8/14/2019 Dallas Carter

1/1

SUMMER CAMP,

MINUS THE BUGSAND SUNBURNEver envy the kids for thegoofing off they get to doduring the summer? Thisweek offers several oppor-tunities for grownup goofingoff. One is Summer Camp, aphrase that takes on a wholedifferent meaning at Stu-dio@620 in St. Petersburg.Thursday through Saturday,this event of semi-epicproportions includeslive music, spontaneoustheater, carved tikis, exoticfashion and a Camp FilmFestival featuring perfectlyawful movies likeBeyondthe Valley of the Dolls andPlan 9 From Outer Space.

Find information at www.studio620.org.

Championshipfor 26 pointsMany of us whiled awaysummer afternoons overboard games, but somepeople take such thingsseriously. A horde of thosecutthroats will gather at the

Royal Pacific Resort in Orlan-do on Friday through July 29for theNational ScrabbleChampionship. Live cover-age can be found at www2.scrabble-assoc.com.

Funny how thesubjects stay sameLate-night goofing off is onat American Stage, withAn Evening Wasted Withthe Songs of Tom Lehrerat 11 p.m. Wednesdaythrough Saturday. Theshow celebrates one of thebest musical satirists of the1960s, who took on subjectslike nuclear proliferation,racial discrimination andpolitics with the sharp edge

of humor.

Can they take thecalories out of cake?Three performers associ-ated with special powershave birthdays this week.On Wednesday, the movieincarnation of wizard HarryPotter,Daniel Radcliffe,turns 19.Lynda Carter, whoto us will always be WonderWoman, is 57 on Thursday.And on Saturday,Mick Jag-ger, whose superpower issimply being Mick Jagger,turns 65.

By Colette Bancroft, Times staff

writer, cbancroft@sptimes.

com or (727) 893-8435.

Forwardthinking

. tampabay.com

People are talkingabout . . .

Prince Charlie: Outof town, out of touch

(The Buzz, July 18)

The news: The governorand his fiancee hobnob withPrince Charles while stateeconomy tanks.

Why has it taken so longto see that our esteemedgovernor wears no clothes?Stop calling him an emptysuit. The naked truth is thathe does not have a suit to beempty.

Since when do fianceesattend meetings with for-eign dignitaries? Now I ambeginning to think it is moreof a vacation then an actualbusiness trip.

As Ive been saying all thistime, he is a photo-op gov-ernor. All he cares about ishow good (yuck!) he looksin the pictures.

Timeout for you

(Whoa, Momma!, July 18)

The news: A 2-year-old boyhas new habit of hitting hismom.

Dan had one word for ourmommy blogger: Spank.

Another reader says: 2sare tough? Wait until hetells you he wants to go to

Harvard, needs a car, a pad,some folding and thosedukes are at eye-level.

After watching Texas outfielderJosh Hamilton redecorate Yankees

Stadium with his 28 wall-crushinghome runs in the All-Star Home

Run Derby, Im convinced the

Rays need to trade for him.I want to be fair about this, so I

say we go beyond players and pros-

pects. I say we offer the Rangers the ring Charlie Crist gave

Carol Rome (he can get anotherone).

Debra Lafave and Stepha-

nie Ragusa. Buddy Johnsons cattle.

The Hogan Family (you can

have them even if the trade fallsthrough).

plans for a new waterfrontbaseball stadium.

naming rights to the St. Pete

Times Forum. one Canadian mullet hair-

cut and the profits fromSaw IV

andV. enough sand and saltwater

to create your own beach. Dinosaur World.

one gigantic Confederate

flag. government in the Sunshine

manuals (theyre collecting dustin St. Petersburg).

the Trump Tower Tampa

penthouse. exclusive membership to

Caliente.

a Sun Pass with a $25 limit. one semifunctioning desali-

nation plant. a bitten fingertip recently

found in a Tampa meat market

(when we say meat market, wedont mean the Hyde Park Cafe).

the french-fry lady. Don Wallaces sister.

Brian Blairs original Killer

Bee wrestling trunks. one classic rock station (we

have 16, so we can spare one).

and finally,Forever Plaid!By the way, well throw in a

crazed sex master if you give usBrad Richards back.

Thats all Im saying.

For All-Star Josh Hamilton, bay area has much to oer

ERNEST HOOPER

ehooper@sptimes.com

Antennas

Lightningarresters

Meterologicalinstruments:Barometric pressure

Relative humidity

Air temperature

Wind speed and direction

12-voltrechargable battery

Mooring chain Anchor

Surlyn foambuoy

COMPS station

As part of the CoastalOcean Monitoring and

Prediction System, anarray of offshore

buoys measure suchthings as current,temperature, salinity

and meteorologicalconditions. The data is

transmitted to theshore by satellites.

