The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Weatherford honored by statewide chamber of commerce

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The Florida Chamber of Commerce has named outgoing state Rep. Will Weatherford its 2014 Most Valuable Legislator.

Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, was honored along with 40 members of the state Legislature during a recent meeting in Miami.

The Florida Chamber presents the awards to lawmakers it says fought for pro-jobs initiatives to help make the state’s businesses more competitive while creating more economic opportunities for Florida’s families.

The Most Valuable Legislator award honors a single lawmaker for his or her outstanding legislative leadership and willingness to take a stand for free enterprise. The Distinguished Advocate award recognizes lawmakers who championed key business agenda legislation as determined by the Florida chamber.

“Early during the 2014 legislative process, the Florida chamber encouraged lawmakers to build on efforts to transition Florida to an innovation-based economy by putting the long-term health of Florida ahead of short-term politics,” said Mark Wilson, president and chief executive of the statewide organization, in a release.

During that session, lawmakers passed 17 Florida chamber-backed pro-business, pro-jobs bills, and defeated dozens of what the chamber said were anti-business bills.

Weatherford championed difficult, but necessary, issues like lawsuit abuse reform, pension reform and educational opportunities for students, the chamber said.

Local Distinguished Advocate award recipients included:

• Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, for championing digital learning, career and professional education academies, and school choice legislation as a means to improve the state’s school system.

• Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, for his work on state pension reform efforts, water policy initiatives and wage protection legislation.

• Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, for advocating Florida chamber healthcare priorities, including telemedicine and scope of practice reforms.

Ringworm, feline distemper found at Pasco animal shelter

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Those who adopted cats or kittens from the Pasco County Animal Shelter in the last month may need to keep an extra close eye on their pet after ringworm and feline distemper were found at the shelter.

Officials there say the problems were discovered that could affect adoptions that took place between May 21 and June 24, although no symptoms of the diseases have been found on the dog side of the shelter.

The ringworm started in a litter of abandoned kittens brought in by an animal control officer, but it wasn’t diagnosed until after the ringworm had spread within the cat adoption isolation area. The shelter has since isolated those areas, and is undergoing a deep cleaning and disinfection, officials said.

Ringworm is not actually caused by a worm, but instead a fungus that can infect the skin, hair or nails. It starts as a red, scaly patch or a bump, and may grow to look like a ring. It is contagious, and can be spread by direct contact from pets to humans, and from human to human.

Anyone who suspects they have ringworm should consult their doctor.

The shelter also received a kitten this week which tested positive for panleukopenia, or feline distemper. The virus infection is usually found in kittens or young cats, especially strays or even shelter kittens because they have not had a chance to be vaccinated.

Feline panleukopenia is so widespread that nearly all cats are exposed to it within their first year of life. It’s a leading cause of death in kittens simply because their immune systems are often too weak to protect them, and the cats themselves are too young to receive the vaccine that would protect them.

The virus causes vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, and sometimes sudden death in cats. However, it does not pose any threat to humans.

Those with any questions should contact the shelter at (813) 929-1212. The facility, located at 19640 Dogpatch Lane in Land O’ Lakes, is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 4:30 p.m., and Thursdays from noon to 6:30 p.m.

Voters can ride the bus for free to polls

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Pasco County Public Transportation will do its part to help get out the vote by offering free rides to the polls on election days for the upcoming cycle.

The deal was worked out between PCPT and county elections supervisor Brian Corley, and was approved by the Pasco County Commission earlier this week.

On both primary day Aug. 26 and the general election day Nov. 4, voters who present their voter information card will ride free to their local polling location. The goal is to encourage and promote participation in the election process, while also introducing public transportation as a viable option for travel throughout the county, said PCPT director Michael Carroll.

“I think providing an opportunity for citizens to exercise their right to vote is a worthy cause, and serves as an exemplary example of good government,” Corley said, in a release.

In return, Corley’s office will use available media advertising and respective websites to inform potential riders and voters how to access and navigate the transit system.

For more information about PCPT, click here.

