Michael Hinman

Historic Jeffries House seeks place in 21st century

August 7, 2013 By Michael Hinman

It has a small yard begging for some tender loving care. Overgrown bushes, untrimmed trees, brown grass desperate for water.

The house that it surrounds, empty for the past few years, could almost find a place among neighborhood children’s haunted house legends, if it weren’t for the bright yellow paint that still shines through Zephyrhills downtown.

Capt. Harold Jeffries made this his home for years after founding Zephyrhills, but now this historic structure in the middle of the city’s main street business district is suffering from neglect. City officials are looking to buy the house, but it still leaves the question of what they will do with it once they sign the deed. (Photo by Michael Hinman)

Built in 1912, this is the original home of Capt. Harold B. Jeffries, the Civil War veteran who settled Zephyrhills in the hopes of bringing other war veterans with him. It’s been everything from the home of prominent city residents over the years, to a commercial office in what was once a bustling downtown area.

Today, however, the Jeffries House is spotted with warped wood. The white wraparound porch is sagging in a few places. And the main entrance that once welcomed Capt. Jeffries home each night is now capped with a “No Trespassing” sign.

The home is almost out of place in what would later become the commercial nerve center for Zephyrhills. And as community business leaders work to revitalize the downtown section, questions abound on what to do with the Jeffries House after suffering through a foreclosure two years ago, and been abandoned ever since.

“I think the Main Street Zephyrhills office would look great there,” said Gina King Granger, executive director of the city’s Main Street group. “Our board had actually discussed that at one time, but our funding was so tight, there was no way we could make it work.”

CenterState Bank of Florida owns the house, but is looking to get back the nearly $280,000 it lost when the previous owner defaulted on the mortgage. However, Main Street may get another shot at the building if city officials move forward with plans to buy the house from CenterState, and then possibly leasing it out.

Such a move would make the site much more attractive from a financial standpoint for potential tenants like Main Street.

“There’s a lot of interest in it,” Granger said. “Folks are just shying away from it because they think there is a lot more involved in terms of restoration and what would be needed to get it back into good shape.”

While the house itself would likely not be a strong anchor to help draw other businesses into the downtown district, there are a number of other possibilities for the Jeffries House as well, ranging from bed and breakfasts to restaurants, even to becoming a residence again.

That’s exactly how Jerry Pricher remembers the Jeffries House growing up.

“That house was the only residence on that block for many, many years,” said Pricher, who is vice president of the Zephyrhills Historical Association. “I walked by that house all the time when I was a kid, pretty much whenever we would walk down to the Home Theater to go to the movies.”

The Jeffries House is hardly the only house with local historical significance in Zephyrhills, but it gets the most attention because of its location right in the middle of town, Pricher said. Because of that, and its place in the city’s history, it could be the perfect place for a museum.

The only drawback to that idea is that Zephyrhills already has the Depot Museum on South Avenue.

“The Depot Museum is slap full, so (the Jeffries House) could be nice as a secondary museum,” Pricher said. “We could always use more room to display some of the many historical items we have.”

Vicki Elkins, who runs the Depot Museum, says they do regularly have to switch out exhibits because of space constraints in the old railroad depot. However, she may need some more exhibit donations before they can think of a second location.

“We don’t really have an overflow right now, but certainly at some point we might,” Elkins said. She feels that the Jeffries House could be turned into a nice museum remembering the school history of the city. Or, “it would make a wonderful Main Street office.”

“It’s historic, and it’s what Main Street is all about,” Elkins said.

No matter who might end up in the Jeffries House, chances are it won’t be as expensive to move in as many might think, Main Street’s Granger said. A city inspection of the house showed that despite some exterior issues, the interior is structurally sound.

And outside money might be available to convert the historic house into a new business.

“A lot of work would be needed to bring it up to code, but it could be done,” Granger said. “There are a lot of grants for restoring these old properties at both the state and national levels, but money like that might not be available for a few years.”

And that could be a death knell to the Jeffries House if it remains empty and is not properly maintained. As passers-by have already noticed in recent years, a house like this can deteriorate fast.

“Obviously, to those of us who love the history of Zephyrhills, we would rather not lose it,” Pricher said. “Something needs to be done with that building, and we need to do it right now.”

Wesley Chapel’s newest surgeon is a robot named da Vinci

August 7, 2013 By Michael Hinman

Adventist Health System has always stayed on the cutting edge of medicine, dating back to the 19th century when doctors employed by the company championed the dangers of smoking and the health benefits of a little fresh air.

Now the company’s newest facility, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, is staying ahead of the curve once again with an advanced robotic surgery system that is expected to reduce recovery times with the most precise surgeries available.

