Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By Kyle LoJacono

Pasco County voters elected three new school board members and, in a race reflective of the national mood, ousted the only Democrat on the county commission as some 138,985 voters hit the ballot box last week.
“It was one of the smoothest Election Days we’ve had,” said Pasco supervisor of elections Brian Corley. “Things went very well and we didn’t have any malfunctions to speak of.

“Voting was steady to slow all day,” Corley continued. “We had 46 percent of registered county voters vote in this midterm. I’m always hopeful the turnout is higher. I thought we’d get about 43 percent and I’m glad I was wrong about that. I’m always disappointed when we don’t have 100 percent participation, but overall it was a good day for Pasco County.”

FLORIDA HOUSE
Republican Will Weatherford won re-election for the second time in Florida District 61 and is poised to become the youngest state speaker of the House since 1957 and the first from Pasco since 1893. Weatherford, 30, defeated fellow Wesley Chapel resident Elena McCullough with nearly 66 percent of the vote.
“I was very happy to win and also very humble,” Weatherford said. “To have the opportunity to be the speaker is a great responsibility and a great opportunity for our community and everyone in Florida. I think we’ll be able to do great things for our state.”
The district covers all of Land O’ Lakes, Odessa, Wesley Chapel and east Pasco along with portions of northern Hillsborough County.
Weatherford said he has three main goals while in office: to limit the scope of government, create job opportunities in both his district and across the state and create a Class A education system.

FLORIDA SENATE
One of the more bizarre races this year was for state Senate District 12 where current Hillsborough County commissioner Republican Jim Norman took nearly 83 percent of the vote against two write-in candidates.
Norman was removed from the ballot for a short time when Republican rival Kevin Ambler sued him for not disclosing an Arkansas house on his asset form. Norman was put back on the ballot before Election Day.
District 12 covers all or most of Pasco County east of the Suncoast Parkway except for Zephyrhills and much of northern Hillsborough as well including Lutz and Odessa. In the 57 Pasco precincts in the district, 4,073 people left the option blank on their ballot. On the Hillsborough side of the district, 43,500 people left the option blank.
When the ballots that left blank the spot for the district are added in, Norman received just more than 56 percent of the vote.
For District 10, Republican Ronda Storms won over a write-in candidate. The district covers Zephyrhills and portions of Wesley Chapel.

COUNTY COMMISSION
Republican Pat Mulieri won re-election to the Pasco County commission by taking 70 percent of the vote against Clay Colson. Mulieri is also the current commission chairperson and has served since 1994.
“We moved to Pasco in 1979,” Mulieri said. “I began teaching at the PHCC. I have been a teacher all my life and I enjoy working with and assisting residents. I also love living in Pasco and I want to contribute to making this a great place for people to live, work and play. My two daughters and five grandkids also make Pasco their home.”
Mulieri represents county District 2, which covers all of central Pasco and much of Wesley Chapel. She said her biggest focus on the commission now is creating jobs.
“Pasco has a 13.1 percent unemployment rate,” Mulieri said. “For many this is the worst of times. However, the board has taken steps to reverse this. We are diligently trying to bring industry into Pasco.”
Some of the ways jobs are already coming to the area are from the building of PHCC’s Wesley Chapel Campus and Rasmussen College’s East Pasco Campus, the future Wesley Chapel Medical Center and the possibility of a hockey arena still exists. All these projects are in Mulieri’s district.
Mulieri is the fifth woman to serve on the Pasco Commission and the fourth to serve as chair.
“I just want to thank (the people) for having faith in me and giving me the chance to complete projects that I started,” Mulieri said. “I will continue to work for the citizens 24/7.”
For county District 4, incumbent Democrat Michael Cox lost to Henry Wilson Jr., who had 52 percent of the vote. The changeover means the commission’s five members are all Republicans.

SCHOOL BOARD
Cynthia Armstrong received 56 percent of the vote to defeat Mike Ryan for the Pasco School Board District 3 spot. For District 4, Alison Crumbley won with 54 percent over Karen King. Steve Luikart won District 5 with 58 percent of the vote over Mark Swartsel.

