Opinions to go Online

No one can possibly know what it’s like to lose a loved one in a tragic, violent way unless you’ve walked in a survivor’s shoes. Would we seek revenge as much as justice? Is the horrifically unforgettable also forgivable? We can’t know, and we can’t judge.

But we can salute Bruce Murakami for the compassion he showed in asking a judge for leniency in the case of the young man convicted of the manslaughter deaths of his wife and daughter. Murakami’s family was snuffed out in a fiery accident caused by a 19-year-old drag-racer.

The judge heeded Murakami’s plea for mercy and gave Justin Cabezas house arrest and probation instead of jailing him for up to 30 years. In addition, both Murakami and Cabezas, now 23, will be part of a community service dialogue with teenagers on the consequences of drag racing.

Moreover, another life wasn’t claimed by the tragic accident. Murakami says Cabezas now has the opportunity to make something of himself. If he does, that will be the legacy of uncommon compassionate shown under the most trying and tragic of circumstances.

S t. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler is to be commended for his piece illuminating the challenges and ironies in Pinellas County’s “controlled choice” program for its public schools. That’s the scheme by which the county hopes to retain a legal level of integration by convincing parents to choose a school other than the closest one.

Lots of luck.

This far removed from the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, the issue is no longer “separate but equal.” School boards have it within their wherewithal to ensure that, irrespective of neighborhood, comparable educational facilities, curricula and level of instruction are available. No one is revisiting Plessy v. Ferguson just because school boards can’t influence socio-economic and cultural factors beyond their purview.

What this is now about is the one politically incorrect stand that remains acceptable to the liberal educational establishment: Too many black children in a school is not compatible with a good learning environment. This should, of course, be insulting. That’s why no one will actually utter those otherwise racist words, but that’s the reason the “neighborhood school” concept is now oxymoronic.

* Upshot & snapshot: While in town for something called the Assistance Plus Summit, Gov. Jeb Bush found time to submit himself to the Q&A crucible of the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club in St. Petersburg. The likely upshot of his opening remarks on testing and reading and subsequent answers to education-related queries was this: precious few converts. From the mechanism and interpretation of controversial FCAT results to the debatable rate of increase in school spending.

What the governor did do, however, was remind attendees that it’s not just the ultimate connection and tons of money that makes him so formidable for re-election. Nor is it a dry sense of humor that can defuse antipathy toward the St. Petersburg Times .

Only Daryl Jones can touch Bush as a smooth talking, good-looking, bridge-to-his-agenda, fast-on-his-feet, wonkish-set-of-statistics-at-the-ready presence. But Jones, of course, will not be the Democratic Party’s nominee. At least for governor.

Before doing some drive-by sound bites for the electronic media, Bush posed for a formal photo. It was the traditional shot with the winner of that day’s “Fang & Claw Award,” which goes to the member who asks the toughest question. None, surprisingly, were about capital punishment or a certain Florida Supreme Court appointee. The winner was Darryl Rouson of the NAACP’s St. Petersburg chapter.

Rouson predictably asked Bush if he would appoint a black person to the Pinellas School Board to replace the recently deceased Tom Todd. Bush was predictably, politely — and appropriately — non-committal.

As for the fortuitous photo-op, expect to see the arm-in-arm, smiley-faced Bush-Rouson shot again along the don’t-concede-the-minority-vote part of the campaign trail. As one decidedly non-Bush supporter muttered: “The man is blest.”

*Tough on Terrorists? Jeb Bush took an editorial haymaker from Wayne Smith last week in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel . Smith, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington and former top U.S. diplomat in Havana, took the governor to task over the nomination of Raoul Cantero to the Florida Supreme Court.

Smith didn’t criticize Cantero for representing Orlando Bosch, who is, pointed out Smith, “linked by the Justice Department to over 30 acts of sabotage and violence, including the downing of a Cubana airliner in 1976 with the loss of over 73 innocent lives.” He faulted Cantero for being an “advocate and supporter of Orlando Bosch” and calling Bosch “a patriot.”

“Do Floridians really want a justice on their Supreme Court who cannot distinguish an act of patriotism from an act of terrorism?” rhetorically asked Smith. America’s man in Havana under President Jimmy Carter then lobbed this one over the Bush bow: “According to President Bush’s own definition, anyone who harbors a terrorist or supports a terrorist is a terrorist.

