The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Local News

Some call it St. Petersburg’s ‘oldest living museum’

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Birds chirp, as breezes stir through the trees.

Butterflies flutter about and people relax on shaded benches.

This sign, in the Sunken Gardens parking lot, invites passersby to visit the gardens and explore the beauty that awaits. (B.C. Manion)

There is beauty around every bend and there’s no clue, in this tranquil place, that busy Fourth Street North is less than a block away.

There’s plenty to take in at this botanical garden, which dates back more than a century.

Described by some as St. Petersburg’s “oldest living museum,” it boasts some of the region’s oldest tropical plants. It has cascading waterfalls, meandering paths, demonstration gardens, and more than 50,000 topical plants and flowers.

It provides a picturesque backdrop for weddings. It hosts a variety of horticultural and children’s programs. And, it is a frequent destination for school field trips.

You can get a nice close look at some parrots at Sunken Gardens

There’s a bench there, made of fossilized limestone rock, known as the Sunken Gardens Growing Stone. A nearby sign proclaims: “Legend has it that, ‘He who sits upon the ancient stone shall be granted tranquility, inner harmony and the talent to make things grow.’”

All kinds of people spend part of their day here at Sunken Gardens.

Moms push strollers, or walk along, clinging to a small child’s hand.

Friends chat as they make their way through.

If you want to see some gorgeous hibiscus blooms, a stop at Sunken Gardens will satisfy that desire.

Couples share the experience.

And, there are families and nature lovers, too.

Those who want to learn the identity of various plants and flowers can check out the informative signs, and if you have a camera or a smartphone, you’ll find plenty of photo ops, too.

Sunken Gardens got its start in 1903, when George Turner Sr., a plumber and avid gardener, purchased the site, which included a shallow lake that was 10 feet below sea level, according to published historic accounts. He drained the lake to form his private, sunken garden. He also planted papayas and citrus, along with exotic plants on the rich soil on his property.

Don’t just look around and look down at Sunken Gardens. Look up, too. It’ll help you appreciate the many splendors of nature’s grand designs.

By the 1920s, Turner had opened a nursery and began selling fruits, vegetables, roses and other plants. Visitors paid a nickel to stroll through the gardens.

In the fall of 1935, he fenced his garden and began charging a quarter for admission.

Over time, Sunken Gardens became a popular tourist attraction, luring more and more visitors. At one point, it was rated among Florida’s top 10 commercial attractions.

After Turner died in 1961, his sons Ralph and George Jr., took over Sunken Gardens. The attraction eventually was sold to the City of St. Petersburg.

Sunken Gardens has numerous special events during the year. To find out more, visit StPete.org/attractions/sunken_gardens.

Sunken Gardens
Where: 1825 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg
When: Open Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4:30 p.m.
Sunken Gardens is open on most holidays, except it is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
Cost: $10/Adults, $8/Seniors (62+), $4/Children (age 2-11). Parking is free.
Children’s Programs: Children’s classes are held on Saturdays beginning at 10:30 am. Location within Sunken Gardens is announced prior to the class date.
Info: (727) 551-3102

Revised August 9, 2018

More devices, social media, make users a target for cybercrime, expert says

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As we become more tethered to smartphones, computers and other devices, those connections are putting us more at risk for being the victim of a cybercrime.

That’s according to Michael Horn, a U.S. Secret Service senior special agent assigned to the Tampa Bay Electronic Crimes Task Force, where he specializes in cybercrimes and network intrusion investigations.

Horn was a guest speaker at a recent luncheon presented by North Tampa Chamber of Commerce, at Atria Lutz.

U.S. Secret Service senior special agent Michael Horn was a guest speaker at a recent North Tampa Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Horn, who’s assigned to the Tampa Bay Electronic Crimes Task Force, covered current trends and techniques used by cyber criminals to compromise identity or personal information online. (Kevin Weiss)

His hour-long presentation covered current trends and techniques used by cyber criminals to compromise identity or personal information online. He also discussed some of the most commonly used scams and electronic crimes, and he offered tips on how to protect and minimize the risk of becoming a victim of these scams.

Much of the discussion centered on phishing scams.

The speaker said it’s “by far” the most common scam, whereby criminals pose as legitimate entities — such as banks and corporations — to defraud users and obtain sensitive financial information, such as usernames, passwords and account numbers.

