Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By Kyle LoJacono

When fans of the Gaither High baseball team pack their home stadium this season, they will be watching the Cowboys play on the No. 1 high school field in America.

Gaither’s field earned the Turface Field Maintenance Award as the No. 1 playing surface by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Cowboys’ 26-year coach Frank Permuy received the award in January, an honor he and the team relish.

“We pride ourselves on our playing surface,” said Permuy, the only baseball coach in Gaither’s history. “I got the call and they said to me I should come to the award ceremony because we won. It was a surprise because we know our field is good, but this means we’re the best. The kids really take pride in the field.”

Current Gaither principal Marie Whelan is a Cowboys graduate and remembers watching games on the newly awarded top field.

“I remember watching those games all the time and it was always great to sit in the bleachers,” Whelan said. “It’s a real honor to be named the best field in America. It shows the work they put into it. Coach P makes sure they know how important it is to work on the field before and after every game and practice.”

Permuy said the coaching staff puts an emphasis on keeping the field up to the best standards.

“It’s like a part of our practice to keep the field looking good,” said junior starting pitcher Alex Milne.

The award did not come as a shock to senior right fielder and pitcher Zach Jackson.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Jackson said. “I look around and see everything we’ve done to make this field the best. We take a lot of pride in having a great place to play baseball.”

Sophomore shortstop Oscar Mercado was born in Columbia and is happy to be playing on the well-kept field in northern Hillsborough County.

“I come from a country where we have bad turf,” said Mercado, who moved to this country at age 8. “This is great. There aren’t any bad hops.”

The award comes with one ton of playing Turface, the material that helps dry the infield, and $400 to help with maintenance costs.

The field was also recently honored as the third best overall high school stadium by the Baseball Coaches Association.

“And we think we can get better,” Permuy said. “We’ll be doing some work on the field in the next few years. We’ll be replacing the wood poles with metal or concrete ones in 2012 and we’re doing some other things to make it better.”

Permuy said drainage in right field has been a problem for years and they are looking into ways to make that better.

Gaither’s baseball field has always been in the same place, right by the northwest side of the football stadium. It is 360 feet to center field and 340 and 330 to the left and right field lines respectively.

On the eight-foot high outfield wall are the program’s retired numbers. Chad Zerbe and Kevin Cash each wore No. 12. Zerbe was a relief pitcher in MLB, while Cash is still a catcher in the professional ranks. The two 12s flank Permuy’s own No. 7, which was retired in 2009.

“I love everything about coaching here,” Permuy said. “We’ve got a great field, the best field, and we’ll keep it the best for our fans to come watch us each year.”

Gaither’s first home game is part of the Saladino Pre-Season Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 8 against Wharton at 4 p.m. The first home district contest is against Hillsborough High on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

Denham Oaks students also help American Heart Association

By Kyle LoJacono

For the second straight year, Denham Oaks Elementary students took up jump ropes to learn healthy life habits and raise money for the American Heart Association.

“We want to teach the kids how to live a healthy lifestyle,” said Denham Oaks physical education teacher Mary Jane Kranendonk. “During P.E. they did several jump rope related activities to get them moving and their hearts pumping.”

The event ran from Jan. 24-Feb. 4 during regular P.E. periods for all 816 students at Denham Oaks. It included such activities as standard jump rope, jumping rope on one foot, jumping a hula hoop like a jump rope and team jump rope.

The students also filled out a heart-shaped piece of paper with the name of the person they were honoring by doing the exercises.

In addition, the kids went out and collected donations for the American Heart Association. Kranendonk, along with Debbie Smith and Diane Forrester, showed proper technique for the various events, but also explained the good they were doing with the money.

“Last year we collected $7,500, but that was with our health fair that we didn’t do this year,” Forrester said. “We told them they were helping people with heart problems and making their own hearts stronger.”

Kranendonk said the event raised $4,000 this year.

First grader K.J. Campbell said making the donations is something he likes doing.

“We need to jump rope to get money for people with heart problems,” Campbell said. “… I like the jump roping too.”

Fellow Dragons first-grader Kayla Bonilla likes a different jumping activity the best.

“Hopscotch,” Bonilla said. “I really like hopscotch.”

Along with the heart-healthy activities, the kids had added incentive to bring in donations. Anyone who raised at least $40 got to be a part of a sliming party. Denham Oaks administration and Kranendonk had slime dumped on them by those in the $40 club. Last year, kids got to duct tape them to a wall.

