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Week in review

SUPER IN CARROLLWOOD: School superintendent MaryEllen Elia spent Monday evening at Ben Hill Middle School, getting an earful from parents concerned about school crowding.

By Times Staff Writer
Published October 2, 2005

Cindy Rodriguez of New Tampa wanted to know how variations on team teaching fulfilled the promise of smaller classes for her second-grader at Clark Elementary School. Kimberly King of Carrollwood demanded excellence of all teachers and asked Elia to do more to ensure that happens.

People spoke of the need for air-conditioned buses and the importance of higher impact fees for school construction. They called for less teaching to the state's standardized test, less paperwork for teachers and more textbooks for students to use.

Lisa Lawson of Carrollwood asked if rumors of possible double sessions were true. "I am hoping you will say it is something you would do only out of desperation," said Lawson, who has children at Hill and Essrig Elementary schools.

"It is not something we want to do," Elia responded, calling the idea poor educational practice. "But it is on the list because it is something we have to look at. Double sessions allow us to run double the number of students at a school."

She virtually promised major attendance zone changes to better equalize enrollments between the campuses with too many students and those with not enough. And she told the audience that all options, including double sessions, are on the table.

Elia plans to meet with the public six more times during the next two months. The next location is Armwood High School on Oct. 18, followed by Shields Middle School, Jefferson High School, Pierce Middle School, Plant City High School and Erwin Technical Center.

FIRE AT MOBILE HOME: Police say 18-year-old Brandon Gormley set fire Tuesday night to a north Tampa mobile home a few lots away from his own. Gormley was arrested at 11:45 p.m. in the mobile home park on one count of first-degree arson, a felony. The arrest came 31/2 hours after the fire at 10803 N Annette Ave., Lot 2. The fire injured no one but caused about $11,000 in damage.

Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Bill Wade said witnesses said they saw Gormley at the mobile home when the fire started. Gormley lives in a mobile home six lots away, according to jail records.

It was not clear how Gormley - listed in jail records as a kitchen employee at St. Joseph's Hospital - started the fire, Wade said.

Wade said the American Red Cross was helping the mobile home's two residents, 36-year-old David Coger and an unidentified companion, find temporary shelter.

PIZZA SHOOTING: A pizza delivery driver was the first to confront three armed men as they stood outside a Domino's Pizza with ski masks early Tuesday, but police say the final confrontation came when a longtime officer shot one of the young men in the arm after he refused to drop his gun.

Officer Billy Lamb, a 15-year Tampa Police veteran with a personnel file full of glowing evaluations, is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting by the State Attorney's Office and police officials, as is standard procedure.

The incident began shortly after midnight, when Domino's delivery driver J.D. Pugh III called 911 to say he saw three young men putting on ski masks outside the Domino's at 5011 W Hillsborough Ave. Pugh told dispatchers the trio left in a green Isuzu Rodeo after he asked them what they were doing.

Dispatchers sent out a description of the three and their vehicle. Lamb, in an unmarked car, spotted the 1996 Isuzu traveling north on Dale Mabry Highway near Spruce Street a few minutes later.

Lamb and other officers in unmarked cars followed the Isuzu as it turned east onto Palmetto Street, said Tampa Police spokesman Joe Durkin.

The Isuzu turned into a driveway off Palmetto just east of Gomez Avenue as the officers pulled up behind, according to a police report.

The Isuzu driver, 19-year-old Justin Lawrence Bellware, got out and pointed a .38-caliber gun at the officers, Durkin said. The officers were wearing vests marked "POLICE," and displayed their badges as they ordered Bellware to drop his gun.

When Bellware did not put his gun down, Lamb fired his AR-15 rifle. The round hit the frame of the Isuzu's driver side door before striking Bellware in his left forearm, Durkin said.

Rodolfo Cosme-Hernandez ran from the scene, but officers caught him two blocks away, Durkin said. They later found his semiautomatic gun tucked between the front seat and the console, Durkin said. William Alberto Velasquez-Obrer, 17, of 4501 Eden Rock Road, was arrested as he sat in the Isuzu.

All three later admitted to detectives that they had planned to rob the Domino's but backed out when Pugh confronted them, according to Durkin.

[Last modified October 1, 2005, 09:51:03]