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CLW St. Petersburg Times | Sunday, July 27, 2008 | 5

TodaySwap stories: The Tampa BayStorytellers Guild Story Swapmeets at 3 p.m. today and thefourth Sunday of every monthat Park Station, 5851 Park Blvd.

Come and hear tall tales andinteresting yarns. The Story Swapis free and open to anyone whowants to listen or come and sharea story. Call Billie Noakes at (727)647-8057.

The King and I: This is thelast weekend for Rodgers andHammersteins opulent musicalThe King and I, featuring fan-favorite songs likeHello, YoungLovers;Getting to Know You; andthe resoundingShall We Dance?at the Tarpon Springs Perform-ing Arts Center, 324 Pine St. Theshow is 2 p.m. today. Tickets are$18 for adults, $12 for students,$16 for center members, reservedseating. Call (727) 942-5605.

The Fantasticks:The Eight

OClock Theatre presents TheFantasticks, the classic musicalabout two meddling, matchmak-ing fathers who scheme to gettheir children together, at 2 p.m.today at the Largo Cultural Center,105 Central Park Drive. Tickets are$26 for adults, $16 for students19 and younger, and $23.50 forgroup rates. Call the box office at(727) 587-6793.

Sunday bingo:Games start at12:30 p.m. every Sunday at theKnights of Columbus, 1251 SanChristopher Drive, Dunedin. Freecoffee and doughnuts with signin, hot dogs and sloppy joes $1.Chips and drinks available. Smok-ing and nonsmoking halls. CallJerry at (727) 216-3859.

MondayLacrosse camp:Boys ages 6-15

will learn how to play lacrosse ata week-long camp from 8 a.m.to noon Monday through Fridayat Canal Park, 3120 Tampa Road,Oldsmar. Cost is $50 with a reccard, $75 without. Bring a snack,lunch and water. Register atCypress Forest Recreation Cen-ter, 650 Pine Ave. N, Oldsmar,call (813) 818-0149, or visit www.ci.oldsmar.fl.us.

Family Movie Night: Bring thefamily, relax in bean bag chairsand watch a movie on Fam-ily Movie Night at 6 p.m. in the

Largo Public Librarys ChildrensProgram Room, 120 Central Park

Drive. Popcorn included. Call(727) 587-6715.

Sing along:Palm Harbor MensBarbershop Chorus meets at 6:45p.m. Mondays at the Palm HarborSenior Activity Center, 1500 16th St.Tenors, leads, baritones and bass-es needed. Call (727) 771-6000.

Trace your roots: Free genealogyhelp with volunteer genealogistJohn Kiwala from 10 a.m. to 4p.m. at the Tarpon Springs PublicLibrary, 138 E Lemon St. Call (727)943-4922.

Dixieland dance:The BaysideBanjo Band plays Dixieland and

old-time songs from 7:30 to9:30 p.m. every Monday at Ameri-can Legion Post 7, 1760 Turner St.,Clearwater. Call (727) 447-9204.

TuesdayGardening course: Learn Florida-friendly landscape design andmaintenance principles from 6:30to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the PinellasCounty Extension, 12520 Ulmer-ton Road, Largo. Classes alsooffered Aug. 19 and Sept. 9 and23. Tuition $15 per class. Call (727)582-2673.

Dinner dance: Indulge your con-tinental tastes with a pasta dinnerand dance from 5 to 8:30 p.m.every Tuesday at the Italian Ameri-can Club of Greater Clearwater,200 McMullen Booth Road. $7members, $9 nonmembers. TheClub also hosts dinner and danc-ing from 6-10 p.m. every otherSaturday. $13 members, $16 non-members. Call (727)791-8698.

Trace your roots: Free genealogyassistance with volunteer gene-alogist Ken Nichol from 10 a.m.-4p.m. at the Tarpon Springs PublicLibrary, 138 E Lemon St. Call (727)943-4922.

Double art openings:DunedinFine Arts Center will host openingreceptions for Wearable Art: TheExhibition and Down the Rab-bit Hole: Vivian Rueggers AliceProject from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at1143 Michigan Blvd., Dunedin. Call(727) 298-DFAC (3322) or visitwww.dfac.org.

