Largo Condo Fire Coverage

University Board of Governors to push for more power today. 3B

HOWARD TROXLER

tampabay.com

[email protected]

Drilling? Maybe. Florida? No way.

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asoline that costs $4 a gallon is the wrong reason for Florida to change its mind about offshore oil drilling. Offshore oil drilling is a long-term proposition. It is not going to do much about our short-term pain of $4-agallon gasoline — it will not keep it from $5, or $6. Neither is this election-year stuff about U.S. “energy independence” any reason for Florida to change its mind. Offshore oil drilling is not going to make us “energy independent.” Not even the oil industry claims such a thing. Only politicians do. And yet, Florida suddenly seems on the verge of abandoning a firm bipartisan consensus against offshore drilling that has governed this state for decades. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, says we ought to do it — citing, yes, gas prices and “energy independence.” The current president says so, too. So now Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, has weakened his own long-term opposition, presto, change-o! He has set off a chain reaction of lesser copycats, too. Yet these still are the wrong reasons. They are pandering reasons. They are sloganeering reasons. They are short-term, political exploitation. Is there a case for expanding offshore drilling? You bet. The U.S. uses something like 20-million barrels of oil a day and imports most of it. If we import less, the trade deficit gets better. There are more jobs, more investment. States get royalty checks, too. But we ought to use that breathing room to get better. We have to have a comprehensive strategy to move us away from what we do now. If we just foolishly burn up what we’ve got, in the name of cheap energy, we end up in the same boat, except worse. Independence? Phooey. The estimated U.S. offshore reserves are 86-billion barrels. Assuming we could actually get to it, it would be enough to run the place “independently” for, say, 11 years. And even if the U.S. policy changed today, it would take years to produce new oil. So this is neither a quick fix for today’s gas prices, nor a path to “independence.” This ain’t just whiny me saying this. The oil industry itself and the American Petroleum Institute are careful not to make such claims. The institute says there are many good reasons to drill and to expand domestic production, but it also should be part of a bigger strategy. “We’re going to need more energy of all types,” John Felmy, the institute’s chief economist, told me. “We can’t just stand still. We have to be going forward with a balanced energy policy. Supply is one component of that policy.” Agreed. Yet this still brings us back to Florida and its unique situation. What has changed, really, in this debate? Only the shortterm political clamor. The tradeoffs that Florida faces today are the same as always — the same that led every previous leader, Republican and Democrat, to say Florida can’t afford the risk. Drilling advocates from some other states sometimes accuse Florida of thinking that it is special. You know what? It is. Yessir. It is too special to succumb to false promises of cheaper gas and “energy independence.” Florida is too special to sell out its coast for a royalty check. So, let’s go ahead with it. Let’s pander, let’s make fake promises. And let’s drill, for the benefits that we do get. Just not here.

* * * * Thursday, June 19, 2008

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In 8 years, 100 babies saved Group works to make sure people know where to take unwanted newborns. BY MARIANA MINAYA

Times Staff Writer

The young woman standing at the door of East Lake Fire Station No. 56 needed help. Do fire stations still take unwanted babies? Yes, said Lt. Doug Stryjewski, who followed her to a car, where a newborn was wrapped in a towel on the front seat. The

woman, pale and in her 20s, had given birth that morning. As he took the baby, he asked if she was okay. “I’m fine. I just can’t handle this right now,” she said. Then she got in the car and drove away. That May 30 exchange was remarkable for firefighters, who took turns holding the infant until hospital workers arrived.

But it also was a landmark for the state’s Safe Haven for Newborns program. “Nicholas” was the 100th baby to be dropped off at a fire station or hospital in Florida since the law was passed in 2000 amid numerous reports of babies discarded in trash bins and bathrooms. At the time, Florida was one of 15 states to create such a law.

Now, every state has one. Florida recently expanded its law to allow mothers to leave babies up to 7 days old without fear of criminal prosecution. Previously, the limit was three days. The baby left at the Pinellas County fire station was named after Nick Silverio, who created a nonprofit foundation in 2001 to .

See SAFE, 8B

Fire rips through condos

By the numbers 2000: Year Florida’s Safe Haven for Newborns law was passed

100: Babies who had been

surrendered safely as of May 30

39: Babies who have been

abandoned in unsafe places since 2000 15: Number of those who survived 7: Days a woman has to surrender a baby, recently expanded from 3

Trump builders file for Chap. 11 The developers of the stymied condos owe up to $50-million. BY JAMES THORNER

Times Staff Writer

JOSEPH GARNETT JR. | Times

Michelle Mann, left, and Jocelyn Kelder, in the white shirt, comfort friend Nicole Vitadamo, whose home was damaged by fire at the Belleair Oaks condominiums in Largo on Wednesday. Vitadamo and her fiance were asleep when the fire started.