STATEWIDE
Republican Rich Nugent won U.S. House of Representatives District 5 seat with 67 percent of the vote over James Piccillo. The district covers all of central and east Pasco County. Nugent was previously the Hernando County Sheriff.
Republican Marco Rubio is the winner of the state’s soon to be open U.S. Senate seat, defeating Gov. Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek.
Political newcomer Republican Rick Scott was declared the winner over Alex Sink in a very close election to be Florida’s governor. Scott took just less than 49 percent of the vote, while Sink got just less than 48 percent.
Republican Pam Bondi took 56 percent of the vote over Dan Gelber to become Florida’s attorney general. Republican Jeff Atwater defeated Loranne Ausley for the state’s chief financial officer with 58 percent of the vote. Adam Putnam won the race for Agriculture Commissioner, ensuring a clean sweep of the cabinet for Republicans.

The Wesley Chapel tourney is expected to raise more than $80,000 for the Derek Pieper Memorial Fund

By Kyle LoJacono

When Susan and Steve Wood watch lacrosse teams from across the Southeast play Nov. 20-21 in Wesley Chapel, the couple will be thinking about Derek Pieper.

“He got into a little trouble, but really you couldn’t have asked for a better kid,” said Susan, Pieper’s mother. “He tutored his teammates, worked and got mostly As in his high school and college classes he was taking at (Pasco-Hernando Community College). His faith was also very strong and now he is watching us all from heaven.”
Pieper and his friend, Raymond Veluz, were murdered in July 2006. Tyree Jenkins and Luc Pierre-Charles are both serving life sentences for the deaths.
According to court testimony, Pieper had previously bought drugs from Pierre-Charles, his classmate at Wesley Chapel High School, though it was unclear why he and Veluz were killed that night.
Pieper was a center for the Warriors, a lacrosse team in the Wesley Chapel Athletic Association (WCAA) for Wesley Chapel students. To remember him, the Derek Pieper Memorial Cup was established in 2006 at Wesley Chapel District Park, 7727 Boyette Road in Wesley Chapel.
Tom Fitzsimons, president of the WCAA, said the event was also started to increase lacrosse’s popularity in Florida.
“It has become the biggest lacrosse tournament in this part of the country each fall,” said Fitzsimons, who was also Pieper’s coach. “Four years ago when we started, we had 19 teams play. Then we had 36 and 53, and this year we have 89 teams signed up.”
While the event encourages participation in the game Pieper loved, it has also raised between $80,000 and $100,000 for the Derek Pieper Memorial Fund, according to Susan. Money from the trust goes to help needy families buy lacrosse equipment and to scholarships for the players.
Fitzsimons said the event also fills the area hotels and pumps money into the economy when all the teams coming from out of the area to participate.
Pieper only started playing lacrosse when he was in high school. He and his family moved to Pasco County from Minnesota in 2001. Despite his late adoption of the sport, he was good enough to receive several scholarship offers to play in college.
“He wanted to stay close to home because of my health,” said Steve, who is Pieper’s stepfather and raised him since age 3. “I’m disabled and have a lot of problems with my immune system and he wanted to make sure he went to a school close by. He was planning on going to Saint Leo (University) even though bigger schools were recruiting him.”
Fitzsimons said Pieper was still learning the game, but his athletic ability made him one of the better players on the team. He was looking forward to seeing what the center could have done in his senior year.
“Derek was a heart and soul kid,” Fitzsimons said. “He’d be the kid to pull someone aside and give them a pick-me-up talk if they were having a bad day. He wasn’t a hug in-your-face kind of presence, but if you don’t have a kid like that your team suffers and we did the next year. There was a physical and huge emotional hole.”
Spots in the tournament are filling up, so any team interested in signing up should visit www.wclacrosse.org.
The Woods are looking for a full house at the event.
“Derek’s legacy lives on in the event,” Susan said. “It’s wonderful that they have the event each year in his honor. They also retired his number 11 after he died and that’s just another way for people to remember Derek.”

By Gary Hatrick

The Samaritan Project kicked off the Harvest Festival weekend with the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Friday morning at Golden Corral in Zephyrhills.

