The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Michael Hinman

Moore, Wells sworn into commission seats Tuesday

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The Pasco County Commission will welcome two new commissioners to its dais Tuesday, and at the same time decide whether Jack Mariano will get another term as commission chair, or if someone new will be selected.

Mike Moore and Mike Wells Jr., will be officially sworn into office today during the commission’s regular meeting in Dade City. Moore won the Nov. 4 election against Erika Remsberg to replace the retiring Pat Mulieri in District 2. Wells, on the other hand, defeated District 4 incumbent Henry Wilson Jr., during an open Republican primary last August to win a spot on the same commission his father once served.

Both will officially assume their duties soon after the opening gavel falls at 10 a.m., immediately followed by the commission’s election of officers. Wilson was the vice chair of the commission, and had been the presumptive next-in-line for the commission chairmanship. However, with his election defeat and two new commissioners coming on board, it’s most likely either Mariano will serve another year as chair, or those duties could shift to Kathryn Starkey.

Ted Schrader, the other returning commissioner from last year, was the chair beginning in the 2012 session, and it’s a job that historically rotated among the commissioners.

Mariano’s chairmanship has drawn some controversy from other commissioners this past year, beginning in his first week when he drafted a letter to Gov. Rick Scott, asking him to intervene in environmental problems facing a westside park through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Commissioners like Schrader and Starkey said the letter was not cleared through the rest of the board, despite representing what Mariano claimed was its position, and could create more problems for SunWest Park through federal regulators in the future.

Mariano took more heat on SunWest earlier this year when Schrader and Mulieri walked out of a meeting after spending two hours listening to public comment on SunWest. They accused Mariano of packing the speakers to help change the commission’s mind on how much they would fund the project. Commissioners had earlier voted to spend less than Mariano had requested on the project.

The meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Historic Pasco County Courthouse, 37918 Meridian Ave., in Dade City.

Korean Methodist Church buys former CrossRoads campus

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The Tampa Korean Methodist Church made the big move north from Tampa to Wesley Chapel last April. And now they own the 33 acres and much larger sanctuary on County Line Road that once housed CrossRoads Community United Methodist Church.

The Korean Methodists, who conduct services both in Korean and English, finalized the sale of the church campus at 26211 County Line Road, in September for $1.2 million, according to Pasco County property records. With it comes an 18,000-square-foot sanctuary built less than a decade ago, to help accommodate the growing congregation.

The church was previously located on North Boulevard in Tampa, and is part of the greater United Methodist Church, which has 12 million members worldwide, including 7.7 million in the United States. Nearly 30 percent of South Korea’s population identifies as Christian, with more than 63 percent of them claiming Protestant religions like Methodism and Presbyterianism, according to government studies there.

English services are held Sundays at 9:30 a.m. at the church.

Sorry, no Hooters planned for Land O’ Lakes

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It was a surprise to many drivers going north on U.S. 41 over the weekend.

It appears someone is pulling a prank on people driving by the old Mosquito Grill & Bar location on Land O' Lakes Boulevard. Hooters of America denies a restaurant from its chain is opening there. (Michael Hinman/Staff photo).
It appears someone is pulling a prank on people driving by the old Mosquito Grill & Bar location on Land O’ Lakes Boulevard. Hooters denies a restaurant from its chain is opening there. (Michael Hinman/Staff photo).

A bright yellow sign, painted using stencil, was posted on the old marquee board of the former Mosquito Grill & Bar restaurant at 4422 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. It seemed to confirm a longstanding rumor that the Hooters restaurant chain was opening there in 2015.

But it’s simply not true.

“Hooters does not currently have plans to open a location in Land O’ Lakes,” according to a written statement from Hooters of America LLC, given to The Laker/Lutz News Monday afternoon. However, the Atlanta-based company did use the rumor as a chance to promote its search for franchise owners throughout the nation, and maybe someday this part of Pasco County.

Hooters of America manages the largest number of Hooters restaurants in the country, while the original Hooters company in Clearwater — Hooters Inc. — controls a few dozen restaurants in the Tampa Bay area, Chicago and New York City, including Pasco’s only location in Port Richey.

