Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Mitchell defeats Zephyrhills 21-7 to remain unbeaten

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By Steve Lee

Sports Editor

TRINITY — Two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum clashed at Mustang Stadium with host Mitchell remaining unbeaten after a 21-7 victory over Class 3A, District 7 rival Zephyrhills.

Ricky Trinidad, Pasco County’s leading rusher, gained 140 yards and scored twice for the Mustangs (6-0). Matt Michaels added a touchdown pass to Brandon Mundy.

Zephyrhills avoided a shutout when returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

PASCO 38, GULF 0: Both teams had playoff hopes at the beginning of the season, but the Bucs are out of it after being held scoreless in a pivotal 3A-7 matchup. The Pirates are tied with Mitchell and Land O’ Lakes atop the district.

D.J. Clower threw touchdown passes to Mitch Wozniak, Janarion Grant and Hakeeme Ishmar. The defense chipped in with Trey Dudley-Giles scoring on a fumble recovery and Chase Sellers bringing back an interception for a touchdown.

LAND O’ LAKES 42, ANCLOTE 0: Alex Robinson and Justin Tello did just fine as backups for suspended starter Stevie Weatherford. Tello ran for a touchdown and had two scoring passes to Will Irwin. Robinson had a touchdown run and Tyler Peak ran for two scores.

HUDSON 43, RIVER RIDGE 28: Kenny Toce passed for three touchdowns and ran for another in a career-game, but it was not enough for River Ridge in a district loss. Toce found Trevor Hooker twice and Zack Ford once for those scores.

Zack Wynn had three touchdown passes and Dylan Luke ran for three scores to lead Hudson. Brandon Jones, Dontaie Collins and James Tello each had a touchdown catch.

BISHOP McLAUGHLIN 39, HERNANDO CHRISTIAN 14: The Hurricanes took a 19-0 halftime lead at home and finally won a game in their fifth try.

Giovanni Perone and Mitch Ritter, who replaced the injured Perone at running back for the second half, each gained more than 100 yards. Ritter ran for three touchdowns and Perone two with Jordan Betancourt adding a scoring run.

WIREGRASS RANCH 14, CRYSTAL RIVER 7: After spotting the Pirates a 7-0 lead, the Bulls got a 90-yard punt return from Antwan Prince for one score and a 10-yard run from Josh Johnson for another.

TARPON SPRINGS 35, RIDGEWOOD 14: Cameron Rodriguez and Scott Kujack had touchdown runs for the struggling Rams, whose defense shined with five turnovers.

Former Ridgewood and Gulf standout running back Adrian Golden ran for two scores for the Spongers.

Carrollwood Day Prep routs All Saints’ Academy 54-0

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Patriots dominate homecoming game

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff writer

CARROLLWOOD — Carrollwood Day Prep is still a newcomer in 11-man football, but it managed to dominate Winter Haven All Saints’ Academy 54-0 to stay a perfect for the season.

Patriots quarterback Billy Embody passed for two touchdowns in a lopsided 54-0 win. Carrollwood Day Prep improved its record to 5-0. Photo by Kyle LoJacono.

The victory was the third home shutout for the Patriots, who have outscored their opponents 206-22 and have not allowed a point at home.

“Everything has been going so well and I just can’t believe this is happening, because I’ve been waiting my whole life for this,” said Darius Bing, who rushed for more than 200 yards.

Billy Embody echoed Bing’s sentiment.

“We are just working together really well,” Embody said. “We have to keep working, because it won’t mean anything if we don’t keep playing hard and winning.”

The Patriots (5-0) scored on their opening drive. Bing, who ran it in from 27 yards out, added three more rushing touchdowns, including one for 80 yards, and scored again on an interception return.

Embody threw two touchdown passes, one to Matt Monteilh and the other to Deuce Gruden. Monteilh also had a 37-yard punt return for a score for the only points in the second half.

“I’m so proud of the players,” Carrollwood Day Prep coach Lane McLaughlin said. “They didn’t get too distracted by all the homecoming festivities. Now we need to get ready for (Orlando) First Academy.”

