TOP OF THE WEEK:
 
Congratulations to recently elected Clearwater city councilmen Bill Jonson and Hoyt Hamilton. Hamilton returns to the council after a stint in Georgia. He overcame a first-ever (for Clearwater’s non-partisan elections) four figure donation from a political party to his opponent to win convincingly. Couldn’t the Democrats have just imported someone from Lutz to run against him? Jonson held back an extremely strong challenge from Clearwater native David Allbritton winning by a mere one percent. Allbritton took on arguably the strongest of the sitting members of the council and performed well. One would hope this is not the last we will have heard from him.
 
THIS WEEK’S TEN:
 
1. Part of the closeness of the Jonson/Allbritton race has to do with a perception of Jonson as anti-development/redevelopment. It is a label that has saddled the city of Clearwater as a whole for more than a decade since it severely scaled back its forward thinking economic development team crafted by then city commissioners and now State Rep. Ed Hooper and now County Commissioner Karen Seel along with others.
 
2. A Person of Note: Professor Robert Mikos of Vanderbilt’s Law School. In a recent article concerning legalizing medical pot in Florida, Mikos made this statement, “In the legally relevant sense, it’s (a physician certifying a person for pot use) no different than a doctor recommending jogging every day.” Really professor, you actually believe that?
 
3. Every time a scary line drive injury befalls a pitcher like Aroldis Chapman, people hark back 57 years to Herb Score. Sadly, very few people under sixty know who Herb Score was. In short, the Indian’s lefthander was on the way to the Hall of Fame with a 36-19 record his first two seasons, a Rookie of the Year. After his debilitating injury in his third major league season, he became an inspiration to others in and out of sports battling adversity – not to mention a revered baseball broadcaster in Cleveland. There were few classier people in baseball than Herbert Jude Score who passed away in 2008.
 
4. The chorus continues “Save the Belleview Biltmore.” The solution is easy. Get out your checkbook or find someone who is willing to get out theirs to save the Queen. So far, no bona fide group has come forward – and for good reason.
 
5. Breaking news – Tarpon Springs police determine that no laws were violated in “Golfgate”. But some poor guy leaves his job at the city golf course because of all the headaches this tempest in a teapot created. It reminds us of the infamous “Largo 8” – a group of trailer park penny ante poker players who were busted by the Largo police department back in the early eighties. Their plight was immortalized in song by WTAN Radio’s afternoon team of Dennis Crandall and Ron Scott. Gosh folks, don’t you have more pressing matters?
 
6. Next time you complain about the traffic backup to Clearwater Beach this time of year, please remember those folks are helping pay your salary no matter what line of work you’re in.
 
7. The sitcom based on the book was a dud, but the book itself, based on twitter (whatever the hell that is) is hilarious. Pick up a copy of Justin Halpern’s “Sh*t My Dad Says”. Unless you grew up in a monastery, you will see your Dad, Grandpa, Father-in-law or quite likely yourself in this 160-page easy read.
 
8. Veteran righthander Livan Hernandez officially announced his retirement from baseball last week. He had not pitched since 2012, and his career had not been quite the same since the retirement of umpire Eric Gregg.
 
9. Analysts will go on for weeks pontificating on what sank Sink. Most are overthinking this thing. Sink lost by less than four thousand votes. Based on conversations, it’s very possible that more than four thousand people simply resented an outsider who had never lived in Pinellas County marching in here with some twisted sense of entitlement.
 
10. City councils/commissions are welcoming new members and saying goodbye to old ones this month. One departing individual is no doubt breathing a sigh of relief that they completed their term without a clear conflict of interest on their part surfacing while they held office. It would take a judge and jury to decide whether the law was violated but the spirit of the law certainly was.
 
IN CLOSING:
 
March and April are arguably the two best fishing months of the year on the west coast. With some changes this year that have done away with closed seasons, it’s even better. Right now, any charter boat can keep red grouper and members of a select group of head boats (Clearwater’s Double Eagle and Queen Fleet and Tarpon’s Gulf Star) can catch and keep red and gag grouper as well as red snapper year round. And now the kings are here in force. Enjoy!