8/14/2019 Dallas Carter contd.

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* * * * St. Petersburg Times | Monday, July 21, 2008 | 7B

Based at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine

Science in St. Petersburg, the sys-

tems can provide instant infor-mation to emergency managers,

  boaters and windsurfers. Websites show the water levels beside

the Skyway or the wind speed at

Picnic Island Park, as they arechanging.

But state and federal budget

 woes are creating stormy seas forthe network that monitors the

gulf.Because of a loss of funding,

it soon could be difficult to find

equipment and staff to keep the wind and wave sensors in good

operating condition, said USF

marine science professor Mark Luther.

“We’re hanging on a precari-ous thread,” Luther said.

• • •

Giant freighters chug under

the Skyway bridge, and follow the 600-foot wide shipping chan-

nel that extends for miles up

Tampa bay to the Port of Tampa.Some of the ships are two foot-

 ball fields long. Some of them

draft 42 or 43 feet in a channelthat can be less than 45 feet deep,

Luther said.The Tampa Bay monitoring

system, called PORTS, can help. It

features wind and wave-checkingdevices at locations such as the

Skyway, Egmont Key and nearthe Port of Tampa. Data on tides,

currents and winds is fed intocomputer models which helpsharbor pilots know when a big

ship can safely pass or is likely to

get stuck. A paper Luther recently co-authored said ship groundings

have dropped 60 percent sincePORTS was created.

The data provided by ther-

mometers, sensors, windgauges and other devices also

has allowed scientists to learnmore about the movement of 

 water through Tampa Bay. It has

helped in such diverse tasks asfollowing spills of sewage and

other hazardous materials, track-

ing the movement of fish larvaeand evaluating flooding dangers,

Luther said.“It’s a system that provides

real-time environmental infor-mation for better-informed deci-sionmaking on all aspects of 

 what people do in and aroundthe water,” he said.

• • •

 When Hurricane Ivan churned

up the Gulf of Mexico in 2004,

Tarpon Springs Fire DivisionChief Rick Butcher could detect

a slight surge in the city’s coastal waters.

Butcher, who also serves as the

city’s emergency managementdirector, was looking at the Web

site for COMPS, which is the net-

  work that monitors wind and water up and down Florida’s Gulf 

.     MONITOR continued from 1B

From the front page>  tampabay.com for the latest news

Monitors gauge

disaster potentialCoast.“It’s a wonderful resource,”

Butcher said, because the data 

from stations on or near shoreallow him to fine-tune informa-

tion about nearby storms that healready receives from the Nation-

al Hurricane Center and Pinellas

County.The system is not just for emer-

gency managers. The same data 

is available to the public on theCOMPS Web site.

The COMPS system also hashelped scientists paint a picture

of how water circulates in com-

plex ways up, down and acrossFlorida’s Gulf Coast. It has helped

  with studies of Red Tide, with

safe navigation and other issues.“What we’re trying to do is

  build a comprehensive coastalobserving system,” said Robert

H. Weisberg, USF marine science

professor. Weisberg recalls a hot July day 

  when he was standing in wateroff Sanibel Island and felt cool

rivulets at his toes.

Because of his studies withCOMPS data, Weisberg knew the

cool water at his toes had come

from the Panhandle and downalong the gulf floor toward Sani-

 bel. “We’re able to trace the originof that,” he said.

In recent years, COMPS has

received regular appropriationsof $750,000 from the federal

government and $200,000 fromstate government to maintain

the system. But the state’s budgetcrunch and the increasing fed-eral reluctance to approve “ear-

marked” funds from Congress

means those monies have largely dried up at this moment, Luther

said.Luther said COMPS does have

an adequate supply of spare sen-

sors but needs more money forsuch hardware as batteries, solar

panels and connectors, plus staff time to fix the devices.

“We’re kind of in dire straits,”

Luther said.

Curtis Krueger can be reached at 

ckrueger@sptimes.com or (727) 893-

8232.

The children are in the cus-tody of Florida Department of 

Children and Families. Sunday morning, their bikes, one red

and one green, were parked onthe patio in the broken glass.

“He was just trying to do the

 best he could by his kids,” said

Melissa Harper, a resident of theapartment complex. “My heart

 breaks for those boys.”Carter left a note, but police

have not released its contents.

• • •

Neighbors said Dallas Carter was a single dad who constantly 

struggled to pay the bills and

put food on the table. He had a pronounced limp from a dis-

abling back injury that forced

him to use a cane to get around,they said.

“He always talked about need-ing help — financially and help

  with the kids,” said neighborKevin Luster, 23.

Carter lost his job severalmonths ago after he reinjuredhis back while working, said

neighbor Melissa Velez.

Recently, he seemed evenmore upset. He told neighbors

his food stamps had been cut back and he couldn’t pay his

 water bill.

On Saturday , Carter came overto see Velez, 27, who lives across

from him. He had an evictionnotice with him, she said.

  Velez and Luster said the

apartment complex requirestenants pay their water bill with

their rent.

 A few times over the past year,Carter’s electricity had been

shut off, though he still hadpower at the time of the shoot-

ing, Velez said. When it wasoff, Velez would let him use her

microwave to heat up meals forthe children.

 Velez said she tried to help the

family, most recently bringing

over a chicken and rice dinner.This past Christmas, she and her

mom bought presents for thekids. They delivered them anon-

 ymously, she said, to make sure

the boys had a present to open.“I haven’t slept very much

 because of this,” she said.Neighbor Kna Krajan, 24, said

Carter’s sons were at her house

almost every day to play withher children. Carter was a dot-

ing father, she said.

“He wants what’s best for hiskids, he just doesn’t have the

finances to do it,” she said.Krajan was home at the time

of the shooting and heard thegunshots — one of which hit her

screen door.“He’s just been so depressed,”

she said. “He kept telling us he

doesn’t know what to do.”

Neighbor Laura Millerreached the same conclusion.

“He seemed very, very down,and like he didn’t know where to

turn next. He didn’t know what

to do,’’ said Miller, 42.Edwin Nunez said he sat

awake with his wife and 6- year-old son, George, as gun-

fire erupted below them. He told

George that the screaming man went to the hospital.

“He’s too young to explain it

to,” Nunez said. “I don’t know how to.”

.     SHOOTOUT continued from 1B

Troubled dad dies in shootout

DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times

Melissa Velez, 27, peers into the porch of her neighbor, Dallas Carter, who was killed by Pinellas Park police in a shootout lateSaturday. His two children were in bed when he called 911. Carter fired at least 30 rounds from his home, police said.