Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Chelsea is a 1 ½- year-old boxer. She goes to daycare at Happy Tails Pet Lodge and loves every minute of her day. Just the mere mention of the place makes her grin. Chelsea’s proud owners are Jim and Lisa Patterson of Land O’ Lakes.

Zephyrhills athlete ready to show her talents

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

Zephyrhills High School senior Heather Haynie has been a national champion at the shot put and discus throwing events since the fifthgrade. Now she will be able to show off her athletic talents for the first time for the Bulldogs.

She was unable to compete before because until this year, Florida had no track and field division for permanently disabled athletes in high school.

“It really is great that I’ll finally be able to compete in my senior year,” Haynie said. “I tried to compete in middle school, but I wasn’t allowed. Now I’ll be able to finally show what I can do.”

Haynie was born a normal girl, but lost both her legs in a car accident one week before her fifth birthday.

“I’ll never forget that day,” Haynie said. “July 20, 1996.”

The Florida High School Athletic Association announced last November it was creating new adapted divisions for track and field this year.

“The issue was brought to us last spring by some parents who had eighth-grade students who were interested in competing in high school,” said Laurel Ring, FHSAA director of special programs. “FHSAA staff began looking at programs already in place in other states and decided to add the new divisions for disabled athletes.”

The new divisions will be broken into four classes like traditional track and field based on the number of students that attend each school. The athletes will be able to compete in three events, the wheelchair 200-meter and 800-meter races and wheelchair shot put.

“They will be competing with the traditional events all the way through at every meet,” said Lanness Robinson, Hillsborough County athletic director. “There haven’t been many athletes show interest yet, but I’m sure that will change with time…It’s great that the athletes will have a chance to participate because they haven’t had an opportunity to show their talents before.”

The story is similar in Pasco County.

“I don’t know how many athletes we have in the new divisions yet, but I know it hasn’t been a huge number yet,” said Phil Bell, Pasco athletic director. “It will be great for the athletes once it becomes more mainstream, but we have to start somewhere.”

Haynie is the only disabled athlete who has confirmed her interest in competing in the new divisions in Pasco from any of the high schools in Land O’ Lakes or east, but students from the surrounding counties have.

“She adds a lot to our team,” said Jason Rouser,” Zephyrhills girls track and field coach. “It’s great that she can finally compete because it is obvious that she is very talented. She will be a big factor for the state championship.”

The Bulldogs are in Class 3A, District 7. Haynie will be competing in both racing events and the shot put.

“It is like having the best extra coach in the country here,” said Janay Rouser, Zephyrhills assistant and wife of Jason. “I coach shot put, discus throw and pole vault, so I’ll be working with Heather a lot. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to teach her because she is one of the best in the country, but she’ll be able to point out problems with anyone’s form in the shot put.”

Despite her skill in the shot put, her true passion is in an event she cannot compete in.

“The shot put isn’t my favorite event,” Haynie said. “I really like discus throwing, but they don’t have that yet for wheelchair athletes in high school.”

Haynie said her best distance in the shot put and discus throw are 7.5 and 23.5 meters respectively.

“I actually have all the records for distance in both events for my age and class,” Haynie said. “I’m also the youngest person ever invited to the Paralympics. I was 14 then.”

Haynie also won gold medals in the shot put and javelin throw events and a silver medal in the discus throw at the 2008 Junior Paralympics. Heather said the shot she will be using is about 6.6 pounds.

“People ask me all the time if it is tiring, but it isn’t really,” Haynie said. “You don’t try and use a lot of strength when you do it. It’s more about technique than anything. More strength will actually mess up your form and you won’t get as a much distance.”

Haynie will finally be able to leave her mark on Zephyrhills track and field in her last year, but she has loftier goals as well.

“I’ll be competing in the trials for the 2012 Paralympics this summer and my dream is to compete in the games in London,” she said. “I’ve been a national champion, but know I want to test my skills against the best in the world.”

Local reaction mixed about project

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

LAND O’ LAKES — The recent firing of WDG Construction Inc. by the Pasco County commissioners has left the Collier Parkway extension project in limbo.

The Wesley Chapel-based company, which was also fired by the commissioners from the project to connect Mansfield and Meadow Pointe boulevards in Wesley Chapel, had its contract with the county terminated Feb. 9. County chief engineer Jim Widman said the company stopped work on the extension in December after its vehicle and workers insurance expired.

The extension, which will take Collier through Hale Road and Parkway Boulevard and connect with Ehren Cutoff, is meant to ease traffic on US 41 by allowing those living in the area to take Collier south to bypass the congested highway. However, those working and living in the affected area are mixed about what the extension will do to traffic.

