Around HereBy Leo CoughlinNobody asked me, but - …Clash of mayors at a recent gathering of officials to explore possibilities on a higher level - Mayor A suspected a set up and when that was expressed Mayor B drew fire from A for attitudinal demonstrations. No names, but a hint - closing comment from Mayor A to a non-involved party: "This is why people are moving to Largo to run for mayor." Ouch! …Amazing - The information is out that it costs the City of Clearwater $65,000 to replace the playground in a park. The cost in Largo is $650,000. How come? Funny numbers again? ...Wonder when Stuart Sternberg, owner of the Rays, or someone in that organization will have the gumption to tell national media, notably the idiots at ESPN, that his team is located in St. Petersburg, not Tampa. Tampa has never had a major league baseball team. ...The point is well taken - Fairness dictates that there be some kind of authoritative opinion on whether Henry Schubert, assistant city manager in Largo, is in a nepotism situation. No one associated with the city is competent to rule. The view here is that there is no nepotism. …Same subject - Kudos to an otherwise anonymous Largo citizen named Bill Monroe who pursued the nepotism question (though Norton Craig, the city manager, called it a "waste of his time"). Still, for some mysterious reason, city officials don't want to give Schubert a clean bill of health and get an authoritative opinion. Alan Zimmet, Largo's legal officer, did well on his research, but what he says doesn't really count. …If some pastor somewhere starts burning Korans, I think the Muslims ought to start burning New Testaments and Torahs. And the Jews can start burning New Testaments and Korans. Then we can line up according to religious preference and get guns, pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, carbines, machine guns, grenades, mortar tubes and shells and really settle this thing. This will be a win-win all around because all factions claim God to be on their side. …You read it here first dep't. - Roger Clemens will not be convicted of lying to Congress. Prosecutors will have to prove the underlying issue that he used performance enhancing drugs and all they have is the he said/he said stuff, which is weak evidence. There are no eyewitnesses of any use. The standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt - any doubt at all and Roger goes free. …Observation from an old timer in Largo - "It's amazing what Curtis Holmes (commission member) is turning up in city operations. All those folks for years on the City Commission and they either did not know what was going on or just went along with whatever was happening. Just collecting pay checks." Amen. …And speaking of Holmes, there is the beginning of a hue and cry that he serve on the County Commission and there perhaps do some of the cleaning of the Augean Stables he has done in Largo. But the betting is that he still has a lot to do in Largo and has just barely begun. …Department of life's vanities and ironies - Those who avidly aspire to be writers but who have no talent for same usually band into groups to pursue that which they will never attain. …Remember when we thought Tiger Woods would win them all and thus ruin golf as we had known it? …ESPN Radio has the greatest collection of talking morons in all of Christendom, but the biggest blowhard of all is a character named Colin Cowherd, who thinks you want to know all about his private life. Ugh! …Keep this in mind - the business of government is the business of the people (often forgotten in some of the city halls around here), with the media (me) acting as the eyes and ears of the public. …More nonsense - I don't get it. If there is any logic to it, such escapes me. Why did Reggie Bush surrender his Heisman award? Is the Heisman given on the basis of play performance on the field or so-called character? Ditto with baseball's Hall of Fame. Is entrance to the Hall based on character? Horrid Pete Rose belongs there, but because he gambled (not against the law, not an immoral act, but activity that makes Organized Baseball tremble with fear) he is barred. If the character element were the ruling criterion Ruth, Cobb, Hornsby and heaven knows how many others could be ruled out. So what is Bush's sin? He took money (based on his talent and worth) for his services? Southern Cal wanted him so that Southern Cal could be enriched. What Bush did was violate the rule of slavery, which is the absolute rule of college football.
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