Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Emergency manager in critical condition

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 17, 2007

CLEARWATER

Three days after being seriously injured in a car crash, Pinellas County Emergency Management director Gary Vickers was in critical condition Friday at Bayfront Medical Center.

Vickers, 53, was driving north on Countryside Boulevard about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday when he lost control on the wet road and hit a tree near State Road 580 in Clearwater.

Vickers suffered a fractured neck, broken sternum and clavicle and a bruised heart.

He was taken to Bayfront and was in critical condition. By Wednesday, Vickers had been upgraded to serious but was again in critical condition Friday.

County Administrator Steve Spratt said he believes Vickers will recover and that his life is not in danger, but that his condition first must stabilize.

Fun and games? Or casino gambling?

The Diamond Dust Game Room thought it had solved its legal problems in October when it reopened with a new style of video slot machines.

But this week, after a series of visits from investigators, the State Attorney's Office sent a letter to the game room's owner saying that the business constituted illegal gambling.

The penny-slot parlor temporarily closed this week.

At issue is whether the game rooms, with cheap video slots that appeal to the elderly, are more akin to casinos or amusement centers.

Commission loser files yet another appeal

Ousted Hernando County Commissioner Hannah "Nancy" Robinson and political gadfly Janey Baldwin appealed a judge's ruling that gave Rocco the disputed District 2 seat. Robinson contended Rocco wasn't entitled to hold office because she didn't live in the Spring Hill district Election Day.

Baldwin joined Robinson's suit as a "plaintiff intervenor."

"She can appeal all she wants," said Rocco, seeming disgusted. "The citizens spoke. I won. I think she needs to move on."

Rescued manatee dies after falling ill at zoo

Willoughby, one of two female manatees sent to the Columbus Zoo from the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in October 2005, has died.

Zoo officials could not immediately determine the cause of death, although she had been ill since fall.

Willoughby, thought to be about 15, was originally rescued in the St. Lucie River in 1995 after she was struck by a boat. She was moved to Homosassa Springs in 1996. She was chosen to go to the Columbus Zoo with another Homosassa manatee, Holly, to take part in research on the virus that the Homosassa and other captive manatees have been diagnosed to carry.

Art Yerian, manager at the Homosassa park, said the death came as a surprise. "Sometimes things happen," Yerian said. "I'm sure they had people around the clock taking care of the manatee."

[Last modified February 17, 2007, 02:18:43]