The Primal Team: No Flight of Fancy

The early morning tableau is pastorally stark: scrub land dotted by tiny, muddy ponds.

The brisk air is punctuated by the gaggling and gurgling sounds of ducks and sand hill cranes. Their high-pitched tones, however, could be a predator alert. Snakes and coyotes by land, perhaps a hawk or a bald eagle by air.

It is nature at its most primal. Survival of the fleetest. The serious symmetry that is the predator-prey nexus. Inextricable links in the food chain crucible played out in the Bay Area’s Rustic Belt — southern Hillsborough County.

There is also the occasional third party – but hardly an interloper.

Meet Steve Peacock, falconer.

Yes, you read that right. While this slice of rural Hillsborough is hardly a fountainhead of falconry, this ancient hunting sport is what Riverview has in common with medieval Europe. No baronial estates, to be sure, but just enough open spaces between ever-encroaching housing developments for a serious falconer and his raptor.

On this wintry Sunday, Peacock, who is one of about 100 (active) licensed falconers in Florida, is single-minded. He has driven over from his northern Pinellas County home to fly his ornithological sidekick, “Dodger,” a 4-year-old, silver gyrfalcon.

Dodger, a fast-climbing, “long wing” that occupies the top perch in falcon hierarchy, needs the work. Peacock, 56, needs the intimate connection with nature that only falconry affords him.

It’s people such as Peacock that Harvard entomologist E.O. Wilson surely had in mind when he coined the term “biophilia”: the innate human yearning to have some direct contact with nature. It’s why New Yorkers were so enamored of the red-tail hawk, Pale Male, who became a cause celebre last year for losing a nest to a Fifth Avenue condo co-op board.

“This is a partnership,” explains Peacock, who has trained Dodger since he was a 2-month-old. “It’s a personal, emotional commitment. That bird was created for independence and to be a master of the sky. At any point it could just leave and say ‘Sayonara.’ For that bird to accept you at any level — well, it takes quite an effort to create that level of trust.

“I just enjoy the bird,” emphasizes Peacock. “To see a falcon drop out at 200 mph is something. That falcon is fulfilled. To me, that’s life. It’s reconnecting.”

Before anything is reconnected, the flight area must be reconnoitered. That’s Peacock’s job. He spots the would-be quarry – a passel of ducks – and flushes them skyward.

Once untethered and unhooded on Peacock’s gloved fist, Dodger takes a few moments to re-familiarize himself with his sighted world. He regally extends his wings to their 3 ½-foot span and soon climbs to some 500 feet, where he pauses to survey the field. He comes in on a dive-bombing “stoop,” evens out, and ascends briefly to position for contact at about 40 feet. A 4-pound, mottled drake, the prey without a prayer, drops precipitously.

Peacock rushes to savor the moment and protect the feeding – and now positively reinforced — Dodger. “There is a sense of accomplishment,” says Peacock. “It’s the way it’s supposed to turn out for predators. Your partner has succeeded. And you got to observe it. There’s a sense of pride and a kind of an adrenaline rush.”

All the while, Peacock is scanning the horizon. This is also where eagles soar – and stoop. “Until he’s back on the fist with the hood on (and distraction free) I’m not totally happy,” notes Peacock.

In 2003 he lost his first long winger, “Drako,” to an eagle. The experience still haunts him.

“It’s a combination of losing your best-ever pet dog and your hunting companion,” points out Peacock. “You have life experience together. And you have to live with the questions: ‘What could I have done to prevent that?’ and ‘Did I let my friend down?’ You value every flight.”

There would be no eagle sightings – or worse – this day.

It was, notes Peacock, one of Dodger’s better performances. Most outings don’t result in the ultimate raptor success.

“Every successful flight is golden,” Peacock says. “And if you just come home healthy, that’s a victory. And if he fulfills his design, as it were, that’s icing on the cake.”

Falconer’s Day Job

Not unlike most falconers, Steve Peacock has a good day job. A wildlife biologist by training, he is vice president of environmental services for New Port Richey-based Florida Design Consultants, a civil engineering firm. His clients include some of the most prominent residential builders in the area. He’s the go-to guy for dealing with regulators on issues ranging from wildlife inventories and wetland mapping to DRI’s.

“Steve knows his birds and his habitat issues,” says Ann Paul, the Tampa Bay regional coordinator for the Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuary. “If he says it’s so, it’s so.”

