The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Land O' Lakes News

‘Freeing’ birds from blocks of wood

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Edna Speyrer was just a college student when a visit to a furniture store changed her life.

While there, she saw a carving of a matador and a bull.

“They were priced at $50 a piece. I said, ‘I can do that,’” she said.

Edna Speyrer can spend hours in her workshop, absorbed in the quest to unearth beauty from blocks of wood.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)

So, she got a piece of mahogany wood and went to work on it. She spent several months, using her Case pocket knife, to create the three-dimensional figure, with its considerable detail.

“I ended up doing two bulls and two horses, and then that was the end of that,” said Speyrer, who now lives in Land O’ Lakes.

Years passed before she did any additional carving.

“Then, at the place where I was working, there was this fella that did carving — this was in Baton Rouge — and he said, ‘There’s a carving club in Baton Rouge. You need to join.’

“So, after a lot of coaxing. I decided to go one night,” Speyrer recalled.

“It was mostly men, and everybody would bring what they were working on, or what they had just finished. It was kind of a show and tell.

“I looked at this stuff. It was mostly birds.

A perch provides a perfect place to display a carving of a Blue Jay or a Carolina chickadee or Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

“And I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, if I could only do half that good, I would be pleased.’

“And so, I started.

“Some of the members would give weekend seminars, and then everything started falling in place and (my) birds started looking pretty good.

“Every year, they have a big carving show in New Orleans. They coaxed me into entering and so I entered. I won ‘Best of Show’ as a novice.

“The next time I entered, I entered as an amateur, and I did well with that, and it just sort of spurs you on,” she said.

She entered shows for several years, but at some point stopped competing.

She’s never stopped carving.

She also began attending seminars — learning techniques from some of the best woodcarvers in the world.

A duck that’s familiar to many, Mallards are found throughout North America and Eurasia, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The male’s gleaming green head, gray flanks, and black tail-curl arguably make it the most easily identified duck, the ornithology lab’s website says.

Those seminars have taken her to Pennsylvania, Vermont, Arizona, Indiana and other places.

Her interest continued to grow, and she traveled to see birds in their natural settings.

She’s been to South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. She’s also visited New Zealand, 40-plus states and to several national parks.

She’s been to Alaska, twice.

Over time, she expanded her toolkit, too.

She carves her birds from Tupelo gum wood, which is ideal because the wood has an intertwined grain, which resists splitting while being carved.

She uses patterns to sketch out the basic shape of the bird.

After carving the bird, she begins working to contour it — delineating different areas of the bird for feather groupings.

Each feather is richly detailed, and she uses a burning process to bring out its texture.

This collection of tools includes a burning tool used to burn barbs into feathers on the birds that Edna Speyrer creates from blocks of wood. Other items she uses in her work include a spatula for blending paint, an epoxy for gluing bases and other small details, pencils for marking feather groupings and the location of bird eyes.

The high-pitched whirring sounds in her workshop are reminiscent of a dentist’s drill, and fine-grained wood dust flies, as she works to create birds that look real.

She is a stickler for detail.

She uses knowledge she has gained through the years to carve birds that are anatomically correct. She uses reference materials she’s collected to guide her painting.

She enjoys blending colors — and confesses that she has a knack for getting the exact shade she needs.

She also buys clear glass eyes for her birds — of varying sizes — and then paints them according to her needs.

“Some birds have yellow eyes. Some have red eyes. Some have brown eyes,” she said.

The Land O’ Lakes woman said she never thought that a simple trip to a furniture store would lead her into an entirely new universe.

“You learn all kinds of interesting things,” she said. She added: “When I was a teenager, I bet I didn’t know the names of 10 different birds.”

Since then, she has carved hundreds of birds, in about 75 different species.

She thoroughly enjoys the challenge.

Edna Speyrer begins each carving with a block of tupelo gum, which she cuts, burns, shapes and paints. She’s carved hundreds of birds over roughly 60 years.

“I think you get a tremendous amount of self-satisfaction out of producing something from a block of wood. You have to just imagine that he’s in there. You just have to remove what doesn’t look like him.”

She gets so immersed that she often is absorbed in the pursuit for hours.

“I just lose track of time,” said Speyrer, who worked as a teacher and as a security guard before retiring at the age of 57.

She enjoys learning from master carvers and developing friendships with other carving enthusiasts.

Carving birds has never been her sole source of income, but she does sell her work. Her pieces range from $200 to $2,500.

Some of her birds are on display at a gift shop in Cedar Key. She also does work on commission. She also is open to private appointments with potential buyers.

Some birds require more time and energy to create, but even if it meant parting with the piece that’s become most precious to her, Speyrer said she wouldn’t hesitate to sell it.

“I can always carve me another one,” she said.

If you’d like to know about Speyrer’s birds, you can reach her by calling (225) 485-1374.

Published December 28, 2016

Harvey’s Hardware fills a niche in Land O’ Lakes

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Christmas is upon us again, and with history as our guide, an appreciable number of your neighbors are about to be grateful for the existence of a locally owned hardware store in their midst.

Paul Harvey points to a photograph of the original Harvey’s Hardware building.
(Tom Jackson/Photos)

“The saddest time of the year,” says Emma Lou Harvey, “is when somebody is trying to put something together on Christmas Eve and they don’t have all the parts, or the parts don’t fit.

“And then, they come in the day after Christmas, looking for what they needed.”

Emma Lou, 86, is the grand dame of the venerable Harvey’s Hardware in the heart of Land O’ Lakes, and she has a secret: Desperate parents in the role of Santa’s elves not only have been known to seek out the Harveys after closing time Christmas Eve, they’ve also been rewarded for their efforts.

