DADE CITY - Parents of a Pasco High School cheerleader accused of sneaking alcohol have decided to stand up and holler, in court at least.
Last week, the male cheerleader, who was kicked off the cheerleading squad this summer, filed a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy and seeking an apology and thousands of dollars.
The allegations stem from a cheerleading camp July 23 at the University of South Florida.
Some girls at the camp reported that other girls had alcohol and pointed to Johnathan Madison as the supplier. Coaches did not find alcohol in his room, and Johnathan continues to deny that he played any role.
The family has hired an attorney, a court reporter and a private investigator and have submitted their son for two lie detector tests, all to fight the charges.
John and Diana Madison say their 17-year-old son was the target of a conspiracy by at least some of the female cheerleaders who wanted him off the squad. Johnathan was the only male cheerleader on the team at the start of the school year.
Desalination losing its luster in utility's plans
PINELLAS PARK - Plans for a desalination plant in Pinellas Park aren't washed up, but they are ebbing a bit.
Construction on the Mid-Pinellas Brackish Water Desalination Plant now is projected to start in 2009, about five years later than originally planned.
Last month, Tampa Bay Water dropped the big news that desalination was no longer the wave of the future. Utility officials said problems with their new, $110-million desal plant in Apollo Beach prompted them to shelve plans for a similar plant on the Anclote River in Pinellas County and a pumping project in Hillsborough County.
Recently, a New York bankruptcy judge ordered Tampa Bay Water into mediation with the company building its Apollo Beach plant, denying the utility's bid to take control of it. Covanta Tampa Construction, which missed deadlines for completing the plant, filed for bankruptcy Oct. 29.
Investors plan to overhaul one of city's poorest areas
TAMPA - A group of private investors led by one-time Olympic promoter Ed Turanchik has unveiled an ambitious plan to transform one of the city's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods into an upscale community with parks and tree-lined sidewalks.
The project calls for re-engineering 157 acres of land in downtown now occupied by low-income apartments and the Central Park Village housing complex into a master-planned urban community where organizers say the rich and poor would live together.
Gone would be the concrete block housing projects, the seedy bars and the boarded-up vacant houses that make the Central Park area one of the city's most blighted spots.
In its place, developers would develop a project stretching from downtown to Ybor City with 3,500 upscale condos and townhouses, 1,000 low-cost units and 185,000 square feet of retail stores.
Turanchik's group claims to have backing from a list of wealthy investors and to own or have contracts pending on most of the land in the 157 acres.
Besides building homes, the project promises a social re-engineering of the economic order of downtown.
Depending on what happens, as many as 2,000 people could be moved to other parts of town. Or hundreds could begin life again in subsidized homes in an upscale neighborhood they could never have afforded.
But hurdles remain as some politicians, such as Mayor Pam Iorio, are wary and public housing advocates fear losing housing for the poor.
North Pinellas park lifts wetlands veil for paddlers
TARPON SPRINGS - For 47 years, the clear water and mangrove canopy at Fred H. Howard Park has been a sight the public has been banned from seeing.
But now the park has opened the first segment of a new kayaking and canoeing trail in these wetlands.
A 2-mile segment looping through the mangroves to St. Joseph's Sound and into Lake Avoca is open for the public.
The wetlands contain sea grass beds, mangrove estuaries and salt flats, where birds and fish live. With 2-million park visitors per year, providing access to pedestrians would have trampled the habitats.
But kayaking and canoeing are ideal, park supervisor Bob Zakrzewski said.
"They won't be walking on them. They'll be paddling through them," he said. "Plus kayakers are environmentalists. They pick up trash when they find it in the water and bring it back."
By August, the park plans to open an additional 10 miles of trail.
Library cards will hold more power for researchers
SEMINOLE - Last week, public library cards throughout Florida became passports to worlds of information.
The state has completed the first phase of a project that eventually will allow holders of public library cards to tap the resources of every public library, community college and university in the state.
The Florida Electronic Library, or www.flelibrary.org offers free access to databases that supply online magazines, newspapers, almanacs, encyclopedias, books, documents and one-on-one online help.
Phase 2 of the project, in midyear 2004, will be a virtual card catalog listing all the holdings of all public libraries throughout Florida and a digital collection of more than 1,000 photographs.
In brief . . .
- ST. PETERSBURG - The future of downtown auto racing is looking uncertain. The promoter and organizer for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg has pulled out, leaving it in the hands of a financially unstable company. That company, Championship Auto Racing Teams, might be bought out before the end of the year, but there's no guarantee the new organization will hold a race in St. Petersburg. "Our status right now is uncertain," said Tim Ramsberger, general manager of the Grand Prix. "We are hopeful we will remain involved in the race."
- ST. LEO - Gators, Seminoles and Rattlers: Make room for the Lions. Saint Leo University's specialty license plates are now available. With the lion mascot emblazoned in green and gold, the specialty tag is among more than 70 in Florida that include professional sports teams, nonprofit groups and schools. In addition to its Pasco County campus, Saint Leo University has 10 other locations in Florida.
- BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando County School Board narrowly and reluctantly agreed Tuesday to let the public hear a committee's deliberations on whether Deenie, a 30-year-old Judy Blume novel, belongs on elementary school shelves. But a majority made clear that they did not want such openness to occur again and a school district attorney to revise the board's rules. The St. Petersburg Times sued the School Board in October to prevent the committee assigned to consider Deenie from meeting privately as planned. Times attorney George Rahdert took particular exception to the position that the committee members would resign if their discussions were public. "It's ironic that the School Board believes that Government-in-the-Sunshine chills robust discussion about censoring books, when censorship itself is the most chilling detriment to First Amendment rights," he said.
Coming up this week
- A spending bill scheduled for a vote in Congress includes a number local goodies: $200,000 to improve Weeki Wachee Springs, $50-million to fix the Treasure Island Causeway and take out the toll booths, and a proposal to change the name of Bay Pines VA Medical Center to honor Rep. C.W. Bill Young's years of service. Considering most of the local funds are thanks to Young, who has brought more federal money to Florida since he became chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in 1999, the hospital renaming is a sure bet.
- Compiled by Times staff writer Sharon Kennedy Wynne.
