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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Local News

Zephyrhills librarian captures award-winning image

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The timing could not have been better.

“On that particular night, the moon was perfect,” Lori Brightwell, Zephyrhills librarian, said about her prize-winning photograph.

The former professional photographer also noted: “With the right lighting and cropping, basically anyone can have equally good pictures.”
She used her iPhone to capture the moon shining through clouds, above Zephyrhills City Hall, with a fountain lit up in the foreground.

Lori Brightwell, a Zephyrhills librarian, captured this image she calls ‘City Hall at Night.’ Brightwell placed third in the Florida Cities and County Management Association’s Membership Directory Photo Contest. The image will be featured on the association’s homepage for three months. Brightwell was a professional photographer for 22 years. (Courtesy of Lori Brightwell)

She knew it was a great photo, but was totally unaware of the photo contest.

It turns out that Kevin Weiss, the city’s public information officer, submitted the image as an entry in the Florida Cities and County Management (FCCMA) 2022-23 Membership Directory Photo Contest.

It was one of 47 submissions from jurisdictions across Florida that generated more than 25,000 views.

Brightwell’s photo garnered 360 votes, which yielded her third place in the competition.

Her photo now will be featured on the FCCMA home page from Jan. 1, 2023 to March 1, 2023.

“I’m very happy people voted for it,” Brightwell said.

She said it didn’t matter that her photo didn’t capture first place.

“I’m glad it’ll be on the cover, so everyone can see a part of this town that I just think is beautiful,” Brightwell said.

Before “accidentally becoming a librarian,” Brightwell worked as a professional photographer in the Temple Terrace area for more than two decades.

She graduated from the University of South Florida with a major in photography; she specialized in shooting weddings and national horse shows. In those days, Brightwell shot film and developed it in a darkroom at her house.

“I was told I would never get a job in photography,” she said, noting at that time, “there weren’t many women in photography either.”

But she worked as a photographer for 22 years.

When photography turned digital, it was harder to find work, Brightwell said.

That’s when she bought a horse from a principal, who helped her get a job as a school’s media specialist for a year while she also taught photography as an online class.

Shortly after, she became a librarian in downtown Zephyrhills and never looked back at photography — except when she has some free time.

“Honestly, this city is really a gem of a city,” she said.” There are so many little places that I wish I could do nothing but take pictures, if I weren’t always in the library. The snapshots that tell the story of Zephyrhills — the little details. That’s how you see the whole story of this town, which, in my opinion, is really beautiful.”

Especially late at night.

“I sent it to the city, just joking about how late us librarians leave, and I thought they might not think it was funny,” she said. “They loved the picture.”

“So, sometimes,” Brightwell said, “it’s worth it to leave that late.”

Published March 23, 2022

285 dwellings proposed at Old Pasco Road, State Road 52

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The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended changes to the county’s land use plan to allow consideration of 285 dwelling units at the southeast corner of State Road 52 and Old Pasco Road.

The current land use designation, RES-3, allows up to three dwellings per acre. The new one, RES-12, would allow up to 12 dwellings per acre on slightly less than 28 acres. About 1.85 acres of the 29.25-acre site would retain its current designation of ROR (office, retail, residential) — but the intention is to use the entire site for a residential project, according to materials in the planning board’s March 17 meeting agenda packet.

In addition to the land use change, the applicant, represented by attorney Barbara Wilhite, intends to seek a rezoning for a master-planned unit development including detached or attached units, with buildings on the site being no more than two stories tall, according to the agenda backup.

Initially, the applicant was seeking to change the entire site to a land use designation allowing 12 units per acre. The applicant, however, amended the request, after David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, raised issues about amending the ROR portion of the site.

Goldstein told Nectarios Pittos, the county’s planning and development director, that he was concerned about changing the ROR designation to R-12 because of the potential for a future request to change the ROR use on the property to the north, to allow additional residential.

He asked Pittos if the planning director could document “that we’re not giving additional residential to that property owner to the north, because there’s already adequate residential in this ROR district, including the area we’re about to change right now.”

Another option, Goldstein said, would be for the county to change the designation on the land to commercial, to retain office and retail uses on the land.