“I want to dump slime on them too,” said Tyler Rankin earlier in the week. “That’ll be fun.”

For more information on the event, visit www.heart.org.

Higher fees likely cause for shrinking membership

By Kyle LoJacono

Increased fees kept after-school programs in Hillsborough County alive the last two years, but that price increase might end the day care option.

Two years ago, about 6,000 children went to after-school programs at county parks, but today that number has been cut by two-thirds and now sits at around 2,000. During the same time span, the number of students in a similar program from the Hillsborough School District has seen its membership jump from 4,000 to 10,000 children.

“If our partners, like the school system and the YMCA, are able to supply equal or better services to the county, we need to take a look at that and possibly change the structure of the program,” said county commissioner Kevin Beckner.

The suggestion by Beckner is the parks department could do away with the after-school program, shifting the children to either the YMCA or school’s equivalent.

“I think we’d need to bring on a few new people, but we should be able to handle the increase if needed,” said Hillsborough School spokeswoman Linda Cobbe. “Hopefully the kids would be somewhat spread out because if they’re all from the same area, it would be difficult.”

The cost for a week in a Hillsborough after-school program is $48 per week, but that number can be reduced to $10 for needy families. Two years ago the fee was $20 for a week. Mark Thornton, parks department director, said the cost for a week at either the YMCA or the Hillsborough School District’s after-school program is also $48.

“It’s not like our price is out of line,” Thornton said.

Hillsborough Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department spokesman John Brill said while the numbers have dropped significantly, other areas have remained consistent.

“The numbers seem to be much lower in the urban areas like in Tampa, but they’ve remained closer to normal in the suburbs,” Brill said.

Brill did not know why the numbers have remained somewhat flat in the suburbs, such as at Nye Park in Lutz. Carol Legan, Nye Park’s director and recreation specialist, said the numbers for the summer program dropped from 125 in 2009 to 118 in 2010. The difference in the after-school program has been similar.

“We were in survival mode last year with the budget crisis,” Brill said. “The department was just trying to stay afloat. At all our budget meetings, the people who attended said they favored fees over closing parks and reducing services. The higher fee is letting us offer the same good after-school programs to county residents.”

The current after-school program costs about $7 million per year. County administrator Mike Merrill recently stated that is too expensive to keep going under the current budget conditions. Merrill said recent projections for property value suggest Hillsborough will be facing a $65 million shortfall for the next fiscal year.

This stark budget reality comes when numbers in the county school’s after-school programs is booming.

County commissioners will continue to discuss budget possibilities leading up to the new fiscal year, which starts in the fall. For more information on Hillsborough parks, visit www.hillsboroughcounty.org/parks.

By B.C. Manion

The recession may be officially over, but it will take quite some time before the recovery begins to be felt locally, a Florida economist said during a recent Business Development Week luncheon at the Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club in San Antonio.

“We are going to sputter along for the next year,” predicted Chris Jones, president of Florida Economic Advisors LLC, and an adjunct professor for the University of South Florida.

“The days of 4 percent unemployment and 2 percent inflation may be behind us for a good long while,” Jones said.

Pasco County’s unemployment rate continues to exceed the national average; the national rate is 9 percent, while Pasco’s stands at 13 percent.

Regionally, 30 percent of the state’s job losses occurred in the Interstate 4 corridor, Jones said.

When it comes to the economy, “we tend to get really myopic and short-sighted,” he said.

“We have to understand the long-term, if we’re going to understand how the business cycle ebbs and flows,” he added.

Recessions are nothing new. The nation has encountered them and emerged from them before, Jones reminded the crowd

“It’s all part of the business cycle. We will come out of it. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when and how strong,” he said.

In this particular recession, Florida is in worse shape than the nation as a whole, he said.

Besides its high unemployment, the state’s real estate sector also is digging out of a big hole, he said. “Our back is not broken, but it is kind of crushed.”

“We became prosperous because people moved here,” said Jones, an economic development consultant whose experience includes working with public sector and private clients.

“As a state, we’re not as cheap. That used to be one of the driving factors,” Jones said.

The reductions in values caused by the recession are making the market more attractive again for investors, he said.

“We are becoming a more affordable market again — not only from the residential but also from the commercial side, as well,” he said.

The state is fortunate that Amendment 4 didn’t pass, Jones said, referring to a constitutional amendment that would have required voters to approve changes to local comprehensive plans.

