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By JENNIFER FARRELL, Times Staff WriterAs both sides in the Clearwater dispute prepare to go to a special master, a renegade Web site spreads taunts and insults.
CLEARWATER - For the second time this year, a federal mediator has failed to bring the city and its two firefighters' unions to a deal.
After nearly five hours of contract talks Thursday, both sides left the bargaining table frustrated and more convinced than ever that agreement is out of reach. Now the city and the unions are preparing to make their cases to a special master who would make nonbinding recommendations to city commissioners. After that, the commission could impose up to a one-year contract, perhaps as early as January.
But because firefighters have already worked for more than a year without a labor agreement, any terms imposed by the commission would have already expired, meaning negotiators would have to head back to the table.
All of which could signal months more of rancor in an already contentious atmosphere.
Firefighters and their supporters are demanding better pay and have rented a billboard on U.S. 19 south of Enterprise Road to further their cause.
For months, the union has staged pickets outside City Hall and early this month, one firefighter carried an effigy of City Manager Bill Horne. At the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, the union recruited firefighters from around the state for pickets and made arrangements for a plane to fly overhead with a banner saying, "Clearwater Is Unfair To Firefighters and Paramedics."
Headliner Herbie Hancock even briefly took the stage wearing a union jacket, though he told the crowd he wasn't choosing sides.
This week, the rhetoric was ratcheted up a notch, with the latest installment of Draconian Times, an angry and profane Web site representing disaffected firefighters and critical of city and fire administration.
In it, an unnamed contributor declares, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! You want a war, you got a war."
The Web site - www.pinellas.com/draconian - contains crude sexual references to Horne and dubs him "Donkey."
The Draconian Times has no official ties to the union, but it is hosted by a Web domain registered to Stan Loveday, a lieutenant with the Fire Department. On Thursday, Loveday's wife, Roxanne, said she operates the hosting service, which provides space on the Web for a variety of Web sites. But even she doesn't know who writes the Draconian Times.
"It's a very, very tightly kept secret," she said. "Nobody is able to figure this out."
Roxanne Loveday said she posts the material after receiving it from Clearwater firefighter Terry O'Neill.
O'Neill said he receives the material from an anonymous source, then acts as a conduit for "First Amendment reasons."
City officials have called the site distasteful and irresponsible and say they are shocked and disappointed by the content.
"I was embarrassed to think that city of Clearwater employees would be associated in any way with this publication," Horne said.
Others see the site as an outlet for bitterness and low morale shared by firefighters frustrated with city leadership.
"We want somebody who can lead us and support us," firefighter Craig Cramer said Thursday. "In my opinion, it's not there."
Cramer said he does not know who is responsible for the site, which is billed as a parody and has also taken aim at Mayor Brian Aungst, city commissioners, Fire Department leadership and the St. Petersburg Times. But he defended its existence.
"I'm somebody that believes in free speech," Cramer said. "For good or for evil, it's there."
John Lee, president of Clearwater Firefighters Local No. 1158, said the Draconian Times is nothing more than a distraction, considering firefighters have gone two years without a raise.
"It's like Mad Magazine," he said. "I don't even read it, to tell you the truth."
City officials, though, take the publication seriously and say they will discuss with City Attorney Pam Akin whether they have grounds to take action against those who create or distribute it.
Mostly, city leaders wish peer pressure in the Fire Department would force a more mature and professional level of speech than the Draconian Times, according to Assistant City Manager Garry Brumback.
"You want to call yourself a hero? Then knock that behavior off, because a hero would do something about that," he said. "Silence is consent."
On Thursday, Roxanne Loveday, a staunch union supporter, said the profanity contained on the site has made her uncomfortable recently.
"It's not what I would expect from any of the guys that I know," she said. "It's getting very close to a point where unless they adjust the language it's going to have to be pulled down or moved somewhere else."
- Jennifer Farrell can be reached at 445-4160 or farrell@sptimes.com