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By Compiled from Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 10, 2000
Animal savior is accused of cruelty
TAMPA -- A man who has taken in hundreds of sick and injured wild animals over the past two decades now is accused of mishandling more than two dozen critters in his care, authorities said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission this week issued one felony and one misdemeanor warrant for the arrest of Bert Wahl, owner of Wahl's Wildlife Rescue Inc.
The warrants came after state officials found several animals living in squalor and at least 20 others that were dead during a June raid at Wildlife Rescue, which Wahl operates from his home.
"In my 27 years, this is the worst (case) we've ever had," said Lt. Dennis Parker, a Fish and Wildlife investigator.
Wahl is charged with six counts of felony cruelty to animals. He also is charged with multiple counts of abandonment of animals, maintaining wildlife in an unsanitary manner and failure to tag a cougar carcass. The two warrants were filed Monday and Tuesday. But Wahl had not been arrested as of late Tuesday because law enforcement officials have been unable to locate him.
Several animals were seized in the raid of Wahl's home, including two 3-foot alligators, two vultures and five striped mud turtles. In addition, three ferrets and a Rottweiler were confiscated by Hillsborough County Animal Services.
The dog had been confined outside in an animal carrier with moldy drinking water and little food, said animal services Sgt. Lois Wimsett.
TAMPA -- The bodies of two unidentified men who died of natural causes were found Wednesday near the Port of Tampa.
Though the bodies were found less than a quarter-mile apart, police said the deaths do not appear to be related.
The first body was found floating near Kennedy Boulevard and Channelside Drive about 8:30 a.m. by a port worker. Tampa police's dive team recovered the body, a white man who appeared to have died of natural causes. Police think the man was homeless and about 60 years old, but were unable to positively identify him.
The second body, a white man in his mid to late 60s, was found lying in the bushes just north of Adamo Drive near Channelside Drive about noon. Police think he died sometime Tuesday night and was not discovered until a passer-by saw him. His identity was not known.
The bodies were taken to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's office for autopsies.
LARGO -- A woman's body, mauled by alligators, was pulled from a lake behind a Largo apartment complex Wednesday.
The white, middle-age woman wearing shorts and a white tank top had not been identified late Wednesday afternoon. A resident at Penthouse Green condominiums at 225 County Club Drive noticed the body floatingin the lake about noon as she looked out from her second-floor balcony.
"Based on the condition of the body, she's probably been in the water three days," Lt. Karla Boudrot said. Police didn't know if gators killed the woman or the injuries happened after her death.
SEMINOLE -- The City Council is considering giving future council members a 50 percent pay raise and bumping up the mayor's salary by 24 percent.
Discussion on the matter Tuesday comes on the heels of rapid growth in Seminole. Thisweek, the council rewarded City Manager Frank Edmunds with a 10.8 percent raise, an increase of $8,500, for his leadership on several capital projects and recent annexations.
Seminole council members now receive a base pay of $3,600 a year, plus a cost-of-living increase of 1 percent to 3 percent. On Tuesday, they discussed a proposal to increase the pay to $5,400 annually and eliminate the cost-of-living supplement. The council also wants the city's vice mayor to earn the same $5,400 salary as other council members; currently the vice mayor earns $4,500.
Seminole's mayor is paid $7,500 a year, but council members want to boost the salary for that position to $9,300.
The council based its proposals on a survey of pay for officials in Tarpon Springs, Safety Harbor and Gulfport.
TAMPA -- A former supervisor at a Hillsborough County waste water plant pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to violating the Clean Water Act by discharging sewage into a drainage canal two years ago, court records show.
Wilbur Thomas Crowson Jr., 52, admitted that in order to clear a treatment tank for mechanical work, he illegally drained it. It happened at the Eagles Waste Water Treatment Plant in Odessa on June 22, 1998.
He ran a hose under a fence and into a drainage canal that led to Old Tampa Bay, his plea agreement said. The illegal discharge stopped only after the surprise arrival of county environmental inspectors.
Crowson recently resigned after 15 years with the county. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Crowson and prosecutors have agreed to a $5,000 fine, although the sentencing judge is not bound by that agreement.
ST. PETERSBURG -- A temporary restraining order against a Gulfport piano player was dismissed Wednesday when the preacher who petitioned for the injunction failed to appear in court.
The Rev. Patricia Nevins had asked for the temporary injunction, citing fear of physical harm from Robert Keller, a piano player at a tent revival she organized at 26th Avenue S and 34th Street.
Nevins had asked that the hearing be postponed until her attorney could be present.
The revival, which began July 1 and is scheduled to continue until Aug. 31, has prompted a bitter feud between Nevins and another preacher, the Rev. Stephen Paul Wilson, a tent revivalist with International Missions Inc.