The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 37

Beach Park Belmont Heights Carver City Davis Islands Drew Park Hyde Park MacDill AFB Palma Ceia Port Tampa Seminole Heights Tampa Heights Wellswood West Tampa Ybor Ci ity DIM THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Thursday, August 3, 1995 Storm puts more cops in uniform sr i yT By DIRK LAMMERS Tribune Staff Writer trol officers if storm conditions demanded. If a hurricane hit patrol officers would need TAMPA Hundreds of plainclothes police and sher BayView Daniel Ruth HURRICANE GSDN I i Li Tampa police robbery unit detectives, from left, Chris Fox and George Lease and Maj. Earl Pegram look over a storm map showing evacuation areas and major problem intersections. The detectives were dressed in their old uniforms in case they were pressed into service to help the regular street units because of the stormy weather. help directing traffic, blocking it from flooded areas, assisting' residents through power' outages and ar-; resting looters; in damaged ar- eas, said Police! Chief Bennie; Holder.

"We need as iff's detectives donned their old uniforms Wednesday, ready to assist patrol officers if Erin changed course and passed through Tampa. The Tampa Police Department ordered 70 detectives and supervisors in the special investigations division to be many people as possible to be in uniform to be See POLICE, Page 2 gary RiNGSTribune photo ready to help 100 on-duty pa- South Tamba suffers little damage Is Sandy the Rubik's Cube of Tampa? This mystery is getting tougher to figure out than the World War II Japanese code. But then again, we're dealing with Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Wilson, a double-dipper wrapped in politics enshrouded by lawyers a regular Rubik's Cube of cupidity. Well it finally happened. The much beleaguered, but extremely-well-paid-to-be-beleaguered Sandra Wilson finally agreed to a tete-a-tete with her other employer, Hillsborough Community College President Andreas Paloumpis, the other day to discuss her career future with the school.

Career future? That's a little like O.J. Simpson worrying about his career future in broadcasting. Getting Wilson and Paloumpis together hasn't been easy. The National Rifle Association and the Greenpeace Society are probably cozier. Paloumpis has been trying to schedule a meeting with the commissioner since last year when Wilson was elected to replace the late Sylvia Kimbell.

Well, that's not quite right. Wilson may sit in the same seat as Kimbell, but she'll never replace her. There's been this problem. Wilson said she would give up her HCC administrative job, which paid her $81,698 a year playing canasta with paperwork, if she was elected to the $58,671 commission job. Campaign fiddle-faddle Things began to go sour for Wilson "AS By DANIEL BERGER and DARLENE McCORMICK Tribune Staff Writers TAMPA After all the anticipation and preparation, Tampa saw Erin go blah.

The hurricane had turned into a tropical storm by the time its southern edges reached Hillsborough County Wednesday morning, and emergency officials spent the rest of the day dealing with only isolated flooding, traffic wrecks and power outages. Even in oft-swamped south Tampa, Erin was less bother than a typical summer thunderstorm. At the usual problem intersections, such as Dale Mabry Highway around Henderson Boulevard or Swann Avenue at Bayshore Boulevard, the storm left only a few inches of standing water by the time it passed in the early afternoon. The doors were open although business wasn't good at Mott Hester Deli in the Palm Plaza near Dale Mabry and Henderson. "It's the storm.

We're only doing a quarter of our normal business," lamented manager Louis Collazo, looking across a counter at mostly empty tables. "The rain stopped for a while and it looked like it was getting better then it started again." North of the deli at another popular eatery, La Ideal on Tampa Bay Boulevard, workers selling Cuban sandwiches and cups of cafe con leche said little had changed amid no flooding, downed trees or other emergencies in their area of West Tampa. Erin did manage to change the rules downtown, though. Parking spaces were there for the taking with many offices closed, including those of the city and county government. Along Florida Avenue near Tampa City BOB WESTENHOUSERTribune photo Temple Terrace city employees kept busy Wednesday clearing debris from Tropical Storm Erin.

have to wait in any lines." TECO reported power outages around Tampa Bay reached 31,789 at about 11:30 a.m., with most arourid Town 'N Country. But within an hour, said spokesman Mike Mahoney, only 5,000 customers were without power, and workers managed to get that number down to 2,000 by 1 p.m. At Tampa's sanitary sewer de-See STORM, Page 2 Hall, even with a break in the weather around 3 p.m., drivers found plenty of room. And they parked without dropping in their quarters around Tampa Electric Co. at Zack and Tampa streets.

Terry Gay, a TECO employee, was walking down a quiet Franklin Avenue to do a little banking after the rain drizzled away. "I needed to get out of the building," she said. "It's kind of nice when you know you don't The following will reopen today: All Hillsborough County government offices, parks and libraries. All Hillsborough County public schools and offices. Tampa City Hall and other city offices.

Hillsborough Community College. The University of South Florida will open at 6 a.m. The University of Tampa. The Florida Aquarium and Busch Gardens. All offices at MacDill Air Force Base.

Tropical storm not washout for everyone i 1 when she was elected and people actually expected her to do what she said she would do. Throughout this whole sorry episode you can't help but get the feeling Sandy Wilson sometimes just wants to leap to her feet and say: "For goodness sakes people! I'm a politician! You can't hold me to my word! That was just so much campaign fiddle-faddle! "We're talking 81,000 klarns here. If you think I'm gonna give that up, you're even dumber than you think I am!" 1 Paloumpis tried to dilute his Wilson problem by shifting the commissioner from her stringing paper clips together job to a teaching position but at her administrative salary. And he's been slapping his forehead ever since. The HCC president now has a highly paid bureaucrat teaching a course outside of her academic expertise at the highest faculty salary level.

