The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Tax collector’s office raises awareness for child hearing loss

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The Pasco County Tax Collector’s office will feature the Sertoma Speech & Hearing Foundation in May, all part of the national recognition of Better Hearing & Speech Month.

The purpose of the month is to bring attention to hearing and speech issues, according to a release. Locally, the Pasco County-based Sertoma Speech & Hearing Foundation is the key to providing hearing and speech services to children throughout the county and state.

Sertoma reports that hearing loss is the No. 1 birth defect in America, with three out of every 1,000 children being born with some level of hearing loss. In Pasco alone, 13,000 students are screened for hearing loss by audiologists affiliated with Sertoma and All Children’s Hospital.

For those children who do need hearing aid technology, Sertoma assists in providing new devices as children grow, as well as batteries to keep the hearing aids functioning.

Those who wish to support Sertoma can check off the appropriate box on their license renewal or auto registration forms, which contribute $1 or more to the fund. Cash donations also will be accepted by the tax collector’s office. 

“The Children’s Hearing Help Fund assists hard-of-hearing babies and children to avoid a life of isolation, so they can hear the world around them, succeed personally, academically and socially,” said Craig McCart, Sertoma’s executive director, in a release.  

“Hearing loss can be devastating at any age, but in a newborn or small child, it can hinder their development and ability to succeed in life,” said Tax Collector Mike Fasano, in a release. “The services provided by the Sertoma Speech & Hearing Foundation’s Children’s Hearing Help Fund have made the lives of countless children better. Your donation of any amount will assist children in being able to live their lives to the fullest.”

Contributions can be made at all four tax collector offices, including the ones in Land O’ Lakes and Dade City. For more information, call Greg Giordano at (727) 847-8179, or visit PascoTaxes.com.

In Print: From ‘rock star’ to Boston Marathon finisher

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Trish Trout said she would crawl across the finish line at the Boston Marathon if she had to. But the good news is, she didn’t — the Wesley Chapel woman completed one of the world’s most famous running events in a time of 6 hours, 14 minutes.

Trish Trout enjoyed high-fiving little kids as she completed her dream of running the Boston Marathon. (Photo courtesy of Trish Trout)
Trish Trout enjoyed high-fiving little kids as she completed her dream of running the Boston Marathon. (Photo courtesy of Trish Trout)

And for that one day, Trout had a chance to be the center of the universe.

“I was in the center of the Boston Marathon,” Trout told reporter B.C. Manion. “You’re a rock star for a day. It’s like everybody’s your best friend.”

Trout competed in the race despite a hip injury, and received some special motivation from a Land O’ Lakes trainer — despite the fact that Jacqueline Pastika wasn’t even there.

How did she do it? Check out this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News.

Boxing returns to Wesley Chapel on May 3, but while these competitors might not have the name recognition of a Joe Frazier or a George Foreman, they could someday.

The American Olympic League at 5807 Ellerbee Road, will host up to 20 bouts next week, and one of them will feature Wesley Chapel High School freshman Benjamin Vazquez.

“I’m read for it. I feel confident,” Vazquez recently told reporter Michael Murillo. “The conditioning is intense. There’s a lot of stamina, running. It’s not easy.”

Finally, it’s been more than a decade since Pasco County decided that business signs should be on the ground and not high in the air. But county commissioner Kathryn Starkey — who helped bring those signs down long before she sought elected office — says it’s about time the rest of the “grandfathered” signs come down as well. And Pasco County commissioners could start exploring such ideas as early as this fall.

“One of the biggest complaints I get is the old signs that are still up, so we got to figure out a way to help those businesses bring those signs to our new look,” Starkey told reporter Michael Hinman. “It’s difficult. It’s a financial investment, but I think we should incentivize them to bring them up to the current code.”

All of these complete 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.

PetSmart to host special pet adoption this weekend

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Cat Crusaders wants people to bring a feline into their home, and are offering a chance to do just that this weekend in New Tampa.

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Courtesy of Cat Crusaders

PetSmart, located at 6248 Commerce Palms Blvd., will have a number of pets available for adoption May 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. as part of PetSmart Charities National Adoption Weekend.

