New Orleans newspaper is now a cyberpaper

Katrina has done one thing both interesting and positive, and that is to shut down the presses of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. That's "positive" in the sense that it forced the paper into the 21st Century with no looking back: The paper is now on line. I have added a link to the paper in the "Links" column, to the right. Go there for some of the most compelling news coverage you will find anywhere.

Katrina, Mother Nature, life, death

I'm sitting here ready to go take the deposition of the owner of a billboard company, in a lawsuit arising from our fair city's code enforcement program, but I am distracted by what we have seen from Katrina's trail of damage and tears. My heart is not in this deposition, but there's a job to do and I'll do it.

Meanwhile, Mother Nature has delivered a sucker punch to the belly of the South, blowing down billboards along with buildings and bridges, making hundreds of square miles totally unlivable. The devastation on human lives has not be counted nor will it ever be fully accounted for. Parts of New Orleans may become an uninhabited wasteland after the flooded homes are bulldozed.

I thought what Hurricane Andrew did to Homestead, Florida, was the worst a hurricane could do, and certainly never wanted to see another one like it. In terms of magnitude and effects on human lives, Katrina sets a new low. Recovery will take years, and for too many people, recovery will be an impossible dream.

You can contribute to the recovery efforts. We are going to contribute to the United Methodist Church's recovery operation. They were helpful in Florida last year and will be there again, to the best of their resources, for the victims of Katrina.

it must be hurricane season

We are about to head down to Naples, Florida, for a family reunion in honor of my mother-in-law's 80th birthday. This will be more fun than it sounds, 'cause my in-laws are a very sociable group and like to eat well.

Naturally, because this is August, the skies are omenous with an approaching tropical storm named Katrina. I'm picking up family at the airport around midnight tomorrow night and then we are heading south right away to beat the storm. You can check on the location and likely path of Katrina. Go here: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ and then look for the 3-day or 5-day "cone" for Katrina. We are going to have a wet Saturday. I was hoping to go diving Saturday but that isn't going to work this weekend.

Go, Seminoles

News flash: "Florida State University can continue to use 'Seminoles' as its nickname. The NCAA issued a statement today saying it is removing FSU from the list of colleges and universities subject to restrictions on the use of Native American mascots, names and imagery at NCAA championships."

Being an FSU alumnus, I am glad to see this.

Back in the Dark Ages, when I was an undergraduate, FSU had "Sammy Seminole," a gymnast who could do back-flips the entire length of the football field (no mean feat). FSU also used a stupid-looking cartoon that would truly be insulting to Indians of all nations by today's standards. . .or even by the standards of that unenlightened age.

Even so, the word on campus was that the Seminoles were selected because they were the only undefeated Indian nation in the land, having fought the U.S. Army to a standstill in several campaigns. Also, the other good Florida icons (gators, hurricanes, rattlers, etc.) were taken. Flamingos, mosquitos, and giant cockroaches don't lend themselves to athletic imagery. The pity was that our football team, though valiant, couldn't claim the same record against Gators, Bulldogs, Wildcats, and other creatures of the forest that the Seminoles maintained against the Army.

Flash forward a few years. "Sammy Seminole" became "Chief Osceola" on horseback, wearing a reasonably authentic Seminole Indian outfit and brandishing a flaming spear. Never mind that the historic Osceola was not exactly a chief, or even a Seminole. Never mind that the actual Seminoles did not ride horses and didn't use bows, arrows, or spears much after they figured out the rifle. The point was that the un-authentic Plains Indian garb worn by "Sammy Seminole" was gone and so was the stupid cartoon. In its place was a much more respectable figure of a genuine Indian leader. As if in response to an improved "look," the football team turned into a major national powerhouse - but, alas, without maintaining the undefeated record of the Seminole nation.

the new bridge

Ta-daa! The new bridge to Clearwater Beach
is now open.

This photo was taken while it was under
construction (note the scaffolding, etc.). It
is a "high" bridge, designed to let sailboats
pass under it without the infuriating delays
caused by the old drawbridge being held
open.