Professional employment, which is common among falconers, helps underwrite a pursuit that gets pricey. The birds themselves can routinely cost $1,000 – and a lot more if already trained. The right clothes, equipment (including telemetry) and housing (the state mandates a separate, at least 8’x 8’x 8′, on-residence facility) are part of the substantial overhead.

The sport is also exacting in its time demands. So much so that there is this cautionary aphorism among falconers: “One falcon, one wife; two falcons, no wife.”

For the record, there is a Mrs. Peacock, Megan. The Peacocks have been married 13 years.

Raptor Comeback

There are an estimated 2,000 falconers in the U.S., according to the North American Falconers Association. West of the Mississippi is where most of the action is.

Until the ’70s, many states treated raptors (falcons, owls, etc.) like vermin. That and the ravages of DDT had taken a serious toll on birds of prey. It took the Migratory Bird Act between Canada and the U.S. to change that perception and pattern. Falconers themselves played a major role in rehabbing, relocating and breeding falcons.

“Falconry is not a rapidly growing sport, and it’s not for everybody,” underscores Steve Cecchini, NAFA’s vice president. “Most falconers are naturalists. They love the unique bond with a wild creature. There’s also, I think, the vicarious experience of watching birds fly.”

Can’t Legislate Everything

For the sake of argument, let’s make a few assumptions.

Let’s assume that a sizable enough chunk of Florida’s $2.2 billion surplus goes toward permanent funding aimed at making our kids safer from the state’s 5,000 sexual predators. Measures taken would include more probation officers and a sophisticated system of monitoring those would-be threats to our communities and neighborhoods. That includes information sharing among probation personnel, police and judges.

Let’s assume that the Legislature – in the aftermath of recent tragedies, national notoriety and lots of tough talk — acts appropriately tough.

That means fast-tracking bills that would impose significantly harsher sentences and global positioning satellite surveillance of all those on probation or any kind of community control. Lifetime supervision would certainly be in the mix – as would a stricter definition for who qualifies for probation in the first place.

And nothing – from castration to town square pillories — should be ruled out. Moreover, serious slammer time should await those who harbor either a registered sex offender (29,000 in Florida) or predator.

Let’s assume that Attorney General Charlie Crist maintains his high profile bully pulpit on the issue of probation abuse and stays on the Fox News circuit with O’Reilly and Geraldo. And let’s also assume he persuades the Legislature to pass the “Anti-Murder Act” and keeps those op-ed pieces coming so society doesn’t let down its collective guard.

But there’s one critical variable unaccounted for. And it has nothing to do with budgets or political process or civil liberties.

Arguably, none of these get-tough measures would have prevented the murder of Ruskin’s Sarah Michelle Lunde by registered sexual offender David Lee Onstott, a life-long loser and convicted rapist. Nothing can legislate parental responsibility.

The reason that 13-year-old Sarah was proximate enough to Onstott to be endangered was that he was familiar with her family. He used to date her mother. Repeat DATE her mother. There are no mandates that insulate kids against that sort of egregious judgment.

And it wasn’t a particularly prudent move for the mother to leave Sarah and her teen-aged brother alone while she was out of town. The 17-year-old was hanging out with buddies when the post-midnight strangling occurred.

For the sake of argument, it wouldn’t have taken much – certainly well shy of tough, new sex-offender and predator laws – to have ensured that Sarah Lunde was still among the living.

Lining Up Retail Success

When Dr. Tim Muscaro slips away from his South Tampa dental practice, he usually can be found on a golf course. He’s an 18 handicap – but would doubtless be better were it not for every duffer’s Achilles’ tendency: three-putt greens.

Recently, however, he’s made progress.

In his backyard.

He sprang for an 18-feet by 20-feet putting green behind his Sunset Park house. Went for top-of-the-line synthetic nylon turf and added some seasonal landscaping. Cost him about $2,500.

He now swears by it – and not at his short game.

“It’s kind of a joke with my golfing buddies,” says Muscaro. “I’ve said on more than a few occasions, ‘Hey, I’ve got this exact putt in my back yard.'”

It’s all because he became enamored of a product he saw at a PGA Show in Orlando. A product that simulated surface contours, could be moved inside when necessary and wouldn’t turn his backyard into a construction site. It’s called Tour Links, from Seminole-headquartered Creative Sports Concepts Inc. The product, which is manufactured and shipped out of Dayton, OH, was launched last August.