This is the sort of thing that happens when you run a hardware store as a public trust, the way a small-town doctor treats his practice.

“It’s nothing for people to come to the house,” Emma Lou says. “It’s what people did back then.” It’s sometimes what people do now. “If people had a problem…”

“… We helped them out,” continues Dee Dee Amodio, the store’s longtime clerk.

This is what Harvey’s, established — no foolin’ — April 1, 1961, does.

Guide a single mom through the intricacies of replacing the guts of a failed toilet tank? Check.

Dee Dee Amodio, a clerk at Harvey’s Hardware, and Oatie, the high-fiving cat.

Work with a hobbyist as he spreads out a project in the middle of the electronics aisle? Check.

Readily produce the part the big box retailers didn’t have, then smile knowingly when the relieved customer gasps at the low price? Check and double-check.

I mean, proof that Harvey’s does things differently is manifest in its shop mascot, a bob-tailed Siamese cat — Oatie — that dispenses high fives.

All anyone who works at Harvey’s asks is you think before you blurt, “I’ve been all over town looking for this!” Telling the folks who just bailed you out you tend to shop elsewhere is not a compliment.

Nonetheless, much as they want to, none of them — not Dee Dee, not Emma Lou, and not even Paul, Emma Lou’s plainspoken, 60-year-old son, will reply with what’s patently obvious: You should have come to them in the first place.

Lots of Harvey’s clients figured that out a long time ago. In fact, it’s pretty much why Ted Harvey — Emma Lou’s late, lamented husband — got the family into the business in the first place.

It’s not like the Harveys weren’t constantly occupied. She taught home economics at Gulf High School. Ted worked for Sheriff Leslie Bessenger. There was young Paul to rear, of course, and they had an egg farm with 10,000 free-range chickens. “We stayed busy,” Emma Lou says.

But, Land O’ Lakes, at the turn of the 1960s, was miles from the nearest retail center — “You had to go to Sulphur Springs if you wanted anything,” Emma Lou recalls — and, unbeknownst even to his wife, Ted Harvey had an itch to change that.

Dee Dee Amodio, Oatie the cat, Paul Harvey and his mom, Emma Lou Harvey, are familiar faces at Harvey’s Hardware, a shop that’s become a mainstay in Land O’ Lakes.

So when Charles W. Johnson, the store’s founder, asked Ted to look after the place while he was on jury duty, it was as though a bolt found its ideal nut. He spun into place, and held fast until he died in February 1994.

Once in charge, Ted quickly upped the store’s offerings, adding milk, eggs, ice, live fishing bait and fuel-oil delivery … none of which the store carries today.

Indeed, Harvey’s Hardware is, in many ways, as notable for what it no longer carries as for the odd treasures it does. Guns and ammunition, for instance, are off the menu, Emma Lou says, because, “They attract bad actors. Besides, there’s all kinds of paperwork and special insurance.”

Similar reasons related to bureaucrats account for how they chucked their fuel-oil operation. There is a limit, she says, to how many visits from EPA staffers any one small business can endure.

Instead, Harvey’s found a niche in knives, especially those designed and handcrafted by Bradford, Pennsylvania-based W.R. Case. “Biggest Case dealer in the Southeastern United States,” boasts Paul.

Now we’re 55 years on, and Harvey’s has stubbornly hung on, as history has gone on around it — like the Olympic torch passing through in 1996 en route to the Olympics in Atlanta, and ball fields and the Land O’ Lakes Community Center blooming in the former swamp, where Paul used to explore.

It’s not easy. Emma Lou reports they lose more suppliers every year, and there’s that whole internet competition thing. But — to answer the question that’s always dangling — she has no plans to quit the place.

Paul endorses her fixedness. “We need her,” he says. “She jump-starts us.” As Harvey’s does her.

“Retail is interesting to me,” she says. “You never know when you open the door that day what’s going to happen.”

Someone might come in completely unaware that what he needed most in the world was a set of Allen wrenches on a ring. Someone else — on Pearl Harbor Day — might bring his father, a World War II veteran, just to say hello, and that would trigger a memory.

Emma Lou’s family, who lived then in Seminole Heights, spent that infamous 1941 weekend at their Land O’ Lakes home. But, she dropped her little plastic box radio getting out of the car Saturday morning, and it shattered. They had no idea what had happened until neighbors rushed to greet them when they returned home Sunday night.

She was only 11 at the time, but she remembers the moment like it was yesterday: “The world had changed.”

It always does, of course. Which is why it is reassuring when some worthwhile, likable institutions resist, Harvey’s Hardware not least among them.

Tom Jackson, a resident of New Tampa, is interested in your ideas. To reach him, email .

Published December 21, 2016

Telling life stories, through ornaments

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The ornaments on the Christmas tree in Becky Wanamaker’s Land O’ Lakes home are like tiny snapshots of the family’s life.

“Everything on there is significant — has a story, or represents a memory,” she said.

“They’re either passed down from the family, they’re something I made as a kid, got on a trip or was given as a gift,” Wanamaker said.

“You see the Snoopy one up at the top?

Ink, compressed air and glass ornaments are used to create one-of-a-kind ornaments.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)

“That thing has traveled multiple states. Somebody made it for him (her husband Wayne), when he was a couple of years old.

“All of these faded ones here are his grandparents’ ornaments.

“This is an ornament he made with his grandmother, when he was a kid,” she said.

There’s one ornament — that Wanamaker’s mom made for her — that dates back to the 1970s.