SICKLES 31, BOCA CIEGA 28 (OT): While turnovers have been Sickles’ biggest problem this year, it was a turnover that led them to an overtime win against Boca Ciega. The Gryphons have thrown five interceptions and given up 16 fumbles, including two more against the Pirates. But Sickles’ Chris Nahat intercepted a pass from Shaquille Bradford that set up the game-winning field goal.

Sickles was facing a 22-7 halftime deficit, but made a comeback on the arm and legs of John Melvin Hendrick, who threw a touchdown to Nahat and ran for another. Brieann Dollard added two more rushing touchdowns.

Hillsborough County leading rusher Carey White did not find the end zone for Sickles, but had 132 yards on the ground.

WHARTON 27, BRANDON 25: Wharton held off a fourth-quarter comeback by Brandon to pick up the road win. Wharton was up 27-12 entering the final quarter and stopped a game-tying, two-point conversion to seal the win.

Wharton’s Shane McEwen had a rushing score and 80 total yards, while Ryan Hatter ran and threw for two more scores. Marvin Murray caught that touchdown and David Larry ran for a 39-yard score.

TAMPA BAY TECH 21, FREEDOM 3: Freedom scored on a 46-yard field goal, but could not change the scoreboard after. The Patriots had a chance to score just before halftime, but Tyler Guy was intercepted by Greg Hickman.

Offense was hard to come by for Freedom, which managed just 28 yards rushing and 133 passing. T.J. Mutcherson had four catches for 48 yards.

PLANT 49, GAITHER 0: Gaither was shut out for the second straight week. Last week, the Cowboys lost 68-0 against Hillsborough before falling to Plant.

Gaither’s offense was thought to be the weak link coming into the season, but the Cowboys have scored just 25 points on offense.

Plant got four touchdowns from Phillip Ely, who passed for 221 yards.

ST. PETE CATHOLIC 40, STEINBRENNER 10: After going 2-0 in junior varsity play, Steinbrenner has lost its first two varsity contests.

The Crusaders opened the scoring on an interception return by Julian Smith and added another in the second half by Evan Holmes that put the game out of reach.

Steinbrenner’s Christian Carriere passed for 135 yards passing and one score, while Tobi Antigha had five catches for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Nothing can stop John’s Butcher Shop

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Owners James Smith, Donny Duncan and Mike Lacy love their work

By Diane Kortus Mathes

Staff Writer

LUTZ — They have worked together for more than 20 years and call themselves brothers. The banter between the three men is relentless, but underneath the gentle rubs is an unspoken bond that has gotten them through personal despair and professional disasters.

Owners of John’s Butcher Shop in Lutz are Donny Duncan, James Smith and Mike Lacy. Photo by Anthony V. Masella Jr., www.OurTownFLA.com.

Nothing has stopped these owners of John’s Butcher Shop in Lutz — James Smith, 55, Donny Duncan, 49, and Mike Lacy, 34. Not a fire that burned their building to the ground in 1996. Not the challenges of this recession that has broken many small businesses. Not the seven divorces these men share between them and helped each other through.

“We love what we do and we love each other,” said Duncan, the most gregarious of the trio. “Customers come here for the personal service, and we’re as personal as it gets.”

In addition to service so personal that the owners greet 90 percent of customers by name, John’s Butcher Shop is known for its top-rated USDA meats that are of better quality and priced 10 percent less than meats in supermarkets, said James Smith, whose father, John Smith, started the company in 1973 in a strip center at Bearss and Florida avenues.

Duncan was the first of the three to start work at the shop. He was hired by John Smith in 1973 when he was just 13 and a student at Buchanan Middle School. That was 36 years ago, and Duncan can still be caught singing behind the counter at a job he obviously loves.

Joining Duncan and “Dad,” as Smith fondly called his boss, was Smith’s real son, James, who began working at the shop in 1976 after four years in the Army.

Lacy, the third partner came along in 1990 when he was 15 and learned the butcher trade from the Smiths and Duncan. He became John Smith’s third “son” and “brother” to James and Donny.