Sources: Coastal Ocean Monitor ing and Predict ion System, University of South Flor ida/College of Marine Science; buoy i llustrat ion by Rick Cole Times

ST. PETERSBURG

Afierce wind, a blanket of fog, rain spraying like bullets. The sud-

den squall that whipped over Tampa Bay on May 9, 1980, became

an indelible part of this regions history. Inside the storm, the

freighterSummit Venture veered o course, a section of the Sunshine

Skyway collapsed, and 35 people fell to their deaths. Whats less well

known about the Skyway tragedy is one of its legacies: a network of sen-

sors, buoys and computers that now watch over Tampa Bay. Another

network monitors the wind and waves of Floridas Gulf Coast, and its a

legacy of the 1993 no-name storm. While little known, the two systems

provide a surprisingly public way of watching subtle changes and urgent

dangers o the Tampa Bay areas shores.

BY CURTIS KRUEGER | Times Staff Writer

But a loss of funding sooncould make it difficult tofind equipment and staffto keep the wind andwave sensors operating.

Gulf monitors gaugepotential for disaster

Times files (1980)

A car stopped on the edge of the Sunshine Skyway in 1980 after the SummitVenture, right, hit the bridge, causing its southbound span to collapse.

See for

yourselfFor a closer look at theinformation providedby the COMPS WestFlorida Shelf ObservingStations, go to comps.marine.usf.edu.

To get information fromthe PORTS monitors inTampa Bay, go to theCOMPS site above andclick on PORTS.

. See MONITOR, 7B

Room,board,books

and debtSchools and studentsface higher hurdlesto pay for college.

BY TOM MARSHALL

Times Staff Writer

Students and families trying topay for college are facing a com-

plex financial puzzle that rou-tinely requires a dizzying com-

bination of grants, loans and

money earmarked for retire-ment.

Its crazy, said Trisha Brew-

ton, a Tampa beautician who hasbeen trying to find the money

to send her daughter, Brialle, toFlorida A&M University this fall.

Its no cakewalk for schools,either.

Over the past year, about 120

lenders have suspended all orpart of their federal loan busi-

ness, citing the loss of federal

subsidies or an inability to resellloans. Others have cut discounts

or ended their participation at

certain schools.At least one local school, Stet-

son University College of Law inGulfport, has lessened its reli-

ance on private lenders.

And students who began theircollege years with traditional

lenders have been forced to look

elsewhere.Brewton and her daughter

have cobbled together all but$4,000 of a total annual bill she

estimated at $17,500. Theyre

using federal Pell Grants, schol-arships, and Stafford Loans,

and can tap into savings if theymust.

I didnt want her to have the

responsibility to have to paymoney back, she said. Why pay

for that the rest of your life, if you

dont have to?The Brewtons are in good

shape compared with some ofthe families Congress targeted

for help last spring.

Under emergency legislationpassed in May, parents who fall

behind up to 180 days on mort-gage or medical payments can

still qualify to take out college

loans under the federal PLUSprogram.

Thats an improvement on the

previous limit of 90 days. But itscold comfort for families already

head over heels in debt, said Bil-lie Jo Hamilton, director of stu-

dent financial aid at the Univer-. See COLLEGE, 5B

Lawmaker criticizes fellow Democrats politicking at Raytheon meetings. 3B

tampabay.com * * * * Monday, July 21, 2008 | 1B

Troubled dad, deadly endBY JACKIE ALEXANDER,RITA FARLOW AND DOUG CLIFFORDTimes Staff Writers

PINELLAS PARK Frominside his Shadow Run apart-

ment, Edwin Nunez heard a mancry for help Saturday night.

Why me? Why me?

An unidentified neighbor heardthe screams of a man deranged.

Kill me. Just kill me.

Neighbor Glendale Stephens

heard the shouts of a man in pain.Stop, stop, youre hurting me.

They all heard deadly gunfire

late Saturday when their neigh-bor, 44-year-old Dallas Carter,

stepped out of his apartment, apistol and a rifle in hand, to con-

front the police.

Pinellas Park police came to

Shadow Run Apartments at

12001 Belcher Road, apartmentB28, after a caller told a 911 dis-

patcher at 10:58 p.m. that he was

disturbed and armed with a .40-caliber pistol. His said his two

children, 8- and 13-year-old boys,were in bed. He hung up when

asked his name.

Police tried Carters cell phone,but their calls went to voice mail.

As officers arrived minutes later,

and as a negotiator attempted to

get in position to speak to him,Carter fired at least 30 rounds

from the pistol and a .30-30

hunting rifle. Police said he firedfrom inside his apartment in var-

ious directions.Soon afterward, the chil-

dren ran from the apartment. At

11:32 p.m. Carter came out of hisapartment with the guns point-

ing at officers in the breezeway,

according to police. The officers

ordered him to drop his weap-ons. When he did not, three offi-

cers reportedly fired 10 rounds,

killing him.Pinellas Park police Officers

Michael Erwin, Adam Smotrichand Alexandro Aguilar have been

placed on administrative leave

while investigations by policeand the Pinellas Pasco State

Attorneys Office continue.

With debts and eviction looming, the man calls 911 and dies in a shootout with police.

. See SHOOTOUT, 7B