There are decorations that Wanamaker made for her children, Ewan, Ridley and Amelie, too.

“This star with Ewan’s name on it is something I made with him when he was probably about a year old. This one is my daughter’s. She was about a year old. It has her picture on it.
Other ornaments remind the family of events from their lives, or places they’ve been.

She hopes the ornaments she now creates as an artist will become a keepsake for the people who purchase or receive them.

A car accident and a burglary combined to set Becky Wanamaker on a new path in life. She now creates unique Christmas ornaments, using a method she calls fluid abstract art.

“I look at these ornaments as treasures they can pass down, from generation to generation,” she said, of the 4-inch glass orbs that she transforms into works of art.

“I am what I call a fluid, abstract artist,” she said. ““I do fluid abstract art paintings, using inks and pigments and resin. The ornaments are one facet of what I do.”

She applies inks to the interior of the glass ball, then uses pressurized air to direct the flow of the ink. She often applies several layers of color.

The result is a unique, hand-crafted ornament.

“No two are exactly alike.

“I might use the same colors,” she said.

But, she added, “because of the way I do them, I can’t make duplicates.

Some of the inks used to create the ornaments. No two are alike.

“I can make them look like they belong together, as a set, but they’re all different from one another,” Wanamaker said.

The ornaments range from $15 to $20 each, with discounts available for orders of three or more.

Wanamaker enjoys creating the ornaments and can personalize them to suit the customer’s needs.

“If you want a message or a name or a date, I’ll do that. I’ve done ornaments for marriages.

“I’ve done ornaments for a child’s first Christmas. I’ve done ornaments in memory of someone who has passed. I’ve done ornaments for people’s dogs,” she said.

Some people want ornaments representing a specific team’s colors. Others want to say: “Merry Christmas from the Sunshine State,” she said.

“Ornaments can signify so many things,” the Land O’ Lakes woman said.

Indeed, on one level, the fact is these ornaments reflect a significant change in the direction of Wanamaker’s life.

This is what the ornaments look like before Becky Wanamaker’s artistry begins.

She had been working a freelance graphic designer when she was involved in a car accident two years ago, in November. Two days later her house was robbed. Her computer was stolen, and her house was ransacked.

“Those two things, back to back, just kind of put everything into a tailspin for me. So, I took a job managing an office, doing nothing creative because I just didn’t have it in me,” she said.

But, around October of last year, she felt the urge to do something artistic, she said.

“I came across these inks. They’re called alcohol inks. I started on paper, then I experimented with it on glass faces.

“I was at Michael’s one day and they had these glass ornaments, and I thought, ‘You know, those would probably be cool to do for Christmas.’ I was just doing it for myself.

“I shared what I created on Facebook, and before I knew it, I had people who wanted to buy the ornaments and the vases, and what not.

“Fast-forward a year, I left my job at the company, and I am pursuing a full-time career as an artist,” she said.

Compressed air is used to move and dry various ‘layers’ of ink, that she has applied inside clear glass ornament balls.

Most of her customers come from social media or word-of-mouth, she said. She also sells at art shows and festivals, and in a gallery in Ybor City.

Next year, she’d like to branch out to teach some classes.

As she creates her art, she wants to keep it affordable.

“I need to make money on it, but I don’t need to make a killing on it,” she said. Plus, she added, “I’m still an emerging artist.”

When she reflects upon the accident and the recent changes in her life, she thinks they were meant to be.

“I think everything happens for a reason,” Wanamaker said.

The car accident left her with back injuries, she said, which she expects to deal with for the rest of her life. But she said, it taught her something, too.

“You learn, after something like that happens, that the material stuff just doesn’t matter,” she said.

“I think everything is a journey in life. It’s a matter of how you look at it,” Wanamaker said.

“I always wanted to be an artist. I just didn’t think I could make a living on it,” she said.

Besides giving her a chance to express her creativity, Wanamaker said her work has other, intangible rewards.

She gets to play a role in helping others to create memories, and, she said: “I know in the end, it’s going to make somebody happy.”

It is too late for ornament orders for this Christmas, but Wanamaker accepts orders all year. So, if you’d like to order some ornaments or want to know more about Wanamaker’s work, you can email her at .

Published December 21, 2016

Spreading cheer, and cuddly bears, at Christmas

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A Land O’ Lakes mom recently led an effort to help less fortunate children by making stuffed bears and other animals at Build-A-Bear Workshop at The Shops at Wiregrass.

“I made an event on Facebook,” said Cindy Ross, whose business RP&G Printing, is in Wesley Chapel.

Cindy Ross, of RP&G Printing in Wesley Chapel, welcomes guests to a fundraiser at Build-A-Bear at The Shops at Wiregrass. The fundraiser was originally started by her daughter as a service project.
(Mary Rathman/Staff Photos)

“I asked people to come build a bear. Bring their kids, bring their family. Just have fun building a bear that they’re willing to donate,” she said.

She also announced the event through The Laker/Lutz News.

Twenty-seven people came out to build stuffed animals and 11 others who couldn’t come donated money.

The volunteers made a total of 70 bears and other animals with a total estimated value of more than $1,100, Ross said, expressing gratitude for all of the help.

The people at Build-A-Bear Workshop were fantastic, she said. And, the volunteers were great, too, she added.

“A lot of the people I’ve met through the years — with my business and with the chamber and with my friends — this community is just truly amazing. I definitely want to say, ‘Thank you so much,’ to all these people. This would not have happened at all, if these people in our community, weren’t as giving and caring as they are,” she said.

