North Pinellas TO CONTACT US ABOUT NEWS: By phone: 445-4205 By fax: 445-4206 By e-mail: northpinsptimes.com imes AN EDITION OF THE Petersburg mc TUESDAY AUGUST 10, 1999 o-righteni ng ordeal may help others Palm Harbor answers the call for emergency phones after a man's experience outside an empty fire station. Rick Stout thought he was going to die June 21 outside Palm Harbor Fire Station 66. Stout, experiencing severe chest pains, went to the station to get help, but the fire house was empty. With no emergency call box or pay phone in the vicinity, Stout gave up hope. Firefighters returned from a call about 10 minutes later and got Stout help in time.
But on June 21 something went wrong and the pain so intense Stout described it as an "eight or a nine" on a scale of 10 was back. Even his nitroglycerin tablets couldn't tame it. He felt he was dying and knew he couldn't make it all the way to Clearwater. Instead, he drove to the one place he believed he could find a helping hand: Palm Harbor Fire Station 66, just a block and a half from his home. No one was there.
The firefighters and paramedics were out on a call, so he was left standing alone with his dog, named Dog. He couldn't call for help because there was no telephone outside the station. "There was a chair and I settled in and thought this was the end of life," Stout said. "I had no idea where they were." Ten excruciating minutes later, the fire trucks returned and found a rapidly weakening Stout. "He was thankful and scared at the same time," said Lt.
Thomas Fritz, who was there. "He was like, Thank God you guys are He couldn't walk across the street" Stout got help in time, and partly because of his experience, others in need might find help at Palm Harbor fire stations in the future, even if firefighters are not there. Within the last week, phone boxes linking callers directly to the 911 emergency system were installed for walk-up emergencies at Palm Harbor stations 66 and 67. "I said to him, 'I can use your case to put in the emergency call Fritz said. "I was trying to make a greater push for them in the last six months." Stout was upset that he could have died alone in front of the station.
After his ordeal, he said he began making phone calls to fire and county employees. "We have no way of getting help when those guys are away," Stout said. "You're sitting there on the verge of croaking and you're scared." In the next few weeks, the out-Please see PHONES Page 5 By EILEEN SCHULTE Timai Staff Writer PALM HARBOR Rick Stout couldn't call 911 he had no phone yet in his new home. So when the 74-year-old widower's chest began to hurt, he put his dog into the car and headed to Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater. Stout had an angioplasty procedure at the hospital just days before.
Time photo MELISSA LYTTLE The long trelc to a wider road Tsffponn mmeirclnaimt yiHif of smmyggQninig Petros Leventis faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the three counts. h--P irM: urn l)kyZj and a $250,000 fine for each of the three counts. The shells and coral in question are protected by an international agreement enacted to protect wildlife from extinction by outlawing or limiting its sale. "We intend to do our part to eliminate the exploitation of these species and protect the global environment," U.S. Attorney Charles Wilson said in a statement released after the verdict.
Leventis' attorney, Frank Louderback of St. Petersburg, had argued that Leventis was unaware that he was receiving illegal items in a shipment that arrived in July 1997 from Esther T. Flores, an exporter in the Philippines. "Most assuredly, he will appeal," Louderback said after the verdict. Leventis, his business and Flo-res were charged in the November 1998 indictment with conspiracy, smuggling and knowingly violating import laws.
Leventis' business was. found guilty of the same three counts and faces a maximum fine of $500,000 per count. Flores can be arrested and tried on the same charges if she travels to the United States or if federal efforts to extradite her succeed. Leventis and his business were found not guilty of conspiracy to violate smuggling laws and two counts of false labeling. The case was jointly prosecuted by Peter J.
Murtha, senior trial counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice's environment and natural resources division in Washington, and Eduardo Toro-Font, assistant U.S. attorney in Tampa. "As far as we know, it is the first such case," Murtha said. The federal investigation began when a shipment to Leventis containing about 350 boxes and packages of coral arrived in Tampa in July 1997.
The U.S. Customs Please see GUILTY Page 3 By ED QUIOCO Timet Staff Writer TAMPA A Tarpon Springs shop owner was found guilty Monday of smuggling rare coral and shells into the United States, a conviction federal prosecutors say is the first of its kind. Petros "Pete" Leventis, 68, was convicted of three counts of smuggling after a weeklong trial. He had faced six counts, but was acquitted of three. Jurors deliberated for a day.