I'll have to post a photo of the bridge in its final completed stage, whenever they have it finally completed, but this will give you a good idea of the final results.

The old bridge, from the foot of Cleveland Street, is closed and will be demolished. That will be the end of the historic downtown Clearwater, which will suffer the fate of all the towns on historic Route 66 when the Interstate passed them by. Sad, but there hasn't been much downtown worth going to for many years, not since the retailers opened new stores in the malls and closed their downtown stores.

a small correction

The bridge did open today, or at least one of the east-bound lanes. They had a convoy of city vehicles heading east from the beach, so the pressure was on to get it opened. The actual opening trumped the "grand opening" scheduled for later, when they plan to have runners and joggers trotting over the bridge. We have one old geezer in our part of the state who has somehow become the first to cross several major bridge openings. I'm suspecting he got taken by surprise on this one.

water under troubled bridges

My hometown, Clearwater, has a long sad history when it comes to bridges.

There was the Highway 19 overpass, over Gulf to Bay Boulevard, which couldn't be opened for months because somebody forgot to design (and construct) an expansion joint. It sat out in the hot summer sun for months with water trickling off of it until they fixed the problem. (It was a good fix. The overpass is still there.)

There was the bridge from Clearwater Beach Island to Sand Key, which the locals hated from the get-go. The bridge sagged ten inches one day after giving some city employees enough advance warning to be able to do something about it. That one's been replaced. (The locals hated it because it opened up Sand Key for development, and because it ruined the spot on the south end of the beach where we took the girls to watch the submarine races.)

Now we have the new $69 million bridge from the mainland to the beach. It was looking good, and the city was taking credit for it, until a section of the roadway sank and twisted. They replaced that. Then they found cracks in the four main columns. They built two new columns around each cracked one, and removed the cracked ones. Another section of roadway sank seven inches overnight. They repositioned that one. They found cracks in a section of the south span. They removed and replaced that one.

Finally, today was supposed to be opening day, but the opening has been postponed while they finish one small detail: Paving the roadway. The city quit taking credit for this bridge (a state road department bridge) a long time ago. Now we just keep our fingers crossed.

old church, continued

When I said millions of dollars were at stake, I didn't know the details. This morning's newspaper sheds more light, by reporting that the church property will be redeveloped with a 25-story condominium tower for downtown Clearwater. Not to worry, though. Our City is ever vigilant. Quoth the paper: ". . . the first step in a potential $250-million remake of a waterfront block that includes City Hall, was approved without discussion Tuesday by the city's Community Development Board." [Italics added.]

"Construction on the 157-unit building could begin by the end of the year, said the project's developer, Opus South. The Tampa company must first close on the $15-million sale of the church properties, now scheduled for October."

They need to pre-sell a certain number of condo units. The units will "fetch" between $500,000 and $1-million. Meanwhile, developers will start working on the second, larger phase of the residential, retail and office project. "For that phase, developers envision a ring of restaurants and storefronts around what is now the City Hall property, with offices and lofts above. A new City Hall could also be part of the project, as well as $750,000 worth of public art."

I have a suggestion for the public art phase. Leave the church's grand old sanctuary where it is, and build the condos, etc. behind it.

"Opus would need to purchase part of the city property in order to complete the project, and that transaction requires voter approval in a referendum. A vote is now scheduled for March 2006."

I think I know how I'm going to vote.

"City officials, meanwhile, are exploring ways to save the original Calvary chapel as a possible performing arts center. Opus has agreed to donate the building and says it could cost $1.5-million to relocate the 1926 chapel." That's because they will need to disassemble it, brick by brick, and rebuild it elsewhere.

my old church

This is the interior of the sanctuary of Calvary Baptist Church, in Clearwater, Florida. Built in the 1920's, its days are numbered. The church got too big for its britches. First, it built a new, huge sanctuary adjoining this one, and now it has sold the property to a developer so they can build a new church on the east side of town. The new one is ugly. The old one will be torn down for condos on the bluff overlooking the harbor. There are millions of dollars at stake, here.

