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BY HILLARY TERHUNE
NNB Student Reporter

TAMPA – Hockey is a grind, and not just for the players.

The sport is often called the “fastest game on Earth,” and with players who can reach speeds of 20 mph on skates and hit slap shots that travel at more than 100 mph, it’s easy to understand the nickname.

For every hockey player drawing a penalty or burying a one-timer, there is someone watching and documenting it.

Beat reporters are a lifeline that connects hockey fans to the sport they love. They are the reason fans can keep up with everything from trades and injuries to which goalie will start the game.

But it’s not always a glamourous job. Hockey writers face obstacles every day in order to stay informed about their beat.

Erik Erlendsson and Joe Smith know the role well. They are beat writers for the two major newspapers in the Tampa Bay area. Erlendsson has been the beat writer for the Tampa Tribune since 2001. Smith, who has been with the Tampa Bay Times since 2006, took over the beat this year.

Erlendsson, 43, is from Gloucester, Mass. An alumnus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, he began his career wanting to be a broadcast journalist. After an internship his sophomore year with a broadcast new organization, he found out that just wasn’t for him.

“I actually had an adviser who kept pushing me to do newspapers,” Erlendsson said.

So Erlendsson went into print journalism. He had been passionate about sports since he was a kid, and it felt like fate for him to become a beat writer. He covered high school sports from 1996 until 2000.

“I would have been perfectly happy doing that,” he said.

Than an opportunity to cover the Lightning came up. Erlendsson, who already had a background and an interest in hockey, went for it.

And for someone who doesn’t have a favorite hockey team, this opportunity was the perfect fit.

“One of the big keys, you have to take any emotion out of it,” he said. “You’re supposed to be a neutral observer, and you can’t do that if you have any sort of rooting interest in it.”

Smith, 33, followed a similar route. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he first heard the call of journalism when he noticed a fellow student had an article on the front page of the school newspaper. He knew he could do that same.

After Smith graduated from Michigan, he started working for the Modesto Bee in California. He covered high school sports, which he said he would be perfectly happy covering today. His passion for sports led him to the Times.

When Smith started at the paper in 2006, he helped cover the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Lightning – a chance to dip a toe into everything before he became the hockey beat writer this year.

Hockey writers are constantly observing and reporting. Erlendsson and Smith attend almost every practice, even optional ones, and they travel with the team.

“I can go three months without a day off,” Erlendsson said.

It’s easy to see why. The Lightning have played eight games in 15 days, four of them away games. It’s not unheard of to have a five-game road trip with back-to-back games in two cities, but it’s something that reporters have to endure.

In the 2001-2002 NHL season, Erlendsson took his first trip to Toronto for what he calls his “introduction to a major media market.”

Cory Cross, a Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman, had been cleared for contact after an injury. The Toronto news media wanted inside information, and “they literally almost knocked me over” to get to Cross, said Erlendsson.

Hip checks aren’t just for hockey players.

Reporting on hockey is almost as fast-paced and grueling as the sport itself, just in a very different way. Writers are up against deadlines and a constantly changing game, and it can be a challenge to be accurate.

On a normal day, Erlendsson arrives at the Amalie Arena in Tampa at 10:15 for a 10:30 skate practice.  He sets up his equipment in the media room down a chilly corridor. Then he makes his way out to the stands, where he sits and waits.

When the players start to make their way onto the ice, he looks for anything out of the ordinary.

“One thing right there,” he said. “Victor Hedman is skating in a normal colored jersey.”

Hedman, a defenseman for the Lightning, fractured his finger early in the season. When he participated in team practices, he wore a red, no-contact jersey. Since he has been cleared for contact he is now in a regular colored jersey.

“It doesn’t mean he’ll play; it just means he’s cleared for contact,” Erlendsson said.

He immediately posted the information to Twitter, a must-do in a situation like this.

“Social media has changed the way we do our job in so many different ways,” he said.

There are other things that reporters look for at practices. Line rushes and who is on the power play unit are just a few key elements, all of them important information when writers consider their articles.

“You’ll see the same drills a million times in a season,” said Smith. “It’s my job to keep it interesting for the readers.”

As players start to leave the ice, the reporters make their way to the locker room to interview players. They have to snag them when they get an opportunity.

If they have an idea for an article, they go into the locker room knowing whom they want to interview.

Smith went into an off-day practice with an idea for an article about faceoff percentages. He immediately talked to Tyler Johnson, Steven Stamkos, Valterri Filppula and Brian Boyle – the center men on the team and the ones who take the faceoffs.

“Not the most exciting topic, but it’s something people need to know about,” Smith said.

Reporters often have some kind of idea of what they are going to write about when they go into practices.

On an off day, it could be just about anything.

“It’s usually about trends or a player feature,” said Smith.