Cat Crusaders will be joined by several other animal rescue groups, including Florida Cocker Spaniel Rescue, PetPals, Florida All Retriever Rescue, and Guardian Angel Dog Rescue. It will feature kittens, cats, puppies and dogs for adoption.

Cat Crusaders will feature special kitten and cat adoption fees for Saturday — $35 for an adult cat, $60 for a kitten, and $80 for two kittens. All cats and kittens are current on their vaccines, and have been spayed or neutered, and microchipped.
PetSmart stores typically offer adoption serves every weekend, but the additional adoption events — held four times each year — allow for specials on adoption, as well as a wider variety of pets. More than 17,000 pets find homes during a PetSmart adoption weekend, and are held in every PetSmart store in the United States and Canada.
For more information on the event, click here.

Graduation rates in Pasco, Hillsborough, near state average

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Pasco County Schools is making progress toward raising graduation rates in its system, but a new report from the GradNation campaign shows that there is still some ways to go.

Pasco is graduating 77 percent of its high school students while the Hillsborough County School District is graduating 73 percent — both nearly in-line with the state average of 75 percent. Yet, there is some silver lining for Pasco, which has a graduation rate near that of Osceola, Lake, Collier and Sarasota counties, and not too far behind leading counties like Brevard and Seminole among the most populated school districts.

Graduation rates in Florida as a whole have been steadily rising over the past decade, from 57 percent in 2003 to 75 percent in 2012. Yet, those rates are still among the lowest in the nation, beating only Alaska, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon.

GradNation arrived at the numbers using what it called the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate, which tracks a group of students who enter high school together and graduate “on-time” with a regular diploma. The rate accounts and adjusts for students who transfer in or out of the school, or who pass away.

Retired Gen. Colin Powell, who serves as founding chair for America’s Promise Alliance — one of the participating groups in the study — said in a letter with wife Alma Powell that nationwide, school graduation rates are climbing. However, to reach the 90 percent level, there is still more work to be done.

“Despite our gains, far too many young people still do not earn a high school diploma, and the number of non-graduates remains alarmingly high among young people of color, and those from low-income communities,” the Powells wrote in the letter. “In other words, a young person’s chances for success still depend too much on his or her ZIP code and skin color, and too little on his or her abilities and effort.”

The report was commissioned by Civic Enterprises, Everyone Graduates Center at the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University, and America’s Promise Alliance for Excellence Education. Efforts were put together after graduation rates had plateaued over a three-decade period. In the last 10 years, however, national graduation rates have climbed more than 10 percent, with a goal to move another 10 percent ahead by the Class of 2020.

Forest Service offering Wood-to-Energy grants

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The U.S. Forest Service is seeking proposals that expand wood energy use and support responsible forest management.

Part of the federal agency’s Hazardous Fuels Wood-to-Energy Grant program, the Forest Service will provide about $2.8 million to help complete the engineering design work needed to apply or public or private loans for construction and long-term financing of wood energy facilities.

On top of that, the agency announced $1.7 million in funding availability under the Statewide Wood Energy Team cooperative agreement inviting public-private teams to seek funding to advance wood energy. Activities here can include workshops that provide technical, financial and environmental information, preliminary engineering assessments, and community outreach needed to support development of wood energy projects, according to a release.

Since 2005, more than 150 Wood-to-Energy grants have been awarded to small businesses, non-profits, tribes and state and local agencies. All of them are designed to improve forest health while creating jobs, green energy and healthy communities, according to the Forest Service.

The year, the Wood-to-Energy grant program encourages geographic- or sector-based clusters, such as hospitals, prisons or school campuses to participate.

For information, visit NA.FS.fed.us/werc. Applications also can be submitted through Grants.gov.

The Forest Service is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and manages 193 million acres of public land, as well as provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.

Public lands managed by the Forest Service contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone, according to a release. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion annually.

Tax collectors could issue concealed weapons permit under new bill

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Tax collectors could soon accept applications for concealed weapons or firearms.

State Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, and State Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, have passed legislation that would allow county tax collectors the ability to be appointed to accept such applications.

