OUR LENS | Exceptional work by the St. Petersburg Times staff
Dancing dads, biting lizards, sliding dogs, singing Elvis
23
June
Jerry Francis, of Holiday, left, sits on the lap of Dee Davis, of Clearwater, while performing as Elvis Sunday during Palm Garden of Clearwater Nursing and Rehabilitation Center's Father's Day Cabaret and Casino event. Residents and their families were entertained by the Latin Revue Dancers, Elvis and Phyllis Diller impersonators, comedian Gary Kriston and singer Elaine Hollister. The event was capped off with blackjack, roulette and a trio of slot machines. [DOUGLAS CLIFFORD, Times]
Cirque du Soleil opens the Saltimbanco show at the St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday, June 25. [KATHLEEN FLYNN, Times]
Clearwater Marine Aquarium Head Trainer Abby Stone assists 10-year-old McKenna McGough, from Garland, Texas, who planned her summer vacation around coming to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium this week, just so she could see Winter the dolphin. McGough had cancerous tumors in her ears that damaged her hearing, and refused to regularly wear her hearing aid. After meeting Winter 2 years ago, who wears a prosthetic tail, she started wearing the hearing aid all the time. For a recent birthday McGough asked friends to donate money instead of giving gifts, so she could buy toys for Winter. Aquarium staff surprised her with an opportunity to get into the water with the dolphin. She has a stuffed Winter the dolphin toy which stayed by her side during ear surgery. [JIM DAMASKE, Times] Read our special report about Winter the dolphin, Winter's Tale.
Everett Starks sings to his daughter Morgann Starks, 12, as FM station 95.7 D.J. Stu Robinson kicks off his 3rd annual Father Daughter Dance with the Luther Vandross song Dance with My Father. "We've been practicing since the last Father Daughter dance," said Everett. Nearly 300 fathers and daughters filled the dance floor Sunday at the Dr. Blaise F. Alfano Conference and Banquet Center in Tampa. This year's theme was "A Diamond in Daddy's Eyes," and according to Robinson, "It's time to lower the skirts and raise the standards! It's about going back to the love values, the old school values." [KAINAZ AMARIA, Times]
Rick Kelly eats dinner as Christian, 7, a foster child he is adopting, horses around nearby. Kelly spent most of his youth in foster care, as did his seven brothers and sisters. He considers former foster parents Jon and Candy White his mom and dad. In 40 years, the Whites have taken in more than 400 foster children. They took in Christian when he was 2. He had been terribly abused and wouldn't bond with anyone, but warmed to Kelly immediately. [CHERIE DIEZ, Times]
Rick Kelly makes a final check of Christian's outfit before heading to court, where Rick will formally adopt the seven-year-old. See photographer Cherie Diez and writer Lane DeGregory's report about Rick Kelly and and his new son Christian. [CHEIRE DIEZ, Times]
Yamono Dunbar, 29, of St. Petersburg runs to tie down the corners of several huge airbrushed pieces blowing in the wind. He was selling Italian Ices at Juneteenth in Campbell Park. The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when news of their freedom reached slaves in Galveston, Texas. It has become a celebration to promote appreciation of the African-American experience. [MELISSA LYTTLE, Times]
Pasco County Sheriff officer Robert Wilkins shoots off the bottom of a water slide at Weeki Wachee Springs with his K-9 Lee during a water training session last week. "It was fun," Wilkins said, "He wanted to go, I had to hold him back, he wanted to go ahead of me." The training was hosted by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit as an opportunity to get the dogs acclimated to the water and help build trust with the handlers. [WILL VRAGOVIC, Times]
A Yorkshire Terrier sits in a pen, waiting to be adopted at Hillsborough County Animal Services Center last week. The pup was in luck. People started lining up at Hillsborough County Animal Services more than 24 hours ahead of time for the chance to adopt one of 23 Yorkshire Terriers. The dogs were confiscated from a suspected puppy mill being run by a mother and son out of two locations, one in Seffner and another in Tampa. [SKIP O'ROURKE, Times]
A mockingbird hassles a passing crow that encroached on its territory in the sky over Oldsmar. [JIM DAMASKE, Times]
Todd Campbell, 47, Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Tampa, is bit by a Nile monitor, an African lizard, after being careless with it during a television shoot last week in Cape Coral, Florida. See a report by photographer John Pendygraft and writer Michael Kruse about Campbell and the growing Nile monitor invasion in southwest Florida. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT, Times]
A Forestry helicopter circles over a wildfire in the marshland east of Pine Island, in Hernando County, Florida last week. The fire started the day before around 6:30 p.m. as a result of a lightning strike. [WILL VRAGOVIC, Times]
