Cancer in Clearwater’s Fire Department continues

People who have lived in Clearwater a long while should not be surprised by the recent revelations of vacation and sick leave abuse in the Clearwater Fire Department. Over twenty five years ago, stories were being printed about retired “disabled” Clearwater firefighters taking on post career jobs involving lifting furniture, working under cars and other activities that are not usually done by the disabled. We had hoped that City Manager Bill Horne bringing in a fresh face from outside the system in 2016 would turn the department around. It hasn’t. These latest findings have cost Clearwater taxpayers nearly a quarter million dollars in unearned leave time and the overtime required covering the absences. The consequences for this must start at the top – not the bottom of the food chain.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to above item: at the risk of repeating ourselves, the answer to what ails the Clearwater Fire Department – and several others is a unified county firefighting system.

2. Two cities doing it right – day in, day out, the sidewalks of Dunedin and Tarpon Springs are loaded with visitors and locals alike.

3. Random question: why is it that folks like District Judge Mark Walker, U.S Reps. Kathy Castor and Charlie Crist seem so devoted to giving convicted felons the right to vote and pay so little attention to the rights of law abiding citizens and, worse, the victims of the felon’s crimes?

4. Our condolences to the Locke family on the passing of their matriarch Dene Locke at age 86. Dene was a long time educator in Pinellas County schools. Her late husband, John, was a respected Clearwater attorney for several decades.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater long time if you dined at Bill Irle’s on North Fort Harrison Avenue.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. If you believe in free speech, there are several companies you might want to stop patronizing – the most ubiquitous – Johnson and Johnson which makes so many products not under their name i.e. Aveeno, Benadryl, Visine and many more – all which have alternatives, often less expensive store brands. More on speech suppression companies in coming weeks.

7. A literary preview from the 5:05 Newsletter: The publishers of former FBI Director James Comey’s upcoming memoir are taking extreme precautions to prevent the manuscript from leaking. “Yeah, it would be a shame if something got out at the wrong time and ruined everything for him” said Hillary.

8. NCAA Notes: Other than the alumni of the three other schools, was anybody in the country not rooting for Loyola of Chicago in the NCAA? Other schools might want to take note that eventual champion Villanova (winners of 2 of the last 3) started four juniors and a freshman – not a crew of one and dones as has become the fashion.

9. Last week (TBRR April 1) we highlighted the efforts of a devoted few to save the liner SS United States. The story of its birth, life and now life support is told very well in a couple books – A Man and His Ship by Steven Ujifusa and SS United States by John Maxtone-Graham. Maxtone-Graham’s effort is a bit more of a coffee table book, but both are full of knowledge on America’s last great liner and worth a read if your interest lies in the sea and its ships.

10. Our season long player/pitcher ranking continues with the Astros (see back story TBRR 3/25). Best player – it’s a near tie between the right side of their infield for so many years – Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio – the nod goes to the more versatile Biggio. And in a close vote for their best pitcher, Larry Dierker wins by an eyelash over Mike Scott remembering that Nolan Ryan already secured a spot on the Angel’s all time listing.

Baseball’s most historic games:

Major League Trade Rumors’ writer Jason Martinez answered a question from a reader a few weeks back about the one historic baseball game he would like to witness or re-witness. His answer was a good one – April 15, 1947 the day Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line. We asked some fellow baseball fans for theirs and this is what we got – the incredible 7^th game of the 1960 World Series where the underdog Pirates beat the Yanks 10-9 on the first 7th game walk-off home run in history; the very first World Series game in 1903 between the Boston Americans, as they were then known, and the Pittsburgh Pirates - both teams had playing managers – Jimmy Collins and Fred Clarke - both Hall of Famers. Boston prevailed in what was then a nine game series. How about a game where the two pitchers combine to give up one-hit in nine innings? It happened in 1965 when Bob Hendley of the Cubs threw the game of his life – giving up one hit to the Dodgers. The home team’s pitcher, the legendary Sandy Koufax, threw a perfect game winning 1-0. Ironically, Hendley was not quite as good four days later back in Chicago – giving up four hits but beat Koufax 2-1! Another nomination went to the famous “called shot” by Babe Ruth in the third game of the 1932 World Series at Wrigley – the Babe’s last World Series.

UP NEXT: Reagan wisdom; Putnam attack; a three-city franchise’s best