We want to trust our bay area law enforcement agencies but…

Forget about Texas, Missouri, New York and other environs, here in the bay area several things have happened in the past few months that give us pause. In Tampa, bikers of color are being too frequently ticketed. A contractor caught working without a license is put in cuffs –a bit of an overreaction for a relatively minor infraction. Detainees in the Pinellas County jail being held longer than permitted. And, an off-duty Clearwater police officer smelling of alcohol is given a police escort (no handcuffs) to a local hospital after he plowed into a tree at 4 a.m. - no on-scene breath test. Our laws call for a level playing field for all – and that obviously is not happening on both sides of the bay.

Around the bay:

1. A Happy Retirement to long time Clearwater attorney Harry Cline – not only a top notch attorney but a stalwart for so many community causes over the years – just like his late father-in-law and law partner Tweed McMullen.

2. The prospective new owners of Tampa Electric are saying all the right things about local management, etc. But think back to the days of Florida Power in Pinellas County and how many levels of management the average person knew – usually quite a few, and how many they know today under the Duke Power regime – very few.

3. It is way past time for the Florida legislature to pass some fair to all concerned legislation regarding Lyft and Uber service. Otherwise, you are going to have about three dozen Florida counties doing their own thing creating total confusion for the public that relies on such transportation.

4. So Jim Norman is re-entering politics. That won’t make many lefties happy. He is a staunch conservative who wins elections.

5. Remember when the Pinellas County service station landscape was populated by names like Gulf, Phillips 66, Sinclair and Union 76?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6 Terrific major league debut for former Clearwater Central Catholic hurler Ryan Weber last week. Only two runs allowed over six innings usually makes you a winner unless you pitch for the inept Atlanta Braves.

7. We know we’ve said this before but the Times’ Tom Jones is one heck of a sports columnist - by far the best in the bay area and probably one of the best in the country. His Two Cent’s Worth and Shooting from the Lip columns are must reads.

8. The above being said, we respectively disagree with his contention that the Little League World Series (LLWS) should not be televised. It is highly entertaining and refreshing to see kids play for the pure love of the game. Yes, there is some pressure but pressure is relative – may this be the highest pressure situation the kids are ever in – rather than the pressure of a Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan.

9. Speaking of the LLWS, don’t you baby boomers wish you could have swung the bats the kids do today? The ball seems to travel a lot further off those alloy sticks than it did off the wooden Dee Fondy (first baseman for the Cubs in the 50s) model our little league team swung in Clearwater LL.

10. While not surprising, it was tough to see the Philadelphia/Clearwater Phils and Ruben Amaro part ways. There are few nicer young men in baseball – in fact it’s hard to realize he is 50 years old. Your humble blogger and his family had the privilege of sitting beside Ruben for a three game series in Atlanta several years back. Talk about a weekend of inside baseball with a true gentleman!

Seahawk and Pats fans book your hotel in Santa Clara. Buc’s fans, nah

The Super Bowl comes to the San Francisco Bay area for the first time in 30 years and our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced WALL-ed) foresees a re-match of last year’s Super Bowl featuring Seattle and the Patriots. He also forecasts that the Seahawks will employ very few passing plays from inside the opponent’s three yard line. Our peerless forecaster is shrugging off all the slings and arrows for last year’s prediction of a 7-9 season for the Bucs (actual record 2-14). This year, our soothsayer is predicting a 100% improvement for the 2015 edition – a 4-12 record for Lovie’s lads.