That change would have created too much uncertainty for investors and they would have taken their business elsewhere, Jones said.

Competition for investors also has become much more fierce, Jones said.

It’s no longer just an issue of competing with other states and regions — it’s a much broader competition now, Jones said.

“We’re competing with every other economic entity. We’re competing with every other piece of dirt on the planet,” he said.

Jones said the state’s job growth has always been tied to tourism and real estate.

He expects to see tourism rebound before real estate.

When it comes to housing starts, he said, “that’s a big climb from a real steep drop.”

The state does have a few things working in its favor. For one thing, “Gov. (Rick) Scott is seen as pro-growth,” he said.

For another, the state could benefit significantly from a proposed light rail project between Tampa and Orlando.

The federal government has agreed to pay for the lion’s share of the project, but Scott has not yet decided whether the state will pursue the project.

Tampa attorney Ron Weaver asked Jones what argument could be used to persuade the governor to accept the federal funds and proceed with light rail.

“I don’t think he’s got anything better up his sleeve for a job generator,” Jones said.

“Light rail is really important,” Jones said. “The bottom line is that this project (light rail) will create jobs and it will create interest in that corridor.”

Jones said he’s not aware of anything else that will generate as many jobs in as short of time.

2011 economic projections

R. Christopher Jones made these predictions for the national economy in 2011:

— Gross Domestic Product will grow by 3 percent.

— Unemployment will decrease, but will remain around 9 percent

— The stock markets will grow by 6 percent to 8 percent

— Inflationary pressures will be felt in the second half of 2011

School outgrows the former Idlewild Baptist Church

By B.C. Manion

Carrollwood Day School has broken ground on a new elementary school and is set to make considerable renovations to the main building on its Bearss Avenue campus to create a permanent home for its high school.

The school, at 1515 W. Bearss Ave., had a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 21 to celebrate the first phase of the school’s projects which are expected to be completed within eight months.

The existing 32,000-square-foot school building will be enlarged to 45,000 square feet to accommodate the school’s high school students. The renovated structure will be shared by the high school and middle school, and the portable classroom buildings, now housing the high school will be removed, said Shannon Gauthier, marketing director for Carrollwood Day School.

The expanded space includes additional second floor space and a new theater/auditorium. It also includes state-of-the-art science and language labs, arts and humanities spaces.

“This whole thing came about because our high school took off so well,” Gauthier said, referring to the school’s high school program that began in 2006. The school wants the new space to be able to accommodate a high school of 400 students, 100 at each grade level.

The new elementary school, for students in grades one through five, will be 35,000 square feet. Beyond classrooms, it will integrate the latest technology to encourage collaborative work among children in different classrooms.

The school also has an early childhood center at 12606 Casey Road, which educates children age 2 through kindergarten.

The early childhood and upper school campuses serve students from Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

The school has raised $2.5 million of the $8 million needed for phase one of its campus expansion. It has secured a loan for the improvements from TD Bank.

Other planned Bearss campus improvements include renovation of the middle school space and the addition of a gymnasium, tennis courts and a baseball field. No timetable has been set yet for those projects, Gauthier said.

Construction on phase one has been scheduled in such a way that it minimizes impacts on school operations.

Carrollwood Day School has been recognized nationally for its academic excellence and its quest to educate the whole child. It was the first school on the west coast of Florida to be authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization to offer the Primary Years Programme for students through grade five, the IB Middle Years Programme, implemented in grades six through 10 and the IB Diploma Programme for students in grades 11 and 12.

By B.C. Manion

Shawn Campbell can relate to the old saying that “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

The Lutz man was inspired by a problem that popped up when his youngest son, Owen, was about 21 months old.

The toddler had discovered how to take off his diaper — unfortunately, the little boy was not yet potty trained, so he was leaving big messes all over the house.

It was not a happy development.

Campbell was at his wit’s end trying to solve the problem.

“I went online and I couldn’t find anything,” he said.

He looked for companies and checked mommy blogs to see if there was a product that could help him solve his dilemma.

The only suggestion he found was duct tape.

He used it, but getting the duct tape off of the diaper turned out to be a different kind of problem. He could cut the tape off, but he was concerned about using scissors so close to his squirming son.

So, he came up with his own solution. He calls it the Diaper Belt.

The belt has Velcro backing that adheres to the diaper.

It’s easy to use. It is simply wrapped around the baby’s diaper. It covers the diaper’s release tabs at the front of the diaper, so that a child can’t take off his diaper. It has a release tab at the back, so parents can take off the belt and use it again.