“President Bush had said that one cannot pick and choose one’s terrorist friends,” added Smith, “but that is precisely what has happened in the state of Florida

Even those who agree with Hillsborough Commissioner Ronda Storms’ (grand) stand on public access TV — and it’s a lot more than south county conservatives — should be able to admit this: she is counterproductive to the cause. Once State Attorney Mark Ober had made the call that what was sophomoric, tasteless and sexually explicit fell short of obscenity, the county’s gaped crusader should have dismounted her soapbox, shut up and concentrated on growth and infrastructure issues.

Instead, she became the issue. Whatever the voyeurship of the “White Chocolate” and “Saheeb’s Dream” shows is, it would arguably be a fraction of that were it not for all the publicity generated by Storms.

Ironically, the ostensible courage of her high-profile convictions isn’t enough to prompt her participation in the upcoming candidate forum put on by the League of Women Voters. That’s because it will be held at the public access TV station. It’s not a “neutral venue,” explains Storms.

Her constituents, none of whom are forced to watch sleazy, brain-dead TV, shouldn’t forget that the best opportunity to size up the candidates was snubbed by Storms. They should expect better from an incumbent, especially such an outspoken one.

The movie line, two and three abreast, wound down the street and snaked around the corner.

In all, nearly 1,000 film fans — anxious, yet well-mannered — had been queuing up.

But not for a “Star Wars'” prequel sequel. And not for anything starring Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Adam Sandler or one of the Rocks, Chris or The.

Nor were they awaiting a toilet-humored, teen-age sex farce or another vehicle for violence. Nor an exercise in special effects and chase scenes masquerading as a feature-length movie.

And, no, they hadn’t come to see something indecipherable, gimmicky and pretentious in the guise of “edgy.”

But for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” where the only thing gratuitous was the romance.

As in an ending that reminds you why folks still cry at weddings. As in “Moon River” by Henry Mancini. As in Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. As in classy and feminine. Remember that combination?

The street was Franklin, and the corner was its intersection with Polk. What a delight to have been part of a nearly filled Tampa Theatre for this weekend matinee, one of 13 in its Sunday Classic Movie Series.

Movies as they used to make them; theaters as they used to build them; crowds as they used to attract them. And entertain them. An older demographic, skewed toward females. But a lot of couples. Not a backward-baseball-capped, 15-year-old boy in sight.

Exact attendance was 955 — compared to an average of 468 for other Classic Series’ Sundays. For all Tampa Theater screenings, the average is about 100.

John Bell, director of Tampa Theatre, couldn’t have been happier with the response to “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” had he been playing the Mighty Wurlitzer himself.

“It was gratifying — for me and all staff members — to have that kind of turnout,” gushes Bell. “That’s what it’s all about.”

The bottom line, says Bell of the classic series, now in its ninth year, “is getting people in this place. That they may take away a memory that is lasting and positive. But do it in a way that generates resources that lets us do what we do.”

The “take,” including concessions, from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was about $6,000, estimates Bell. Box office gross from the $5 tickets was approximately $3,700. (Some of the 955 patrons were card-carrying, annual Tampa Theatre members who didn’t have to pay — or, yes, wait in line.)

“This is not a profit operation,” points out Bell. “We pay our bills. But that’s not our mission. It’s about getting people into this place. It’s about creating lasting memories filled with beauty, color and light. There’s something special about watching a film here. It’s like a time warp. We do it because, well, because it’s fun.”

But there are frustrations. Putting together such a series is not merely a matter of asking for input and ordering up a classic. Lack of quality 35-millimeter film prints is a serious issue. In fact, it’s the reason why movies such as “Patton” and “Flight of the Phoenix” aren’t included in this summer’s series.

In a lot of cases, explains Bell, studios are unwilling to incur the expense of striking a new film print from a negative (and more if it has to be restored) when little more than negligible profits likely loom on distribution.

“It’s an issue for our nation’s film heritage,” says Bell. “Studios are just not taking care of their inventory of prints.”

But a lot of what they do take care of is targeted by Bell. That includes: “A Night At The Opera” (July 21), “The Gang’s All Here” (July 28), “The Greatest Show on Earth” (Aug. 4), “Sweet Smell of Success” (Aug. 11), “Gone With The Wind” (Aug. 18) and the original, silent version of “Peter Pan” (Aug. 25).