20060325 - Kathy O'Sullivan plays with her daughters Bridget, 4 1/2, and Maggie, 8, while collection signatures on a petition to fight the Hillsborough school district's proposal to restructure Dickenson Elementary into an alternative school. Maggie is a second grader at Dickinson. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060323 - Gotta love a kid who says, "I live for taking infield because that's my chance to get on the field." Or, after playing only two innings in this year's Saladino Tournament: "This week is the highlight of all my time playing baseball." Meet Bloomingdale sophomore Clint Brown, who grins and says with a thick country drawl, "I'm just workin' hard and waitin' my turn." Bloomingdale coach K.B. Scull said that though Brown has played sparingly all season (five at-bats, one hit) don't think about selling Brown's contribution short. "There's nothing worse for a team than a kid who acts miserably because he's not playing," Scull said. "Clint is the opposite. He's great for morale because he never complains, and he'll do anything he can to help us." For instance, when Bloomingdale's chalk machine broke this season, it was Clint who said, "I'll take it home and have it back to you tomorrow good as new." The next day the chalk fell straight down the lines. As for playing, Brown thinks short term. "Next year at the Saladino I'd love to be fielding groundballs in a game," Brown said. "That would be perfect." (Photo by Brian Cassella, Text by Scott Purks / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060322 - Squeezing "the death" out of the arms on her chair, Michelle Capell sat next to Robinson's dugout and fought off voices in her head: Calm down, calm down, don't get too excited, don't want to have another heart attack... A legitimate worry. Capell's first heart attack came four years ago at age 40, an attack that led to several more and an avalanche of medications and surgeries. The latest attack seized her heart Jan. 25. From there, Capell stayed in the hospital 35 days, the best of which was Feb. 15 when Robinson's entire baseball team, led by her son T.C. Capell, showed up unannounced in her room. She cried, but her spirits were lifted because, she said, "I love those boys." That's why during Robinson's 7-4 quarterfinal loss to Durant on Wednesday, Capell, though nervous, also was thrilled. "Watching your son play in a game like this at this tournament, on such a beautiful day at this beautiful park, well, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world," Capell said. "I can't think of a better way to spend a day on spring break." Though Robinson was eliminated, expect to see Capell back for a few more games because, as a seventh-grade geography and history teacher, she knows many of the other players as former students. "I get excited for all the kids I know," Capell said. "But, you know, not too excited, if you know what I mean." (Photo by Brian Cassella, Text by Scott Purks / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060321 - Every morning - "And I do mean every morning," Julie Urso said - her 5-year-old son, J.D., dresses in a baseball uniform. When he reaches his school's parking lot, he changes into his school uniform in the car. When the final school bell rings, he runs to the bathroom and pulls from his backpack his baseball uniform, which he changes into. When it's time for a bath, which often follows a Little League game, Julie said, "I have to practically tear the uniform off him to get him in the tub." After the bath, J.D. puts on another baseball uniform until just before he falls asleep, when he switches to pajamas. "I told him the other day I'm sick of washing baseball uniforms," Julie said. "I said, "No uniforms for a day,' and incredibly, he agreed." The next day J.D. and his 2 1/2-year-old brother, Preston, walked in wearing tank tops, but before Julie could get excited, the kids turned around. Written on their backs in big, thick marker were, as J.D. pointed out, "Baseball numbers!" No. 10 and No. 18. This week, however, Julie says she has no issue with the uniforms because, "It's Saladino Tournament week!" That means J.D., Preston, Julie and her husband, University of Tampa head baseball coach Joe Urso, will be at UT's field all day, every day. "The kids wake up, put on their uniforms and start asking when we are going to the Saladino Tournament," said Julie, who, like her husband, assists with hosting the tournament because they believe it's great for local baseball. Today the Ursos undoubtedly will arrive before 10 a.m. for the first quarterfinal. As for J.D. and Preston, expect them to be there through the 7 p.m. quarterfinal, on the sidelines, throwing and hitting rubber balls, and getting their uniforms dirty. (Photo by Brian Cassella, Text by Scott Purks / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060320 - Lou Garcia is 76 and upon first appearance a couple of things are apparent. He still has an athletic walk and his grin is one that makes you feel there is no one in the world he would rather be with at that moment