Ross said she was inspired to organize the event by her daughter, Miranda, who originally came up with the idea when she was a student at Wesley Chapel High School.

Miranda thought it would be fun to create cuddly stuffed animals for kids who couldn’t make them for themselves, and she enlisted a couple of her friends, Cindy Ross recalled.

Barbara Wilson, Jennifer Crissey and Stephanie Vokes have their Build-A-Bear minions and bears in hand, ready to stuff.

“We did The Joshua House, and we had a pretty good turnout.

“So, she did it for two or three more years, up through high school,” Cindy Ross added.

Miranda and her friends made 55 bears during her senior year, before the young woman headed off to college to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

A couple of years ago, Cindy Ross decided to revive the effort.

“I asked my friends, my neighbors, did a little event on Facebook.

“Two years ago, I did it, and we donated them to Farmworkers Self-Help. I want to say, I had maybe 20 bears or stuffed animals.

“I didn’t do it last year, but I decided this year I wanted to do it again.

Guests lined up at the bins to choose which animal to stuff and dress for the fundraiser at Build-A-Bear in Wesley Chapel.

“It’s something I would like to continue to do every year,” she said.

“I just felt, just really the calling,” she said.

The bears and stuffed animals will go to children who live in the areas of Wesley Chapel, Lutz, Land O’ Lakes and East Pasco, she said.

“There are so many people and kids in need, all over the place.

Some of the stuffed animals were delivered to Double Branch Elementary. Others will go to children of people being served by Sunrise of Pasco County Inc., Domestic and Sexual Violence Center, and also to other children in need at area elementary schools.

Cindy Ross said her husband, Kent, also pitches in.

The Wesley Chapel business woman said she plans to organize the event again next year, and she wants it come full circle.

She wants Miranda, who now lives in Jacksonville Beach, to get back into the act.

“I told her last night, ‘Definitely, next year when we plan this, we’re going to plan it on a day that you can be there. We’ll make it an annual thing, together.”

Published December 14, 2016

Bexley buzz isn’t just marketing hype

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LAND O’ LAKES — Late on a recent Saturday afternoon, as the sun’s slanting rays cast their golden autumnal glow, Tommy Brown and his young sons mounted their bikes and set off in search of adventure.

Luckily, they didn’t have far to go, and their destination was known. In fact, from their side yard near the northeast corner of Ballantrae, they’d had their eyes on it for weeks: the BMX (bicycle motocross) park in the neighboring, emerging community of Bexley.

All they needed was for the construction zone barriers to come down. That Saturday morning, in conjunction with Bexley’s grand opening weekend, they did.

A family enjoys the playground during Bexley’s opening festivities. (Courtesy of Brian Swartzwelder)
A family enjoys the playground during Bexley’s opening festivities.
(Courtesy of Brian Swartzwelder)

Now as the lads on their tyke-bikes jounced over the moguls, careened through the twists and catapulted across the banked turns, they hooted with laughter.

“This is fun!” whooped Alec Brown, 5, fairly hopping astride his bike while, nearby, Oscar, 9, clattered triumphantly over the wooden plank extension that rises like a dinosaur’s frill above the signature banked curve.

Their dad, meanwhile, was discovering the limitations of a mountain bike on a layout designed for tiny wheels. Never mind all that. Bathed in the patina of a fading fall afternoon, the 42-year-old computer programmer and his boys were making memories that would last into all their golden years.

Now, Pam Parisi, regional marketing director for developer Newland Communities, will tell you Bexley is selling a lot of things — houses (ranging from $215,000 townhouses to single-family houses in the mid-$500,000s), desirable amenities, nature-friendly design, abundant get-outside activities and a killer location (no one is closer to the Suncoast Parkway) — but, if you suggested, ultimately, the whole place is about filling your life with moments you’ll cherish, she wouldn’t disagree.

“Bexley is all about being families again,” she says. “It’s all about getting outdoors again. It’s not about having kids sitting on the couch ‘playing together’ with other friends on other couches.”

About that. Bexley comes front-loaded with “boot camp” fitness trails, miles of bicycle paths — one of which ultimately will link to the 42-mile Suncoast Trail — and a variety of parks. Some for kids. Some for dogs. Some for every recreational taste.

The playgrounds, in particular, hold your attention with slides laid into manmade hills and high-rise wooden play structures that, engaging the imagination while challenging young muscles, could be anything from a frontier fort in the Wild West to a magical abbey in Nepal.

No doubt some readers will consider this attention to a single master-planned community overwrought. In fact, the region embracing the Hillsborough-Pasco border from Trinity almost to U.S. 301 teems with similar villages, and many are splendid in their own right.

It bears noting, however, Newland has a history of reshaping how people regard things. Twenty-odd years ago, when it began carving out a mini-town at the end of a two-lane road near a sleepy incorporated settlement in southeast Hillsborough County, skeptics wondered whether the hotshot developers had lost their minds.

Now, as Parisi correctly notes, the area formerly known as “Lithia” is a reference reserved for mapmakers. For everyone else, it’s Fishhawk Ranch.

This is not to suggest the keepers of the Land O’ Lakes flame should prepare to take to the barricades. For openers, at 1,200 acres, Bexley is somewhat less than half Fishhawk’s sprawling 3,000 acres.

Instead, it’s merely to acknowledge the buzz about Bexley is warranted. Parisi describes the new community as Fishhawk Ranch improved by 20 years of experience and evolutionary thinking.

She points out the amenities are front-loaded, and not dependent on hitting a certain number of committed homeowners before artist’s renderings begin to transform into facts on the ground.

