Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Neukom Groves is Zephyrhills tradition

Generation after generation call city home

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — When Zephyrhills was still new, the Neukom family was growing citrus.

“We’ve been here for generations,” said George Neukom III. “Our grove is a family-owned business. I’ve lived in Zephyrhills all my life and wouldn’t live anywhere else.”

Neukom, 43, is the sixth Neukom generation to live in Zephyrhills. According to Neukom’s mother, Ann Brooke-Neukom, the mother’s side of the family came in 1910, before the city was even called Zephyrhills. It was Abbott then, and Christian Leatherman moved his family there from Indiana.

Neukom’s father’s side came in 1914. At that time, Charles and Lorena Neukom brought their son, George, family patriarch.

The first Neukom grove was planted in 1921. The current grove started shipping its own citrus in 2001.

“We get the fruit picked and shipped as fast as we can,” Neukom said. “It’s just better when it’s fresh off the tree. We don’t have to go through a middleman to get it shipped, so it’s much fresher.”

Neukom said his grove is the only one in Zephyrhills that grows, picks and ships its own citrus, although the Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce could not confirm or deny that statement.

“I’m pretty sure it’s just us in the area,” Neukom said. “There used to be more groves that did that, but I don’t think any are left.”

One of the reasons Neukom Groves is one of the last groves in the area is there were two big freezes in the 1980s that drove out many of the farmers. The largest freeze was in 1989.

Today, the grove ships several types of fresh citrus, which include: naval oranges; tangerines; and red grapefruits. The grove also squeezes its own orange juice, which it sells in the community in gallon jugs.

“We ship our fresh fruit all over the country, but our juice stays in the area,” Neukom said.

The grove is busiest around Christmas, especially between Dec. 6 and 18, Neukom said.

“If you want to get a box of fruit for Christmas, you should order it by Dec. 15,” Neukom said. “Even that is cutting it real close though.”

Neukom guarantees all orders placed by Dec. 9 will be delivered by Christmas.

It seems citrus fruit is in the blood of Neukom family members. His sister, Tamara, married Ron Oakley, who owns a grove near I-75, west of Dade City.

“I guess you could say citrus is just a part of our family,” Neukom said. “It’s not the easiest business because you have to be constantly working. The work never stops during the spring and summer, and then you have to work like crazy to get the fruit picked and shipped in the fall. Then you still have to care for the trees in the winter, so it is a constant job.”

To order fruit from Neukom Groves, call (813) 782-5596 or visit www.ishipfruit.com.

More questions than answers when dealing with Lyme disease

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

LAND O’ LAKES — Lyme disease is not the most exotic sounding illness, but when it comes to diagnosis and treatment it is as elusive as Atlantis.

“The real problem it’s hardly ever properly diagnosed,” said retired professor Carol Fisch. “It is misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, lupus, Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, mononucleosis, autism and many other diseases. Basically anything but what it is. I went five years before being properly diagnosed.”

Fisch was a professor at Michigan State before retiring in 1994 after contracting the disease from a tick. She now lives in Sarasota where she is still trying to treat her illness while informing others of Lyme disease.

Several bacteria and possibly viruses cause doctors to misdiagnose the disease, Fisch said.

“It is like we are modern day lepers,” said Dolores Claesson, who lives in Land O’ Lakes and learned she had Lyme disease this year. “No one in Florida knows how to treat it, and most won’t even admit it exists in here.”

Claesson’s daughter, Sofia, started displaying symptoms of the disease in October 2008 but was not diagnosed until three months later. Claesson learned shortly after she had it, too.

“Doctors said (Sofia) had mono, some said it was ‘girl hormone problems’ and one even said she was just faking it,” Claesson said. “Then, I get it too. Even Ginger Snaps, our golden retriever, got the disease, so you can’t tell me it isn’t in Florida.”

Sofia, 16, was going to Land O’ Lakes High for the International Baccalaureate program but had to miss a year of school. She transferred to Carrollwood Day School this year.

History, Symptoms And Causes

The disease was first discovered in Old Lyme, Conn., in 1975. It is a bacterial infection that causes numerous problems, such as a red rash shaped like a bull’s eye, severe mental confusion, high fever, swollen joints and glands, loss of energy, insomnia and other conditions.

While ticks and deer are thought to be the main carriers, fleas, mites, mosquitoes, birds and lizards have also been found to carry the disease. Deer, birds and lizards do not usually bite people, but they can carry Lyme disease to new places and then be bitten by ticks, which spread it to people.

Mysterious source in Florida

As of Nov. 19, there have been eight new cases of Lyme disease in Pasco County and 10 in Hillsborough County this year, according to the Pasco County Health Department. Only 88 cases were confirmed during 2008 in Florida, but many more could have been unreported.

