the 941

Ivan Valencia, Nelson Oliver and Tommy Pettiti (left to right) help the Sarasota Boxing Club get its new location in order

The door to the old Sarasota Boxing Club sits wide open, but not much is left inside. When I was here in August the place crackled with the energy of boxers, spectators and families.

It’s still hot in late October, but quiet. With one of the boxing rings and all the equipment now gone, ambitious weeds grow in through the gaps of the plywood hanging over the glassless windows. Footsteps echo off the concrete floor, metal walls and tin ceiling.

An orchard of dust and debris is scattered about the far side of the building. Coach Harold Wilen stands in the center of it all, talking on the phone. His old blue Hyundai has broken down in front of the Sarasota Boxing Club’s new location on the corner of 15th and Lime Avenue — on the edge of Newtown. He needs a tow truck before the sun goes down, and he needs a good mechanic.

My phone in hand, I rattle off the number to Jay & Dean’s and he taps it in. I mention he should save it and he looks up at me with a sheepish glance: “I’m not sure exactly how.”

He holds his phone out and I bend down, walking him through the steps of saving a contact. He thanks me, smiles and says: “Robin Givens was in for a private lesson last week.” No doubt about it the man knows how to take a punch. And he looks like he has gone a few rounds; losing the place where he’s lodged his heart for the past decade and a half to a man he trusted.

On top of that, he’s losing an ex-wife to cancer at any moment, someone still so close to him, that I feel the pain in his eyes when he tells me. The man needs to get to Lakeland, where she’s dying, and his car is not up for the trip.

A white pickup climbs backward up the ramp to the door. It seems official. They are taking the toilet — the SBC board of directors took a vote. They lost some serious donations: a boxing ring and the main support beam for all of the heavy bags, $15,000 worth of material given by their landlord, Harvey Vengroff, and revoked with their eviction. Put it all together and what do a bunch of guys with ricocheting emotions and a truck full of hand tools do? They talk about taking the damn toilet and leaving the brush, but I can see that Coach’s heart isn’t in it.

“She refers to him as ‘Michael,’” Wilen says. It takes me a second to snap back: He’s talking about Mike Tyson, Givens’ ex-husband. I nod. “She’s doing a movie here in Sarasota,” he shakes his head and looks up at me. “She’s a soccer mom, a very down to earth lady.” The man shows genuine wonder at the events that transpire around him. His ex will have died within 24 hours, and he will have buried more than her remains in the coming week.

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LEAD STORY: Procter & Gamble announced in October that it will once again create and host a public restroom for the holiday season in New York City’s Times Square as a promotion for Charmin tissue. Last year’s installation was merely specially outfitted toilet facilities, but this year P&G will upgrade by hiring five bloggers (“Charmin Ambassadors”) to “interact” with the expected “hundreds of thousands of bathroom guests” and write about their experiences with Charmin tissue on the company’s website (and include “family-friendly” photographs). P&G is calling the campaign “Enjoy the Go.”

“Therapeutic” Sex: 1. The U.S. Tax Court ruled in September that William Halby, 78, owes back taxes because he improperly tried to deduct $300,000 over a five-year period for “medical” expenses that were merely purchases of sex toys and pornography and payments to prostitutes. Halby said the activities relieved his “depression,” in that he had no other sexual outlets. The court reminded Halby (a retired New York tax lawyer) that prostitution is illegal in New York. 2. James Pacenza, 60, of Montgomery, N.Y., who was fired by IBM in 2003 after he continued to visit an Internet sex-chat room during work hours, renewed his challenge to the termination in September, telling a federal appeals court that his Internet sex “addiction” is a result of post-traumatic stress disorder from combat in the Vietnam war.

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Cliff Roles interviews Lucinda Streiker-Schmidt

From our boy Cliff Roles:

“A Separate God Journal of an Amish Girl” Book Signings:

Starbucks
Saturday, November 7th from 10AM-2PM Starbucks Bee Ridge and Beneva
Sarasota, FL

Circle Books
Sunday, November 8th from 1-3PM @ Circle Books, 478 John Ringling Blvd.
Sarasota, FL

Starbucks
Wednesday, November 11th from 10AM-12N @ University & Tuttle
Sarasota, FL

Starbucks
Thursday, November 12th from 5:30PM-7:30PM @ US 41 & Worrington Avenue
Sarasota, FL

Lucinda Streiker-Schmidt left the close-knit Amish community of rural Indiana to start a new life. Streiker-Schmidt, who married and had two children while in the Amish faith, grew up with questions about the outside world, and after a tumultuous, abusive marriage, divorced her Amish husband and began a new life with her children. After putting herself through nursing school and establishing her career, she began working on her novel, which is based on the journals she kept as a young girl.

