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deliberations: $8.7 million for a new library at State College of. Florida; $3 million for a new Sara- sota County Techn
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Progress for plan south of Ranch SARASOTA: Project poised

to advance, with help of growth-plan amendments By JESSIE VAN BERKEL [email protected] SARASOTA COUNTY — The design and permitting of a longawaited community south of Lakewood Ranch will soon begin, along with the addition of roads that could help alleviate traffic woes near I-75 and University Parkway. The Villages of Lakewood Ranch South will add 5,144 homes — nearly 40 percent affordable housing — and 390,000 square feet of commercial, office and retail space to Sarasota County. The county approved the project several years ago, but the developer, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc., has since sought amendments to its transportation agreement with Sarasota County and the county’s growth requirements. On Wednesday, the Sarasota County Commission granted the builders several changes. “This is the most significant milestone in this long, winding road of an effort,” said Todd Pokrywa, a Schroeder-Manatee Ranch vice president. He said the company would start work on the See DISCUSSIONS on 10A

A last bid to deflect Scott’s ax FUNDRAISER: At Lakewood

Ranch event, leaders try to safeguard budgeted aid

Hundreds attend a recent Main Street Live event in downtown Bradenton. Mayor Wayne Poston attributed his city’s population increase to strong building activity at large developments annexed years ago and steady in-fill development. H-T ARCHIVE / SEPTEMBER 2013

Here they come ... again Census data shows populations are rising anew in every city in the region as the job seekers and retirees return By ZAC ANDERSON [email protected] very city in Sarasota and Manatee counties grew in population last year according to new census data, some at the fastest pace since the real estate boom. The growth — while modest in most cases — is more proof that an improving economy is drawing job seekers to the region, and that retirees are moving to the area in greater numbers, experts say. Southwest Florida municipalities experienced minimal population growth during the Great Recession, but that began to shift in 2012. That’s when each of the larger cities — Sarasota, Bradenton, North Port and Venice — saw an increase of 1 percent or greater for the first time in years.

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Growth rates in North Port and Bradenton increased further in 2013, while Sarasota’s growth dipped slightly to just below 1 percent and Venice held steady with a 1.1 percent population spike. North Port’s 1.4 percent increase last year — up from 1.3 percent in 2012 — is not surprising. The 100-squaremile community was already the region’s most populated city, and there is ample land available for development as the real estate recovery continues. North Port added more than 800 residents last year. The city has a population of 59,212, compared to the 53,326 in Sarasota and 21,253 in Venice. Less expected: a 2.3 percent uptick in Bradenton that added 1,145 residents, bringing See POPULATION on 10A

ONLINE

By JEREMY WALLACE H-T Political Writer LAKEWOOD RANCH — With the fate of tens of millions of dollars in the state budget at stake, community leaders flocked to Gov. Rick Scott’s fundraiser here on Wednesday, not just to donate to his re-election, but to make a last plea to convince him to spare local projects from his veto pen. Among the items riding on his deliberations: $8.7 million for a new library at State College of Florida; $3 million for a new Sarasota County Technical Institute campus in North Port; $1 million for Circus Sarasota; $500,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs in Manatee County; and $300,000 for an emergency room diversion program at Manatee Memorial Hospital. Scott got the $77.1 billion proposed budget this week, and has two weeks to decide which projects to keep and trim. “I’ll go line by line,” the governor said. See SCOTT on 7A

Students play in a courtyard between classroom buildings at Imagine School at North Port. H-T ARCHIVE / SEPTEMBER 2013

Population estimates Sarasota North Port Venice Bradenton Palmetto Longboat Key Holmes Beach Anna Maria Bradenton Beach

2010

2011

2012

2013

52,166 57,428 20,762 49,486 12,664 6,897 3,844 1,506 1,171

52,396 57,664 20,787 49,895 12,703 6,926 3,896 1,527 1,177

52,910 58,398 21,024 50,618 12,809 7,002 3,970 1,554 1,191

53,326 57,212 21,253 51,763 12,964 7,082 4,053 1,597 1,210

Estimates are for July 1 of each year.

For an interactive map of Florida population data, visit us at heraldtribune.com and follow the link with this story.

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau

The nexus of Sarasota, baseball and art ROCKWELL: Famed work

with more than one local link may set records today By CHRIS ANDERSON [email protected] SARASOTA — The frecklefaced hayseed with the coffeesaucer ears and aw-shucks grin strolled into the clubhouse one spring day in Sarasota, oblivious to those who mocked his charming grand entrance. He was a gawky kid, fresh off the bus, far from the pastoral surroundings of home, and the suit he was outgrowing exposed the white socks under his penny loafers. He wore a straw carnival barker’s hat, and in his left hand was a wooden bat, a floppy glove

A copy of Norman Rockwell's “The Rookie,” done for The Saturday Evening Post, is signed by Mickey McDermott. STAFF PHOTO / DAN WAGNER

and a tattered suitcase held shut by a belt. An innate aura of optimism surrounded the kid, but the other

INSIDE BUSINESS

Boston Red Sox players in the room, grizzled veterans like the great Ted Williams, harrumphed at the awkward appearance of “The Rookie” — and all he represented — within their sacred sanctum. This was the scene Norman Rockwell created for the March 2, 1957, cover of The Saturday Evening Post, iconic magazine of yesteryear, and there are two Sarasota connections in what is expected to be one of the most expensive American painting ever sold. The original painting of “The Rookie” is to be up for auction this morning in New York, and Christie’s Auction House has it valued at $20 million to $30 million. See ROCKWELL on 6A

