Around HereBy Leo CoughlinNobody asked me, but – . . . Here’s a hello from Midge Heathcote, who used to be the police chief in Belleair Beach – “Read your article this week. Makes sense. Would you believe that when I started with Indian Rocks Beach over 30 years ago there were rumors of all the beach communities being merged into one city? It made sense back then and it makes sense now. The main problem was that if it happened, then all the (elected officials) wouldn't have the powers that they then had. Politicians enjoy having power over the police and fire departments. Believe me!” Midge is living happily in retirement at Sun City Center after serving as police chief in Fort Meade. . . . It seems unlikely that a graduate of Columbia and of the Harvard Law School and president of the Harvard Law Review is going to be too put out at not getting an honorary degree from a dump like Arizona State University. . . . Probably the wisest group of voters to be found in the great U.S. of A. is in the 6th congressional district of Colorado. They fired Tom Tancredo, a total jerk. Now unemployed, he moves around the cable TV circuit mouthing his particular brand of poison. He’s another one of those war hawks who ducked service himself in Vietnam. . . . Whatever happened to the “swine flu” pandemic that had so many in a panic? . . . The terminology in the interminable national debate is all wrong. What is called “birth control” is actually “conception control.” Abortion is birth control – birth prevention, that is. . . . Add to the list of jerks a cross-eyed guy named Ron Christie. . . . Are you, like I, getting tired of seeing the word “gate” appended to every story that comes along, imitating the short-hand version of the all the doings some 35 years ago centered on a condominium in Washington? . . . Death recently took John Tabor, a stellar Belleair Bluffs resident, who always had wise words for the good of his community. A good man and he will be missed. . . . Al Lang Field as the site of a new Rays ballyard has been abandoned. Put the new field over in Tampa. That’s where everyone around the country thinks the team is located anyway. . . . Why would anyone go in the backroom of a police office and allow him or herself to be questioned without a lawyer? Doing such is just plain foolhardy. Always get a lawyer. . . . Also – why ever take a lie detector test? They have no legal standing and the idea in our law is that one does not have to prove one’s innocence. Short of conviction beyond reasonable doubt, innocence is presumed. Avoid lie detectors! . . . Whatever became of Dave Coyner? . . . Have you ever noticed the changing ways that relief pitchers enter the game and make their way to the mound? Used to be, years ago, that the reliever would stroll in very slow, his jacket draped over his shoulder (the bat boy would race out and take it). Then came the era of ferrying the relief man in by golf cart. These days they race to the mound in a sprint. I don’t get it. . . . The regional transportation board (TBARTA) has come up with approval of its regional plan (cost as of now = $36 billion) which is rather grandiose. One key operative in the plan is Frank Hibbard. . . . Add to the list of jerks and blowhards J.D. Hayworth, who California voters were smart enough to remove from office. . . . Do you find this rather questionable? – a teacher in Pasco County had her job called into question after being drunk at the school for the second time. Still working as a teacher after the first incident? Why not wait until the 10th incident? What’s the rush. Hey, get the lady to AA – quick! . . . Iran executes juveniles. Boys are eligible at age 15, girls at 9. No doubt the idea is to get them early so that they can do no real harm as they get older.
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