From Day One, residents will have access to the niceties mentioned above, plus a cafe (The Twisted Sprocket) and clubhouse worthy of a country club, plus a full-service bicycle shop, the first offshoot of the venerable, nearby Suncoast Trailside Bicycles, run by the energetic Geoff Lanier.

Next door, a cafe — open to the public — serves Bexley burgers (cheeseburgers topped with an onion ring) and beers crafted by Odessa-and-Clearwater based Big Storm Brewing Co.

Figuring out what’s going to erupt from the commercial frontage along State Road 54 is another matter. The first hint broke a couple of weeks ago with the announcement of a 110-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott, the first of its kind in Pasco County. Stay tuned.

And, as we have seen, even before the first families take up housekeeping, Bexley is fulfilling its mission: Getting people out and about. Getting them moving. With fresh memories to savor, the Browns of neighboring Ballantrae are happy it’s here.

Tom Jackson, a resident of New Tampa, is interested in your ideas. To reach him, email .

Published November 30, 2016

Land O’ Lakes gets a new brewery

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In the Loop Brewing is ready for beer lovers to belly up to the bar.

The craft brewery, in a renovated two-story house, and an outdoor beer garden, along the shores of Lake Padgett, is the setting for the newest addition to the craft beer scene in Pasco County.

In the Loop Brewing co-owner Joe Traina pours a beer at the Land O’ Lakes brewery. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photos)
In the Loop Brewing co-owner Joe Traina pours a beer at the Land O’ Lakes brewery.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photos)

It is the dream-come-true for three friends who spent weekends in a garage on Cherbourg Loop, brewing beer that got kudos from friends.

Now, Mark Pizzurro, Peter Abreut and Joe Traina are inviting the neighborhood to share in the hoppy pleasures of craft brew at In the Loop, at 3338 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.

“It’s been a good, solid opening,” said Traina. “We’re meeting neighbors and making new friends.”

On a recent afternoon, Traina poured brews for first arrivals to In the Loop.

“It’s amazing and exciting to have a local place that harkens back to the old-fashioned bar,” said Steve Flom, who was visiting family in Land O’ Lakes. “Everybody wants a place like Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Joe knows our names.”

Beer-brewing friends Mark Pizzurro, left, Peter Abreut and Joe Traina have opened In the Loop Brewing at 3338 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.
Beer-brewing friends Mark Pizzurro, left, Peter Abreut and Joe Traina have opened In the Loop Brewing at 3338 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.

The journey from renovations to opening day took nearly two years of entanglements in bureaucratic red tape. Licenses and approvals to brew their own craft beer brands just arrived.

Within a month of so, five In the Loop brews will be on tap, with more to come. First arrivals will be an IPA, a vanilla espresso porter, a Vienna lager and a pale ale.

Pizzurro is the brewmeister. He served an internship at Big Storm Brewing in Odessa.

Abreut is a former firefighter who owns Crossfit En Fuego, located next door to In the Loop. He focuses on the brewery’s marketing.

Traina deals with sales, and they all handle bar duties.

For now, beers on tap include local and Florida-based brews such as Funky Buddha and Sunshine City IPA.

A wooden deck at In the Loop Brewing overlooks the shores of Lake Padgett in Land O’ Lakes.
A wooden deck at In the Loop Brewing overlooks the shores of Lake Padgett in Land O’ Lakes.

Looking for something different? Try a Swedish cider in a tall, cool glass.

But, the In the Loop brews aren’t the final touch for what the partners see as a slow, deliberate introduction to the neighborhood.

More is to come.

A staircase from the tasting room to the second floor eventually will open into a special events room.

Before that can happen, though, a second exit must be installed to meet county building and safety codes.

In the moment, however, guests can enjoy the bar, and a tasting room with dark concrete floors and a brick chimney. Old-style suitcases, cut in half, jut from a wall and serve as drink rests. Outside, the patio and a wooden deck roll out toward Lake Padgett, with peaceful views of the lapping waters.

Games of Jenga and corn hole are at the ready for friendly competitions.

“We want it to be a good time to kick back and relax,” said Traina.

Published November 23, 2016

Proposed Bexley Elementary boundaries raise concerns

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Parents raised concerns about potential impacts from proposed boundaries for Bexley Elementary at a Nov. 1 meeting at Oakstead Elementary School.

Parents raised questions about such issues as school choice, transportation and programming for the new school, which draws its name from a subdivision under construction off State Road 54, in Land O’ Lakes.

The new school, set to open in the fall, for the 2017-2018 school year, will provide relief for both Odessa and Oakstead elementary schools, which are operating well above capacity. Odessa is at 131 percent capacity, and Oakstead is at 144 percent. The proposed boundaries will also expand Lake Myrtle Elementary, an older school operating at about 80 percent capacity.

Some parents were dismayed at the likelihood their children will be rezoned to Lake Myrtle, a “B” rated school built in 1984.

This is what Bexley Elementary will look like upon its completion.(Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)
This is what Bexley Elementary will look like upon its completion.(Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

“I know their school rating isn’t as high as Oakstead Elementary,” said Sarah Davis, whose daughter will attend Lake Myrtle. “I don’t know much about it, so all I can do is my research online, and since it’s not as great as a school, my concern is that she won’t get the help that she needs that’s she’s already getting.”

Dave Scanga, area superintendent for Central Pasco schools, said Lake Myrtle is “a great school.”

“It is an older building,” Scanga said, however, he added, “in terms of the traditions that Lake Myrtle has had, for a long time it’s always been top-notch.”

