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Letter to the editor

Week in review

By Times Staff
Published May 1, 2005

MAN SHOOTS DOG: A Tampa Palms man shot his dog Tuesday morning after the 60-pound animal turned mean during a playful romp and started biting the man on his face and upper torso, police said.

Jeremy Darrington, 26, who lives in the Camden Live Oak apartments, was playing with the mixed-breed dog shortly before 3 a.m. when the dog got worked up and turned aggressive, according to a Tampa police report.

When Darrington adopted the dog from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay a year ago, workers there warned him the dog could be aggressive, police said. But Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said Tuesday was the first time the dog turned on its owner.

"He's fortunate he was not more seriously injured," Durkin said. "That was a big dog that turned vicious on him."

The dog bit Darrington over and over, prompting Darrington to yell to his girlfriend for help.

She got a .38-caliber handgun they keep inside the apartment and gave it to Darrington.

He shot the dog once, killing it.

Tampa police investigators concluded the gun is lawfully owned and that the shooting was justified. Darrington was treated for his wounds, police said.

ALZHEIMER'S CENTER LOSES GUARANTEED MONEY: A deal between the House and Senate will let the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center & Research Institute keep its name. But the center, near the University of South Florida, will lose its annual guarantee of $15-million in state funds.

A Senate panel voted last month to rename the center after former President Ronald Reagan, who died in June of complications from the disease.

The center originally was named after the father of former House Speaker Johnnie B. Byrd Jr., who also died of the disease. In removing the Byrd name, the panel said Byrd Jr.'s controversial reign as speaker from 2002 through 2004 could have a negative impact on the center. Building the center was one of Byrd's top priorities as speaker.

But even more troublesome to the Senate panel was the law that guaranteed the center $15-million in public money each year. It voted to gut the financing.

The renaming bill came before the entire Senate on Wednesday. When senators said they liked the Reagan name, bill sponsor Sen. Burt Saunders said letting the center keep the Byrd name was the only way the House would agree to repeal the $15-million provision. The center will get $15-million next year in the budget, Saunders said, but will then have to ask for the money like everyone else.

"I agree ... the name Ronald Reagan would engender more support," said Saunders, R-Naples. "But there is an agreement with the House."

Both the Senate and House still must take a final vote on the measure.

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 04:00:06]