Business advice: The Pinellaschapter of SCORE will host a freeseminar on Ten Steps to StartingYour Own Business at 7 p.m. atTarpon Springs Public Library, 138

E Lemon St. Register at the libraryor call (727) 943-4922.

Out & About

Art explained

Special to the Times

Today

The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art offers a docent tour at2 p.m. every Sunday. Meet in the lobby of the museum, whichis on the Tarpon Springs campus of St. Petersburg College, 600Klosterman Road. Admission is free on Sundays. For information,call (727) 712-5762.

Clearwater Times> tampabay.com for more Pinellas County news

Coast Guard Seaman Eric T.Foster,brother of Derrio D. Fos-terof Largo, graduated from theU.S. Coast Guard Recruit Train-

ing Center in Cape May, N. J.

During the eight-week pro-gram, Foster completed a train-

ing curriculum consisting of aca-demics and practical instruction

on water safety and survival, mil-

itary customs and courtesies,seamanship skills, first aid, fire-

fighting and marksmanship.

Foster is a 1997 graduate of

Parker High School, Birming-ham, Ala.

Airman 1st Class Blake T.Borrack, a 2004 graduate of

Clearwater Central Catholic,graduated from basic military

training at Lackland Air ForceBase, San Antonio, Texas.

During six

weeks of train-ing, the airman

studied the AirForce mission,

organization

and militarycustoms and

courtesies, per-

formed drill

and ceremonymarches and received physicaltraining, rifle marksmanship,

field training exercises and spe-

cial training in human relations.He is the son of Ted Borrack of

Palm Harbor.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. RebeccaS. Kaiser has retired from theNavy after 24 years of militaryservice.

Prior to retiring, Kaiser wasthe country director for Tajiki-

stan, U.S. Central Command at

MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa.She is the daughter of John

and Tamara D. Badders of

Largo, and wife of Jack G. Kai-

ser Jr.The lieutenant commander

graduated in 1980 from Largo

High, and received a bachelors

degree in 1984 from the Univer-sity of Florida. She earned a mas-

ters degree in 1997 from the Uni-versity of South Florida.

Army Pvt. Richard J. Bush,son of Richard Bush Sr. ofLargo, graduated from basic

infantry training at Fort Ben-ning, Columbus, Ga.

During nine weeks of training,

the soldier received training indrill and ceremonies, weapons,

map reading, tactics, military

courtesy, military justice, physi-

cal fitness, first aid and Army his-tory, core values and traditions.

Additional training included

development of basic combat

skills and battlefield operationsand tactics.

Military news

Borrack

. FIRE continued from 1

Zach Railey was playing base-ball and tennis. He was a good

kid, but he had his run-ins withhis mom and dad, Dan Railey

said.

Crawford suggested the Rai-leys send their three children to

sailing camp at the ClearwaterYacht Club.

Zach fell in love the first day.

It was the attraction of beingnear the water that pulled me

toward sailing, he said.

But his life changed in agolden flash on a track far from

home.In 1996, when Michael John-

son sprinted his way into history

with those golden shoes, Raileystared in amazement along with

millions of other TV viewerswatching the Atlanta Olympics.

He called a meeting with his

parents. He was only 12, but heannounced his goal: the Olym-

pic Games.

In setting his sights high anddevoting his teenaged years to

sailing, Railey said he missedout on movies with friends and

homecoming dances.

I was so concentrated on mysailing that I didnt have a lot of

free time, he said.Railey graduated from Clear-

water High School and headed tothe University of Miami. He con-

tinued sailing while in college,but not with the Canes. The col-

legiate boats were too small for

Railey, who stands 6 feet 4 andweighed 215 pounds in college.

He graduated in May 2006 witha degree in sports administra-

tion and business management

tools Railey said have helpedhim raise the money necessary to

continue his racing career.

His family, including sistersPaige and Brooke, have been

there every step of the way.Paige Railey, 21, also sails,

rising quickly in the ranks of

female Laser sailors. She quali-fied as the alternate for the Bei-

jing Olympics. In 2006, the Inter-national Sailing Federation and

Rolex named her womens World

Sailor of the Year.Her twin sister, Brooke, sailed

in her childhood, but now serves

as Raileys anchor, groundinghim when necessary.

Zach Railey credits his mother,Ann, with much of his success.