FRAUD CLAIMS HIT HOME A financial adviser with offices in North Port is indicted in connection with a Ponzi. 1D NATION

HELD TO ACCOUNT Obama says allegations of misconduct at VA hospitals will not be tolerated. 3A BETTER LIVING

FOR THE FUN OF IT The key to keeping active: Find something you love to do. Classified .........1F Comics .............4D Lottery ..............2A Movie Log .......7B

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6A Thursday, May 22, 2014

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Rockwell work up for auction has a pair of Sarasota links

Life of a rookie “The Rookie” was set at old Payne Park in downtown Sarasota, with the famous artist himself coming here to take pictures of the locker room to work from. It is a remarkable likeness — he left out the cigarette butts on the floor, but still captured such detail as the graffiti carved into the wooden poles. In addition, the inspiration for “The Rookie” was said to be a former hard-living pitcher named Mickey McDermott. He was a colorful character who spent a lot of time in Sarasota throughout his life and stayed on Siesta Key, onetime friends say. McDermott, as a player, was the can’t-miss prospect who missed. He was a minor-league superstar who reached the majors at 18, but his drinking escapades were legendary and he never fulfilled his promise. Then, down and out late in his life, he won the lottery in 1991 and stopped drinking altogether. He was a regular lunch

customer at Demetrio’s Pizza in Sarasota from the late 1990s through his death in 2003, and he befriended owner Dino Karounos and his brother-in-law Joe Pisano, who remembers seeing McDermott pitch at Yankee Stadium when he was 11. Pisano reveled in hearing all the baseball, drinking and celebrity stories McDermott had to tell, and admired the 1956 World Series ring the former athlete always wore. “He was the best,” Pisano said. “He was a good-looking giant Irish leprechaun with a blue twinkle in his eye.” McDermott claimed he was “The Rookie” in his book, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Hall of Fame,” which was published just months before he died. McDermott wrote that he was at spring training in Sarasota with the Red Sox during his rookie season in 1948 when a photographer captured a trainer rubbing suntan lotion on his sunburned neck. The photo ran in “Life” magazine along with this caption: “The baseball rookie, his face reflecting the eternal glow of optimism, a far more reliable harbinger of spring in the United States than the first robin.” “Norman Rockwell must have had a subscription to ‘Life,’ ” McDermott wrote. “Me again, or at least everyone assumed it was. Titled “The Rookie,” it became a ‘Saturday Evening Post’ cover.” McDermott came into Demetrio’s one day and signed a print of “The Rookie” for Karounos, and it was

STAFF PHOTO / DAN WAGNER

“Rockwell liked the underdog and the theme of the painting is just as much championing the underdog as it is about the Red Sox. It’s a very classic and enduring theme in his work.” — Elizabeth Beaman, senior specialist of American art at Christie’s

on the front wall of the restaurant for several years. “He was proud of this,” Pisano said. “He was very proud of this. He said, ‘That’s me, ‘The Rookie.’ ” Beaman said there is nothing she ever found to substantiate McDermott’s claim, but added, “I can’t say for sure it wasn’t him, either.” Rockwell in Sarasota This much is known: Rockwell came to Sarasota in 1956 and took photos of Payne Park, which hosted the Red Sox from 1933 to 1958. He used an old camera with a cloth top and took the photos back to his studio in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to work from. The only element Rockwell added: palm trees to give the illustration a Florida feel. The predominant colors he used in the work: a patriotic red, white and blue. There are five Red Sox players in the illustration, and four of them drove to Rockwell’s studio during an off-day to pose. Pitcher Frank Sullivan, who at 6-foot-7 was the tall-

est player in the American League, has his arm across the shoulder of right-fielder Jackie Jensen. Catcher Sammy White is in the left foreground and secondbaseman Billy Goodman is at the far right. In the back left is not a player at all, but a fictitious character Rockwell made up, “John J. Anonymous,” named for all the players who never made it to the bigs. The player wearing the towel — and the scowl — is Williams, by many accounts the greatest hitter who ever lived. Williams gave Rockwell consent to use his likeness but never actually posed. His body is that of Sullivan’s, and his face was taken from photos and baseball cards. It was not a flattering portrayal of Williams, and there have been those who have speculated it was done intentionally by Rockwell because Williams did not fully cooperate. “I gravitate toward the dynamics between the rookie and Ted Williams,” Beaman said. The person who posed as “The Rookie” for Rock-

FREEDOM. FRONT AND CENTER.

There is a place where freedom is front and center. A place to honor those who came before, those to come and the families who stay behind. All in the name of the star-spangled banner that waves proudly above. That’s the heart of Patriot Plaza at Sarasota National Cemetery.