On top of that, most doctors don’t believe anyone can contract the disease while in Florida.

“It’s a big political mess,” Fisch said. “People are getting it each year, but no one is admitting it is coming from sources in Florida. Some say people catch it in other states and bring it here. Others say maybe it came from ticks inside mulch from out of state. It seems impossible that so many get the disease each year while out of Florida.”

Claesson said on her diagnosis, “Everyone said you couldn’t have gotten it here. I still haven’t found someone in Florida that can treat our disease properly.”

Claesson said she knows more than 500 people in the Tampa Bay area that have the disease. Of those, eight live in Land O’ Lakes, two in Wesley Chapel and one in New Tampa.

“So many people are suffering needlessly from misdiagnosis,” Fisch said. “We need to have doctors educate themselves about this disease so they can help. We need people to research and study the disease so we can find a real cure.”

Treatment

The present treatment is three weeks of a drug called Doxycycline, but somef doctors prescribe longer treatments of other antibiotics.

“Unfortunately those treatments work very rarely,” said Fisch. “Sometimes they work, sometimes they help for a while and most of the time they do almost nothing. However, the earlier it is detected and treated, the better the outcome. But it needs to be diagnosed correctly.”

While it seems unlikely there will be a cure discovered soon, acceptance may be a step in the right direction, according to Claesson.

“I’d like everyone to finally admit we have Lyme disease in our ticks,” she said. “People come down here to go to the beach or to Disney World and could catch it. Then they go home and doctors tell them they couldn’t have gotten it here. It just baffles me to think we live in the 21st century and we still are as clueless about this disease as we are.”

Festival of Lights fills void left by Dade City Christmas Parade cancellation

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — The Dade City Christmas Parade has been an annual tradition for 26 years — but not this year.

“Our president (Joey Wubbena) looked at weather reports and decided it was in the best interest of the city to cancel the parade,” said Nita Beckwith, executive director of the Dade City Chamber of Commerce.

The parade was scheduled for Dec. 4, but was canceled at 11 a.m. the day before with no makeup date.

However, Dade City’s loss was Zephyrhills gain. Many of the floats entered in the Dade City parade moved to the Dec. 5 Christmas parade in Zephyrhills, which was part of the Festival of Lights presented by Main Street Zephyrhills.

“Our goal is to not turn anyone away,” said Brenda Welcher, Main Street’s executive director. “We can’t promise people anything, but we try to find space in the parade if we can. Our mission is to bring people to our historic downtown area, so we wanted as many people to attend as possible.”

Welcher noted that registration for the Zephyrhills parade officially ended Nov. 25, but the organization obviously overlooked that deadline to accommodate entries in the canceled Dade City parade. She said four entries from Dade City entered the Zephyrhills parade.

“The impact on Zephyrhills is great,” Welcher continued. “It allows people to get into the holiday spirit, enjoy our city and help the economy of the area.”

While parade participants could simply move to the neighboring city’s parade, restaurant owners in Dade City were not so lucky.

“All the restaurants do special things for the parade and it’s just too bad the parade was canceled,” said Melanie Yates, owner of Garden Café in Dade City.

“I’m sure the chamber did what they thought was right, but I wish they had waited a little longer to cancel. The parade really helps business each year. We do about three times the business of a normal day during the parade,” she said.

Yates, of Dade City, is a member of the chamber and stressed she was not being critical of canceling the parade. She said she only thought it was canceled too early and should have had a backup date.

“We are right along the parade’s route, and we had people schedule reservations for a long time,” Yates said. “Now those people are all mad at us. It’s too bad that in this economy an event that brings so many people to our city was canceled.”

Beckwith said 5,000 to 7,000 people come to watch the Dade City parade each year.

Yates said the café had planned to have special booths with “to-go” items so people could get food while watching the parade. The café also planned to have extra staff to handle the increased number of customers.

“We had to think of the safety of the people involved,” Beckwith said. “We needed the time to let everyone know it would be canceled due to dangerous weather, so we made the decision early in the day…Moving the parade wasn’t an option because we couldn’t close the streets for another night.”

Beckwith said she did not think future parades would have backup dates, but said the chamber’s council would discuss the issue before next year.

“I really hope they have a backup date next year,” Yates said. “Otherwise people might not show up in large numbers like they have in the past. It’s a great tradition and we need to make sure it happens each year.”

Otis is a six year-old Jack Russell terrier who retrieves The Laker every week. He loves to read Randall Grantham’s column and of course check out the other pets in the “pet of the week.” Otis likes to learn new things like how to bring in the mail without tearing it up and how to play hide and seek. He is quite particular about other dogs and generally does not like them. Otis lives with his sister Jackie and dad and mom, Gary and Shari LaVigne, in Land O’ Lakes.