Not long after it opened, John’s Butcher Shop moved to Chapman Road and Florida Avenue in Lutz, where it remained until 1996 when an electrical fire burned the building to the ground in less than 10 minutes.

They started over again four months later, this time 10 miles north at Land O’ Lakes Boulevard and Hale Road. It was here that John retired and his three boys, Donny, James and Mike, became co-owners.

John’s Butcher Shop’s last move was two years ago when it came back to Lutz, relocating to a building owned by Lacy next to Carolyn Meeker Dogpark, just off Lutz Lake Fern Road and US 41.

To work at the same business their entire adult lives has brought continuity to John’s Butcher Shop. The men know their customers much like a bartender, but instead of knowing a customer’s preferred drink, they know his or her preferred cut of meat.

“They walk in the door and we know what they want,” said Lacy. “We’ve watched our customers kids grow up, and now these kids are our customers ordering the same things their parents did.”

Each owner loves the art of butchery and each has a specialty. Lacy is proud of his turducken — partially de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. Duncan makes a beautiful crown roast ordered for the most special occasions. And Smith makes homemade sausages — brats, smoked and Italian — and uses no fillers or preservatives found in commercial brands.

About 60 percent of the meat they sell is beef, mostly steaks. Ribs make up another 20 percent and boneless and skinless chicken breasts the remaining 20 percent. Much more chicken is sold today because customers are more health conscious than ever before.

“That is also why so many people shop at a butcher shop, because they want meat that has no hormones, preservatives or steroids,” said Smith. The shop is also one of few in the area that butcher game.

An owner at John’s Butcher Shop always greets customers, since Duncan, Smith and Lacy are the shop’s only employees. And almost always the three “brothers” are there waiting to help three generations of families from Lutz and Land O’ Lakes with meat they never tire of preparing for their customers.

If You Go
What: John’s Butcher Shop
Where: 102 First Ave., Lutz
More information: (813) 909-9746

Detect this, he said

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

“I don’t want to wait in vain
For your love.”
– “Waiting in Vain,” Bob Marley

By Randall Grantham

Community Columnist

A few weeks ago, I wrote about security checkpoints and their occasional overuse. I agree that there is a need for enhanced security at some places and admit I’m over-sensitive about excessive use because of my titanium hip, which causes me to be pulled out of line every time.

A recent episode in one of the courthouses I frequent made me wonder what guards have to put up with and what kinds of weird stuff they see. It’s bad enough in Dade City that guards wear gloves to grab people’s stinky shoes out of the machine, but it is more interesting in New Port Richey.

I was behind a squat, middle-aged woman, who after emptying the pockets of her jeans still beeped when she walked through the checkpoint.

“Oh, it must be this,” she said as she took off her baseball cap and removed a piece of tinfoil that had previously been lining the top of it.

The guards and I looked at each other, shaking our heads. But the fact that they were unfazed by this woman who apparently believed the tinfoil lining might protect her — from what, aliens or the government’s secret mind control experiments — made me think.

So I asked officers manning various security points what kind of weird or funny stuff they see while X-raying people’s stuff all day and checking them out if they beep when walking through the metal detectors. It was a learning experience.

Piercings obviously rate high on the list. Just as my bionic hip sets off the machines, people with enough metal objects, inserted in various locations on their body, will also cause quite a ruckus.

Verifying the fact that they are, in fact, piercings and not some other sort of metal can be, shall we say, challenging in some cases.

One time, a metal container caught the attention of a screener in Tampa. After questioning the woman whose purse it was in, they found it contained the ashes of her father. And, weirdly dissimilar from my tinfoil lady in New Port Richey, there is the homeless guy who wraps himself in barbed wire and regularly visits the courthouses in Tampa. He’s explained that it’s just his “fashion statement.”

Speaking of fashion statements, there was a guy in Tampa who set off the walk-through alarm. As the guard passed the wand across his lower torso and asked him to raise his shirt to see the belt buckle, the guard was stunned to see that the man had his fly open and his “junk” hanging out! He was told to take that back out to his car.

