University Board of Governors to push for more power today.

3B

HOWARD TROXLER
tampabay.com * * * * Thursday, June 19, 2008 | 1B
troxblog@tampabay.com

In 8 years, 100 babies saved

Drilling?
Maybe.
Florida?
No way. Group works to make sure people know where to take unwanted newborns. By the numbers
BY MARIANA MINAYA woman, pale and in her 20s, had But it also was a landmark for Now, every state has one. Flor- 2000: Year Florida’s Safe Haven

G
asoline that costs $4
a gallon is the wrong
reason for Florida
to change its mind about off-
shore oil drilling.
Offshore oil drilling is a
long-term proposition. It is
not going to do much about
our short-term pain of $4-a-
gallon gasoline — it will not
keep it from $5, or $6.
Neither is this election-year
Times Staff Writer
The young woman standing
at the door of East Lake Fire Sta-
tion No. 56 needed help.
Do fire stations still take
unwanted babies?
Yes, said Lt. Doug Stryjew-
ski, who followed her to a car,
where a newborn was wrapped
in a towel on the front seat. The
given birth that morning.
As he took the baby, he asked if
she was okay.
“I’m fine. I just can’t handle
this right now,” she said. Then she
got in the car and drove away.
That May 30 exchange was
remarkable for firefighters, who
took turns holding the infant
until hospital workers arrived.
the state’s Safe Haven for New-
borns program.
“Nicholas” was the 100th baby
to be dropped off at a fire station
or hospital in Florida since the law
was passed in 2000 amid numer-
ous reports of babies discarded in
trash bins and bathrooms.
At the time, Florida was one
of 15 states to create such a law.
ida recently expanded its law to
allow mothers to leave babies up
to 7 days old without fear of crim-
inal prosecution. Previously, the
limit was three days.
The baby left at the Pinellas
County fire station was named
after Nick Silverio, who created a
nonprofit foundation in 2001 to
. See SAFE, 8B
for Newborns law was passed
100: Babies who had been
surrendered safely as of May 30
39: Babies who have been
abandoned in unsafe places
since 2000
15: Number of those who survived
7: Days a woman has to surrender
a baby, recently expanded from 3

Trump
stuff about U.S. “energy inde-

Fire rips through condos

pendence” any reason for
Florida to change its mind.
Offshore oil drilling is not
going to make us “energy

builders
independent.” Not even the oil
industry claims such a thing.
Only politicians do.
And yet, Florida suddenly

file for
seems on the verge of aban-
doning a firm bipartisan con-
sensus against offshore drill-
ing that has governed this
state for decades.

