Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By Eugenio Torrens

Within the last decade, Pasco County has noticed its Hispanic population surge.

Currently, 11 percent — or one in every nine people — of the county is Hispanic. Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act stipulates that if 5 percent of the voting age population is of a certain ethnicity, then voting material must be published in the native language of that demographic.

The U.S. Department of Justice exempted Pasco from that requirement since the county’s Hispanic population met or exceeded the minimum literacy rate. Thus, voting materials only have to be published in English.

Pasco Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said this shouldn’t change anything drastically, and that it will save the county money.

“The only real concern that we had would be from a financial standpoint,” Corley said. “We’ve had to cut our budget 28 percent in the last four years, and it’s been quite a challenge as you might imagine.

“By implementing this, this would have in essence, would have been an unfunded mandate from the federal government to the tune of $75,000 in additional outlay, plus tens of thousands of dollars each election,” Corley said. “It’s easier on the wallets of the taxpayers.”

“We have an obligation, and a legal one at that, to assist all voters,” Corley added. “We have a long tradition of accommodating all voters, and that won’t change.”

If Pasco did have to publish Spanish voting materials, the only obvious change would have been in amendments, where the Spanish text would have been underneath the English text.

“The concern would have been that it would have caused our ballot, at an absolute minimum, to go to two pages and that’s where really the cost comes into play,” Corley said.

With two-plus page ballots, Corley said reconciling all the material that is sent out on absentee ballots could be problematic — people may send only the part of the ballot that corresponds to them, i.e. the English part of the ballot or Spanish part of the ballot.

The U.S. Department of Justice ruling affects only voting materials published at the county level.

“However, things that affect statewide, for example (amendments), albeit they will not be bilingual on the ballot, but the division of elections at the state level will be required to provide to the counties, i.e. my office, translated materials for things like voter application, or those proposed amendments, which we will have at a polling place,” Corley said.

Hillsborough County was not ruled exempt from Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which means it will continue to publish voting materials bilingually.

Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Earl Lennard said there are Spanish-speaking poll workers at voting sites where there is a larger percentage of Hispanic voters. He said ballots for the 2010 primary, published in English and Spanish, cost 23 cents apiece.

The county uses Spanish speakers to write the Spanish interpretation of English ballots.

“Sometimes that can get pretty tricky because various dialects are different,” Lennard said. But he added, “It’s always a concern, but thankfully it has not been an issue.”

One other big difference between the two counties is that Hillsborough is a preclearance county, meaning Hillsborough has to take certain steps Pasco doesn’t.

Hillsborough is required to notify the Department of Justice when a polling site may no longer be available in order to switch to a new site. But before Hillsborough can switch to that new site, the county has to be cleared by the Department of Justice.

For both counties, voting procedures should stay almost unnoticeably different.

“It’s one word: education,” Corley said. “What you have is, you have an increase in population — those folks are educated individuals, which is obviously always a good thing.”

For more information on voting in Pasco, visit pascovotes.com. For more information on voting in Hillsborough, visit www.votehillsborough.org.

 

By Kyle LoJacono

In an attempt to help reduce its $15 billion debt, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will increase postage costs beginning Jan. 22.

The new rate to mail standard first-class, 1-ounce letters will jump by one penny, up to 45 cents per item. The cost to send a postcard will swell by 3 cents to a total of 32.

The biggest increase comes to those who send 1-ounce letters internationally. Such mail bound to Mexico or Canada will cost an extra nickel, up to 85 cents. The same item sent to other countries will be 7 cents more expensive to a total of $1.05.

“The overall average price increase is small and is needed to help address our current financial crisis,” U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe wrote in an email.

Donahoe pointed out that the rates for sending such items have not been increased in 2 1/2 years. He added more people using email versus mail has reduced the revenue generated by USPS. Forever stamps will continue al that is needed to mail a 1-ounce letter within the United States even if purchased at a lower rate.

“The stark reality is that the USPS’ business model is broken,” Donahoe wrote. He added the postal service needs a “more flexible business model,” such as cutting service to five days a week, closing post office locations and reducing its workforce.

USPS is looking for ways to stay economically viable, but many local people say raising postage rates is not the answer.

“It used to be 20 cents to send a letter when I was a kid,” said Land O’ Lakes resident Thomas Rodriguez. “I would send letters to my grandparents who lived in New York and aunts and uncles in other states every week or every other week. Now it would cost a small fortune to do that.”

Lutz resident Mark Brown said the price of postage also has turned him away from the postal service.