Hooters Inc. handles the Tampa Bay territory, and would be responsible for the opening of any new restaurants in the area. Neil Kiefer, chief executive of the company, told The Laker/Lutz News Tuesday morning that while the sign promoting a new Hooters in Land O’ Lakes is not true now, there could come a point in the near future where one is opened.

“We have continued to look for appropriate sites for a Hooters restaurant in both Eastern Pasco and Northern Hillsborough (counties), but have yet to find a site that fits all our criteria,” Kiefer said, in an email. “We have no idea who placed the Hooters name and sign on this property, but thank you for bringing this to our attention.”

Want to learn more about this rumor, and what might be the future of this land along Bell Lake? Check out this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, hitting newsstands on Wednesday. You can read the full story now by clicking here.

This story was corrected 11/18 at 9:04 a.m., to indicate that the Bruce B. Downs Boulevard location also is controlled by Hooters Inc., and to add statement from Hooters Inc. chief executive Neil Kiefer.

Link to print edition story added 11/19 at midnight.

Sunlake tops Vanguard, travels to Gainesville next week

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The Sunlake Seahawks have advanced in the state football playoffs once again by stopping the Vanguard Knights 24-6 Friday night in the Class 6A playoffs.

Sunlake (9-2) dominated on the ground against the Ocala team with 280 total yards and three touchdowns. The Knights, on the other hand, were powerful in the air, with quarterback N’Kosi Perry throwing 17-of-29 for 189 yards and a touchdown. However, two interceptions would tarnish his record for the night.

The Seahawks were only able to convert the two picks to three points, the first coming in the very first play of the game when Perry shot a bullet downfield into the hands of senior defensive back Mosi Davis. Sunlake would use 12 plays to move it from their own 28-yard line all the way to Vanguard’s 1, but running back Nathan Johnson just missed the goal line, and the Seahawks would have to settle on a Chris Wilkinson 18-yard field goal.

Vanguard roared back, and scored the game’s first touchdown just 8 seconds into the second quarter when Perry connected with Darryn Lake for 14 yards. A fake kick by Bruce Christopher allowed Rashard Laiz to try and run it in for a two-point conversion. However, he met the Seahawk’s goal line defense, and was stopped at the 1.

The Knights never really had a chance after that as Sunlake was able to move the ball and burn the clock, adding scores along the way, including a 46-yard run into the end zone by Davis in the answering drive to help the Seahawks go up 10-6. Naejaun Jackson added two touchdowns of his own on a 7-yard run late in the first half, and a 6-yard run early in the third quarter.

Johnson led the rushing attack with 102 yards, while quarterback Dayton Feiden added 64 yards of his own. Feiden spent very little time in the air, finishing 4-of-5 for 63 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

For the Knights Lake led all receivers with 108 yards and a touchdown, while Justin Watkins picked up 38 yards on three catches.

Gainesville outlasted Mitchell 24-17, meaning the Seahawks will now have to travel north for the Class 6A regional semifinals.

In other local action, a late fumble cost the Zephyrhills Bulldogs a chance to upset Suwannee in Class 5A, losing 42-34 to the Live Oak team.

Kauffman Tire planning new store in Wesley Chapel

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Central Pasco County is set to get its first Kauffman Tire location with plans to build a 7,600-square-foot location on vacant land along Wesley Chapel Boulevard.

Developers are eyeing a 2.3-acre parcel around the area of 28225 Wesley Chapel Boulevard, located next to the Walgreens near where Wesley Chapel Boulevard connects with the northern portion of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

The land was purchased in June 2012 by 54 & 581 LLC for $350,000, and appears to have never been developed. It changed hands a few times since 1998, according to Pasco County property records, including a $790,000 transfer in 2005 at the height of the housing boom.

The current landowner is affiliated with Mitchell Rice and Michael Leeds, part of the ownership team of RMC Property Group in Tampa.

John Weaver, who works with the corporate office of the Atlanta-based company, is spearheading the project with Sarah Case of Gadd Case & Associates of Lakeland as project manager.

It would be the second Kauffman Tire location in Pasco, the first opening on Little Road in New Port Richey. However, this new location wouldn’t be too far from the Kauffman Tire at 17325 Dona Michelle Drive in New Tampa, located less than 10 miles to the south.

