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  <title>Creative Loafing Tampa: Alex Pickett</title>
  <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com</link>
  <description>Tampa Creative Loafing Weekly Newspaper, shelter from the mainstream for news, event listings, dining, movies and music, restaurants.</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <copyright>Copyright 2009Creative Loafing Tampa. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Creative Loafing Tampa readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Creative Loafing Tampa.</copyright>
  <managingEditor>online@creativeloafing.com</managingEditor>
  <webMaster>webmaster@creativeloafing.com</webMaster>
  <pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:01 MST</pubDate>
  <lastBuildDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:55:35 MST</lastBuildDate>
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    <item>
    <title>Darryl Rouson&amp;#39;s anti-drug crusade at the State House</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/darryl_rouson_s_anti_drug_crusade_at_the_state_house/Content?oid=597578</link>
    <description>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      Florida&#39;s 2009 legislative session doesn&#39;t begin until March, but Rep. Darryl Rouson is not wasting time in renewing his battle against drug paraphernalia. The newly re-elected Democrat -- who represents parts of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Sarasota and Manatee counties -- filed a bill (HB 201) last week that would charge a 25 percent tax on any items listed or viewed as paraphernalia as defined in Florida statutes, regardless of whether the &quot;paraphernalia&quot; was sold for legal purposes or not. The proceeds
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>St. Pete homeless man beaten near City Hall</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/st_pete_homeless_man_beaten_near_city_hall/Content?oid=592293</link>
    <description>
      <![CDATA[
       
      
        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      On most days, William Shumate spends his time in St. Petersburg&#39;s Williams Park. &quot;Pops,&quot; as St. Pete&#39;s homeless community knows him, has no job. The white-bearded Vietnam veteran injured himself years ago while working as an engineer. At 60 and disabled, he doesn&#39;t get jobs easily, so he keeps himself busy by fixing other homeless people&#39;s bicycles for free, or sometimes, for a few cigarettes (see &quot;Bike=Freedom,&quot; May 28, 2008). On most nights, when the homeless are kicked out of
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Lowry Park Zoo advocates warned of mismanagement</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/lowry_park_zoo_advocates_warned_of_mismanagement/Content?oid=592297</link>
    <description>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      The last seven months have been one of the worst periods in Lowry Park Zoo&#39;s history. First, reporters discovered Lowry Park CEO Lex Salisbury&#39;s use of zoo personnel and resources for personal gain. Then revelations about dead zoo animals at Salisbury&#39;s Dade City ranch leaked out. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums revoked Lowry Park&#39;s accreditation. And the city of Tampa conducted an audit, which led to Salisbury losing the job he&#39;d held for over two decades. Not far from
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Bad management of Bethany Towers in South Pasadena leaves residents in limbo</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/bad_management_of_bethany_towers_in_south_pasadena_leaves_residents_in_limbo/Content?oid=582429</link>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      By all accounts, the elderly residents of Bethany Towers are suffering. For months, the 17-story building in South Pasadena has lacked a functioning air-conditioning system. In most of the building&#39;s 210 units, residents cannot open their double-paned windows. When the midday sun comes through, residents use fans they purchased themselves. But without any breeze, the fans just blow hot air. Some of the folks at Bethany Towers live without a working stove or refrigerator. Others have leaky faucets and broken
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Progress Energy plans nuclear power plant north of Tampa</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/progress_energy_plans_nuclear_power_plant_north_of_tampa/Content?oid=577048</link>
    <description>
      <![CDATA[
       
      
        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      Florida doesn&#39;t get much more rural than Levy County. Situated 90 miles north of Tampa, between the Gulf of Mexico and Ocala, the area boasts no major cities or interstates. The entire county&#39;s population is less than Dunedin&#39;s. Much of the area is dotted with ranches and trailer parks. Unemployment runs high. Republican politicians run unopposed. It&#39;s the perfect place to propose a nuclear power plant. And last year, Progress Energy did just that. It bought a 3,100-acre parcel of
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    </description>
    <category>News/Urban Explorer</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Are gas stations shortchanging you at the pump?</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/are_gas_stations_shortchanging_you_at_the_pump_/Content?oid=577268</link>
    <description>
      <![CDATA[
       
      
        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      This year, the Florida Department of Agriculture&#39;s Bureau of Petroleum Inspection received nearly 6,000 calls from consumers who suspected their neighborhood gas stations were ripping them off. Turns out, it might have been the gas stations that were shortchanged. In a review of 2008 inspection reports from Hillsborough County gas stations, Creative Loafing found that the majority of gas stations cited for improper meters, which measure how much gas is pumped for a certain price, had inadvertently provided extra gas
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Why is Florida&amp;#39;s top tourism bureau supporting offshore drilling</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/why_is_florida_s_top_tourism_bureau_supporting_offshore_drilling/Content?oid=577271</link>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      In early October, tourism officials from across the state gathered in the Panhandle town of Destin for a two-day discussion on offshore oil drilling. The Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus Executive Director Robert Skrob organized the summit after a bad summer for tourism, in part due to high gas prices. To lead the conversation, he invited five oil industry execs, a spokesman for Newt Gingrich&#39;s political consulting firm and a lone Florida biologist. Not so long ago, a
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Why it&amp;#39;s good business to shop at Tampa Bay&amp;#39;s independent stores</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/why_it_s_good_business_to_shop_at_tampa_bay_s_independent_stores/Content?oid=572508</link>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      In the late &#39;70s, before Total Wine and ABC Liquors moved in, Michael Roberts set up a wine shop, Vintage Wine Cellars, on Henderson Road in South Tampa. &quot;We were one of the first wine retailers in this part of Florida,&quot; he says. Now, 30 years later, Roberts&#39; share of the wine market has diminished as the chains have surrounded him. Although Roberts maintains his niche through personalized service and selection, he&#39;s seen other independent businesses flounder in the shadow
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Environmental group Project 3.0 greens Ybor City</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/environmental_group_project_3_0_greens_ybor_city/Content?oid=567520</link>
    <description>
      <![CDATA[
       