While typically an email scam, phishing can also occur via U.S. mail or telephone correspondence.

Horn explained social media is a large reason why phishing, ransomware, business email compromises and other scams have become increasingly prevalent.

“It happens all the time, unfortunately,” he said.

That’s because users, more often than ever, are sharing gobs of information about their personal lives on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other popular applications. In other words, “we put all our business on the Internet,” Horn said.

Horn said posting details about where we work, shop, travel and bank has made it easy for hackers to obtain credit card information, because they can pose as one of those places in a personalized email.

“The bad guys are using social media to cater their fraud to be more effective towards you,” he said.

The speaker suggests posting something even as simple as ‘We’re going to Disney for a week’ on social media can greaten the risk for being the victim of phishing or another cyber-based crime.

Said Horn, “It’s like if I put a sign on the lawn, ‘I’m going grocery shopping for three hours. By the way, the back door’s open.’ That’s what we’re doing electronically whenever we’re either being careless with how we manage ourselves on the Internet, or, the information we’re providing.”

He added: “There’s a 100 different ways they could target you, but we’re giving them information to make their scams seem more legitimate.”

One phishing example the speaker gave was a hacker purporting to be Chase Bank, requesting users to verify their account information through email.

Horn recommends what he calls the “sniff” test to vet out such dubious messages.

Carefully inspecting such emails for spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors are dead giveaways it’s a targeted scam, he said.

The speaker also advises conducting independent verification before providing financial or log-in information online — such as calling the bank or the legitimate entity supposedly sending the email request.

As a general rule, Horn said, he just always assumes anyone sending him anything financial-related is a possible scam.

Another rule of thumb: Do not click links or open attachments from unknown sources or questionable emails.

“This is what gets everybody in trouble,” Horn said of mindlessly clicking through emails. “Malware, business email compromises and phishing scams largely are activated through people irresponsibly using their email.”

Those aren’t the only ways to lessen the risk for being a victim, the speaker noted.

Some other “best practices” for cyber security include:

  • Using data backups (thumb drive, hard drives) to save valuable information
  • Automatically updating anti-virus and anti-malware software
  • Using strong, random passwords of 10 or more characters (“Not your kid’s birthday, not your dog’s name…”).

The speaker revealed that arresting and prosecuting cyber criminals and hackers proves difficult for U.S. law enforcement agencies, as the sources frequently comes from overseas, selling to other criminals on the dark web.

“Very rarely do we catch anybody,” Horn said. “Our victories are, No. 1, did we get you your money back? Number two is, if we help you remediate (future cyber crimes) by saying, ‘Hey, this is something that I can teach you about being safe going forward.’”

As for recovering money and compromised information, Horn said, “it’s all about timing.” “If they don’t catch it within the first 24 or 48 hours, it’s gone,” he said.

Published August 1, 2018

Stitching together a quilt of creativity, kindness, friendship and fun

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When members of the East Pasco Quilt Guild come together, it’s more than a meeting about the best pattern to quilt, or best fabric to buy or best colors to use.

It’s a club where members get a chance to showcase their creativity, catch up with each other and share their enthusiasm for a pastime they cherish.

The guild’s meetings, which last about two hours, generally feature a chance to learn a few new things about quilting.

From left to right are club members Sandi Morgan, Ginny Lane, Kelli Boles, Sue Anderson, Susan Weick and Jane Hancock. The quilt on the left is a veterans quilt, ‘churn Dash.’  The quilt top, on the right, is a charity quilt, ‘Dresden Star.’ (B.C. Manion)

The gathering, held on the second Monday evening of the month, also gives club members a chance to show off quilts they’ve completed, to encourage each other and share what they know about various techniques.

Club members have at least one thing in common: A passion for creating quilts.

During a recent conversation with a half-dozen club members, it soon became clear that these women absolutely adore cutting fabric into pieces and then stitching it back together again.

Of course, their finished projects look nothing like the bolts of fabric they started with.

Club member Jane Hancock has been quilting for about 40 years.

“My grandmother taught me to sew, and so we come from a long line of quilters and seamstresses,” she said.