Kauffman Tire started in Ohio in 1936, according to the company’s website, but didn’t begin to expand until the late 1960s, primarily in the south. Kauffman Tire now has 55 locations throughout Florida and Georgia, and 14 wholesale distribution centers in seven states.

The company is meeting with Pasco County officials for the first time Nov. 25, and no timeline is available yet on when construction might begin.

Politicians talk local, but don’t spend local

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Ever wonder how much $324,000 can buy?

It could supply ribs and sides for 25 families at Hungry Harry’s Family Bar-B-Que for an entire year.

It could feed a complete Thanksgiving dinner from Publix to nearly every person living in Wesley Chapel and Land O’ Lakes.

Denny Esber got some local political work for Pasco County Commission candidates like Henry Wilson Jr., and Mike Moore, but said he could feel the pinch of hundreds of thousands of dollars leaving the county. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Denny Esber got some local political work for Pasco County Commission candidates like Henry Wilson Jr., and Mike Moore, but said he could feel the pinch of hundreds of thousands of dollars leaving the county. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

It could hire 15 people for an entire year at $10 an hour, with enough money left over to add a part-timer at the same rate.

In three local political races that ended Nov. 4, six candidates spent $324,000 — to people and businesses outside of Pasco County. In fact, of the more than $455,000 these Pasco County Commission and state House candidates spent since Nov. 1, 2013, only 29 percent of it stayed local.

Beverly Ledbetter, who ran as a Democrat for Florida House District 38, had the worst local campaign spending, with less than 10 percent remaining in Pasco County. However, when it came to total dollars, new Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore sent the most money outside the county — nearly $109,000, or 66 percent of his expenditures.

“Our campaign bought local services when available, such as some printing supplies and materials,” Ledbetter told The Laker/Lutz News in an email. “I used a local Dade City printer for some work, and a local company for the T-shirts. Unfortunately, East Pasco — including Wesley Chapel — does not have any commercial mailing operation that I was aware of, and that comprises the bulk of my out-of-district purchases.”

Since the end of the primary, Ledbetter spent just $1,800 of the more than $28,000 she received locally, according to an analysis of campaign finance records by The Laker/Lutz News. She paid nearly $15,600 to Sonic Print in Tampa in the last reporting period alone, for what were described as mailers. Another $440 went to a company called Parkway Strategies in Tallahassee for what the campaign said was “strategic communications.”

Although his local spending was much better than Ledbetter’s, Danny Burgess — who eventually would win the House seat — was still behind all four county commission candidates tracked. He spent more than $35,000 locally, but sent $96,000 away.

Not having services available locally shows the need for such services to be developed, Ledbetter said. But there are still many services available locally which candidates looked outside of Pasco for, especially printing. And companies like Point to Point Printing in Land O’ Lakes feel it when money isn’t spent here.

“There are plenty of people here,” said Point to Point’s owner Denny Esber. He saw about $10,000 worth of work this election cycle from candidates like Moore and former county commissioner Henry Wilson Jr. But there was still more he and other business owners missed out on.

“With jobs like this, the money comes back and then I can re-spend that money in this community,” Esber said. “It just keeps going and going and going and going.”

A lot of money leaves the county for advertising and consulting. In the last two weeks of his campaign, Burgess spent $61,500. However, just $4,000 of that — less than 7 percent — stayed local. Instead, nearly $57,000 was paid to a pair of Jensen Beach companies for advertising.

In all, Burgess spent $81,500 with that company, or 63 percent of his total expenditures. That’s enough alone to create four full-time jobs at $10 an hour.

Ledbetter on the other hand spent $22,209 with Sonic Print, or 69 percent of her total expenditures, sending all that money to Tampa’s Carrollwood area.

But the commission races weren’t much different. Moore only kept 34 percent of his spending local, but his opponent — Erika Remsberg — didn’t do much better at 39 percent. Since the end of February, both candidates sent $115,000 out of the county, some $30,000 more than what they wanted taxpayers to pay them each year in salary as a commissioner.

“First, I was disappointed my local spending amount was so low,” Remsberg said in an email. “Must be because the Tarpon union printer I used was just over the border. Secondly, I think reporting the amounts donated is more important than the percentages. Given the vast difference in amounts donated to our contributions, I think percentages do not paint the picture as well as the dollar amount does.”