“If anything it will make the traffic worse on Collier,” said Christina Telleir, property manager for The Lakes at Collier Commons Apartments. “It will help with traffic on (US) 41, but everything on it south of Ehren Cutoff is six lanes I believe, so that is where most of the traffic should be. I guess I’m mixed on the extension because I want progress and growth, but the traffic should stay on the main roads.”

Collier Commons is located just north of the intersection of Collier and SR 54. Telleir not only works in the area, but lives close by in Sable Ridge.

Representatives from several of the neighborhoods on Collier, including Lake Padgett and Plantation Palms, all echoed Telleir’s concerns. However, Rebecca Macone, community association manger for Lake Padgett East, saw more positives resulting from the extension.

“It will pull some of the traffic from the back roads,” Macone said. “The buses drive through Lake Padgett East to get to the bus depot on Parkway Boulevard. The extension will let them use Collier to get to the depot instead of driving through the neighborhoods.”

Jeff Johnson, who has lived off Parkway Boulevard near Ehren Cutoff since July 2009, has his own concerns about the buses.

“The back of our house faces Parkway, so we expect to hear much more traffic, especially in the mornings when Pasco County school buses are driving to and from their lot at Pine View Middle School,” Johnson said. “The Collier extension will provide a more convenient path to the businesses around Collier, SR 54 and to I-75 and Wesley Chapel, but my family hopes the convenience will outweigh the additional noise.”

Other major places affected by the extension include Pine View Middle School, Lake Myrtle Elementary, Academy at the Lakes school, Land O’ Lakes Branch Library, Land O’ Lakes Recreation Center and Our Lady of the Rosary Church.

“We have between 2,500 and 3,000 members of our parish and some of those do come from that area that would have their travel time reduced by the extension,” said Deacon Dennis Snyder. “When mass lets out on Sundays, it gets a little crazy out there. That wouldn’t do anything with the weekday traffic, but it can get bad on Collier.”

The extension project was planned in three phases. The first two, which WDG was hired to complete, will take Collier north through Hale until it connects with Parkway Boulevard. The last will further extend Collier to Ehren Cutoff. The whole project will add about three miles of road to Collier, one from phase one and two and two more miles from phase three.

Phases one and two were set to be completed this spring, but WDG had finished less than 40 percent of the work as of Feb. 9. WDG was awarded the contract worth $4.3 million to complete the first two phases in April 2009. Since being fired from the project, the company has taken down its Web site and disconnected its phone number.

Deborah Bolduc, program administrator for Pasco County Engineering Services, said phase three will not be planned until 2013 or 2014 and will not be completed until at least 2015 or 2016. Bolduc said phases one and two will still be completed, but no plans had been set for how and by when as of Feb. 17.

WDG was the second construction company doing work in Land O’ Lakes fired by the county this year. Kearny Construction Company, which was doing waterline work along US 41, also had its contract with Pasco terminated in January.

When the road extension is completed, the land around it will be usable for a variety of different purposes. In an e-mail, the Pasco Zoning and Site Development Department wrote the different portions of the newly accessible land are zoned of everything from residential to agricultural purposes.

“I’ve lived in Land O’ Lakes for most of my life,” Telleir sad. “When I was young there was barely a Collier Parkway and I hope the increased traffic doesn’t negatively affect the area.”

By Suzanne Schmidt

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — The lights are dim and the rhythmic drums by Babatunde Olatunji reverberate through the room as people file into the Zephryhills High School activity center. Then suddenly the curtains open to the school’s jazz band playing “In the Stone” so well you might think it is actually Earth, Wind and Fire on stage.

Derrick Tucker, assistant principal at the school, will then step out to let people know what the performance is about. The title of the program is Celebrate Black History Through the Exploration of Music.

“The program will be about harmony and working together,” Tucker said. “It will be teaching people to treat others with decency and kindness regardless of race, creed or color. If you treat people right, it will be all right.”

For the last 10-15 years, Tucker has coordinated a black history month performance at the various schools he has worked for. He said it is important to teach students because there is still distrust and racism in the world.

“We will be educating the audience,” Tucker said. “They will learn about culture through the exploration of music and have some food for thought when they leave. I will interpret the extent of how this program is valued by how many attend.”

This year’s assembly will be different from any he has done before.

“In the past I have done talent shows,” Tucker said. “It didn’t matter what color they were, they could just get up to sing, dance and perform. It was a very arduous task. This year I will have my two conservatory-trained musician adult sons performing with me.”

The school’s jazz band and choir will perform along with The Modern ZHS Sextet featuring Juan Ortega on bass, Michael Schmidt on percussion, Miles Tucker on saxophone, Derrick Tucker on keyboard and vocals, Wayne Tucker on trumpet, keyboard and vocals and Marcos Robles on guitar. Music will be the key focus of the program with songs like “I Stood on the Banks” by the Rev. James Cleveland, “In the Stone” by Earth, Wind & Fire, “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix and “So What” by Miles Davis.