“I’ve already stopped mailing basically anything because of how much it costs,” Brown said. “Sending something just downtown costs way more than it should. I’d rather drive and drop off a letter if I can’t email it.”

Brown suggested USPS could come up with a tiered system, where mailing locally would require less postage than sending items to the opposite coast.

New Tampa resident Christy Smith-Rodgers said Brown’s idea did have some merit.

“It’s got to take less money for them to take a letter to Tampa than to Oregon,” Smith-Rodgers said. “That’s only 20-30 minutes from here . … I’m sure it’s not as simple as that or they would do it, but I think it’s worth looking at.”

Smith-Rodgers said she also does not mail many items anymore because of the cost. She cannot remember the last time she sent someone a letter.

“If I have to send a package I send it with FedEx because it gets there faster,” Smith-Rodgers said. “If I’m going to pay to send a box I want it to get there fast.”

All three said they would rather have the USPS end Saturday delivery instead of increasing rates.

“I’d be fine with that,” Rodriguez said. “Most businesses work Monday through Friday, so if they are having problems with money than they should cut a day off. That’s better than making us pay more for mail.”

None favored closing post offices.

“I think that would also make more people use the post office less,” Brown said. “I mean if the post office near you closes, then I don’t think you’d mail things more often.”

For more information on USPS, visit www.usps.com.

By Eugenio Torrens

Pasco County received $2.3 million in federal money, and how that money will be spent is already accounted for.

The money comes from a $160.6 million lump sum allotted to Florida by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced on Oct. 13. The money is slated for community development and affordable housing for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year.

George Romagnoli, Pasco County community development manager, said most of the $2.3 million Pasco is receiving has already been earmarked for several needs.

“A good chunk of that money is paying back a loan that we took from HUD to redevelop the Tommytown area in Dade City, so we have to pay back HUD because that was a big project, so we had to give a lot more than our annual allocation to do that,” Romagnoli said.

The $2.3 million comes in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.

The CDBG is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. The CDBG has been ongoing since 1974 and provides annual grants on a formula basis to 1209 general units of local government and states.

Romagnoli said the Tommytown project, which cost $13-14 million, means Pasco will be paying back HUD about $1 million per year.

Tommytown is one of the largest areas of low-income population anywhere in Pasco County.

“The area had no paved roads, not much public water and sewer, a very bad drainage. We went in there and paved the roads and instilled a utility line, put a new drainage system so it doesn’t flood anymore. We really tried to improve the living conditions of the people that live there; unfortunately the living conditions were pretty terrible,” Romagnoli said.

“Unfortunately building roads and putting water lines and sewer lines — that’s not a cheap process,” Romagnoli added. “We basically borrowed against our future block grant dollars so we could get enough money so we could do Tommytown.”

After the loan payback is cut out, $300,000 is going toward the Lacoochee community center. Romagnoli also said some money would go to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office; to low-income people to get prescription drugs from the Good Samaritan Healthcare Clinic; and demolitions through the county.

Because of the current economic climate, the total amount of money coming in to the state — and the county — has been cut.

Romagnoli said the county was shorted about $500,000.

“That’s pretty significant for Pasco County,” Romagnoli said. “It’s been pretty consistent for a lot of years, but with everything that’s happening with the fertile budget, a lot of stuff is changing so it’s hard to say how much money we’ll get next year.”

Some of that money incoming from the HUD will go toward county public transportation.

Mike Carroll, Pasco County’s public transportation manager, said $230,000 was coming in CDBG funds for public transportation.

Although his department also felt the brunt of a tighter budget, he said this year’s amount was not a far departure from the norm. The total funding for paratransit services is $1.8 million, according to Carroll. The majority of funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration and the Florida Department of Transportation.

“In the scheme of things, not very much because we have other funding sources that also are used to support — that funding is usually used to support paratransit services, which are the door-to-door services for those that live outside the regular transit bus service areas.”

Paratransit caters to those people that live outside of the jurisdiction of fixed-route bus services.

“It’s all spent throughout the year in support of these services,” Carroll said.

By Kyle LoJacono

Despite above-average rainfall this year in the Tampa Bay area, the regional water use board has elected to extend current water restrictions through February.

Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties have received 50.73 inches of rain through Oct. 26, almost 6 inches more than the average for an entire year. However, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly called Swiftmud, has voted to keep Phase I restrictions in place for the next few months for all 16 counties it overseas.