“I was sewing with my grandmother when I was probably 5 and was in 4H, and won lots of trophies and ribbons and all that for my sewing. And, it just kind of morphed into quilting,” Hancock said.

Kelli Boles said she began with hand-piecing, then moved up to machine piecing and now is long-arm quilting, which involves using a large machine and is the final step in sandwiching a quilt together.

The East Pasco Quilt Guild makes quilts to benefit a variety of local groups and causes. Tickets were sold to give people the opportunity to win this quilt, with proceeds going to a local organization.

Many quilters piece together the quilt tops and then have someone else, such as Boles, handle the final step of attaching the quilt top to its backing.

In fact, Boles recently completed that chore for Susan Anderson, another member of the club.

Boles couldn’t wait to show Anderson the final result, and when she did, Anderson’s eyes brimmed with tears of joy.

“I just love sewing,” Anderson said. “I just love the sound of the machine. It just has a nice rhythm to it.

She adores making quilts.

“I love all of it: Cutting the pieces, picking out the fabric, the whole process,” she said.

She began sewing as a young girl— making crude doll clothes for her Barbie doll. Next, she graduated to making her own school clothes.

“I made my first quilt when I was in the eighth grade for Home Ec,” she said, using a cardboard template for her squares.

Another club member, Susan Weick, said she began quilting about 35 years ago when she was living in New York.

“My neighbor taught me. She taught me hand-stitching. We used to just go have coffee and doughnuts, and sit and stitch,” she said. “I learned through her critiquing,” Weick said.

Susan Anderson, a member of the East Pasco Quilt Guild, sees her completed quilt. She created the quilt top, which was sandwiched together by Kelli Boles, who knows how to do long-arm quilting.

She was an exacting teacher, and a good one, Weick added. “Everything had to be perfect.”

Club member Ginny Lane said she enjoys making all sorts of quilts, from quilts small enough for a baby to those large enough to cover a king-size bed.

Sandi Morgan, who is Kelli’s mom, began quilting nearly a half-century ago.

Her grandmother, who was a tailor, taught her to sew when she was about 9.

In her family, sewing skills skipped a generation.

“My mother, bless her heart, couldn’t sew a button on anything,” Morgan said, with a good-natured laugh.

From making simple squares, Morgan’s quilting interests and abilities have broadened. In fact, she now works at Quilts on Plum Lane in downtown Dade City, and Anderson works there, too.

Using thread and fabric to make new memories
Quilting provides a way to become absorbed in both the art and act of creation, escaping from life’s everyday stress and worries, the women said.

Quilting is history, too, Hancock said. She has some quilt tops made by her mother and her aunts, dating back to the 1920s. She intends to have them quilted and then to give them as wedding gifts to her children. Thus, these family heirlooms will pass from one generation, to another, to another.

Being part of the guild also offers ample opportunities to give back to the community, too, members said.

The guild routinely gives a quilt when someone moves into a Habitat for Humanity house.

Sandi Morgan works on a needleturn appliqué medallion.

They also make a quilt for Saint Anthony Catholic School each year, starting the quilt with a piece of fabric from a school uniform. The school auctions off the quilt to raise money.

They give a quilt to Pioneer Florida Museum & Heritage Village each year, and one to a local organization. Tickets are sold for the opportunity to win each of the quilts, with proceeds benefiting those groups.

Club members also make quilted Christmas stockings, which are given to various charities, and they make quilts to give to veterans.

The club, which incorporated a decade ago, has about 60 members.

It welcomes anyone, but so far there has been just one male member, and he stopped coming.

It’s open to anyone interested in quilting, whether accomplished or not. And, young members can join, too, but those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent.

The club has two shows each year. One show is at the annual Kumquat Festival in Dade City and the other one is at Farm Fest at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village.

Beyond sharing a common interest in quilting, members also share a common interest in each other, they said.

“It’s more than just a club. It’s a group of people who truly care about each other, and are there for each other,” Hancock said.

She experienced the depth of that caring when her world turned upside down.

“My husband was killed a little over two years ago and, man, did they rally,” Hancock said.

“He was riding his bicycle, and he was killed on Lake Iola Road and, man, within minutes this one was there with tons of food. These were there with support. They just wrap their arms around you and envelope you,” she said.