For game days, it’s a little different and the deadlines are a little tighter. Writers have to have story notes – short articles about injuries, upcoming games, tidbits about other teams – sent in immediately after the game-day practice. For someone who has been covering sports for years, like Smith and Erlendsson, that’s a breeze.

It’s the game article that is challenging.

“You’ll have most of your article written by the end of the second period, and the other team will get a power play goal and you’ll have to re-evaluate the whole thing,” Smith said.

The deadlines for game stories are different for every game but tend to be around 10:30 or 11 p.m., Erlendsson said. Reporters work on their articles between periods, but in a frequently changing game it’s hard to get a complete story in the first intermission.

You’ll hear no complaints from either him or Smith.

“At the end of the day I get paid to watch hockey,” Erlendsson said. “That’s a job a lot of people would love to have.”

Follow their coverage
“Lightning Strikes,” Joe Smith’s blog, is at:
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/lightning/

“Bolts Report,” Erik Erlendsson’s blog, is at:
http://tbo.com/sports/blogs/bolts-report/home/

BY KELLY MIYAR
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – When Gulfport artist Cora Marshall puts brush to canvas, she is drawing on her African and Native American past.

Marshall, 67, and her husband moved to Gulfport in May 2013 after she retired from the art department at Connecticut State University in New Britain.

“We used to vacation to Florida a lot,” she said. “My husband and I knew we wanted to retire, so when we found something we liked on the water we moved.”

Since arriving, Marshall has shown her work in three St. Petersburg venues.

In April, she and local artist John Harte exhibited their work at the Studio@620 at 620 First Ave. S after they participated in the venue’s “Members Only Art Show.”

In October, she opened an exhibit titled “Runaway! Going, Going, Gone” at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum at 2240 Ninth Ave. S. The work was inspired by “Wanted” advertisements from the 1700s and early 1800s that sought the return of runaway slaves.

Marshall said she used the descriptions of hair color, clothes, complexion, scars, demeanor and size to create vivid images that embodied realistic people.

In a note explaining the series, Marshall describes her work as a “commemoration of our survival and our ability to thrive under the most adverse beginnings.” She calls on viewers to remember “those who have come before us. Remembering the price they had to pay to survive. Remembering what it means to be free.”

On Nov. 8, a Marshall exhibit titled “INDIGENOUS” opened a month-long showing at Gallerie 909 at 909 22nd St. S. on the importance of remembering those who have  it means to be free.

The exhibit showcased work that was inspired by African and Native American cultures. It also included paintings from Marshall’s “Shadow Catcher” medicine woman series.

According to oral accounts of her family history, Marshall said, one of her grandmothers was a Native American healer.

“The first piece in the ‘Shadow Catcher’ series was created when I was really sick,” she said. My grandmother spoke to me of healing in my fevered dream. The painting came to me almost fully formed.”

Marshall said it typically takes her 50 to 60 hours to complete a piece. She paints in acrylics, oils and mixed media.

Marshall said she focuses her work in spirituality. She produces pieces that connect to her past by combining meanings and symbols. “Each painting carries a meaning and the viewer is invited to reflect,” she said.

She has a bachelor’s in fine arts from Howard University, a master’s in education through a collaborative program of the Bank Street College of Education and Parsons The New School for Design, and a doctorate in art from New York University.

At Connecticut State University, she taught a variety of art studio and education courses and served as department chairwoman from 2006 to 2012. She has exhibited around the country and overseas.

When she isn’t creating art, she said, Marshall said, she teaches an online photo class twice a year at Central Connecticut State.

She also likes to spend time with her husband, Clarence, go to the beach, and read.

BY SAMANTHA OUIMETTE
NNB Student Reporter

TAMPA – Managing an entire brand at the age of 25 would be a daunting task for most.

But Caity Kauffman has never been reluctant to take on the unknown.

She is the social media and digital marketing manager for the Tampa Bay Lightning, a professional sports team that has been in the area for 22 years. Though it operates in a non-traditional hockey market, the team has become one of the most popular brands in the National Hockey League, thanks in part to Kauffman’s efforts over the past season and a half.

Adweek magazine says the team has more than half a million social media followers, which is significant for a smaller market team.

A native of Miami, Kauffman got her introduction to hockey during a college internship with the Florida Everblades, a minor league team. She had grown up wanting to be a journalist so she embraced the chance to work in the team’s broadcast and public relations departments.

One problem:  She had never seen a hockey game. But she “took a risk and sort of talked my way into it, and once I was there I realized that I could learn anything,” she said.

Despite her hasty introduction to the sport, Kauffman quickly developed a love for it. After she graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in December 2011, she landed a job as a producer for “Hockey Unfiltered,” a talk show on Sirius XM radio. She had tweeted out her resume. Someone re-tweeted it, and she was contacted for an interview.

