Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Another Hurricane
Saturday
August 31, 2004
The title of this column might sound like something exclaimed on Bourbon Street. "Another hurricane?!?" followed by hours of debauchery. But in this case, I'm referring to Hurricane Frances, which is a Category 4 storm making a bee-line for the Florida east coast.
Now unlike Hurricane Charley, which came about as close to Tampa Bay as a major storm can without causing damage here, Frances is going to strike the eastern coast of the state (the off-chance of it turning left and cutting into the bay was eliminated with the 5 PM update by the National Weather Service). It appears headed somewhere between Jacksonville and Vero Beach. The damage could be severe.
|  | | Hurricane Charley remains fresh in the minds of Florida residents. |
But for us, we face the "Orlando effect" of what the storm could do as it crosses the state. Charley was strong enough that when it hit Orlando, it still caused damage, knocked out power, etc. With Frances also being such a powerful hurricane, it could still be a Category 1 or 2 by the time it reaches us (if in fact it heads in our direction). The grand irony is that it could do much more damage to Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties than Charley did, though Charley posed a much greater risk for severe damage since it threatened to make initial landfall right here in the bay area (before making an 11th hour right turn and hitting the unfortunate people in Charlotte County).
In watching the Republican National Convention tonight, there were some real highlights. I got a kick out of Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech with all the one-liners (if any other politician tried something like that, it would fail miserably). Moreover, during the cut-aways of the crowd, there were plenty of chances for laughs at the unintentional comedy with the way some people were dressed. Does the RNC (and DNC for that matter) have a contest for "most embarrassingly dressed delegate"? Good grief, they could've spliced in footage from the 1976 convention and it would've fit right in.
And then there were the Bush twins, who sounded like presenters at an awards show cutting stupid jokes. I think they legit embarrassed their grandmother, and I couldn't quite tell if Dick Cheney was angry or confused about the ribbing he was taking.
Finally, it'll be Jim Coats vs. Bubba The Love Sponge on November 2 in a heads-up election to determine the next Sheriff of Pinellas County. The battle between now and then should be a thrill, and I'm looking forward to seeing it play out.
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