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By Times staff writers
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 12, 2001
Blood bank warns supplies dangerously low
TAMPA -- With supplies running dangerously low, the people who provide blood to those in need are hoping visitors who come for the Super Bowl stay out of trouble.
"(They) will be coming to a place (that) can't take care of its own, let alone help other citizenry," said Brian Scully of Florida Blood Services. "We try to maintain a three-day blood supply of about 1,500 units," Scully said. "This morning, we had 301 units on the shelves."
Scully said the shortage was caused by a variety of factors, including snowbirds who often come here to have elective surgery.
ST. PETERSBURG -- Ten dancers were arrested on nudity charges at a St. Petersburg club Wednesday night, Pinellas Sheriff's deputies reported Thursday.
The arrests occurred at Tina's House of Angels, 3080 34th St. N.
"Alcohol was being served and body parts that should have been concealed were exposed," said sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha.
A countywide anti-nudity ordinance regulates clubs that serve alcohol.
Pasha said vice detectives went to Tina's House of Angels after detectives earlier arrested a dancer on unrelated charges and saw nudity inside.
The 10 dancers ranged in age from 19 to 49. Each was charged with nudity in an alcohol establishment, a misdemeanor, and was released on bail.
TAMPA -- A Pinellas sheriff's deputy has filed a federal lawsuit alleging she was passed over for promotion because of her gender.
Deputy Rachel Hughes said in the suit that she was ranked second among 126 candidates for promotion to sergeant in 1999.
Ten men and one other woman were promoted, the suit says.
Hughes joined the office in 1981 and claims she is qualified for the job. She accuses the Sheriff's Office of engaging in a pattern that prevents women from advancing and with failing to train them at the same level as men.
Hughes is asking to be named a sergeant retroactive to October 1999, making her eligible for back pay and benefits. She also wants monetary damages.
TAMPA -- One of the two men detectives say shot and killed a convenience store owner onNew Year's Eve is in jail, charged with first-degree murder.
But the other man they say is responsible for killing 40-year-old Sissay Dagnew Belete still is on the loose.
Thursday, deputies charged Jewel Atkins III, 20, of Tampa with first-degree murder and robbery in the shootings at the Rainbow Food Place on N 43rd Street almost two weeks ago. A 27-year-old employee, Bizuneh Bizuneh, also was shot in the hand during the robbery.
The shootings were captured by the store's surveillance camera. In the video, the face of one of the suspects is clearly visible as he leaves the store. But that man is not Atkins, said Col. David Gee of the Sheriff's Office.
Atkins was arrested Wednesday on the unrelated charge of violating his probation for a previous drug conviction. Gee said detectives were able to identify Atkins as a suspect in the shooting through "leads we received."
Gov. Jeb Bush has appointed five new members, including one from Tampa, to the Florida Board of Medicine, which disciplines doctors and sets standards for care and rules for physicians.
The board has 15 members -- 12 physicians and three consumer members -- appointed to three-year terms on a rotating basis. Each of the five appointees replace members whose terms expired. All must be confirmed by the state Senate.
They include Gilbert M. Rodriguez, 63, retired director of public safety for Hillsborough County, who succeeds Carolyn R. Pardue, a lobbyist from Tallahassee.
The other new appointees are:
Dr. Kriston J. Kent, 41, of Naples, a facial plastic surgeon, succeeding Dr. Abraham L. Woods.
Dr. Laurie K. Davies, 44, of Gainesville, an anesthesiologist, succeeding Dr. Georges A. El-Bahri, the former chairman who led the board's revamping of rules of office surgeries.
Dr. Peter Lamelas, 42, of Manalapan, emergency room physician, succeeding Dr. Louis C. Murray.
Monique W. Long, 31, of Apopka, a consultant, succeeding Cecile M. Scoon, an attorney.
TAMPA -- The owner of an east Tampa convenience store was in critical condition at Tampa General Hospital on Thursday night after being shot three times during a robbery.
Authorities said Fahed "Frank" Saleh, 38, was shot in his chest, shoulder and arm. He gave a description of his assailant as he was taken away by ambulance.
Saleh was alone inside the Amoco station at N 50th Street and E 30th Avenue about 9 p.m. when a black man in his 20s, about 5-foot-7 and with a slim build, walked into the store, said Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin. The man wore knee-length jean shorts and a blue and cream jacket and pulled a ski mask over his face. After demanding money, the man shot Saleh three times with a large-caliber semiautomatic handgun, Durkin said. He fled north on 50th Street in what other witnesses described as a dark-colored, possibly maroon Honda Accord.
It's the second shooting of a store clerk in the area in less than two weeks. Sissay Dagnew Belete was shot and killed on New Year's Eve behind the counter of a store on 43rd Street, just blocks away from Thursday night's shooting. One suspect in his killing was arrested Thursday. The other remains at large. Durkin said it was too soon to say whether police think the same man committed Thursday's robbery.
ST. PETERSBURG -- Several groups plan to protest the treatment of black voters at 5 p.m. today at the University of South Florida's St. Petersburg campus, coinciding with a visit by Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush is attending a fundraiser at USF for St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Rick Baker on Friday. The groups plan to protest at Sixth Avenue and Second Street S. Organizers say they are protesting the "disenfranchisement of the black vote" and appointments by Bush's brother, President-elect George W. Bush.
TAMPA -- It comes down to Vaseline.
That ingredient can be the difference between life and death to someone with a punctured lung, police say, because it helps bandages seal the wound.
And a Vaseline gauze bandage is the primary item in 1,500 trauma kits bought recently for the Tampa Police Department by donations from the Humana Foundation and St. Joseph's Hospital.
The purchase of the kits was coordinated by Friends of TPD, a non-profit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of police officers, because departments across the country have shown they save lives, said Dr. Linda McClintock-Greco, a driving force behind the project.
The combined donation of $25,000 paid for the kits, which include heavy-duty scissors, a pair of sterile gloves, trauma dressing, several sterile wraps, petroleum gauze and first aid tape.
So far, about 150 Tampa police officers have been trained in the use of the kits, said Tampa police Cpl. Jon Gamson, with the remaining 850 to undergo training within the next month.