“I think all of our schools are good,” added Richard Tonello, planning supervisor for Pasco County Schools. “Maybe grades aren’t a reflection of the school. You go to any of our schools, you’re going to see a great group of teachers, and they’re going to look after your child.”

Other parents expressed frustration over Bexley’s current unknowns, such as staffing dynamics and school schedule.

Scanga said potential teachers will be identified in March and April, after a new principal is named in December and assumes duties in February.

“A lot will happen once we get to February, and then it’s the (principal’s) job to let them play out the rest of the hiring and selection.”

He added: “As we get closer to the start of school, there will be all sorts of opportunities for people to come in, see the building and meet the people that are going to be in the building, too.”

Betsy Kuhn, assistant superintendent Pasco County Schools, anticipates several teachers from both Odessa and Oakstead to be reassigned to Bexley.

“It’s a very exciting opportunity for teachers to come in to open a new school, so we typically have a lot of interest,” Kuhn said.

“I think you’ll have a lot of interest from teachers outside our system, in our system, both experienced and new,” she added.

Sorting out transportation issues, too, was another focus of the hour-long meeting.

Scanga said bus routes will be reconfigured to accommodate the new school.

The Pasco County School Board provides free transportation to and from school for students who live more than 2 miles away from school.

Students who are selected to choose a particular school through open enrollment must provide their own transportation.

Pasco County’s school choice open enrollment period runs from Feb. 1 to March 1, for the 2017-2018 school year. Final determinations are expected around April or May. Extenuating circumstances and family hardships will also be considered, school officials said.

For example, students entering the fifth grade may have a greater chance to remain at their current school depending on the influx of school choice requests.

“It’s hard to make a decision until they know exactly how many students are requested,” said Chris Williams, planning services director for Pasco County Schools. “In every past experience, we’ve been able to accommodate fifth graders.”

“It’s a process we go through…to try to accommodate as much as we can,” he added.

Scanga said he understands the frustration from parents, especially those who deliberately moved to a particular community for their children to attend a certain school.

“School rezoning always catches many people off guard,” said Scanga, “and also in terms of not getting what we had planned for, or hoped for.”

Scanga also noted: “One of the challenges we have—and it’s unique—is just how fast the growth is happening right here on the 54 corridor. We’re like ground zero. Much of Florida, like much of the country, just doesn’t have this challenge…of how do we continually provide the best education to children in the best facility possible.”

Last month, a boundary committee recommended boundaries for Bexley Elementary.

The committee selected an option that would include Ballantrae, Suncoast Meadows, Suncoast Pointe, Hayman/Fuentes, Meadowbrook/Sierra Pines, and all of Bexley, which are east of the Suncoast Parkway.

Bexley Elementary also would include Swan View Townhomes, Ivy Lake Estates and Toscano at Suncoast, which are west of the Suncoast Parkway.

At nearly 96,000 square feet, the new school will have a capacity of 878 students, and is expected to have 706 students.

Oakstead, which had 1,095 enrolled students is expected to have 765 students, under the proposed boundaries. Odessa, which had 1,000 students, is expected to have 780, and Lake Myrtle, which had 587 students, is expected to have 616.

Students that would be shifting from Oakstead to Lake Myrtle live in these areas: Morsani, Woodville Palms, Cambridge/Lake Linda, Oakstead Area South, Cypress Cove/Village on the Pond, Meadowview/Country Close and Foxwood/Lake Heron.

The school board is scheduled to hold its first public hearing on the proposed boundaries on Dec. 20 and its second public hearing on Jan. 17, when it is expected to make the final decision on the issue.

While the committee recommends the boundaries, the Pasco County School Board has the final word on where the lines should be drawn.

Boundary guidelines are based on a number of factors, including future growth and capacity, socio-economic balance, school feeder patterns, and transportation.

“All of these guidelines we use, it’s a little bit of a balancing act,” Tonello said.

Bexley Elementary is the first of several schools (additional elementary schools, middle school and high school) planned within the Bexley development.

When those schools are built depends on the amount of growth within the community, as well as the amount of capital funding available, Williams said.

He noted the school district has accumulated nearly $500 million in debt capital, a hurdle in building new schools.

“One of the things that we struggle with as a district is our capital funding,” Williams said. “We are constrained—we can’t always build where we want to because of funding. It might mean adding a classroom wing at an existing school.”

Construction costs for Bexley Elementary total about $20 million.

For more information, visit PascoSchools.org/planning/rezoning.

Published November 9, 2016

SwampFest gearing up for community-based fair

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SwampFest, hosted by the Land O’ Lakes High School Athletic Booster Club, gives kids and adults a chance to have fun — but also helps raise money to benefit the high school and other local organizations.

This year, the event will feature a new carnival company, said Doug Hutchinson, SwampFest coordinator.

SwampFest will feature 24 rides, a magic act, bands, a DJ, other entertainers, food and carnival games. It’s a local event that offers fun for people of all ages, said Doug Hutchinson, SwampFest coordinator. (File Photo)
SwampFest will feature 24 rides, a magic act, bands, a DJ, other entertainers, food and carnival games. It’s a local event that offers fun for people of all ages, said Doug Hutchinson, SwampFest coordinator.
(File Photos)

“It’s going to be Arnold Amusements. They’re a family oriented, family owned, carnival company. Right now, they’re doing the Hillsborough County Fair down in Brandon,” Hutchinson said.

“Last year, we had a little disappointment because the operator that brought the rides, brought just the rides. We didn’t really have a full complement of games … where it makes it more like a fair,” Hutchinson said.