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The news everyone will be talking about today: The Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office concludes that the Sarasota Police Department did nothing “illegal, unethical or immoral” in its handling of the Juan G. Perez case. Lots of stuff to sort out:

— Click here to download a PDF of the report for yourself from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

— “[City Manager Robert] Bartolotta emphasized Thursday that he has not read the nearly 3,000 pages in the full report and has not made a decision on [Police Chief Peter] Abbott’s future with the department. The report concludes that Abbott made ‘mistakes’ but still has the confidence of employees at the department. Bartolotta said that conclusion is another piece of information, but does not mean Abbott will keep his job.”

— Legal experts disagree that the SPD did nothing “unethical”: “The Police Department improperly mixed a civil settlement with an ongoing investigation by having the same detective who was investigating allegations of excessive force broker a civil settlement in the case, said Joseph Pollini, a law professor at John Jay College in N.Y. Also, it was unethical for the city’s risk manager to have victim Perez sign a waiver on a Saturday morning, use a fellow officer for a translator, and do so without a lawyer representing Perez, Jacob said.”

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Cliff Roles interviews Susan Estes

From our boy Cliff Roles:

Tinycandy’s Gift is a new Christmas story tracing the origins of the popular holiday treat, the candy cane. Tinycandy is an elf growing up in the North Pole who always felt left out because he walks with a limp. With Christmas approaching, Tinycandy is desperate to find his special “gift” in order to contribute to Christmas in Santa’s workshop and become accepted by the other elves. When Tinycandy does discover his gift, it creates a special sweet treat that changes Christmas forever.

In Tinycandy’s Gift, Susan creates a unique history of how the candy cane got its name and weaves in a classic tale that conveys to children one of the pivotal rules of life. Susan has spent her life working with and raising children and believes that teaching them to appreciate their own and others’ differences is the most important lesson of all.

About Susan Estes

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— City Manager Bob Bartolotta drove to Tampa Tuesday to retrieve the 2,000-page report on how the Sarasota Police Department handled the Juan G. Perez case, and we’re all just waiting to hear what the city’s response will be. Meanwhile, Perez himself is getting on with life, happy the unwanted attention has died down.

— City Commissioner Suzanne Atwell floats the idea of creating an economic development department that would market the city to employers.

— “The citrus business should be a bit sweeter for Dean Mixon this season. The owners of Mixon Fruit Farms expect to gain more orders for packaged fruit as a result of the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently lifting a ban on commercial citrus shipments from Florida.”

— The Lakewood Ranch hockey arena that never was is finally getting knocked down this week. Kudos to ABC 7 for the following line: “It was going to be a hockey arena, but after lawsuits and other financial problems - the puck stopped there.” (Emphasis most definitely added.)

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Chipotle’s expert burrito artists worked double-time this afternoon at the launch of the 900-plus-strong chain’s new University Parkway location. The restaurant offered patrons a free lunch between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and clearly word had gotten out. The line snaked around the shiny, industrial-metal interior and out onto the sidewalk, where Chipotle’s Kim Higgins directed traffic. Free carnitas. Mmm…

Photo by Rachel Levey-Baker

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Creative Loafing Half-Hour Variety Hour: Episode #34 (Part 1)

Creative Loafing Half-Hour Variety Hour: Episode #34 (Part 2)

It’s that time again, folks! Time again for more of the best banter on the Suncoast!

I take a break from the proceedings this week, and leave things in the hands of the mildly capable and trustworthy hands of Brian Ries and Tim Sukits. What are they chatting about? Well, for one, how we turned over this week’s Food & Drink section to hotshot food blogger and new cookbook author Jaden Hair, and for another, how excited we are about this weekend’s big film festival fiesta, Cine-World.

Listen up!

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Voters cast their ballots in a series of local races yesterday:

— “Voters sent a mixed message to City Hall in Tuesday’s City Council election, turning out in comparatively high numbers to easily give one seat to pro-business retired firefighter Emilio Carlesimo and the other by a slim margin to slow-growth advocate Jim Bennett.”

— “Bradenton voters who turned up at the polls Tuesday decided to maintain the status quo and elected the three incumbent city council members to new terms. Only 14.26 percent, or 4,146 of the 23,072 eligible voters showing up to vote.”

— “The voters in the three Anna Maria Island cities went to the polls Tuesday and made some changes in two of the races. Two incumbents, one in Holmes Beach and the other in the City of Anna Maria, lost their seats to political newcomers. In Bradenton Beach, voters reelected the incumbent mayor.”

And in non-election news, Rep. Vern Buchanan returns from a four-day trip to Afghanistan, convinced we need to escalate that war. Red County has the quotes, and some photos from Buchanan’s trip, one of which shows Buchanan with a Riverview High grad.

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You can thank me later. For now, just scrap whatever lame lunch plans you had, then plan to scoot on over to the brand spankin’ new Chipotle Mexican Grill at 97 N. Cattlemen Road, Sarasota, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. tomorrow to claim your free lunch.

Chipotle P.R. folks expect hundreds, if not millions, of locals to turn out, so show up early. I think pretty much our whole office will be representing, which makes me wonder, does Chipotle have wi-fi?

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