Brandie Anthony, 22, of 3424 W Lambright St., was not injured during the home invasion at 10:15 p.m. But her 7-year-old dog, Cid, took at least one shot to the left shoulder, said sheriff's spokesman Rod Reder. Severely wounded and facing amputation of a leg, the dog was destroyed. The two male invaders carried semiautomatic weapons, Reder said. One pointed his weapon at Anthony while demanding to see a former tenant. The dog jumped at them. The two fled after shooting the dog. Witnesses could provide only sketchy information about the men, who left in a white sedan.

Bank apologizes to sheriff for tax error

LARGO -- Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice's taxes went unpaid because of a bank error, the bank said in an letter of apology to Rice this week.

Rice didn't know until last week, when the Times wrote about his taxes, that his escrow account hadn't paid $2,853.49 owed on his waterfront property on Treasure Island.

Rice said neither the bank nor the tax collector's office sent him a bill.

Bank of America paid taxes on two of Rice's three parcels but mistakenly dropped the third one from Rice's escrow account, a customer service representative said.

The bank said it released $2,405.24 from Rice's escrow account July 13 to pay for the taxes, and paid $448.24 in penalties and interest itself.

Taxes on Pinellas real estate are due on March 31. People who pay by Nov. 30 receive a 4 percent discount.

Proposed $1.89-billion budget trims school and administrative programs

TAMPA -- The Hillsborough School Board approved a tentative $1.89-billion budget and reorganization Thursday that includes cuts from the schools to the administration building.

The approval came after Superintendent Earl Lennard removed the budget from last week's agenda and chopped large increases for several top administrators, which ranged from $4,000 to $14,000.

Officials called the planned raises poorly timed.

"I feel some folks were questioning what we were doing," Lennard said. "Perhaps it wasn't the most prudent thing."

Board President Joe Newsome said the administrators deserved raises because of additional responsibilities, but "because of the money picture right now, it was something we could not do right now."

Tax rates are expected to go up slightly 8.71 to 8.73 for every $1,000 of assessed value. The owner of a $100,000 home with a homestead exemption would pay $1.42 more a year in taxes.

Principals have been asked to chop their budgets by 2 percent and the district administrators by 5 percent to come up with $103-million for additional expenses and teacher raises. Dozens of administration-level vacant positions are being reclassified or eliminated.

Despite $59-million in new state and local dollars, the costs of health insurance, school construction, gasoline and utilities have eaten up the additional dollars, officials said.

Two charged with manufacturing fake green and Social Security cards

WIMAUMA -- Inside a house on Ruth Morris Road on Wednesday night, Hillsborough sheriff's detectives found machines used to make fake green cards and Social Security cards, thousands of blank fake cards and $20,000 in cash.

Detectives arrested Valeria Bravo, 44, and Calixtro Sotero, 44, both Mexican immigrants, and charged them with manufacturing false identification cards, conspiracy to manufacture identification cards and possession of false identification cards.

Bravo and Sotero admitted to making fake cards, detectives said. They were released from the county jail Thursday after posting $2,500 bail.

Green cards permit people who are not American citizens to work in this country.

Video cameras, radios stolen from 73 buses at school district garage

TAMPA -- Hillsborough sheriff's deputies want to know who stole video cameras and radios from 73 school buses parked in the district's bus garage at 9455 Harney Road.

Workers discovered the thefts Wednesday about 2 p.m. as they prepared to start routine maintenance on the vehicles before the start of the school year Aug. 8, said Mark Hart, a district spokesman. The buses had not been used since the end of summer school on July 3, he said.

At least 60 cameras and 12 portable, two-way radios are missing, sheriff's spokesman Rod Reder said. Hart estimated the value of stolen equipment at $25,000.

School buses are counted every day, Hart said but aren't necessarily entered. The district will be reviewing its security procedures.

All the radios and at least some of the cameras will be replaced by the time school opens in August, he said.

Back to Tampa Bay area news

Back

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

Headlines
From the Times
local news desks