Pastor Tim Mitchell of Chancey Road Christian Church welcomed the attendees and introduced Zephyrhills Mayor Cliff McDuffie, who led the Pledge of Allegiance prior to the breakfast that has become an annual event in connection with the Harvest Festival.
Drew Weatherford was the guest speaker for the gathering. Weatherford is a former quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles and currently a member of the Tampa Bay Storm.
After breakfast, Weatherford gave a message of hope in Christ when life doesn’t go the way you hoped or planned to a full room of breakfast attendees.
East Pasco Family YMCA executive director gave a challenge to help needy kids attend YMCA camp this summer and Florida Hospital Zephyrhills Chaplain Doug Higgins led the group in prayer.
The breakfast was followed by a golf tournament later in the day at Silverado Golf and Country Club and the Harvest Festival on Main Street Nov. 6.
The Samaritan Project is a partnership of government, business and faith-based organization with the goal of meeting the individual needs of the community. The vision of the Samaritan Project is to provide a single source help site for individuals to access for assistance and/or for guidance to assistance.
Since its establishment a little over two years ago, The Samaritan Project has helped 911 local individuals or families. More than $18,000 in assistance had been given to help pay utility bills, rent or to provide temporary shelter or miscellaneous necessities.
Through facilities provided by Chancey Road Christian Church, the Samaritan Project opened a homeless shelter July 19 providing a safe place and meals for 51 persons, 18 of whom have been children. Samaritan Project also operates a soup kitchen at the church facilities.
For more information, for donations to the project or for help call (813) 810-8670.
The weekend events were presented by The Samaritan Project of Zephyrhills,
The Zephyrhills Wesley Chapel Ministerial Association and the East Pasco
Family YMCA and sponsored by the Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, The
Laker, Edward Jones Financial, Chick-fil-A, Golden Corral, Chancey Road
Christian Church, Progress Energy, Westar Constuction and the City of
Zephyrhills.

By B.C. Manion

Class-size restrictions for Florida’s public schools will stay the same.
Changes to local land-use plans will continue to be made by elected officials and campaign financing will go on for candidates for statewide elective office who agree to campaign spending limits.
Florida voters rejected constitutional amendments that would have changed those things.
But voters approved constitutional amendments that will affect the way lines are drawn for legislative and congressional districts and approved a new tax exemption for military personnel serving in areas designated by the Legislature.
Voters rejected Amendment 8, a proposal that would have increased maximum class sizes in Florida public schools and would have given schools greater flexibility in meeting those requirements.

Pasco Schools Superintendent Heather Fiorentino and State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, each expressed disappointment about the outcome of the class size vote.
“Of course it has us concerned,” Fiorentino said. “We definitely wanted to have some flexibility,” she said.
Accommodating the limits required a significant amount of disruption that will continue, Fiorentino said.
“John Long (Middle School) made more than 200 schedule changes,” Fiorentino said, and that’s just one school.
Many elementary school children also had to be moved into new classes in order to comply with class size caps, she said.
School districts must have more flexibility, Fiorentino said.
Although they failed to muster the 60 percent needed to pass the class size amendment, a majority of voters are opposed to the current class size limits, Weatherford said.
The caps force the state to spend money to preserve small classes at the expense of providing a 21st century brand of education for students, Weatherford said. “This comes with a price.”
But Lynne Webb, president of the United School Employees of Pasco, said voters sent legislators a clear message on this issue. She said voters are telling lawmakers:
“Start listening to the people. We passed this. We’ve given you our opinion a number of times. Don’t cheat the children.”
Weatherford was much happier with the outcome on Amendment 4, which voters rejected. That would have required voters to approve changes to the land-use plan.
“Everyone recognized that Hometown Democracy was a terrible amendment,” Weatherford said.
Supporters of Amendment 4 claimed it would help protect the environment and help prevent suburban sprawl and congestion. Opponents said it would damage the state’s economy and cost jobs.
Bob Hunter, executive director for the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission, said “in local government, we sort of dodged the bullet. We had not really evaluated the impact it was going to cause, if it had passed. But it was going to be substantial, not only the delays but the cost of it.”
However, Hunter added, “This is not to be cast aside cavalierly.”
The fact that the issue made it onto the ballot and that it garnered so much support should send a message to elected leaders that there needs to be more community buy-in on long-range planning decisions, Hunter said. If that doesn’t happen, Hunter said, “This will rise again.”
Weatherford said adoption of Amendment 5 and Amendment 6 was unfortunate.
The amendments say that legislative and congressional districts may not be drawn to favor an incumbent or political party, and that they must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries.
Weatherford said the amendments were backed by special interests and were sold under the guise of fairness. But he thinks the result of the amendments will be to take the authority of redrawing the lines away from the Legislature and to give it to the courts.
The League of Women Voters of Florida, which joined the coalition that backed the amendments, claimed they will end gerrymandering – the practice of drawing voting district lines to give an unfair advantage to one political party.
Voters also approved Amendment 2, which provides an additional homestead property tax break for Floridians serving in the military to support operations in overseas areas designated by the Legislature. The amount of the exemption will be based on the length of time the person was deployed. The amendment takes effect on Jan. 1.