“Allowing tax collectors to assist applicants in their home counties is not only a convenience for citizens, it makes sense all around,” said Marion Hammer, executive director of Unified Sportsmen of Florida and a past NRA president, in a release.

H.B. 523 passed unanimously in the Senate, a bipartisan support for the bill that Simpson said “shows there is some common sense alive and well in Tallahassee.” However, it passed 94-22 in the House, mostly along party lines.

Right now, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has eight regional locations that accept the applications. The new bill, which now heads to Gov. Rick Scott, will allow Adam Putnam’s division to appoint county tax collectors to receive applications at the start of the permitting process, charging an additional convenience fee.

Those fees, according to staff analysis of the bill, is $22 in addition to the standard $70 initial application fee, or $12 in addition to the $60 renewal fee. However, tax collector offices will not be able to maintain any list of people who apply for or receive new or renewal licenses for concealed weapons.

The bill also earmarks more than $800,000 to implement the program from the Division of Licensing Trust Fund. This would allow 10 new offices to be established each year for the next three years, including more than $460,000 in additional salaries for those who would administer the program, and another $100,000 for equipment that doesn’t include electronic fingerprinting scanners.

Those scanners would run more than $17,000 each, and if purchased for every county, would cost $1.1 million.

AAA supports a tougher child passenger safety law

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Florida lawmakers are considering a bill that would require children to be properly restrained while riding in a car through the age of 5, and it’s getting an endorsement from AAA.

“Safety belts are designed for adults, and do not fit properly on young children,” said Kevin Bakewell, senior vice president of public affairs for AAA, in a release. “AAA is pleased that state legislators are taking action to protect children by requiring they be properly restrained in an appropriate safety seat.”

Florida has the weakest child passenger safety law in the county, AAA said. Right now, children up to 3 years old must be secured in a car seat. Children older than that are treated like full-grown adults, where they can sit in the regular seat, protected simply by a seat belt.

However, death and injury can be avoided by using age- and size-appropriate car seats, the organization said.

“While this legislation does not cover all children who need to be restrained, it is a step in the right direction,” Bakewell said. “It is difficult to comprehend why the bill has not passed in previous years. On matters of public safety, Florida’s parents look to public policy for solid guidance. That’s why improving this law is so important.”

AAA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommend that children who have outgrown their five-point harness car seat by weight or height use a booster seat until they reach the height of 4-foot-9, typically between the ages of 8 and 12. A booster seat literally “boosts” a child up, and allows for proper placement of the lap and shoulder belt, AAA said.

Without that seat, safety belts improperly cross over a child’s soft stomach and neck, which can lead to serious debilitating injuries in the event of a crash.

The House has already passed the bill, and it’s set to be taken up in the Senate on Monday, according to AAA. Right now, 48 states require children to be restrained in a booster seat once they have outgrown their car seat.

AAA offers safe trips home for impaired prom teens

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It’s a shocking yet humbling statistic, but 41 percent of teenagers say they plan to drink or take drugs sometime during the prom or graduation season.

A recent AAA survey of high school students between the ages of 16 and 19 in four states, including Florida, also revealed a more startling fact: Some 84 percent of teens say that if they are under the influence, they would rather get behind the wheel than call their parents for help.  The main reason? Because they fear getting in trouble with their parents for drinking underage.

More than 80 percent also fear being in a crash that injures or kills themselves or someone else, while another 69 percent are afraid of going to jail.

“More than 30 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States results from alcohol-impaired driving crashes,” said Michele Harris, director of AAA Traffic Safety Culture of The Auto Club Group, in a release. “We need real solutions to end these needless tragedies.”

The survey was conducted in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Wisconsin as part of AAA’s promotion of its AAA Promise program. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

That program encourages parents to speak with their teen before prom and graduation season, and to find a way to get home safely. If there is a chance of a teen drinking and driving, or getting into the car with someone else driving, parents are able to pick up their teen, and AAA will tow the family car home free of charge.

“We want the student to promise their parents they will make adult decisions on prom night, the parent to promise their teen they will pick them up should they not have a safe way home, and AAA promises to give a free tow home of the family vehicle, whether or not they are a AAA member,” Harris said.

