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Characters, Not Silver, Line Our Dark Cloud

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By STEVE OTTO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 13, 2008

Have you noticed you don't have to watch the local news to find out what's going on around here any more?

All you have to do is tune in to the national news or watch the cable stations and you can pretty much be sure that in the disasters of the day you will find a story about the Tampa Bay area.

It's almost as if we were the Joe Btfsplk of the country. Joe with the unpronounceable last name was a character in the "Li'l Abner" comic by Al Capp who had a permanent black cloud floating above his head. Wherever Joe Btfsplk was, disaster was sure to follow.

Last week, of course, there was that horrific pileup that closed Interstate 4 out of Tampa toward Orlando. It was closer to Polk City, but Tampa was the name I kept seeing on the national stories.

In the past couple of weeks, as the housing crisis deepens, it turned out that the Tampa area was right at the top (or bottom would be more correct) of the spiral in real estate sales.

I turned on the television and there was former middle school teacher Debra Lafave standing in front of a judge. Now education is a big issue in this country, but here is a story that has been in the news since she first was arrested in 2004, and, to tell you the truth, I don't think it has done that much for the school district.

Lafave has been a part of the personality parade from around here that never seems to end. From Jessica Lunsford to Terri Schiavo to that former "American Idol" contestant what's-her-name Sierra, someone is always keeping us in the news.

You almost think there might be something in the water that's causing it. Maybe that's it. How long have they been pumping water from the new desalination plant in Apollo Beach?

Born Under A Blinking Light?

Did you see that Philip Agee died at age 72 last week?

Agee was the former CIA agent who made a career out of exposing agents after he left the agency. American and British intelligence services claimed he was responsible for the deaths of "several" agents. He also wrote that millions of innocent people around the world had had their lives ruined or worse. Agee eventually ended up in Havana.

The obituary we ran from The Associated Press said he was born in Tacoma, Fla.

I suppose that's possible. Tacoma today is a blinking light on U.S. 441 outside Micanopy at the edge of Paynes Prairie. It once was a train stop, mostly to load fruit, but that's about it. If Agee was born there, it wasn't by plan.

I did check with Ed Geers at the Micanopy Historical Society, who said it was unlikely there was anyplace around Tacoma where Agee could have been born. He did say that if I was in the area I ought to stop by Pearl Country Store for some good barbecue.

Our Odd Collection

Philip Agee grew up in Tampa and graduated from Jesuit High School before going on to Notre Dame. Former Tribune history writer Leland Hawes says he met Agee at a Toastmasters meeting.

"His dad, Bill Agee, was president of the Tampa Rotary and owned the Vogue dry cleaner shop on Howard Avenue, right next to that health club that's now owned by Joe Redner. He said at the time he was waiting to be assigned somewhere by the State Department," Leland says.

I don't know whether there is still anybody living in Tacoma who might want to claim Agee's infamy, but he was one more in the odd collection of characters who have come our way.

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