The owner of Greek Island Imports Inc. on the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison Ridgecrest Park The Florida Botanical Gardens 5 5 Eagle's nest i 0 1 i Ik Gardens project getting its roots I Wetland restoration -(bird rookery) Trialresearch gardens Greenhouses Maintenance site 4 ft, Animal Services XI Emergency By LI ANNE WU Timet Staff Writer Medical Services Observation towor 4 conservation i ft 9 a 5" Kitchen garden --j Patio courtyard garden Nature trails 1 Bike trail Cooperative Extension Shade garden Water Palm walk Service-welcome center 5 garden Lg Ground cover garden a Wedding garden Weddina aarden Home landscape demonstration Native nardfin Times photo- MEUSSA LYTTLE Chuck Gaffka operates a thermal buggy as he puts a layer of hot plastic over the lines and arrows on the newly widened Tampa Road in Oldsmar, while Eugene Drain keeps an eye on him from inside a truck cab. The men are part of the Advance Barricade Signing Inc. crew that finished the project Monday. The road work, which began on June 24, 1996, was delayed by rain and disputes between the contractor, Oldsmar and the Florida Department of garden Oasis garden Klr Hp Sensory garden pa- Butterflyhummingbird garden ri Gulf Coast Museum of Art, LARGO Imagine strolling through a lush, tropical garden filled with bromeliads, orchids and ferns, then entering a spacious art museum before visiting a turn-of-the-century village.
Planting starts this week for the Florida Botanical Gardens, a $25-million county park being built adjacent to Heritage Village and the new Gulf Coast Museum of Art. The gardens are expected to be completed in 2001. All three projects, on 182 acres, will be called the Pinewood Cultural Park, and all will be open to the public. 'This is not going to be a theme park," said Judy Yates, director of the Pinellas County Extension Service in Largo and overseer of the project. "It's going to be a beautiful learning experience Please see GARDENS Page 3 Heritage crops pioneer garden dP, 7 Heritage Village1? Walsingham Rd.
McKay Creek Tax holiday re-creates Christmas PinellasTrail Mesic connection flatwood interpretive area Xeric trail upland trail Walsingham Park Sculpture garden Store officials say crowds and receipts during the nine-day period rivaled those seen in December. Times art PINELLAS DIGEST By G.G. RIGSBY Timei Staff Writer $100 or less were exempt from tax. This year, the break extended over two full weekends, and the list of which items were exempt was better defined than last year, the first year the state implemented the program. The tax break, coupled with sales and the looming school session, prompted Laura Hehr of Clearwater to go to Countryside Mall Saturday morning and buy clothes for her two sons.
She said the parking lot was full and the stores were jammed with people carrying shopping bags. "It was packed like at Christmas," she said. The crowd of people at the Wal-Mart on U.S. 19 in Clearwater was "overwhelming," said Al Can-Please see TAX Page 5 ample, business was up 53 percent during this year's break on sales tax as compared with last year's break, said mall manager Cindy Hoppes. Hoppes said sales were up at five other stores in Largo Mall she surveyed Monday.
Sales at the Target there were up 15 percent over the same period last year, said store manager Terrie Baird. "We far exceeded our goal," for sales last week, Baird said. "It was almost all school clothes." She said one shopper with four sons spent $400 on clothes and saved $28 in tax. "It adds up," Baird said. The holiday on state sales tax was timed for back-to-school shopping.
Most clothing items priced Council to discuss spending plan OLDSMAR The proposed city budget will be discussed in a City Council work session today at 7 p.m. at the Oldsmar Library, 101 State St, W. The meeting is open to the public. Council members already have voted to cap the city property tax rate in the next fiscal year at the current rate. At the current rate, a resident with a home valued at $75,000 with a $25,000 homestead exemption would pay $232.50 in city taxes.
Group 'Speaking Up for Children' Volunteers work to raise funds to help meet the needs of neglected children. TOP OF THE CLASS, BACKPAGE Correction A chart Monday should have listed Indian Rocks Beach as a city that contracts with the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office for law enforcement service. Also, Indian Shores and Redington Shores share a police department. Some retailers in North Pinellas say they were swamped during the nine-day break on sales tax for clothing that ended Sunday, with shoppers emptying racks and filling parking lots as if it were Christmas. Some stores haven't added up sales and others are reluctant to divulge numbers because of competitive concerns.
But at the Cloth-estime store in Largo Mall, for ex.