But, after extensive interviews and research, the overall winner is … drum roll, please … women with battery-powered sex toys in their purses. You might think that they wouldn’t show up because they’re plastic or rubber, but deputies see the batteries and the wires and have to ask the owner what it is.

They are, to say the least, embarrassed in having to pull them out and dispel any concern. Guards, however, after establishing that there is no threat from that “friendly” weapon, spend more time wondering why these gals are carrying the things around in the first place.

Girls Swimming – Low numbers, but high performance for Sickles

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Gryphons one of the top teams in Class 2A

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff writer

CITRUS PARK — Katie Cook is not the first from her family to swim for Sickles, but she may be the best.

Swimmers Katie Westbrook (left) and Katie Cook (right) hope to make this season one to remember for the Gryphons. Photo by Andrew Hendrickson.

Her sisters, Megan and Amanda, swam with the Gryphons, but neither won a state title.

“It would be nice to have the bragging rights over my sisters, if I was able to win a state title,” Cook said.

In the past, the successful Sickles boys team demanded attention, but this year the girls are shining in the pool with a 3-1 start. The opening of Steinbrenner has taken many students away and the swim team has not been immune. However, the drop in numbers has not hurt the quality.

“I’m very proud of my girls,” third-year coach Fay Went said. “We have a very small team this year with only 14. I like to say I was able to keep my superstar swimmers, but lost all my depth. We had a lot more girls than normal swimming in meets for the first time ever this year.”

One of those superstars is co-captain Cook, who swims the 50-yard freestyle and 100 free. She won the 50 free and placed second in the 100 free at districts last year, and owns school records in the 50 free (24 .15 seconds) and 100 free (52.02 seconds).

Cook2A — Sickles junior Katie Cook is hoping to claim a state title this year. Photo by Andrew Hendrickson.

“I swim year-round on a club team, so I’ve been really working to get better for this season,” said Cook, a junior. “We do a lot of dry-land training and we also did a training camp over the summer with my club team. So that has really benefited me.”

Cook’s club team is Tampa Bay Aquatics, which includes numerous state qualifiers and trains in New Tampa.

“Last year, I learned that I can reach states and my goal has always been to be a state champ,” Cook continued. “That has been on my mind all through workouts in the summer. I really want to go far this year, so that has been driving me.”

Other top swimmers for Sickles include seniors Katie Westbrook, Christina Decisneros and co-captain Alex Valder.

The Gryphons lost their first meet to Academy of Holy Names by nine points, but won their next three. That included a one-point victory against Berkley Prep.

“The difference between the first meet and now is tremendous,” Went said. “I wish I could go back and do the Academy meet again. I didn’t really know what events were best for which girls to swim, but now we have a better feel for that and we are getting more experience.”

Went is the success center lab manager at Sickles as well. The center gives students information to help them make decisions about college and careers. It seems like Went’s interest in swimming and seeing young people succeed has rubbed off on her son.

Trey Went, a senior who swims the 50 and 500 free for the boys, has a 4.80 weighted grade-point average and would like to stay in state for college.

“It’s nice to have a mom that can help me with swimming, but we really don’t work together on my swimming,” Trey said. “People might think it’s an advantage for me to have a mom that is a swimming coach, but it isn’t that big a deal.”

Trey reached states last year in the 500, and despite the boys team’s down year he is still working hard to go further this season.

“It kind of stinks that we lost a lot of our good swimmers to Steinbrenner opening, but we are all still working hard,” Trey said. “I’m just trying to go faster in the pool and try to touch the wall before everyone else.”

Sickles girls team’s next big event is Oct. 17 in South Tampa. Many of the girls prep teams in Hillsborough County will be competing at the meet.

“It will be a real test for the team,” Went said. “But I think we are ready.”

Boys Golf – Mustangs sport perfect record at 11-0

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Lake Jovita hosted SAC tourney

By Steve Lee

Sports Editor

TRINITY — The Mitchell boys golf team surpassed last year’s 8-2 mark by going 11-0. The Mustangs clinched a perfect record on Oct. 6 with a 153-172 win against Land O’ Lakes.

