February 9, 2010
Today’s Program St. Petersburg Times Sports Writer Marc Topkin
Marc joined the Times straight from college in June 1983 as a 32-hour metro desk copy editor, moved to the sports desk (where he wanted to be all along) that fall and became a fulltime copy editor in April 1984. He started covering baseball part-time in 1987 and in
1988 took the beat fulltime covering the Tampa Bay area’s pursuit of a baseball team as well as spring training, the postseason, ownership issues and features. Mark’s blog, The Heater, covers all things Devil Rays and can be accessed at tampabay.com.
Marc is a regular contributor to local and out-of-market talk radio shows. He has appeared on Good Morning America and numerous local TV news and sports programs.
A product of public schools in New York and south Florida, Marc received a journalism degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and learned his craft with more than 20 years experience at the Times.
Marc knew growing up that he wanted to be in journalism because he always liked telling people what was going on. He started his career while playing Little League baseball, submitting the results from his league to the local weekly paper. From there, he was editor of his high school and college newspapers then went out into the real world, coming home to Florida to start at the Times. He turned baseball into a fulltime beat, covering the game on the field and the games off the field as Tampa Bay tried, repeatedly, to land a team, dealing with politicians and team owners as much as pitchers and catchers. When Tampa Bay finally got the Devil Rays’ franchise, Marc was there from the start and has been there ever since, chronicling the highs and lows. He has also done in-depth stories on a number of Tampa Bay area sports personalities, such as Dwight Gooden and Wade Boggs, and covered World Series, All-Star Games, the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Super Bowls, and college football championships. What makes his job the most fun? The same thing that got him involved in the first place — telling people what’s going on.
Marc has won numerous state writing awards for his news coverage and a national award for investigative reporting. He is also heavily involved in the St. Petersburg community, speaking to classes and coaching youth sports teams. In 2006, Marc won a Green Eyeshade Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his series “What Went Wrong: 10 Years of Devil Rays.”
What’s Happening
Valentine’s Social
Harvey Ford announced a Valentine’s Day week-end social for our club. Please contact Harvey or Lorin Bridge to attend. The details:
- American Stage Play – Blithe Spirit
- Saturday night, February 13 at 8:00 p.m.
- Cost is $38.00 per person
- American Stage is located at 163 Third Street North in St. Petersburg,
just 1 block south of BayWalk and across the street from Williams Park in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg.
- Synovus Bank at 333 3rd Avenue North offers free parking. There is also free street parking and two parking garages in walking distance of the new building.
- Blithe Spirit is a smash on Broadway and London’s West End, this comic classic from the author of Private Lives and Hay Fever is the story of cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine, who is re-married but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife. When a “happy medium” conjures the late wife’s spirit, all the personalities – real or ghostly - clash with hilarious results. “We are so excited to bring the great Noel Coward back to our stage after being gone for way too long,” said Todd Olson, American Stage’s producing artistic director. “Blithe Spirit is classic British farce at its best by a true master of the genre.” Blithe Spirit stars Wayne LeGette (Charles Condomine), Gen Rae (Ruth Condomine), Millie Shipe (Edith), Matt Lunsford (Dr. George Bradman), Becca McCoy (Mrs. Violet Bradman), Lesley Staples (Madame Arcati) and Laura Hodos (Elvira), and is directed by Dan Lombardo.
Blues Fest
Pat Biscotti is again asking Kiwanians to step up and volunteer at the Blues Fest, April 9-11. Further details to follow.
Special Olympics
It is that time again. Volunteers, please call Bret Jahn to sign up for this great event located at Lakewood High School on March 13, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
The Lithuanian Open
A Golf Tournament hosted by Al Karnavicus is scheduled for March 4 - 8. The tournament, now in its tenth year, is held at St. Petersburg Country Club and is an open invitational for all Kiwanians and other golfers. Al sees to it that proceeds are distributed to summer camps for rural children of Lithuania. Check the website at LTCONSULFLORIDA.com. Al also pointed out that 2010 marks the twentieth year of Lithuania’s independence and will be celebrated during the tournament
What Plays in Vegas, Stays in Vegas
This year the International Convention is in Las Vegas. Join Charles Stuart, Tom Nelson, Bob Piplitz, and Markus Mittermayr for a good time as well staying on the cutting edge of Kiwanis news. Dates: June 24-27.