“The problem with the ROR district is that it allows all three (commercial, office and retail),” Goldstein said.

“I just think it would be a mistake to take that key corner of (State Road) 52 and Old Pasco Road and make it residential … I’m worried that 10 years from now some staff person says, ‘ROR, residential’s allowed.’”

Pittos said he understood Goldstein’s concern and that he could make a notation in the county’s files.

That’s when Clarke Hobby, an attorney who frequently appears on behalf of clients at land use and zoning hearings, stepped up to the microphone.

Hobby told the planning board that he wasn’t there to represent the property owner to the north, but that he is working with that landowner.

Hobby then said: “I think it’s really inappropriate for the county to be effectively trying to impose conditions on their (the adjacent) property, when their property wasn’t the subject of today’s application.

“Effectively what you are saying is that their comp (land use) plan is being changed or conditioned somehow today, and they had no knowledge of it, so I think it’s unfair,” Hobby said.

Goldstein then asked Wilhite why it was necessary to change the ROR designation on the pending application.

Both the attorney and the county planning staff told Wilhite the density that is being sought in the forthcoming request for master-planned unit development could be achieved, without changing the ROR designation.

Wilhite said she was willing to drop that request, as long as it did not require re-advertising the request or delaying the process.

Goldstein said re-advertising would not be required because Wilhite is not seeking to change the ROR. That being said, Wilhite agreed.

In the backup materials, planners recommended approval of the proposed land use change, noting that it complies with the county’s policy regarding the provision of transitional uses to serve as a buffer between varying densities of residential and commercial land uses.

Planners also found that the “proposed amendment to RES-12 supports the vision and

mission of the South Market Area by encouraging higher-density residential development adjacent to major corridors.”

And, they noted because of the proximity of the Interstate 75 corridor and State Road 52, the proposed use “provides the opportunity for residents to live/work within major corridors.”

The planning board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the proposed land use change. The request now goes to the Pasco County Commission, which has final jurisdiction on land use and zoning changes.

The proposed development cannot proceed until the pending master-planned unit development zoning also gains approval from the county board.

Published March 23, 2022

Moonshining had a colorful history in Pasco County

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At least two Pasco County Sheriffs — Isaac Washington Hudson Jr., and Frank Leslie Bessenger — were known to be on both sides of the law when it came to making moonshine in Pasco County.

During a recent presentation at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village, there was a general consensus that it wasn’t always easy to separate the good guys from the bad guys.

Bessenger, for example, had a blind black man who sold the sheriff’s liquor “…but if you handed him money he could tell if it was a one-dollar bill or a 20-dollar bill” according to Wayne Carter, who remembers helping his family make moonshine when he was a child.

Pasco County Sheriff Isaac Washington Hudson Jr., left, and his deputies confiscated 164 moonshine stills during Hudson’s his first six months in office. (Courtesy of Pioneer Florida Museum & Village)

The speakers at this event, Madonna Wise, Susan Shelton and Carter, explained that people from all walks of life got themselves in trouble for selling moonshine in Pasco County — including a former slave, who was thought to be 105 years old at the time of his arrest.

Also, there was Mayor George J. Frese, of San Antonio, who was out on bond after his arrest for running a moonshine still on the second floor of his residence. The home was described as being on “the most prominent corner in town,” according to a news article at that time.

The making of moonshine in Pasco County was a family affair and, in fact, children were known to be used as decoys to lead intruders away from the stills, speakers during the museum presentation said.

Selling moonshine became a source of revenue after Prohibition became the law of the land, through the passage of the 18th Amendment to the United States.

It was illegal to make or sell alcohol after Jan. 16, 1919. The law took effect on Jan. 1, 1920, according to History.com.

The result? Illegal moonshine stills began popping up.

Federal agents, known as “revenuers,” were charged with enforcing the law, often intruding into the lives of moonshiners, such as Preston Overstreet, according to Shelton, the great-granddaughter of Overstreet.

She explains how Overstreet had stills hidden in the woods and swamps along the Withlacoochee River in East Pasco County.

Moonshiners used copper stills to ferment and distill corn, sugar and water into liquor recalls Carter.

