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JASW HARDI A3E


 (Continued from page 1)
 event staff went to each graduate
 and told them not to shake hands
 with Genshaft.
 This from a research institute?
 Defeat swine flu's airborne virus
 by not shaking hands? What is
 USF's medical school teaching?
 That AIDS is passed through-
 casual contact? You can get preg-
 nant from a toilet seat?

 The Alliance for a Responsible
 Cuba Policy will host a unique and
 very informative symposium on
 U.S./Cuba relations on Saturday,
 June 29 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
 at the Italian Club in Ybor City.
 The symposium will feature
 Congressman Bill Delahunt from
 Massachusetts, who is a congres-
 sional leader in the effort to re-
 form U.S. policy on Cuba.
 Dr. Wayne Smith, former Chief
 of the U.S. Interest Section in
 Cuba during the Reagan presiden-
 cy, will also speak. He is consid-
 ered by many to be the foremost
 expert on U.S., Cuba relations.
 Cuban officials will videocon-
ference live from Havana with
attendees and American business-
men currently selling products to
Cuba, will be on hand to share
their experiences.
 The event is invitation only.
 Call MPA Cunsulting at 481-6806
or The Alliance at 632-3312 for
more information.

 City Councilman Tom Scott be-
came the first major candidate to
officially announce for the mayor
of Tampa race for March 2011.
He joins minor candidate Marion
Lewis, who performed poorly
against incumbent Pam lorio in
2007..
 Tom Scott has an unusual qual-
ity for a modern politician: he is
brave. Few give him a chance to
win in 2011. They handicap him
mainly because of his race. Even
after Obama, many find it hard to
imagine that an African-American
could win Tampa's top seat. That
doesn't faze Scott, who's tackled
challenges before. After his first
foray into politics when he was
defeated for a countywide school
board seat in a close race, he
picked himself up and ran against
the biggest political icon in the
black community, Perry Harvey in
1996. No one at the time thought
that Scott would bat Harvey for
a county commission seat. Scott
proved the pundits wrong. Ten
years later, Scott tried to achieve
a first. He ran for a countywide
county commission seat against
Mark Sharpe. No one gave him
a chance, mainly because of his
color and this time, the pundits
were right. Scott immediately
jumped to the city council race
and won, where he remains today.
 Scott does stand a strong chance
of making history and becoming
Tampa's first black mayor, even
if he doesn't win the election. If
he maintains his role as the city
council chair. for more than one
term, he would become the mayor
if Pam lorio resigned to run for the
U.S. Senate or the state's Chief
Financial Officer. The current
odds are very good that Scott will
be mayor one way or another.
 He will soon be joined by Coun-
ty Commissioner Rose Ferlita
and Bob Buckhorn. City Council-
woman Linda Saul-Sena is talk-
ing about running, but we're not


convinced she will. Ed Turanchik
is making noise, but in the end,
we believe he'll stay in the private
sector. The big question marks in
the mayor's race are Dick Greco
and Jim Davis. We'd bet one or
the other will announce in the
Fal of 2010.

 The World Trade Center Tampa
 Bay announced last week that it
 will organize a fact-finding mis-
 sion to Cuba by the end of June
 or early July. The delegation will
 be comprised of 10 to 15 business
 individuals who can offer products
 which are certified as legal by the
 U.S. government. The leaders of
 the delegation are Jose Valiente
 and Frank Cisneros, both Cuban-
 Americans.

 How dumb do the Republicans
think our teenagers are? The
party that brought us such in-
spirational messages as "just say
no" has now made Bristol Palin
their spoksperson against un-
wed teen pregnancies. What's her
message? Abstinence. Wow, the
nation's youth will be absolutely
enthralled with a teen mother be-
ing paid to say, "Do as I say and
not as I do." Today's teens love
hypocrisy from their parents, so
we're sure Palin's message will
be embraced.
 Look at how disastrous her un-
wed pregnancy was. Her mama,
the governor of Alaska has vowed
to help her with the baby. The
birth of the child has given her
a nifty new job of flying around
the nation, giving speeches and
building her star status through
TV interviews. She's even got a
new guy. Aren't teens going to
look at Bristol's situation not as
something to avoid, but something
to achieve?

 The Ybor Chamber of Com-
merce will install Angela Rodante
as Chair of the Board at its in-
stillation luncheon on Tuesday,
May 12 at 11:45 at the Columbia
Restaurant. Rodante is a partner
with Swope, Rodante, P.A. and a
fourth-generation Ybor City busi-
nesswoman.
 We like her first statement as
a pending chair, "The chamber is
the chief steward of this historic
community with a mission to both
preserve and develop."