Tour Links’ president is 45-year-old Baltimore native, David Barlow. He’s also the founder, inventor (with six U.S. patents and two pending) and lead investor (along with his parents). He’s in an industry that’s fragmented among mom-and-pop operations, landscapers, swimming pool installers and a number of companies that specialize in a range of sports surfaces.

The potential market has been conservatively estimated at nine figures. Obviously that transcends PGA Tour professionals and the landed gentry. Industry observers expect the numbers to explode when retail’s potential is finally realized.

That’s where Tour Links’ future – and fortune – lies, ambitiously predicts Barlow.

To date, his product line – with a price range of $239.00 to $1,699.00 – is already carried by sports retailers Brookstone and Golfsmith. The latter is the largest golf retailer in the United States.

“It’s a great fit for our customers,” says Chris Hargett, senior buyer at Golfsmith, “because it enables them to practice their putting and chipping as if they were actually on the golf course.”

Additionally, Tour Links is distributed by a number of the largest sports-surface manufacturers and installers in the country, such as Field Turf (which did Tropicana Field), Sport Court and Mirage.

An even bigger retailer awaits, however. Barlow has been in negotiations with Home Depot. The plan is for HD to begin carrying Tour Links in test stores with the expectation of a national roll out later in 2005.

The allure, points out Barlow, is cost, portability and flexibility. The greens lend themselves to countless configurations through the arrangement of modular panels that are easily assembled and re-assembled. An infinite number of breaks can be created by inserting foam contour mats beneath the turf.

“Anybody can have anything they want,” emphasizes Barlow.

From August to Christmas, Tour Links did about $500,000 in sales, he says. “We see the trend line for $3-4 million next year,” he projects. After that — $1 million a month. Then he’ll consider major investors.

“Right now we’re looking to sell our way out of debt,” says Barlow. After that, his ambitions couldn’t be more bullish – no putts about it.

“My goal and my belief,” underscores Barlow, “is that our product line will dominate this industry in three years.”

High-Profile Entrepreneur

Tour Links is not Tom Barlow’s first foray into sports. He’s a life-long golfer and a 12 handicap. He founded Dimensional Art Inc. that created, among other things, the interactive FanLand that was a big hit when the Tampa Bay Lightning called St. Petersburg’s Thunder Dome home.

Before formally launching Tour Links last summer, he proved adept at getting his patented product into numerous high-visibility venues. Among them: the Ryder Cup, the PGA Tour’s “First Tee” program, the Merrill Lynch “Skins Game,” ESPN’s 25th Anniversary celebration, The Golf Channel’s “Drive, Pitch & Putt” competition and NBC’s “The Apprentice.”

“We’re getting that corporate recognition,” says Barlow. “Then (individual) endorsements, per se, will come. “Our concentration now is retail – then getting it into the hands of pros.”

Ray of hope

Believe it or not, something good may yet result from that debacle last week at Yankee Stadium. That’s where the Devil Rays were humiliated 19-8 by the Yankees. The Rays allowed a franchise record 13 runs in the second inning.

The silver lining is this: The fiasco was witnessed in person – but not incognito – by 49% general partner Stuart Sternberg. It’s been rumored that Sternberg has been warming up in the management bullpen to relieve tight-fisted, ham-handed managing general partner Vince Naimoli. Possibly by next year.

Sternberg, a retired managing director of the investment firm Goldman Sachs, saw for himself what he and his investment group bought into last year for $65 million. That is, a franchise that, without an infusion of intelligently spent capital, will remain under a competitive governor.

Worse yet, there are no guarantees that the team will remain in this market. There is an obvious correlation between competitiveness and home attendance and Major League Baseball’s patience with an underperforming franchise.

Perhaps the first-hand, shock-and-awe experience was exactly what the Rays and Sternberg needed. This franchise can be saved, but it needs a closer – not a mop-up man from the bullpen.

Double Standards Hinder War On Terrorism

Since 9/11, it’s been a key anti-terrorism tenet of the Bush Administration that those who harbor and support terrorists are part of the nightmarish problem and will be held accountable – and dealt with accordingly.

Obviously easier said than implemented. Witness Saudi Arabia, which has incubated terrorists and then funneled protection money to them under various guises.

Closer to home, it was encouraging that the White House celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by snubbing Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA. The IRA, which has taken the lives of innocents in the name of political redress, is a terrorist organization. They aren’t Al-Qaeda or Palestinian Islamic Jihad and wish us no harm, but the point should be a terrorist is a terrorist. And non-combatant innocents are innocents. Ours or anybody else’s.