“You need 150 pounds of corn and 150 pounds of sugar to make about 5 gallons of moonshine,” he added during his part of the presentation at the museum.

Sometimes, efforts to enforce laws against moonshining turned deadly.

Around 1931, 19-year-old Lonnie Tucker watches for revenuers. He is pictured in Wesley Chapel with his moonshine still. (Courtesy of Madonna Jervis Wise)

In October of 1922 — three years after Prohibition began — Federal Agent John Van Waters and Pasco County Deputy Arthur Fleece Crenshaw were killed, east of Dade City according to The Dade City Banner.

In an Oct. 6, 1922 account, “Prohibition Agent Waters and Deputy Sheriff Crenshaw Killed,” the Banner reported that the Pasco County Commission put up a $5,000 reward for “the arrest and conviction of the slayers” of Waters and Crenshaw.

Several suspects were questioned.

Overstreet was charged with first degree murder.

His trial began on Dec. 4, 1922.

After deliberating for 45 minutes, jurors found Overstreet not guilty.

“The two men who did shoot Waters and Crenshaw were very close friends to the Overstreets and later married into the family,” explains Shelton. “Both men later became Baptist preachers!”

According to her family’s history, “The Overstreets of East Pasco County (1828-1981),” Preston was an excellent marksman who could hit a 50-cent piece with one shot — and refused to pay monthly “insurance” in the amount of $50 to Sheriff Hudson.

In early February of 1925, Hudson’s chief deputy and the sheriff’s son, also a sworn deputy, had staked out the Overstreet family stills and were hiding in the palmettos according to Shelton’s family history.

Spotted when arriving at his stills, Overstreet suddenly heard, “You are under arrest!”

Before he could turn around, Overstreet was shot in the back.

Gravely wounded, he died shortly later in the woods.

Shelton writes: “The deputies put the body of Preston Overstreet in his car to take into town. On the way in, they stopped at Preston’s home and showed his wife Lizzi what had happened to her husband. Two of his daughters recalled watching the deputies as they opened the back door of Preston’s car and seeing their daddy’s arm hang out that open door.”

In her book, “Images of America: Wesley Chapel (2016),” Madonna Wise describes a “rugged history” of moonshiners in Pasco County and identifies Stanley Ryals as one of that area’s leading moonshiners.

With sugar and whiskey in the house, Ryals had a sleepless night, after spotting a revenuer who was on his property in an unmarked car.

Ryals, like most other moonshiners, decided to get out of the business for good.

“We got rid of everything,” Ryals recalls in Wise’s book. “Well, I might have used the rest of that sugar, but I was done making whiskey.”

Published March 23, 2022

Local projects receive federal funds

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Ten community project funding requests submitted this year by U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis were approved and will bring a total of $13.79 million in federal funding to the Tampa Bay area, according to a news release from the congressman’s office.

Bilirakis received dozens of proposals seeking federal funding from local governments, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations throughout Florida, the release said.

Three of the projects receiving funding will have a direct impact on areas within East Pasco County. Those projects are:

Rural Northeast Pasco Community Park Site Acquisition: $1 million
Provides funding to allow Pasco County to plan, identify, and buy the new community park site, including appraisals, boundary surveys, closing costs, insurance and so on. In other parts of the county, impact fees support the purchase of parkland and developing of parks, but in rural northeast Pasco, less land is being developed resulting in less impact fees.

The Dade City Wastewater Treatment Plant: $1.75 million
This project involves the design and permitting of the city’s wastewater treatment plant relocation and upgrade.

The Zephyrhills Lift Station and Force Main Project: $1.5 million
This provides matching funds to the City of Zephyrhills to assist with wastewater system improvement that will allow the city to balance wastewater flow, provide water quality protection and support water supply needs in the Hillsborough River Basin.

The other seven projects submitted by Bilirakis that received funding will have direct impacts in West Pasco, in Pinellas County or across Pinellas and Pasco counties.

In the news release, Bilirakis, who represents Florida’s 12th congressional district, said: “While I am no proponent of big government spending, I have a duty to ensure my community receives its fair share of allocated federal resources and to be transparent about my efforts to prioritize these important projects. These projects will help strengthen our local infrastructure, benefit our community and assist local residents.”