Watch freedom take center stage at the Patriot Plaza dedication June 28. For dedication ticket information, visit patriotplaza.thepattersonfoundation.org

An initiative of The Patterson Foundation. thepattersonfoundation.org

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Rostrum roof structure with flagpole at Patriot Plaza

well was a man named Sherman Safford. He was a 17-year-old high school senior in 1956, and Rockwell actually plucked him from a high school lunch line in Vermont. Of those who appear in the painting, only Sullivan and Safford are still alive, and two weeks ago they appeared together in Boston for the first time in front of the original work. During an interview with the Herald-Tribune in 2009, Safford, who lives in Rochester, New York, supposed that the original painting, the one he’d posed for while Rockwell smoked a pipe, might be worth a few bucks. “This is part of America and a very big part of America,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get one or two million dollars for it.” The original painting, signed by Rockwell, has been owned by a private collector for 30 years — “not a Red Sox fan,” Beaman said — and the work has only been displayed in public three times, twice after Boston won the World Series. “Rockwell liked the underdog and the theme of the painting is just as much championing the underdog as it is about the Red Sox,” Beaman said. “It’s a very classic and enduring theme in his work.” True or false? Whether McDermott was the inspiration for the painting may never be known; both he and Rockwell are dead. But it is certainly possible. McDermott signed a professional contract at 15 after his father doctored his birth certificate, and as part of the deal it was said he received two truckloads of beer. He pitched three no-hitters in the minors, joined Boston at age 18 in 1948 and could fire a baseball at 100 mph. Birdie Tebbetts — a Hall of Fame catcher, now deceased, who once lived on Anna Maria Island — once predicted McDermott would be “the next Lefty Grove.” McDermott had a couple of decent seasons with the Red Sox, pitching two onehitters and winning 18 games in 1953. He played for the Yankees in 1956 and won a World Series ring — the very same one he’d wear on trips to Demetrio’s Pizza. In an ironic twist that only the sport of baseball seems capable of providing, Boston once traded McDermott to Washington in exchange for Jackie Jensen, the right-fielder in Rockwell’s painting. “He threw hard but he was wild,” Pisano said of McDermott. “Of course half the time he was drunk. He’d been

out all night.” By his own admission, McDermott drank a substantial amount of alcohol, his late-night carousing in New York with Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Billy Martin of particular legend. He often joked that his knee problems were from falling off too many bar stools. He lived in Arizona and Sarasota, and his life after baseball was rough. He was married four times, worked as a carpenter and security guard, and owned a bar that he drank into bankruptcy. According to a published story, he once met a drunken dentist in a bar, and they went back to his office. There, the dentist proceeded to yank out all of McDermott’s teeth while he was passed out drunk in the chair. Pisano remembers going with McDermott to a Sarasota seafood restaurant once, and seeing McDermott pull out his dentures and stuff them in the pocket of his sport coat. Pisano remembers laughing a few years later when he saw McDermott being interviewed on TV in New York while wearing the same jacket. Pisano also said McDermott was a good friend of Ted Williams, and the Hall of Famer often gave him money when he was struggling later in life. According to his book, McDermott said he was tired of drinking and prayed to God to give him a sign to stop. The sign came, he said, when he won $7 million in the lottery on a $1 ticket. “He said, ‘One night I played the lottery and I’m lying on the couch bombed and I can hear my wife and son talking,’ ” Pisano said. “They said, ‘I think Mick hit the lottery. I think those are his numbers.’ “He says, ‘I’m hearing all this and I think I’m dreaming. All of a sudden I started to sober up.’ And that’s when he went on the wagon. He wouldn’t drink anything after that.” After McDermott won the lottery, Pisano said, he wrote a check to Williams to pay him back for his generosity. Pisano said Williams tore up the check. Lingering questions Now, as the painting goes up for auction there are several interesting questions that surround it. How much money will the painting bring? Will it be the most ever paid for an American painting? Will Sarasota and Payne Park have played a role in artistic history? And, will a colorful expitcher who used to spend time on Siesta Key — a guy who used to serve up doubles and triples during games, then drink them with Mickey Mantle after — be known as the inspiration for the iconic Norman Rockwell’s most famous painting? Hard to say, though, through the optimistic eyes of “The Rookie” anything is certainly possible.

CS00102183

ROCKWELL from 1A But that’s just for starters. It could go much higher. A 1951 painting by Rockwell called “Saying Grace” was originally valued at $15 million to $20 million, but sold in December for $46 million, at the time a record for an American painting. (An Andy Warhol work sold last week for $63 million.) “It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but we’ve had an enthusiastic response to the painting thus far,” said Elizabeth Beaman, senior specialist of American art at Christie’s.

A copy of Norman Rockwell's painting for the Saturday Evening Post cover is signed by pitcher Mickey McDermot. Dino Karounos, owner of Demetrio's, hung the copy in the restaurant for years.

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AN EDITION OF THE SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE

North Port won’t bid on property McCALL RANCH: Auction

CAN THIS LAND BE SAVED?

price and state rules pose big hurdle for city officials By JOSH SALMAN [email protected] NORTH PORT — City officials won’t be bidding on McCall Ranch when the massive property comes up for auction later this week, but that hasn’t stopped some commissioners from fretting about the future of the tract — and its potential impact on North Port. That’s because the 5,771-acre tract on Choctaw Boulevard, once envisioned for a mix of 15,000 homes and 4.2 million square feet

The 5,700-acre McCall Ranch is headed to auction Thursday, but conservationists continue to hope much of the property will be preserved from development. 7A

of retail and office space, could contain enough water to supply North Port for some time. “Everyone thinks there’s a lot of water on that property,” North Port Mayor Jim Blucher said Monday. “I was worried another government would buy up the property, and I wanted to make sure we were not behind the eight ball.” North Port commissioners See MCCALL RANCH on 7A

HERALDTRIBUNE.COM

ALLEN WEST Tea Party hero Allen West — who represented a Florida district in Congress — will address local Republicans on Wednesday.

SPEAKERS’ VISIONS CONTRAST AFRICAN-AMERICANS: Talks

locally this month will be given by political opposites JULIAN BOND Civil rights legend Julian Bond — a former chairman of the NAACP — will address Democrats on Feb. 23 in Sarasota.

