CLEARWATER -- The business of getting around is a hot topic, as officials ponder major work on teeming U.S. 19, whether to keep St. Petersburg's venerable Albert Whitted Municipal Airport and what should be done with the troubled roundabout at the entry to Clearwater Beach.

More than $175-million in improvements are slated for the North Pinellas part of U.S. 19, beginning in the fall with a $68-million overpass at Drew Street.

Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, a discussion of spending millions on runways and other parts of the city's airport renewed the debate over whether it should exist at all.

On one side is a group of neighborhood associations that want a study on the best use of the 100 acres. In their corner is an architect who has in hand a plan for condominiums, townhomes, dormitories, research and development labs and a park on the property, which is base to about 175 owners of private airplanes.

On the other side is Ruth K. Varn, chairwoman of the airport advisory committee. She says Albert Whitted, a reliever airport for St. Petersburg-Clearwater International, supported a combined 100,408 landings and takeoffs in 2000 and was named by an aviation-business lobby as one of the nation's 100 "most needed" public-use airports.

In Clearwater, nine months of talk has produced a task force recommendation against the city spending up to $1.5-million to modify the accident-prone Clearwater Beach roundabout, as a traffic consultant suggested last summer.

That leaves the issue with the City Commission, which is expected to take it up late this month.

Water conservation success varies by area

ST. PETERSBURG -- In the region's battle to conserve water, some people are doing a better job than others, it appears.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud, ordered its member governments to cut their water use by 5 percent, compared with the same period last year.

When the tallies came in, St. Petersburg, Pasco County and New Port Richey had made that cut easily, and Tampa hovered at 5 percent. Pinellas County was given credit for effort by cutting 4.6 percent, thereby likely avoiding fines of up to $10,000 a day.

Only Hillsborough County didn't come close. It cut its water use by 1.7 percent in May and increased it by 1.3 percent in June.

Swiftmud is working with Hillsborough to figure out what happened and what to do about it. Among the possible penalties is a suspension of Swiftmud funds for cooperative projects with the county, such as educating schoolchildren about water conservation and restoring Hillsborough River wetlands.

To the north, Citrus County appears to have adopted a laid-back attitude about water conservation. City and county governments have pretty much ignored citing people who violate Swiftmud's emergency water restrictions.

This year, Crystal River has handed out six water citations, carrying fines of $50 to $100, and one offender actually paid, making the city's enforcement record the county's best.

Records show that neither the Citrus County Sheriff's Office nor the Inverness Police Department had handed out warnings or citations to residents who watered on off days.

Law enforcement officials say watering citations are a low priority.

In Largo, the Police Department decided not to give itself a $33 fine last week for overwatering caused by a faulty timer on its flower bed sprinkler.

[Times photo: Kevin White]
Down at the Blowout: Bull rider Johnny Josey of Dothan, Ala., is about to hit the dirt only moments after leaving the chute while riding a bull at the annual Independence Day Bullriding Blowout Sunday at the Hernando County Fairgrounds.

Scientology work could go off-limits to off-duty police

CLEARWATER -- City officials are leaning toward ending the off-duty shifts that police officers there have been working for the Church of Scientology along Watterson Avenue.

The arrangement caused one Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge to warn that officers were dangerously close to becoming a private security force for the church.

The Lisa McPherson Trust, a group critical of the church, has accused police officers of becoming biased as a result of the relationship.

The church has paid off-duty officers more than $150,000 since January 2000 for security daily on Watterson, city records show.

Although there are no immediate plans to remove the officers, interim City Manager Bill Horne said he supports Police Chief Sid Klein in trying to find other ways to keep the peace downtown.

Deadly virus attacking stray cats in Pinellas

CLEARWATER -- Dozens of stray cats across Pinellas County have died in recent weeks from a virus so virulent it can kill a kitten overnight.

The killer is feline distemper, which can be prevented in pets with a vaccination, but among stray cats and those confined in shelters, it is lethal.

No cases were reported in June at Pasco County Animal Services.

This is the first widespread outbreak of the disease in Pinellas for five or six years, possibly longer, shelter officials said.

Shelter officials urge cat owners to check their pets' vaccinations, keep them away from strays and vaccinate kittens before bringing them to a shelter.

Tennis stadium looks good to Pasco consultant

WESLEY CHAPEL -- Bolstering support for a multimillion-dollar tennis stadium in Wesley Chapel, a long-awaited consultant's study ranks a 5,000- to 7,000-seat arena well ahead of four other proposed uses for county tourist tax money.

Pasco commissioners could vote this summer on whether to spend more than $5-million on the tentatively named Pasco National Tennis Center.

It not only emerged in the consultant's report as one of the cheapest of the considered projects -- $5-million to $10-million -- but Saddlebrook Resort has promised to assume any operating losses from an arena.

Saddlebrook owner Tom Dempsey has assured the county that a tennis stadium, wedded to the clout his resort has earned from the tennis world, would likely attract major televised tennis tournaments.

Saddlebrook's status grew further last week with the announcement that the Women's Tennis Association, which governs the women's professional tour, will move its headquarters to the resort.

In short

BROOKSVILLE -- Hernando County School Superintendent John Sanders has been chosen as one of two finalists for the superintendent's job in Lee County. Lee County is expected to make its final decision by mid-July.

BROOKSVILLE -- Republican state Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite, who is being forced from that office by term limits, has opened a campaign for a seat in the U.S. House. Brown-Waite, 57, expects to run for the 5th District post against incumbent Karen Thurman, D-Dunnellon.

ST. PETERSBURG -- One hundred and six people have applied to replace police Chief Goliath Davis III. Among the names on that list are a man who once held the job, several ranking department officers and Clyde "Billy Bob" Cooney, assistant director of executions for Texas prisons. Officials expect to whittle the list down to three to five names on Wednesday.

BELLEAIR BEACH -- This Pinellas city has proposed raising its tax rate 32 percent in the upcoming budget. "Yikes, that scares the dickens out of me," said Tom Ferrara, who cast the only vote against the proposed tax rate.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge David A. Demers has taken the reins of the court as the judicial circuit's new chief judge. Demers is considered an an expert on DUI law.

Thonotosassa rancher Robert Thomas recently won the approval to pump 30,000 gallons a day more water from his Two Rivers Ranch for Zephyrhills Spring Water Co., far less than he has requested. Thomas must replace every gallon he takes out of the springs with an equal amount of comparable water from outside the Hillsborough River basin.

The Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Aug. 29 on another appeal from three Pinellas County constitutional officers who are trying to overturn term limits. In November 1996, 72 percent of Pinellas voters approved limiting the sheriff, clerk of court, tax collector, property appraiser and elections supervisor to two consecutive four-year terms. Three lower courts have upheld the ruling, but the tax collector, sheriff and court clerk appealed to the Supreme Court.

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