Owen was potty-trained shortly after he began wearing a Diaper Belt, Campbell said.

He credits his invention for helping to shorten the time it took to potty train his son.

Instead of taking his diaper off when he wanted to go and then going wherever he wanted, Owen would approach Campbell, or his wife, Caroline, to have one of them take off his diaper so he could go to the bathroom.

They would then use that opportunity to give Owen additional potty training.

Campbell has submitted a patent for his Diaper Belt, and he envisions a day when the product, bearing a picture of his son, will be sold in the diaper aisle in retail outlets throughout the world.

He makes this pitch for his product on his website: “Stop the madness. Stop the messes. Stop using duct tape.”

The Diaper Belt comes in pink or blue and sells for $4.95 each.

Campbell hopes to reduce the price to $2.95 at some point, but needs volume sales to do that.

He’s pleased with the fact that he has taken his idea and turned it into a product, but he still has a long way to go to make his venture a success.

He’s still looking for investors and for major retail outlets to stock the Diaper Belt.

Despite the many challenges, Campbell is confident.

“I know there are millions of parents with the same problem out there. It’s a simple solution to a common problem.”

For more information about Campbell’s invention go to www.diaperbelt.com or call Campbell at (813) 765-0004.

By Tammy Sue Struble

Issues with fencing at the Zephyr Park location of the annual Celtic Festival in Zephyrhills prompted a quick move to Dade City’s Pioneer Village location.

According to Celtic Festival organizers, the temporary, orange, plastic fencing used at previous Celtic Festivals at Zephyr Park in Zephyrhills was not sufficient. The event had problems with the fencing in that many people got into the event without paying. After checking into other types of fencing possibilities for the Zephyr Park venue, the cost of renting other types of fencing was expensive.

“Apparently … with cutbacks, (the City of) Zephyrhills couldn’t do it this year and we couldn’t do it either. We had to find a place that was fenced in,” explained Annette Kama, Celtic Festival Vendor Chair and general information contact.

Event organizer Steve Serneels stated that, “we almost didn’t make enough last year because of people not paying. The Pioneer Village location has a very large parking area and is fenced. It was cancel or move.”

Serneels explained that working with the City of Zephyrhills in the past was very good; the staff and park were nice and the location was good. He also said that working funds are lower this year — they do not have some sponsors for the festival that they had last year.

“It’s (Dade City Pioneer Museum) right down the road,” continued Serneels. “Hopefully we’ll get the crowds as in previous years and try to keep it at the same level as it was before.”

A regular Celtic Festival participant, Mayor Cliff McDuffie of Zephyrhills, was still in the process of making up his mind regarding attending.

“I have a lot going on that weekend,” McDuffie said. He expressed concern over it moving locations and said that he would miss it being in Zephyrhills.

The festival is set for March 5-6 at the Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade City.

For more information go to www.zephyrhillscelticfestival.com or call (813) 786-2724.

Tower doctor sees his profession in military terms

By Kyle LoJacono

During Dr. Raj Kedar’s 20 years in radiology, he has seen the technology change radically.

When he started, doctors had to share one copy of an X-ray of a broken bone, but today dozens of doctors can see images from deep within a joint, of a heart pumping blood and the inner functioning of a brain at the same time.

“I enjoy every day,” said Kedar, 49. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Kedar’s passion is evident in how he speaks of radiology, also known as imaging.

“It’s like intelligence for doctors,” said Kedar, medical director of Tower Radiology Center Wesley Chapel. “We’re doctor’s doctors. We find the enemy in someone’s body and help doctors find the best way to get rid of it. Nothing can hide with the equipment we have today.”

Kedar estimated that 35 percent of the technology used at Tower today did not exist when he started two decades ago. What did exist was primitive by today’s standards.

“A CT (CAT) scan took about five minutes back then,” Kedar said. “Today we can do it in five seconds.”

One of the newest advancements in the field is physiology imaging, which uses a sugar solution injected into the patient. The solution moves through parts the body, such as the heart, to give doctors a view into how it is working. Most pictures taken in radiology are anatomical, looking at a part of the body that is not moving like a bone or joint.

Frank Connelly, Tower Radiology chief operating officer, said new physiology imaging just came online at the Wesley Chapel facility last week.

Kedar said he was taught that medicine has three important parts — diagnosis, treatment and prevention. He believes radiology involves all three aspects.