S

ARASOTA — Heading into a key election year, two political voices from opposite ends of the political spectrum will be vying for the hearts

FIGURE SKATING

As the pairs take the ice today, millions will be mesmerized by their feats of precision. What is often taken for granted are the perils inherent in the Olympic event.

Canada’s Marie-France Durbreuil falls after being dropped by her partner, Patrice Lauzon, during their dance program in Figure Skating Ice Dancing at the Turin, Italy, 2006 Winter Olympic Games. AP ARCHIVE / FEBRUARY 2006

Olympic figure skaters Nathan Bartholomay and Felicia Zhang practice at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex.

ELEGANT

STAFF PHOTO / THOMAS BENDER

AND

DANGEROUS comes the lurking potential for broken bones and bloody faces.

Think pairs figure skating isn’t dangerous? Then name another sport that

has something in it called a “death spiral.” the air and catching them. “People think it’s such a pretty sport and I hate the word ‘pretty,’ ” coach Jim Peterson says. “What we do is so difficult and it can be so dangerous.” Peterson is a coach at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, and has guided two pairs figure skating teams to the Sochi Olympics. Nathan Bartholomay and Felicia Zhang are representing the U.S., while David King and Stacey Kemp are skating for Great BritSee DANGEROUS on 4A OLYMPIC COVERAGE

Your guide to the rules, equipment and terminology, as well as which countries’ skaters are expected to do well. 4A

Who struck gold on Monday, as well as a guide to television coverage and a medal table. 1C, 4-5C

Classified .........6D Comics ............4D Lottery .............2A Movie Log ........5B

Obituaries ........4B Opinion ............8A People .............5B Sports ..............1C

OUR 89TH YEAR NUMBER 131 5 SECTIONS

NATIONAL

DECISIONS BY CAPTAIN CITED IN SINKING Panel questions captain’s actions before the replica of the HMS Bounty sank in a storm. 2A

Longevity offers new later-life choices

By BARBARA PETERS SMITH [email protected] SARASOTA — American baby boomers have started to sense that they are part of a massive and transformative popular movement that’s still in search of a name — and the 300-plus people now here for the International Conference on Positive Aging are waiting for them to show some initiative and sense of belonging. Many of the 78 million boomers can expect to enjoy 25 or 30 “bonus” years of life, thanks to the current longevity boom, and aging specialists believe they will want and need to exercise greater control over how those years are spent. But this new approach to late life will have to be improvised from scratch. That means it’s time for boomers to join the conversation. “There is no model, really, to go back to,” said Craig Vogel, president of the Live Well Collaborative at the University of Cincinnati. One keynote speaker at the conference, nonprofit entrepreneur See AGING on 5A

knives on their feet, and with every ethereal leap and dainty twirl

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and minds of the black community here in high-profile speeches less than two weeks apart. At the Sarasota Republican Party’s invitation, Tea Party hero Allen West says he will offer an alternative to how President Barack Obama and the Democrats have let down the black community by growing the welfare state. “This is not the message of Dr. Martin Luther King,” West said. Eleven days later, Democrats will counter with civil rights legend and Democrat Julian Bond, who has called the Tea Party “the Taliban wing” of American politics. Bond also has criticized Republican efforts to curtail the core legacy of the civil rights movement: the Voting Rights Act of 1964. “Julian Bond is one of the living legends of the civil rights ERA,” said Edward James III, the statewide director of African-American outreach for Organizing for Action. James is scheduled to speak at the same Sarasota Democratic Party Kennedy-King Dinner as Bond on Feb. 23. The contradictory speakers underscore how both parties are focused on the black community in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Democrats and Republicans know that if black voters — historically a reliable Democratic group — come out in force, CharSee WALLACE on 5A

careers’ among ideas at a boomer conference here

LLENTON — They skate with sequins on their sleeves and

Think figure skaters aren’t tough? Then how about the time in 2007 when Jessica Dube was slashed by her partner in the left cheek, his blade moving at 40 mph? It took 83 stitches to close the wound. She was back skating in 10 days. Injuries such as broken noses, shattered eye sockets, concussions and deep skate blade wounds can occur because pairs skaters have to be so close to each other during elements or they lose points, and men are throwing their spinning partners high into

JEREMY WALLACE POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

BONUS YEARS: ‘Encore

By CHRIS ANDERSON, [email protected]

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Health + Fitness

WASHINGTON

DEAL LINKED TO PENSIONS FOR VETERANS A House plan to increase the debt limit would affect some military pensions. 3A

BUSINESS

HEALTH CARE RULES EASED FOR COMPANIES The administration gives some firms additional time to meet the health care law mandate. 1D

4A Tuesday, February 11, 2014

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FAVORED PAIRS

The favored pairs going into Sochi are:

Programs

Boot and blade

EVENT

COMPETITION PROGRAMS

Pairs Performed in unison by partners comprising overhead lifts, throw jumps and spins. The key to pairs skating: exact timing and simultaneous movements. The teams compete in both short and free skate rounds.

Short – Pair must perform seven elements, in any order. n A lift with a specified grip that rotates from year to year n Double or triple twist lift n Double or triple throw jump n Solo (side-by-side) double or triple jump n Death spiral on a specified edge that rotates from year to year n Spiral or step sequence, rotating from year to year n Spin combination, alternating annually between a solo, side-by-side spin combination and a pair spin combination

TIME LIMIT (minutes)

Free – Few restrictions or required elements; pair chooses instrumental music and choreographs a program that best displays team and individual strengths.