Arnold Amusements will bring a full Midway, with games, rides and amusements.

The event will last four nights, from Nov. 3 through Nov. 6. Highlights include 24 rides, a magic act, and performances by Stonegrey, Vincent Randazzo, Nunes at Night, DJ Carlos, Nicole’s Dance Center, Show on the Road Tampa and Suncoast Dance.

Hutchinson said the organizers talked to teenagers to find out what they’d like, and they suggested a DJ because they want to dance, Hutchinson said.

The event will be at the Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.

SwampFest is an offshoot from Flapjack Festival, a popular Land O’ Lakes event that shifted to Dade City, and then was suspended.

After the Flapjack Festival moved, a group got together to organize SwampFest, said Hutchinson, who was the coordinator for the Flapjack Festival in Land O’ Lakes.

Tickets for Midway rides will be sold individually, or event-goers can purchase armbands for unlimited rides.
Tickets for Midway rides will be sold individually, or event-goers can purchase armbands for unlimited rides.

“We started having it the same weekend as Flapjack used to be. It’s not as big. Our goal is to try to make it more of a community-based fair,” he said.

The event raises money for the Land O’ Lakes High School Booster club, but it also raises money for other groups who sell pre-sale tickets.

Pre-sale armband tickets for unlimited rides are $15 each. On-site armband ride tickets are $25.

Locations selling the pre-sale tickets are: Land O’ Lakes High School cheerleaders, Sunlake High School (guidance office), Sanders Elementary School, Pine View Middle School, Sugar and Spice Daycare and Beef O’ Brady’s at Village Lakes, Wilderness Lakes and Sunlake.

The event has free admission, and generally attracts between 2,000 and 3,000 people, Hutchinson said.

This will be the second year that the event will be at the upgraded Land O’ Lakes Community Center Park.

Hutchinson can’t wait until the park gets its stage, which will be in time for next year’s SwampFest.

“It’s not easy getting some of the entertainment to come out there and play under a tent,” he said. With the stage, it will be easier to persuade musicians to come out to play.

The event was initially held at Land O’ Lakes High, but the community park offers a greater degree of visibility, creating a better opportunity to attract people who are traveling past the event, he said.

Proceeds from SwampFest are used by the booster club to benefit students at Land O’ Lakes High.

“For the first five years, we put pretty much all of our money that we made off of SwampFest into upgrading the weight room,” Hutchinson said.

The boosters also paid for the school’s blue and gold marquee sign.

“That’s a nice sign, and it was definitely overdue,” he said, estimating its cost at about $12,000.

The event is now in its seventh year, having skipped one year because of construction at the park.

It’s the kind of event that brings people together, Hutchinson said.

“The year that we didn’t have it, everybody was complaining because that’s kind of their annual alumni get-together,” he said.

For more information about SwampFest, visit LOLSwampFest.com.

SwampFest
What: A community festival featuring games, rides, entertainment and food
Where: Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.
When: Nov. 3 through Nov. 6 (See LOLSwampFest.com for more details)
How much: Free admission; pre-sale unlimited ride armbands, $15; on-site unlimited ride armbands, $25.

Published November 2, 2016

 

Hearts for Hospice 5K keeps legacies alive

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Ethel Dunk was known for her endless energy, so it seemed only fitting to her family and friends to honor her memory to form a team called “Ethel’s Energizers” to raise money at the annual Hearts for Hospice 5K.

Dunk occupied many roles in life.

For Ethel's Energizers, the Hearts for Hospice 5K is a way to keep alive the memory of Ethel Dunk, who was a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, aunt and friend. (Photos courtesy of Keth Luke)
For Ethel’s Energizers, the Hearts for Hospice 5K is a way to keep alive the memory of Ethel Dunk, who was a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, aunt and friend.
(Photos courtesy of Keth Luke)

She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, sister, aunt and friend.

Cindy Walker and Barbara Russell, both of Land O’ Lakes, are Dunk’s daughters and co-captains of the team which was named to honor Dunk’s energetic spirit.

Both women applaud the work that hospice does to help families.

Walker is a nurse.

Because of the help of Gulfside Hospice, she was able to put that nursing role aside, so she could relate to her mom as her daughter.

Russell said the team that came in to provide assistance included aides, nurses, social workers and clergy.

It made a real difference, Russell said, noting she remembers talking to a clergy member who asked her: “If you had one last thing to say to your mom, what would you say?”

It helped both her and her mom to say things to each before her mom’s passing, Russell said.

Both women said they decided to raise money to help Gulfside Hospice because it needs the community’s support.

‘Participating in the Hearts for Hospice 5K is a way to keep our mom's legacy alive while helping others care for their loved ones,’ said Barbara Russell, one of Dunk’s daughters and team co-captain.
‘Participating in the Hearts for Hospice 5K is a way to keep our mom’s legacy alive while helping others care for their loved ones,’ said Barbara Russell, one of Dunk’s daughters and team co-captain.

“The patient never gets a bill,” said Walker, who also serves as a volunteer, but not in the capacity of a nurse.

People often have the wrong impression of what hospice is, Russell said. “Everybody thinks of it as death,” she said. “It’s just so much more than that. It’s just a loving community.”

Dunk’s family became acquainted with Gulfside Hospice in 2014, when Dunk’s illness became too much for the family’s health care professionals.

“We have developed a bond with our Gulfside Hospice family. We may have lost our mom, but we gained friendships and support,” Russell said.

After Dunk’s death in 2014, the family decided to honor her by joining Gulfside Hospice’s fundraising community.