      
        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      The former home of the Tampa Bay Brewing Company in Ybor City seems to be the antithesis of an environmentally sound building. For one, the 2-story brick structure at 1812 N. 15th St. is old -- 103 years old. Two, the high ceilings make heating and cooling the building a massive energy drain. The tar on the top of the building doesn&#39;t help; the black surface can reach well above 100 degrees in the summer, heat that inevitably makes its
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    </description>
    <category>News/Urban Explorer</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Chris Ortiz and Brotherhood Ministries help the homeless</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/chris_ortiz_and_brotherhood_ministries_help_the_homeless/Content?oid=563351</link>
    <description>
      <![CDATA[
       
      
        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      It&#39;s no secret that state and local governments have been reducing funds for nonprofits that service the disadvantaged. This year, for instance, the state of Florida cut the budget for drug treatment centers by an estimated $31 million. Chris Ortiz&#39;s Brotherhood Ministries doesn&#39;t depend on government funding, but its main source of support is even shakier: the dwindling job market. A collection of halfway houses on a block off of Fifth Avenue South in St. Petersburg, Brotherhood finds homeless people
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    </description>
    <category>News/Urban Explorer</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Amendment 1 fails and Florida&amp;#39;s anti-Asian legacy lives on</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/amendment_1_fails_and_florida_s_anti_asian_legacy_lives_on/Content?oid=558112</link>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      In all the post-election hoopla &mdash; from President-elect Barack Obama carrying Florida to our own local vote-counting morass in Hillsborough &mdash; the news of one failed amendment to the state Constitution has faded away quietly. And yet, the failure of Amendment 1 says just as much about the state&#39;s electorate as the passage of Amendment 2, which banned gay marriage. Amendment 1 was an initiative aimed at removing 80-year-old language from the state Constitution that permitted the Legislature to &quot;regulate
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Monofilament fishing line a danger to Tampa Bay&amp;#39;s wildlife</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/monofilament_fishing_line_a_danger_to_tampa_bay_s_wildlife/Content?oid=552793</link>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      Once Ann Hodgson brushes aside the leaves, the little white body isn&#39;t hard to see. There, hanging from a mangrove branch, is the dried-out, desiccated body of a snowy egret. Wrapped around its neck is a thin piece of fishing line. &quot;It apparently just hung to death,&quot; says Hodgson, sanctuaries manager for Audubon of Florida. On this crisp, cool day, Hodgson and biologist Mark Rachal have decided to tackle the (fishing) tackle in Dog Leg Key, a small mangrove island
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    </description>
    <category>News/Urban Explorer</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Did Rep. Gus Bilirakis violate East Lake&amp;#39;s weapons policy?</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/did_rep_gus_bilirakis_violate_east_lake_s_weapons_policy_/Content?oid=553074</link>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      On Aug. 9, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis invited Pinellas County residents to East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs for a Military Day and Veterans&#39; Resources Fair. It was the congressman&#39;s second such event, organized to connect veterans with benefits and provide activities for the general public to learn about the armed forces. Bilirakis paid the Pinellas County School District $1,370 to lease the school facilities for the day. Throughout the afternoon, veterans and active-duty soldiers stopped by tables manned
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>A timeline of the George W. Bush presidency</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/a_timeline_of_the_george_w_bush_presidency/Content?oid=547210</link>
    <description>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      It was the night of November 7, 2000, and I was giddily watching the presidential election results with what seemed to be the entire counter-culture element of my little university town. We were piled into one of those laundromat/ everything places, our eyes affixed to a huge 8-by-8 projection screen broadcasting the news. Punk rockers, neo-hippies and campus radicals moved among the washer/dryers and tanning booths, sipping overpriced espresso drinks and beer. The mood was upbeat; earlier in the day,
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    </description>
    <category>News/News Feature</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>A Tampa crabber fights to save Cockroach Bay</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/a_tampa_crabber_fights_to_save_cockroach_bay/Content?oid=542470</link>
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        By Alex Pickett
      
      
      Before writing anything about Cockroach Bay, Gus Muench tells me, get one thing straight: Cockroach Bay is not named after Florida&#39;s notorious six-legged pest. As the story goes, early Spanish explorers came up with the moniker after observing numerous horseshoe crabs crawling along the bay&#39;s shallow sea floor. Cockroach Bay, located in the southern portion of Tampa Bay, touches roughly five miles of shoreline from Ruskin to the Manatee County line. It&#39;s one of the Tampa Bay area&#39;s premier fishing
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    </description>
    <category>News/Urban Explorer</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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