The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Pasco agencies work together for Motor Voter

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Elections are just around the corner, and Pasco County is working to bring as many voters to the polls as possible.

For what both are calling the first time in county history, the supervisor of elections and the tax collector’s office are working together to implement the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 — better known as the Motor Voter law — with joint training on how to get people registered to vote.

The federal law requires offices that provide driver’s license services to also offer opportunities for voter registration. Once a potential voter completes the paperwork at the tax collector’s office, the information is then routed through Florida’s Department of State, and finally to the supervisor of elections office in the appropriate county.

The tax collector’s and elections supervisor’s offices held a series of joint classes, updating on what’s required of each, and how they can streamline the process. Customer service representatives also were trained on the proper way of handling voter registration requests.

As of March 6, a little more than 295,000 people were registered to vote in Pasco County, according to the elections office. Just under 114,000 of them are Republican, 100,400 are Democrats, and 80,900 are independent or have other party affiliations.

The deadline to register to vote for upcoming municipal elections is March 10. The deadline for the August primaries is July 28, and for the general November election, Oct. 6.

To register, visit PascoVotes.com.

Keeping the neighborhood safe at Casa Del Sol

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On Feb. 14, our men’s breakfast group, headed by Paul Delue, served 108 residents and guests. Scrambled eggs, sausage links, blueberry pancakes, and waffles were served. Each lady in attendance received a flower for Valentine’s Day.

Our lady quilters from our community, and a few who have moved and still help with making the quilts, delivered another batch making the total of quilts the ladies have made to 3,333. Lin Coats has guided the ladies in the quilt project for more than six years.

The ladies meet every Monday at 9:30 a.m., at the clubhouse to work on putting the quilts together. This work includes pinning, cutting, putting batting in quilts, and tying the quilts. Lin invites any of the ladies in our community to come and help. Some of the ladies bring their own machines.

The quilters always welcome helpers, as well as donations of thread, material and monies to help buy the supplies for the quilt making. During the six years, the quilters have delivered quilts to more than 17 organizations.

Cindy Keppel is one of the quilters, and in addition to helping on the quilts, makes caps for infants and usually makes seven dozen to take when they deliver the quilts.

During Wednesday morning coffee, hosted each week, Chick Anderson — a volunteer for the dark house program — came in to tell us about the program. The Casa del Sol community had a number of residents who leave for the summer sign up for the program and were quite pleased with it. Forms were available for those who wanted to participate.

We will have someone come in next time to talk to our community about scams and things we can do to keep our homes safe. On March 12, we will have someone in to talk about the Neighborhood Watch program.

Our lasagna dinner is March 5. Hopefully you signed up so we know how many will attend! The cost is $7.

By Barbara Bujaki

Published March 5, 2014

A good time to visit Gem Estates

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February had a lot of activities for the residents of Gem Estates. The coffee and doughnut social hour played to a packed house. The weather had been cooler, but yet, no one was complaining because it was still a lot better than what they have up north.

We had a Valentine treat by the Red Hat ladies, and the table decorations and candy treats were a lovely addition to our coffee hour.

Carolyn Mayer has been crowned and pinned as the new queen mother, and the program for her reign is set with terrific ideas and activities for the coming year. Her crowning by Loretta Green, outgoing queen mother, was in the form of a tea party. An invitation luncheon was scheduled for March 3 with each present member and an invited lady as their guest, who would hopefully become a Red Hat member.

Our coffee hours are bedazzled with lots of information and activity. Usually our president, Al Bennett, starts our social meeting with a comical story and gets everyone in a jovial mood. But once the coffee is gone and the doughnuts are eaten, we get into the real reason for the gathering: to inform everyone of the park activities going on.

Prayers were said for Norma Monsulik, Bessie Palmer, Randall Smith, Jerry Wyfels, Dan Farnsworth and Joyce Plummer. Hope everyone gets well soon.  We’ve had our usual colds and coughs going around the park, but everyone seems to be doing better.