2:50

Boot Custom-made for each foot; reinforced with thick, stiff leather for ankle support

Blade cross-section RUSSIA Maxim Trankov and Tatiana Volosozhar

A hollow center creates two edges that improve turning control 4:30

Skating in style Death spiral

Rocker Curved part of the blade GERMANY Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy

Toe pick Used for pushing off in jumps and as a pivot point in spins

This move – in which the woman rotates parallel to the ice while holding her partner’s hand – is a required element of the pairs short program.

Rink-side Artistic Measures •Skating skills, transitions, performance, choreography, interpretation of music.

Assistant referee Technical delegates Judges

Temperature average (˚F) In the building 66.2˚

Referee Timekeeper Judges

Ice is 1.75 inches thick

Coaches

Ice 24˚

Figure skating pair It is very important to create and regulate ate the ice surface. Warmer, softer ice helps figuree skaters dig in their skates for jumps and spins.

Concrete base 23˚

CHINA C Pang a g Qing ang Qin Qi and Tong Jian

Othe Other herr sc scor scoring orin ingg cr crit criteria iter eriia ia •The height, fullness, number off rotations rota tatition onss and and landing land la ndin ingg of of jumps jum umps ps •The fluidity, difficulty and execution of footwork •The speed, position and number of rotations in pirouettes

Olympic medals in pairs figure skating, by country, since 1908

How to figure

Gold Silver Bronze Judges – The system is designed to allow judges to focus on the quality of each element performed and of the performance. It also eliminates the scoring of skaters in relation to other skaters.

Referee oversees the judges. Technical specialist group Identifies each element in real time.

Program components •Transitions • Interpretation • Choreography/composition • Skating skills • Performance/execution of elements

Out of these 9 scores, the highest and lowest score of every element or program component are ignored and the average will be taken from the remainder

Technical score

Grade of execution Awarded on a scale of up to plus or minus three points Base value Each technical element has a pre-assigned base value. This depends on the difficulty of the element.

Each element performed receives a base value plus a “grade of execution”

Total score

Seven of the nine judges are randomly and anonymously selected. Scores of two of the other judges are thrown out.

SOURCES: Associated Press, New York Times, International Olympic Committee; Vancouver Organizing Committee; International Skating Union; “Sports: The Complete Visual Reference,” Francois Fortin

Pairs skating is an elegant and perilous event DANGEROUS from 1A ain. Last year, Kemp missed 10 months after tearing a ligament in her knee. On the day she returned to practice she took a blade in the face that required 12 stitches. She went to the hospital, got stitched up and — what else? — came back to the rink. “You can either sit there and cry about it or you can get on with practice,” Kemp says. Kemp also has had her thumb sliced to the bone by a skate blade. “Once we did a twist,” King says. “It’s the one where I throw her up and she turns three times and I catch her. Well, I caught her and pushed her out and she went straight back and hit her head on the ice. She’s got this beautiful blond hair and the whole back of it was bright red. “You do take a bit of a beating.” Potential danger Zhang, 20, says she has had “two little” concussions during her career as a pairs skater. Last year, she was doing a twist in the air, but not as high as a previous one and she wasn’t rotating as

much. Her elbow hit Bartholomay’s head, bounced back and hit her own head and it knocked her unconscious in his arms. “She literally knocked herself silly and I had a really bad pain in my head,” Bartholomay says. “It was like a super hammer elbow coming down on my head, and I’ve got a tough head.” Bartholomay says the worst elbow he ever received caught him flush in the eye. “That was scary,” Bartholomay says. “Not only did it hurt but I’ve known two different guys who have shattered their eye sockets from an elbow.” Ellenton resident Mark Ladwig, who competed in the 2010 Olympics with Amanda Evora, will never forget a horrific accident that happened in 1999 in Delaware. Pairs skater Mark Binnebose fell while lifting his partner and hit his head on the ice. He suffered a skull fracture and needed emergency brain surgery. His heart stopped twice in the hospital and he lost 50 pounds. Ladwig was running late for practice that day and didn’t see the accident, but visited Binne-

Soviet Union /Russia

11

6

1

Germany

3

2

2

Canada

2

1

4

Austria

2

2

1

France

2

0

1

Finland

1

1

0

Belgium

1

0

0

The Unified Team

1

1

0

China

1

1

1

USA

0

3

2

Great Britian

0

1

2

Norway

0

1

0

Hungary

0

1

4

East Germany

0

1

3

West Germany

0

0

1

Olympic figure skaters Nathan Bartholomay and Felicia Zhang at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex. Zhang, 20, says she has had “two little” concussions during her career as a pairs skater. Bartholomay says he once took an elbow flush in the eye. STAFF PHOTO / THOMAS BENDER

bose several times in the hospital. “I watched how over time he went from being a strong pairs guy to just surviving,” Ladwig recalls. Bartholomay says being a pairs figure skater can be just as dangerous as playing in the NFL. “I hope we make it look easy,” Bartholomay says. “It’s probably the most dangerous out of the four skating disciplines just because the girls are so high. They are sometimes smaller than the singles ladies and the guys are throwing them three times as high and asking them to still land on one foot. There’s a lot of potential danger there.” Jeremy Barrett — who was born in Sarasota, grew up in Venice and competed in the 2010 Olympics with partner Caydee Denney — had a major accident during a practice after he returned from Vancouver. Denney sliced Barrett’s leg with her blade, and Barrett received 12 stitches in his leg muscles, 14 more to close that up and then 16 more on the outside of his skin. “People think we make it look easy and pretty but they don’t see the other side of it as well,” Kemp