One resident of the Largo complex is hurt; dozens are left homeless. BY JACKIE ALEXANDER

Times Staff Writer

LARGO — Olga Miladinovic heard a whistle about 3 a.m. Wednesday but couldn’t figure it out. Then her boyfriend went outside and saw smoke. Their building at the Belleair Oaks condominiums was in flames. The whistle was the fire alarm. “I didn’t even grab my things,” she said. “My mom was my main concern.” Miladinovic, 32, ran from her first-floor condo upstairs to her mother’s place. But thick black smoke forced her to her knees. She went back downstairs, where she called her

mother on the phone and told her to get out. Nina Miladinovic, 61, said she grabbed her Yorkie, Moose, and opened the door to smoke “so hard and thick on my face I couldn’t breathe.” So she covered her face with a towel before feeling her way out. About 30 residents of the complex on West Bay Drive were left homeless after a three-alarm fire ripped through their building. Largo fire Chief Michael Wallace said firefighters responding to a report of a porch fire found the unit’s roof ablaze. Firefighters focused on evac.

See FIRE, 5B

JOSEPH GARNETT JR. | Times

Investigators with the Largo Fire Department and the Largo Police Department sift through the debris after the fire.

Harried by creditors and lashed by lawsuits, the developers of Trump Tower Tampa have sought the haven of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Though SimDag-Robel LLC has yet to give up on building the 52-story condo tower, the bankruptcy all but ensures the luxury skyscraper is a long shot. Bankruptcy papers filed Tuesday mention debts of up to $50-million spread among more than 200 creditors. Among the biggest: Colonial Bank, which holds a $3.2-million mortgage on the building lot at 111 S Ashley Drive, and New York tycoon Donald Trump, owed more than $1-million in overdue licensing fees from SimDag. SimDag bankruptcy attorney Jeffrey Warren said clients Jody Simon and Frank Dagostino will try to maximize the value of the lot for creditors. They include dozens of condo buyers who placed 20 percent deposits on units costing from $700,000 to $6-million. “It could be a sale, it could be development of Trump Tower Tampa,” Warren said. “The filing of the bankruptcy doesn’t stop any of the other activities.” Chapter 11 was the crowning blow to three jarring years for Trump Tower Tampa. Trump formally launched the project in early 2005 when he rolled into Tampa with his new bride on his arm. A licensing deal with the New York real estate big shot would give the 190 units instant .

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Talk of the Bay YBOR CITY SITE PICKED FOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN Officials with the Barack Obama campaign this week signed a lease to house the campaign’s state headquarters in Ybor City. Offices will fill space in Centro Ybor once occupied by Big City Tavern. “We’re going to take over Centro Ybor,” said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, who cochairs Obama’s Florida campaign. Meanwhile, two new polls show Obama leading Sen. John McCain in Florida. A new Quinnipiac University poll has Obama at 47 percent, McCain at 43 percent. And a poll by the American Research Group, also out today, has Obama at 49 and McCain at 44.

Correction Kirk Lyons, an attorney and co-founder of the Southern Legal Resource Center, was married by Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler to the daughter of another Aryan Nations leader, Charles Tate. A June 14 story about the Sons of Confederate Veterans identified the bride’s father incorrectly.

Mayor’s choice goes before council The St. Petersburg City Council this afternoon is scheduled to decide whether to support Mayor Rick Baker’s choice of companies to redevelop Tropicana Field. Developers Archstone and Madison Marquette propose to build more than 1.1-million square feet of retail and almost 2,000 apartments as part of a $1.2-billion overhaul of the site if a new waterfront stadium for the Rays is built. Follow the City Council debate starting at 3 p.m. at the Times’ online stadium blog, Ballpark Frankness, at blogs.tampabay.com/ballpark.

Don’t fill that bill, even if bird begs Feeding the birds isn’t a pastime anymore. It’s a crime. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has made it illegal to feed brown pelicans, which can become so dependent on humans that they abandon their winter migration patterns. The law, which takes effect July 2 and makes the act a second-degree misdemeanor, is directed at large operations like fish houses that dispose of large amounts of scraps. “Our officers aren’t going to be sitting out there watching for little Timmy with his grandfather to feed a pelican,” said FWC spokeswoman Karen Parker.

See TRUMP, 5B

Crist recovering after operation on ailing knee It’s from an old high school football injury. Gov. Crist “overextended his knee violently,” said his father, Dr. Charles Crist.

BY JENNIFER LIBERTO

Times Staff Writer

Gov. Charlie Crist’s weak left knee forced him to give up governing Florida for roughly 90 minutes Wednesday, while he underwent minor emergency surgery under anesthesia. The governor had to officially give Florida’s reins to Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp from 12:30 to 2:10 p.m. It’s the same knee he injured playing quarterback at St. Petersburg High School at 16. The knee that ended his football career as a walk-on quarterback at Wake Forest University. The knee that made him a swimmer instead of a runner. “He should be fine, he’ll just be on crutches for a couple of days,” said the governor’s father, Dr. Charles J. Crist, who got a call

from his son Tuesday afternoon about the ailing knee. The whole episode was a surprise. The governor didn’t fall or hit his knee, Crist’s father said. He felt something “sort of stick” in his knee and to clear it up, he popped it. “Over-extended his knee violently,” his father said. After that, there was lots of pain and instability, Crist’s father said. So the governor saw radiologist Dr. Manuel Rose at his Palm Harbor office late Tuesday night .

See CRIST, 5B