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Week in review

By Times Staff Writer
Published August 21, 2005

"BODIES" OPENS AMID CONTROVERSY: No one at the Museum of Science and Industry on Thursday could deny the captivating power of the human body. It made a family of five get up at 6 a.m. to drive from Brooksville to Tampa for an exhibit that didn't open until 9 a.m. It caused a registered nurse fresh off a 12-hour shift to head straight to the museum, still in his scrubs with a stethoscope around his neck. It prompted a middle school science teacher to call in a substitute for the morning and drive from St. Petersburg with her 11-year-old son to be one of the first to see "Bodies, the Exhibition."

Many in the first-day crowd of 1,391 rushed to see the exhibit of preserved, posed cadavers for fear the state would shut it down. Turns out, they need not have worried.

The state Anatomical Board, which by law regulates bodies used for medical research and education, voted Wednesday not to approve the exhibit. MOSI responded hours later by moving the show's opening up two days, to Thursday morning.

On Thursday afternoon, the board gave up. It issued a statement saying it wouldn't interfere with the display.

The crowd was nearly three times the 500 MOSI would draw on a typical day. The museum's record paid attendance was 3,000 during the Titanic exhibit, arranged by Premier Exhibitions of Atlanta, the promoters of "Bodies."

SCHOOL ON ICE IN HIGHLAND PARK: The Hillsborough County School District's plan for a much-needed school in Keystone's Highland Park appears dead, the victim of a disagreement with a developer. Bill Bishop had planned to donate land for the elementary school, but he wanted a small school - no more than 650 students - made of brick and other materials he considered high-end. School officials said his vision is about $2-million too expensive.

"Without the affirmative support of the School Board, the zoning application has been withdrawn and the project abandoned," Bishop said in a written message posted on his Highland Park subdivision's Web site.

School officials knew the negotiations for the site, on Race Track Road south of S Mobley Road, were tenuous. But "we're still amenable to working on it with them," facilities chief Cathy Valdes she said. The upshot is that nearby schools won't soon see relief to crowding. Bryant Elementary, about 2 miles south of the site, was at 145 percent of capacity shortly after classes began. Nearby Westchase Elementary was at 120 percent of capacity. Both have more than 1,000 students, as do Crestwood and McKitrick elementaries.

MACHETE ATTACK: A 28-year-old North Tampa man was jailed late Sunday on one count of attempted first-degree murder after sheriff's detectives say he attacked his friend in the head with a machete . Investigators booked Mairol S. Lopez, 11720 N 14th St., into the Orient Road Jail before 9 p.m., after questioning him about the attack on Jose Hernandez, 44, of 11732 Lexington Court.

Hernandez told detectives that Lopez knocked on his door at 2:40 p.m. Sunday and, holding the machete, asked Hernandez about the whereabouts of a friend. Hernandez turned to call 911 for help when he saw the machete. Lopez moved in on Hernandez, hitting him in the back of the head with the machete, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said .

Hernandez was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital for surgery.

[Last modified August 19, 2005, 19:42:02]