We had a lot of birthdays in February, including Norma Bowden, John Trundy, Ellie Brookins, Cheryl Raab, Marlin Thomas, Donna Eastman, Roger Michaud, Amy Temple, Jeannette Brown, Jeanne Schutte, Gerri Shields, Ginnie Zepp, Joyce Plummer, Joyce Knestaut, and of course, our Valentine celebrant, Earl Benedict, with a birthday on Valentine’s Day. Happy birthday to all.

Rusty and Betty Siler celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.

New residents, Rick and Marilyn Foster, were introduced, and Bev Orr was acknowledged as a recent returnee to the park.

George and Mary Kay Lynch had their daughter, Deb, visiting. Deb is a runner in training for a marathon race, and we would see her up and running through the park usually early in the morning hours. The Lynches also had another guest, former resident Joan Miletello visiting.

Floyd and Bev Becker had their daughter and son-in-law, Diane and Steve Reglin, visiting from Charlotte, Mich., and we heard they went back home to lots of snowy roads. The Reglins are both truck drivers for a food chain and used to all kinds of weather.

The Burgess family had Dea-Ann’s brother, Jeff, and wife Karen Kerr, visiting from Natick, Mass.

Ann Liddy’s daughter, Brenda Piche, was visiting from Watertown, N.Y.

A group of musicians got together for a jam session. Ed Goodreault announced the invitation for anyone playing and singing to come join the group.

Ellie Brookins has formed a step dance exercise group and entertained all Feb. 28. Come join these groups.

Dick Thompson will start helping those who have computer technique problems, and that is a much-needed thing here in the park.

We had a cleanup project going on, where 19 men worked on pressure washing the clubhouse and fences, while the ladies worked inside the clubhouse, cleaning windows, sanitizing tables and kitchen counters. Thank you all for doing this much needed job.

Sandy Mann, our park treasurer, also is working on the new telephone directory and wants everyone to update their information, so she can make the new directories as accurate as possible.

Several people from the park will be going to preview some of the Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans with Road Ready Tours. They also will visit the World War II museum as well as the World of Mardi Gras, where they build the big Mardi Gras floats.

We are looking forward to the Western night in March at River Ranch with its hayride, barbecue supper and authentic rodeo. Hope everyone stays warm and do feel sorry for those up north in the cold snowy weather.

By Lee Heffelfinger

Published March 5, 2014

Valentine’s Day with Bobby Palermo at Grand Horizons

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Valentine’s Day arrived and with it a show presented in our community center.

It was one heck of a show, too, that approximately 125 people got to see.

Bobby Palermo brought the house down with his tribute to Neil Diamond at the Valentine’s Day event. (Courtesy of Marty Rubenstein)
Bobby Palermo brought the house down with his tribute to Neil Diamond at the Valentine’s Day event. (Courtesy of Marty Rubenstein)

The evening started off with each woman receiving a ticket for a door prize. There also was a table that sold raffle tickets for a quilt made by the women of the quilters club. It was a beautiful, double-sided quilt and each square, 12 blocks in all, was made by a different member.

Those who worked on this project were Betty Ball, Bea Fronius, Carolyn Ray, Naomi Sisk, Joyce Billig, Margaret Castonguay, Denise Hauser, Pat Caswell and Pattie Molnar. The quilt was simply beautiful, and it would go to one lucky winner. But what we were here for was the Bobby Palermo show.

The show lasted well over two hours, with songs from Neil Diamond. Palermo did a great job of impersonating him, with all the facial expressions to boot. He wore a black sparkly jacket along with black slacks, and performed like he owned the crowd.

He performed such hits as “Lean on Me,” “Cherry Cherry,” “Holly Holy,” “Forever in Blue Jeans,” “Hello Again,” “Sweet Caroline” and so much more. He had the audience swaying, clapping their hands and singing from their seats. He then told a few jokes that had us in stitches, and then performed another song “Yesterday’s Gone.” He did a fine job on it.