Twitter also figured in the next two opportunities for Kauffman, who likes to say that “every tweet is a 140-character piece of art.” She used it on her next job, with a public relations firm in 2012 and 2013, and she embraces it now for the Lightning.

The advent and rapid growth of social media have prompted professional sports teams to rethink their branding strategies, and Kauffman is the first to hold a social media and digital marketing job for the Lightning.  She plays a key role in interacting with fans as well as jovial joshing with other teams, and she notes that there are special challenges in her job.

“I think you can’t go into professional sports seeing it as a job; you have to see it as a lifestyle,” Kauffman said. “If that’s not your work ethic, then it’s not for you. There have been times where I’ve been on vacation and I’ve had to drop everything to work. It’s difficult to keep up with on a daily basis, but I’ve always been a hard worker so it’s something that I enjoy.”

On the surface, Kauffman’s job may seem as simple as sitting at the computer, but on game nights she is constantly moving. With the Bolts Social Captain program, which she implemented last  season, Kauffman’s job entails being a sort of escort for the high-profile guests as well as managing the team’s various social media efforts across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Though Kauffman’s job is usually fun, there are still challenges. She must maintain the Lightning’s relatively conservative brand while monitoring the popular, and more liberal, precedent set by the Los Angeles Kings and some other teams. She also must help report team news that might be unpopular, such as trading an admired player, and work to minimize the fallout.

Even through 12-hour days and seven-game home stands, Kauffman notes that the temporary exhaustion never allows her to forget how lucky she is. After all, she says, she is one of the few people who have found their dream job.

“I get paid to do what other people do for fun. Even when it gets to the point of having worked for six nights in a row and I’m exhausted, I am so grateful to be in this position,” she said.

“I get paid to tweet and watch hockey; it doesn’t get much better than that.”

On the web
Watch Kauffman’s appearance on the PBS show BizKid$ in 2011/

BY SAMANTHA OUIMETTE
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Domestic violence. Theft. A shooting.

For Wellington Bond, these things comprise a normal day at the office.

Bond, 39, is an officer in the St. Petersburg Police Department, entering his fifth year of service after a career of what he describes as doing a little bit of everything, from delivering pizzas to working in retail.

After deciding to return to school to become a police officer, Bond says, he is now living his dream.

“When I was younger, my dream was to be in the Army. I think everyone should serve their country when given the opportunity,” said Bond, a native of Michigan. “Due to health issues, I was unable to enlist. So I’ve decided to serve my country by serving the community, and I get to live my dream every day.”

No two days are the same for Bond, which he says adds to the appeal of the job. He patrols some of the nicest neighborhoods in the city and some of the most poverty-stricken ones as well.

This particular day would see him in both environments, from a domestic-abuse follow-up involving a wealthy BP oil ship captain and his immigrant wife, to walking around a neighborhood of Section 8 housing searching for a man who was caught on camera picking up $300 in a convenience mart minutes after a woman dropped it. Bond identified the man, but since the money was found on the ground it could not be considered theft. There was no arrest.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the day came at its conclusion, when Bond was called to help investigate the scene of a shooting. In the dead of night, he and other officers investigated abandoned houses for the alleged shooter and interviewed neighbors.

With a wife and three children, Bond notes that the excitement of the job comes with the knowledge that there may be a night when he never returns home to his family. He says that although he checks in with his wife as often as possible, the worry is still there, but that his family supports him because he’s doing what he loves.

Bond also gets to see first-hand the way new police Chief Anthony Holloway’s initiatives are benefitting the community. He notes that the most prominent initiative is the “park, walk, and talk” program, where officers are required to leave their cars for at least one hour each week and engage people in the community.

“Chief Holloway is big on always letting us know that he’s one of us, and he wants us to let people in St. Petersburg know that we’re just like them and hold the same concerns that they do,” Bond said. “Because it’s a new program it’s hard to assess the impact it’s had so far, but from my experience I can see that it’s helping people become less hesitant to talk to police. And that’s our end goal.”

The program is mutually beneficial since it helps officers see the community develop first-hand rather than from a car. An area such as Midtown is seeing growth in new businesses. Bond notes that this has led to rising crime rates, but that the crimes are less violent.

Though the job may be dangerous, Bond says that getting to see growth and improvement in areas such as Midtown is as an indicator that he and the Police Department are making strides there. Making St. Petersburg a better, safer place for himself and those around him, Bond says, is the most fulfilling job of all.

“I know it sounds cliché, but honestly, if I can make a difference in just one person’s life then this has all been worth it,” he said. “All the stress, all the worrying, it doesn’t matter. I just want to make this city a better place.”

BY SHELBY BOURGEOIS
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Sometimes it begins with a 3 a.m. call, other times with an urgent email or a late morning text. No matter what time her work day begins, Danielle Rotolo has the same routine.

