OUR LENS | Exceptional work by the St. Petersburg Times staff
Iraqi refugee, patriotic mohawk, Tampa Bay Rays
7
July
Dr. Mark Roberts examines Hayder Abdulwahab during a physical on June 1. Hayder came to Dr. Roberts with the hopes of getting a referral to an opthomologist. He was injured severely by a car bomb as he stood on the balcony of his apartment in Baghdad in 2004. One eye is completely blind and from the other he can see only shadows. Many of his loved ones died in Iraq. He and his family fled to Syria and have been refugees in the United States for almost a year. [KATHLEEN FLYNN, Times] VIEW AUDIO SLIDESHOW ABOUT HAYDER'S STRUGGLE
Ben Zobrist, center, celebrates with Carlos Pena, left, and Willy Aybar, right, after knocking in Carl Crawford in the ninth to give the Rays a 10-9 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday. [JAMES BORCHUCK, Times] VIEW PHOTO GALLERY OF THE RAYS VICTORY OVER THE BLUE JAYS
A giant Pez dispenser greets visitors entering the Candy Kitchen, 13712 Gulf Blvd., Madeira Beach. [MELISSA LYTTLE, Times] READ MELISSA'S POST ABOUT USING AN IPHONE TO MAKE PHOTOS
Brandy Letrick, 5, of Dunedin, navigates a circle of fountains as they shoot streams of water in the air Thursday at the city of Dunedin's new Kiwanis Sprayground, an interactive children's water playground with more than 3,000 square feet of play area at Highlander Park. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD, Times]
Pat Burrell is mobbed at home by teammates after his walk-off homer in the eleventh inning off Brandon League on Tuesday. [JAMES BORCHUCK, Times] SEE PHOTOS FROM THE RAYS 3-1 VICTORY OVER THE BLUE JAYS
Aaron Hill is tagged out at home by Dioner Navarro on a Vernon Wells hit in the eighth. B.J. Upton threw out Hill who was on second when Wells hit the ball. [JAMES BORCHUCK, Times]
Donning a red, white and blue mohawk, Austin McDonough, 10, watches the Brandon Fourth of July Parade cruise by on Saturday morning. "It was his idea, I just did the work," said Austin's father Steve McDonough. [KAINAZ AMARIA, Times] VIEW TIMES' FOURTH OF JULY PHOTO GALLERY
Preston Black, 7, right, pours water into a bottle on a teammate's head while Gloria Francis, left, sprays him with a hose at the Sheriff's Office and Hi-Five's Kids summer camp at Kennedy Park in Brooksville Tuesday. The children were playing a relay game where they had to fill the bottle with water without touching their cup to the bottle, then trade places with the person sitting in the chair. If you touched the bottle with the cup, it was poured out on your head and your team had to start over. The camp, which is funded by drug forfeiture funds, is free on a first-come first-served basis to 6-12 year-olds and runs for four weeks in the summer. In addition to crafts and games, the children are treated to visits from the Sheriff's Office Mounted Unit, K-9 demonstrations, and the Sheriff's helicopter. [WILL VRAGOVIC, Times]
The story changes on how Ronnie "Tex" Collins, 43, cut his face. His friend says he was in a car wreck, he says he fell during an epileptic seizure. He ended up in Tampa in 1995 after binging on Xanax and gin on a Greyhound trying to get to Jacksonville. They woke him up and kicked him off the bus in Tampa. His best panhandling score? Four tickets to see Poison and Cinderella at the St. Pete Times Forum. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT, Times] VIEW A PHOTO GALLERY OF PANHANDLER SIGN STRATEGIES
Fireworks light up the night sky over Straub Park in St. Petersburg Saturday night seen from the top of Bayport Tower. [WILL VRAGOVIC, Times]