The East Pasco Quilt Guild meets on the second Monday evening of the month. Dues are $20 a year. To find out more about the group, email , or visit East Pasco Quilters, Inc. on Facebook.

Published August 1, 2018

Bus express service links Wesley Chapel and Tampa

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A new express bus service running from Wesley Chapel to downtown Tampa could potentially carry about 200,000 passengers annually, according to calculations by officials at the Hillsborough Area Transit Authority, also known as HART.

The 275LX bus route, which launched July 1, was among the topics discussed at the monthly economic development briefing luncheon sponsored by the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.

About 20 people attended the luncheon at Hunter’s Green Golf & Country Club on July 26.

Ruthie Reyes Burckard

Ruthie Reyes Burckard, HART’s chief operations officer, was guest speaker.

She gave an overview of the 275LX, as well as other upcoming bus services from HART, and efforts to increase regional connections into Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee, and Sarasota counties.

Burckard said estimates on annual ridership aboard the 275LX are based on factors, such as community density and employment centers.

The 275LX route includes a bus stop at the Wiregrass park-n-ride, at 28222 Willet Way. The lot is near Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel and The Shops at Wiregrass. There also is a stop at the Lowe’s park-n-ride in New Tampa, at 16907 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. Passengers are picked up hourly, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The new 275LX route replaces the 51LX, which had limited pickups from the Wiregrass park-in-ride traveling to Marion Transit Center in downtown Tampa. There were two trips up n the morning and two trips back in the afternoon to Wesley Chapel.

“It wasn’t very productive,” Burckard said, adding that people didn’t seem to like the lack of options.

HART routinely does third-quarter reviews of its bus services, said Burckard. “We’ve been continuously looking at our services, and tweaking.”

The 275LX express route includes stops at Wiregrass park-in-ride, Tampa International Airport and the James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital. (File)

That will happen in coming months, with the new express route. “If there are adjustments to be made, we’ll be looking very closely at that,” Burckard said.

On the 275LX, buses ride along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, and Interstate 275 toward Tampa, with stops at Tampa International Airport, James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital, the University area by University of South Florida, and the Marion Transit Center in downtown Tampa.

A one-way ride takes about an hour and 45 minutes. The cost is $2 each way.

The park-in-rides are free to use. However, Burckard said the lots aren’t available for overnight or multiple days of parking. So, for people taking the bus to catch a flight at Tampa’s airport, they should have someone drop them off at the park-in-ride, she said.

The 275LX is useful in making tri-county connections, or to other bus routes in Tampa.

For instance, the University area bus stop allows transfers to Temple Terrace. At Marion Transit, passengers can connect with Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.

Funding for the 275LX is from the Florida Department of Transportation. The state transportation department also gave HART a $1 million grant for a pilot project to test a low-speed, self-driving bus between the Marion Transit Center and the southern end of downtown Tampa.

That is expected to launch in fiscal year 2019.

In October, the TECO Line Streetcar System will begin providing free rides for the next three years. Funding is about $200,000 from Tampa Electric Company, or TECO, and about $2.7 million from FDOT.

One-way fares between the Channelside District and Ybor City currently cost $2.50.

A study is planned to consider extending the existing 2.7 miles of streetcar track.

HART also is launching the Flamingo Fares mobile application, which provides regional bus fare passes. Hillsborough County, Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota will partner in this.

One bus pass can be used for rides on all systems.

“You don’t have to buy fare passes for each and every connection,” Burckard said.

Published August 1, 2018

El Dorado Furniture opening fall 2019 at Brightwork Crossing

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The largest Hispanic-owned furniture retailer in the United States plans to open a new store in the mixed-use, residential and commercial project, known as Brightwork Crossing.

An apartment complex at Brightwork Crossing is under construction at State Road 54 and Wesley Chapel Boulevard. Shops and a hotel are planned, too.

A new Burger King restaurant recently opened on a parcel, fronting State Road 54.

The estimated opening for El Dorado Furniture Store is fall 2019, according to Pedro Capo, chief operating officer of the family-owned business.

This is an aerial view of an El Dorado Furniture Store that opened in Cutler Bay, in Miami-Dade County. Company officials are in early stages of planning a store in Pasco County that would open in fall 2019. (Courtesy of Smith Aerial Photos/El Dorado Furniture Store)

Bowman Consulting Inc., filed a preliminary site plan for El Dorado Furniture, and had a pre-application meeting with Pasco County planners in July.