What Passed?
Amendment 2: Provides additional property tax relief for residents deployed to select overseas areas.
Amendments 5/6: Require changes to the way legislative and congressional boundaries are drawn.

By B.C. Manion

It wasn’t even close.
Voters soundly rejected a proposed 1-cent sales tax to expand bus services, improve roads and support a light rail system in Hillsborough County.
Sharon Calvert, treasurer of NoTaxForTracks.com, said her group was confident that voters would reject the tax once they had a clear understanding of the issues.
“We felt that when we got our message out it would resonate with voters,” said Calvert, whose group mounted an opposition campaign to the proposed transit tax.
The 1-cent sales tax would have funded light rail, road improvements and expanded bus services.
But most of it would have gone to support light rail, Calvert said. “The cost was way too high, it did way too little and it benefitted too few,” she said.
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who championed the tax, said it is too soon to know what backers of the transit tax will do next.
“We need to take our time to evaluate what happened,” Iorio said. “We need to look at all of the things that went right and all of the things that went wrong,” she said.
“One big thing is the economy,” said Iorio. “Many voters I talked to said, “Pam, I think this is good idea, but I don’t think it is the right time.’ “
“People were just not ready to make that investment,” she said.
Iorio said she has been in touch with supporters of light rail who want to maintain the coalition that backed the cause, but Iorio said she is not sure what kind of role the new mayor of Tampa will want to play in the issue. Iorio leaves office next year due to term limits.
Calvert said she doubts that last week’s vote will signal the end of the issue. “We are expecting that this will be back,” she said.

By B.C. Manion

How do you make your business grow?
That was the crux of the second annual Economic Gardening Conference held last week in Pasco County.
It turns out there are lots of resources that companies may find useful in their quest to expand, but the sources of help are often scattered – and many business owners may be unaware of them, speakers at the conference said.
One source of help for businesses is known as the GrowFL program. It targets second-stage companies – which are defined as growth companies that are beyond the startup stage and are poised to expand.
The GrowFL program is administered by the Florida Economic Gardening Institute at the University of Central Florida and is funded by the Florida Legislature.
GrowFL offers presentations that bring leaders of second-stage businesses into a confidential setting where they can learn from their peers.
It also offers CEO Roundtables, which brings groups of entrepreneurs together for collaborative problem-solving sessions on issues important to their companies. These sessions also are held in a confidential setting and are led by a trained facilitator.
Besides offer technical help, GrowFL also supports referral networks and events  that can lead to new business relationships and clients.
The economic gardening approach is practical, said John Hagen, president and executive director of the Pasco Economic Development Council.
The traditional economic development model was to identify employers who could provide a substantial number of jobs and use enticements to lure them to a community.
Hagen said it makes sense to concentrate more resources on nurturing local businesses to help them flourish.
Individually, they don’t produce as many jobs – but collectively, they can be a powerful source of economic development. Instead of relying on a small number of large employers, a community can develop a broad base of small companies that are thriving.
In essence, the GrowFL model asks: “How do we take our current economic base and extract as much growth as possible?” Hagen said.
“That is what we need,” said Pasco County Commissioner Pat Mulieri, who attended the meeting. “The entrepreneurial spirit is what made our country great,” she said. “For many years, we always wanted the big guys.”
Besides helping individual companies to succeed, the community becomes more attractive to companies that are looking to relocate, Hagen said.
Economic activity begets economic activity, he said.
“You want to go into a place where things are happening,” Hagen said. That sends a message. It tells companies: “This is a safe place to invest because other people are doing it.”
Steve Quello, founder and president of CEO Nexus, facilitated a panel discussion at the conference featuring three Pasco CEOs who have been benefitted from GrowFL.
The panelists were Don Morrison, president and owner of Designer Golf Company and Site Essentials; Anthony Gaeto, CEO, president and co-founder of Web Direct Brands and Peter Buczynsky, president and co-founder of PharmaWorks.
All three men, whose companies are in Odessa, talked about using GrowFL programs to help them leverage their resources to find new markets or to make better business decisions.
Morrison said he has benefitted from insights gleaned from discussions with other CEOs.
The person at the top of a company often doesn’t have anyone else inside the company to bounce ideas off of, Morrison said. In peer discussions it becomes clear that top executives are often grappling with the same kinds of issues, he said.
Company CEOs often can learn from each other because they come from varied industries and offer different perspectives, Quello added.
Low-interest loans also are available for those who qualify. To get the details on loan requirements and restrictions, go to www.BBIF.com or call (407) 649-4780.
GrowFL is just one of many resources available to businesses, but company leaders are often so immersed in the day-to-day challenges of their company that they don’t have time to explore sources of potential help, speakers said.
In Orlando, there’s a one-stop for entrepreneurs needing help. It is called the Disney Entrepreneur Center, and it brings together myriad resources to help businesses.
Closer to home, the PEDC is planning a virtual network to tie various resources together to help business owners seeking assistance.
Members of the website’s core group are the five local chambers of commerce, SCORE, the Pasco-Hernando Work Force Board, the Small Business Development Center, the Pasco Library System and the PEDC.
That’s only the beginning, though.
Hagen wants the Pasco Enterprise Network to be open-ended.
The idea is that anyone seeking help could open any door and be led to the right resource, Hagen said.
“There are a lot of resources out there that tend to operate independently,” Hagen said. “We want to create a business ecosystem.”
Hagen said he expects the website to be up and running within 90 days.