Published March 23, 2022

Airport area moratorium is on hold

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Questions about potential impacts from a proposed moratorium on development near airport land have prompted a delay by the Pasco County Commission, to give stakeholders more time to weigh in on the issue.

A continuance already had been planned, to push the matter back to April 5, but Commissioner Mike Moore called for additional time to study the issue.

“I am getting way too many questions from stakeholders. A lot of questions, a lot of concerns,” Moore told his colleagues.

“I think this needs to be pushed (back) at least another month to give time for the stakeholders to get involved, on both sides,” Moore said at the county board’s March 8 meeting.

The first reading of the proposed moratorium ordinance is now set for April 19 at 1:30 p.m., in New Port Richey, with a final vote scheduled for May 3 at 1:30 p.m., in Dade City.

Concerns about the proposed moratorium initially arose during the Pasco County Planning Commission’s March 3 meeting.

The objections surfaced after Denise Hernandez, the county’s zoning administrator, gave the planning board a presentation on the proposed six-month moratorium.

The moratorium would put a 180-day pause on most development proposals near Zephyrhills Municipal Airport, Pilot Country Airport, Tampa North Aero Park and Hidden Lake Airport.

Hernandez explained that county staff had been directed by the county board on Jan. 11 to do the necessary work to establish the temporary moratorium.

Then, on Feb. 8, the county board applied the pending ordinance doctrine to the airport zoning moratorium, which means that applications must be accepted and processed in their normal course, but applicants must be informed “they are going forward at their own risk and if the moratorium is adopted, their application may be put on hold for the duration of the moratorium.”

Hernandez also noted: “the moratorium ordinance may contain certain exceptions to the moratorium that would allow some applications to proceed, if certain requirements are met.”

The county also has retained a consultant to create noise contour studies around Tampa North Aero Park, Hidden Lake and Pilot Country.

Hernandez explained to the planning board that there is a 20,000-foot area around airports that is deemed to be the height obstruction area.

“Any application that comes in where something is going to be over 200 feet in height, in that area, it’s required by the state that you notify the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration),” she said.

Another part of the moratorium addresses potential applications that could be deemed to be incompatible with airport operations.

“We provide examples of what may be incompatible with airport operations,” Hernandez said.

“For example, residential uses, landfills, wildlife attractants, uses that will cause visual obstructions, such as dust, glare, light emissions, smoke, steam and/or fog.

“It doesn’t mean it’s prohibited,” she said.

It means that the county can use conditions to ensure that incompatible uses do not occur.

There’s also a noise abatement area.

“Typically, in a noise abatement area, state statute says you cannot have residential. It also says that you cannot have an educational facility unless the education facility is an airport school, that you are teaching flying,” Hernandez said.

Barbara Wilhite, a private land use attorney, who has represented clients with projects near airports, raised objections to language within the county’s proposed moratorium.

“I don’t have any issue with the Florida statutes. The Florida statutes require that you implement two types of regulations. One, you check height. And, the second one is you check land use compatibility, based upon noise generation of the airports.

“It’s two things. Pretty straight-forward,” Wilhite said.

But she objects to language in the proposed moratorium that says “uses may be conditioned, so as not to be incompatible with airport operations, such as landfills, wildlife attractants, uses that cause visual obstructions, such as glare, dust, light emissions, smoke, steam and fog.”

Wilhite urged the planning board to require more specific language and to reduce staff’s discretion.

As an applicant, Wilhite said, “You have to figure out, you and your engineers, how to comply with dealing with wildlife attractants, which is a circular that’s like six pages off the internet. You have to figure out what the heck that means.”

She urged the planning board to recommend a moratorium that focuses on the issues of noise and height, as it relates to development around airports.

“I think when we get into a real quagmire is when we go beyond that,” Wilhite said. “Make this more simple to implement. It’s very, very, very cumbersome.

“The way it is being done is not fair, is not reasonable, is not striking a balance that it should,” Wilhite added.

Jeremy Couch, a professional engineer who has handled projects near airports, told the planning board that the proposed moratorium is too broad and gives staff too much latitude.

Hernandez said there are letters of support for the proposed moratorium that have been submitted to the record.