“There were some areas of the district that received heavy rainfall at times, but overall our rainy season was not as productive as we had hoped,” said Lois Sorensen, manager of Swiftmud’s demand management program. “There were improvements in October, but we are expecting a drier-than-normal winter due to the La Niña weather pattern.”

Sorensen said the region’s water supply is in relatively good shape, but added caution is still needed to ensure that remains true.

“We need to watch conditions closely as the dry season continues and consider stricter measures if water resources or water supply conditions warrant them,” Sorensen said.

Phase I is meant to prepare for worsening drought conditions. Residents are also asked to check their irrigation system to see if it is working properly by fixing broken pipes and tilted sprinkler heads.

Watering is still limited to two days per week either before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. with Phase I restrictions.

“However, residents should check with their county or city government to see if they have stricter restrictions,” said Swiftmud spokeswoman Robyn Felix.

Swiftmud’s governing board will vote again in February to see if the restrictions should be extended.

In addition, Swiftmud announced it is cutting up to 150 positions to meet its new budget, which has been slashed by 44 percent from last year. Of the jobs on the chopping block, 40 are vacant. The district currently has 768 employees.

“We are blessed with smart and talented people,” said Swiftmud executive director Blake Guillory. “Unfortunately, we are caught in a situation driven by economic conditions. We need to be as thoughtful and helpful as we can during this process while also serving the taxpayers of our area.”

Swiftmud has offered staffers voluntary severance packages for up to 45 days. The district will begin cutting jobs early next year if enough people don’t take the offer.

“As an organization, we have to get leaner and more efficient,” Guillory said. “The more quickly we can get right-sized for our budget and workload, the faster we can move forward, secure in our jobs, to meet the water resource challenges of this district.”

For more information on Swiftmud, visit www.WaterMatters.org or call (800) 848-0499.

Girls affected by cancer organize flash mob at Shops At Wiregrass

By B.C. Manion

 

Shortly before noon Saturday, a troupe of 20 began making moves to Kanye West’s “Stronger.”

The group, including kids from 11-14 and one 48-year-old woman, came walking out of the crowd at The Shops at Wiregrass, in a flash mob aimed at supporting breast cancer research.

It wasn’t as dramatic as some of the flash mobs posted on YouTube, such as those performed in large train stations, but this one originated with two girls who wanted to do something tangible to support the battle against a disease that has afflicted their mothers.

Fourteen-year-old Diana Bryson organized the event, with the help of her 14-year-old friend, Jennifer Roberts.

Diana’s mother, Lisa, who was one of the dancers, is in the midst of cancer treatments. Jennifer’s mom, Jan Roberts, who was in the crowd, is a breast cancer survivor.

Diana, a freshman at Wiregrass High, came up with the idea.

“It was just one of those things that I’ve always wanted to do. We were at school and it was like, ‘Hey Jennifer, we should have a breast cancer flash mob.’ ”

That was in September.

Since then, the group has practiced twice a week for five weeks at John Long Middle.

At the mall, a stream of dancers clad in pink T-shirts made its way from out of the crowd into an area in front of a fountain near Macy’s and then sprang into a dance based on the theme of fighting cancer.

Performers threw mock punches. They did muscle poses. They concluded the dance by creating the form of a pink ribbon.

And, when the music ended, they filtered back into the crowd.

The kids choreographed the dance themselves, Lisa said. Fourteen-year-old Vicky Baraldi and her friend, Sydney Bounnell, came up with the dance moves.

The dancers included Lisa, Diana and her 11-year-old sister, Sarah, the kids’ friends and some of Lisa’s former students from John Long Middle.

“Diana and I picked out the song,” Lisa said. They wanted the song to reflect the need to fight cancer stronger, better, faster and harder – and to acknowledge that children with family members who have cancer must be strong.

Lisa, who has Stage 4 cancer, said, “I’m a cancer warrior. I am in the fight for my life right now.

“I have had it since 1997. I had an 11-year reprieve, and then it metastasized to my lung in the middle of my vacation. In 2009, it metastasized to my lung and I had a thoracotomy. That’s when they go between your ribs and take out your cancer and suture it up.”

“I had to resign from John Long Middle … in order to fight,” she said.

Lisa had been a teacher for 20 years when she stepped away from her post. Before teaching at John Long Middle, she was a teacher at Gaither High for 10 years.

The flash mob’s organizers — Diana and Jennifer — are both active in Relay for Life at Wiregrass Ranch High and they’re raising money by selling T-shirts that were created for the flash mob by We Love Logos.

The company provided the T-shirts at below cost and the group has been selling them for $10 each, Lisa said. Some shirts are still available and more can be ordered, if there’s a demand, she said.

