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As fire wanes, chief pauses for new tattooBy KATHRYN WEXLER © St. Petersburg Times, published August 17, 2000 TAMPA -- It was about 5:30 p.m. Friday, and the flames were taking their last licks at the historic, crumbling Blue Ribbon Supermarket in Ybor City. Seventh Avenue near 15th Street was in a shambles. Firefighters were hot, strung out. Hundreds of onlookers behind police tape craned their necks to glimpse the fallen 80-year-old landmark. But other things were weighing on the mind of Tampa Fire Rescue Chief Pete Botto. Tattoos. He didn't have to go far. Separated from the burned building by a parking lot was a store with "Freak Inc." painted on its window. Botto, wearing a Tampa Fire and Rescue polo shirt, rushed out of the excitement and into the quiet, darkened room where several customers were waiting out the final throes of the fire, by then under control by Botto's troops. "I need five letters," Botto began. "Can you do it in red?" Owner Mike Cooper, a man with a shaved head covered in sinuous tattooed lines and his grandmother's young face etched on his right breast, stepped forward. "As soon as the power comes back on," said Cooper, who noted the power was out because of the blaze next door. Botto was not to be thwarted. How about hooking up a generator, he suggested aloud. Within 15 minutes the power returned, and the lights flickered back on. Botto, who had stepped outside, returned. Cooper got to work. Fifty bucks later, Botto was the proud bearer of some new permanent art. On his left hip, in red Old English script: "DAVID." "My grandson," Botto explained. Botto said his desire was threefold: first, he wanted to support the Ybor business; second, he had been planning to get the tattoo for a while; and third, the fire appeared to be well under control. Botto is a man who likes to decorate his body. Also on his left hip are the names of his two other grandchildren. On his right hip are tattoos of two Tampa Bay Bucs insignias, the old one and the new one. "I don't plan on doing a whole lot more," Botto said. "I'm running out of spaces." - Kathryn Wexler can be reached at (813) 226-3383 or wexler@sptimes.com.
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