Twice in October, Moore spent more than $20,000, but less than 6 percent remained local. Instead, he spent $37,323 with Majority Strategies in Ponte Vedra for advertising, and nearly $3,000 with Allegra Marketing in Tampa for printing.

Even food preparation was not something Moore could find locally, spending $2,224 for food at a fundraiser supplied by Catering by the Family in Tampa.

Moore did not respond to a request for comment.

Published November 12, 2014

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Home sales volume dips, but median prices are up

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Home sales in Pasco County were down quite a bit in October, but median sales are on the rise.

An unofficial analysis of home sales by The Laker/Lutz News through the Pasco County Property Appraiser’s office showed 771 residential properties changing hands through the traditional warranty deed method last month, totaling $100.1 million. That was down from 1,016 properties sold the year before for $121.1 million.

Yet, both the median price and the average square foot price were on the rise for homes in Pasco. The median grew from $90,000 last year to $105,000 this year, while home prices themselves rose from $71 per square foot, to $81.

Distressed sales, typically created by foreclosures, also rose from the previous year by 43 percent, with $16.7 million changing hands through the certificate of title process, compared to $8.9 million in 2013. However, the median price of those sales also rose from $32,100 to $43,050. Square foot prices also expanded from $35 to $44.

Pasco sold 79 mobile homes in October at a median price of $36,550, or $39 per square foot. At the same time, 28 condominiums were sold at a median price of $44,000, or $52 per square foot. Both are down from October 2013 numbers where 101 mobile homes and 64 condominiums sold. The mobile homes had a median price then of $44,750, or $39 per square foot, while the median price for the condos were $45,000, or $54 per square foot.

The most expensive single-family home sold in October was for $710,000 at 5952 Thomas Circle in Land O’ Lakes.

Tuffy, Arby’s properties sell locally

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The end of the year is approaching, meaning it’s time for some commercial landowners to rethink their holdings. So recent sales of property currently occupied by companies like Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Center of Land O’ Lakes and Arby’s in Lutz probably won’t be the last Pasco County sees before Christmas.

3A LLC, the owner of the Tuffy property at 3530 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., sold the half-acre parcel Oct. 28 for $1.7 million to BL Ground Leasing LLC, a company based in Chicago. That’s far more than what 3A originally purchased that lot for in 2006 when it picked up vacant land for $375,000.

3A built the service shop there in 2009.

The “BL” in BL Ground Leasing likely stands for Bernard Leviton, who is listed as the president of the company, according to Florida state corporation records. He shares an address with Metropolitan Rental Corp., out of Chicago, which — according to its website — is a boutique real estate firm that owns apartment buildings around Chicago. The company adds that “all aspects of our business are done under one roof, and open seven days a week.”

The company’s website does not list any property holdings outside of Illinois.

The Tuffy property had originally been owned by David Mayer of Kentucky, who purchased it for $97,000 in 1990, according to property records.

The second land sale toward the end of October involved the Arby’s location at 22820 State Road 54 in Lutz. Olympus BK LLC sold that land for $1.7 million to JLD Realty Inc. and Longwood Realty Corp. of Kissimmee.

Details about this new owner are not clear. Neither JLD Realty nor Longwood Realty is registered with Florida’s corporation division. They are both described as New York companies, with an address at 4730 Oren Brown Road in Kissimmee. That property, according to Osceola County property records, is owned by Diamond Investments Inc., which lists its president as Darryl Diamond of Inglis.

An online social media profile of a Darryl Diamond in the Kissimmee area says he has been a real estate auctioneer for Diamond Investments since 1980, and also spent 25 years as president of Sparkle Motors beginning in 1960. There is a Sparkle Motors location on U.S. 1 in Port Orange.

Olympus BK bought the property in 2003 for $827,500 from The Estate of Tropical King LP of Tampa, which itself purchased the vacant 1-acre parcel in 1995 for $350,000, and built the Arby’s location there a short time later.

It’s not clear if either land purchase will affect the businesses there, but it’s not expected.

Developers revive Epperson Ranch with Crystal Lagoon

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The interchange connecting Overpass Road to Interstate 75 couldn’t come soon enough.

With the housing market seemingly healed — at least as far as Pasco County is concerned — developers want to bring thousands of homes to an area known as Epperson Ranch, complete with a retail center, and America’s introduction to something known as Crystal Lagoon.