The da Vinci Surgical System SI takes over the work on the operating table at Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel with a surgeon nearby controlling every aspect of it. (Photo by Michael Hinman)

It’s called the da Vinci Surgical System SI, and the hospital at 2600 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. was expected to use it for the first time Monday. When it’s fully activated, it almost looks like a menacing mechanical spider in the operating room. But the da Vinci has the agility and dexterity beyond any human surgeon that will reduce blood loss, pain, scars and complications from all kinds of surgery ranging from prostate operations to intestinal resections.

“Basically, it does a much more exact surgery,” said Gill Green, director of surgical services at Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel. “And with it, you avoid the complications.”

Surgery teams at the 83-bed hospital spent weeks training on the system ahead of their first operation on Monday. They learned not only how to prep a patient for the da Vinci, but also how to use its 3-D remote control that gives the surgeon a view he would struggle to see in a traditional operation. It takes laparoscopic surgery to a whole new level, said Mary Brady, Wesley Chapel’s chief nursing officer.

“Being a robot, the arm pieces are much smaller, and have much more room to work,” she said. “When the surgeon looks into the controller, his screen magnifies everything 10 times. And even if his hands are trembling a bit when he’s working the system, the robot arms are always working in a smooth motion.”

Some patients fear robotic surgery because they think a robot is doing the work.

Like many robotic systems, a surgeon directs the da Vinci controls, using its tools to make surgery less invasive.

“It works for many different types of surgery, but we don’t have to use it if someone doesn’t want it,” Brady said. “There are other alternatives as well, and that’s something that is discussed between the physician and the patient on how they want to proceed.”

Few hospitals are using the da Vinci system in the Tampa Bay area, but they do include Pasco Regional Medical Center in Dade City and St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in northern Hillsborough County.

But it is a steep investment. Florida Hospital wouldn’t say what they paid for the device, but prices can run as high as $1.75 million, according to the undergraduate science journal, the Journal of Young Investigators.

Yet, it’s an investment worth making if it can reduce the complications involved in various types of surgery.

“It’s a continuation of our vision from the very beginning that we would have state-of-the-art technology in this hospital,” said Tracy Clouser, director of marketing for the Wesley Chapel hospital. “We make sure we have only the best in all areas where it provides patient benefits, and better patient care.”

Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel opened last October, becoming Adventist’s 22nd hospital in the state.

Woman vs. gator: A sport and food source going mainstream

July 31, 2013 By Michael Hinman

She arrived to the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce mixer last week at the recently reopened Beef O’ Brady’s at the Village Lakes Shopping Center with long blonde hair, perfectly manicured nails and an inviting smile – to represent her family’s heating and cooling company.

The trophy table is lined with heads and skins of what were once fierce reptiles in Florida’s waters. The gators are hunted, but are then used for not only their hides, but for food as well.

But that’s just touching the surface. Charlene Ierna might help service and sell air-conditioning units during the day, but her off time is filled with a much different passion: gator hunting.

While it might not be the most common form of game hunting in Florida, alligator hunting attracts many adventure-seekers looking to come face-to-face with the state’s largest native reptile. And these hunters don’t use guns. Instead, they stalk their prey with weapons like spear guns or crossbows.

“A lot of people still do consider it a little dangerous,” said Ierna, who is vice president of Ierna’s Heating & Cooling in Lutz. “Having been around them my whole life when I would hunt them with my dad as a kid, I’m still not going to say that I’m comfortable with them. You can never be comfortable with something that is more powerful than you are.”

Ierna captured her first gator this past Easter during a professionally guided hunt just south of Bartow. Her gator measured 13 feet and 4 inches, and weighed 800 pounds. She lured it close to her with an alligator call, and then while it was still in the water, hit it with her crossbow.

A giant bobber, that was part of the arrow she shot, kept the alligator afloat. She finished it off later with a second arrow.

“They’re dinosaurs essentially,” Ierna said. “One bow and arrow is not going to do the job, unless it’s a perfect shot hit in the perfect place.”

But hunting an alligator is not just for the trophy head. Fully processed gator hides can run for as much as $100 a foot, according to Shane Smith, a Lutz resident who owns The Hungry Gator Meat Market in Plant City.

Alligator meat, while not quite ready to replace beef or chicken in most people’s diets, is still quite popular with various eateries, including Hungry Harry’s on US 41, which serves a popular gator sausage sandwich.

“Alligators, especially wild alligators, are found only in the Southeast, and there are few other alligator farms outside of there,” Smith said.

The alligator meat industry as a whole has grown 500 percent in the past year alone, Smith said. That’s due in large part to cable television shows like “Swamp People” and “Gator Boys” that have whet the nation’s taste buds to alligator steaks and alligator sausage.