Nectarios Pittos, the county’s director of planning and development, said the proposed moratorium still allows options for development.

Wilhite said she’s worried that the language in the temporary moratorium could be the precursor of the final ordinance, but David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, said it is not unusual for the language in a temporary moratorium to be broader in nature.

Published March 23, 2022

Museum presents an homage to the cowboy way of life

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Sounds of cracking whips and old-time music filled the air at Cracker Cowboy Day at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village, at 15602 Pioneer Museum Road.

The event was held for its first time on March 5, on the property in Dade City.

As her proud father, Evan, looks on, 3-year-old Savannah Feller, of Lake Wales, achieves a decent lasso spin during calf roping at Cracker Cowboy Day at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village on March 5. Her mom, Rachel, and little sister Addison cheer from the sidelines. (Christine Holtzma)

Dade City Candy, Comics, and Collectibles presented the event, which took folks back to a bygone era of Florida’s early settlers.

It was a time that was rich with cowboys and cattle.

Many of the interactive demonstrations featured activities that actually would have taken place on the range.

Both children and adults could try their hand at whip-cracking, cow-whip braiding, roping, axe-throwing and wood plank branding.

Numerous speakers wore period clothing – many of whom were stationed inside authentic-styled cow camps. The speakers and their backdrops helped to create a feel for an earlier era, as they provided lessons about Florida’s pioneer days.

There was a petting zoo, a blacksmith exhibition and vendors catering to cowboys, as well as offering farm goods.

Cowboy poetry in the Mabel Jordan Barn rounded out the day.

Dade City rancher and cowboy poet Steve Melton spearheaded the one-of-a-kind event.

When friends urged him to do poetry at the museum, he didn’t think poetry was enough of a draw to attract crowds.

So, instead, he arranged an event that not only showcased, but celebrated the Florida cow hunter’s (knowns as the ‘Crackers’) way of life.

Melton said the need to share that history helped to inspire the event.

“No one has pulled out the true history of the cowboy story, so that is what we are trying to introduce and preserve,” Melton said.

By Christine Holtzman

Published March 23, 2022

Susan Krusee, of Plant City, straightens up a display of goods that she is selling inside the Country Store booth during the inaugural Cracker Cowboy Day event. Krusee is a historical seamstress that strives for historical accuracy with all the clothing and items that she makes by hand and collects.
Steve Melton, a Dade City rancher and cowboy poet, recites a poem he calls, ‘The Rain at Billy Goat Sink.’ Melton shared about a dozen poems and stories with the audience inside the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village’s Mabel Jordan Barn, during the inaugural Cracker Cowboy Day event.
David Riker, of Hawthorne, has a seat inside the replica cattle camp that he and his group set up during the inaugural Cracker Cowboy Day event at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village. Riker, along with his wife Lori, longtime friend Jim McAlister, and McAlister’s daughter Sheyenne, dressed in pioneer-era clothing and educated audiences on what life was like as a cattle farmer for the early Florida settlers.
Ed Collins, of Collins Cattle and Grove LLC, sits atop a wagon being pulled by his two Belgian Draft horses. The horses — 16-year-old Doug, left, and, 15-year-old Barney — were a big hit with the crowd. Some lucky guests got to go for a wagon ride, too.
Brenda Anderson, of Dade City, pets Sadie, a Charolais-Cross cow, who is more interested in the hay that Anderson had in her hand. Anderson, a fifth-generation Floridian, is a docent at the Cracker Country Museum – located at the Florida State Fairgrounds.
Jeanette Figueroa, of Tampa, helps with her 9-year-old daughter Madison’s wood plank branding. For a small fee, guests could create their own art, using real cattle brands.

Volunteers needed to help combat human trafficking

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The Pasco County Commission on Human Trafficking is seeking 11 volunteers to serve on the advisory council to help combat human trafficking, according to a Pasco County news release.

The Pasco County Community Services team is accepting applications to serve on the committee from representatives of a variety of community sectors that have been identified as being critical to attacking the problem.

Applications are being accepted through April 8.