Bria is a 12-week old Chiness Shar Pei puppy. She is incredibly smart and loves to play with everyone: person and dog alike. She has become a local celebrity in the neighborhood. Bria walks to and from our son’s school everyday and must stop at every person who passes to say “Hi.” She is potty-trained, knows sit and heel, and has a great personality. We can’t wait to see how much we can train her to do. We have been blessed by having her. Bria’s proud parents are Angie and Tony Lokotnicki of Wesley Chapel.

By Kyle LoJacono

Most people think of veterinary centers as treating cats, dogs and other traditional pets. But Suncoast Veterinary Care Center will aid almost anything.

“Our policy is that no one should be stuck having to handle an injured animal by themselves,” said Deborah Sullivan, veterinarian and owner of the center. “We stand by that. It doesn’t matter (if) it’s a standard pet or something a little more unusual, we’ll do everything we can to nurse it back to health.”

Sullivan has owned the center, located at 20319 SR 54 in Land O’ Lakes, since 2007.

“We recently had a male bobcat brought in that was hit by a car at the corner of (US) 41 and (SR) 54,” said Sullivan. “He had some head injuries that we had to treat. He recently went to Big Cat Rescue where he can have additional treatment.”

Another unusual animal taken in by the center was a Rhode Island red rooster named Mac. He was found as a chick in Land O’ Lakes last spring and was eventually adopted by Sullivan.

“He is my beautiful baby,” Sullivan said of Mac.

Along with its unusual pets, the center usually has 10 to 15 kittens and an occasional dog that were either strays or whose owners could no longer care for them. The center rehabilitates sick or injured animals and tries to find them new homes. Sullivan said the center has seen an increase in people dropping of pets that they can no longer afford because of the economy.

“They are just all great people at (the center),” said Larry Bullard, of Land O’ Lakes. “They have great hearts and are all true angels. My wife (Sharon) and I have recently adopted a little grey cat that we named Lizzy from them.”

Bullard knows from experience that the center helps more than just traditional pets.

“I brought in a little hurt bird that they help get better and eventually let it go,” Bullard said. “I also know that they helped an injured deer, too.”

The deer was a juvenile male Florida white-tailed deer that was hit by a car near SR 54 west of US 41. The deer had some head injuries, and center workers said it was quite a handful.

“A family saw (the deer) get hit and felt they had to do something,” Sullivan said. “They actually put it in the back seat of their car and drove it to us. One of them sat in the back with the deer to try and comfort it as best she could, but it was unconscious. We treated it for about a week, and then let it go in the wooded area nearby. It was remarkable that the family went so far out of their way to help that deer.”

Bullard said the center put the deer in a holding area so it would have room to move around while it recovered. He also said many of the workers got bumps and bruises while trying to help the animal.

“They do whatever it takes to help any animal,” Bullard said. “Even though it was a young buck it still had to be strong.”

Anyone interested in adopting pets of the more traditional variety should call the center at (813) 949-8899 and ask for Donna Songhurst.

“We currently have about 13 kittens that could all use a good home,” said Sullivan. “It seems like when five kittens are adopted, six new ones come in. We always need people willing to open their hearts and homes.”

By Steve Lee

Sports Editor

WESLEY CHAPEL — Like many commuters, Greg Brown and his wife, Tamara, live in Land O’ Lakes and work in Hillsborough County. Along the way, they travel — or sometimes crawl — along a clogged Wesley Chapel highway interchange.

Just north of where I-75 and I-275 converge is the SR 56 exit, a four-lane off-ramp for vehicles traversing east to Wesley Chapel and west to Land O’ Lakes with two lanes going in each direction. During rush hours, that exit is occasionally transformed into a parking lot.

“If I get there at 5:30 or 6 (p.m.), you’re stopped,” Tamara said. “That’s when everybody’s coming through. You have to watch out on both sides. It’s crazy.”

Added Greg, “The most dangerous part of it is the people trying to come over from I-75 to I-275. At dusk or dawn, some people have their lights on and some people don’t.”

Inclement weather only makes matters worse.

“One light rain in the stop-and-go (traffic) and it’s all over,” Greg said. “Every time you turn around you’re almost hitting someone or someone’s almost hitting you.”

The Department of Transportation is working to change all that. Trees have been cleared along the east side of I-75, just south of the SR 56 exit as part of a $30 million road-widening project. Landclearing began in mid-October with two new off-ramps to SR 56 targeted for a 2012 completion.

DOT figures report that more than 113,000 vehicles pass through the I-75, I-275 interchange daily. That includes northbound and southbound traffic. The off-ramps would eliminate the current merger setup by making it possible to exit onto SR 56 from both interstates.

“That might be really good,” Greg said.

Warren DeGroot, who lives in Land O’ Lakes, coaches lacrosse in Wesley Chapel and works in New Tampa off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, is somewhat skeptical.