says. Early training Most of the accidents and mishaps happen during practice, and not as often during competition. But if a skater is injured during a competitive event a referee will blow a whistle if the injury is deemed to be serious enough to stop the performance. The skaters have two minutes to tend to the injury and can return to the ice without a penalty deduction of points. If an injured skater comes off the ice on their own, or if they return after the injury time has expired, points are automatically deducted. Still, every precaution is taken by coaches to prevent injury and skaters learn at a young age about safety and developing sound technique. Only a select few ever reach world-class levels and are capable of doing the things that would bring such a high risk. “It’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing and if you don’t educate the athlete,” says Olympic coach Lyndon Johnston. Peterson says off-ice training when skaters are young is crucial

CANADA Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford

1988, Calgary

The last time a U.S pairs team won a medal at the Olympics.

Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard

to development and helps make the pairs skaters more confident and trusting. All of the twists and spins are done on a trampoline for three months before being attempted on ice. The lifts are done on the floor, with top attention being paid to the male’s footwork. “The man’s turns in the lifts are the most important,” Peterson says. “If his feet are clean, meaning he’s picking up his feet and not sliding across the ice, that means the girl is going to be safe and that’s huge in the development of a young team. “Luckily there’s a lot of training off the ice.” Peterson will then have his skaters go on the ice to practice, doing things like crossovers together so a comfort level is acquired. They also have to learn how to hold hands. “I know it sounds silly, but wrist grips and finger grips are important,” Peterson says. “And that goes back to having those nonverbal cues.” Still, it is not for everyone. A talented figure skater does not always make a great pairs figure skater if fear and apprehension cannot be alleviated. “There have been certain people I’ve seen from afar where I’ve thought, ‘Oh, they would be such a good pairs skater,’ but they may be a bit fearful or the parents may be a bit fearful, which is understandable considering what you are dealing with,” Peterson says. “In pairs skating one hand lifts the girl over your head and you’re going down the ice. I mean, it’s sort of crazy when you think about it.”

TWO FOR ONE

Two actors play different aspects of the same character in Asolo production.

ARTS, 1E

PUTTING THE BCS TO REST

A PEEK INSIDE OHANA

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FLOOD RATES TAKE TOLL

INSIDE

Realtors say surge in insurance costs is starting to crimp deals in the region

The Ice Bowl in Green Bay, Wisc., Dec. 31, 1967. AP PHOTO

FROZEN Not-so-warm memories of Ice Bowl 1967

By ZAC ANDERSON [email protected] Hefty flood insurance rate increases are starting to have a pronounced impact on Southwest Florida’s real estate market heading into the new year, hurting sales and upending the business in high-risk flood zones. Lawmakers from Florida and other flood-prone states still hold out hope that the National Flood Insurance Program rate increases

“We’ve seen a lot of closings just fall through.” – Bob Strayer, owner of Strayer Surveying & Mapping in Venice

can be rolled back, but real estate professionals say the hikes are already taking a toll in certain neighborhoods. Home sales have stalled, sellers are dropping prices and the me-

chanics of completing a deal are becoming more complicated. “We’ve seen a lot of closings just fall through,” said Bob Strayer, owner of Strayer Surveying & Mapping in Venice, who conducts surveys of properties to determine their elevations for flood insurance purposes. Since Congress failed to pass a flood insurance fix before adjourning for the holidays, a group of senators — including Florida Demo-

crat Bill Nelson — from states with large numbers of flood policies have been pushing for a vote early this year on legislation that would delay the new rates. The lawmakers say they secured a promise from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring the issue up for a vote. But they need 60 senators to agree, a high bar to reach. The Senate reconvenes Monday. See INSURANCE on 14A

How do you get a traumatized child to reveal the truth about abuse at the hands of a loved one? With patience, and gentleness, and sometimes, Big Red

What’ll it be like to cheer on a football team in temperatures that start with a minus sign? Herald-Tribune Sports Editor Scott Peterson, in the stands for the Ice Bowl in 1967, has some tips: Layer, layer, layer . . . and don’t pour coffee in your boots. Column, 1C

NATION: The deep freeze expected in the Midwest, New England and even the South has the potential for recordlow temperatures, heightening fears of frostbite and hypothermia. 3A LOCAL: The cold air will get

here soon, with highs only in the 50s on Tuesday. 2B

Big Red,

Is a check real, or a real scam?

A faithful reader of H-T columnist Tom Lyons is wary of a totally unexpected gift that arrived by mail in the form of a $25,000 check. Knowing Lyons often writes about people getting ripped off, she turns to him with a question: “Is it a scam?” Column, 1B

Building bridges with a barbecue More than 100 people from Newtown attended a block party thrown by the Sarasota Police Department Saturday. People ate and danced. Children played. City leaders met with their constituents. It was all in the name of better community relations. Story on 1B Arts ..................1E Classified .........1F Lottery ..............2A Movie Log ........9B

Obituaries ........8B Opinion ..........16A Out & About .....2B Sports ..............1C

an 8-year-old rescue dog, is now a proud therapy dog who is used to help ease the fears of abused children. STAFF PHOTOS / DAN WAGNER

GUIDED T THROUGH

THE PAIN Prosecutor Dawn Buff, at the Child Protection Center in Sarasota, knows a child’s courtroom experience has the potential to be a trauma unto itself.

