Clearwater’s moonwalk over red light cameras

The great city of Clearwater has modified its contract with red light camera vendor Redflex. Now, Clearwater’s own will review pictures of supposed red light violations rather than the vendor. Meanwhile, we learn that accidents at both intersections monitored by big brother have actually gone up since their installation. Clearwater’s police chief says there are other factors involved. To his credit, he was not the chief when council members were assured accidents would go down with the cameras - without any mention of “other factors”. But revenues from the cameras are closing in on seven figures – and that’s what it’s all about – the money. Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos is the only member of the city council who seems to see through the smoke and mirrors.

Around the bay:

1. Further to our lead item of the week. Nice job of vetting Redflex by the city. Their former CEO has pleaded guilty to a two million dollar bribe scheme to fetch business in (where else?) Chicago. The story has been all over the Chicago Tribune for years for anyone of authority in Clearwater who wanted to read it.

2. It’s hard to see Lisa Wheeler-Brown getting elected to the St. Pete city council after a serious misstep with campaign funds. That does not bode well for the faction that wants to hand over the city’s checkbook to the Tampa Bay Rays for their new stadium.

3. A couple walks out of a Pinellas county movie after a man carries a duffel bag in making the wife very nervous. In Tampa, a guy’s gun falls out of its holster onto the floor prompting another patron to call police. Come on theaters, we can’t carry our own bottle of water into most theaters, but guys are carrying duffel bags and revolvers into the movies. And you wonder why attendance is down?

4. More on movie theaters: two Pinellas multi-screen theaters are backing away from showing Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. This is in keeping with the American way of not offending anyone unless, of course, they happen to be WASPs.

5. Yet more movie stuff: you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time when going to the “new” theater meant the Carib in the 1100 block of Cleveland Street – built in the mid-fifties.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The local Rays beat writer uses up a barrel of printer’s ink explaining why the Rays have a good chance of finishing last in their division. It pretty much can be summed up in one sentence. A team with a lot of inexperienced players hired an even more inexperienced guy to manage them - this despite better alternatives being available – as close as their own dugout.

7. Great news for those of you who remember how great late night TV used to be. Antenna TV (610 on Bright House converters) will begin airing The Johnny Carson Show the first of the year.

8. As we often do, we “borrow” a gem from the world famous 5:05 Newsletter - Biden Update: Leading liberal newspapers are begging Joe Biden to run for president. It is amazing. Three months ago, he was a national joke and a nightly punch line, but then the Democrats got a good look at Hillary and Bernie and suddenly Joe Biden looks like the fifth face on Mt. Rushmore.

9. It’s not always that bad to be wrong (Rants – September 20). We’re happy the Phils retained Pete Mackanin, a solid baseball man. Meanwhile, you hope the Marlins will come up with a few better names than the first couple thrown around as Dan Jennings’ successor.

10. Factoid: Bryce Harper, the odds-on NL MVP, has hit exactly one home run against a pitcher younger than him during his career. Harper is a mere 22.

Yogi Berra: saying goodbye to my boyhood hero

It was almost 60 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Our Little League team was in the Clearwater city championship. We were privileged to play that best 2 out of 3 series at Jack Russell Stadium. In the first inning, I reached down and scooped up a handful of dirt. He had stood, or rather squatted, at this same spot just a few months before. He was Lawrence Peter Berra – Yogi. Mr. Berra, like Mark Twain, probably said about a third of what is attributed to him - but my personal favorite, about a New York area restaurant, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” Yogi and I were both left-handed hitting catchers and that’s where the comparison stops. He was one of the greatest clutch hitters the game ever saw. Ask Casey Stengel who he would rather have up with the game on the line, and it wasn’t Mantle or Maris, it was the five foot eight inch product of “the hill” in St. Louis. Possibly the most incredible statistic in Yogi’s career came in the 1950 season when he batted 656 times, hit 28 homeruns and drove in 124 and struck out 12 times. A lot of guys do that in a four game series. Incredibly, he did not win the MVP that year but did the next and was the first player to win it three times. Today there is a shadow of a tear as I look above my desk at the Yogi Berra Reach model 2441 catcher’s mitt given to me by my other boyhood hero, my Dad, when I made my first Little League team. Just like Dad, I’m going to miss you Yogi.