than you. "You gotta love him," Tony Saladino volunteer Ken Highsmith said. "How can you not?" And, how can you not respect him? Besides lettering at Hillsborough High from 1946-48 in baseball, football and basketball (point guard for '47 state champions), he lettered in baseball and basketball at the University of Florida, played minor league baseball for five years, taught school in Hillsborough county for 30 years, coached Robinson High to the state baseball title in 1971 and was a scout for the Yankees, Cubs and Kansas City Royals before retiring in 1992. Since 1996 he has been the Tony Saladino tournament scheduling director, a job he said he loves because, "I still love being involved in the game. I love the game." If you see an older guy with a smooth walk and a bright smile cruising around the University Tampa field this week, it just might be Lou Garcia. If his grin immediately makes you feel comfortable, you might try saying hello. If it's Lou, at that moment, he'll probably end up making you feel pretty good. (Photo by Brian Cassella, Text by Scott Purks / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060324 - Hillsborough pitcher Michael Burgess receives a hug from head coach Pat Russo after the game. Burgess pitched a complete game, had 2 RBIs with a triple, scored the game-winning run and won the home run derby earlier in the day. Hillsborough defeated Durant 3-2 in the championship game of the Saladino Baseball Tournament at the University of Tampa. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060323 - Bloomingdale's dugout packs up after their semifinal loss to Hillsborough in the Saladino Baseball Tournament. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060321 - Children play on the sidelines during the Saladino Baseball Tournament at the University of Tampa. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060322 - Jefferson's Josh Velez crosses the plate with an early run in their quarterfinal loss to Hillsborough in the Saladino Baseball Tournament. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060322 - Robinson's Carlos Laluz watches their loss to Durant from the dugout. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060322 - Hillsborough and Jefferson play on in the quarterfinals of the Saladino Baseball Tournament as the sun sets on downtown Tampa on Wednesday. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
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20060321 - The Jefferson team packs up their dugout after the win.
Jefferson defeated Freedom 11-1 by the slaughter rule in the Saladino
Baseball Tournament at the University of Tampa. (Brian Cassella / St.
Petersburg Times)
20060321 - Jefferson's Justin Pena rubs some dirt between his hands
while taking a lead off of first base. (Brian Cassella / St.
Petersburg Times)
20060321 - Jefferson gathers for a post-game huddle. (Times photo by
Brian Cassella)
20060320 - Plant City plays Robinson in the first game of the day
Monday at the University of Tampa in the Saladino Baseball Tournament.
(Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060318 - Durant catcher Tom Savino races to grab a hit ball. Durant
defeated Alonso 3-2 with a bottom of the 7th inning comeback during
their opening day game in the Saladino baseball tournament. (Brian
Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060314 - The Northeast High School baseball team gathers for a
pre-game huddle before their game against Boca Ciega at Hoyt Field on
Tuesday night. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060315 - Satchel Gaines, 17, a junior at Osceola High School, threw
a no-hitter for his first win last week. Gaines is named for the
former Negro League great Satchel Paige, who famously said, "Don't
look back: something might be gaining on you." (Brian Cassella / St.
Petersburg Times)
20060316 - Norma Jean, 64, and Neil Dobson, 67 live in an apartment
next door to Norma Jean's mother, Gertrude Wechtel, 92, at The Reserve
at Lake Pointe. The Dobsons lost their apartment of four years last
year to a condo conversion, and they struggled to find a new place
with apartments so depleted by conversions elsewhere. They consider
themselves some of the casulaties of the condo conversion craze.
(Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060310 - James Devlin, the Times' Hillsborough County Basketball
Player of the Year. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060314 - Bernard Gerrard, 15, of St. Petersburg, spends Tuesday
fishing without a pole off Demens Landing. Gerrard wasn't having much
luck on this afternoon and was mostly pulling up seaweed. (Brian
Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060224 - Michael Freincle, 18, goofs around in his bedroom while
folding laundry with friend Marietta Huff, 17. Freincle is the
president of Brandon High School's Gay Straight Alliance. Hillsborough
County parents, 1,100 of them, are so outraged over GSAs that they
signed petitions last month saying as much. They promote
homosexuality, some parents said. They talk about sex, others said.
