CHASSAHOWITZKA - Three rare whooping cranes reached their winter destinations last week, guided not by ultralight aircraft flown by pilots in crane costumes, but by instinct.
Two female 1-year-old cranes touched down last Sunday morning inside the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge and just outside a fenced-in area that awaits this year's flock of 16 fledglings.
A third crane, a 2-year-old male, flew on to private property in Pasco County.
The three are the first whooping cranes to arrive this season. All were from flocks that made similar journeys in past years. The male is from the inaugural flock in 2001; the females learned the flight last year.
Meanwhile, the crew trying to coax 16 7-month-old whooping cranes south for the first time have been slowly making their way through Kentucky. That flock has battled weather and tough winds.
In the wild, whooping cranes learn how to migrate from other cranes. But because few migratory cranes exist in the East, humans stepped in to teach them the way.
Citrus County puts hammer down on illegal contractors
INVERNESS - Nearly a dozen men asked to bid on a home improvement project instead are facing criminal charges for contracting without a license.
The sting took place the week of Sept. 15 in a Floral City home authorities used to lure the workers.
A state investigator and a county employee posing as homeowners called the unlicensed contractors to the house, then pointed out restoration work, repairs or upgrading that needed to be done, said Richard A. Cook, regional program administrator in Gainesville for the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which regulates contractors.
They asked the contractors, who advertised at local businesses, whether they wanted to bid on the work and, if so, whether they would write up contracts and leave them with the investigators.
After the week's end, state officials gathered the contracts and took them to prosecutors.
"This was, I would consider, very successful," Cook said of the sting. "We felt like there was a lot of unlicensed contracting being conducted, and this pretty much confirmed it."
Unlicensed contracting is a chronic problem statewide, Cook said, "I think because the homeowner is always wanting the lowest price, and unfortunately, they're willing to take the risk to hire a total stranger to do some very involved work on their home."
Landlord eases up on mermaid park
BARTOW - Weeki Wachee Springs' landlord decided last week to let the park show that it can fix its problems without an ax hanging over its head.
With sign-waving park supporters bused in to show the mermaid park's popularity, the governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District gave them what they wanted.
Swiftmud had been pressing Weeki Wachee to accept a make-or-break Jan. 31 deadline for disconnecting its archaic sewer plant. Swiftmud says a plant leak could contaminate the Weeki Wachee River.
Under newly acquired city ownership, park officials said they would be able to restore the park to its former glory. And they promised to dismantle the sewer plant by Jan. 31.
Swiftmud sought to get that pledge in writing, along with wording that calls for immediate termination of the lease if the deadline isn't met.
On Tuesday, the Swiftmud governing board seemed to acknowledge the futility of such a fight, particularly given that park officials say work on the sewer plant could begin next month and be finished long before Jan. 31.
Mom helping babysit kids must get a license
SEMINOLE - Laurie McPherson said she never gave her babysitting a second thought. She works nights. She's got a big house with a big yard. Her house looks like a toy farm.
So she babysits for friends. Often, friends babysit her two kids. It's all free.
"I'm not running a day care," McPherson, 34, said Tuesday. "We're just moms helping moms."
Doesn't matter. Under Pinellas County rules, anyone who cares for even one unrelated child more than once a week for at least two hours must be licensed, whether they are paid or not.
The licensing procedure includes a criminal background check, fingerprinting, 40 hours of training and at least $108 in fees.
If McPherson doesn't get a license, she faces possible fines or a misdemeanor criminal charge.
"It's basic protection for children at that age who can't speak for themselves," said Linda Tamanini, executive director of county day care licensing agency.
John Trevena, McPherson's attorney, called county rules "ludicrous" and said he is researching whether they are unconstitutional.
In the meantime, McPherson, the mother of 2- and 3-year-old girls, said she has reduced her babysitting time to comply with county rules.
Budget woes ground manatee counting crew
CRYSTAL RIVER - After a dozen years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manatee counters are grounded. There is no money to pay for the aerial manatee counts they conduct over the Crystal River coast each week during the winter.
For several years, there has been no federal money for the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge to pay for the aerial surveys. Refuge manager Jim Kraus and others before him conducted the surveys anyway by shifting priorities, collecting donations and hoping for a federal windfall at the end of the fiscal year.
This year, Kraus said he just can't trust that the money to pay for the surveys will come through at the end of the budget year.
Counting the cost of the airplane, pilot and staff, the surveys cost about $10,000 a year. The goal is to keep intact a consistent record of the Crystal River manatee population.
The surveys have provided the scientific backing for many of the management decisions that have been made in Crystal River, which remains the only area in the state where the public is allowed to swim with the federally endangered mammals.
The aerial counts, which began in the 1960s and have been done regularly during the winter seasons since the mid 1980s, have formed the basis of the development of the Crystal River and Homosassa manatee sanctuaries, which were the first in the state.
In short ...
TAMPA - Tuesday was the grand opening of Academy Prep Center's campus in the V.M. Ybor neighborhood. The private school for disadvantaged students is an affiliate of a campus in St. Petersburg. Tuition is paid by community scholarships.
BROOKSVILLE - Academies of America, the Ormond Beach company that sought to open 10 charter schools throughout the Tampa Bay area, on Tuesday struck out in Hernando County. Already rebuffed in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, company leaders had told Hernando school officials that they were hoping to make their mark in the Spring Hill area with an elementary and middle school. But the Hernando School Board said no, citing unanswered questions.
TAMPA - Facing a majority vote to oust him, Dan Kleman ended a nine-year reign as Hillsborough County administrator Tuesday. The resignation was conditional upon receiving the same severance package he would have received if he had been fired, roughly $250,000.
Coming up this week
Before a heaping helping of turkey on Thursday, runners will lace up for the Times Turkey Trot in Clearwater. The speediest runners will get an extra bonus this year. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the event, organizers are giving away "gobble-bobbles," bobble head turkey dolls, to the top 100 male and female runners in the 5K and 10K races.
- Compiled by Times staff writer Sharon Kennedy Wynne