They signed up for what was then called Hike for Hospice, but is now known as the Hearts for Hospice 5K, and they launched Ethel’s Energizers team.

The team has grown every year.

This year, 25 people will walk as part of the team in honor of Dunk, ranging in age from 1 to 85.

It’s a fitting tribute, Russell said. “Hospice is not about giving up; it’s about celebrating the end of life.”

This year’s 10th annual Hearts for Hospice 5K, presented by Bouchard Insurance, will take place on Nov. 6 at Rasmussen College, 18600 Fernview St., in Land O’ Lakes. Registration and check-in begin at 7:30 a.m., and the 5K walk, run and one-mile fun run start at 8:45 a.m.

To register for the event, or create a team and fundraise like Ethel’s Energizers, visit HeartsForHospice5K.org. For more information, call Chelsea O’Keefe at (727) 845-5707.

Published November 2, 2016

Recycling center plans to move

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lol-mascot-copyLand O’ Lakes Recycling is in hot water with a state regulatory agency for failing to meet an Oct. 7 deadline to build a retention pond or shut down its business.

Staff members of the Southwest Florida Water Management District referred the matter to the agency’s Office of General Counsel on Oct. 18 “because corrective actions have not been taken at this site,” according to an email from the agency, known as Swiftmud.

Also, staff members observed on Oct. 3 and Oct. 10 that the business was still operating despite locked gates and a sign displaying a message that Land O’ Lakes Recycling is closed.

The company has recycled paper, plastic, metal and cardboard from its site at 5710 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., for decades.

Owner Greg Conaty said he plans to move his business to Brooksville, and he plans to continue providing paper-recycling services to existing customers.

He said he hasn’t decided what will happen with the Land O’ Lakes property.

“We’re looking at our options,” he said, in a phone interview with The Laker/Lutz News shortly after the sign was posted, but prior to Swiftmud’s latest action.

His sign puts the blame for the recycling center’s situation on business neighbors at Lakes Auto.

But, John and Peter Inhofer, the father and son owners of Lakes Auto, say Conaty is responsible for years of violating county codes and state environmental regulations.

The Inhofers contend that county and state regulators have failed repeatedly over the years to enforce the laws.

Recycling materials have drifted frequently from the recycling business onto Lake Autos’ property, the Inhofers said.

A 10-foot steel fence separates the properties. A two-story conveyor system that separates recyclable products stands next to the fence.

“We had a garbage dump. There would be plastic and paper flying everywhere. All the garbage dumped into the pond right behind us,” said Peter Inhofer, who lives in a house behind Lakes Auto. “It devalues my property — so basically we forced them to do the right thing.”

It has never been personal, said Peter Inhofer.

“I have nothing against the neighbors,” he said. “I don’t even know them. I maybe met them twice.”

His father, John Inhofer, said it’s a matter of fairness. “If they (codes) are uniformly applied, there is no problem,” he said.

In the past five years, Pasco County, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Swiftmud have found, on different occasions, that the recycling company was not complying with code and environmental regulations.

After the county and agencies determined the business to be in compliance, their files were closed.

For instance, Pasco County sued in 2012 over code violations and failure to obtain a business license. Conaty agreed to seek a new conditional permit to supplant one issued in 1994.

A year later the state environmental agency found environmental violations including discharging stormwater directly into a wetland, excessive litter, and storing waste within 50 feet of a wetland. Officials from that agency later said the issues were resolved and the case was closed.

More than a year ago Conaty applied for an exemption from a stormwater permit, which Swiftmud granted.

The Inhofers challenged that decision.

A judge sided with them, and Swiftmud issued the permit requiring Conaty to build a retention pond.

In its email, Swiftmud outlined the timeline of its interaction with Conaty since issuing the permit.

The recycling center received the permit in May 2015 authorizing the construction of the retention pond on the approximately 3-acre site. Construction was to begin in June and be completed by Dec. 18, 2015.

In November 2015, Conaty met with Swiftmud staff members on-site and told them he had been unable to receive a permit from Pasco County to operate his business. He also said he had purchased property in Brooksville and planned to relocate Land O’ Lakes Recycling.

Telephone calls by the The Laker/Lutz News, to obtain additional information from county officials, were not returned.

In February, Swiftmud sent a letter notifying Conaty he was in violation of his permit, and had until March 25 to comply. Then, in June, Swiftmud received an email from Conaty’s attorney stating the business would close by the end of August 2016.

In September, Conaty received his last deadline of Oct. 7.

Conaty claims that his business has been unfairly targeted.

He described Land O’ Lakes Recycling as an environmentally friendly company that recycles paper, aluminum and scrap metal. And, for more than two decades, Conaty said he and his sister and business partner, Cindy Glenn, never had a problem.

In the past four years, Conaty said they have tried to meet an expanding list of regulations that seemed unfair and arbitrary.

He claims the increasing regulation stemmed from complaints by the Inhofers.

Now, according to Conaty, they are moving Land O’ Lakes Recycling operations to Brooksville, just as the company emerges from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

But, Conaty said, “Pasco County has been absolutely horrible. They give you no help. They give you no answers.”

On the issue of being frustrated by government bureaucracy, the Inhofers and Conaty are on common ground.

Peter Inhofer said he and his father have repeatedly found local and state offices unresponsive to their complaints.

Land O’ Lakes Recycling continues operations, despite the lack of a permit and the retention pond, Peter Inhofer said, and the matter remains tangled in bureaucracy.

“Nobody is taking care of the problem,” he said.

Pubished October 26, 2016