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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On a recent Friday night, I finished work around 9 p.m. and drove to Publix to grab a sandwich and some coffee for the morning. I picked out my few groceries and got in line to pay.

The man in front of me was all smiles: simply, but neatly, dressed in flip-flops, shorts and a T-shirt. The cashier rang the man’s single item up. He swiped his card to pay. It was denied.

A second try. The cashier reassuring: “This happens all the time.” A third try — nothing. The man grew increasingly embarrassed. I opened my wallet to pay for his purchase at the same time the cashier said she’d get it herself. The man protested. “No, let’s just forget it,” he said.

I said, “Look, it’s no problem. Let me.” The man demurred at first, then looked at me again, then back at the cashier, and said, “OK, thank you both,” and took his bag with the single item in it and left. The cashier, who had been digging into her own pocket for money, said to me, as she scooped up the money I’d already placed on the counter, “OK, I’ll let this be your good deed for today.”

“We all know what it’s like,” I said. But she shook her head. “I’ve never been that down,” she said.

I have.

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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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On Nov. 3, Maine voters did what only Californians have managed to do before. Not only did they halt that horrifying redefinition of traditional marriage, they actually reversed existing marital rights. But don’t worry, “no one’s anti-gay.” No, this is about families, about children for heaven’s sake! And as a language snob lover, I’m with you. It’s not enough to just maintain, people. We need to repeal. If we want honest-to-God traditional families, we need to roll back all these so-called progressive changes that have redefined “family” over the years. “Marriage” and “family” have proud, traditional definitions, and we need to put in the legwork to get those definitions back.

First of all, this women-owning-property nonsense has got to stop. If women can own their own property, why would they need men? Worse, if men aren’t granted a proper dowry, why on earth would they be inclined to marry? Traditional families rely on bribery and patriarchal control. If we stand for this redefinition of marriage, the entire institution is threatened. Look, no one’s misogynistic, but you’re going to confuse the children with all this gender-bending crazy-talk!

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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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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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COVER STORY

— The Sarasota Film Society’s 20th Cine-World kicks off this Friday. Tim Sukits profiles three films you need to see.

NEWS & VIEWS

— Best of the Suncoast 2009 fallout: We compile all the best comments you posted on our website (and a couple corrections, too).

— As the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation celebrates its 50th birthday, some of the organization’s most influential figures reflect on Sarasota’s Jewish history.

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— The Ed Smith Stadium deal passes at last night’s City Commission hearing, despite concerns over obligations the city is taking on for the environmental health of the property.

— From our Not a Funny Story But That Headline Is Pretty Funny Department: “Thefts plague lingerie store.”

— Over at Single in Sarasota, Loren Mayo writes about how fun it is no longer being, well, single in Sarasota.

— Hannah Wallace recaps an epic Halloween fiesta, and yes, there is photographic evidence.

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— An addendum to news about President Obama’s visit to Arcadia last week: Obama delivered a “fist bump” to State Rep. Keith Fitzgerald’s shoulder. Awesome.

— A Bradenton Vietnam veteran is honored for his service during a Rose Garden ceremony with Obama.

— A half-built Englewood eyesore (locals dubbed it the “Beirut” building) finally meets its end.

— Got a phone call from Clout 941 host Ron Filipkowski last week, and he has decided to hang up the TV show after a year on the air. That means no more “Weasel of the Week,” and one fewer source for interesting discussion of Suncoast politics. Hit up the website for an archive of all of Filipkowski’s broadcasts.

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The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples… —Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oct. 9, 2009

The Nobel Peace Prize is kinda like the Grammy Awards. They must be approached with skepticism.

On rare occasions, the picks are great. 1973’s Best Album Grammy for Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions was spot-on. As a matter of fact, this columnist won’t be worryin’ ’bout a thang, at top volume, once he completes this week’s assignments.

And 1983’s Nobel Peace Prize to Polish labor leader Lech Walesa was inspired. Walesa and fellow unarmed community organizers set in motion the events that peacefully toppled the nuclear-armed Soviet empire.

Sometimes, though, the prize picks are pure stupid. John Mayer’s “Daughters” was actually awarded Song of Year in 2005. I gave it an award that year, too: Best Song to Make You Want to Puncture Your Eardrums with a Rusty Icepick.

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