CLEARWATER - The Knology Clearwater Sea-Blues Festival is Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 18-19, at Coachman Park, 301 Drew St., Clearwater.
The festival sails back into February in 2012. Last year, the event temporarily became part of the city’s signature Fun ’n’ Sun Festival in May. The annual event, established in 2007, provides the opportunity to satisfy seafood cravings while enjoying some of the best blues music around.
The inaugural concert series featured musicians such as Johnny Winter, Coco Montoya and Chris Beard. Since then, the festival has seen performances by Eric Lindell, Bettye LaVette, the Derek Trucks Band, Chris Thomas King, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Jonny Lang, Marcia Ball, Elvin Bishop, Tab Benoit, Robert Cray and Taj Mahal.
This year’s festival headliners include Buddy Guy Janiva Magness and Curtis Salgado.
Buddy Guy
Born in 1936, Buddy Guy is a living blues legend.
The guitarist and singer is considered a pioneer of the Chicago blues style. Guy has been awarded no less than five Grammys and 23 W.C. Handy Blues Awards. He received the Billboard Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, and, in 2003, earned the National Medal of Arts for his contributions to the creation, growth and support of the arts.
Ranking in the top 30 of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, Guy has influenced rock ’n’ roll guitar gods such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Guy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 by Clapton and fellow bluesman B.B. King.
CLEARWATER - Pinellas County Commissioners have struggled with balancing the budget for the past four years due to a meltdown of the real estate market and a recession that began in December 2007.
Previous budget forecasts predicted that the situation might get better by 2013. However, county staff now says it will be at least another year before the situation begins to improve.
Budget Director John Woodruff presented the 10-year budget forecast for fiscal year 2012-2013 during a regular commission meeting Feb. 7.
“The economy is on track for slow but steady recovery,” he said.
Woodruff started his presentation with a look at the economy at the national level. He told commissioners that the Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow by 2.4 percent to 3.5 percent annually over the next three years.
From the state perspective, the Florida Economic Estimating Conference, which met in December and January, says growth is anticipated to be sluggish through mid-2012, moderate through mid-2013, followed by normal growth thereafter.
Recovery of the state and local economy will be dependent on population growth, which is expected to be weak, and the unemployment rate, which is expected to remain high, Woodruff said.
However, the biggest issue creating gloom and doom for the upcoming budget year is property values.
CLEARWATER - Tourism is up in Pinellas County, and that makes members of the Tourist Development Council very happy.
In a series of reports presented Jan. 8, the numbers show reason for optimism that the lull is over and visitors are returning to enjoy the county’s many amenities.
Walter Klages with Research Data Services out of Tampa said 2011 had been “a very, very good year” with an economic impact of $7 billion, thanks to the 5.235 million visitors who came to Pinellas last year. The number represents 194,000 more visitors than reported in 2010.
“It’s a fabulous time in our existence as an industry,” he said.
Klages described a 12.3 percent increase in first-time visitors as remarkable. First-time guests “re-nourish our market,” he said. He attributed the growth to the TDC’s promotional efforts. Satisfaction levels are up with 95.3 percent giving the area a thumbs-up, compared to 93.4 percent in 2010. Klages also reported that 49.2 percent said they would return next year, compared to 46 percent last year.
Hotel and motel owners saw a 6.4 percent increase in people staying at their accommodations, although TDC members pointed out that room prices are still lower than past years. Klages said pricing power was starting to come back due to slight changes in occupancy. But, occupancy is still lagging behind the ADR (average daily rate), he said.
December, which is usually not tourism’s best month, ended on a positive note, Klages reported. Occupancy was up 4.5 percent and the average daily rate climbed from $93.55 in 2010 to $100.85 in 2011 - a 7.8 percent increase.
The No. 1 feeder market was New York, followed by Chicago and the Greater Orlando Area. Total number of visitors for the month was 18,900, a 4.7 percent increase from 2010. The economic impact was more than $500 million - up 6.8 percent from the previous year.
TAMPA - Junk food galore, carnival rides, live music, clowns, competitions, animal displays, exhibits and more. The Florida State Fair at the Tampa Fairgrounds continues daily through Feb. 20.
“The annual Florida State Fair is a salute to the state's best in the agriculture and equestrian industry including an abundance of shows, music, rides, food and shopping for 12 consecutive days,” according to this year’s brochure.
Gates open at 9 a.m. Friday through Sunday and 10 a.m. Monday through Thursday.
Children under the age of 5 get in free. Adults, age 12 and older, pay $10 Monday through Friday and $12 Saturday and Sunday. Children’s admission, ages 6-11, Monday through Friday is $5 and $6 on Saturday and Sunday. A diet Mountain Dew can saves money on midway rides Feb. 10 and 20.