Here are the categories with openings:

  • Pasco Sheriff’s Office (2)/including a Child Protection Investigations Unit representative
  • Pasco County Schools
  • Community/victim services advocate
  • Tourism/hospitality industry
  • Medical and/or behavioral health profession
  • Faith-based community
  • Anti-human trafficking community advocate
  • Business sector
  • College or university professor/researcher
  • Member at large (from any sector identified above)

The human trafficking commission serves as an advisory council to the Pasco County Commission.

To apply, go to bit.ly/2gWcaXt.

To learn more about the Pasco County Commission on Human Trafficking, including the 2022 meeting schedule, go to bit.ly/PascoHTCommission.

Published March 23, 2022

Making smart choices when it comes to calories

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Since March is National Nutrition Month, I thought I’d share some food for thought, when it comes to making nutritious choices.

When making decisions about what to eat, it helps to know some fundamental facts about calories. For instance, did you know that it takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound?

That means, theoretically, it takes 3,500 calories to burn off that pound. (While that’s generally true, it’s not true 100% of the time because weight loss, among individuals, can vary).

In general, though, it’s good to know how many calories a particular food has.

Are you getting good-quality calories? While this quarter-cup of mixed nuts might not look like a lot, it has the same amount of calories as a cookie you would find in a vending machine. Unlike cookies, however, nuts have micronutrients, protein and fiber, which make them a nutrient-rich choice. (Courtesy of Shari Bresin)

It also helps to know the origin of the calories you’re consuming.

So, when you look at the food label, be sure to make note of the fat, protein and carbohydrates.

These are the macronutrients — and where calories are found.

Vitamins and minerals, which are micronutrients, don’t contain calories.

Protein and carbohydrates (including all those grams of added sugar) have 4 calories per gram.

Fat has 9 calories per gram. If a food item has 10 grams of fat, that’s 90 calories right there.

That’s why it’s important to know that when you go easy on the fat — such as baking versus frying, having low-fat milk, or using less cream-based salad dressing —  you can instantly cut down on calories.

Calorie intake, as you may have guessed, has increased over the decades.

A Pew Research study reported that Americans, on average, in 2010, were eating 2,481 calories a day. That’s 23% more than were consumed daily in 1970.

A lot of caloric intake comes down to food choices.

Are you choosing food that is nutrient-dense or calorie-dense?

Nutrient-dense foods are high in vitamins and minerals, and typically – but not always – low in calories and fat.

Calorie-dense foods are high in calories and yield low nutritional value.

Think about foods such as cookies, chips, soda and candy bars.

Those whose eating pattern consists of foods with “empty” calories may develop vitamin or mineral deficiencies, too, because filling up on these foods replaces eating foods that have more nutritional value.

For instance, indulging on cookies won’t have the same effect on your health as, say, snacking on an apple.

You can fill yourself up by eating calorie-dense foods, but your body won’t get much nourishment from the food.

Here are some easy side-by-side examples of calorie-dense versus nutrient-dense foods:

  • 6 ounces of strawberry-flavored yogurt (168 calories), compared to 6 ounces of plain yogurt with 3 ounces of freshly sliced strawberries (137 calories)
  • 1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios (190 calories), compared to 1 cup plain Cheerios (100 calories
  • 1 can of cola (140 calories), compared to water (0 calories)
  • Enriched bagel with cream cheese (259 calories), compared to whole wheat bagel with 2 tablespoons hummus (236 calories)
  • A 2-ounce bag of bite-sized cookies at the vending machine (280 calories), compared to a package of peanuts at the vending machine (333 calories)

Did you notice the cookies have less calories than the nuts?

Nutrient-dense foods don’t always mean fewer calories, but they do have more nutrition.

Even the healthier unsaturated fats still have 9 calories per gram, so something like oils, nuts, chia seeds and avocados will be high-calorie due to the fat content, but they still have plenty of nutrition to go along with it.

The peanuts have 2 grams of sugar, and plenty of fiber and protein, while the cookies are high in sugar (18 grams) and only have 2 grams of fiber.

A healthy diet doesn’t mean you have to obsessively count calories at every meal, but it’s a good idea to get into the habit of looking at food labels and reading the ingredients.

Fewer ingredients are a sign the food hasn’t been heavily processed and, therefore, has more nutritional quality.