“When I come in, in the morning – well, even before I come in, in the morning when I wake up and I’m sitting in my bed, I’m looking at my phone and my emails,” she said. “Everything is always pending news.”

Rotolo, 30, is a media relations specialist for All Children’s Hospital, a 259-bed pediatric hospital in St. Petersburg. All Children’s is a member of the prestigious Johns Hopkins Medicine, and it is the only licensed specialty children’s hospital on Florida’s west coast.

As part of a three-person team, Rotolo does everything from managing the hospital’s Facebook and Twitter pages to setting up media events and working with reporters.

A big part of her job is managing patients’ stories, Rotolo said. She is required to keep updated on patients’ conditions and facilitate their interaction with the news media.

“Our policy is, if media shows up, to always have a member of our staff with the reporter, photographer, whoever it is,” she said.

Rotolo acts as a liaison to ensure no patients feel as though their privacy has been violated. There are regulations and guidelines, like HIPPA, that specify what type of information can be released, and to whom. Rotolo works with patients and reporters to make sure that while stories and information get out to the public, no patients feel like their boundaries have been crossed or their privacy compromised.

That is not the only reason for “media babysitting,” as Rotolo calls it. There have been times when reporters tried to sneak past the lobby check-ins to find people involved in newsworthy incidents or get a statement from a doctor.

“You never know when somebody has a hidden agenda,” she said. “You never know if they’re really doing a story about cleanliness in the workplace or something … You never know.”

Even though she is used to telling stories, from her time in college and television news, Rotolo said she gets a little something extra out of her job now. “There’s more purpose,” she said with a smile. Working with the hospital, she gets to tell the stories of two-time cancer survivors and young mothers who pull through unlucky accidents.

Last summer Rotolo went to Washington, D.C., with one of these “stories” – Tony, a two-time cancer survivor, and his family for Family Advocacy Day, an event sponsored by children’s hospitals. “He was there to tell his story,” Rotolo said. “He went to lobby for All Children’s Hospital and what children’s hospitals need.”

She’s known Tony, now 16, since he first came to All Children’s for treatment. “That kid is involved in everything, he’s great,” said Rotolo. Despite his condition, Tony is a varsity soccer player, she said.

Rotolo grew up in Tampa and graduated from H.B. Plant High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and broadcast journalism in 2006 from the University of Central Florida.

During her college years, she pictured herself as a TV anchor or producer, and three weeks before graduation landed a position with WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi, as a reporter and anchor. From June 2006 until May 2009, Rotolo kept up the fast-paced life of a broadcast journalist, doing several stories a week, performing live shots and generating story ideas in Tupelo and then Fort Meyers at WBBH.

“I literally worked every single shift, which included midnight to 9 a.m.” she said. “Little things like that, being away from home, working crazy shifts …. That was kind of my draw to get away from news. I was just ready to come back home and have more of a normal schedule, normal life.”

Rotolo returned to the Tampa area in December 2010 and worked at KForce Inc. as a copy writer and public relations manager until February 2014.

That’s when she made the jump to media relations at All Children’s. In addition to a less demanding schedule and being closer to home, Rotolo enjoyed the change in staff.

“People are nicer,” she said. Television newsrooms tend to become “competitive hot beds,” she said, while All Children’s is more familial. Walking down the hospital hallways, Rotolo greeted every employee – from doctors to custodians – by name and with a smile.

Rotolo didn’t leave the world of journalism completely. “I still see a lot of the same people,” she said. She frequently runs into old colleagues in the media, which often helps. Rotolo believes that her reporting background is a benefit. She can use some of her connections to further hospital stories. Having experience in the field as a reporter also gives her a dual perspective.

“I can think like a reporter,” she said. “I’ve been on the other side.” Working as an anchor and reporter helped Rotolo know what reporters want, whether it is television, radio or print.

“You’ve got to know your media,” she said. “TV wants video, radio wants engaging speakers. You have to know what they want.”

Rotolo also sets up hospital events like telethon and radioathons. She has a hand in the scheduling and planning and coordinates with media to make sure the community knows about upcoming events.

Asked if she has any regrets about leaving broadcast news, Rotolo shook her head.

To her, All Children’s Hospital has given her a new opportunity to explore the things she loved about journalism, but with a little more purpose and a lot more family.

BY HILLARY TERHUNE
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Beer and college are practically symbiotic. You can’t have one without the other.

The long-standing relationship reached a new level in November 2013 when 3 Daughters Brewing, a new  brewery at 222 22nd Street S in the Midtown area, partnered with the University of South Florida St. Petersburg to give biology students college credit for brewing beer.

The internship gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of science in a real life situation.

“Chemistry and microbiology are very important to the brewing process,” said Jessy Weber, 21, a senior biology major.

