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Tampa uncuffedBy Times staff © St. Petersburg Times, published November 9, 2000 Foster's a judge first, matey next Now that longtime Tampa lawyer Robert Foster has been elected to the circuit bench, exactly what will he be doing on the last Saturday in January? Almost every year, for nearly three decades, Foster has donned pirate garb and joined his fellow Tampa blue bloods as part of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. The Krewe was, until recent years, an all-white group of some of the city's most powerful men. It stages the city's biggest outdoor event, the annual mock pirate invasion complete with parade and partying. Now Foster wants to know if his new job precludes him from playing pirate again. The Code of Judicial Conduct warns that a judge should not belong to an organization that practices "invidious," or offensive, discrimination. The rule doesn't mean judges can't be in clubs such as Sons of Italy, Rotary or Junior League. The rules advise looking at a club's history. The Krewe canceled the 1991 invasion rather than bow to pressure to admit black members in time for Super Bowl XXV. Four joined the following year and the parade went on. It remains men only. Foster said earlier this year that "two or three" of the 750 current members are black, though he would not be specific Wednesday. "I don't discuss Krewe things," he said. "I just don't." Foster, 53, was clearly aware of the potential problem when he applied for a judicial appointment in June. Asked if he had been in organizations with restrictions based on race or sex, he named country clubs that have since opened their memberships and also the Krewe. "I would resign if selected to serve on the bench," he wrote of the Krewe. But on Wednesday, the day after he was elected over opponent Leland Baldwin, Foster had a different answer. He wants an opinion from the Judicial Qualifications Commission and the judges' legal counsel first. "It has always been my understanding that if it's a social organization that doesn't discriminate, that there's the possibility I can maintain the membership," he said. Foster said the parade "brings joy to thousands and thousands of people." "I don't see any controversy," he said. But if he gets a thumbs-down, Foster says he'll give up the eyepatch-and-cutlass routine. "I'm not about to violate any canon," he said. FLUNKING ROBBERY 101: The armed robber who decided to hit the Exxon station at N Boulevard and Fletcher Avenue Monday didn't count on a clerk with split-second timing. "I'm crazy," said the bad guy with the gun. "Give me your money." Instead, cops say, the clerk slammed shut the door to his protective cubicle. Frustrated, the robber decided to get out of there. But as he ran out, cash fell out of his own pocket -- a $20 bill, three fives and three ones. Instead of a withdrawal, he'd made a $38 deposit. "That's the way we like our robberies to happen," said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Rod Reder. SISTER TO THE RESCUE: Let it never be said a Fat Angel cannot motor in a hurry when the need arises. Pat Ferguson, a member of the Tampa police motorcycle squad with the self-deprecating nickname, was helping his sister with a television set at Circuit City at N 15th Street and Fowler Avenue when he noticed a suspicious pair of juveniles in the parking lot. Quicker than you can say purse snatching, one of them grabbed a bag from a pregnant woman and ran. Ferguson jumped into his car, only to discover the motor wouldn't turn over. At that moment Jane Ferguson came screeching up, and drove her brother to a nearby apartment complex so he could continue the chase on foot. Ferguson ended up collaring the purse snatcher as he tried to hide in a closet under a pile of clothes.
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