INVERNESS - You can lead whooping cranes to a custom-made roosting site, but you can't make them stay.
Humans had the birds' best interests in mind when they selected Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge as the winter nesting site for an experimental flock of migratory whooping cranes. They picked it for its similarity to a Texas salt marsh where the only flock of the wild migrating birds winters.
But three years into the experiment, with 20 born-in-captivity whoopers now migrating on their own and another 16 in training, wildlife organizations are now keenly aware of some differences between the Texas and Florida roosting sites: At Chassahowitzka, the tides can change water levels in the middle of the night, leaving areas of the marsh unfit for roosting.
The only fresh water is supplied by workers helping the cranes.
So of the 20 birds that learned the migratory path to Chassahowitzka behind human-piloted ultralight aircrafts in 2001 and 2002, 16 are roosting outside of Citrus County. One is unaccounted for, and three are still hanging around the pen designed for the 16 young cranes that arrived in December
The rest are roosting on cattle ranches in Pasco, Sumter or Suwannee counties, on a University of Florida field in Alachua County, or wetlands in Lake and Madison counties. The wanderlust is perfectly fine with the wildlife biologists who track the cranes, who say the Chassahowitzka site helped train the cranes in what they should seek in a home of their own.
Cecelia Lockwood, a computer teacher at a Gainesville elementary school, noticed one of the whoopers on Jan. 3 at a University of Florida Animal Science field. Since then, it has virtually become a local celebrity, a must-see for the Gainesville birding community.
Rebel flags raise a stir at two schools
While a Tarpon Springs teenager returned from suspension for protesting Confederate flags, tensions erupted at Hudson High School in Pasco County where students hoisted a rebel flag on the school's pole.
By lunch, a Hudson assistant principal had to step between an 15-year-old black girl and a white boy who principal Greg Wright said used profanity and racial slurs in answer to her questions of who had raised the flag.
Before the end of the day, four white students had been suspended for the flag-rasing - two sophomores, one freshman and a Hudson Middle School eighth-grader. School officials are seeking expulsion, at least against the high schoolers.
By Thursday, Confederate flags were banned from the school's dress code.
Earlier in the week, Tarpon Springs junior Krista Abram returned from a three-day suspension for circulating an unauthorized petition calling for a ban on student displays of the Confederate flag in school.
The controversy sparked discussion at the school, but the school district has never issued a specific ban on displaying the Confederate flag or any other symbols.
Soda deal put on hold as nutrition questioned
BROOKSVILLE - Five years ago, Hernando County school officials focused on the money when awarding Coca-Cola the exclusive right to sell soft drinks in the district.
But when the time came Tuesday night for the School Board to renew the arrangement for another five years, board members hesitated. And cash was not the reason.
"What I am concerned about is there is increasing focus across the country about what it is that kids consume," said vice chairman Jim Malcolm, who persuaded his colleagues to delay a vote on the contract for the second time in a month.
Coke committed in its cover letter to provide a healthy choice program, reducing the amount of sodas on campus in favor of the juices and water it sells. Malcolm, however, said the packet detailing the terms suggested "quite the opposite," with several references to a campaign to heavily sell all of its products.
With pediatricians urging schools to stop allowing vending machines in cafeterias or even sell soft drinks at school, some districts have to weigh health risks with the need for cash the soda companies can supply.
In Pasco County, high school officials are deciding whether to drop a ban on morning soda sales.
Last year, Hillsborough County entered a 12-year, $50-million exclusivity deal with Pepsi.
Fatal accident will mean changes for popular road
TAMPA - Today, a driver can cruise along Bayshore Boulevard for 9 miles without tapping the brakes.
But that could change.
A day after 39-year-old Melissa McKenzie died on Bayshore, struck by a motorcycle during her morning run, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio created a task force to improve safety on Tampa's grand boulevard. And she talked tough about making cars slow down.
Iorio said the city needs to physically change Bayshore Boulevard. And that could mean building walkways where people cross. Or adding traffic lights, or changing the landscaping.
"It just needs to be done," Iorio said.
For second time, Clearwater bridge section droops
CLEARWATER - In an eerie moment of deja vu, contractors discovered early Wednesday that a section of the new Memorial Causeway Bridge had fallen roughly 7 inches overnight.
It is the second time in 14 months that a construction mishap has threatened to delay the $69.3-million project, planned as a city showpiece and set to open to traffic this spring. In December 2002, an 80-foot section of the bridge sank a foot and twisted, forcing crews to demolish it and rebuild.
The main question is whether the road is structurally sound enough to remain in place.
So far, the damage looks minimal, according to city Public Services director Gary Johnson. He said engineers have determined that the structure is stable and are examining what might have caused the problem.
Engineers from the state Department of Transportation checked the site and must approve whatever fix the contractor proposes, Johnson said.
In short ...
SEMINOLE - The case of a mom who was told to stop babysitting for her friends by child care investigators is getting a closer look after Pinellas County authorities learned that Laurie McPherson advertised for $15-per-day child care. After being told last fall that she needed to have a license to watch children, she protested, saying she didn't get paid for taking care of as many as seven children between the ages of 1 and 4. "We're just moms helping moms," she said.
Deputies reversed their union vote in Pasco County. Weeks after Pasco sheriff's law enforcement deputies and detention deputies voted nearly 2 to 1 in favor of joining a union, both groups have voted no-union in a runoff. Representatives from two unions on Tuesday blamed the change of heart on what they said were Sheriff Bob White's continued efforts to lobby his deputies against the idea.
- Compiled by Times staff writer Sharon Kennedy Wynne