It’s also good to remember that while the difference between one choice and another may seem negligible, those small decisions do add up.

So, if your choices add up to an extra 500 calories a day, then that adds up to 3,500 calories in a week, which equals 1 pound.

So, it’s easy to see how weight gain can creep up on you.

Here are some suggestions to modify recipes and substitute ingredients to make more nutrient dense meals:

  • Use reduced-fat dairy (milk, cheese) instead of full-fat
  • Whole grains (bread, pasta, brown rice) instead of enriched (white) grains
  • Use a leaner ground meat, or a plant-based protein such as beans or lentils
  • Use herbs and spices instead of salt
  • Use healthy cooking oil (canola, peanut, almond, olive, etc.) instead of butter or lard
  • Add more vegetables than the original recipe calls for, such as more onion, spinach, mushrooms and so on.

By Shari Bresin

Shari Bresin is the Family & Consumer Science Agent for the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Extension Pasco County.

Published March 23, 2022

Zephyrhills High ushers in a brand-new look

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Like many in this small town, it’s a longtime resident.

Zephyrhills High School.

The second-oldest school in Pasco County recently celebrated the end of a two-year, $33-million renovation.

The $33-million renovation at Zephyrhills High included adding a two-story, 17-classroom building, increasing the school’s capacity to about 1,950 students. (Mike Camunas)

Now, the school is practically unrecognizable to even deeply-rooted alumni and members of the community.

“My parents went here,” said senior athlete and student council vice president Kamil Mehrab.

He remembers how the school looked, not only since arriving there as a freshman, but from his growing-up years, near the school.

Long-timers reminisce about what it used to look like and are just like, ‘Nothing’s there anymore’, he said.

Overall, the campus remains the same — but it has been updated, relocated or improved, and in some cases, there have been additions.

The main entrance, for example, has changed drastically. The School Resource Officer’s office has been moved. And, the school’s massive trophy case now is in the main commons area — creating a visually stunning display.

“The eye is really drawn to that right away,” said principal Dr. Christina Stanley, in her third year at the school’s helm.

Zephyrhills High underwent a two-year, $33-million renovation, which included redesigning the common area to make it more spacious and to provide a prominent location for the school’s massive trophy case.

“And this city — it loves this school. Many of the residents and community leaders are deeply invested in it because many of them either went here, too, or their children now go here.

“And there’s been a lot of feedback in the form of questions of where everything is now or how it can look so different. Once they get over that and realize just how great everything is and its importance, they fall in love with it all over again,” the principal said.

The high school also added a new two-story, 17-classroom building, bringing its capacity to about 1,950 students.

The media center was remodeled, too. It now features small group conference rooms, circulation desks, flat-screen technology, and numerous outlets.

It has the feel of a university’s collaborative space.

“It’s all state-of-the-art,” Mehrab said. “It definitely doesn’t look like a high school because it’s so sleek and modern, but it’s very impressive, too.”

A redesign of the media center was part of the $33-million renovation at Zephyrhills High.

The classrooms and school have been equipped with enhanced safety measures to meet requirements in a “post-Parkland era,” Stanley said.

It also offers career and technical education opportunities.

The school’s criminal justice program features a 911 communications center, while the health occupation classroom resembles a hospital wing, equipped with multiple beds, sinks and curtains.

The school’s science, agriculture and building construction technology programs now have enlarged spaces for better hands-on learning, and the JROTC program has an indoor firing range in a classroom that includes a large garage door for easy trailer access.

Other improvements include a larger cafeteria area, additional restrooms, upgrades to the commons area, and an updated teacher’s lounge and administration suites.

Tampa-based Peter Hepner Architects and Clearwater-based Creative Contractors completed the project. They took feedback from staff and administration, and incorporated many suggestions into the plans.

“They gave me everything,” said Cat Burgess, a longtime fine arts teacher. “I asked for electric to come from the ceiling, and they came back and did that. I made out great, and with much more space. It’s so great that we were able to get this kind of update to everything.”

Buildings also were overhauled with a new air conditioning system, fire sprinkler system and energy-efficient LED lighting.

Plus, Stanley said, “there’s new windows everywhere letting in more light.

“I even have one in my office now.”