//GrowFL at a glance
To qualify for the GrowFL program, companies must meet these qualifications:
Employ 10 to 100 people
Have gross revenues ranging from $1 million to $50 million
Be a company focused on growth, with increases in the number of employees or gross revenues during at least three of the past five years
Operate in one of these sectors: manufacturing; finance and insurance services; wholesale trade; information industries; professional, scientific and technical services; management services; and administrative support services.
For more information, visit www.growfl.com.

Here are some websites that may be useful for business owners:
www.pascoedc.com
www.BBIF.com
www.disneyec.com
www.flevc.com

By Kyle LoJacono

Parents and scouts would have had to cancel a camping trip the weekend of Oct. 23 without the help of Alex Murphy and Club Connerton in northern Land O’ Lakes.

Cub Scout Pack 323, based in Land O’ Lakes, had scheduled the trip from Friday to Saturday to work on various achievements, shoot off rockets the children had made and end the day with a campfire. Unfortunately for the group, the site they were assigned to was double booked.
The other group “made the area less than desirable for a Cub Scout trip,” said Pack 323 cub master Bryan Gifford. “The parents decided to call it off because of the environment. I went into scramble mode and sent a text to Alex at Connerton at 1:30 in the morning. She got right back to me and said to show up in the morning.”
Murphy is Club Connerton’s activities director. She said the space was available and did not want to turn down the group, especially because Gifford is a member of the club.
“We want to support the whole community and create the sense of community in the area,” Murphy said. “A lot of those families are residents or attend Connerton Elementary and it feels great to be able to help a worthy organization.”
The trip was the first outing for Pack 323 for the year and Gifford was worried the experience would end some of the kids’ time in scouting.
“We had 55 kids going on the trip and I was afraid that some would drop out because of this,” Gifford said. “The kids were all excited because it was our first of the year and without Connerton’s help, we might have lost some scouts. It’s amazing to live in a community where people will help a youth group in a pinch.

“They took a situation that would have had 160 disappointed people and made them 160 happy people,” Gifford continued. “We didn’t spend the night there, but we were able to shoot off the rockets and have a good time.”
Gifford’s youngest son Dakota, 6, is a Tiger Cub in the group. He said he likes camping for the hiking, skits and campfires.
“It was fun,” Dakota said of the Connerton trip. “I liked chasing the rockets.”
Gifford’s older son Skyler is a Webelo scout in the group also. Pack 323 has 88 registered scouts and meets at Myrtle Lake Baptist Church, 2017 Reigler Road off SR 54 in Land O’ Lakes, each Monday at 7 p.m. Anyone interested in joining the group can show up at any meeting or e-mail Gifford at .