 

Keeping it beautiful at Timber Lake Estates

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(Courtesy of Jo Ann Buley)
(Courtesy of Jo Ann Buley)

Rosealee Brassard of Moss Hill Street in Timber Lake Estates accepted the award for Timber Lake Estates Home of the Third Quarter 2014. Residents work hard to keep their yards in tip-top shape. Honorable mentions were awarded to homes on Timberland Boulevard, Tree Lake Street and Countryside Drive.

Going back home to a two-story house mystery

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A year ago last April, we came home from spending the winter in Florida. We were so upset that we left the Sunshine State, as we always seem to have a great time there.

We never have to stop and think, “What should I do next?” Believe me, we know.

So, now I am home and decided to take a walk around the block. Walking in our neighborhood in East Hartford, Connecticut, isn’t at all like walking in our development in Florida, as the sidewalks in Florida are not cracked and bumpy as much as they are in East Hartford.

I just have to get used to being in Connecticut once again. We have six months and a half months to go before heading back to Florida.

I had heard something about a fire happening a few weeks ago and, on the corner of Trinity Lane and Roxbury, and found the house that had the fire.

It was a ranch-style house that was demolished and a sign put on the door saying that it was condemned. Here are many houses in this community, and the bulk of them are ranch-style houses with five rooms. Several houses have garages built adjoining the house, and some of the homes have porches. It is a peaceful and quiet neighborhood, or it used to be.

Anyway, we expected another ranch-style house, but it is not what we got.

For the longest time — several months in fact — work on the new house wasn’t started. Maybe it was the weather, either too hot or too humid. No one knows, but eventually work started. As they say, if the weather isn’t good in New England, just wait and it will change. It finally did.

It was slow work, and during this time, my husband and I went on several mini trips. We took a trip to New York in the middle of May to attend a family function, and we also took a trip to see some friends in Maine in the early party of June. We had a glorious time in Maine visiting and seeing sights.

There were some day trips thrown in, plus a trip to Saybrook, Connecticut, where some of our relatives live close to the beach.

We were busy, but we also like to keep a progress report on the house that was being rebuilt and also being expanded. Whenever we could, we tended to look to see what was going on at the house.

We tried to keep ourselves busy anticipating Florida, but we were still amazed when October came. My goodness, now we are able to count weeks instead of months.

The summer went on and one day, lo and behold, the house looked completed, as it was a lovely ranch style. I didn’t think there would be more being built, but believe it or not, they started to build a second story.

At first, I looked at it and didn’t know what to think, but as the work progressed, it took the shape of a lovely two-story house. When work first started, since most of the houses were ranch style, I honestly thought that it would end up like the others but, no, it stands out.

It is in a class by itself.

I would like to add that when we came home this year from Florida, we went to see the house and it is so lovely.

Guess they knew what they were doing when they built it as a two-story house.

By Helene Rubenstein

Published June 25, 2014

Wesley Chapel Honda, Toyota dealerships expanding to used cars

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Wesley Chapel Honda and Wesley Chapel Toyota are going to get quite a bit bigger.

The owner of the dealerships along State Road 54, Williams Automotive Group, announced this week that it will add a pre-owned sales center to its existing facility. It will use a little more than 1 acre of land it purchased last May for $1.35 million, according to county property records. Williams Automotive will host a groundbreaking for the project on July 1 at 10:30 a.m., on the corner of State Road 54 and Old Pasco Road, where the new sales center will be built.

“Because of the growth that both Wesley Chapel Toyota and Wesley Chapel Honda have experienced in the Wesley Chapel community, the group is expanding to bring the first used car-buying center to the area,” the company said in a release. “They will provide a first-class buying experience, and a tremendous amount of quality pre-owned inventory to choose from.”

The latest expansion is part of an overall effort being made by the company this year, which also purchased the former Tampa Honda Land at 11000 N. Florida Ave., in Tampa, last March, shortening the name to simply Tampa Honda.

Williams Automotive was founded as Southeast Automotive Group in 2000, and once owned several dealerships in Georgia, selling Toyota, Kia, Mitsubishi and Hyundai, according to the company’s website.

