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City floats idea for law: clean pools

LARGO - When Largo code enforcers say they want to clean up this town, they really mean it.

After receiving calls each week from residents grumbling about their neighbor's filthy pool, code enforcement officials have suggested the city adopt a new "clean pool" ordinance.

They cite the health hazards, from grime that could prevent rescuers from finding a person quickly to standing water allowing mosquitoes to breed.

But enforcing the ordinance could prove tricky.

Commissioner Pat Gerard wondered whether the low-lying areas in her back yard that fill up with rainwater would fall under the proposed ordinance.

Assistant City Attorney Tammi Bach said she could draft an ordinance that bars only dirty man-made bodies of water.

DUNEDIN - So far, no one wants the naming rights to the renovated Dunedin baseball stadium.

The most promising prospect, Coca-Cola, is no longer interested in paying an estimated $100,000 a year for the right to rename Grant Field, a local company spokesman said this week.

"It's a little harder than I thought it would be," said Cecil Engelbert, chairman of the Dunedin Stadium Naming Rights Committee. "I thought certainly there was something out there.

Commissioner David Eggers, the city's liaison to the committee, blames the lack of interest on bad timing due to an uncertain economy and competition from other stadiums looking for sponsors.

If no one is found by the end of September, commissioners will consider hiring a professional service to continue the search.

LAND O'LAKES - A state investigation has concluded a Land O'Lakes nudist who sold videos of naked elementary-age girls didn't break the law.

Walt Zadanoff, former president of the country's largest nudist organization, said the ruling by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is encouraging but too late to salvage his reputation.

"I'm not surprised. I'm sorry it took this long. ... But the damage has been done," Zadanoff said.

Gov. Jeb Bush's office ordered an investigation of Zadanoff after U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, criticized the 68-year-old nudist for peddling videos on the Internet of naked child beauty pageants in Europe.

Law enforcement authorities reported back to Bush: Because they contain no sex, such videos are legal.

But Foley called the videos, which feature full-frontal nudity, a "fix for pedophiles," and is working on legislation to outlaw them.

The two-month turmoil over the tapes has damaged his reputation, Zadanoff said. Fearing bad publicity, nudist groups, including some of the clothes-free resorts that are Land O'Lakes' biggest industry, have suggested he stay away.

WEEKI WACHEE - The city of Weeki Wachee's takeover of its legendary mermaid attraction may violate the state Constitution.

In early August, the corporate owners of Weeki Wachee Springs announced they had donated the aging tourist attraction to the city, with has a population of nine.

The move was seen as a victory for the little guy, akin to a tenant-farming family finally laying claim to its beloved land.

The problem is, the Florida Constitution prohibits governments from being shareholders in private corporations, assuming their debt, or going into joint ventures with them.

Michael Molligan, a spokesman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which rents the land on which the park sits, said Swiftmud is looking into two issues as Monday's deadline approaches for a plan to fix up the attraction. It will look at whether the donation agreement squares with the Constitution, and whether the agreement is even finalized yet.

INVERNESS - In a sexual offender case involving a woman and a teenage boy, a judge has approved visits with the victim and now lets her have treatment different than that for men.

In April, Circuit Judge Ric A. Howard ordered Kelly Finegan, then 25, to register as a sexual offender and to stay away from the 16-year-old boy, a former dance student with whom she'd had a sexual relationship.

But in late July, the judge granted Finegan permission to renew contact with the now 17-year-old, and they now are allowed unsupervised visits.

Then Wednesday, the judge made another change: At Finegan's request, he allowed her to pursue a different kind of treatment program for sex offenders. Such treatment is a condition of probation, but her lawyer successfully argued that circumstances merited participation in a program different from the standard one, whose members are mostly men.

"This is a situation where, frankly, the victim and the defendant intend to be together," Michael Blackstone, who represented Finegan, said during the sentencing hearing in April. "And they're looking for the opportunity to do that, so it's not a casual or a perpetrator type of offense. It's a law problem, an age problem."

CRYSTAL RIVER - Two federal agencies will investigate allegations that the Citrus County Sheriff's Office falsified documents and fired a whistle-blower who told federal officials of what he considered inadequate training for emergency workers who handle incidents at the Crystal River nuclear plant.

Bill Hunt, the former head of Citrus County's radiological emergency preparedness program, has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to revoke or suspend the operating license for Progress Energy's nuclear plant.

"There's reason to have grave concerns for the community surrounding the nuclear plant," said Hunt's attorney, Louis Putney.

Hunt said he was forced to resign in March after telling an official from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the county had done the required nuclear emergency training for 19 firefighters, not 49 as indicated by the records. He filed a whistle-blower suit against the county in federal court in August.

The Sheriff's Office said Hunt resigned after an internal investigation charged him with a willful disregard of duties, untruthfulness in an official investigation and failure to maintain a professional relationship with other agencies.

The NRC will be looking into the whistle-blower allegations while FEMA will investigate the alleged falsification of training records.

What's all the noise about at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport? The last of two public meetings with Pinellas County government and airport officials takes place Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Countryside High School to answer questions about the county's proposed $223-million expansion plan.

The Hillsborough County administrator has said he expects to present the County Commission a list this week of options on how to deal with concerns over County Attorney Emmy Action. A state investigation is ongoing into her work schedule and use of an office account. The consulting firm KPMG notified the board last week it was withdrawing from a contract to examine complaints against Acton. Some of her employees have accused Acton of failing to disclose time away from the office, of belittling employees and misusing an office account. Acton, who is currently on medical leave for treatment of diabetes, has called any failure to report her days out an unintentional mistake. Acton also says she regularly works nights, vacations and weekends.

- Compiled by Times staff writer Sharon Kennedy Wynne.