Parking is free.
This year’s special attractions include an Elvis Extravaganza, Feb. 11-12 and Elvis Live, Feb. 17-20. Check out the Xtreme Sports Show daily except for Feb. 15. The Yesterdaze Show features music from the 1970s, Feb. 10-12. Cheer and dance competitions are scheduled on Feb. 11-12. Chris MacArthur and the Florida Cracker Boys appear Feb. 17-18.
And, no one should miss the lawnmower races Feb. 18-19 in the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center.
If that’s not enough, a variety of other entertainment is scheduled during the daily free shows, including the Blues Brothers, Dennis Lee, Kachunga & the Alligator, Welde Bear Show, Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, Racing Pigs, Circus Hollywood, Spanish Lyric Theater, International Stage, Horse Shows at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center, Bluegrass music in Cracker Country, Livestock shows in the Agribusiness area, the Florida Armed Forces Museum and an exotic petting zoo.
LARGO - The city of Largo along with Cub Scout Pack 404 and Troop 404 will hold a community cleanup of Largo Central Park Nature Preserve on Saturday, Feb. 18, 9 a.m. to noon.
Scouts and volunteers will help clean up waterways, remove debris, trim bushes and spruce up the park with mulch.
Refreshments will be provided with a hot dog lunch following at noon.
Volunteers are encouraged to bring gloves and any garden tools they wish. A limited number of tools will be provided.
”A special thanks to Pinch a Penny in Largo for donating six large nets and poles as well as providing the food and refreshments,” a city news release said.
Largo Central Park Nature Preserve is located at 150 Highland Ave. SE, adjacent to Mavericks High and behind Missing Links Golf Range.
For more information or to sign up as a volunteer, please call 586-7415.
LARGO - Meet Matilda, the newest resident of the George C. McGough Nature Park.
The park obtained the injured barred owl, which is slightly larger than a foot tall, from the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary.
The bird was dropped off by Audubon bird of prey specialist Barb Walker, who notified the city that she had taken a barred owl to sanctuary. Matilda was eating fine and the sanctuary was waiting to see if her wing would heal and would ever be able to fly again.
“At best she can just kind of hop from branch to branch,” said city Nature Program Specialist Joel Quattlebaum. “She really has to struggle.”
Because of the injury to her wing, she has a difficult time getting up from the ground to a perch, which was less than 3 feet. Park staff put additional perches in her cage, joking that it is “ADA accessible for owls,” Quattlebaum said.
“The female owl is adult, but it’s anybody’s guess as to how old she is,” Quattlebaum said.
“She’s doing good. She’s eating regularly. Every day she gets two mice or chicks or a rat,” he said.
“We’re trying to mimic her natural diet since she can’t go out and hunt on her own.”
ST. PETERSBURG - For 17 years now, John Morroni has hosted an appreciation dinner to honor Pinellas County residents who serve as law enforcement and emergency personnel.
This year’s dinner at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park on Jan. 27 again recognized those who have given “exceptional dedication and efforts above and beyond the call of duty on behalf of Pinellas County,” said a press release naming the 2012 honorees.
Morroni, 56, who has served on the Pinellas County Commission since 2000, began the annual tradition when he was a state representative in memory of Belleair Police Officer Jeffery Tackett, 28, who died of a gunshot wound June 13, 1993. Tackett was alone when he responded to the call that resulted in his death.
As the result of Tackett’s death, Morroni and Sen. Dennis Jones sponsored a bill in 1995 that was passed by the state legislature. The bill requires two officers to be on duty at all times, unless mutual aid agreements with other law enforcement agencies are in place, so law enforcement officers no longer respond to calls alone.
Morroni has since expanded the appreciation dinner to include firefighters and EMS personnel. Past honorees include Tackett’s family and emergency personnel who responded to the call for help in New York City after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
“This is really the only event that recognizes the valuable contributions made by members of the law enforcement, fire and emergency medical communities,” Morroni said. “It’s an honor to be a part of it.”
Donna Crawford, wife of St. Petersburg Police Officer David Crawford, attended the 2012 event as Morroni’s special guest. David Crawford, 46, was shot and killed in the line of duty by a 16-year-old male Feb. 21, 2011. A donation from the proceeds raised at the sold-out event will go to Crawford’s family.
Crawford was the third St. Petersburg police officer to die on the job in 2011. Sgt. Thomas Baitinger, 48, and Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz, 38, were shot and killed by a fugitive hiding in an attic Jan. 24, 2011 - just days prior to Morroni’s 16th annual appreciation dinner.