One difference, though, raised eyebrows of alumni, students, staff and community residents, alike.

“Where is Gus?!” they wanted to know.

There’s no need to worry: The school’s 500-pound brass bulldog, donated by Fred Gore from the Class of 1948, isn’t missing or gone.

Gus has just been moved.

He used to stand in the commons area: Now, he’s in the gym lobby.

Principal Stanley had this message for the Zephyrhills High faithful: “Gus isn’t going anywhere — he’s staying right here.

“We just need to find the right spot for him,” Stanley said with a laugh. “Gus is family.”

Published March 13, 2022

Pasco pushing for improved curb appeal

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Pasco County commissioners have been advocating more attractive residential neighborhoods in recent months and now, they are shifting their focus to commercial corridors.

Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey raised the issue during the board’s March 8 meeting.

She prefaced her comments by saying that for 30 years she’s been involved in “a never-ending challenge to clean up Pasco County.”

She then began showing her colleagues some photographs.

Proposed change calls for fewer chain link fences around businesses on main Pasco roads. (B.C. Manion)

“This is a company that’s moved onto (State Road) 54, without permits, to open up a towing site,” the chairwoman said, showing a property with a chain-link fence topped by barbed wire, and no landscaping.

“It is very unsightly. It kind of reminds me of the federal prison,” Starkey said. “I don’t think this is what we want (state roads) 54, 56 and other roads to be looking like.”

Starkey added: “The chain-link, barbed-wire thing doesn’t belong on our main arterials and collectors, and whatever other roads in your district that you want to designate.”

She also mentioned another example involving a business that moved from State Road 54, where it had a vinyl, opaque fence to State Road 52.

“But now, on (State Road) 52, they have a chain-link fence with barbed wire.

“We’ve got Angeline coming in there. You know, we’re trying to build nice communities.

“Chain link and barbed wire? We can do better,” Starkey said.

She also showed the board a series of other photos.

“This is where they had all of the oak trees and they cut them all down,” she said, showing a chain-link fence on State Road 54.

“We allowed them to put the landscaping behind the fence. It does absolutely nothing,” she said.

Commissioners Jack Mariano and Mike Moore both agreed that placing the landscaping behind the fence doesn’t make sense.

Nectarios Pittos, director of the county’s planning and development department, told the commissioners: “I think with regard to the landscaping, they’re on the inside of the fence line mainly because the orientation is to screen to the larger traffic area. Moving the orientation to the outside of the fencing, then the orientation is screening for motorists.”

Starkey responded: “I think that’s what we want. We want to project a better view from the road.”

County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder noted: “The code is also being used for residential, so traditionally, you screen the neighborhood from the road.”

Starkey responded: “That’s up to the neighborhood, but the traveling public needs to be protected from ugly.”

Mariano shared similar sentiments: “We want the place to look good from the roadway, when people are driving by. We’re not worried about what it looks like inside, we’re worried about how it looks outside.”

Pittos said it would not be difficult to specify in the code that landscaping should be placed on the right of way side of the fence.

“That just means that the fence is no longer at property line. The fence is probably 10, 20 feet within the property line, so that whatever buffer yard that’s there, let’s say, can be facing the right of way,” he said.

Starkey wants the county’s land development code to address fence types.

“We would probably target this toward our main arterial and collector roads, and those roads that have a transit emphasis on them, so State Road 54, 56, 52, the north-south arteries, like U.S. 19, Little Road, I could march all of the way to the east, but you get the idea,” Pittos said.

The planning director continued: “The chain link and the barbed wire — there’s a preference not to see it. Is there a fence type that is preferred?”

Commissioner Moore responded: “We can’t make that decision right now.”

Starkey added: “I think there may be some very few exceptions for chain link, and I think we should leave that window open.”

Moore agreed: “You might want to hear some of the issues that you’d run into.

“If we’re talking about (state roads) 54, 56 and (U.S.) 41, —wherever it may be — we still do have some ag properties along there, that need barbed wire, that need fencing for the cattle,” Moore said.

In essence, Starkey’s message was this: “Don’t degrade our communities.”

Starkey wrapped up the discussion by telling staff she felt they’d received sufficient direction.

Published March 13, 2022