And unless Wilson agrees that she voluntarily accepted the reassignment, thus allowing for a reduced faculty salary, there appears to be precious little he can do about it. But she hasn't and she won't. You might say Sandy Wilson has Andy Paloumpis by his budgets. For one, brief, fleeting moment there Paloumpis thought he had Wilson checkmated. The commissioner had accepted a $10,000 "bonus" normally given to HCC administrators when they leave their posts.

Paloumpis was licking his chops. After all Sandy Wilson is renowned for picking up the check especially when it's made out to her. However, Wilson spoiled all the fun by returning the bonus, leaving Paloumpis to give himself a few more head whacks. The Wilson quinella It's a strange situation indeed. When this dust-up began, Wilson claimed that she so loved HCC she would be willing to scrub toilets for nothing if it would help the school.

At the time a college spokesman said if Wilson felt so strongly about her passion for HCC perhaps she could suggest a rea- sonable salary for her services. In a fascinating turn of events, Wilson suggested $81,698 seemed just fine, thank you very much. And so the two got together this week. You could tell the mutual respect they feel for one another when Wilson showed up with a couple of lawyers and a court reporter. The level of candor in the room had to be a thing of beauty.

In all probability there isn't a heckuva lot either Paloumpis or the HCC board of trustees can do to unload the commissioner who came to dinner at least for now. That won't happen until Wilson's contract with the school expires in June, 1996. Then she'll likely be given the bum's rush out the door faster than a poor soul who's just eaten a plate of bad mussels. Then 50 percent of the Wilson quinella will be complete. We'll have to wait for 1998 for the other half when she runs for re-election.

Can't wait. fjl Reach Daniel Ruth online on Prodigy at i 'i TRIB01B. On the Internet at TRIB01BProdigy.com. Or fax (813) 259-7676. Or call (813) 259-7599.

'J A GARY RINGSTribune photo A cement truck and a wrecker towing a car collided Wednesday morning on 1-275. -t Crashes tie up traffic on interstate "Dead," echoed photo technician Jim Conner at nearby CPI Photo Finish, 608 N. Franklin. Along the nearly deserted streets of Old Hyde Park Village, Talbots stood out at the corner of Swann and Dakota avenues as the only storefront with display windows covered by plywood. "It was a decision made by our corporate office in Hingham, said district manager Julie Harding.

"We watched the weather reports and there was constant communication with the home office. "With all the glass we have fronting the street, we decided we'd rather be on the safe side than fool with Mother Nature." Debbie Lytle, a clerk at Cash America Pawn, 3630 Gandy acknowledged things were slow as she watched three people browsing the store. But the store was open and workers planned to get things done they couldn't on a normal day, she said. "I'm not complaining at all." Optimism also carried the day at Mons Venus, Tampa's infamous nude dance club on Dale Mabry Highway just north of Interstate 275. Rain was falling, but cars kept pulling into the lot.

Owner Joe Redner figured many businesses giving employees the day off would help. By NANCY LAWSON and IVAN J. HATHAWAY Tribune Staff Writers TAMPA For Walgreen drugstore manager Jane Meeks, Wednesday was a lot like Christmas Eve: dead. But for Domino's Pizza manager Jerry Longen, it was just the opposite even worse than the Super Bowl. Fear of Hurricane Erin proved more of an event than the tropical storm itself for business.

While some government offices and a few stores such as Toys Us stayed closed, it was business as usual Wednesday for restaurants, shopping malls and even tanning salons. Some even were able to profit from the scare. "We're pretty much getting mutilated today," said Longen, manager of Domino's on Brandon, Boulevard. "We're so understaffed; we didn't schedule for it. Basically, we're just trying to grin and bear it." It was the busiest lunch rush Maribel Malave remembers in five years.

Working alone at Little Caesars on Busch Boulevard in Temple Terrace, she described a frantic noon hour cooking pizza and answering telephones. But in downtown Tampa, where Meeks said her drugstore at 516 N. Franklin Ave. never closes for anything, business reflected the low pressure system moving through the area. The driver was trapped in the cab for about 15 minutes before rescuers freed him, Wade said.

Paramedics took the man, not identified immediately, to Tampa General Hospital. He was listed in stable condition with facial injuries later Wednesday Police immediately brought in wreckers to stabilize the truck but had to close the highway later to remove it. Police Officer Ed Bowden estimated if would take at least 1 hours to lift the truck off the road, and it wasn't reopened until after 3 p.m. Police investigating the cause of the wreck found it appeared to be weather-related, Bowden added. Another wreck about 15 minutes earlier on 1-275 near Ashley Drive also tied up traffic.

Two autos, a cement truck and a wrecker towing a car collided, inflicting minor injuries on two adults and blocking traffic for about an hour, police said. By DIRK LAMMERS Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA Northbound Interstate 275 was closed at Lois Avenue after a tractor-trailer smashed through a guardrail in stormy weather Wednesday. It was the second sizable crash of the morning on the highway's stretch through Tampa. A 39-year-old man driving the empty truck told paramedics he was heading north on 1-275 about 10:25 a.m. when he jackknifed in high winds from the storm, said Capt.

Bill Wade of the Tampa Fire Department. "He said the wind got him and just shoved him," Wade said. The Mack truck crashed through the guardrail and stopped with most of its length hanging above a slope beside the interstate's entrance ramp from Lois Avenue. See ERIN, Page 2.