High school students can sign up for AAA Promise by texting the word “promise” to 46787, or by visiting AAA.com/PROMise.

Pasco High School hosts its prom April 26. Land O’ Lakes, Steinbrenner, Wharton and Wesley Chapel high schools will have their proms May 10. Sunlake, Freedom and Wiregrass Rand high schools will follow with their proms May 17.

Zephyrhills High School hosted its prom in early April.

Home prices on the rise in Pasco, Hillsborough

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Sales of existing houses and condominiums might be on the decline in the Tampa Bay area, but that’s not stopping prices from going up.

The median sales price of an existing single-family home was $150,000 in March, according to a new report from Florida Realtors. That’s up more than 4 percent from a year ago, while condo prices rose 14 percent to $105,000.

Yet, sales were down in both categories, with 3,220 homes sold in March (a drop of more than 2 percent), and 1,186 condos changing hands, slightly lower than a year ago.

Statewide, however, single-family home prices rose more than 7 percent to $173,000, while condos jumped nearly 17 percent to $140,000.

The Tampa Bay metropolitan area includes Pasco and Hillsborough counties in these reports.

March was the 28th consecutive month that median sales prices rose year-over-year for both single-family and condo homes, said Florida Realtors president Sherri Meadows, in a release. Realtors from around the state are seeing a return of a more traditional market, with fewer short sales borne of the most recent market crash reported.

Cash sales are also on a decline, meaning that home buyers are finding more mortgages available. Freddie Mac reports that the interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.34 percent in March, according to Florida Realtors. That is up from the 3.57 percent average recorded in March 2013.

In Print: It took long enough, but Lowe’s is coming

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The intersection of State Road 54 and Land O’ Lakes Boulevard already is a busy one. But it’s going to get even more crowded.

Work started last week on the new Lowe’s home improvement store between Winter Quarters RV Park and the Pasco County fire station, bringing more than 100,000 square feet of shopping space and some 125 jobs. And just across the street, Marshalls is getting set to open its doors at Village Lakes Shopping Center, helping a strip mall thrive just a few years after losing Walmart as an anchor.

Having Lowe’s finally start work is going to be a boon to the local economy, said Dennis Esber, president of the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce, and owner of Point to Point Printing.

“We’re excited as all get-up,” Esber told reporter Michael Hinman. “What’s happening is that people are starting to recognize that the Lutz and Land O’ Lakes area is a great area to be in.”

Getting Lowe’s to Land O’ Lakes was not an easy process. Find out why in this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News.

Bringing people and businesses to the area requires a lot of hard work from people who care about the community. And that includes Phyllis Hoedt.

Phyllis Hoedt uses her time and energy to help keep traditions alive in Lutz that cherishes its small-town feel. (Photo by B.C. Manion)
Phyllis Hoedt uses her time and energy to help keep traditions alive in Lutz that cherishes its small-town feel. (Photo by B.C. Manion)

It’s amazing how much time Hoedt spends with various projects in Lutz, helping with everything from the annual Christmas House to the annual Lutz Arts & Crafts Festival. But if you didn’t know Hoedt was so involved, then it’s probably exactly the way she wanted it.

“She has no expectation other than hoping that the people who come out enjoy themselves,” Lutz Guv’na Suzin Carr told reporter B.C. Manion.

“She doesn’t want any recognitions,” added longtime friend Shirley Simmons. “She doesn’t want any buttons.”

Despite those protestations, she is featured in this week’s Lutz News, so check it out.

And finally, speaking of Lutz, you’ve driven by it hundreds of times, and you may even know a lot about the Old Lutz School. But did you know that it almost became history in the 1970s after a new school was built right behind it?

Reporter Michael Murillo explores the history of the Old Lutz School in his latest installment of “Presenting the Past.”

“So why go to the trouble of saving an old school, anyway?” Murillo asks. “Schools pop up all the time. What’s one more or less?

“Well, it has to do with the school, but also the people who live here. Lutz is proud of its heritage. Its history means something, and it’s important to protect it. So with some effort and community support, that’s what they did.”

All of these complete 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.