By CHRIS ANDERSON, [email protected] he girl was sweet, smart, just 9 years old. She had been sexually abused by her stepfather, and her mother had abandoned her to live with the man and his monstrously abhorrent secret. No one seemed to want Big Red either. A lady found the Labrador mix wandering up Proctor Road one day, the scars on his mangy side mysterious and sad, but there was something wise and gentle about him, too. When it came time for the girl to give a deposition in the case against her stepfather two years ago, she withdrew and grew frightened and wouldn’t talk to anyone about it. Prosecutor Dawn Buff tried playing a fun game with her. It didn’t work. They sat at a kid’s table and colored. Not a sound. Over on the couch, next to some pillows, watching all of this, was Big Red. He was a proud therapy dog now — among the vehicles prosecutors use to assuage the fears of abused children — but he was scared, too, of elevators. So scared, in fact, his handler had to hold him in her arms as they rode up to the deposition room that day. Buff leaned over to the girl and said softly, “I know this is really scary and a lot has gone on, but Red’s really scared to be here, too. “He’s afraid of the elevator, but he came because he knew you were going to have to talk about this today. He came to be by you. He knew you needed him.” The girl rose from her chair, walked to the couch, put her arms around Big Red and snuggled up to the gentle brown therapy dog with the scars on his side. “I almost started to cry,” Buff said. They all moved to the floor and the girl started talking, apprehensively at first, and then saying just enough to send her stepfather to prison for the rest of his life. See CHILDREN on 14A

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“Can you imagine a 3-year-old talking to a law enforcement officer who has a gun and a badge?” – Danielle Hughes, forensic interviewer

Guiding children through the pain CHILDREN from 1A Squiggly lines Inside the lobby of the Child Protection Center in Sarasota is a large, twisting glass cylinder two stories tall. Abused children drop marbles down the cylinder, and the little balls slink their way to the bottom, where they all remain clustered like gumballs in a 25-cent machine. This is to signify to the children that they are not alone. On the wall inside a medical room at the center is a painting of grass and trees and summertime. Hidden deep in the landscape are ladybugs and grasshoppers. Abused children are asked to find the hidden insects while lying down on a medical table. This is to forget they are being examined by a doctor after enduring horrific acts, violations often committed by someone they love. In one room is a closet full of donated children’s clothes and television monitors. This is where law enforcement officers watch the forensic interviews taking place. Inside another room is a small kids’ table with small kids’ chairs and a camera high up in a corner. This is where Danielle Hughes works. She is a 34-year-old forensic interviewer, and no one draws squiggly lines with a 5-year-old better than her. Hughes is called a Child Protection Team case coordinator, one of four on staff at the Child Protection Center. She interviews children ages 3-12 who may have been abused. If someone places a call to the Department of Children and Families suspecting abuse, Hughes is among the people who will be called upon to interview the child. Her interview tape will be given to law enforcement, and the case could be forwarded to the state if the police deem it credible. Her job is to gather information in a nonthreatening way. “Can you imagine a 3-year-old talking to a law enforcement officer who has a gun and a badge?” Hughes said. “That’s frightening. They don’t want to talk about what happened and they don’t want to get the perpetrator in trouble.” Signs of abuse Hughes has interviewed more than 1,000 children during the past 10 years. She has to make them feel comfortable, gain their trust and attempt to obtain crucial information within a narrow timeframe. As a rule of thumb, she has three minutes to talk to a child for every year of the child’s age. That’s about the length of a child’s attention span. For example, she’ll have 15 minutes for a 5-year-old. Inside the interview room, it’s just her and the child — no parents or family. Law enforcement watches on the monitor from another room. She always points out the camera and the microphone to the child. She wants no surprises. And she always sits at the little table, at eye level with the child. Buff, the assistant state attorney, often does the same when she conducts depositions. “We want to eliminate all power so I have no power over that child,” Hughes said. The sessions almost always include Hughes and the child drawing pictures. Hughes likes to draw nondescript squiggling lines, no humans, nothing to remind a child of family. Buff sometimes plays games or

To ease issues of power and authority, Danielle Hughes often interviews children while sitting at their level. Hughes is a forensic interviewer, officially, a Child Protection Team case coordinator. STAFF PHOTOS / DAN WAGNER

ons into their paper when the subject comes up. She also intentionally says one wrong thing during the interview to see if the child catches and corrects the error. She finds children to be quite reliable, probably more than adults. “Children’s minds aren’t sophisticated enough to say a lie and then maintain that lie,” she said. ‘My job to worry’ Buff was in Alabama a few years ago for an Auburn-Florida football game. She was walking near the famous Toomer’s Corner part of Auburn’s campus when she wandered into a trinket shop. She spotted a small medallion inside the store that bore the word “Courage.” When a young child takes the stand in court, Buff will sometimes have them hold the small medallion in their palm. And if another child testifies after them, it’ll get passed on. Sometimes parents hold it, too. Kids will hold rocks, blankets and stuffed animals — anything to put them at ease in court. Rarely, therapy dogs lie next to the children for comfort in the courtroom. Prior to a child testifying in court, Buff brings him or her in to sit in each seat and become familiar with the setting. Some even swivel around in the judge’s chair. She also shows the children a tape about how the proceedings work. She never tells the kids what to wear, and does not want to appear as though she is pandering to the jury by, say, making a child wear a cute ribbon in her hair. She says she never coaches a child on how to act. “They’ve got one job and that’s to tell the truth,” Buff said. “They worry, ‘Am I going to say it right?’ And I say: ‘You don’t worry about anything else. It’s my job to worry about everything else.’ ”

