LARGO -- People who have a top-of-the-line Dell that serves as little more than a glorified typewriter that plays Solitaire might sympathize: After Pinellas County spent $12-million on a database system to make records easier to find, many departments chose to ignore it.

County administrator Steve Spratt was taken aback to learn that many departments still aren't using the technology, and some have purchased other computer programs instead of using the software the county already bought.

County officials blame everything from the Y2K scare to sluggish technology staffers to a basic reluctance to try something new.

"People have a resistance to change," Tax Collector Diane Nelson, the new chairwoman of the technology board, said Wednesday.

Spratt's plan sets step-by-step deadlines to start using the database system, Oracle, throughout county government.

Tough graduation rule to get another look

LAND O'LAKES -- The Pasco County School Board may be softening its tough stance on graduations, which restricts participation in commencement ceremonies to graduates only.

When the first affected seniors tried last May to beg their way into their school's graduation ceremony, the board stood firm: Only true graduates can walk. Even students who had passed their classes but failed the state's graduation exam were left out, board members said at the time.

But faced Tuesday with this year's crop of weepy students and their parents, the board decided to "rethink" the policy at a meeting June 4.

Max Ramos, principal of Land O'Lakes High, said the policy does motivate kids. But, he added, that doesn't mean the district shouldn't at least talk about improving the policy.

"It has made a difference in a lot of kids in a positive way," Ramos said. "But I do have a bone to pick with the (state mandate) that one high-impact test score can keep a kid from graduating."

Hollywood comes to the rescue of abused dog

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Animal lovers across the nation, including standup comic Elayne Boosler, took a personal interest in the plight of Buster, a year-old boxer mix who was attacked with a claw hammer, authorities say, by Barry Colbert, the then-39-year-old boyfriend of Buster's former owner.

"He's entered the boxer witness protection program," Boosler joked after the pup left town Wednesday in a cowboy hat and a handkerchief, a costume that hid the grotesque wounds Buster suffered in the attack.

Buster lost an eye in the attack and is nearly blind in the remaining eye. He also suffered a deep gash on his forehead, and his jaw was shattered.

Boosler, who makes her home in Los Angeles, was instrumental in raising more than $5,000 to pay for Buster's medical bills and relocation costs. She donated $1,000 from a recent show in Sarasota and shelled out $269 for Buster's flight Wednesday aboard a Continental Airlines jetliner bound for an undisclosed location.

Boosler said Buster will spend the next few months with a nurse who specializes in helping blind dogs. A nationwide search to find a permanent home for Buster is under way. But the dog will never return to Florida, Boosler said.

Inverness clinic bolsters medical help for veterans

INVERNESS -- A second doctor returned to duty, and a third will be recruited to help whittle down a waiting list at the Inverness VA Outpatient Clinic.

It is among the many VA clinics in the Tampa Bay area overrun by its workload.

Many veterans rely on VA clinics not just for medical care, but also for prescriptions. Most veterans seeking medical service are enrolled in Medicare, which does not have a prescription drug program.

The VA provides prescription services through its mail-order pharmacy and other outlets, but only if the prescription comes from a VA provider.

The clinic, which opened in summer 2000, had become unable to meet demand because of patient volume and personnel vacancies.

As of March, veterans were told they had to wait nine months before undergoing a basic exam.

If all goes as planned, the waiting list of patients should evaporate within nine to 12 months, administrators said.

Pasco road woes mean gas tax may rise a penny or two

DADE CITY -- Pasco County commissioners could barely agree on how to debate the gas tax, let alone what to approve, but after a tense meeting they finally agreed a 1-cent increase could be hitting the pumps.

The commission voted unanimously to hold two public hearings about raising the gas tax by 1 cent. The commission also may discuss raising the tax a second cent at those hearings.

An effort to get a third cent on the table died.

Differences of opinion about the gas tax boiled down to commission district lines. A sought-after third cent would have paved roads in the east side of the county and paid for many of the pet projects of the other commissioners.

Now they just hope to keep the second cent alive through two public hearings on the gas tax, on June 4 and June 18.

In short ...

TAMPA -- Lady the sheltie, the latest and most unlikely star of the Valessa Robinson murder saga, has caught the attention of an Internet-surfing researcher for Busted, an Animal Planet series that features crime stories involving animals. Those with keen memories might recall that Lady belonged to Vicki Robinson, the 49-year-old real estate agent who was murdered in her Carrollwood home by her teenage daughter, Valessa, Valessa's boyfriend Adam Davis, and Jon Whispel. It was Lady, Whispel told authorities, that growled at him and Davis as they loaded Robinson's body into a van after the June 1998 stabbing. It was Lady who alerted neighbor Susan Kalupa something might be wrong when she saw the dog roaming free after the murder.

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday threw out Pinellas voters' 1996 decision to limit the county's five constitutional officers to two four-year terms. The decision also puts the legality of term limits for Pinellas County commissioners into question, even though the court didn't directly address their offices. Even charter counties like Pinellas don't have the power to allow local voters to enact term limits on constitutional offices, the court said.

Coming up this week

On Tuesday, St. Petersburg City Council members will hold a 1 p.m. public workshop on whether to lease the Bayfront Center to the University of South Florida, which might replace the outdated arena with a "world class conference center." Last September, the council began discussing the fate of the city-owned Bayfront Center, which requires an annual taxpayer subsidy of about $1.3-million. The center holds the Mahaffey Theater and an arena. The aging arena has been able to draw few big-name events. It is outdated, leaks and needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs.

Manatees would get their own vacation spot on the Homosassa River if a proposal from state wildlife regulators is approved. A proposed manatee protection zone, where boaters and swimmers will be prohibited at the Blue Waters of the Homosassa River, will go before the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for consideration when it meets Wednesday through Friday.

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