John McCain, the Repub-
lican presidential candidate,
says we ought to do it — citing,
yes, gas prices and “energy
independence.” The current
president says so, too.
So now Florida’s governor,
Charlie Crist, has weakened
his own long-term opposition,
presto, change-o! He has set
off a chain reaction of lesser
copycats, too. Yet these still
are the wrong reasons.
They are pandering rea-
sons. They are sloganeering
reasons. They are short-term,
political exploitation.
Is there a case for expand-
ing offshore drilling? You bet.
The U.S. uses something
like 20-million barrels of oil a
day and imports most of it.
If we import less, the trade
deficit gets better. There are
more jobs, more investment.
States get royalty checks, too.
But we ought to use that
breathing room to get better.
We have to have a comprehen-
sive strategy to move us away
from what we do now.
If we just foolishly burn up
what we’ve got, in the name
of cheap energy, we end up in
the same boat, except worse.
Independence? Phooey.
The estimated U.S. offshore
reserves are 86-billion barrels.
Assuming we could actually
get to it, it would be enough to
run the place “independently”
for, say, 11 years.
And even if the U.S. policy
changed today, it would take
years to produce new oil.
So this is neither a quick
fix for today’s gas prices, nor a
path to “independence.”
This ain’t just whiny me
saying this. The oil industry
itself and the American Petro-
leum Institute are careful
not to make such claims. The
institute says there are many
good reasons to drill and to
expand domestic production,
but it also should be part of a
bigger strategy.
“We’re going to need more
energy of all types,” John
Felmy, the institute’s chief
economist, told me. “We can’t
just stand still. We have to
be going forward with a bal-
. Talk of the Bay
anced energy policy. Supply is
one component of that policy.”
Agreed. Yet this still brings
us back to Florida and its
unique situation.
What has changed, really,
in this debate? Only the short-
term political clamor.
The tradeoffs that Flor-
ida faces today are the same
as always — the same that led
every previous leader, Repub-
lican and Democrat, to say
Florida can’t afford the risk.
Drilling advocates from
some other states sometimes
accuse Florida of thinking
that it is special.
You know what? It is. Yessir.
It is too special to succumb
to false promises of cheaper
gas and “energy indepen-
dence.” Florida is too special
to sell out its coast for a roy-
alty check.
So, let’s go ahead with it.
Let’s pander, let’s make fake
promises. And let’s drill, for
the benefits that we do get.
Just not here.
Chap. 11
The developers of the
stymied condos owe
up to $50-million.
BY JAMES THORNER
Times Staff Writer
Harried by creditors and
lashed by lawsuits, the develop-
ers of Trump Tower Tampa have
sought the haven of Chapter 11
bankruptcy.
Though SimDag-Robel LLC
has yet to give up on building the
52-story condo tower, the bank-
ruptcy all but ensures the luxury
skyscraper is a long shot.
Bankruptcy papers filed Tues-
day mention debts of up to
$50-million spread among more
than 200 creditors. Among the
biggest: Colonial Bank, which
holds a $3.2-million mortgage
on the building lot at 111 S Ash-
JOSEPH GARNETT JR. | Times ley Drive, and New York tycoon
Michelle Mann, left, and Jocelyn Kelder, in the white shirt, comfort friend Nicole Vitadamo, whose home was damaged by Donald Trump, owed more than
fire at the Belleair Oaks condominiums in Largo on Wednesday. Vitadamo and her fiance were asleep when the fire started. $1-million in overdue licensing
fees from SimDag.
One resident of the Largo complex is hurt; dozens are left homeless. SimDag bankruptcy attorney
Jeffrey Warren said clients Jody
Simon and Frank Dagostino will
BY JACKIE ALEXANDER mother on the phone and told try to maximize the value of the
Times Staff Writer her to get out. lot for creditors. They include
LARGO — Olga Miladinovic Nina Miladinovic, 61, said dozens of condo buyers who
heard a whistle about 3 a.m. she grabbed her Yorkie, Moose, placed 20 percent deposits on
Wednesday but couldn’t figure and opened the door to smoke units costing from $700,000 to
it out. Then her boyfriend went “so hard and thick on my face $6-million.
outside and saw smoke. I couldn’t breathe.” So she cov- “It could be a sale, it could be
Their building at the ered her face with a towel development of Trump Tower
Belleair Oaks condominiums before feeling her way out. Tampa,” Warren said. “The filing
was in flames. The whistle was About 30 residents of the of the bankruptcy doesn’t stop
the fire alarm. complex on West Bay Drive any of the other activities.”
“I didn’t even grab my were left homeless after Chapter 11 was the crown-
things,” she said. “My mom was a three-alarm fire ripped ing blow to three jarring years
my main concern.” through their building. for Trump Tower Tampa. Trump
Miladinovic, 32, ran from Largo fire Chief Michael Wal- formally launched the project in
her first-floor condo upstairs lace said firefighters responding early 2005 when he rolled into
to her mother’s place. But thick to a report of a porch fire found Tampa with his new bride on
black smoke forced her to her the unit’s roof ablaze. JOSEPH GARNETT JR. | Times his arm. A licensing deal with
knees. She went back down- Firefighters focused on evac- Investigators with the Largo Fire Department and the Largo the New York real estate big shot
stairs, where she called her . See FIRE, 5B Police Department sift through the debris after the fire. would give the 190 units instant
. See TRUMP, 5B
Crist recovering after
YBOR CITY SITE PICKED
FOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN
Mayor’s choice goes before council
The St. Petersburg City Council this afternoon is scheduled
to decide whether to support Mayor Rick Baker’s choice of
operation on ailing knee
Officials with the Barack Obama cam- companies to redevelop Tropicana Field. Developers Arch-
paign this week signed a lease to house stone and Madison Marquette propose to build more than It’s from an old high school football injury.
the campaign’s state headquarters 1.1-million square feet of retail and almost 2,000 apartments
in Ybor City. Offices will fill space in as part of a $1.2-billion overhaul of the site if a new water- BY JENNIFER LIBERTO Gov. Crist
Times Staff Writer “over-
Centro Ybor once occupied by Big City front stadium for the Rays is built. Follow the City Council
Tavern. “We’re going to take over Cen- debate starting at 3 p.m. at the Times’ online stadium blog, Gov. Charlie Crist’s weak left extended
tro Ybor,” said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, Ballpark Frankness, at blogs.tampabay.com/ballpark. knee forced him to give up gov- his knee
who cochairs Obama’s Florida cam- erning Florida for roughly 90 violently,”
paign. Meanwhile, two new polls show Don’t fill that bill, even if bird begs minutes Wednesday, while he said his
Obama leading Sen. John McCain in Feeding the birds isn’t a pastime underwent minor emergency father, Dr.
Florida. A new Quinnipiac University anymore. It’s a crime. The Florida surgery under anesthesia. Charles Crist.
poll has Obama at 47 percent, McCain Fish and Wildlife Conservation Com- The governor had to officially
at 43 percent. And a poll by the Ameri- mission has made it illegal to feed give Florida’s reins to Lt. Gov. from his son Tuesday afternoon
can Research Group, also out today, brown pelicans, which can become Jeff Kottkamp from 12:30 to 2:10 about the ailing knee.
has Obama at 49 and McCain at 44. so dependent on humans that they p.m. The whole episode was a sur-
abandon their winter migration pat- It’s the same knee he injured prise. The governor didn’t fall or
Correction terns. The law, which takes effect July playing quarterback at St. Peters- hit his knee, Crist’s father said.
Kirk Lyons, an attorney and co-founder 2 and makes the act a second-degree burg High School at 16. The knee He felt something “sort of stick”
of the Southern Legal Resource Center, misdemeanor, is directed at large that ended his football career as in his knee and to clear it up,
was married by Aryan Nations founder operations like fish houses that dis- a walk-on quarterback at Wake he popped it. “Over-extended his
Richard Butler to the daughter of anoth- pose of large amounts of scraps. “Our Forest University. The knee that knee violently,” his father said.
er Aryan Nations leader, Charles Tate. officers aren’t going to be sitting out made him a swimmer instead of After that, there was lots of pain
A June 14 story about the Sons of Con- there watching for little Timmy with a runner. and instability, Crist’s father said.
federate Veterans identified the bride’s his grandfather to feed a pelican,” said “He should be fine, he’ll just So the governor saw radiolo-
father incorrectly. FWC spokeswoman Karen Parker. be on crutches for a couple of gist Dr. Manuel Rose at his Palm
days,” said the governor’s father, Harbor office late Tuesday night
Dr. Charles J. Crist, who got a call . See CRIST, 5B