Wesley Chapel’s Jacob Fleck, squatting to line up a putt, competed in the Sunshine Athletic Conference Boys Golf Tournament at Lake Jovita. Photos by Tammy Struble.

Now, the unbeaten team has high hopes for the postseason.

The Mustangs, ousted in last year’s regionals, are aiming for a state berth. Last fall, they came within four strokes of that elusive goal.

“That was tough to take,” Mitchell coach Rick Hyatt said.

First, however, is pairing the Sunshine Athletic Conference regular-season title with the tournament championship. The overall SAC crown takes both facets into account and Mitchell has won one or the other in each of the past three seasons.

The SAC tourney took place Oct. 13 at Lake Jovita, but results were unavailable at press time.

“We’re halfway there,” Hyatt said. “That was our goal for the year, to put it all together.”

Chaz Heinz, a senior, leads a talented squad that includes four golfers who recently shot in the 30s during a 151-178 defeat of Gulf. Heinz and Dylan Strout shared the lead at 37.

A pivotal battle came in the season’s fifth match with Mitchell and Wiregrass Ranch sporting identical 4-0 records. The Mustangs remained unbeaten with a 157-166 victory at Crescent Oaks.

Mitchell’s dominant season came despite the graduation of 2008 SAC Player of the Year Kenny Cavender and five other seniors. Talent and depth, however, figured prominently in this year’s performance as five of the team’s 10 golfers shot in the 30s.

Heinz headed into the SAC tourney with a team-leading 37.6 average, Richardson was right behind at 38 while three others — Strout, Sterling Bash and Dominick Dithmer — were tied at 39.

“That carried us,” Hyatt said of the team’s depth. “When someone had a bad day there was someone else to pick them up.”

BULLS NEARLY PERFECT: That lone loss to Mitchell kept Wiregrass Ranch from an undefeated season. The team finished 10-1, closing out the regular campaign with a 161-177 win over River Ridge.

Wiregrass Ranch’s Logan Horrigan shot a 38 in that match and was followed by teammates Dylan Larson (39), Chris Kluender (41) and Nick Stutt (43).

As for Hillsborough County teams, Gaither had four golfers — Josh Black, Jimmy Stanger, Clyde Meadows and Shawn Sirignano — break 40 in a 146-164 win over Wharton.

The Cowboys improved to 9-1 with recent wins over Plant and Hillsborough. Stanger turned in a season-low of 35 in that Oct. 1 match.

GIRLS GOLF: Wiregrass Ranch has a girls team to be reckoned with. Senior Anna Caldwell, junior Taylor Upchurch and sophomore Bianca Scimali are the top three on a team that started 6-2.

In Hillsborough, Alex Milan of first-year Steinbrenner set a school record with a round of 33 at Heritage Harbor in a 196-230 win over Sickles. She also had rounds of 34 and 36 in previous wins over Sickles and Gaither, respectively.

The Warriors continued to impress by winning eight of their first 10 matches.

Freedom’s Caroline Sorrick led her team to a 198-218 win over Newsome by shooting a 35.

Redfish, trout plentiful

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By Capt. Ric Liles

Fishing Columnist

Fishing has been pretty good lately, but before I get to that I want to inform everyone of Nov. 10 meeting, from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm, at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

Madison Cox with her first bull redfish she caught while fishing with Capt. Ric Liles of Reel Simple Fishing Adventures.

The statewide Manatee Forum should be a great place for anglers to voice concerns. Every now and then, readers get upset with my political views, but it’s part of my business as a fisherman and I want you to be informed. If I’m not on a charter that day I hope to see you there.

Back to the good stuff. This past week was a good one on the water with schools of redfish continuing to be the big attraction. We have had the best results on the St. Petersburg side of the bay.

Trout catches have come in 30-40 fish per outing, but most have been under the legal size. We should have a great spring for trout.

