In the summer of 2004, the Tampa office moved from its Ybor site to the warehouse on Howard/Armenia. Unfortunately, the warehouse wasn’t ready yet, so the staff worked in a construction site with no air conditioning or bathrooms. A portable bathroom was put in the parking lot, which got brutally hot by around 3 p.m. — not to mention a bit odiferous. Nonetheless, the staff did a fantastic job in the worst working conditions I’ve ever experienced, and put out a quality product throughout the summer. I knew then these were extraordinary people.
I will always remember Max Linsky, on a bet, swimming across a toxic waste site (nominally a retention pond) that had become flooded after a heavy rain and asking me as he crawled out if I knew of a good doctor who could test him for toxic poisoning.
Doug Tuthill, formerly CL Media's chief operating officer, is president of Step Up for Students.
This article appears in Apr 18-24, 2013.