During many of the songs, Palermo walked up and down the aisles shaking hands and sitting on laps. He then outdid himself when he performed the song “Desiree.” He did a fantastic job and there was even more audience participation during this song. Bobby sure knew how to get the best out of his audience.

Three lucky winners received a box of candy shaped like a heart. A winner for the quilt also was drawn, and Maureen Benson was the new proud owner of the quilt. She is the sister-in-law of Bob and Rita Benson, whom she and her husband were visiting.

In addition to these drawings, there were two more lucky winners who were presented roses and balloons. They were Chris Fulton and Barbara Ford. Congratulations to all the lucky winners.

After a short break, the show continued with songs like “I’m Just a Gigolo,” “I’ve Got Nobody,” and a song by Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson called “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” He even had two people come on stage, Nancy Martin and Helen Hardardt, as background dancers, shaking tambourines.

A cute and funny part of the show was when Bobby Palermo was to perform the hit tune “Delilah,” a song performed by Tom Jones, when all of a sudden these huge red panties were thrown on the stage. This was such a riot, and Bobby eventually wore these large panties wrapped around him.

The song “That’s Amore,” plus other lively hits, was performed while the audience joined in on the singing. During one particular song, Marie Paolantonio danced and somehow made the show a little more attention-grabbing.

Bobby incorporated something new into the show which proved to be thrilling. He sang, while the audience clapped and sang along, songs like “Side by Side,” “When You’re Smiling, the Whole World Smiles With You,” and several more tunes. Did you ever see “YMCA” performed before? It was performed two ways, the regular way and an Italian version. This brought the house down.

Of course, no Neil Diamond tribute is complete without “Coming to America.” Bobby ended the production with “God Bless the U.S.A.,” originally performed by Lee Greenwood. This marked the end of the show, and people left the building talking about it, and will be for quite some time.

Our sincere thanks go to Terry Gardner for arranging this and other entertainment. Thanks, Terry.

In addition to all the activities at Grand Horizons like dominoes, shuffleboard, pay me, pinochle, euchre, art and more, we have the quilters who meet every Friday. Each month they have an instructor for something new and different. Recently, Carolyn Ray taught the AccuQuilt fabric cutting machine to the quilters. This is a tool that cuts squares and strips for a quilt and also appliqué products.

On Feb. 11, Rae Rice was the hostess to a class where Mary Smith-Stokes instructed on creating baskets. She had two classes. There were 12 women in the morning class, 10 women in the afternoon class. All women who attended completed their baskets and were delighted with them.

By Helene Rubenstein

Published March 5, 2014

It’s been a busy month at Happy Days

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February started out with the wildly popular Goofy Golf, which drew 99 players out for a day in the park with games, costumes and fun.

The pool is ready for Ron Graham, all dressed in pink, to race the ducks. (Courtesy of Dan Olson)
The pool is ready for Ron Graham, all dressed in pink, to race the ducks. (Courtesy of Dan Olson)

We just finished this month with an equally popular fun-filled morning with our duck race. This time, the lucky guy to jump into the pool, to the glee of all present, was Ron Graham. Ron did not disappoint with his duck-dipping outfit, consisting of a pink shirt, pink shorts, pink sandals and a big ducky hat.

He won this honor through the presales of the most ducks over the sales of the past two presidents, who had the “honor” of jumping in the pool in past years.

Ducks were sold at $1 each, and were sold out. Ron took a parade around the pool before demonstrating his prowess as a beached whale.

Great job, Ron, and you proved that even though all the girls wanted you in a pink Speedo, you took the high road.

This past Saturday opened with an internal park sale. This has been the practice for many years, and frankly, most park sales have too many cars, on too many lawns, and too much unmanageable traffic, to justify the end result. We trade with each other, and inevitably, it ends up on the “next year’s available to sell” table again.

The real winner in this is the local hospices that receive the excess. We wonder, could we remove the middleman and just donate first? Anyway, another year is in the books.