I had some kids on the boat and by the time we got back to the dock their 14-inch trout had grown to monster status. You’ve got to love the way a kid makes a fish bigger with time. Truth of the matter is, it’s not just kids who do it.

The snook are already staging around the mouths of creeks and rivers due to cooler water temperatures. A recent cool snap got them headed in that direction.

Mangrove snapper and Spanish mackerel have slowed down, but it appears that sharks have taken up the slack. We had several small sharks come to the boat and I even found out what it’s like to get my fingers stuck in a shark’s mouth. Just so you know, a small shark has very strong jaws. Lesson learned.

Until next time, good luck and be safe on the water. Remember: don’t let your kids be the ones that got away, take them fishing.

Check This Out

October 14, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Baseball region finals return to single-elimination format

DADE CITY — The Florida High School Athletic Association’s two-year trial with baseball playoffs is over and the best-of-three series for region finals will be abolished. The single-elimination format, as is the case with other playoff rounds, will return for the 2010 season.

Pasco was the lone county team to compete in that short-lived format. The Pirates split a pair of region final series games with Palatka before being eliminated with a 9-6 loss in the third game of the 2008 playoffs.

Swampfest scheduled Nov. 6-8 at Land O’ Lakes Community Center

LAND O’ LAKES — Swampfest, a fund-raiser for Land O’ Lakes High athletic programs, will take place Nov. 6-8 at the Land O’ Lakes Community Center off US 41.

The festival, highlighted by a midway and carnival rides, is the second organized by the booster club. The inaugural Swampfest took place in March at Land O’ Lakes High’s Gator Stadium. Sponsors and vendors are needed. To purchase a booth, call Darlene Harris at (813) 235-5859 or visit www.lolswampfest.com.

Chiefs play final youth football games at Oscar Cooler Park on Oct. 17

LUTZ — The Lutz Chiefs of the Pasco Police Athletic League have called Oscar Cooler Park home for more than three decades. The youth football and cheerleading organization will play at the park’s expansion area next season and their final games at that site are Oct. 17 against the Zephyrhills Bulldogs. Divisional games in five age groups will be played from 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. Entry is a $3 donation.

Two USF football players win Big East Conference weekly honors

TAMPA — University of South Florida football players Nate Allen and Carlton Mitchell were honored by the Big East Conference, following their team’s 34-20 win over Syracuse.

Allen, the defensive player of the week, forced two of a school-record seven turnovers. The senior safety had two interceptions and eight tackles. Mitchell, a junior wide receiver from Gaither, had six catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns.

— Steve Lee, Sports Editor

Don’t short-sheet me in the bathroom

October 9, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

“She put the lime in the coconut,
She drank ’em both up
Put the lime in the coconut,
She called the doctor, woke him up.”
— “Coconut,” Harry Nilsson

By Randall Grantham

Community Columnist

As your self-appointed legal correspondent, I consider it my duty to inform loyal readers of any cons or dangers involved with advertised products. I try to avoid repeating news that is widely available, instead looking for hidden or undisclosed misrepresentations.

For instance, we all know that for years manufacturers have reduced product, usually instead of but sometimes in addition to raising prices. Cereal producers have cut box sizes, evident by looking at ounces contained. Milk and juice manufacturers have reduced the sizes of their jugs and bottles. Again, it’s easy to see by simply comparing the container contents.

However, in a dazzling display of deceit, some toilet paper makers think that they can short-sheet us without us being the wiser. My secretary happened to notice this by chance when she was stocking one of the office bathrooms with fancy paper reserved for special clients and employees in the know. Although the packaging of the old and the new Northern toilet paper looks exactly the same, they are different.

The rolls are shorter width. If you stand one up on its side and compare it with the newer one, there is about three-fourths of an inch difference. The company Web site says they are narrowing rolls for the new 3-ply product to create “additional efficiencies” in that it “requires less packaging, creates a smaller case size, uses less core paper per roll, and can be transported more efficiently.”

In other words, it’s for our own good? Maybe so, but this is still the same old 2-ply product they narrowed without telling us that we were getting less of for the same old price. That just ain’t right. I would suggest a boycott, but I don’t think that’s feasible because this is the only brand we’ve found to avoid being a cottontail.

