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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 1, 2001
Humor amid a lesson
The School Board was getting a technology lesson last week and the instruction included some hands-on opportunities at laptop computers with video conferencing capabilities.
At one of the two keyboards was Mike Geddes, the district's coordinator of instructional technology. He was enjoying the use of the tiny cameras that would transmit images from one participant to another.
He glanced over at his wife, Phyllis, who is superintendent David Hickey's secretary, and noted, "If we had one of these, we'd never have to speak to one another again."
Hickey, who was standing directly behind Geddes, shook his head and said to him, "Where are you going to eat tonight?"
The School Board's secretary, Linda Verderame, took that question a step further.
"Where are you going to sleep?" she asked.
DRESS FOR SUCCESS: It ain't easy -- being or being with -- Tom Dick. With his aquatic weed control efforts stymied by the drought, the county's aquatic services director turned his efforts over the past year to muck removal -- an effort that won him few friends along the Tsala Apopka chain of lakes.
Some residents have groused about the noisy, messy muck removal going on near their homes.
Others have complained that the demucking efforts were too limited or too slow.
County Commissioner Josh Wooten openly praised Dick's efforts at last Tuesday's commission meeting. But political realities being what they are, Wooten admitted to distancing himself from the unpopular official when the two recently visited the lakes in Hernando.
"I had to wear dark sunglasses and a hat," Wooten said.
- Staff writers Barbara Behrendt and Bridget Hall Grumet contributed to this report.