Tampa Bay briefs

By Compiled from staff and wire reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 11, 2000

Settlement closes suit over free speech at TIA

TAMPA -- A settlement for attorneys' fees has ended a five-year court case that cleared the way for Jews for Jesus and other religious groups to hand out leaflets at Tampa International Airport.

The 1995 lawsuit formally ended with the awarding of $15,000 in attorneys' fees to Jews for Jesus and Steve Cohen, a member of the group, said Mat Saver of Liberty Counsel, a civil-liberties legal group in Orlando.

The airport had banned the distribution of any leaflets in its terminals but changed its policy to allow some distribution in some areas of the airport after the group filed suit, Saver said.

"Had we not filed suit, the airport would still be enforcing its no-speech policy," Saver said. "Airports are not speech-free zones."

Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions have upheld the rights of groups to distribute literature at airports.

Brenda Geoghegan, a spokeswoman for Tampa International Airport, said the facility has a "no solicitation" policy but does allow religious groups, unions and others to exercise their free-speech rights in designated areas.

The groups must fill out airport forms and then can distribute their materials near ticket counters or at a designated counter.

Gun-safety program wins federal recognition

TAMPA -- Cease Fire Tampa, a gun-safety program started two years ago, has won a Best Practices Award from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Cease Fire and 99 other programs throughout the country were selected from 2,800 nominees. The winners exemplify the most innovative and successful approaches to urban problems, said HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo.

Cease Fire Tampa conducts yearly gun buybacks, teaches firearms safety to third-graders and offers gun-safety programs and free gun locks to adults.

In the past two years, the gun buybacks netted 3,226 firearms in Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Sarasota counties.

The grade-school curriculum was shown to 5,000 third-graders in 1999. This year it will expand to all third-graders in Hillsborough County

Hillsborough, Tampa General make peace

TAMPA -- A peace agreement of sorts has been reached by county officials and Tampa General Hospital officials that could bring an end to years of rancor and deep-seated mistrust between the county and the hospital.

Hashed out by County Administrator Dan Kleman and Tampa General president Ron Hytoff, the agreement commits each side to live up to certain obligations.

For instance, the agreement would allow the county to review the hospital's financial statements four times a year and see its business plan annually. Hospital board members also agreed to hold regular meetings with county commissioners and to consult commissioners about vacancies on the hospital's private, non-profit board.

In return, the county would negotiate a contract that could increase the amount of money Tampa General gets for treating poor patients through its busy emergency room.

Morton Plant's pediatric unit may close

CLEARWATER -- Morton Plant Hospital may shut down its 15-bed pediatric ward because it has so few patients.

In June alone, the once-bustling ward was closed for 23 eight-hour shifts, said Marcia Wiseman, the hospital's director of women and children's services, who supervises pediatrics. An average of two children a day stay at Morton Plant, and those children typically stay less than three days, she said.

A committee of pediatricians, nurses and administrators has been meeting this summer to decide what should be done, said Dr. Rickey Viator, chairman of pediatrics at Morton Plant. The committee was assembled because of physician's concerns, he said, and the issue has not yet been presented to the hospital board.

Temporary waterline to ease well woes

TAMPA -- Beleaguered residents in Riverview dealing with wells contaminated with coliform and fecal coliform bacteria got a little good news from state and county officials Thursday night.

The Department of Environmental Protection will foot the bill to extend a temporary waterline to the neighborhoods around Lake Grady. The Hillsborough Water Department will get to work immediately, officials said, working around the clock if necessary to provide a temporary fix for residents with undrinkable and unusable well water.

The temporary lines will be built in the next 60 days and will run through the neighborhoods and hook up to outdoor spigots.

School bathroom explosion linked to fire

TAMPA -- King High School students and staff were evacuated Thursday when a fire in a boys bathroom caused a toilet to explode about 9:45 a.m. No one was injured.

Officials initially thought a small device might have been detonated and moved everybody out while the bomb squad searched. They later determined a fire had burned hot enough to cause the porcelain toilet to explode.

While officials searched, the school's 1,900 students went to the auditorium of the nearby Tampa Bay Technical High School. They returned to King High at about 1 p.m.

The fire caused about $1,000 in damage. Officials think the fire was deliberately set, but no arrests were made Thursday.