This was the church we attended when we moved to Clearwater. I never noticed the floor being so good looking because the room was filled with pews and our attention was riveted by an old-style Baptist preacher.

Up in the corner, not visible in this photo, are little angelic heads that probably have a fancy architectural name. They fill in the corners where the walls and ceiling and arches meet, and on top of columns. There was a sweet little old lady who attended our church, and the word was that she was the model for the angel heads when she was a little girl. It bothers me to think of those angel heads being torn out and shipped off to the land fill. Unless they come up with a way to save the building, don't be surprised if I am caught some night inside the sanctuary with a hammer and chisel, rescuing a few angels.

women in the pulpit

This is the sort of thing that gives some people a case of the rash, but our church now has a woman in the pulpit. I'm talking about the First United Methodist Church of Clearwater, Florida. This lady is not a "light-weight." She was pastor of a Methodist church in Oldsmar, just up the road, and led them in a campaign to build a new sanctuary. She became a district superintendent out of Fort Myers. Her district was one of the hardest-hit during last year's hurricane season. She returned to the pulpit after five years when the Florida Conference reduced the number of districts from 14 to nine. We are happy to have her.

I mention this because I (father of three daughters, and married to a most excellent lady) have been thinking about the role of women in many parts of the world, such as the women who walk around bagged head-to-toe in some parts of the Muslim world, and who don't have much of a future even if they are allowed to go out with their faces exposed. The men of such societies don't know the talent they are wasting.

I've also been thinking of the Catholic Church and the radical right religious groups we have right here in the United States, none of whom would allow a woman in the pulpit. They don't know the talent they are wasting, either. It's a scientific fact that men and women do not think alike. It's also becoming more and more self-evident to me that women - or at least educated thinking women - tend to have a view of the world that men should pay attention to.

In my office, half the lawyers are women. The city administrator is a woman. Two of our city council members are women. My doctor and my dermatologist are women. If they were forced to go home, put on head-to-toe bags, and stay at home unless escorted out by a man, we would all be the poorer for it.

on cleaning house

We are, once again, cleaning house. This involves (among other things) sorting through the piles of paper that build up, deciding what to keep and what to shred. It is amazing what builds up if you don't systematically sort and discard - such as statements from banks that no longer exist. This is like looking back through your own life, one receipt at a time.

I was digging through the back end of a file drawer and found a folder of papers from my father's time in the Army (I consider my packrat tendencies to be a thing of honor, inherited from my father). I found his Army medical examination report from 1942, when he was 30 years old. He had low blood pressure, like I do, which is remarkable because he smoked three packs a day until he quit, "cold turkey," after I was born. He had 20/200 vision, like I did (before it got worse). His vision disqualified him from serving in what the Army calls the "combat arms" branches - just like me. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 137 pounds. I was taller than him when I came back from Boy Scout camp at the age of 14. This is the sort of thing that prevents you from cleaning house - you get caught up in the details of what you are reading and go "off task." So, I put the papers back where I found them, to be sorted through on a day when I have nothing else to do, which might be this time next year.

Charley's anniversary

People outside of Florida may be unaware, but this is the first anniversary of Hurricane Charley. Charley was aimed directly at our house until, without warning, it took a right-hand turn, rolled over Punta Gorda, and cut across the state. I should have said, rolled Punta Gorda over. They have empty buildings and busy construction crews at work even today. I do mean "cut" across. Imagine the power it takes to snap a tall, mature pine tree like a match stick, or roll a mobile home over and leave it like a crushed can.

Our newspaper had a story this morning about the bravado being expressed today by fools who think "they never come here" and last year's evacuation warnings were "false alarms." I truly hope they live the remainder of their lives seeing no proof to the contrary.

At least I'm prepared for the next one. If the power goes out again and stay out like last time, I can brew coffee on the gas grill with my new, campfire-style coffee percolator. I just hope the gas grill stays where we left it and doesn't end up on the bottom of the swimming pool.