“I get on the highway and I get scared,” DeGroot said. “The whole merging there. I’m surprised there’s not more people who have died. I try to avoid that area as much as possible.”

Pasco County traffic numbers reveal 101 accidents, two of which were fatal, in 2008. And in Ocotber, one man died when a pickup truck ran into the back of a fuel tanker near the 56 exit.

All the more reason for the road widening project to get under way before the nearby Cypress Creek Town Center is built, said State Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel). That project recently received a 10-year construction deadline to 2021.

“We’re just playing a little bit of catch-up,” Weatherford said, alluding to road projects catching up to residential and commercial development. “We need the infrastructure. Eventually, it’s going to get there.”

Air Force official auxiliary for all who love flying

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

PASCO COUNTY — Until recently, Civil Air Patrol Members from Wesley Chapel had to journey outside their town for meetings.

“It is a little drive to get out here each week,” said 1st Lt. Steve Lampasona, Senior Deputy Commander for the Pasco Cadet Squadron of the CAP.

The Pasco Squadron meets in New Port Richey, and Lampasona, 54, has been a member for nine years. His wife, 1st Lt. Joyce, and son, cadet 1st Lt. Alec, are also members.

Lampasona has lived in Wesley Chapel for the last 11 years and recently helped bring a squadron to his hometown.

“I’m helping run both squadrons now so that the Pasco Squadron doesn’t get hurt by me and some of the cadets going to the Wesley Chapel Squadron,” Lampasona said.

The Wesley Chapel Squadron’s first meeting was Oct. 21, and it meets each Wednesday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Tampa North Aero Park.

There is also a new CAP squadron in Zephyrhills. For more information on the Zephyrhills Squadron, e-mail Rebekah Davison at .

Lampasona explained the CAP is the official auxiliary of the Air Force that started during World War II, during which it worked directly with the military and sunk several German U-boats. Some involved in the CAP have military backgrounds, but many, like Lampasona, do not.

“I joined because I was a pilot and was looking for additional reasons to fly,” Lampasona said. “The (CAP) has the largest single-engine fleet in the world with almost 600 aircrafts. So it’s a good thing for a pilot to be involved in.”

Today, cadets in the CAP are both girls and boys between 12 and 21 years old. After age 21, they can be senior members and continue to enjoy the organization.

The CAP now has three missions: emergency services; aerospace education; and cadet programs. The first mission involves providing support during homeland security and disaster recovery situations. Lampasona said that the CAP helps with search and rescue of 90 percent of the inland aircraft crashes in the United States.

The education mission provides educational materials to schools, and the cadet programs are all the activities at the weekly meetings. At CAP meetings, cadets learn about the Air Force and other aerospace topics. Members go through physical and written tests to earn rank and also go through character development programs.

The national CAP is broken into eight regions and further into wings for each state. Florida CAPs are in the Southeast Region, Florida Wing.

For kids who love flying, the CAP is just what they need to express their talents and interests.

“I want to go to the Air Force Academy, so the patrol is great for me,” Tyler Gay, 13, said. “When I was about 5, my parents would find drawings of plans in my stuff…The program teaches a lot of leadership and different qualities that will help me later.”

Gay, of Land O’ Lakes, attends Pine View Middle and is a cadet tech sergeant in the North Tampa-Lutz Cadet Squadron, which meets at the Old Lutz Schoolhouse on US 41 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. each Tuesday. For more information on the North Tampa-Lutz Squadron, visit www.northtampacadetsquadron.com.

“We have kids from all over north Tampa and up into Land O’ Lakes,” said Diane Westcott, senior member of the North Tampa-Lutz Squadron. “One of our big events is our Santa Breakfast that kicks off the nights of the decorated Christmas house at the Old Lutz Schoolhouse.”

The breakfast is Dec. 12 from 9 a.m. to noon and the first night of the Christmas house is that evening.

Some of the more exciting activities CAP members do is fly airplanes and gliders. They also fly around the perimeter during operations like shuttle launches to make sure the airspace is clear.

Gay has not gone gliding yet but has flown a Cessna 172.

“It was amazing to fly,” he said. “At first, I was just thinking don’t crash. After I got over that, it was like the plane was me and I was the plane. I love every minute of it.”

For more information on the CAP, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com.

Local Civil Air Patrol Squadrons

Wesley Chapel Squadron meets at the Tampa North Aero Park on Wednesdays. E-mail

Zephyrhills Squadron meets at the AeroCenter at the Zephyrhills Airport on Wednesdays. E-mail .

North Tampa-Lutz Squadron meets at the Old Lutz Schoolhouse on Tuesdays. E-mail .

Pasco Cadet Squadron meets at River Ridge High on Mondays. E-mail .