The new Epperson Town Center Project near Overpass and Curley roads, is expected to have the first Crystal Lagoon in North America, a massive water project that creates aquatic activities in areas where water at this quality might not be available. (Courtesy of Crystal Lagoon Corp.)
The new Epperson Town Center Project near Overpass and Curley roads, is expected to have the first Crystal Lagoon in North America, a massive water project that creates aquatic activities in areas where water at this quality might not be available. (Courtesy of Crystal Lagoon Corp.)

“It would be the first of its kind in North America,” said Pat Gassaway, president of Heidt Design, one of the representatives behind the developer of the proposed Epperson Ranch Town Center. He shared details of the recreation area with members of the Pasco County Development Review Committee last month, and is scheduled for the Pasco County Commission Nov. 5.

“They have chosen to implement it here in Pasco County, and let me pause to let that sink in,” Gassaway said. “It actually looks better in person than in the photographs, and that rarely happens.”

Crystal Lagoons Corp. is a Chile-based land development company that can turn dry land into what they call the world’s largest swimming pools. They can cover acres of land, typically at a depth of at least 8 feet, and allow for both swimming and water sports, which might not already be available.

The company’s first Crystal Lagoon in San Alfonso del Mar covers 20 acres, and is more than a half-mile long. The cost to build one is said by the company on its website to be “10 times less” than that of a similar-sized golf course, and consumes half the water a typical conventional park would use.

The town center was part of a much larger development of regional impact in the area where Overpass and Curley roads meet. Once the housing market crashed, however, the project went dormant. Now new developers have stepped in, looking to break some of the elements apart, but still stay close to some of the original development plans of bringing thousands of people into that part of Pasco County.

The town center alone would be on nearly 103 acres and include 256 townhouses, 200 apartments, 209,000 square feet of commercial space, 50,000 square feet of office, and 100 hotel rooms.

Two other pieces of the Epperson Ranch project also were in front of the committee on Wednesday. They include what is known as Epco Ranch North, where 1,795 homes on 1,051 acres are planned.

A third piece, known as Epperson Ranch South, would have 1,516 homes on nearly 590 acres of land.

Both residential plans are smaller than originally proposed. The northern part was supposed to have 1,811 homes, while the southern portion initially had at least 120 more homes than the current plan.

“Standard Pacific Homes is proposing to build a very upscale community here,” attorney Clarke Hobby told county officials of the northern plan. “The price point we’re dealing with here is substantially higher than we would otherwise see in this marketplace.”

However, Standard Pacific has met some resistance from neighboring property owners who aren’t too keen on what the developer wants to do with King Lake just off Curley Road.

“We are concerned about the density,” said Arnold Becken, who owns 12 acres of land off Kenton Road, which borders the lake. “No matter how many docks you have in there, if you have 1,700 residents living there, you’re going to have a mammoth amount of watercraft on that lake.”

Hobby, however, told Pasco County administrator Michele Baker last month he had not yet had a chance to meet with residents there to hear their concerns, but planned to do that before commissioners were asked to approve it.

“When they stand up in front of the board” for the November meeting, “I want them to say that Mr. Hobby is a nice guy,” Baker told the attorney.

There is no timeline on when construction would begin on any of the project, but the major parts may wait until the interchange at Overpass Road is completed. The county has eight years to finish the $55 million project, which will primarily be funded by federal dollars.

The county commission is taking up Epperson Ranch at a rarely scheduled Wednesday meeting, Nov. 5, beginning at 10 a.m., at the Historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City. The Epperson Ranch projects are scheduled as part of a group of other public hearings beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Published November 5, 2014

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Mulieri watched county go from carbon paper to the Internet age

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Nearly 10 years after she retired from what was then Pasco-Hernando Community College, Pat Mulieri will hang it up once again Wednesday — this time as a Pasco County commissioner.

So what will the 76-year-old do now?

“Maybe I’ll become a belly dancer,” she said.