“Everything is looking good,” said Capo.

The Miami-based business is expanding elsewhere in Florida, including new stores in Naples and Fort Myers. A former Sports Authority on Tyrone Boulevard, and a Babies R Us, will be remodeled and opened as El Dorado stores.

The site plan for El Dorado shows a two-story, 70,000-square-foot building, with access from Ashley Creek Trail.

Ashley Creek is among new roads built, internal to Brightwork Crossing. Maren Way is a new road off State Road 54, leading to Burger King and the apartments.

A WaWa gas and convenience store also is featured on the site plan, across from the furniture store. It also has access from Ashley Creek.

The recent El Dorado Furniture store opening in Naples is the company’s 16th store, said Capo.

The company has wanted to move into Pasco for awhile, and looked at a site about five years ago, east of Interstate 75. Tampa Premium Outlets was still in planning stages.

“It was too soon. Then, the recession came in,” said Capo. “But, now the timing is right.”

Company founder, Manuel Capo, left Cuba after the Fidel Castro regime confiscated the family’s chain of furniture stores, known as Casa Capo. Capo and two of his six sons sailed a small boat, named El Dorado, to Mexico, and then settled in Miami, according to the website.

The rest of the family later joined them.

Capo opened El Dorado (named for the boat) in 1967 in Little Havana.

Manuel Capo died nearly 10 years ago. His sons now operate the family business, which is recognized among the top 50 furniture retailers in the country, the website adds.

In the early 1990s, the family designed a unique showroom concept, featuring the El Dorado “boulevard.” Customers stroll along a streetscape, dotted with old-fashioned benches and street lamps, 16th century-inspired stained glass windows, and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Capo said the parking lot also features old-fashioned street lights and brick pavers to begin what is essentially a neighborhood experience.

Typically, customers in most furniture stores might spent 20 minutes, but El Dorado customers stay as long as an hour, he added. “They can just relax, enjoy a cup of coffee and wander around,” Capo said.

The store has more than 20 storefronts, and specialty furniture shops, which showcase various furniture styles from contemporary to traditional.

Same-day delivery is available in many instances.

“Being Hispanic, typically the whole family comes to shop,” Capo said. “They’d bring anybody that fit in the car, even their neighbors.”

But, he said, the boulevard concept proved successful “for everybody. We do have people for all over the world to look at our boulevard.”

Pasco County commissioners approved Brightwork Crossing in August 2017. The development will have about 350 apartments, 250,000 square feet of offices, retail, and a 150-room hotel.

The approximately 32-acre site is off State Road 54, west of Wesley Chapel Boulevard. It is behind the Shell gas station and Walgreen’s drugstore.

State Road 54 and Wesley Chapel are at the epicenter of retail growth in Pasco. Tampa Premium Outlets, a row of restaurants, a new At Home store and Costco are among the projects that opened on the south side of State Road 56.

Cypress Creek Town Center, on the north side of State Road 56, is filling up with restaurants, including Bahama Breeze Island Grill, Mellow Mushroom, and Chuy’s Tex Mex. The Hyatt Place Hotel is almost ready for its grand opening.

Other planned shops include HomeGoods, Blaze Pizza and Hobby Lobby.

Published August 1, 2018

Car dealerships arriving in Wesley Chapel

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Pasco County is in the market to add to its luxury car dealerships with BMW as the potential tenant of a proposed showroom near The Shops at Wiregrass.

Japanese-auto dealership Mitsubishi also appears to want into Pasco’s market, with a showroom located west of Eagleston Boulevard at Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Representatives of Spring Engineering Inc., filed a pre-application for “BMW-Wesley Chapel,” and recently met with Pasco County planners.

Spring Engineering representatives could not be reached for comment.

Preliminary site plans show a 37,000-square-foot showroom and space for 216 new vehicles. The dealership also would have a pre-owned vehicle division and service department.

The 32-acre site is located at the southeast corner of State Road 56 and Mansfield Boulevard, east of the Wiregrass mall. The property is owned by Solly Branch Holdings LLC, which lists J.D. Porter and his sister, Quinn Porter, as company officers, according to state records.