LARGO - Say goodbye to the Armed Forces Military Museum and hello to the Armed Forces History Museum.
At a press conference Feb. 8, the museum’s founder and president, John Piazza, Sr., announced the name change and said that the museum will broaden its focus to include the ecological and social as well as military factors that influenced our history.
“We believe it is very important to broaden our scope and not just concentrate on the military aspects of our history,” said Piazza, who opened the 50,000 square-foot museum at 2050 34th Way N. in 2006, after operating it out of a trailer for a decade.
He used the example of the museum’s Inchon Landing exhibit, saying it will now concentrate not only on the Korean War military campaign, but also on the ecology of the Sea of Japan and how the Korean people lived in the early 1950s.
“This does not have any effect on our 501(c)3 status,” said Piazza, a former Marine Corps reservist. “We’re still a charitable organization, approved by the IRS. Our primary mission is to educate the people who come through (the museum), especially the younger generation.”
In addition to the permanent exhibits, the museum recently added a “temporary gallery” where rotating exhibits will be changed every three months. Coming soon is a “community case” where local organizations can put up their own displays.
The American Red Cross currently has an exhibit on display, and an exhibit featuring the history of the Girl Scouts of America is in the works. A display by Odyssey Marine, the underwater treasure hunting firm, is upcoming because “a lot of our (military) campaigns were based on the water,” said Piazza’s daughter and the museum’s director of operations, Nadine Piazza.
Special events will be held as fundraisers for the museum. The proceeds will be used to help underwrite community and educational programs such as the museum’s “duffel bag” program in which teachers discussing he two world wars or the conflicts in Korea or Vietnam can borrow a canvas duffle bag filled with authentic artifacts from those wars to use as teaching aids.
Elsie Crimaldi of Gulfport likes to be helpful and she stays active doing a number of different things including spending one day a week as a volunteer at the information booth at the St. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport.
As airplanes arrive and passengers go to the baggage area to claim their luggage, Crimaldi is there to answer any one of dozens of questions they may have, such as: where is their luggage, how do they get a cab or limo, or simply where’s the restrooms. She answers them all with a smiling face and a friendly demeanor.
Crimaldi lived in the Chicago area before moving to Florida. She owned and operated her own beauty salon for 16 years before she decided to close it up. She then went to work for a local cosmetics manufacturer. After almost 20 years she decided it was time to retire. It was during a trip to see an aunt who had a condo in Gulfport that the idea of moving to Florida first entered her mind. She enjoyed the warm weather and having a swimming pool right outside the door and not having to deal with the cold weather and shoveling snow. She asked her aunt to let her know if there was ever a unit in her complex that became available. A few weeks later she received a call and Elsie soon found herself a Floridian.
Wanting to keep busy and stay active, she found herself looking for something to do. When she discovered she could volunteer at the airport she thought that would be fun and interesting and signed up. She she says she has no plans to stop anytime soon.
In addition to volunteering at the airport, she is active in her community, as membership chairwoman for the Gulfport Garden and Bird Club as well as an associate member of the Gulfport Chamber of Commerce. She is also active in her church, the Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church.
Crimaldi encourages others to volunteer, no matter what their age.
“People don’t realize what they can do to stay active and have fun,” she said. “Instead of sitting, they should get out and volunteer, do something.”
She believes there’s always someone or someplace like a nursing home or the zoo or the airport that could use help. And she notes it doesn’t have to take up a lot of a person’s time or be physically demanding either.
BELLEAIR BEACH - The Belleair Beach City Council is considering an ordinance making it unlawful “for any person in the city to feed or distribute grain or food of any kind or nature in such a manner as to attract birds, fowl or undomesticated animals of any kind.”
The new law, introduced at the Feb. 6 council meeting, is the latest response to what has become a growing problem with large birds at several locations in the city.
Included in the ban are “crowing roosters and other noisy fowl.” Exempted are domesticated family pets, fixed bird feeding devices and free-roaming squirrels.
The decision to enact a local ordinance to deal with the issue is a reversal of the council’s previous stance, which relied on enforcement of the existing state and federal laws and a nuisance ordinance. Mayor Kathy Mortensen had said last month, “There are laws on the books. I will contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife people about enforcing it.”
“Jack (Ouimette, code enforcement officer) said we needed to have something more specific,” Mortensen said in explaining the change in direction. She also said involving the state “created hoopla we have to go through every time this happens.”
“I was originally not in favor of legislation,” she said, “but Jack needs something to help him.”