The annual bean soup supper also was in the hall with a full house. Needless to say, the hall doors were kept wide open for this. Chiefettes Linda Jenkins and Toni Fischer and their culinary crew of beaners and cornbread bakers — Fran Applegate, Carol Chapman and Mona Eddy — started the preparation early in the day for the hungry eager residents to take advantage of all the free grub. All they had to bring was their own bowls and silverware.

We just seem to keep putting gas in the tank lately with the previous chili, and now bean soup, suppers. It keeps you hopping, I guess.

Nancy “Sparkplug” Warren did it again with another successful karaoke night following the dinner. By the way, Nancy is a good sport as well as a good entertainer. She got quite a good chuckle from being named the “sparkplug” of these events. Maybe we should have simply called her “Sparkie” or “Sparkle”?

Anyway, more than 85 performers gave up their inhibitions and jumped in to the enjoyment of all. It was another successful night.

This is going to be a regular event, so stay tuned — but be sure to use your pitch pipe.

What a month of entertainment, wait until you see what March rolls in with.

By Ian Marwick

Published March 5, 2014

Music, dancing and lots of talent at Rainbow Village

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Chrissy Hariman played her music for our Mardi Gras dance. The committee did a wonderful job of decorating the hall. Each person that came to the dance could have their picture taken in front of a bench with balloons.

Don Weaver poses with his great breakfast committee. (Courtesy of Sandra Gilbert-Abel)
Don Weaver poses with his great breakfast committee. (Courtesy of Sandra Gilbert-Abel)

It was a fun dance with lots of fancy masks, beads and some even had special outfits to fit the occasion. Everybody was dancing to many kinds of dances like line dancing, fast dancing and slow dancing.

Thanks to Carol Halliday, Sue Larkins and Betty Vandenbosch. Betty always has done a great job of decorating the hall with whatever the theme is going to be for the dances. They all will be retiring from this committee, and now you all will be able to relax and enjoy the dances next year.

David Teague entertained at our Sunday night ice cream social. We always enjoy having David. He is so talented playing the guitar, electric guitar and banjo. He tried some of his new songs, and we loved them.

He invited Bob Richardson from the audience to sing, and Bob did a great job of singing with David. David invited Joe Edwards, 48 years on the Grand Ole Opry, to play dueling banjos on their guitars.

It was such great talent on stage that night.

The Sara Ghetto show at Rainbow Village was a very enjoyable evening with this very talented young lady who taught herself to play the keyboard, fiddle and many other instruments. She has her own studio where she plays and records all the music that you hear when she performs.

For a young lady who had several disabilities when she was born, she has shown how far she has come over the years to what she can do now. She travels with her father and mother all over the states to showcase her beautiful voice.

The Rainbowettes Red Hat group went to the Early Bird Dinner Theater in Clearwater to see “Lend Me a Tenor.” We took our husbands and several other guests along to this outing. It was a very enjoyable day.

A big thanks to Dick and Linda Luce, and Norm and Pat Hyatt, and their great committee for a great get-together for all the Michigan people in our park. They did the Michigan pledge and Michigan song, which a lot of people didn’t know they had.

Dick Luce read a very funny story: “Dear Diary, Living in Michigan.” It had everybody laughing. Good food, good times by all who attended.

Egg casserole, applesauce, orange juice, coffee, and a choice of either a Danish or muffin. Don Weaver and his great committee were in charge. They did a great job, and they sold out all they had to serve.

As you rode or walked through the park recently, you could smell the aroma of cooked pork. The association was cooking the pork for the pulled pork dinner that was served on Feb. 22. A lot of work goes into this meal.

This was a sell-out dinner with baked beans, scalloped potatoes and coleslaw.

After the dinner, nine pies baked by Bess Bonthuis were auctioned off, and they sold for $219. They had fun outbidding each other. Thanks to Eugene Hoard and his great committee for a great meal.