If the dealership materializes, BMW would be the fourth luxury automobile dealerships to gravitate to Pasco in the past three years. It would join previously opened dealerships for Lexus, Mercedes Benz and Audi.

According to its website, Springs Engineering’s clients include BMW of Ocala, Mini of Wesley Chapel, Jaguar of Orlando, and Lamborghini of Broward (County).

Another site plan identifies “WC Mitsubishi” as the potential tenant for an approximately 4-acre site near Toyota, Honda and Lexus dealerships.

Jacobs Holdings WC LLC, filed the pre-application for WC Mitsubishi, which would be a new and used auto dealership of about 17,600 square feet.

Daniel Jacobs is listed as the prime officer of Jacobs Holdings WC LLC, as well as chief executive officer of Jacobs Automotive Group and owner of Jacobs Auto Enterprise Inc., according to state records.

He is listed on the pre-application as the purchaser. The property is owned by DDG Holdings LLC, according to county records.

Jacobs wasn’t available for comment.

Published August 1, 2018

Pasco school district adopts new mental health plan

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The Pasco County School Board has approved a plan that allocates additional funding provided by the Florida Legislature to address youth mental health needs.

The Legislature’s decision to provide more money to address mental health issues came in response to the Valentine’s Day shooting spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent of Pasco County Schools

The Pasco school district was allocated slightly more than $1.7 million in mental health funding, according to Melissa Musselwhite, director of student support programs and services for the district.

Ninety percent of the funding must be spent to provide mental health services and 10 percent can be spent on prevention, she said.

So, the district has designated $1.4 million for services for at-risk youths and slightly more than $150,000 for prevention services. It also has allocated $123,000 for public charter schools.

The district’s plan calls for contracting with Central Florida Behavioral Network to help the district manage access to mental health services and help the district with data reporting.

It also will help the district with wraparound services for students.

“Many times we refer kids out and parents don’t go. We need to be sure that we’re diligent about tracking those kids and following up,” Musselwhite told the Pasco County School Board during a workshop on July 24.

The district’s plan, which required school board approval, was due to the state by Aug. 1.

Board members approved the plan at their evening meeting on July 24.

“There hasn’t be a comprehensive approach to referring kids out for services and support, and the follow-up and the wraparound with the family,” Musselwhite said, noting she would spend close to $100,000 in general fund money every year for a limited number of students.

By working with Central Behavioral Florida Network, the district will be expanding its reach to community resources that it didn’t know about before, Musselwhite said.

The mental health plan also includes:

  • Contracting with behavioral analysts to work one-on-one with students most at risk
  • Training in youth mental health first aid
  • Training in trauma-informed care
  • Training in Positive Behavior Intervention
  • Increased funding for alternatives to suspensions program
  • Additional adult assistance to help with students who are severely at risk for various reasons
  • Increased data collection to help the district make more informed decisions
  • Refining threat assessment procedures to be sure the law enforcement and district personnel are speaking the same language
  • Adding a high-performing school nurse, school psychologist and school social worker who will serve in a coaching/mentoring role for district staff

The district also plans to incorporate Social Emotional Learning across the curriculum, to help kids to learn how to effectively deal with anger, disappointment and difficult situations that arise.

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent, is a proponent of the approach.

Social Emotional Learning helps kids “deal with the emotions of maybe not being the best player on the team, or not being able to play nine innings every game, or maybe having to sit on the bench for the good of the team,” Gadd said.

“Those things are upsetting to some folks, but how do you learn to handle that because those things that happen in life.

“SEL is trying to help teachers understand how to help kids to build foundational skills so they learn to manage those troublesome behaviors,” Gadd said.

Musselwhite said the district is looking for ways to embed SEL across the curriculum, “so that it’s not something stand-alone, and that it can be holistically done throughout the district, not in one subject or during your time with your school counselor.”

Gadd put it like this: “What we need is more SEL and less people with guns. If I had my choice, I would have rather have seen the Legislature fund a lot of SEL programs all around the state to help kids build those foundational skills so they never get to a point where they want to shoot people.”

Also, the district plans to add another Crisis Intervention Team.

It has four teams and will be adding a fifth.