“Trappers in Florida used to only sell to local restaurants. Now they’re shipping to restaurants all over the country,” Smith said. His meat processing company, open only a year, already is distributing more than 450 pounds of gator meat a week to restaurants, including Charley’s Steak House and Market Fresh Fish in Tampa.

For the uninitiated, gator meat tastes a bit like chicken, believe it or not, and has a texture probably best described as those found in certain types of fish. But it does have some significant health benefits.

“It’s a very lean meat, low in cholesterol and high in protein,” Smith said. “It has a higher protein count than in chicken or tuna.”

Ierna, in the meantime, is already gearing up for her next alligator hunt. She’s heading to St. John’s River in September with the hopes of picking up two more gators to add to her collection.

This time, Ierna will be without a professional guide. She’ll be hunting an animal with heightened senses of smell and sight that could turn the tables on a hunter in an instant.

“My personal opinion, and I even tell my kids this,” Ierna said. “They are far more intimidated by you than what you think. They don’t want anything to do with us.”

But still: “You have to be wise and be alert, and you certainly can’t be relaxed. You can’t just sit and look and just hope everything goes well. You have to be attentive to what’s going on.”

Rivera to drum steelpan all the way to Trinidad

July 31, 2013 By Michael Hinman

She’s used it in concerts, recorded it in albums and even has had the music she’s created with it featured on The Weather Channel.

But next February, if she can raise the funds, Bickley Rivera will face the ultimate challenge involving her favorite instrument, the steelpan: She will compete against natives of the country that invented it.

Bickley Rivera takes on a steelpan similar to what she’ll play when she attends Panorama next February in Trinidad. Bickley is raising money for the trip, which will include a documentary film crew. (Photo provided)

She’s going to Panorama, the world’s largest steelpan competition, taking place in Trinidad — a competition that rarely welcomes outsiders. Yet Rivera, who lives in Land O’ Lakes, along with fellow performer Tom Berich of Medford, Ore., will trek to the Caribbean island nation to take part in the competition. And they’re taking a documentary film crew with them.

“We’re going to be the outside eyes looking in,” Rivera said. “And we’re having that all put on film.”

There, the two will each join their own band that could feature as many as 120 performers, or “pannists” as they preferred to be called. They will practice for up to three weeks in the country, performing near-nightly concerts for spectators attending the festival.

Since this is a competition, it is possible that either Rivera or Berich could be cut at any time — even the night before the finals.

“You’re really at their mercy,” Rivera said of the judges. “Basically, if you’re bad at any time, you could be pulled. We tried to pick bands that are regularly in the top 10, so we’re hoping that at least one of us makes it all the way through to the end.”

Chances are that Rivera and Berich won’t receive any music or other preparations ahead of their trip. They will step into roles equipped with only their steelpans and skills. It’s a high-pressure environment that should create plenty of real-life drama for the camera crew filming it.

The making of ‘Beat Pan!’
The documentary itself, called “Beat Pan!” will explore the experience of the competition from the perspective of each of the bands that Rivera and Berich are performing with.

Each band has its own musical culture and history, with many stories ready to be shared about their love of steelpan.

The goal of “Beat Pan!” is to introduce more people back home to the art of steelpan, creating a deeper appreciation for the percussion-based art in the United States, where such instruments are still considered novel.

Even before the trip, Rivera has worked to bring steelpan more into the mainstream, incorporating it into various genres of music including reggae and smooth jazz. That has made it tough for her to perform at different jazz venues around the country, because promoters are not always looking to change things up.

“What I’m trying to do is really kind of different,” Rivera said. “It’s really hard for them to accept it. They want to hear saxophone and guitar, so I incorporate a lot of that into my act, and then slowly move to the steelpan, as I get the audiences warmed up.”

Making the trip and producing the documentary is going to cost money, and both Rivera and Berich have already begun fundraising both through PayPal donations and through crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The goal initially is to raise $25,000, but she will likely need $50,000 for the complete project from start to finish.

“If this is going to work, people have to buy into this,” Rivera said. “We’re out looking for corporate sponsors and individual sponsors, and we’ll keep working until we get all the money raised.”

In the meantime, Rivera is focused on getting ready for the trip, which does have her nervous.

“I’m terrified actually,” she said. “These are people (in Trinidad) from the age of 5 who have learned how to play the steelpan. I’ve been doing it for 10 years. They know what they’re doing. They know what works and doesn’t work, and I have to find a way to fit in.”

For details on Rivera’s trip and how to participate, visit her website at www.bickleyrivera.com.