CLEARWATER -- If the phone rings and someone asks if your water is running, it may not be teenagers playing a very old phone prank; it could be the city of Clearwater calling to nag.

In an unusual step, the city is making telephone calls to more than 70,000 Clearwater households to remind residents to conserve water and comply with lawn watering restrictions.

The calls, which are being made by the Clearwater Police Department's "auto-dialing" machine, come as Pinellas County commissioners are talking about higher water rates and outright bans on lawn watering and car washing if residents do not do more to conserve.

The six members of Tampa Bay Water -- Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties and the cities of New Port Richey, Tampa and St. Petersburg -- are under orders by regional water managers to step up their efforts to conserve water and enforce water restrictions or face a load of fines.

Port Richey will take another look at close election

PORT RICHEY -- A couple of Port Richey's elections last week were real squeakers, but only one will get a closer look, at least for now.

The city's Canvassing Board ordered a manual recount of the council election that ended Tuesday night after an automatic machine recount found Dale Massad and Bill Bennett with the same number of votes: 369.

But the board denied a request for a recount filed by Bob Leggiere, who lost to incumbent Eloise Taylor by nine votes, on a technicality that his claims of fraud sounded more like a challenge to the process than a recount request. He can still challenge the vote either to the Canvassing Board or in court.

Leggiere, in a letter to the board, said he thought voter fraud and 11 ballots that didn't register a vote for mayor were the cause of his defeat.

Reminiscent of Florida's presidential election mess, Leggiere said the 11 "under-votes" may have been caused by the paper remnants of the punch card ballots, called "chad."

"Our friend "CHAD' is up to his old tricks again," Leggiere wrote.

Landowner joins debate over manatee preserve

CRYSTAL RIVER -- The pristine waters of Three Sisters Spring are popular with divers hoping for a close look at manatees.

And that helps the manatee tour business, a major eco-tourism draw for Citrus County.

But some environmentalists are pushing for a larger sanctuary, at least during the winter, which could limit access to a popular destination for divers. The debate has been waged in and out of court for years and now the controversy appears headed for another round.

Harvey Goodman, the owner of the property surrounding the spring, has asked the Save the Manatee Club to work to expand the manatee sanctuary near the spring.

Goodman, who could not be reached for comment, filed a $1-million lawsuit against Crystal River in the 1980s for refusing to arrest people he said were trespassing in the spring. A U.S. district judge ruled against him, saying the spring is federal property.

Now Goodman may try to use a proposed settlement to limit his planned bottling operation there as leverage to expand the sanctuary.

Soda contract put some fizz in school budgets

BROOKSVILLE -- In the two years since Coca-Cola became their exclusive soft drink provider, Hernando County schools have been compensated with about $450,000 in cash, athletic equipment and assorted goodies.

The revenue isn't quite as high as was predicted when the School Board made a "pouring rights" deal in 1999 with the Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Co. It was expected to generate $1.4-million over five years. Now, it's on pace to produce about $1.1-million -- still a welcome bit of cash.

But recently, the Coca-Cola Co. announced it wants to tone down marketing in schools and see its bottlers move away from such exclusive contracts. The proclamation came in response to lingering criticism of Coke for making its non-nutritious drinks -- and its advertising -- pervasive on campuses.

The Florida Coca-Coca Bottling Co., which bought the rights to distribute Coke across the state, said it will honor its exclusivity deals, but the company is considering new fronts for vending machines to tone down the advertising and logos.

Around the bay area, Pasco schools have an agreement with Pepsi, and Hillsborough and Pinellas have considered soda deals.

Tarpon tells voyeur Web business to close

TARPON SPRINGS -- Can a business exist in cyberspace and also can be located in, say, a waterfront home in Tarpon Springs?

The city's Code Enforcement Board doesn't think so and decided that the nude voyeur Web site ucanwatch.com does operate, at least in part, out of a Tarpon Springs home and is therefore in violation of several city ordinances. If it doesn't stop, the owners could face fines of $800 a day.

Ucanwatch.com attorney Steve Bartlett argued that the company's computer server is in Tampa, and the information is sent to a world of subscribers through the Internet. He said the business is located on the Internet, not in Tarpon Springs.

"Who knows where cyberspace is located?" Bartlett said.

Ucanwatch.com manager and registered agent Michael Schriver, whose company leased the house in May, said the company will appeal in circuit court. In the meantime, he said, he will not do anything differently.

New players help reach settlement with Bayfront

ST. PETERSBURG -- Ten days after a new mayor and four new City Council members were sworn in, the city of St. Petersburg settled a long-running dispute with Bayfront Medical Center over the hospital adhering to some Catholic doctrine.

The City Council on Tuesday voted to settle its lawsuit against Bayfront, ending more than a year of closed-door negotiations, political posturing and high-priced lawyering.

The final settlement differs little from offers Bayfront had made since ending its controversial relationship with the BayCare hospital alliance over the group's Catholic requirements.

But with new players at the table, the matter seemed to be one everyone wanted settled.

"I did want to resolve it, and I know the council did, too," Mayor Rick Baker said.

Coming up this week

A right-to-die case that has drawn national publicity is coming to a head this week week. Michael Schiavo has court permission to remove his wife's feeding tube Friday despite her parents' objections because of evidence presented that she would not want her life extended by life support. Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage 11 years ago. On Thursday, her parents asked the Florida Supreme Court to postpone the date her tube can be removed.

Port Richey's city council race will be recounted by hand Wednesday in Dade City, and a challenge to the mayor's race may be coming. The race between Dale Massad and Bill Bennett ended Tuesday night with a tie after election workers automatically recounted the first vote, which showed Massad winning by one vote. And in the mayor's race Eloise Taylor barely defeated Bob Leggiere in Tuesday's municipal election, squeaking by with a nine-vote victory.

As more local governments increase the pressure on residents to conserve water, Pasco County commissioners on Tuesday will consider a law banning weekend car washing. Homeowners would have to wait until their legal water day to wash the car.

- Compiled by Times staff writer Sharon Kennedy Wynne

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