Weber, one of the program’s first three interns, helped develop the lab, which is in the heart of the brewery. She ordered equipment and started setting up the lab before the brewery even opened.

The lab is “something most breweries don’t have,” said Tim Dominick, the tasting room manager.

Interns who work in the lab are responsible for one of the most important parts of the brewing process.

“PH, alcohol by volume, international bitterness units, and standard reference method color are the main chemistry aspects of beer we test in the lab,” said Weber. The standard reference method is what brewers use to give beer a specific color.

All the factors have to be consistent to sell beer, according to Weber. Interns also test yeast in the beer samples.

Yeast is the most important element of beer, according to Dominick. It is a single-celled organism that turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide in the fermentation stage.

“We perform yeast cell counts on a regular basis to quantify the concentration of the yeast and how much we should be putting in the next batch of beer,” said Weber.

They also make something called an “agar plate,” a petri dish that contains a growth medium used to culture microorganisms. They do this to test the amount of bacteria in the beer, Weber said. If there is too much, the beer can turn sour.

All of these tests are vital to brewing. Interns who assist in these processes learn that biology isn’t just for pre-med students any more.

“I never considered the science behind beer,” said Weber. “Biology majors are expected to go to med school or become marine biologists.”

Weber is now an employee. She occasionally helps out in the lab, but for the most part she works in the tasting room and gives tours of the lab and brew house.

The lab isn’t the only part in the brewing process. In fact, it’s a tedious task to brew the proper batch. It takes time and effort and cleaning – a lot of cleaning.

“Everybody thinks brewing beer is glamorous,” said Dominick, “but you spend more time doing paperwork and cleaning.”

It’s a long process, Dominick said. A batch of beer that takes three and a half hours to brew will end up taking eight hours because they’ll spend four and a half to five hours cleaning.

“It can’t be cleaned enough,” he said.

They pay close attention because even the smallest amount of dust can change the flavor of a batch entirely.

The idea for the brewery came from Mike Harting, the owner, and Ty Weaver, the head brewer, Dominick said. Harting once managed Bella Brava, a thriving restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg where Weaver was head chef.

Weaver wanted to create his own brews to expand the menu, and when they put the beer on tap they found that the craft brew accounted for about 40 percent of all beer sales.

Weaver and Harting went back and forth on the idea before opening 3 Daughters last December. The brewery celebrated its one-year anniversary with the release of a few new beers and a party on Dec 12.

Want to know more?
The brewery’s website is at 3dbrewing.com

BY HILLARY TERHUNE
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – A portly black cat slouches across a counter near the entrance of Pet Pal Animal Shelter, almost like he owns the place.

“That’s Romeo; he works here,” said Scott Daly, the shelter’s executive director.

Romeo is one of a few permanent residents at the shelter. His job title is “experiment cat.” When the shelter needs to see if a dog would be safe around cats, they bring in Romeo.

“He’s never in any danger, of course, but he’s an important member of our team,” Daly said.

Since Pet Pal opened in 2006, its mission has been to give unwanted animals a second chance. It is a nonprofit, no-kill animal shelter at 405 22nd St S in the Midtown area of St. Petersburg. It houses about 50 animals on average.

The shelter’s staff doesn’t just take in cats and dogs. There’s room for everything from reptiles to pot belly pigs. At the end of November the shelter took in a baby pot belly pig whom the staff named Moonpie. The pig has since been placed in a forever home, but for the shelter it’s proof that every animal deserves a second chance.

Almost all of them come from shelters where they might have been euthanized because of “time limitations, illness, injury, or lack of training,” said Daly.

“It’s not the shelters’ fault. There is an overpopulation crisis, and they don’t have the means to accommodate these animals.”

The overpopulation Daly talks about is the reason that about 2.7 million cats and dogs are euthanized in the U.S. every year, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

It’s also one reason that Pet Pal doesn’t take in strays. The shelter is dedicated to giving animals a second chance at life and providing as many opportunities for this as possible. If the shelter were to take in every stray that was dropped off, the opportunities to save animals from being euthanized would begin to dwindle, said Daly.

“It has to be a very special circumstance,” he said.

The shelter also prides itself on education. Its mission statement is about raising awareness and educating the public on how to be responsible pet owners. Half the battle in combating overpopulation is educating people to spay or neuter their pets, Daly said.

Daly is an animal awareness veteran. He has more than 20 years’ experience in veterinary clinics and animal shelters and was once an animal cruelty investigator.

It’s no easy task taking care of all the animals that Pet Pal does, and it relies solely on donations, Daly said.

The shelter holds an annual silent and live auction event, called Puppy Love. Anywhere from 400 to 600 people attend the event. It is the facility’s major fund-raiser, Daly said.

Pet Pal also operates a thrift store at 1500 34th St. N in St. Petersburg. The proceeds from sales help run the shelter.