 Mayors Rick Baker and Pam
Iorio gave a great performance
in A Tale of Two Cities, Tampa
and St. Petersburg, a program by
the Florida Humanities Council.
The event, held at the Centro
Asturiano on Wednesday, had the
two mayors giving the audience a
history lesson on their cities and
the area at large. Both mayors
are well versed in history and the
area's characters.
 This quality used to be common
with politicians, but we suspect
it is now rare. In the past, most
politicians were natives, or close
to it, giving them at least a life-
long view of their area's history.
In the past, there were no term
limits, allowing politicians to gain
a historical view of the office they
filled. And in the past, the study of
history was more appreciated and
a requirement for any upcoming
statesman.
 We wonder how many on the
county commission or legislative
delegation could recite their com-


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munity's local history. This lack
of historical perspective could be
why our current crop of politicians
find it difficult to guide our com-
munity to a brighter future.

 We are saddened by the pass-
ing of Sam Marotta, 93, on May
4. He spent 39 years of his long
life in the public schools helping
kids. He was principal at Cuesta,
Tampa Bay Boulevard, Lake
Magdalene and Kenly Elemen-
tary Schools. Sam was involved
in his community, having served
on HCC Board of Trustees, the
Welfare Board, President of the
West Tampa Optimists and many
other organizations.
 Sam was a gentleman from
the old school. He went through
life knowing he had an obligation
to give back. Service to family,
country and community were
paramount. He was an active
Democrat and we remember him
holding breakfasts in honor of At-
torney General Bob Butterworth
to help him keep in touch with
the Tampa Latn community.
Marotta's passing continues to
dwindle the ranks of American's
greatest generation.
 ***** *
 The following individuals have
applied for the two open positions
on the Tampa Sports Authority
(TSA) that will be. appointed by
the County Commission: John
Byczek, Vanscena Candice Wil-
son, John Korsak, Mark Proctor,
Brian Broad, Randy Larson, Mary
Easterly, Mark Snellgrove, John
Mark Cox, Vin Marchetti, Ronald
Dyser, Joseph Payne, Michael
Cook and Eddie Adams.
 The leading contenders are:
Mark Proctor, current TSA board
member; Randy Larson, former
Plant City Commissioner$ Vin
Marchetti, TSA event chair and
Mark Cox, Chief Assistant State
Attorney.
 Marchetti is moving into the
city which should disqualify him
from being appointed, but his
fundraising efforts on behalf of
many county commissioners and
his Jim Norman buddy status
will likely get him a waiver of the
rules.

 Governor Charlie Crist also has
an appointment to make for the
TSA. So far, he has four applicants
to choose from: Rick Barcena, co-
owner of Rigatoni's; Glenn Bur-
ton, principal at Burton Beytin
and McLaughlin law firm; Joel
Cantor, CEO of GulfAtlantic and
Joseph Payne, president of Global
Imaging Systems, Inc.


 The favorite is Glenn Burton.

 It's a pretty sorry stat of affairs
when the Florida Department of
Health asks its staff to cut back
on free immunization for menin-
gitis and HPV. The state will not
offer these shots at any health
fairs only at its offices. The policy
of curbing community outreach
will save the state money, but
at what cost to the public? Men-
ingitis is a killer, as is cervical
cancer. The lack of outreach has
a disproportional affect on mi-
norities who might not be aware
of the vaccines. The meningitis
vaccine is mandatory for USF's
incoming freshmen. Is this really
about money? State Representa-
tive Kevin Ambler says the House
kept the healthcare budget almost
whole in a bad fiscal year. If the
State Health Department doesn't
have the money for immunization,
it must be because they are using
it for something else, like big bu-
reaucracy in Tallahassee.
 ******
 This legislative session, law-
makers passed few bills. The
average over the ten past years
is 422. This session only 238 bills
passed; that's a 44% drop from
the average.
 Is this good or bad? The fewer
bills that are passed, the better for
average Floridians who don't have
lobbyists to push their agendas.

 Keep Charlie Crist (KCC) is
a Florida grassroots organiza-
tion formed to encourage Crist to
remain as. governor and not run
for U.S. Senate. The group says
it has 50,000 signatures asking
Crist to remain at the helm of the
ship. They believe Charlie is the
answer to what ails our state. The
motive of the group could also be
to save Marco Rubio from getting
his butt kicked by Charlie in the
Republican Primary for the U.S.
Senate.

 Democratic State Senator Dan
Gelber will be in Tampa on May
14 to campaign for a U.S. Senate
seat. Hosts Andy Hirsch, Bill Jung
and Bill Schifino, Jr. are inviting
friends to meet Gelber at the office
of Williams Schifino Mangione &
Steady at Suite 3200 in the Tampa
Bay City Center. The event is
from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Call 221-2626
if you'd like to attend.

 Read this week's Silhouettes on
Cypress Creek Elementary School
Principal Roy Moral.


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