By B.C. Manion

Opening a restaurant has always been Miguel Aban’s dream.
His desire to create tasty dishes began with growing up around his mother’s cooking and the cooking of his friends’ moms, he said.

As he grew up, he developed his culinary abilities by working at Beth Israel Medical Center, where he learned to prepare Kosher foods and he later worked as a chef for Filk International in Greenwich, Conn.
Miguel loves to prepare and share good food and used his cooking skills to woo his wife, Marie.
Now, he hopes the foods he prepares will entice people to visit the Dade City restaurant he and Marie opened in July.
Called De Limin Cafe, the restaurant at 14016 7th St. is unpretentious in appearance, and openhearted in nature.
The owners explain the vibe they’re trying to create on their menu’s colorful cover: “The word “lime” as a verb means to hang out with friends, pass the time and talk.”
All are welcome, all kinds of foods are served and no one will pressure patrons to eat quickly and leave, Miguel and Marie said.
They pride themselves on offering French Creole, West Indian, American, Caribbean, Italian and other foods.
Appetizers, for example, include pholourie balls, West Indian saltfish cake, a Caribbean and American sampler and Jamaican beef patty.
Wraps and sandwiches include a jerk chicken wrap, a blackened fish sandwich, a veggie wrap or a chicken and broccoli wrap.
Entrees, labeled as the “main feast” on the menu, come with rice, fried plantains, vegetables and a house salad. Choices include curry chicken, griot, curry lamb and stew fish.
The restaurant also serves Kosher red snapper, lamb and chicken, Miguel said.
Its pasta dishes are lasagna, fettuccini and penne — all featuring homemade noodles and special sauces.
One of the restaurant’s most popular dishes is intended to be shared by two. It’s called the “Melting Pot,” and features shrimp, scallops, lobster, black clams and chicken — cooked in coconut milk and curry sauce.
Natalie Merten, who lives in Ridge Manor, came to the restaurant last week because her daughter, son-in-law and grandson had eaten there and enjoyed it.
She brought a couple of friends from Alabama along with her.
Doris Piland, of Rogersville, Ala., was impressed by the array of food choices. “It’s a great menu. It’s got a great variety,” she said.
Opening a restaurant is always a risky proposition, especially during a recession, but the opportunity arose and the couple decided to go for it.
They repainted the restaurant’s walls, put up some new curtains and reupholstered the chairs.
And, they put together a menu featuring a wide selection of choices.
But they said they are able to prepare a much broader array of foods. If someone requires vegetarian dishes or needs gluten-free foods, they can accommodate those needs, they said.
Both owners love good food and want patrons to leave their restaurant feeling satisfied.
They hope that freshly prepared foods, generous portions, reasonable prices and a friendly atmosphere will help them build a following.
The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. until the last patron leaves on Friday and Saturday.
If patrons come in when they’re getting ready to close, they’ll stay open to serve them, Marie said.
They want their restaurant to have a welcoming ambience.
“We open our restaurant to anyone. Come formal or come casual. Come anyway you want,” Miguel said.
“We give everybody a chance,” Marie said. “We believe in all traditions.”
For more information about the restaurant or its menu call (352) 245-4350 or go to delimincafe.com.

By B.C. Manion

When Ilene and Del Aitchison opened the DogShirtStore in August, they knew the 700-square-foot space they moved into wouldn’t be large enough to meet their long-term needs, but they wanted to get into the Tropical Village Plaza.
They knew that The Breakfast Nook in the plaza attracted lots of traffic and they wanted to be near the popular restaurant.