The ordinance as prepared by the City Attorney Paul Marino called for violators to first be given a warning, and then charged in court with a criminal violation. That was changed to having repeat cases brought before the city’s special magistrate, who has the authority to impose fines.
Having a local ordinance to deal with the bird-feeding ordinance was applauded by Clearwater Audubon Society official Barbara Walker. She said the society receives many calls on the problem. Feeding federally protected bird species is a violation of federal law, she said, but enforcement has been inconsistent and “extremely difficult.”
ST. PETERSBURG - The United States Postal Service will issue a $5.15 Sunshine Skyway Bridge Priority Mail stamp in one design in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps (Item 114700).
With this 2012 Priority Mail stamp, the U.S. Postal Service honors the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida. The stamp art is a digital illustration showcasing the dramatic structural elements of the bridge in the natural beauty of its surroundings. The bridge crosses Tampa Bay and links the Gulf Coast communities surrounding St. Petersburg and Bradenton.
Illustrator Dan Cosgrove worked with art director Carl T. Herrman to create the stamp art.
ST. PETERSBURG - State Rep. Larry Ahern, R-St. Petersburg, plans to file as a candidate for State House in the proposed House District 66.
Ahern currently represents District 51 and was elected to a two-year term in 2010.
“I look forward to continuing to represent the residents in west central Pinellas County,” Ahern said in a press release. “The Florida Legislature has made much progress and continues to do so in helping to improve the state’s economic climate. Jobs and the economy will continue to be my priority.”
Ahern’s announcement comes as the Florida House passed new State House boundaries in the once-in-a-decade task of redistricting.
CLEARWATER - Pinellas County Commission Vice-Chair Ken Welch asked fellow commissioners Feb. 14 if they would support sending a letter to Tallahassee protesting proposed budget cuts to the University of South Florida.
Last week, the state Senate submitted its proposed budget, which includes about $400 million in cuts to the state university system, including a $104 million budget cut for the University of South Florida, according to a press release from USF.
Under the Senate proposal, USF's funding would drop to $74 million from the current level of $178 million, representing a cut of 58 percent. Budgets at other state universities would also receive significant cuts, according to the Senate proposal.
USF officials said the budget cut increases to $128 million when other factors are considered, such as a loss of funding for the pharmacy program, loss of funding for USF Polytechnic and absorbing the costs of salaries for Polytechnic staff and faculty.
At an emergency meeting of the USF Board of Trustees, President Judy Genshaft referred to the Senate's proposed budget as "draconian," calling upon the USF community, alumni and friends to show their "Unstoppable" spirit by defending the university.
Drivers on Florida roadways may want to practice some relaxation techniques before hitting the road this month. The Florida Highway Patrol recently announced an education and enforcement campaign to ticket aggressive truck and car drivers.
In crashes involving cars and commercial trucks, actions by drivers account for 88 percent of the crashes. Only 12 percent of the crashes are the result of vehicle defects, road conditions or inclement weather.
The campaign aims to reduce commercial motor vehicle-related crashes, injuries and fatalities by combining outreach, education and evaluation with targeted enforcement activities to raise awareness among car and truck drivers about safe driving behaviors.
“The Florida Highway Patrol is committed to keeping our roadways safe for all motorists, and we are pleased to partner with the Florida Trucking Association on this safety campaign,” said Col. David Brierton. “Whether you are driving a commercial motor vehicle or a passenger car, it is a driver’s responsibility to drive with care.”
ST. PETERSBURG - The editor of a publication about University of Florida sports said he is willing to give Florida Gators’ head football Coach Will Muschamp a “mulligan” for his performance this past year.
Asked his opinion of Muschamp, who had a 7-6 record for the 2011 season, Gator Bait Magazine founder Marty Cohen told Gators fans Feb. 9 at Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill in St. Petersburg that “being a first year coach at any school, you’re usually walking into a difficult situation; there’s usually a reason why the previous guy left.”
“He walked into a very tough situation,” Cohen said. “He did not have a great deal of talent across the board at all spots. He was facing a murderous schedule. His quarterback, (John Brantley) who again was good but not great, got hurt.”
Muschamp had to play a freshman quarterback against Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge; “good luck with that,” Cohen said.
![[Image]](/content_images/021412_leconcert-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021312_pco-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021312_pco-02_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021012_lefest-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/020812_lle-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/020812_out-04_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/020712_pco-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/020812_leart-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/020912_vol-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/020812_bee-01_front.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021412_fpg-01_thmb.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021412_fpg-02_thmb.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021412_fpg-03_thmb.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021412_fpg-04_thmb.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/021012_fpg-01_thmb.jpg)
![[Image]](/content_images/010312_pco-01a_front.jpg)
