SPRING HILL - Community members just aren't pack animals anymore, it seems.
The Spring Hill Lions Club is struggling as an aging and shrinking membership finds it increasingly difficult to give of its time. Now the a 35-year institution that has catered to the civic and social needs of the community is scaling back, putting its clubhouse up for sale.
Sharon Saunders, special events coordinator at the club, said the building "is just an albatross around our necks."
But the club remains optimistic.
"I truly believe it is cyclical and will come back," Saunders said of the Lions Club.
Cranes get slow start in heading south for winter
A new crop of 6-month-old whooping cranes began their first leg last week of a long flight from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge on the gulf coast of Florida.
They will follow an ultralight aircraft flown by pilots crudely dressed as whooping cranes.
The goal: Teach these endangered whooping cranes a natural migration pattern and make them believe they're learning it from another crane. Two older flocks have already learned the route and are expected to migrate on their own this winter.
But eight days of delays made the birds less prepared for the flight, and some of them tired easily. Of the 15 birds that took off, only nine made it to their first stop in southern Juneau County, Wis.
The trip is expected to take six to eight weeks and can be followed online at www.operationmigration.org
Signs point the way to safe haven for babies
PINELLAS PARK - New signs on Pinellas Park fire stations - the first in the county - are designed to be a reminder of a state amnesty law that protects parents of newborn babies.
Under the 3-year-old safe haven law, a parent or relative can leave an unwanted baby less than 3 days old at a fire station, hospital or doctor's office with no questions asked.
Pinellas Park officials requested the signage last month after Safe Haven for Newborns week was kicked off at Fire Station 33, 5000 82nd Ave. N. A year ago, Station 33 became the first in Pinellas County to receive a baby under the law.
"We're kind of a poster child," Pinellas Park fire Chief Ken Cramer said. "The law worked the way it was supposed to. The child lived and that's the most important thing."
Patrol cars double as mobile pantries for the poor
TAMPA - Sheriff's deputies in parts of Hillsborough and Pasco counties are not only enforcing the law, they're delivering meals.
They carry bags of food in the trunks of their cruisers to hand out to people in need. The bags are going to homeless people, jobless people and families in distress.
"Quite often we run across people who don't have anything," said Hillsborough sheriff's Deputy Dale Russell. "Sometimes people are put in that position really quickly, where a husband might walk out on a wife and kids.
"We haven't had the luxury of being able to help someone immediately who needs it. So, this will be something new for us."
Operation Street Grace is the work of First Baptist Church of Odessa, a small congregation near the Pasco/Hillsborough county line. Operation Street Grace is its way to reach out to people who cannot get to the church's food pantry, which is open on Saturdays.
The church's goal is provide as many bags as the deputies can give away.
"It makes us feel a little bit better because sometimes we have to be the bad guys," said Pasco County Deputy Scott Linberry.
Parent says 30-year-old Blume book should be pulled
SPRING HILL - A 30-year-old novel by popular children's author Judy Blume could be removed from Hernando County school libraries later this month.
Officials at Spring Hill Elementary School already have removed Deenie from circulation after a parent complained about passages that discuss masturbation. The book chronicles the life of a seventh-grade girl dealing with curvature of the spine.
"What she read isn't bad," said mom Jerri Trammell, who complained to Spring Hill principal John DiRienzo. "I just don't want her to learn about it from Judy Blume."
Blume, the author of 25 books, said she was surprised and upset after learning of the challenge from a St. Petersburg Times reporter.
"It's been a while since I heard anything (negative) about Deenie," she said. "I've had so many wonderful letters about Deenie recently. We're probably going to make a movie about Deenie. It just really got to me this time."
Blume expressed dismay with the request to remove the book from the library. "I hope for the kids that reason prevails," she said, "and books are not pulled out of schools because certain adults are frightened."
That county-level committee will meet the last week of October, elementary curriculum specialist Elaine Wooten said. It will recommend action to the superintendent, who in turn will advise the School Board, which has the final say.
In short . . .
BROOKSVILLE - Hernando County sheriff's deputies voted overwhelmingly in favor of choosing one union to represent their interests during contract negotiations. But a close vote means deputies will vote again in a runoff, to be scheduled in the next 30 days, to decide whether they are represented by the Fraternal Order of Police or by the Police Benevolent Association. In January, the Florida Supreme Court reversed a 1978 decision, finding that sheriffs' deputies are considered public employees, and thus entitled to collectively bargain over their wages, hours and other terms and conditions of their employment.
Since then, the largest unions representing law enforcement officers have been embroiled in what many have called a contentious struggle to represent sheriffs' deputies across the state.
CLEARWATER - With the Clearwater Phillies set to play in a new 7,000-seat stadium next year, the team needs a high-profile manager to help fill the stands. To do that, the Phillies tapped one of the franchise's most recognizable names: Mike Schmidt. The Hall of Famer and 12-time all-star, who spent his entire major league career (1972-89) as a player with the Philadelphia Phillies, was hired Tuesday to manage the organization's single-A team.
Coming up this week
The governing board of Tampa Bay Water board meets Monday and the prospects for the utility's desalination plant will be a hot topic. Earlier this month, officials at Tampa Bay Water notified Covanta that it has defaulted on its contract to build the $110-million desalination plant in Apollo Beach.
The Legislature convenes Monday in a special session called by Gov. Jeb Bush to get legislative blessing for a deal he wants to make with the Scripps Research Institute. Bush, whose office compared the economic impact of the biomedical research company to Disney World or the Kennedy Space Center, wants to take $310-million of the $1-billion in federal economic stimulus money Florida got earlier this year. He also wants to earmark $190-million as a "mega-fund" to lure more companies to Florida. He still has to get it through the Republican-controlled Legislature in the five-day session. Some leading lawmakers, while welcoming Scripps, question much of the hype and want a thorough analysis of this unprecedented project.
- Compiled by Times staff writer Sharon Kennedy Wynne