“Diagnosis is what people think of most when they think of radiology, but it’s a big part of treatment too,” Kedar said. “We let doctors and patients see what their treatment is doing for them and we can also catch little issues before they become a big problem, so prevention.”

Along with the technology now being used in the industry, new electronic records have also made treatment much faster. Once images are loaded at Tower’s Wesley Chapel, North Dale Mabry in Lutz or nine other locations, a patient’s primary doctor can instantly see the same picture. They can also listen to Kedar’s diagnosis.

“It cuts down on time and makes treatment better,” Kedar said. “I can get second opinions from other doctors when making recommendations.”

Tower, which is owned and operated by doctors, has 32 radiologists within its system. They are all specialists within the field, ranging from heart, women’s health or physical medicine as Kedar is.

“Having specialists allows for better treatment,” Connelly said. “It makes it more efficient when we have people who know everything about their part of the field.”

Tower has had the Wesley Chapel facility, 2324 Oak Myrtle Lane, for about two years and is located less than two miles from the future Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

The North Dale Mabry facility, 17503 N. Dale Mabry in Lutz, is slightly newer at about 1.5 years old and is less than one mile from St. Joseph’s Hospital-North, which opened a year ago. Kedar said the proximity to the hospitals was an important factor in picking their locations.

“It was definitely a factor,” Kedar said. “Patients want an imaging center like these to be close to their hospital for convenience. Also, we believe these areas are growing and we want to be here for those people. Once you get a place like this with all the equipment it’s hard to move, so we’re in it for the long haul right where we are.”

Additionally, Tower is actively involved with new clinical research. They were part of the testing of an Alzheimer’s treatment drug that just came on the market less than a month ago. Patients who were given the drug were tested for its effectiveness at Tower.

“It helps us advance the technology and treatment for everyone,” Connelly said.

Each of Tower’s locations offers various imaging options. For a list of procedures at the sites, visit www.towerdiagnostic.com.

New catheter method offers speed, comfort

By Kyle LoJacono

Betty Theademan went home less than two hours after receiving a cardiac catheter test at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills Heart Institute, something she would not have been able to do a year ago.

Until about six months ago, the institute used the traditional catheter method, going through the groin to check for blockages in someone’s blood vessels.

“It’s much easier for the doctor to do it that way, but it’s not as easy on the patient,” said Dr. Ketul Chauhan, who treated Theademan. “With the old method, patients had to lay down in a bed for six to eight hours as still as possible to make sure they don’t bleed. The newer way, they can walk out much faster.”

The newer method is called radial catheterization and goes in through the wrist. Theademan, who winters in Zephyrhills with her husband Pete, had never been to the hospital for treatment before.

“I’d been having chest pains the last couple weeks, so I thought I should get checked out,” Theademan said. “They said I should have a catheter and I was thinking about how long and uncomfortable it would be.”

Theademan had a traditional catheter about 10 years ago and was pleased to hear the new method went through the wrist. She had the test done on Jan. 24 and said she was on the road home feeling fine soon after.

“When I had it done the first time it was so uncomfortable,” Theademan said. “They put pressure on the area for six hours and I stayed overnight. This time they taped the area tight with some gauze and told me to take it easy for a couple days. They said don’t lift anything that is more than 10 pounds. Two day later I took the gauze off and it was like it never happened.”

Chauhan said bleeding was always the main concern with traditional catheterizations, especially with older people.

“We have an older population here in Zephyrhills and east Pasco County,” Chauhan said. “We knew we wanted to have this treatment because it’s not only safer, but faster and just as effective at finding blockages.”

Gwen Alonso, the hospital’s vice president of cardiac services, said offering treatments like radial catheterization fits into the overall goal at the facility.

“We thought the new catheterization would be an upgrade to our care,” Alonso said. “We already have awards for the speed of our care and the outcomes of our treatment at the Heart Institute and we’ll continue to bringing the best new techniques and technologies available. The goal is for our patients to have a great experience when they come here.”

Alonso stressed that not everyone is a candidate for the new treatment and people should discuss the option with their doctor.

As for Theademan’s diagnosis, the catheter found no significant blockages in her body. She said her doctors recommend she live an overall healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and a good diet to treat the slight chest pain.

“It’s good news,” Theademan said. “You don’t want to have to do anything too major. The catheter was easy and so is the treatment. I’m very happy with how everything turned out.”