Bill safeguards revenue of Tampa 2012 Olympics

By Times staff writers

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 10, 2000

A bill that guarantees the United States Olympic Committee against losses if Tampa hosts the Olympic Games in 2012 has passed the state Legislature and awaits Gov. Jeb Bush's signature.

Florida 2012, the private organization trying to bring the Olympics to Tampa, would have to pay the first $25-million in losses under provisions of the bill. State taxpayers would pick up losses that exceed $25-million, up to a maximum of $175-million.

Bush spokesman Justin Sayfie said the governor knows of the bill but has not had a chance to review it.

"When it gets to him, he'll take a close look at it," Sayfie said. "It's hard to say when it'll reach his desk."

Tampa is one of seven metro areas competing to host the Olympics in 2012. The USOC requires each to cover potential losses.

Florida 2012's bid to the USOC is due Dec. 15.

Man held in long string of armed robberies

TAMPA -- Police have a arrested a man they suspect of robbing more than a dozen convenience stores and liquor stores in the past two weeks.

Felipe M. Hernandez, 29, is charged with six counts of armed robbery and is expected to face 10 more counts, Tampa police Capt. John E. Garcia said.

Garcia said Hernandez used a handgun and robbed one store in Temple Terrace, nine in Tampa and six in unincorporated Hillsborough County since April 27.

Hernandez, whose last known address is on Windsor Way in Tampa, was taken to the Orient Road Jail, where he was held Tuesday in lieu of $150,000 bail.

He was arrested Monday night when police saw him driving a car fitting the description of one used in the robberies, Garcia said.

Woman run over by bus dies of the injuries

A Clearwater woman whose arm was amputated after she fell under a bus last week has died.

Ruth Martens, 57, of 123 S McMullen Booth Road, died Monday night, authorities said. She was injured Thursday in a freak accident involving a Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus at Clearwater Mall.

Police Sgt. Doug Griffith said Martens tried to catch the bus as it was moving.

"She was trying to knock on the side of the bus," Griffith said. "She tripped or slipped and fell. The bus ran over her."

Griffith said the driver was not cited, but the investigation is continuing.

Tampa wins an appeal in closing of strip club

TAMPA -- Tampa has won an appeal of a judge's ruling to shut down a Ybor City strip club, a decision that city attorneys say could speed efforts to close other adult clubs that violate zoning laws.

A panel of 2nd District Court of Appeal judges on Friday upheld Hillsborough Circuit Judge James S. Moody's order last year to temporarily close Club Flamingo.

Owner Joe Redner, then a City Council candidate, chose to drop nude dancing there rather than risk a contempt of court charge. He turned Club Flamingo into NRG, another dance-and-booze club on Ybor's Seventh Avenue party strip.

Moffitt cancer center is sued by widow

TAMPA -- The widow of a WFLA-TV photographer filed suit Tuesday against H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, claiming negligence led to the death of her husband after surgery in 1998.

Bruce Breslow died four days after surgery for cancer of the tonsils. The lawsuit charges that doctors failed to properly monitor Breslow, 47, following surgery and failed to detect a heart attack he apparently suffered after his operation.

The lawsuit was filed by Breslow's 43-year-old widow, Brenda Breslow, as representative of his estate. Breslow is also survived by their two teenagers.

"We never had clear answers about what happened," Brenda Breslow said Tuesday. "We were told something had happened very suddenly. . . . It's been a horrible loss."

A spokesman for Moffitt declined to comment on the lawsuit.

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