The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 20

2 PINELLAS SUNDAY, JULY 21. 2002 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE TBO.com Keyword: Pinellas Sidewalks For Pedestrians On U.S. 19... What A Novel Concept "No matter what's needed Karen's willing to pitch in," said Stetson Director of Development Darlene Kelly. Lopez runs her own one-lawyer firm and is raising two children.

"She's a very successful family practitioner," Kelly said. "I don't know where she finds the time," Kelly said. "I'm beginning to wonder about that myself, Lopez said when asked how she does it. With a daughter in college and a 6-year-old at home, Lopez said she has to do some juggling to run her business, raise kids and volunteer. By DAVID SOMMER First came the simple idea of eliminating most left turns onto U.S.

19 as a way to cut down on the traffic accidents that have made the roadway so notorious. Now county planners have embraced another simple idea from the U.S. 19 Task Force on how to make the roadway safer. Connect all those stretches of sidewalk that line U.S. 19 in a haphazard hodgepodge.

U.S. 19 is 33 miles long in Pinellas County, yet there are only 30 miles of sidewalk, not even enough to cover one side of the highway. So with the help of some $15.2 million in federal grant money, the county's Municipal Planning Organization plans to link all those bits of pavement with another 36 miles of walkway. Statistics show the sidewalks are needed. Between 1996 and 2000, there were 128 incidents of pedestrians being struck by vehicles on U.S.

19, according to the MPO. In 1999 alone, there were 22 pedestrians struck, five killed. That year there were five bicycle accidents involving moving vehicles, with one fatality. Sidewalks are "big issues because a bunch of people have been killed, not to mention injuries," said county planner Brian Smith. When sidewalks stop, pedestrians often walk along the side of U.S.

19 to avoid drainage ditches or cross the highway to get to sidewalks on the other side, Smith said. "Even walking a short distance is difficult" The $15.2 million project will not replace existing sidewalks, Smith said. Instead, it will fill in most of the 72 existing gaps, he said. Sidewalks will not be built, however, at intersections where overpass construction is contemplated in the near future, Smith said. Those intersections include Drew Street, Sunset Point Road and Northeast Coachman Road in the north part of the county, and 1 18th Avenue in mid-county.

the building was not functioning. But, although workers knew it was out of commission, they did not mark it or repair it immediately. The crew was responding to a resident's complaint of dirty water and was using hydrants to flush the system when the broken plug was discovered, according to utilities director Andy Neft The crews are supposed to carry brighdy-colored tags to mark broken hydrants for the benefit of both repair crews and firefighters, but in this case for whatever reason it was not marked, Neff said. Officials are debating whether the broken hydrant contributed to the Dolphin Cove deaths: Firefighters were quickly able to get water from another hydrant Since then, Neff has changed the city's fire plug repair policy. From now on, broken plugs are to be fixed or replaced within 24 hours of the discovery of anyproblem, Neff said.

Also, utility workers are under strict orders to tag broken hydrants and cover them with a brightly colored bag. "They are to make the proper notification and then bag and tag the hydrant to identify that it is out of service," Neff said. "It's just a double protection measure." Hard Work Helping Poor Wins Recognition A St. Petersburg lawyer who played a major role in founding and running a nonprofit organization providing free legal services to the poor who also volunteers as a guardian for children in troubled families is this year's recipient of the William Reece Smith Jr. Public Service Award.

The statewide award was created by Stetson University College of Law to honor people who "have demonstrated exemplary achievements in public service," according to the announcement naming Karen Lopez as this year's honoree. It was during her tenure as the first female president of the St Petersburg Bar Association (1993-94), that Lopez and two other lawyers set up the Community Law Program Inc. Among other things, the nonprofit group holds twice weekly clinics at the St Petersburg courthouse where people unable to afford a lawyer can receive free legal advice from volunteer attorneys. The Wednesday morning clinics, where people can ask any type of legal question, are interesting and challenging, Lopez said: "You never know exactly what you are going to get" Lopez has helped a single mother get her child's name changed to that of the deceased father, advised elderly clients on landlord and debt problems, helped people get cars back af- i i rr i i PINELLAS UPDATE Smith said officials hope to have the design and construction contracts out for bid by October. After that, construction should take 12 to 18 months, he said.

Ranger Gets Help From Friends And Man Even as the turtle nesting season peaks, with last week's rare Kemp's ridley hatching making headlines for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the nonprofit facility is back at work trying to nurse a stranded dolphin back to health. The aquarium's latest guest is a young adult male Clymene dolphin found stranded at Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle. Biologists from Gulf World rescued the 6-foot dolphin, found suffering from shark bites, dehydration and infection, but had no room in their rehabilitation pool to care for it, so Clearwater Marine Aquarium biologists picked up the dolphin, named Ranger, and brought him down to Clearwater Monday evening. "He's eating pretty well, but he's not making any efforts to swim," said CMA biologist Glenn Harman. "He's not real emaciated and his wounds are fairly fresh, so we think he got attacked and stranded shortly afterward." There are four shark bite marks, two of them pretty severe, on the dolphin's peduncle, the muscular portion of the tail, Harman explained.

There are also rake marks from the Tribune phpto by FRED FOX Maj-Lis Carlson works with Ranger, a Clymene dolphin, at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. teeth of other dolphins on Ranger's flukes, the flat tail portion they use to propel themselves through the water. Harman suspects dolphins pushed Ranger to shore to keep him from drowning after the shark attack. Clymene dolphins, a type of spinner dolphin, are deep water mammals rarely seen near shore, so it was likely a long trip in. No one really knows why dolphins help one another beach, since without help from man a beached dolphin usually dies, Harman said.

Deaths Spark Action On Broken Hydrants A deadly fire at a condominium high-rise has prompted the Clearwater Public Utilities Department to change its fire hydrant repair policy. Four days before a fire claimed two lives June 28 at the Dolphin Cove condominiums on Island Estates in Clearwater Harbor, a utilities crew discovered the nearest fire hydrant to ier rcpaus uiey cuuiu iiui anutu, anu drawn up wills for AIDS patients. The Thursday clinics, to which people bring family problems often messy divorces are more predictable, Lopez said. Kelly said the awards committee was especially impressed with Lopez's dedication: "It's not just her efforts in founding the Community Law Program. It's also her continuing efforts in support of the program," Kelly said.

Columnist David Sommer can be reached at (727) 799-7413. HOW TO CONTACT US To contact Pinellas Team Leader Rick Barry: (727) 799-7413 (Clearwater) or (727) 823-3207 (St. Petersburg), or e-mail rbarrytampatrib.com For information about subscriptionsdeliveries: 1-800-282-5588 To contact Pinellas Advertising Sales Manager Marie Holland: (727) 799-7409 or e-mail mhollandtampatrib.com To place a Classified ad: (727) 799-7411 (8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday); fax (727) 669-8643 Clearwater News Bureau: 2560 Gulf-to-Bay Clearwater FL 33765; at US 19 and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard Clearwater faxes: (727) 791-6826 (news); (727) 669-8643 (advertising) St.

Petersburg Bureau: 1033 Ninth St. St. Petersburg FL 33701 St. Petersburg fax: (727) 823-9163 (news and advertising) To contact Senior Regional Editor Ken Koehn: (813) 259-7954 or e-mail kkoehntampatrib.com For information about Tribune news departments: (813) 259-7600 The Pinellas community focus section is published on Sundays. If Waterchase The answer to "Where do we go from here?" 'A DON'T SETTLE FOR JUST RAISING CHILDREN WHEN YOU CAN ELEVATE THEIR ENTIRE WORLD.

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