The most important part of keeping the shelter running, Daly said, are the volunteers. Volunteering is the key to Pet Pal, and Daly wants everyone to know that it’s not just about walking the dogs.

“We have to take care of them and we have to love them,” he said.

Pet Pal sees many volunteers from local high schools, mostly students who need community service hours to qualify for Bright Futures scholarships. In order for high school students to volunteer, they have to meet specific qualifications.

“They have to be goal oriented; they can’t just want to come in and play with puppies,” Daly said. “It’s more than that.”

The shelter also has animal volunteers, like Romeo the black cat and a bird named Quincy.

Quincy is a permanent member of the Pet Pal staff. After his owner died, Daly took him in, promising to never place him for adoption.

Quincy now greets visitors and wishes them goodbye.

Many volunteers also come from local colleges, mostly Eckerd and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, and the shelter has a partnership with the Salvation Army, which has a community service program for people who have had brushes with the law. These applicants are thoroughly screened before they can volunteer, Daly said.

“We want this to be a safe environment,” Daly said. “We do not take sex offenders or people charged with domestic violence.”

Pet Pal also gets a lot of help from a baseball team you may have heard of.

“We are very grateful for the Rays,” Daly said.

Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays are advocates for the animal shelter. Every season Longoria donates $100 to Pet Pal for every home run he hits.

The Rays also do a calendar every year that features shelter animals alongside Rays players and their dogs. Proceeds from those sales go to the shelter. The 2015 calendar, which costs $20, is available at Pet Pal, the Rays team store in Tampa or by mail by calling (813) 228-7157.

Want to know more?
Visit Pet Pal’s website at petpalanimalshelter.com

BY SALEM SOLOMON AND SUSAN GODFREY
NNB Student Reporters

ST. PETERSBURG – It was a ritual of Watson Haynes’ boyhood.

Virtually every Saturday the minister would come to his home. They would walk to Webb’s City, a sprawling drugstore complex on the western edge of downtown. There they would sit at the lunch counter and drink milkshakes while the pastor talked about the importance of community involvement and civil rights.

Much of the talk “was over my head; I was young,” said Haynes, 61. He did not understand why the minister was interested in him or why his mother insisted that he go.

He did not know – until later — that the minister, the Rev. Enoch Davis, was an esteemed civil rights leader who had helped lead the campaign to integrate lunch counters like the one at Webb’s City.

“I never understood why he chose me out of the other kids,” said Haynes, “but I look back now and I am grateful.”

In fact, Davis was one of many people who mentored Haynes in the years that followed. And that is why, Haynes said, he has spent much of his life paying it forward in jobs that enabled him to invest in others, especially young people.

Today, as president and CEO of the Pinellas County Urban League, Haynes champions efforts to improve educational and economic opportunities for the young, help adults become self-sufficient through good jobs and home ownership, and ensure equal opportunities for everybody.

Before that, he was an education and community outreach coordinator for St. Petersburg College. And before that, a founder and CEO of a nonprofit called the Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free St. Petersburg, and before that executive vice president of a drug treatment organization called Operation PAR.

“Service is the price you pay for the space you occupy,” Haynes once told a blogger for Eckerd College. “It’s a natural part of what I do. If all you’ve got to say at the end of your life is, ‘I did everything I could for myself,’ you’ve not achieved very much.”

Haynes grew up in the Gas Plant neighborhood, where opportunities were scant and people were poor and black. In the 1980s, the neighborhood was supplanted by Tropicana Field and its parking lots. Haynes likes to joke that his boyhood home stood where third base is today.

He was one of seven children of a single mother with a third-grade education, a stern work ethic and steely determination that her children would amount to something.

Emma Haynes earned $7 a day, six days a week, her son said. She went to night class to learn how to read. At holiday time she always prepared meals for elderly neighbors as well as her family. The neighbors ate first.

The Gas Plant – so named because of two natural gas tanks that towered over the neighborhood – could be hard. Haynes remembers watching in horror as a gang that called itself the Third Avenue Maniacs “sliced up a guy who ‘didn’t have a hall pass’ right in front of me.”

But it was also a neighborhood where people looked out for each other, where children were always under the watchful eyes of elders like the Rev. Davis.

At church, Haynes said, he came under the wing of a junior college professor and coach named Frank Pierce, who persuaded him to get involved in the NAACP, politics and the Democratic Party.

At St. Petersburg High School, where he was one of the first black students to break the barriers of segregation, a teacher named Katherine Zinn persuaded him to run for class office. To his surprise, he was elected class vice president as a junior and class president as a senior.

Later, as a young man, St. Petersburg stalwarts like insurance executive and developer Ted Wittner, utility executive Andrew Hines, and city manager Don McRae offered counsel and a hand up.