But in outrageously bad timing, the U.S. now courts international charges of hypocrisy and double standards with the impending case of Luis Posada Carriles. The Cuban exile militant has been on the lam for years and recently – and secretly – entered the U.S. He is somewhere in Miami and reportedly hopes for asylum.

Over the years, he has been linked to a number of violent – and deadly — incidents against the government of Fidel Castro. In fact, he is still wanted – ironically — by Venezuelan authorities for the mid-’70s bombing of a Cuban plane in which all 73 aboard perished. It had taken off from Caracas.

Here’s hoping the Bush Administration’s bar on pandering to South Florida Cubans doesn’t drop low enough to accommodate Carriles – either in seeking political asylum or parole as a Cuban refugee.

A terrorist is still a terrorist.

Richards Also Classy Off The Ice

It was one of those stories that stops you in your tracks and leaves you misty eyed. You just don’t expect it from the sports section over your morning coffee and English muffin.

The news of the day featured Vince Naimoli’s latest temper tantrum; reflections on Tiger Woods’ victory in the Masters; the Red Sox rolling out a World Series banner the size of Rhode Island; Sammy Sosa’s debut at the Trop; an untimely ankle injury to Serena Williams; and college football players from Tennessee and Georgia arrested for beating up some people.

And then there was this.

The Lightning’s Brad Richards kept a promise — and it had nothing to do with the team, the NHL lockout or his injury rehab. He had said he would be back to participate – for the second consecutive year — in the Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s “Fashion Funds The Cure” at Tampa’s Saks Fifth Avenue. He flew in from his home in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island to be a catwalk escort to young cancer patients.

According to the story in the Tampa Tribune, the girls modeled designer clothes and accessories and “were pampered with makeup, manicures and pedicures.”

“These are girls, that because of their cancer treatments, struggle with body image,” explained Lisa Orlando of the PCF. “It’s rough on them, so it’s nice they get treated to something so special.”

The account was accompanied by a photo of Richards arm in arm with a young cancer patient whose adoring look said the experience was, indeed, beyond special. You wanted that moment freeze-framed forever for that young girl — and then you noted your eyes had re-misted.

It was a reminder of what is important enough to be genuinely special. Winning at Augusta and unveiling a World Series banner in Fenway Park never seemed so inconsequential.

Some players have made better use of their lockout time than others.

Academic Soapbox Invites McCarthyism

“Academic freedom” is one of those terms – not unlike “freedom fighter” or “student-athlete” — that requires some fine-print scrutiny.

Presumably no one is against “academic freedom” – at least until we introduce the repugnant likes of a Ward Churchill broaching an especially controversial subject in a particularly polarizing, patently disgusting way. But that’s classic First Amendment ambit for you.

Now here in Florida, which seems to be in the societal vanguard in so many notorious ways, we have our own “academic freedom” hot button issue. And this time it has nothing to do with Sami Al-Arrogant. Specifically, it’s State Rep. Dennis Baxley’s “academic freedom” bill, one aimed at monitoring faculty to ensure they deliver a “fair and balanced” curriculum.

HB 837 would give students in public colleges and universities the right to object if professors repeatedly discuss controversial issues irrelevant to a given class. They would also have the right to be taught and graded sans political bias.

(If nothing else, it speaks volumes that such rights are thought to need codifying.)

The grand-standing Baxley is an acolyte of conservative activist David Horowitz, the crusader against higher education’s liberal group think. Horowitz, of course, has a case. The academy is what it is — unless you’re talking Naval, Military and Air Force.

Horowitz, however, is not content to point out the obvious – including sham definitions of “diversity” on university campuses – and encourage appropriate responses to legitimate complaints on a case-by-case basis. His support of the Ocala Republican’s bill, including a presentation to a Florida House education committee, is overkill. The bill is subjectively unwieldy and likely unconstitutional. It has all the earmarks of a free-speech nightmare.

It’s also counterproductive.

Witness the she-said, he-said press conference the other day that was more classic McCarthyism than “totalitarian niche” microcosm. That media circus presaged nothing but witch hunts for proselytizing professors. Moreover, no one needs the Florida Legislature meddling where it has already proven its heavy-handed ineptitude.

Perhaps more than anything, the ideological dynamic of American universities needs to be kept in perspective. We don’t need any more surveys telling us what is manifestly evident: Universities are bastions of political correctness. And that’s not about to change.

The reality, however, is that inexperienced, impressionable students move on, mature and relate to the world as they find it.

The professors stay in school.