Children can choose a marble before dropping it down a two-storytall cylinder, above, in the lobby of the Child Protection Center. This is to signify to the children that they are not alone.

colors during depositions. “I’ve done some beautiful work during depositions,” she said. Hughes has several signs she looks for during interviews. If a child is particularly chatty but then suddenly goes silent when

the subject of abuse is gently broached, she knows it’s likely something has happened. Sometimes kids wet themselves when they start talking about abuse. Sometimes they dig their cray-

Big Red There are framed picture of therapy dogs — including Big Red — hanging on a wall at the Child Protection Center, right across the hall from Danielle Hughes’ office.

There are also photos of the dogs on the wall in the lobby of the State Attorney’s Office in Sarasota. Hughes began the program that uses dogs to help comfort abused children during depositions and trials. The program is called PAWS. She began with three dogs. There are now 11. The example of the interaction between Big Red and the 9-year-old girl — and the result it created — is the pinnacle. “That’s it for me,” Hughes said. “That’s incredible.” Sarasota and Manatee counties may be the only counties in the state that have used dogs to help children in court, she said. However, the dogs have rarely been used, perhaps only a few times in both counties, according to Buff. Florida statute allows it, but judges have been hesitant. “The defense in Sarasota argues that the statute requires we prove the child is going to suffer some emotional harm if we don’t have this available to them,” Buff said. “The judges seem to feel this should be for only the most extreme circumstances.” If a dog is used, it remains next to the child on the stand, but out of sight of jurors. A dog handler sits nearby. When a dog is brought in, jurors are instructed to leave the courtroom. They may be told the dog is there, but are not allowed to see it. If a dog is not used in the courtroom, it will wait outside the door, eager to comfort the child after what was likely a traumatic experience. “I’ve been on the stand a few times in my life and it’s like an outof-body experience, it’s scary,” Buff said. “And then to talk about a sexual experience, specifically ‘He touched me here and this is what it felt like and this is what it smelled like and this is what he said to me.’ “And to talk about that in front of strangers and the person who did it, and that person may be somebody you love and you may be getting pressure by someone to not send that person to prison for the rest of their life, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid.”

Flood rate insurance hike starting to take a toll INSURANCE from 1A Southwest Florida’s real estate industry has been lobbying to delay the rate increases. Sarasota Realtor David Clapp is hopeful lawmakers will “correct the insanity,” but in the meantime, he said, homeowners and real estate professionals need to face reality and educate themselves on the issue. “Both sellers and buyers need to be proactive,” said Clapp, a managing broker with Re/Max Alliance Group. Congress approved steep rate hikes to the National Flood Insurance Program in 2012 to help make up losses after Hurricane Katrina. Older, low-lying properties in high-risk flood areas are being targeted for the largest increases. The new rates are being phased in for most property owners. But when a home sells, the new owner must pay the entire “full risk” rate

if flood insurance costs are too

waterfront — the new owner

ry flood insurance.

cates and flood insurance quotes early on, he said.dd Strayer’s company has been busy in recent months surveying property elevations. He said it is not uncommon for older homes in coastal areas to be well below the “base flood elevation,” where a flood is expected every 100 years. Insurance premiums will increase exponentially for these homes. Venice property insurance agent Mary Elizabeth Petty lives in a 1,450-square-foot house insured for $201,000. The South Venice home is three feet below the base flood elevation. Petty pays $1,200 annually for flood insurance but if she were to sell the property — which is not

forms approved by Congress. “I will never be able to sell my house,” she said. “That’s the realistic view.” Homeowners confronting steep rate increases have few options. Strayer said flood vents can be installed in garages and other areas. They help water drain and reduce insurance premiums. Strayer’s workers have inspected a few dozen new flood vents in recent months but “it’s still kind of rare” he said. The insurance savings may not be significant enough for many properties. Elevating a home is another possibility, but that tends to be expensive and impractical in many cases. Homeowners who do not have a mortgage are not required to car-

ready make up a big percentage of the island’s real estate transactions, “which gives the owner the option” of having flood coverage or not. Marshall said it is too soon to tell if a large number of buyers will be willing to forgo flood insurance. The Michael Saunders & Company agent recently had a deal fall through on a first floor Siesta condo because the buyer needed a mortgage and the flood insurance was too high. The condo is back under contract and Marshall hopes it will sell, but he would rather not have so much uncertainty. “I hope this is something the Congress and the state will look at real hard in 2014 and see if they can’t amend or ease something,” he said.

“I will never be able to sell my Siesta Key-based Realtor high. Sellers should be aggressive would have to pay between house. That’s the realistic view.” about obtaining elevation certifi- $7,000 and $8,000 under the re- George Marshall said cash deals al– Elizabeth Petty, whose South Venice home is three freet below the base flood elevation

at once. One of Clapp’s agents recently worked on a deal in which the property insurance went from $1,400 to $6,000. The seller had to drop the price, or the buyer was ready to pull out. “It’s dramatically affecting buyers,” Clapp said. Real estate agents are being forced to change how they do business. Buyers and sellers have been getting into disputes over money held in escrow. Clapp now advises agents to include a contract provision stipulating that a deposit will be refunded