Pat Mulieri spends some time with Rocket, one of the dogs rescued by Pasco County Animal Services. Mulieri, whose last day as a county commissioner is Nov. 5, spent 20 years as a public servant, all thanks to a proposed medical waste facility. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Pat Mulieri spends some time with Rocket, one of the dogs rescued by Pasco County Animal Services. Mulieri, whose last day as a county commissioner is Nov. 5, spent 20 years as a public servant, all thanks to a proposed medical waste facility. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

Mulieri may be joking, but the 20-year commissioner has never been afraid to speak her mind, or go against the establishment in county government she more than once referred to as a “good ol’ boy club.” Whether it’s speaking out on increasing local gas taxes, or throwing her support behind a candidate from a different political party, Mulieri always has described herself as fearless, standing up for those who might not be able — or willing — to stand up for themselves.

“You can’t just sit there, and you can’t be afraid to speak out,” Mulieri said. “People will try to intimidate you, they’ll try to talk over you. But you have to keep an open mind, and never waver from what you believe in.”

Spending so many years in elected office would have many asking what kind of legacy a commissioner leaves when they retire. Mulieri, however, sees her legacy beginning well before she won her first election in 1994. In fact, it was her work in the late 1980s and early 1990s that pushed her into public office in the first place.

“I was teaching at PHCC when someone came up to me and told me that they are building an incinerator on my corner, and I started looking into it,” Mulieri said.

As she does now, Mulieri lived in Gower’s Corner, the mostly rural area north of Land O’ Lakes at State Road 52 and U.S. 41. She and husband Jimmy had called it home since moving from New York in 1979, and plans were to build a plant that would dispose of up to 500 pounds of medical waste each day.

Except plans didn’t stay that small for long. By 1990, the developer expanded it to 54 tons per day, and that put Mulieri and her neighbors into action.

The first thing she did? Call Sylvia Young, of course, the longtime county commissioner representing much of the eastern side of Pasco.

“It was the most terrible experience of my life,” Mulieri said. “’It won’t hurt you,’ she told me. ‘Why do you care? It’s not going to hurt you.’”

Except at 54 tons daily, that meant trucks would be going in and out constantly, bringing in waste from all over the state, and even beyond. It was the last thing Gower’s Corner needed, Mulieri said, and she vowed to fight it, with or without the help of her elected officials.

“I filed to be my own attorney at an administrative hearing” with state environmental officials, Mulieri said. “It started out as a Gower’s Corner issue, and then it became a Pasco issue. By the time I was done, it had become a state issue.”

She got a lot of help from John Long, then a Democratic state representative who would later become superintendent of Pasco County Schools. Long helped push a five-year moratorium on the incinerator through the House, but it was the state Senate that was proving difficult.

“There was a senator there who was the meanest senator in the world, and he did not want to get it passed,” Mulieri said. “But John was a powerful man, and he walked over and whispered something into the senator’s ear. I have no idea what he said, but the next thing you know, there was a moratorium on medical incinerators for the next five years.”

That was enough to kill the project, and Mulieri could’ve simply gone back to teaching and enjoying life in Florida. But in 1994, many of Mulieri’s neighbors become frustrated with the lack of communication between commissioners and residents, and many of them were trying to convince her to run.

“It was really hard,” she said. “We didn’t raise a lot of money. I put in $9,000, and maybe I raised $10,000.”

But Mulieri got a lot of attention, primarily because of what she called her “green gang.” Someone had designed a green shirt with Mulieri’s name on it, and volunteers would wear them everywhere, becoming human billboards.

Mulieri won that election, and every challenge thrown at her ever since. Each time, she kept her campaign small. Her last election in 2010, against Republican Ken Littlefield and independent Clay Colson, Mulieri raised $88,000. But that was a little more than half of what her then colleague, Michael Cox, raised for his race, and is far less than the $174,000 Mike Moore has raised to try and replace her.

“I always tried to keep these races in the community, and it’s always been a grassroots effort,” she said.

On Wednesday, Mulieri will walk in the door of the commission boardroom for the last time as one of the commissioners. She’ll have a chance now to spend even more time with the Pasco County animal shelter in Land O’ Lakes, and quality time at her Gower’s Corner home. And she hopes she leaves the commission just a little better than the way she found it 20 years ago.

“For everything, there is a season,” she said. “When I started, everyone there was using carbon paper, and I had to push just to get Internet there. Now, we depend on the Internet.

“I hope the county will keep changing for the better.”

Published November 5, 2014

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