Digest

Around the bay

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 18, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY

Feeding strays may soon be illegal 

The days of tossing out bread crumbs for the ducks or setting out a saucer of milk for that stray cat might be coming to a close.

The City Council got its first glimpse Tuesday evening of a proposed animal control ordinance that would, among other things, make it illegal to feed stray or wild animals. That includes foxes, opossums and raccoons - as well as neighborhood ducks and stray dogs and cats.

The measure also would require residents to call authorities within 48 hours of taking in a stray.

The new rules would help control flocks of stray animals - especially cats - that have been gathering in certain areas where residents feed them, said chief code enforcement officer Michael Nastasuk. He said the Jasmine Heights area has been particularly problematic.

The ordinance will return to the council Aug. 7 for a second hearing and a vote.

Council members want to strike the current rule allowing only three pets per household but requested no changes to the proposed feeding ban.

The proposal drew mixed reactions at the City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Suellen Szesyski, president of the Humane Society of Pasco County, argued that it would be inhumane to not feed a hungry animal.

"If I look out my door and see a hungry cat, I'm going to feed it," she told council members.

TAMPA

Winning essay shares Holocaust legacy

Bianca Rosen Siegel's grandmother survived Auschwitz.

Siegel heard her stories and even retraced her footsteps along the death march in Poland.

"My grandmother's voice was silenced when I was only 10, but I will continue her story for years to come," Siegel wrote in an essay that won the Holocaust Remembrance Project essay contest.

The Chamberlain High School junior is one of 10 winning high school students spending the week with 12 Holocaust survivors and educators on an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C.

The students' winning essays were chosen from more than 4,100 entries nationwide.

WESLEY CHAPEL

Close vote approves Wiregrass Ranch

Pasco County commissioners narrowly voted Tuesday to approve the biggest development in Pasco's history.

Wiregrass Ranch won the 3-2 vote after six months of wrangling with the county staff, mainly over a compromise on the county's road-building policy.

Tuesday's decision at the County Commission meeting paves the way for 12,500 homes and 4-million square feet of stores and offices, including the $105-million Shops at Wiregrass mall, to be built on 5,000 acres of pasture at Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and State Road 56.

The developer also will extend State Road 56 east to join Meadow Pointe Boulevard. The project still needs state approval, but should start by January 2008.

LARGO

Clearwater-Largo Road traps 105 speeders

Perhaps they really didn't see the orange flags and giant signs displaying the new 30 mph speed limit along Clearwater-Largo Road.

All excuses aside, the Largo Police Department issued 105 speeding tickets last week.

"One hundred and five is a lot of citations for that roadway," said Sgt. George Edmiston of the department's traffic enforcement division. "For the most part, the people were aware that it was 30 mph but just weren't paying attention."

After dishing out warnings for three weeks, police began heavily enforcing the 2-mile stretch between Belleair Road and West Bay Drive on July 9.

Those caught speeding were doing at least 12 miles over the limit, Edmiston said, which would be at least a $160.50 ticket.

WESLEY CHAPEL

Sierra Club vows to sue over mall plans

The Sierra Club gave notice to the Army Corps of Engineers Tuesday that it would sue within 60 days if the corps does not revoke or suspend its permit for Cypress Creek Town Center.

May 15, the corps gave the green light for developers of the 1-million-square-foot mall to fill 56 acres of wetlands.

Environmentalists have sought since then to roll back the decision, and they want the developer, the Richard E. Jacobs Group, to build more parking garages.

The Jacobs Group has said it plans a 2,000-space multistory garage in later development phases, but it declined to further change its site plans, citing consumer preferences.

Barry Vorse, the corps' spokesman, said the federal regulators have not seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.

TAMPA

Two hospitals ranked by news magazine

Two Tampa hospitals had a total of seven departments place among the nation's 50 best in the U.S. News & World Report's 2007 rankings.

Four medical specialties at Tampa General Hospital - gynecology, kidney disease, urology and ear, nose and throat - made the list for the first time. A fifth, orthopedics, appeared for the third year in a row.

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute made the cancer list for the ninth consecutive year, and its ear, nose and throat department made the list for the first time.

Tampa General vice president Deana Nelson called the rankings, released Friday, a "big morale booster."

It can also affect a hospital's income, she added, because Medicare and insurance companies "are moving toward systems where they can quantify quality and pay accordingly."

TGH's gynecology and obstetrics department made a particularly big leap. Not ranked in the top 100 in 2006, it broke into this year's list at No. 25, said Dr. James Mayer, chief of the department.

CLEARWATER

City Council to spare recreation centers

Clearwater officials have granted three key recreation centers and a small library branch a yearlong reprieve from the chopping block.

The downside: Property owners won't see nearly as big a property tax break as a result.

The City Council on Monday tentatively set aside $1.25-million to keep open the centers in Morningside, North Greenwood and the beach. Council members also agreed to save the beach library by consolidating it with the nearby beach recreation center.

Their decision saves 24 jobs.

[Last modified July 18, 2007, 02:15:07]