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Survivors Remember Skyway Disaster.
- Article from:
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Tampa Tribune (Tampa, FL)
- Article date:
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August 3, 2007
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2007 Tampa Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Philip Morgan
Aug. 3--TAMPA -- After diving among the dead motorists and tangled wreckage of the Sunshine Skyway, St. Petersburg firefighter Gerard Chalmers developed a mild case of bridge phobia.
For years, he would not drive across the remaining Skyway span over Tampa Bay if a ship was about to go under it. He would pull over to the side and wait for the ship to pass. His brother laughed at him, saying he was crazy.
"No, I'm not," he would counter. "It's the same ship channel and the same bridge."
Chalmers, who doesn't have that problem with the modern Skyway, recalled the grisly details of the 1980 Skyway disaster in light of the collapse Wednesday ...