If you grew up in the Tampa Bay area, there are names form local news that will stick with you forever. Gail Sierens, Bob Hite, and Dick Fletcher, to name a few. I’m sad to report that Dick Fletcher, the long time weatherman for WTSP, died yesterday (2/26/08) at the age of 65 from a stroke he had on February 18th, 2008.. Dick had worked for the CBS station as their chief meteorologist for 30 years, which means he was the only weatherman I ever knew for the affiliate.

He was a legend in the Tampa Bay area, and he had a huge local following. He’ll be missed.

My husband just told me that Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lighting center, was traded to the Dallas Stars this morning. Brad was a great supporter of people in the Tampa Bay area, and an all around nice guy. How do I know? Well, we met him in 2005, and he was genuinely interested in speaking to my son about hockey, and I appreciate that. In an era when we consistently hear about baseball players abusing drugs, and football players raising dogs for fights, or beating their wives, it’s nice to have nice guys involved in sports, and guys who play hockey are as nice as they come. (Ignore the fighting on the ice - I’m talking about when they’re off the ice!)

The news of Kim Sjostrom & her new husband, Teddy Efkarpides, made it to our paper this week. The Davie, FL couple had been married only an hour when Kim passed out and died at the wedding. Kim was diabetic, so when she passed out during the first dance with her husband, her family went to get sugar for her…turns out it was heart disease that killed the 36 year old elementary school teacher.

Kim wanted her own version of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (I watched that last night!) and even played the movie while she was getting ready for her big day. What a tragedy!