Lawmaker criticizes fellow Democrats’ politicking at Raytheon meetings.

3B
Forward
thinking
tampabay.com * * * * Monday, July 21, 2008 | 1B
SUMMER CAMP,
MINUS THE BUGS

Troubled dad, deadly end

AND SUNBURN
Ever envy the kids for the
goofing off they get to do
during the summer? This
week offers several oppor-
tunities for grownup goofing
off. One is Summer Camp, a
phrase that takes on a whole
different meaning at Stu-
dio@620 in St. Petersburg.
Thursday through Saturday,
With debts and eviction looming, the man calls 911 and dies in a shootout with police.
this “event of semi-epic BY JACKIE ALEXANDER, heard the shouts of a man in pain. 12001 Belcher Road, apartment get in position to speak to him, ordered him to drop his weap-
proportions” includes RITA FARLOW AND DOUG CLIFFORD
Times Staff Writers Stop, stop, you’re hurting me. B28, after a caller told a 911 dis- Carter fired at least 30 rounds ons. When he did not, three offi-
live music, spontaneous
They all heard deadly gunfire patcher at 10:58 p.m. that he was from the pistol and a .30-30 cers reportedly fired 10 rounds,
theater, carved tikis, exotic
PINELLAS PARK — From late Saturday when their neigh- disturbed and armed with a .40- hunting rifle. Police said he fired killing him.
fashion and a Camp Film
inside his Shadow Run apart- bor, 44-year-old Dallas Carter, caliber pistol. His said his two from inside his apartment in var- Pinellas Park police Officers
Festival featuring perfectly
ment, Edwin Nunez heard a man stepped out of his apartment, a children, 8- and 13-year-old boys, ious directions. Michael Erwin, Adam Smotrich
awful movies like Beyond
cry for help Saturday night. pistol and a rifle in hand, to con- were in bed. He hung up when Soon afterward, the chil- and Alexandro Aguilar have been
the Valley of the Dolls and
Why me? Why me? front the police. asked his name. dren ran from the apartment. At placed on administrative leave
Plan 9 From Outer Space.
An unidentified neighbor heard Police tried Carter’s cell phone, 11:32 p.m. Carter came out of his while investigations by police
Find information at www. •••
the screams of a man deranged. but their calls went to voice mail. apartment with the guns point- and the Pinellas Pasco State
studio620.org.
Kill me. Just kill me. Pinellas Park police came to As officers arrived minutes later, ing at officers in the breezeway, Attorney’s Office continue.
Neighbor Glendale Stephens Shadow Run Apartments at and as a negotiator attempted to according to police. The officers . See SHOOTOUT, 7B

Gulf monitors gauge
potential for disaster
‘Championship’
for 26 points
Many of us whiled away
summer afternoons over
board games, but some
people take such things
seriously. A horde of those
cutthroats will gather at the
Royal Pacific Resort in Orlan-
do on Friday through July 29
for the National Scrabble
Championship. Live cover-
age can be found at www2.
scrabble-assoc.com.
Funny how the
subjects stay same
Late-night goofing off is on
at American Stage, with
An Evening Wasted With
the Songs of Tom Lehrer
at 11 p.m. Wednesday
through Saturday. The
show celebrates one of the
best musical satirists of the
1960s, who took on subjects
like nuclear proliferation,
racial discrimination and
politics with the sharp edge
of humor.
Can they take the
calories out of cake?
Three performers associ-
ated with special powers
have birthdays this week.
On Wednesday, the movie
incarnation of wizard Harry
Potter, Daniel Radcliffe,
turns 19. Lynda Carter, who
to us will always be Wonder
Woman, is 57 on Thursday.
And on Saturday, Mick Jag-
ger, whose superpower is
simply being Mick Jagger,
turns 65.
By Colette Bancroft, Times staff
writer, cbancroft@sptimes.
com or (727) 893-8435.
. tampabay.com
Room,
board,
books
and debt
Antennas
Meterological
instruments:
But a loss of funding soon
Lightning
Barometric pressure
Relative humidity
could make it difficult to Schools and students
arresters Air temperature
Wind speed and direction
find equipment and staff face higher hurdles
to keep the wind and to pay for college.
12-volt
rechargable battery
wave sensors operating. BY TOM MARSHALL
Times Staff Writer
Students and families trying to
Surlyn foam pay for college are facing a com-
buoy plex financial puzzle that rou-
tinely requires a dizzying com-
bination of grants, loans and
money earmarked for retire-
ment.
COMPS station “It’s crazy,” said Trisha Brew-
As part of the Coastal ton, a Tampa beautician who has
Ocean Monitoring and been trying to find the money
Prediction System, an to send her daughter, Brialle, to
Florida A&M University this fall.
array of offshore
It’s no cakewalk for schools,
buoys measure such
things as current, either.
Over the past year, about 120
temperature, salinity
and meteorological
lenders have suspended all or
part of their federal loan busi-
conditions. The data is ness, citing the loss of federal
transmitted to the subsidies or an inability to resell
shore by satellites. loans. Others have cut discounts
or ended their participation at
certain schools.
At least one local school, Stet-
son University College of Law in
Gulfport, has lessened its reli-
ance on private lenders.
And students who began their
college years with traditional
Times files (1980) lenders have been forced to look
A car stopped on the edge of the Sunshine Skyway in 1980 after the Summit elsewhere.
Venture, right, hit the bridge, causing its southbound span to collapse. Brewton and her daughter
have cobbled together all but
See for BY CURTIS KRUEGER | Times Staff Writer
$4,000 of a total annual bill she
estimated at $17,500. They’re
yourself ST. PETERSBURG using federal Pell Grants, schol-