Wesley Chapel Toyota is located at 5300 Eagleston Blvd., and Wesley Chapel Honda is at 27750 Wesley Chapel Blvd.

 

BreakSpot program modernizes search for summer meals

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Florida’s families now have new ways to find free healthy meals for their children this summer now that school is out.

The 2014 Summer BreakSpot program, led by Florida’s agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, offers meals, recreation and educational activities for children 18 and younger at 3,400 locations statewide during the summer.

This year, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is modernizing access by allowing families to locate nearby meal sites four different ways by:

• Dialing 211
• Texting “FoodFL” to 877-877
• Downloading the Nutrislice smartphone app
• Visiting SummerFoodFlorida.org

“We want kids across Florida to eat healthy, wholesome food throughout the school year and all summer long,” Putnam said, in a release. “This program helps ensure children have access to healthy meals during the summer, along with enrichment activities and time with their friends, so they are ready to learn in the fall when school is back in session.”

Last year, the program provided more than 12 million meals to about 300,000 children, continuing the increase in summer meals the state has seen since the agriculture department took over the school nutrition program in 2011.

Florida has ramped up participation in the program by nearly 12 percent between 2012 and 2013.

Summer BreakSpot is part of the national Summer Food Service Program, a federally funded program operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered in Florida by the agriculture department.

Eligible sponsors — including nonprofit organizations, schools, churches, camps and local governments — serve meals and snacks free to low income children under the age of 18 during the summer months.

Troopers want cars to move over on busy roads

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There are two words that can mean the difference between life and death on Florida’s busy highways: move over.

It’s a phrase the Florida Highway Patrol is sharing as much as it can, letting drivers know that when someone is stopped along a busy roadway, they need to move over, or slow down. If not, it could not only result in a ticket, but also injury or death of whoever might be stopped because of an accident.

“Our troopers are out there every day working traffic stops and crash scenes along busy highways with cars speeding past them, often just feet away,” said Col. David Brierton, director of Florida Highway Patrol, in a release. “And every day, they face the real possibility of never going home to their families because someone fails to obey the move over law.”

The law, according to FHP:

• Protects law enforcement officers, emergency workers and tow truck drivers stopped along roadways while doing their jobs.

• Requires motorists to move over when a patrol car, emergency vehicle or tow truck is stopped on the side of a road with lights flashing. If such movement cannot be safely accomplished, motorists must slow down to a speed 20 mph below the posted speed limit.

Enforcing the law is important to troopers, especially since FHP lost one of its own this past May when Trooper Chelsea Richard was struck and killed by a vehicle while investigating an accident. The tow truck driver, as well as another pedestrian, was also killed in the crash.

For more information on the move over law, visit tinyurl.com/MoveOverFlorida.

In Print: Vote opens for nation’s most inspiring coach

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Being an athletics coach of any kind can be stressful for anyone. There’s so much to do when it comes to developing strategies, recruiting and retaining players, setting up effective practices, and looking for that sometimes fleeting win.

Land O' Lakes High School cross-country coach Kris Keppel leads his team in warmups during a recent summer practice. Keppel is among 25 people in the nation being honored as inspirational coaches. (Photo by Michael Hinman)
Land O’ Lakes High School cross-country coach Kris Keppel leads his team in warmups during a recent summer practice. Keppel is among 25 people in the nation being honored as inspirational coaches. (Photo by Michael Hinman)

But it’s even tougher for Land O’ Lakes High School cross-country coach Kris Keppel, who is now starting his third decade in his job, however, doing it while battling pancreatic cancer.

His team, his coaches and his community believe in him, however, and are doing everything they can to make Keppel the top vote-getter in the 2014 Brooks Inspiring Coaches Award.

“He’s just one of the strongest men I’ve ever met,” Noah Thomas, 17, told reporter Michael Hinman. “All throughout this, he’s still been there for us, and he’s still pushing us hard, and we push back for him.”

Just for being a finalist, Keppel has won $5,000 in equipment and apparel for his team, but he’s aiming to get more for his runners when he heads to Seattle in August to learn who will win the grand prize.