Lisa said she is tremendously gratified by the support of her daughters, her daughters’ friends and her former students.

“It’s a chain of support. It’s like a spider web. You can’t fight something like this by yourself,” Lisa said.

The dancers put a lot of time and effort into learning the 4-minute routine.

They had their final practice on Friday, before doing a few warm-up routines on a deck of a parking garage on Saturday morning.

“We practiced at my house yesterday for two hours in the cul-de-sac in front of my house,” Lisa said.

That’s where Jennifer Roberts broke her toe.

She was a trooper, though, and danced in the flash mob despite the pain.

Lisa, who has estrogen receptive breast cancer, said recently she received the best news she has received since 2009.

“The chemotherapy that I’m taking has started working. It (the cancer) is disappearing from my bones.

“It’s in my skull, right collar bone, my sternum, right rib and pelvis, femur and I have three tumors in my liver,” Lisa said, noting that doctors believe the cause of her cancer is genetic. Her sister, mother and aunt all have been afflicted by the disease and her aunt died from it.

Lisa said the prognosis from her oncologist had been that she had three to five years, but she added: “This good news from my oncologist just bought me an extra year.”

Lisa said she is especially proud of her daughters.

“They keep me alive. My daughters make my cancer worth fighting.”

Lisa also wanted to remind people that buying something pink to support cancer research is far more than a fashion statement.

“One thing I want people to know, when they buy all of that pink stuff and that money goes to research, that research has personally helped me.

“I have been in a clinical trial at Moffitt. It has helped save my life.”

The proceeds from the T-shirt sales benefit the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, which benefits all types of cancer research, Lisa said.

Anyone who would like to buy a T-shirt or help the Wiregrass Ranch High Relay for Life efforts in other ways may contact Lisa at  (813) 907-8918 or email .

 

 

By B.C. Manion

 

Take a walk around the Baldomero Lopez State Veterans’ Nursing Home in Land O’ Lakes and you’ll see a place that defies the stereotypical look and feel of a nursing home.

This is a place with large common areas, where residents can gather to watch big screen TVs. There’s a soothing aquarium in one spot and a resident cat that roams the place, at will, before lazily settling in to a nice, comfy chair.

There’s a patio, where people can rest to look at pretty trees or enjoy the beauty of a hibiscus with its giant, orange blooms.

On one wall, near the entrance, there’s a tribute to the veteran for whom the place is named.

On walls throughout the 120-bed facility there are displays of military uniforms, a framed flag, models of military airplanes and other mementos that pay homage to the men and women who live here and who have devoted a portion of their lives to serving their country.

On one prominent wall there’s a collection of some of the accolades the facility has garnered since opening its doors in 1999.

Recently, the nursing home added to its list of distinctions.

Mike Prendergast, executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, dropped by the facility on Oct. 13 to present the 2011-2012 Excellence in Action Award to the center’s administrator and staff.

The award goes to nursing homes throughout the country that achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction through surveys administered by My InnerView, an independent research firm. Award recipients score in the top 10 percent of My InnerView’s database, the largest of its kind.

The veterans’ home, which dedicates nearly half of its beds to residents with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, is a three-time recipient of the honor. It won previously in 2008 and 2009.

In essence, the survey is a measure of how well the facilities perform, based on whether survey respondents would recommend the facility to family or friends, said Rebecca Yackel, administrator for the Baldermo Lopez center.

She attributes the center’s success to the staff’s commitment to maintain a positive attitude, at every level throughout the facility.

“We’re in the type of work where people are always asking for something,” Yackel said. “That’s the way it is, in many jobs. That can sometimes be a challenge.”

But if caregivers respond in a positive fashion, the response from the residents and their families tends to be positive, too, she said.

Staff members are trained to respond to individual residents – whether or not they are assigned to work with that particular person, Yackel said.

“We’re here to help them,” she said. She said when someone approaches a staff member, the response is: “Let’s see what you need.”

If that staff member can’t help, his or her job is to find someone else who can address the situation.

“If you take care of their needs and their issues early on, it’s rare that they become a major grievance,” said Yackel, who was the center’s director of nursing when it opened its doors and was promoted to become its leader in 2003.

The center serves veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It doesn’t have any veterans who served in Afghanistan or Iraq.

“Our average age is 83,” Yackel said. “Our average stay is 3 1/2 to 4 years. This is truly an old soldiers’ home. They come here and live to the end of their lives.”

Yackel said the center has the good fortune of having a large number of staff members who have been there since Day 1.