The Rainbow Village Carefree Talent Show was in the main hall. The tables were decorated in carefree colors, and lots of balloons were placed around the stage.

Steve Jeffris opened the show with several songs, and some of our residents put on a little lip-syncing to a ‘50s record. Really cute!

Doug Sawyer played his steel guitar, Linda Swinamer played guitar and sang, Bob Richardson played guitar and sang, and Glenda Walker sang two Patsy Cline songs.

The runner up was Linda Swinamer, and the winner was Glenda Walker, who will compete in the next round of the talent contest in March. Congratulations!

Our entertainment at Sunday night ice cream was Bob Walter, who won the Carefree Talent Contest last year. They did a great job of entertaining us for more than an hour, and when finished, they got a standing ovation and sang two more songs.

We witnessed why they won the contest. Great job!

We are looking forward to more events in the coming weeks at Rainbow Village.

By Sandra Gilbert-Abel

Published March 5, 2014

Musunuru re-appointed to PHSC trustees board

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Dr. Rao Musunuru will continue his long service with Pasco-Hernando State College after Gov. Rick Scott announced he had appointed the cardiologist to another term on the school’s Board of Trustees.

Musunuru first joined the board in 1999, and has been its chair three times over the last 15 years. If confirmed by the state Senate, the doctor with Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point will serve through the end of May 2017.

Musunuru has worn many hats in both medicine and education over the years, including time as chief of medicine, chief of staff, and even chairing the board for Bayonet Point’s heart institute. He is a member of the Association of Community College Trustees, and was awarded a leadership award by the group last October for his work as a trustee for the school, formerly known as Pasco-Hernando Community College.

Musunuru has been an American Heart Association volunteer since 1979, and has a few places named in his honor including an art gallery at PHSC, a CARES senior citizen enrichment center in Hudson, and a conference center at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point.

Workshops planned for transportation, elevated toll road

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The Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization has set dates to openly discuss its various transportation plans with the public, including the proposed elevated toll road along the State Road 54/56 corridor.

The series of workshops begin March 15 at The Shops at Wiregrass, and wind up April 10 during an MPO workshop in New Port Richey.

The primary discussion is focused on the 2040 Long Range Transportation Needs Plan, the blueprint Pasco County will use to determine what kind of transportation infrastructure is needed over the next 25 years, and where and when it should be built. That plan now includes the impact of a proposed elevated toll road from International Infrastructure Partners, which would connect a 33-mile stretch between U.S. 301 near Zephyrhills with U.S. 19 in New Port Richey.

A toll feasibility study is underway right now, and part of the long-range planning will include exploring alternatives to such a road, especially other east-west roads in Pasco County like State Road 52 to the north.

The complete plan for 2040 is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Public workshops include:

March 15, 10 a.m to 2 p.m.
Fresh Market at Wiregrass
28211 Paseo Drive, Wesley Chapel

March 25, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
West Pasco Government Center, Lobby
8731 Citizens Drive, New Port Richey

March 26, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Alice Hall Community Center
38116 Fifth Ave., Zephyrhills

March 27, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Pasco County Recreation Center
3032 Collier Parkway, Land O’ Lakes

April 10 at 10 a.m.
MPO board meeting workshop
West Pasco Government Center, BCC Board Room
8731 Citizens Drive, New Port Richey

For more information, visit www.Mobility2040Pasco.com, PascoMPO.net, or call (727) 847-8140.

In Print: Special Olympics, Sochi Olympics, trauma centers

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America is still taking a breath after a strong performance at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, last month, but locally, people still can’t get enough.

Asif Shaikh, a chaplain from Lutz, once again traveled overseas to take part in the Olympics, serving as a spiritual guide for athletes. It gave him a chance to not only see some of the medal-winning events for Americans, but also gave him a chance to wish his wife, Leaha, a happy Valentine’s Day on national television thanks to NBC’s “Today Show.”