March Madness
This year’s Zone conference is in Bradenton on Saturday, March 6. Learn what’s happening with other clubs in the district and discover future projects. Contact Charles Stuart. Attendance will count as an interclub.
Last Week at Kiwanis
Kiwanian of the Day, Mitch Cochran, introduced Bob Gualtieri, the Chief Deputy and General Counsel of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office. Bob’s boss, Jim Coates, is the only elected head of law enforcement in Pinellas County, as the election for Sheriff is every four years.
If you thought all the Sheriff’s deputies duties were to play cops and robbers, lay in wait at speed traps, and frequent donut shops, well, …… no so fast, my friend. Bob iterated that the Sheriff has a myriad of duties that aid the other local agencies. Additional to everyday law enforcement, in no particular order or limited to, the Sheriff provides the following: staffing of the County Jail, serving judicial process documents, court security, aviation support, marine enforcement (for all of Pinellas County waters), serving all warrants of arrest in the county, and police protection for county parks.
Like virtually all governmental agencies, the Sheriff’s department is experiencing budget cuts, and the most noticeable impact is seen at the County Jail. With 50% of the allocated budget, the budget cuts impact the staffing of the jail. Bob winced as he mentioned the available staff maintains a two-thirds capacity of 3,200 filled beds, forcing the legal system to perform a juggling act with the overflow of criminals.
Other budget cuts have forced the disbanding of the seven member DUI unit and a nine member traffic enforcement unit. More cuts can be expected when the new budget is finalized in June of 2010.
As you recall, two weeks ago Al Estes told us about the release of criminals on ROR (release on recognizance) has increased creating additional enforcement and criminal activity. While Bob acknowledges this fact, he pointed out that the Sheriff has a failure to appear rate of under 5%, compared with the national average of 18-20%. In order to achieve this favorable percentage, the Sheriff thoroughly investigates the individual for flight risk and others (up to 200) are electronically monitored.
Despite the budget cuts, the Sheriff has programs to prevent crime, mostly involving juveniles. This ultimately saves money, particularly the graffiti abatement and the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programs.
Today, twelve communities subcontract services of the Sheriff’s department for law enforcement. In this day and age of budget cuts, more cities with police departments could follow suit and save millions of dollars. In fact, Clearwater, presented with a savings of ten million, still rejected the County’s proposal. Why? According to Bob, a police department is important to a community’s identity, but political matters involve these decisions, too.
Deputy Gualtieri, thanks for the up-to-date sheriff’s view of the inside view of how the department works with an ever shrinking budget.
Attendance Last Week
We had members 51 and 7 guests.
Ron Frederick, guest of Bob Piplitz
Keith Easter, guest of Dick Koch
Bill Travis, guest of Nick Gizzarelli, Jr.
Bob Stickway, guest of Hal Wells
Bob Sulte, guest of Kevin Kelso
Jamie Beatty, guest of Hunter Booth
Scholarship Letters
Bob Byelick received the following letter from Andrew D., an eighth grader at Thurgood Marshall Fundamental:
Dear Mr. Byelick,
My name is Andrew D. I am an A and B student. My favorite subject is math, reading, science, PE, and band. I like reading because you get to have time to yourself. I like science because you get to learn so many things. Band is cool because we get to play our instruments. I play the baritone saxophone. I love math because you get to work with a lot of things. I play little league football for the Lakewood JR Spartans. I play WR and DE on the left side; I am a beast at it. I am also a big fan of Florida State University. Their basketball team is good.
When I grow up I want to be a firefighter or a cop. I just wanted to let you know who I am, and when I meet you it will be cool.
Sincerely,
Andrew D.
This Week’s Quiz
- Who was the first host for Jeopardy?
- Who was the first host for The Price is Right?
- Who was the first host for the Tonight Show?
- What soap opera starred Ryan O’Neal?
- When did Little Debbie snack cakes hit the market? How did they get the name?
Last Week’s Quiz
- In the movie “Heat” Al Pacino play Lt. Vincent Hanna and Neil McCauley, expert thief, was played by Robert Di Niro.
- The longest running crime series on television is Law and Order, now in its twentieth season.
- The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton had become famous when he foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton agents for his personal security during the Civil War
- The movie Goodfellas is considered the greatest movie that showed the dichotomy of the mob just as effectively as the Godfather films without being derivative in any way.
- The name of the movie about U. S. Treasury Agent Eliot Ness and his fight against crime is The Untouchables. The movie was remade in 1987 with Kevin Costner starring as Eliot Ness.
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