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Petersburg Times | Monday, July 21, 2008 | 7B

From the front page> tampabay.com for the latest news

. MONITOR continued from 1B

Monitors gauge
disaster potential
Based at the University of
South Florida’s College of Marine
Science in St. Petersburg, the sys-
tems can provide instant infor-
mation to emergency managers,
boaters and windsurfers. Web
sites show the water levels beside
the Skyway or the wind speed at
Picnic Island Park, as they are
changing.
But state and federal budget
woes are creating stormy seas for
the network that monitors the
gulf.
Because of a loss of funding,
it soon could be difficult to find
equipment and staff to keep the
wind and wave sensors in good
operating condition, said USF
marine science professor Mark
Luther.
“We’re hanging on a precari-
ous thread,” Luther said.
•••
Giant freighters chug under
the Skyway bridge, and follow
the 600-foot wide shipping chan-
nel that extends for miles up
Tampa bay to the Port of Tampa.
Coast.
“It’s a wonderful resource,”
Butcher said, because the data
from stations on or near shore
allow him to fine-tune informa-
tion about nearby storms that he
already receives from the Nation-
al Hurricane Center and Pinellas
County.
The system is not just for emer-
gency managers. The same data
is available to the public on the
COMPS Web site.
The COMPS system also has
helped scientists paint a picture
of how water circulates in com-
plex ways up, down and across
Florida’s Gulf Coast. It has helped
with studies of Red Tide, with
safe navigation and other issues.
“What we’re trying to do is
build a comprehensive coastal
observing system,” said Robert
H. Weisberg, USF marine science
professor.
Weisberg recalls a hot July day DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times
when he was standing in water Melissa Velez, 27, peers into the porch of her neighbor, Dallas Carter, who was killed by Pinellas Park police in a shootout late
off Sanibel Island and felt cool Saturday. His two children were in bed when he called 911. Carter fired at least 30 rounds from his home, police said.
rivulets at his toes.
Because of his studies with . SHOOTOUT continued from 1B

Troubled dad dies in shootout

Some of the ships are two foot-
ball fields long. Some of them
draft 42 or 43 feet in a channel
that can be less than 45 feet deep,
Luther said.
The Tampa Bay monitoring
system, called PORTS, can help. It
features wind and wave-checking
devices at locations such as the
Skyway, Egmont Key and near
the Port of Tampa. Data on tides,
currents and winds is fed into
computer models which helps
harbor pilots know when a big
ship can safely pass or is likely to
get stuck. A paper Luther recently
co-authored said ship groundings
have dropped 60 percent since
PORTS was created.
The data provided by ther-
mometers, sensors, wind
gauges and other devices also
has allowed scientists to learn
more about the movement of
water through Tampa Bay. It has
helped in such diverse tasks as
following spills of sewage and
other hazardous materials, track-
ing the movement of fish larvae
and evaluating flooding dangers,
Luther said.
“It’s a system that provides
real-time environmental infor-
mation for better-informed deci-
sionmaking on all aspects of
what people do in and around
the water,” he said.
•••
When Hurricane Ivan churned
up the Gulf of Mexico in 2004,
Tarpon Springs Fire Division
Chief Rick Butcher could detect
a slight surge in the city’s coastal
waters.
Butcher, who also serves as the
city’s emergency management
director, was looking at the Web
site for COMPS, which is the net-
work that monitors wind and
COMPS data, Weisberg knew the
cool water at his toes had come
from the Panhandle and down
along the gulf floor toward Sani-
bel. “We’re able to trace the origin
of that,” he said.
In recent years, COMPS has
received regular appropriations
of $750,000 from the federal
government and $200,000 from
state government to maintain
the system. But the state’s budget
crunch and the increasing fed-
eral reluctance to approve “ear-
marked” funds from Congress
means those monies have largely
dried up at this moment, Luther
said.
Luther said COMPS does have
an adequate supply of spare sen-
sors but needs more money for
such hardware as batteries, solar
panels and connectors, plus staff
time to fix the devices.
“We’re kind of in dire straits,”
Luther said.
Curtis Krueger can be reached at
ckrueger@sptimes.com or (727) 893-
8232.
The children are in the cus-
tody of Florida Department of
Children and Families. Sunday
morning, their bikes, one red
and one green, were parked on
the patio in the broken glass.
“He was just trying to do the
best he could by his kids,” said
Melissa Harper, a resident of the
apartment complex. “My heart
breaks for those boys.”
Carter left a note, but police
have not released its contents.
•••
Neighbors said Dallas Carter
was a single dad who constantly
struggled to pay the bills and
put food on the table. He had a
pronounced limp from a dis-
abling back injury that forced
him to use a cane to get around,
they said.
“He always talked about need-
ing help — financially and help
with the kids,” said neighbor
Kevin Luster, 23.
Carter lost his job several
months ago after he reinjured
his back while working, said
neighbor Melissa Velez.
Recently, he seemed even
more upset. He told neighbors
his food stamps had been cut
back and he couldn’t pay his
water bill.
On Saturday, Carter came over
to see Velez, 27, who lives across
from him. He had an eviction
notice with him, she said.
Velez and Luster said the
apartment complex requires
tenants pay their water bill with
their rent.
A few times over the past year,
Carter’s electricity had been
shut off, though he still had
power at the time of the shoot-
ing, Velez said. When it was
off, Velez would let him use her
microwave to heat up meals for
the children.
Velez said she tried to help the
family, most recently bringing
over a chicken and rice dinner.
This past Christmas, she and her
mom bought presents for the
kids. They delivered them anon-
ymously, she said, to make sure
the boys had a present to open.
“I haven’t slept very much
because of this,” she said.
Neighbor Kna Krajan, 24, said
Carter’s sons were at her house
almost every day to play with
her children. Carter was a dot-
ing father, she said.
“He wants what’s best for his
kids, he just doesn’t have the
finances to do it,” she said.
Krajan was home at the time
of the shooting and heard the
gunshots — one of which hit her
screen door.
“He’s just been so depressed,”
she said. “He kept telling us he
doesn’t know what to do.”
Neighbor L aura Miller
reached the same conclusion.
“He seemed very, very down,
and like he didn’t know where to
turn next. He didn’t know what
to do,’’ said Miller, 42.
Edwin Nunez said he sat
awake with his wife and 6-
year-old son, George, as gun-
fire erupted below them. He told
George that the screaming man
went to the hospital.
“He’s too young to explain it
to,” Nunez said. “I don’t know
how to.”
  

water up and down Florida’s Gulf