Haynes said he was 13 when he got his first job, at a drugstore in his neighborhood. At 19, he was hired by the state Department of Labor, where he got nine promotions over 13 years.

Meanwhile, he was attending classes at St. Petersburg Junior College and then Eckerd College, where he earned a bachelor’s in business administration through the school’s program for experienced learners. Later, he said, he earned a master’s in management from National Louis University in Tampa and an associate degree in theology from Florida Theological Seminary in Tampa.

Haynes has remained active in politics, but not always as a Democrat. He and Charlie Crist became friends at St. Petersburg High, and Haynes has been at Crist’s elbow over the years as his friend sought office as a Republican, Independent and Democrat.

Haynes himself twice ran unsuccessfully for the St. Petersburg City Council.

Haynes also has served as associate pastor at Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church, president of the Midtown Rotary Club, and board member and chairman of the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

In keeping with his priorities, he is a past chairman of Concerned Citizens for Quality Education for Black Students, which monitors how blacks fare in Pinellas public schools.

But one of the young people he tried to help slipped through the cracks – his own son.

Watson Haynes III, 41, has battled the demons of bipolar disorder for years, his father said. In June 2012 the younger Haynes, a trained boxer, got into a fight with a 57-year-old man in Williams Park.

When the man died from his injuries several days later, Haynes was charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty and is serving a 15-year sentence in state prison.

The elder Haynes said he should have invested more time in his son’s life. “We reconnected but not soon enough,” he said. “There are things that I really wish I could have done differently for my son. His mother and I were in constant battle over how to raise him.”

As an Urban League executive and community activist, Haynes said, he is determined to keep helping  other young people, as so many helped him when he was young.

If he needs a reminder, he need only look at the desk in his office.

Years ago, it was donated to the Urban League by Webb’s City, the place where he once got weekly milkshakes with the minister who had helped integrate its lunch counter.

NNB student reporters Chanel Williams and Hillary Terhune contributed to this report, which includes information from Eckerd College’s News and Events website and the Tampa Bay Times.

BY JULIET MORALES
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – As a machinist for more than 20 years, Hermes Valentin has built countless parts for private industry, NASA and the military.

But no customer was more important than a Rottweiler named Sam.

Crippled by a bum hip, Sam could barely limp around. His days seemed numbered until his wealthy owner turned to Valentin, a college student in New Jersey who had been working with machinery since he was 16.

“He paid $15,000 to have a titanium hip made for his dog,” said Valentin. “It brought me joy to be a part of saving the life of this dog so he and his family could be together a while longer.”

Valentin, 40, is the lead machinist at LumaStream, a LED manufacturing company at 2201 First Ave. S in St. Petersburg’s Midtown area. He uses computer numeric-controlled machinery – called CNC – to make parts from metal and other material.

As he works, Valentin likes to listen to classical music. “Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky – there’s no interruption in it,” he said. “It’s a smooth flow, and it just keeps you concentrated.”

When he’s not working with the heavy machinery, Valentin is the father of a 7-month-old son, a hair stylist, a culinary school-trained cook, and a supporter of causes that range from animal welfare and civil rights to education and the environment.

On his left arm is a tattoo of hair clippers. It’s Valentin’s way of honoring his late grandfather, who learned to cut hair during the Great Depression so he could “feed his family,” he said. “Out of all his grandchildren, I was the only one to take something of his and was able to learn and follow in his footsteps.”

If Valentin is a bit unconventional, he seems like a good fit for LumaStream, a new company that also defies convention.

Eric Higgs, a sculptor and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur,” founded the company in 2009. He had sculpted a project in Tampa and discovered that it would cost a fortune to illuminate it. Bulbs using light emitting diodes would be cheaper, he learned, but the quality of light was unsatisfactory. The industry had not moved much beyond the Edison light bulb to greener LED technology.

So Higgs joined forces with a Canadian engineer who was working on the problem, and together they found a way to make LED lighting more efficient, reliable and controllable. They also made it safer by reducing fire and shock hazards that came when high-voltage power was delivered to low-voltage technology.

Higgs established LumaStream to manufacture the invention and put its headquarters at 2887 22nd Ave. N, next to Mazzaro Italian Market. In late 2013, the company moved to its energy-efficient building on the northern edge of Midtown.

Higgs also struck a partnership with St. Petersburg College’s Midtown Center nine blocks to the south. In one part of the LumaStream building is a classroom where SPC students get training in machining and high-tech manufacturing. Three students who have completed that training now work for LumaStream.

Valentin was born in Newark, N.J., and grew up there and in Puerto Rico. He speaks Spanish as well as English since Spanish was spoken in his home, and he knows some Portuguese since he lived in the Brazilian section of Puerto Rico.

He got into machining as a teen, when he needed to earn money for car insurance, and studied computer programming and engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., in 1994-1997. But his training goes well beyond that.