Police name suspect in 72-year-old's slaying

TAMPA -- Two days after Robert David Norwood Sr. was found stabbed to death in his apartment, police think they know who killed him.

Norwood, 72, had an ongoing relationship with 40-year-old Sharon Denise Promise, also known as "Baby Sister," police said. She often stayed with Norwood at his apartment at 2121 W Main St., and witnesses told police she left there shortly before his body was found Tuesday morning.

Thursday, police issued a warrant for her arrest on the charge of second-degree murder. Promise has an arrest record on worthless check and prostitution charges, records show. When he was killed, Norwood was on probation for aggravated battery. Promise remained at large Tuesday night, and police ask that anyone who sees her call 273-0770.

Patients protest action against organ donor group

TAMPA -- For years, the aggressive policies of the Lifelink Foundation in Tampa have kept its companies among the nation's leaders in the procurement of kidneys, hearts and other lifesaving organs.

Now, however, the U.S. government is trying to shut down one of Lifelink's companies because it has failed to meet organ-procurement quotas set by the federal Health Care Financing Administration, or HCFA.

Federal regulators intended on Aug. 1 to decertify Lifelink of Puerto Rico, an agency opened in 1994 to serve the 3.6-million residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Tampa-based Lifelink of Florida, the largest of Lifelink's four procurement companies, and the University of Miami Organ Procurement Organization both filed applications to take over the area.

But the decertification effort stalled when two cardiac patients in San Juan filed a federal lawsuit claiming their transplant chances will be jeopardized if a procurement company from Tampa or Miami takes over. A hearing is set for Aug. 24.

The government's attempt to shut down Lifelink of Puerto Rico underscores the life-or-death concerns of regulators who oversee the 59 federally licensed, non-profit organ-procurement agencies in the United States, as well as the country's $3-billion transplant business.

The 59 companies can't keep up with demand. More than 71,000 Americans are awaiting organ transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

"We have people dying because they can't get organs," said Dr. Jeffrey Kang, director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality for HCFA. "We are interested in keeping the pressure on (procurement organizations) so that we can get the organs needed to save lives."

In terms of organ retrieval, Lifelink of Puerto Rico is ranked last among the 59 procurement agencies, with 9.13 organ donors per million population.

Lifelink of Florida, with headquarters at 409 Bayshore Blvd., is ranked first, with 39.04 donors per million population. The University of Miami ranks 17th, with 24.64 donors per million.

To keep its certification, Lifelink of Puerto Rico was required to achieve 50 percent of the national average of kidneys retrieved and transplanted in 1998-99, a quota of 19 kidneys.

The agency got 17.

Marien Saade, executive director of Lifelink of Puerto Rico, said her agency faces several obstacles in attempting to meet quotas: a high incidence of HIV, hepatitis and alcoholism that makes many Puerto Rican donors unsuitable; a historically low rate of organ donation among Hispanics due to religious and cultural reasons, and a dearth of neurosurgeons who can declare a patient brain dead, a requirement before harvesting internal organs.

"We don't think it's fair," Saade said. "We were very close" to meeting the federal performance standards.

Police identify woman found in Largo lake

LARGO -- The woman's body pulled from a lake Wednesday behind an apartment complex off East Bay Drive near Highland Avenue was identified Thursday as Eileen Pozniak, 41, who was last seen early Monday by her mother, with whom she lived in Largo. Pozniak's death was under investigation, but Largo police said it does not appear foul play was involved. Autopsy results were incomplete.

Most of Pozniak's left leg and both hands were bitten off by an alligator. An alligator later was captured from the lake and its stomach contents were analyzed. A palm print from the remains matched records of Pozniak's.

Officials said the 101/2-foot alligator was the one that fed on Pozniak.

Police Lt. Carla Boudrot said a preliminary examination indicates the injuries were inflicted after Pozniak died.

Largo police records show Pozniak was disabled and an alcoholic. In 1996, she was sentenced to five years' probation for child abuse and resisting arrest with violence. Police had arrested Pozniak after her 3-year-old daughter was found wandering in the street, naked and drunk.

Officers had issued four trespass warnings to Pozniak since October, according to Largo police records. On July 31, Largo police were called to her house by someone who saw Pozniak passed out in a ditch, Boudrot said.

"Everyone here knows her," she said. "Our reports say she frequented vagrant areas and was usually in the company of transients."

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