He Kept The Faith – And “Altared” History

We’ll not see his kind again. Not in our lifetime.

The passing of Pope John Paul II galvanized the globe – as no other contemporary world figure could. His mourners transcended the planet’s 1 billion Catholics. Condolences came from Muslims, Jews and Protestants. Praise came from the most disparate sources, including George W. Bush, Fidel Castro and Mehmet Ali Agca – his would-be assassin. In unprecedented numbers, an estimated 4 million pilgrims – and 200 world leaders — made their way to Rome to pay their final respects.

That’s what happens when the honoree was a globe-trotting crusader for human rights and an outspoken opponent of totalitarianism wherever he found it. Talk about a bully pulpit.

But for all his charisma and courage – from defying Nazis to helping defeat Communism – there was this: Has there ever been a person who was more disagreed with who was also more respected? And beloved?

Over the years, we became familiar with his ideology – and his obstinacy.

He was doctrinaire and a fundamentalist hard liner on sex and gender issues, which is not what “cafeteria Catholics” wanted to hear in this country. He was an opponent of capital punishment and the Iraqi war, which was at odds with certain significant constituencies. And he didn’t exactly jump-start a housecleaning of pedophile priests, for which there was a deafening demand in many quarters.

But what you saw – and heard in myriad languages – is what you got.

Right and wrong were not relative concepts — any more than morality could be more or less good or bad. Pope John Paul II wasn’t one for changing with the times as if principles could meander in and out of fashion. Pander wasn’t in his extensive, multi-lingual vocabulary.

Those weren’t sectarian traits; an animist or atheist would find them no less refreshing in an era of relativism, materialism and cynicism.

He wasn’t going to make it easier to be Catholic – just because it was an increasingly secular world. There were standards – and they weren’t up for compromise. Salvation was earned. It was a reward – not a block grant. He took controversial stands and didn’t back off because they were unpopular. It’s what leaders do.

It’s what’s done by those who alter history.

Hurricane Prep Includes Evacuation Plans

We’re still a few months away from Hurricane Season ’05 and the inevitable cones of depression, TV teases of trepidation and file footage of Punta Gorda as a wind tunnel. But it’s never too soon, as we know, to start preparing.

This year, however, the preparations will seem a lot less theoretical. Bullet-dodging will do that. And the prep work, as we are now discovering, transcends bottled water, batteries and insurance inventories. It now includes serious evacuation scenarios.

According to a Florida State University study of evacuations in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Manatee counties last summer, nearly half the residents didn’t abide orders to leave a Category 1 evacuation zone.

“A large percentage of people stayed in a high storm surge area,” pointed out Gary Vickers, the director of Pinellas County’s Department of Emergency Management. “There could have been a high body count.”

While there will always be those who hope for the best and choose to ride out a Hurricane Charley, that wasn’t the most sobering facet of the FSU study. Only 60 per cent of the residents ACTUALLY KNEW there was an evacuation ordered. A third of those didn’t know it was mandatory.

In other words, four out of 10 residents – despite blanket television and radio coverage and countless news conferences – had not idea they were supposed to leave.

That’s scary.

County’s Indigent Plan Dilemma

It’s no secret that this county’s indigent health care program – now nearing $100 million annually — continues to grow apace. As does a deficit, which reached $6 million last year. Service-trimming scenarios are in the offing, as is a long-term plan to restructure the Hillsborough HealthCare Plan, which is funded by a half-cent sales tax.

So, good for Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Jim Norman for trying to find ways to save money without hurting critical services to those most deserving. But good intentions aren’t always enough.

First, he wanted to ban smokers from eligibility; after all, they cost the plan more than non-smokers do. Unfortunately the criteria, which are set by the state, are based solely on residence and financial wherewithal. Norman, however, seems inclined to push for a mandatory smoking cessation program.

Call it: Helping those who help themselves. How radical.

Then there is Norman’s plan – recently approved by the commission — to deny benefits to anyone convicted of three serious crimes.

Would that it were a deterrent to crime, which really taxes society. More to the point, however, it could save the county a reported $4 million annually. And it’s arguably a fairer, fiscal fix than eliminating, say, eye exams, dental work and catastrophic care, which commissioners did on a temporary basis earlier in the year.

The big down side to Tampa Triage: “Three strikes and you’re out of our indigent health care plan” is ultimately more feel good than real good. In reality, it becomes “Three strikes and your next at-bat is at TGH’s emergency room.” Some societal saving.