In other advertising news, how many of you have seen the Corona commercial with the guy and girl sitting on the beach when an attractive girl in a bikini walks by, catching the guy’s eye? The girl sitting next to him sprays him in the face with the lime on the beer bottle.

This is very dangerous. A chemical in the lime, when exposed to sunlight can cause phytophotodermatitis, also know as margarita dermatitis. The affected area usually looks like a sunburn, or a poison ivy rash, with redness and sometimes swelling and blistering, says Rajani Katta, a Baylor dermatology professor. “It can be itchy and painful, and leave behind skin discoloration.”

If the girl in the commercial really wants to teach her boyfriend a lesson, maybe she should aim a little lower. That’s it from me, doing my best to protect you readers from dingle berries and margarita dermatitis on the lips or anywhere else.

‘‘The Peanut Butter Project” to help two local charities

October 6, 2009 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Christian Social Services and Habitat of Humanity will both benefit

Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
LAND O’ LAKES — Jacquie Petet has worked with Christian Social Services (CSS) for 16 years and is still thrilled when the organization can help those in need.
“It just warms my heart when we’re able to help out needy families,” Petet, CSS executive director, said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I still get that joy in knowing we helped a family.”

“The Peanut Butter Project” will raise money for two worthy charities. Meghann Russell, Sara Hanson, Jerry McCarthy, Shannon Tomlinson and Lisa McCarthy hold up sample donations. Photo by Meghann Russell

CSS is teaming up with Habitat for Humanity in Pasco County in “The Peanut Butter Project,” which will benefit both charities.
The two organizations are asking the community to donate as many jars of unopened peanut butter and dollar bills to the CSS building, located at 5514 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. in Land O’ Lakes. The money will go to Habitat to help build homes for the needy, while the peanut butter will go to CSS to help feed the hungry.
“What is so great about this project is that it helps both now and down the road,” said Charlie Reese, Habitat board member. “We’re helping people with their immediate need for food while we are collecting money to eventually raise a roof on a home down the road.”
The project is taking the place of “Harvest for Humanity,” which the past two years did not focus on any one kind of food.
“A few years ago, we at the Habitat were trying to find a way to help raise funds to help needy families build houses, and after batting around a couple of ideas we thought of joining forces with Christian Social Services,” Reese said. “We felt like these are the two local charities that do a lot in the East Pasco and north Hillsborough region but sometimes get lost in the shuffle of the bigger charities in downtown Tampa or West Pasco…We needed a way to help the local people in need and we came up with the first ‘Harvest for Humanity.’”
Last year, more than four tons of food was collected during “Harvest for Humanity,” and this year, officials from both charities said they hope for the same in peanut butter.
“We always find that one of the things we lack is peanut butter,” Petet said. “It’s a good source of protein for children and easy for parents to pack in lunches, but for whatever reason we never have enough peanut butter.”
Not only is it a good source of protein, it is only appropriate that someone with a last name of Reese would help organize a project with peanut butter.
“It’s cosmic,” Reese said. “I love peanut butter so I guess I was born to help out a cause with peanut butter. It’s really just magic that someone named Reese is dedicated to peanut butter.”
Habitat of Pasco has raised homes from Dade City and Zephyrhills, down through Wesley Chapel and Land O’ Lakes and even across into Hillsborough County in Lutz and Odessa. CSS in Land O’ Lakes focuses on helping those in all those regions too but does not refuse help to any in need.
Donations to both charities are tax deductible and can be made any time between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at CSS in Land O’ Lakes, but the main collection date for the project is Oct. 30.
“Oct. 30 is just a date that we picked, but people can bring in the peanut butter and dollars, or any other food for that matter, to the Christian Social Services building,” Petet said. “We don’t know how much peanut butter we will get, but we are always grateful with what we receive. We’re always overwhelmed with what we do get, and we have never been disappointed by this community.”
For more information on Habitat call Reese at (813) 787-3500. For more information on CSS, call (813) 995-0088.