People are talking
about . . .
Prince Charlie: Out
of town, out of touch
(The Buzz, July 18)
The news: The governor
and his fiancee hobnob with
Prince Charles while state
economy tanks.
“Why has it taken so long
to see that our esteemed
governor wears no clothes?
Stop calling him an empty
suit. The naked truth is that
he does not have a suit to be
empty.”
“Since when do fiancees
attend meetings with for-
eign dignitaries? Now I am
beginning to think it is more
of a vacation then an actual
business trip.”
Sources: Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System, University of South Florida/College of Marine Science; buoy illustration by Rick Cole
“As I’ve been saying all this
time, he is a photo-op gov-
ernor. All he cares about is
how good (yuck!) he looks
A
For a closer look at the arships, and Stafford Loans,
information provided fierce wind, a blanket of fog, rain spraying like bullets. ¶ The sud- and can tap into savings if they
by the COMPS West den squall that whipped over Tampa Bay on May 9, 1980, became must.
Florida Shelf Observing “I didn’t want her to have the
Stations, go to comps. an indelible part of this region’s history. Inside the storm, the responsibility to have to pay
marine.usf.edu. freighter Summit Venture veered off course, a section of the Sunshine money back,” she said. “Why pay
To get information from for that the rest of your life, if you
Skyway collapsed, and 35 people fell to their deaths. ¶ What’s less well
the PORTS monitors in don’t have to?”
Tampa Bay, go to the known about the Skyway tragedy is one of its legacies: a network of sen- The Brewtons are in good
COMPS site above and sors, buoys and computers that now watch over Tampa Bay. ¶ Another shape compared with some of
click on PORTS. the families Congress targeted
network monitors the wind and waves of Florida’s Gulf Coast, and it’s a for help last spring.
legacy of the 1993 no-name storm. ¶ While little known, the two systems Under emergency legislation
passed in May, parents who fall
provide a surprisingly public way of watching subtle changes and urgent behind up to 180 days on mort-
dangers off the Tampa Bay area’s shores. . See MONITOR, 7B gage or medical payments can
still qualify to take out college
loans under the federal PLUS
program.
That’s an improvement on the
previous limit of 90 days. But it’s
Mooring chain Anchor cold comfort for families already
head over heels in debt, said Bil-
lie Jo Hamilton, director of stu-
Times dent financial aid at the Univer-
. See COLLEGE, 5B

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

in the pictures.”

Timeout for you

(Whoa, Momma!, July 18)
The news: A 2-year-old boy
has new habit of hitting his
mom.
Dan had one word for our
mommy blogger: “Spank.”
Another reader says: “2’s
are tough? Wait until he
tells you he wants to go to
Harvard, needs a car, a pad,
some folding and those
dukes are at eye-level.”
After watching Texas outfielder
Josh Hamilton redecorate Yankees
Stadium with his 28 wall-crushing
home runs in the All-Star Home
Run Derby, I’m 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 another
one).
… Debra Lafave and Stepha-
have them even if the trade falls
through).
… plans for a new waterfront
baseball stadium.
… naming rights to the St. Pete
Times Forum.
… one Canadian mullet hair-
ERNEST HOOPER cut and the profits from Saw IV
ehooper@sptimes.com and V.
… enough sand and saltwater
nie Ragusa. to create your own beach.
… Buddy Johnson’s cattle. … Dinosaur World.
… The Hogan Family (you can … one gigantic Confederate
flag.
… government in the Sunshine
manuals (they’re collecting dust
in 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, we
don’t mean the Hyde Park Cafe).
… the french-fry lady.
… Don Wallace’s sister.
… Brian Blair’s original Killer
Bee wrestling trunks.
… one classic rock station (we
have 16, so we can spare one).
… and finally, Forever Plaid!
By the way, we’ll throw in a
crazed sex master if you give us
Brad Richards back.
That’s all I’m saying.