Michael founded the GSA in 2003. Six people - Michael and five friends
he dragged with him - came to the first meeting. At this year's first
meeting, there were 87. "Wow," he remembers thinking when he first
heard about the protest. "These parents are so retarded." (Brian
Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060224 - Michael enjoys a Blizzard at the Brandon Dairy Queen on a
Friday night. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060224 - It's Friday night in suburban Brandon, and Marietta and
Michael entertain themselves play-fighting with swords still inside
their boxes at Wal-Mart. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060224 - Michael chugs down a bit of Coke straight from the bottle
in his kitchen. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060224 - "It's a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down," Michael says to
explain the condition of his mid-90s Saturn, which includes a dangling
interior light. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060224 - Michael gets some help from Marietta while working at home
on the speech he will give the next day at the Winter Pride Tampa Bay
event. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060225 - Michael wanders the vendor booths with friends at the
Winter Pride Tampa Bay event at Lowry Park. (Brian Cassella / St.
Petersburg Times)
20060302 - Jesse Arduengo, of Brandon, says goodbye to his children
Dominic, 4, Derrick, 2, and Julie, 1, at the end of Thursday's one
hour visiting session for the Fathers Resource and Network Center
program. FRNC runs a 13-week seminar for fathers, many of whom have
been court-ordered into the program due to custody battles or
volunteer to take the class as a self-help exercise. Thursday evening
is a ''play date'' with the fathers and their kids, most of them they
do not get to see except during supervised visitations. (Brian
Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060302 - Scott Thomson, of Plant City, plays with his son Seth, 2,
during Thursday night's one-hour visiting session for the Fathers
Resource and Network Center program. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg
Times)
20060310 - The King High School baseball team takes in the game from
their dugout. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060307 - Police inspect the scene of Tuesday night's wreck where a
car slammed through the front of Brocato's Sandwich Shop which was
closed at the time. Two people inside the Dodge Neon fled. (Brian
Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060304 - Helen Yu helps her son Robert, 8, eat some lunch at the
Gasparilla Festival of the Arts in downtown Tampa on Saturday. Behind
them in Helen's husband Zu Sheng Yu's artwork. The Yus were in Tampa
from New York for the festival which continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. along Franklin and Tampa streets. (Brian Cassella / St.
Petersburg Times)
20060302 - Ilene Chavez, First Maid of the Strawberry Court, applauds
other performers from backstage at opening day of the Strawberry
Festival on Thursday in Plant City. With her are other members of the
court, Julie Boback and Queen Hannah Hodge. Chavez is the first
daughter of Hispanic strawberry farm workers to be on the court.
(Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060301 - USF fans were out in force at a mostly-full Sun Dome,
trying to distract UConn's Rudy Gay, during their 66-53 loss to the
nation's second-ranked team. (Brian Cassella / St. Petersburg Times)
20060228 - The streetcars pass each other along 8th Avenue in Ybor
City on Tuesday. HARTline will continue to run the historic streetcar
after plans to give it to a private company fizzled. (Brian Cassella /
St. Petersburg Times)
20060301 - Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is comforted by Det. Juan Serrano's
son, Juan Luis Serrano, 18, at left, while Serrano's daughters, Johan
and Doriann Seranno, hold each other at right after the unveiling of
Serrano's name on the Police Officer's Memorial outside Tampa police
headquarters on Wednesday. Serrano, the mayor's bodyguard, was killed in a car accident
last Saturday and is the 26th Tampa police officer to die in the line of
duty. "To know his memory will be kept forever, it is very special,"
said Hector Serrano, Juan Serrano's brother. (Brian Cassella / St.
Petersburg Times)
20060301 - Det. Serrano's name is the newest addition to the Police
Officer's Memorial outside Tampa police headquarters. (Brian Cassella
/ St. Petersburg Times)
