Cedzich says it's "pure crazy" for Largo city commissioners to even consider committing $1.5-million of the city's money to the Performing Arts Center and Theater being built off McMullen-Booth Road in Clearwater.

An ordinance that would bind Largo for that amount of money into a four-way guarantee of a total $5.5-million loan for the performing arts center will be up for final approval Tuesday night when the commission meets. And based on what individual commissioners say, it will pass with a minimum 4-3 vote.

"Those grocery clerks that are running the city don't know which end is up in the arts," Cedzich declares.

Cedzich is a veteran of standing-room-only concerts in halls like Carnegie, Steinway and Aolian in New York. He feels that qualifies him to say that the arts center is a waste of money because there is not enough support in Pinellas for the auditoriums already built, much less for another 2,100 seats.

"There's no culture in Florida," he declares. "In all of Florida, it's just not here.

"Look at Tampa. They're having a renaissance in Tampa and they're struggling. They sure aren't writing home about it over there. So what makes these little local politicians think they can pour money into a theater here and do any better?"

The only ones in Largo, or even Pinellas, who might really appreciate and patronize performances of the classics -- what Cedzich calls "long-hair music" -- are the older residents. "And most of them have come down here to be left alone and die," he says.

"They come down here from places like New York to get away from people, to escape, to be left alone. They don't bring much with them because they don't intend to be here very long.

"They certainly aren't here for culture. If they wanted that, they'd have stayed up in New York. They aren't going to pay $10 or $20 to go up to McMullen-Booth Road."

And what of a more youthful audience that might long for an opportunity to hear Chopin, Bach or Beethoven? The "blue jean-wearing assassins" aren't interested, he says.

"It's not their fault," he adds forgivingly. "They haven't been brought up to know the music and the men."

And to complete the vicious circle, Cedzich says, without the people to fill the hall, no one of any real talent will ever come to the PACT facility.

Cedzich is 73 and from the same New York City he says the other older residents have fled. And even though he retired down here, he is not here to die, he says.

In fact, he is ready to sell his $115,000 home of six months in south Largo and move to Switzerland.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The PACT is now known as Ruth Eckerd Hall. Cedzich died in 1990 in Dunedin.

-- Theresa Blackwell compiles the history column. She can be reached at (727) 445-4229 or blackwell@sptimes.com.

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