The couple expects to be in a new space by the middle of November. It won’t be next to the Breakfast Nook, but the shop will have larger quarters – a 1,200-square-foot space, just a few suites down. Their shop’s new home will be Suite H of 1532 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., just off US 41, between County Line Road and SR 54.
DogShirtStore needs a larger space because it is adding a pet groomer. It also is retaining a photographer, who will be available by appointment and will work special events.
There’s no hiding the shop owners’ affection for their three miniature schnauzers — Lili, Ivie and Trooper. The dogs’ photographs are on proud display in the store.
The shop owners figure others are similarly smitten by their pets and the shop sells lots of items to express that kind of affection.
There are canine treats: ginger pup hearts, pizza teddy bears, doggie donuts and bow wownies. There are doggie diaper bags and dog toys.
The shop offers custom-made T-shirts – allowing patrons to pick out whatever kind of design that they want and have it applied to whatever kind of shirt they choose.
It also offers a number of T-shirts, ball caps and bumper stickers bearing catchy phrases coined by shop owners.
“Get a long, little doggie. Dachshund,” says one bumper sticker that shows the image of a Dachshund. “The Therapy Dog will see you now,” says another.
“In Dog We Trust (Humans? Not so much)” reads one T-shirt. And, in a tip of the hat to feline fanciers, another T-shirt reads: “My husband said it was him or the cats. Guess I’ll need a lawn service.”
Coming up with original ideas is the fun part, Del said. “I love it when people come into the store and just laugh.”
Ilene and Del had never envisioned themselves as owners of a pet accessory shop.
They began heading down that path three years ago, when they set up an online custom T-shirt business.
That business evolved from a T-shirt that Del had designed and Ilene had worn to a fly ball tournament. There aren’t many shirts that cater to that market, Ilene said.
When people saw her shirt, it drew rave reviews and she and Del decided to begin designing, making and selling T-shirts.
At first, it was just a business they carted around to different shows. Then it branched into an online company.
Along the way, Ilene got laid off from a job where she’d work for 13 years and then she got sick. Del quit his job as a graphic artist to take care of her.
Meanwhile, the demand for their custom-made shirts kept growing. So, they decided to branch out and open up their own shop, which opened on the same day as the East-West Animal Hospital, which is in the same plaza.
Besides selling retail items, the store also offers dog-training classes, led by Paula Salter. The shop also raises money for some animal support groups by donating a portion of its proceeds from specifically designated items.
For operating hours and to find out more about items available at DogShirtStore, call (813) 428-6999 or go to www.DogShirtStore.com.

By Shannon Edinger

The Lutz Patriots take pride in their mission statement — “to encourage patriotism in the community” — as they gather in front of the Old Lutz School every Friday to wave their American flags to drivers on US 41.  Veterans Day on Nov. 11 is a reminder that America would not be where it is today without its soldiers.

Barbara Mueller and Karen Williams co-founded the Lutz Patriots in March 2003 to instill a sense of patriotism in the community.  One of the original Lutz Patriots, Bruce Hockensmith, is an Army veteran who fought in Germany from 1965-1968 during the Vietnam era.  He started with the Bayshore Patriots years ago, but after reading about the two women in Lutz, he decided to join the Lutz Patriots since it was closer to his home.
The group was large at first, but it has become smaller over time.  About 7-10 people, mainly retired, come out on a weekly basis. Hockensmith says the group is more sociable because it is relatively small.  “It’s a good group to be around,” Hockensmith said.
The Lutz Patriots are a grassroots community organization.  They send care packages to the troops about four times a year.  The care packages contain miscellaneous items such as food and toiletries, and typically weigh about 50-55 pounds. Donations are always welcome.  The Lutz Patriots are hopeful to receive donations from the community before Nov. 20, when they will ship care packages to the troops.
Hockensmith stresses that the Lutz Patriots are not political.  The focus is patriotism.  “Most people who drive by will honk, flash their lights, or wave flags out their sunroofs.  About 75 to 80 percent are doing something positive or showing support,” Hockensmith says.  “We had a protestor a year ago who thought we were a political organization, but when he realized we just wanted to bring awareness to the public, he stopped protesting.”
Hockensmith devotes his Friday afternoons to the Lutz Patriots.  He knows the care packages they send can brighten the day of any soldier.  Hockensmith relives his time in the army when he says, “They live for mail call.”  He knows that if receiving letters and care packages in the mail boosts their spirits for a couple hours, it is all worth it.  “They do what they do for their country, not for recognition.”  Hockensmith says that when soldiers are recognized for their service from people they do not know, they are rewarded with the recognition that they modestly did not ask to receive.”
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the purpose of Veterans Day is to honor veterans for their patriotism, love of their country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.  The Lutz Patriots show patriotism by flag waving and sending care packages to soldiers.  Hockensmith said patriotism is doing what you can for your country, on Veterans Day and every other day.
While the Patriots have no plans specifically for Veterans Day, look for them back on the highway the following day, when their Friday afternoon tradition continues.
For more information: www.lutzpatriots.com.