Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Week in Review

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 31, 2006

TEMPLE TERRACE YOUTH COACH ARRESTED: When Hillsborough County workers examined Lee Arthur Chavis' criminal background, they denied his request to coach youth football. Chavis, a 31-year-old Thonotosassa man with seven arrests, asked them to reconsider, pleading his case to an appeals committee. Leaders of the Temple Terrace Youth Sports Association decided to give him a chance - and a head coaching position.

Then, on Dec. 21, Chavis was arrested for the eighth time, accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl he met through a phone chat service, said St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa.

Chavis was booked into the Pinellas County jail on a charge of lewd and lascivious molestation, state records show, and released the same day on $25,000 bail.

Chavis began coaching two years ago, said Ricky Hayhurst, president of the Temple Terrace Youth Sports Association. In 2006, he was head coach of the Jaguars, a team of 7- and 8-year-old boys who included his son.

The county's Parks and Recreation Department annually checks criminal backgrounds for coaches, said David Fountain, the department's human services manager, who asked that Chavis be disqualified.

Chavis has been arrested seven previous times in Florida since 1998, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Charges include aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, grand theft and traffic offenses, records show. He has not been convicted on any of the charges and, in an interview, chalked the arrests up to a series of bad circumstances. The pregnant woman who accused him of battery was a spurned ex-girlfriend, he said.

As for the latest allegation? Chavis says he met the girl through a chat line and broke off all contact when he met her in person and realized she was a minor.

Chavis, who is married to the mother of his fourth child and lives in Thonotosassa, is no longer coaching and said he doubts he'll be able to do so again.

BICYCLIST KILLED NEAR GRAND HAMPTON: Early each morning, retired chiropractor Ralph Greenwasser Jr. rode his bicycle near his home on the Hillsborough-Pasco border.

But Thursday morning, police say, a car going the wrong way in a turn lane hit his bike, tossing him into the path of another vehicle, which also struck him. He died at the scene.

"He was very athletic, and he enjoyed riding his bike," said Aven Nichols, a friend.

Just before 7 a.m., Leann Analco, 29, was headed east on County Line Road when she drove into a westbound turn lane at Bruce B. Downs, striking Greenwasser's bike head-on, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. The impact sent Greenwasser, 50, into the westbound lane, where he was hit by another vehicle.

Analco was cited with improper passing, police say, but not criminally charged.

The crash happened near Grand Hampton subdivision, where Greenwasser lived.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 21:06:31]