As a result, there’s a high level of shared commitment and teamwork, she said.

The nursing home’s calendar is chock full of events. There are special music programs, parties, bingo games, trivia contests, arts and crafts and other kinds of activities.

There’s a well-stocked library and a devotional room. Yackel said there are barbecues twice a month where people bring in all of the food.

The center also enjoys a great relationship with many area organizations, she added.

“We have wonderful community support from the veterans groups and from other types of groups, like the Elks – you name it,” she said.

“We really wouldn’t have such a wonderful variety of things going on without the community involvement,” she said. “It’s just marvelous.”

By B.C. Manion

 

As they showed up at the Seven Oaks community center, a countertop in the gathering room became increasingly laden with enticing desserts.

There’s an English trifle, some chocolate cherry cookies, a Zabaglione and a flourless chocolate cake among the selection of sweets.

Each dessert has something in common: It contains some kind of liqueur.

Learning about using the liquid spirits in creating desserts is the theme of this particular meeting of the Honeycomb Club.

It’s a club in the loosest sense of the word.

There are no membership fees, no required meetings, no recommendations required to join and no set format.

Sometimes it meets at night; other times, on weekends.

This club seeks “to enjoy socializing over, learning more about, and sharing good food and cooking among women in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel community and beyond,” according to Eileen Jones, who founded the club in January.

Jones, a self-confessed foodie, thought it would be fun to share her passion with other women who shared her passion.

So far, even without much of an outreach, about 50 women – mostly in their early 30s to late 50s – have joined the club.

Jones organizes an event or a meeting and club members let her know if they expect to be there. So far, since the club’s inception, members of the group have had all sorts of food adventures.

They’ve gone to a chocolate festival, tasted international foods, sipped Chilean wines and sampled assorted craft beers.

They’ve had a movie night (“Julie and Julia”), shared their thoughts on books about food (“A Tiger in the Kitchen” and “The Sharper Your Knives, The Less You Cry”), have gone on a shopping excursion to Williams-Sonoma and taken a French cooking class at The Rolling Pin in Brandon.

The theme of their most recent gathering was using liqueurs in desserts.

Each woman came to the meeting bearing a delectable treat she had made. The women gave mini-presentations, sharing what they’d learned about the liqueur and describing the dessert they’d prepared.

Afterwards, they shared their sweets and played bunco.

In an age where so many groups are formed over the Internet, Jones said she wanted to bring together women to make a personal connection. She put the word out and within months about 50 other like-minded souls stepped forward to become part of the group.

The club typically meets twice a month and members are free to come or not come.

The a la carte offerings appeal to members of the group, who said they like to come to the things that interest them and skip the other events.

As such, there tends to be a different combination of women at each gathering – creating an ever-fresh feeling to the group, some members said.

Jones plans events on different nights and weekends – which allows women who may have a prior commitment on one night a week to join in on others.

“We try to incorporate something that everyone will enjoy,” Jones said.

The club includes working women, stay-at-home moms and women who have retired.

Jones works as an office manager at her husband’s law office. Another woman is a former restaurateur and another recently retired from her post as a buyer for Pasco County Public Schools.

Typically, 10 to 15 women turn out for a particular gathering, Jones said.

Kristen Heath of New Tampa said when she heard about the group, it immediately sparked her interest.

“I consider myself a foodie, and I’ve made my living – my life – as a cook,” said Heath, who cooks for St. Joseph’s Hospital-North. Cooking is her hobby and her passion.

“I love the variety of the club. There might be a movie. There might be shopping. There might be a game night. We have a book club within the club.

“If one thing is not your gig, something next week will be your gig,” she said.

Lauri Portz of Saddlebrook joined the group because she thought it would be a good way to meet people.

“It just seemed really interesting. The diversity has been really fun,” she said, both in terms of activities and the women who have come to the meetings.

Sacha Froelich, who lives in New Tampa, was attending the meeting for the first time.

“This is exactly what I was looking for,” she said, noting she definitely plans to be back.

Arlene Zimney decided to get involved because she was approaching retirement and knew she would have more time.

“I like the idea that you could choose what you wanted to participate in, without making a long-term commitment,” she said. “If it fits your schedule and it appeals to you, you just tell her (Jones) you’re coming and that’s it.”

Zimney say the informal setting was welcoming.

“Sometimes, when you do cooking things – especially with the whole movement on TV – people tend to get competitive, or show-offy. It’s not that way at all,” she said.

For more information about the Honeycomb Club, email .