“It will be worth the journey to come to this show because I know my kids,” Tucker said. “We will have some smooth jazz, some bebop jazz, some fun reggae, gospel and more.”

The lyrics from “Lift Every Voice,” the African-American national anthem, will be read over music.

“Last year we had two women singing, but this year we will have our student, Passion Dixon, recite the lyrics,” Tucker said. “I want people to be able to understand the words and reflect on them.”

Throughout the program, students will be giving speeches about various topics including giving a history of jazz, funk, reggae, and R&B. Jonathan Funnell, senior, will be teaching the audience a little about jazz.

“I am going to talk about the lives of some of the greatest people in black history,” Funnell said. “I will talk about how jazz was formed and how it is played. My favorite jazz musician is Joshua Redman. I am going to talk about him and his role in jazz music.”

Terrance Stewart, junior, will be introducing songs at the performance.

“I want to get the audience interested in what we are doing,” Stewart said. “I hope people will learn. Everyone knows who Rosa Parks is and Martin Luther King, but they don’t know most music today is a form of African American music that has evolved to what it is now.”

The school will have a performance during the day just for the students and one in the evening open to the community. Tucker said this year the day performance will be different because everyone in the school will attend it.

“During school assemblies, students normally can opt out and sit in the cafeteria,” Tucker said. “I want the children to have a comprehensive school experience.”

The performance falls under the umbrella of character education at the school.

“Character education allows each school to devise its own manner towards establishing awareness,” Tucker said. “The characteristics we are teaching students are caring, respect, citizenship, trustworthiness, responsibility and fairness. We have hands-on learning activities that are based more on expression as compared to pure lesson based learning.”

The show will be 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Zephyrhills High School activity center, 6335 12^th Street. It is free to the public, but a love donation will be accepted.

Joshua Eskelund, senior, will be running the technical side of the show.

“It is going to be an amazing show,” Eskelund said. “We have so much talent. We are just going to have fun with it and see where it goes.”

Local teen auditions for national television show

By Suzanne Schmidt

Staff Writer

LAND O’ LAKES — On the next season of America’s Got Talent, area residents might be able to follow one of their own.

Alyssa Bermudez, a junior at Sunlake High School, attended the initial interview for the show along with about 1,000 other people in Orlando a few weeks ago. She will find out if she made it to the next round where she will interview with the celebrity judges in March.

“I was watching TV when a commercial came on about season five,” Alyssa said. “If you wanted to be on you had to pre-register on-line. A couple months passed and it got to the point I thought they would never call. I got the e-mail and filled out the paperwork and got the audition date.”

The audition was at 8 a.m. Feb. 13. Alyssa and her mother Yolanda Bermudez stood in line for hours before seeing the judges.

“When they let us know she had an audition, I was so happy and excited,” Yolanda said. “She did such an awesome job. We are hoping she made it but either way, it was a great experience. We met a lot of people and she had a chance to perform in front of the cameras.”

In the holding room before going into the audition, Alyssa said she started to get nervous.

“They asked me to pretend I was practicing,” Alyssa said. “I had to sing and the cameras were right on me. I love being in front of cameras. The directors told me I was doing good and they liked me.”

Then the scary part of the day came with Alyssa’s audition.

“I had to wait with the others,” Alyssa said. “I felt so anxious. I just wanted to get in there. When we walked in, the room was dead silent. They call you up and you say your name, age and where you are from and then you have to sing acappella.”

Alyssa only had 90 seconds to make an impression on the judges with her song choice “I Turn To You” by Christina Aguilera.

In March or April, she will find out if she will be asked back to be on the show for the next round of judging.

“Whether I make it or not at least the whole experience was a lot of fun,” Alyssa said.

Alyssa has been in several school talent shows and even modeled for a while. She said she stopped because it took up too much of her time.

“I have been singing since I was little,” Bermudez said. “When I lived in New York I used to always sing, it drove my parents crazy. I like getting up in front of people and performing.”

This year she will perform in her school talent show March 12 at the school, 3023 Sunlake Blvd. The show starts at 7 p.m. and is open to the community.

“I will be doing the same routine I did for the audition,” Bermudez said. “I like to sing because I believe through singing I can express myself. I like to get out there and just do it. I put my heart and soul into it.”

Even though Alyssa loves to sing, she does not plan to make a career out of it. She will be studying law and maybe psychology when she goes to college.

“If it is meant for me to have a career it will happen,” Bermudez said. “I don’t think singing does much for the world and I want to be able to help people.”

With Alyssa’s personality and talent, Yolanda said she knows she will go far.

“Alyssa is a people person and very friendly,” Yolanda said. “One good thing about Alyssa is she is very confident. I know that whatever she wants to do we are there for and will support her.”

For more information about America’s Got Talent, visit www.nbc.com/americas-got-talent.