“There was a huge increase, a 46 percent increase, in our crisis callouts for the crisis intervention team over the last year,” Musselwhite said. “It was pretty taxing last year on the four teams that we had.”

The teams are voluntary and are made up of student services team members and school counselors, who receive additional training to respond to crisis situations throughout the district.

Published August 1, 2018

Land O’ Lakes High to get more parking spaces

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Land O’ Lakes High School is undergoing a massive renovation project that is essentially giving the high school a new look and expanding its capacity by more than 400 students.

The Pasco County School Board voted last week to approve $1.2 million in changes to the project.

Providing 60 additional parking spaces was among a list of items that Betsy Kuhn, assistant superintendent for support services, presented to the board for approval.

“Parking has become a serious issue at Land O’ Lakes High School,” Kuhn said, and more parking will be needed as the school expands.

Pasco County School Board member Colleen Beaudoin said the additional parking is needed.

“I get lots of calls about parking at Land O’ Lakes High School,” Beaudoin said.

Other items included in the change order are:

  • Remove and replace existing flammable storage building and resurface an adjacent roadway to improve access for emergency vehicles
  • Update interior finishes such as paint, flooring, lighting, wall base and acoustical panels in the Music and Exceptional Student Education Rooms, to bring those areas in line with the balance of the remodel
  • Remove and replace two air handling units and heaters for the gymnasium, including modification of electrical, as required, and provide new controls connected with the central control system
  • Provide new metal exterior doors, frames and hardware for the gym.

Even though these items were not part of the original scope of the project, they can be completed within the project’s original construction budget, Kuhn said.

Published August 1, 2018

Senator’s charity comes out on top

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The Pasco County Tax Collector’s Office recently featured Lauren’s Kids as its charity of choice, and raised $12,346.48 for the organization.

State Sen. Lauren Book, fifth from left, accepts a hefty check for Lauren’s Kids from monies raised through the Pasco County Tax Collector’s offices. From left: Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano; Becky Bennett, director of development Pasco Kids First; Wendi Wininger and Judy Rosier, Pasco tax collector’s office; State Sen. Lauren Book; Zoraya Melo and Linda McNally (Dade City manager), Pasco tax collector’s office; Michelle Vancuren, director of operations Pasco County Tax Collector; Miranda Hager, trauma counselor Pasco Kids First; and Chris Peynado, Pasco tax collector’s office. (Courtesy of Pasco County Tax Collector)

Lauren’s Kids, created in 2007 by State Sen. Lauren Book, is a statewide organization that works daily to prevent childhood sexual abuse through education and awareness.

Book, herself, is a victim of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted caregiver. She has taken her own experiences and turned them into an opportunity to help children find hope and healing.

The five branches of the Pasco County Tax Collector’s Office promoted the Lauren’s Kids specialty license plate, and accepted cash donations during the month-long campaign. Customers also could check-off the voluntary charitable donation box through renewals.

The senator said, in a release, “Thanks to the support of the Pasco County Tax Collector’s Office, we are able to prevent abuse, protect childhood, and help survivors heal. Nothing is more important than keeping Florida’s innocent children safe, and we thank our partners in Pasco for helping to shine light in dark places.”

For more information regarding Lauren’s Kids, visit LaurensKids.org.

For details about charitable promotions sponsored by the Pasco tax collector’s office, call Greg Giordano at (727) 847-8179, or visit PascoTaxes.com.

Published August 1, 2018

Work to get started on makeover of Zephyrhills High School

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A major overhaul is planned at Zephyrhills High School, and the Pasco County School Board approved a contract last week to get started on the project.

The board approved a contract not-to-exceed $396,846 with Creative Contractors to complete the early site package for the project.

“We will be bringing a full presentation in the fall on the entire project,” said Betsy Kuhn, assistant superintendent for support services. “This is just what gets us started.”

The construction phase will be split into two contracts: One for the renovation work and one for the addition.

The first phase will involve building a new classroom building, Mike Gude, director of construction services and code compliance, told the The Laker/Lutz News in a previous interview.

When the new building is completed, students can be shifted into that building and another phase of the project can begin, Gude said.

When the project is finished, the high school’s capacity is expected to increase by about 500 students.

Published August 1, 2018