“As a young boy, I was taught by my father that knowledge is power,” he said. “The more you know, the more opportunities will open up for you.”

It was while he was working as a machinist in aerospace and defense contracting that life became extremely stressful, he said. So he took a leave of absence to learn a new career as a hairstylist.

He said he was trained in the tradition of John Sahag and Paul Mitchell, legendary names in hairstyling, but along the way added his own touches.

“I met amazing people and had many opportunities,” said Valentin, who noted that his customers have included sports celebrities like Mike Alstott of the Buccaneers and former baseball pitcher Dwight Gooden.

“I still do hairstyling, but mainly house calls and some work at home,” he said.

He said he’s also at home in the kitchen, since he once attended cooking school in New York and specializes in Italian and Spanish cuisine. “I love cooking for people because the reaction I get from my cooking is like watching their palates explode from the flavor.”

LumaStream brought him to St. Petersburg.

“I was laid off for about 10 months, and during my job search and application process I was called by a recruiter to interview with LumaStream,” he said. After researching the company, “I saw the great potential that LumaStream has and I knew that with my knowledge I could be part of making the company the best it could be.”

What he loves most about his job? “The freedom to do what I do,” he said. “I am at a stage where I can see a blueprint (drawings of parts) and in my mind I can already start the programming process to be able to make the part.”

Juliet Morales is a reporter in the Neighborhood News Bureau of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Reach her at (954) 562-4814.

BY KELLY MIYAR
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – The new art gallery on St. Petersburg’s historic 22nd Street S features art, of course – specifically African and Caribbean art.

But depending on when you stop in, owner Carla Bristol has other offerings in her Gallerie 909.

Musical instruments are scattered about the room, ready for impromptu jam sessions.

There are spoken-word performances from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sundays, professional photo shoots every third Saturday, wine tastings, and musical performances.

There’s even something for teenage boys. Bristol says sagging pants – a style statement for some in urban culture – are demeaning. Young men who sign a pledge to keep their pants pulled up get a “U Don’t Have To Sag To Have Swag” card and free ice cream. So far, six have made the pledge.

For Bristol, 46, a sense of community is as important as an appreciation of art.

“This place shows importance for both the community and art,” she said. “To me, one of the words that I value most is exposure. I want to expose others (to art) and I want to stay relevant with what’s needed in the community.”

Bristol was born in Guyana on the northern coast of South America. She was 11 when her family moved to Brooklyn, N.Y. A desire for warmer weather prompted her to move to St. Petersburg in 1996.

In April, she opened the gallery in one of the old buildings along 22nd Street S that entrepreneurs Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy have bought and restored.

During the days of segregation, 22nd Street – “The Deuces” – was the main street of a thriving black community. In its heyday during the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than a hundred businesses dotted the neighborhood.

Then decline and decay set in with the coming of integration, drug trafficking and Interstate 275, which in the late 1970s effectively cut the neighborhood in two. In recent years, the city and private business people like the Brayboys have sought to revive the area.

Gallerie 909 features artists from all around the world. Every four to six weeks a new artist is featured. A variety of artwork – ceramics, paintings, sculptures, furniture and even some jewelry – is showcased.

Bristol stresses African and Caribbean art. “I find that although we have a lot of galleries here in St. Pete, none of them specifically feature African or Caribbean art,” she said. “They may carry a small collection of it, but that’s it. I wanted a place to showcase ‘black art’ because it deserves to be shown.”

Gallerie 909 got its name because of its address, but Bristol incorporated the uncommon spelling because she wanted a French influence.

“I knew that the restaurant next door was going to be a Creole restaurant so I decided to spell it as Gallerie,” she said.

In June, Bristol left her job as an account manager at a business services company so she could focus on Gallerie 909.

“I am an art enthusiast! I love art,” said Bristol, who has filled her home with paintings. When she isn’t at Gallerie 909, Bristol is spending time with her 10-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son.

Gallerie 909 was recently recognized as one of the area’s top five art galleries by readers of the Tampa Bay Business Journal in the paper’s annual Best in the Biz: Readers’ Choice Awards. Some 15,000 votes were tallied to determine the winners. The Dali Museum, the Chihuly Collection and the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg and the Michael Murphy Gallery in Tampa also were recognized.

Two local musicians, Claude Kennedy and Abasi Ote, shared their talents at Gallerie 909 in November. Kennedy played the flute and Ote played a unique blend of drum and native flute.

“Gallerie 909 is a warm and inviting place,” said Ote.

He and Kennedy are scheduled to perform again on Dec. 26 at the Gallerie 909 world music concert.

If you go
Gallerie 909, at 909 22nd St. S, is open from 1 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays, and on special occasions. For more information, see its website at: http://www.gallerie909.com/about-us.html