She does everything we have

to have done behind the scenesbefore we go on the water, Rai-

ley said. Its her full-time job. Ann Railey said raising two

world-class athletes is simplya matter of keeping organized,

which can be hard when her chil-dren are on different continents

competing.

Zach Railey said he spends alot of time away from home, but

his natural friendliness helpshim along the way.

It gets pretty lonely pretty

quick, he said.On the racing circuit, Railey

passes time with his competi-

tors, going out to dinner withthem and comparing schedules.

And because of his demand-ing schedule, Railey, who is sin-

gle, said he rarely dates.

But when he does get a chanceto go home, Railey said he tries

to be as normal as possible.Outside of all this Olympics

stuff, yeah, Im a normal guy, he

laughed.

The Olympics will be anythingbut normal. Only a few seconds

separate the winners from thelosers. Sometimes, its mere

inches.

But Railey said his plan is tosail a focused, disciplined race.

In sailing you have to be veryconsistent, he said. You dont

have to win every race to do wellin the regatta.

Finn-class sailors are the big-gest in the games. Light-wind

courses like Qingdao favor boats

that weigh less and make racingtough.

Its a mental game for sure inlight wind, said Railey, who has

dropped about 20 pounds to pre-

pare for the Olympics.But Railey said hes more than

ready. He follows a strict train-

ing regimen, starting with anhour of cardio exercise in the

morning, three to five hours outon the water and ending with

a two-hour session in the gym

before bed. When he gets back from

China, Railey said hes going totake a few months off. Hell start

with catching up with college

friends in Miami.Then, his sights will be focused

on 2012 and another Olympic

berth.My sister and I are definitely

going again, he said.But first, he plans to come

home a winner.

Jackie Alexander can be reached at

jdalexander@sptimes.com or (727)

445-4167.

. SAILING continued from 1

Setting his sights on the gold

departments could transport

some people to hospitals

appeals to some local officials.Theyre ready to talk.

Its an opportunity for usto sit down together and put

together a plan that works for

everyone, Largo fire ChiefMike Wallace said.

A few years ago, Marquis

comments about consolida-tion might have riled local

fire chiefs. But not now.

I dont know that consolida-tion is a bad word from a gen-

eral perspective, said Seminole

fire Chief Dan Graves, presi-dent of Pinellas County Fire

Chiefs Association.Chiefs have been talking

about the possibility of regional

consolidation, maybe groupingarea departments or smaller

departments with larger ones.But despite being open to

some concessions on consoli-

dation, fire officials still opposecreating one countywide fire

district, an idea floated time

and time again by county offi-cials.

If you were to look at mak-ing Pinellas County one fire

department, you end up with

a money-guzzling behemoth,kind of like the School Board,

Graves said.Fire chiefs say they felt the

concept was forced on them inthe past.

In 2005, as part of the county

charter review process, the

county asked for the thirdupdate of a previous study on

fire service. That update foundthat the county could save more

than $15-million a year by con-

solidating into one district.But the chairman of the

review commission, Alan Bom-stein, said such a system might

cost hundreds of millions to

implement if it required theconsolidated district to buy the

assets of the municipal depart-

ments.

Now fire officials say Mar-quis and other county leaders

are making more of an effort

to include them in discussionsabout fire service.

Its the first time Ive hearda willingness to discuss the

transport issue at his level. Its

the first time Ive heard theconsolidation talk go from all

or nothing to a more concep-

tually practical approach, saidSt. Petersburg fire Chief James

Large.Nobody until now wanted

to be a partner in trying to fix

this, Graves said. The windsare changing and the county

administration has some newpeople and theyre very inter-

ested in trying to fix it.While both sides appear in a

mood to compromise, Graves

acknowledged that there may

be some past animosity to workthrough.

You cant take years of get-ting beat up and turn that off

in one day, Graves said. Were

moving in a good direction,but Im sure theres going to be

some speed bumps.

Lorri Helfand can be reached at

lorri@sptimes.com or (727)

445-4155.

Its an opportunityfor us to sit downtogether and put

together aplan thatworks foreveryone.MikeWallace,Largo firechief

Nobody until now wanted tobe a partner in trying to fix this.The winds are changing andthe county administration hassome new people and theyre veryinterested in trying to fix it.Dan Graves,president of Pinellas County Fire

Chiefs Association

Consolidate fire

departments?