Read more about the award and how he almost didn’t get nominated by picking up this week’s print edition of The Laker. Or you can read the story in our online e-edition for free, right now, by clicking here.

And if you haven’t already, consider voting for Keppel by clicking here.

Football players at Northwestern University made news last spring when they voted to unionize, demanding they deserve compensation for what they do through a system that makes billions of dollars annually based on the product they create.

But most people disagree athletes should be paid, according to a new national poll from Saint Leo University. That survey of 1,016 people had 66 percent agreeing with the statement that receiving a scholarship and a chance to earn a degree is fair compensation for playing in a college sport.

“It was definitely surprising,” Drew Gold, executive director of the Saint Leo Polling Institute, told reporter Michael Murillo. “I don’t think anybody expected it to be that overwhelmingly against paying the athletes.”

To read more about the survey, check out this week’s print edition of The Laker, or read the story in our free e-edition by clicking here.

We all remember what it was like to learn languages like Spanish and French while in school. But what about ancient Greek?

Photos courtesy of Hunter Rasmussen Hunter Rasmussen works on linguistics during a trip to Thailand as part of the Wycliffe Bible Translators USA’s Get Global program. (Courtesy of Hunter Rasmussen)
Hunter Rasmussen works on linguistics during a trip to Thailand as part of the Wycliffe Bible Translators USA’s Get Global program. (Courtesy of Hunter Rasmussen)

Hunter Rasmussen was just a sophomore at Berean Academy in Lutz when he first started learning biblical Greek. Now a 20-year-old student at Covenant College in Georgia, he’s made it his life work — work he has now taken to Thailand in a recent trip.

“I just loved it. I thought it was the most incredibly thing,” Rasmussen told reporter B.C. Manion. “That made me excited not just about biblical languages, but language in general. I just felt so convinced that this is what I am supposed to do.”

Rasmussen ended up in Thailand thanks to Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, which had visited his college looking for people just like him. It was a trip complete with many life lessons for Rasmussen.

“Part of the trip is leaning and realizing that language-learning and cultural-learning is not only foundational for Bible translations and foundational of ministry, but that language learning it itself a ministry,” he said.

Learn more about Rasmussen and the Thai village he visited in this week’s print edition of the Lutz News, or read our free online edition by clicking here.

All of these stories and more can be found in this week’s The Laker/Lutz News, available in newsstands throughout east and central Pasco County as well as northern Hillsborough County. Find out what has your community talking this week by getting your local news straight from the only source you need.

If The Laker/Lutz News is not coming to your door, call us to see where you can get your copy at (813) 909-2800, or read our free e-edition by clicking here.

Swimmers need to be wary of killer amoebas

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It might be difficult to pronounce, but it’s easy to die from it.

It’s Naegleria fowleri, a killer amoeba that can be found in lakes, rivers and ponds during warmer temperatures.

Although there is only 34 reported cases of infection from this amoeba in the state since 1962, the Florida Department of Health is cautioning those who swim in places where the amoeba can be found to avoid nasal contact with the waters.

Otherwise those exposed to the amoeba risk primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a disease which usually leads to death once infected.

Health officials recommend the following:

• Avoid water-related activities in bodies of warm freshwater, hot springs, and thermally polluted water such as those found around power plants.

• Avoid water-related activities warm freshwater during periods of high water temperature and low water levels.

• Hold the nose shut or use nose clips when taking part in water-related activities in bodies of warm freshwater, such as lakes, rivers or hot springs.

• Avoid digging in or stirring up the sediment while taking part in water-related activities in shallow, warm freshwater areas.

• Exposure to the amoeba can also occur when using neti pots to rinse sinuses or conducting religious rituals with tap water. Use only boiled and cooled, distilled or sterile water.

Symptoms of exposure include headache, fever, nausea, disorientation, vomiting, stiff neck, seizures, loss of balance and hallucinations. Anyone who experiences any of these symptoms after swimming in any warm body of water should seek immediate medical help.