SochiOlympics
Asif Shaikh, a chaplain from Lutz, pretends to hold up the Olympic rings. (Courtesy of Asif Shaikh)

This is his second Olympics, having attended the Summer Games in London in 2012. But while Shaikh provides a service to Olympians, he still must convince the right people to allow him to continue his services at future games.

“I’m trying to get established,” he told reporter B.C. Manion. “I think the next step would be, ‘How can I help, in the sense of volunteering my time.’ They don’t have any spiritual leaders. They don’t recognize that as something that’s important.”

A little closer to home, Wesley Chapel High School hosted the Special Olympics, which brought in hundreds of athletes from around Pasco County and beyond.

“I’m just glad to know that, not only are the parents supporting them, but they are embraced by the community,” Denise Peeks, whose daughter Tiffany competes in the games, told reporter Michael Murillo. “The business community and the volunteers come out and they get so much support that they so desperately need. I think it’s fantastic.”

Both Olympics are all about competition, but the kind of competition taking place between various hospitals in the region is much different. Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point opened a trauma center in 2011, and is now doing everything it can to keep it despite efforts by older trauma centers in Hillsborough County trying to take it away.

Dr. Scott Norwood, who runs Bayonet Point’s facility, says the more trauma centers there are, the better hospitals can treat those in accidents and other mishaps that require specialized care very quickly.

“Trauma is a time-sensitive disease,” Norwood told members of the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce recently, as reported by Michael Hinman. “It’s just like heart disease or a heart attack, the quicker you can get to a facility to deal with the problem, the more likely you are to survive. And that’s reflective of what’s happening in Florida right now.”

But existing facilities like Tampa General Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital, see it differently, and feel too many trauma centers will instead be detrimental because it would dilute the quality of care, and the money needed to run the facilities.

Although one state senator has introduced a bill she hopes will address the problems, it looks like the legal battle between all these hospitals fighting for trauma centers will rage on for some time to come.

Finally, for our Zephyrhills and Dade City readers, the East Pasco edition of The Laker takes a unique look at the upcoming Founders’ Day celebration in the City of Pure Water. Michael Murillo has taken a trip into Zephyrhills’ past and shared it in a way only he could in his regular column, “Presenting the Past.”

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 find out where you can get your copy at (813) 909-2800.

Bellamy Brothers sing for Pasco High School

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When they attended Pasco High School, they were simply David and Howard. Nearly a half-century later, they’re back, but now as the popular country music duo The Bellamy Brothers, all to raise money for their alma mater’s sports programs.

The Bellamy Brothers will raise money for Pasco High School's athletic department in April.
The Bellamy Brothers will raise money for Pasco High School’s athletic department in April.

The Bellamy Brothers are the featured guests of Pasco High’s Reunion of the Decades taking place April 11 beginning at 6 p.m. at the school’s W.F. Edwards Stadium. The event is hosted by Pasco’s Class of 1974, and a $45 ticket includes a Chet Taylor barbecue dinner and reserved seating for the concert.

Proceeds cover various costs of the athletic department, including field paint, referees and safety equipment, among others.

For those wanting to eat ahead of time, general admission is $15 and reserved seating is $25. Tickets are available at a variety of places including Pasco High School, 36850 State Road 52; Dade City Animal Clinic, 13117 U.S. 301; Olga’s Bakery, 14117 Seventh St.; and the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce, 14112 Eighth St.

The Bellamy Brothers first performed publicly at the Rattlesnake Roundup in Dade City in the late 1960s, and broke into the music scene with “Let Your Love Flow” in 1976. The brothers are currently on a world tour and working on a 40th anniversary album set for release in 2015.

The tour has The Bellamy Brothers in Texas for the beginning of March, but will later head to Switzerland March 21-23. The current tour wraps up Nov. 15 in Wendover, Nev. They continue to own a ranch in Darby, not far from where Interstate 75 and State Road 52 meet in Pasco County.

For more information and tickets, call (352) 524-5500.