The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Local News

New hangar coming to Zephyrhills Airport

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A new hanger is being constructed at the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport for the first time in 16 years.

The 10,000-square-foot hangar, located on the northwest portion of the airport property, broke ground on June 22.

Canco General Contractors expects to complete the hangar by late October.

The new hangar is owned by Thomas and Keith Morrell of TKM Aviation.

The new business hangar broke ground on June 22. From left, Keith Morrell, John Prahl, Scott McBride, Melonie Monson and Thomas Morrell. (Photos courtesy of TKM Aviation)
The new business hangar broke ground on June 22. From left, Keith Morrell, John Prahl, Scott McBride, Melonie Monson and Thomas Morrell.
(Photos courtesy of TKM Aviation)

They recently signed a 30-year lease with the City of Zephyrhills for roughly $360 per month to use the land where the hangar is being constructed.

The hangar will primarily house the company’s small piston aircraft mechanic, maintenance and inspection shop, Thomas Morrell said.

“One of the primary reasons we picked Zephyrhills to open a business was there was no real maintenance on the field — there was not really a shop there that could be on-call if needed where pilots could come in if they had an issue,” Morrell said. “There wasn’t really anybody (at the airport) that could take on that work, and we noticed that there was a need,” he added.

Morrell continued: “Zephyrhills has the lowest fuel prices in the region, so they get a lot of traffic from people flying their airplanes, and you never know what’s going to happen; you try to take off, something breaks and, ‘Hey, you need a mechanic there,’ and that’s what we can offer.”

Nathan Coleman, deputy airport manager, called the new hangar a “big advantage” for the city’s airport going forward.

TKM Aviation is building a new business hangar on the northwest portion of Zephyrhills Municipal Airport’s property. It will house the company’s small piston aircraft mechanic, maintenance and inspection shop.
TKM Aviation is building a new business hangar on the northwest portion of Zephyrhills Municipal Airport’s property. It will house the company’s small piston aircraft mechanic, maintenance and inspection shop.

“Each airport is very beneficial when they have a maintenance facility down on the field,” Coleman said. “When commuter traffic or transit traffic comes in, if they have a problem, they’ll actually have a facility to go to.”

Coleman believes the economy is the main culprit for why a new business hangar hasn’t been built at the airport since JJ Aeronautics came aboard in 2000. He noted most of the hangars at the airport are city-owned and rented out by private airplane owners.

“It is exciting, to get a new business hangar here,” Coleman said.

TKM Aviation has been operating out of the airport’s Aerocenter, where they’ve leased space since Aug. 2015.

“We (always) intended to build a hangar, but there wasn’t a whole lot of available property or available hangar space at that point…so we went ahead and got our business rolling,” Morrell said.

TKM Aviation has been operating out of the Aerocenter at the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport since August of 2015.
TKM Aviation has been operating out of the Aerocenter at the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport since August of 2015.

“We’ve just been in the process of getting contractors secured, getting permits and doing all the things it takes to build (the hangar),” he added.

While the new facility will mainly serve as a small plane maintenance shop, Morrell didn’t rule out the possibility of also subletting any unused space.

“If once we’re established in there, and we realize we can utilize some of the space for hangar rentals, then we will be open to doing that,” he said.

The company also is looking to open an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic School at the airport, and is considering adding more mechanics to its staff of two full-timers.

“If we start getting an increase in traffic and appointments, and we get more airplanes coming in with clients, then we’ll definitely have to add more mechanics,” Morrell said. “If we get to the point where we can start the mechanic school like we are pursuing, then we’ll definitely have to hire several more people to help run and facilitate that.”

Published July 13, 2016

Pioneer descendants receive honor

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On the momentous occasion when Florida issued its first drivers’ licenses in 1940, Ruth Smith made history.

County Judge O. L. Dayton Jr., pulled a desk into the hallway at the Dade City courthouse and plopped the 17-year-old into a chair in front of a manual typewriter.

“People lined up and stood as I typed up the first driver’s license in Pasco County,” said Ruth Smith Adams, now age 93. “I even typed up my mother and father’s (licenses). That’s probably before most of you were born. Here, I’m back this time, and it’s amazing.”

Ruth Smith Adams and brother, Bill Smith, received a resolution from the Pasco County Commission thanking them for efforts to preserve the heritage of Pasco County and Wesley Chapel. From left, front row: Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, Pasco County Clerk of Court Paula O’ Neil, Bill Smith, Ruth Smith Adams, Pasco County Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey and Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano. From left, back row: Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader, Pasco County Commissioner Mike Wells, Pasco County Administrator Michele Baker and Pasco County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder. (Photos courtesy of Richard K. Riley)
Ruth Smith Adams and brother, Bill Smith, received a resolution from the Pasco County Commission thanking them for efforts to preserve the heritage of Pasco County and Wesley Chapel. From left, front row: Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, Pasco County Clerk of Court Paula O’ Neil, Bill Smith, Ruth Smith Adams, Pasco County Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey and Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano. From left, back row: Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader, Pasco County Commissioner Mike Wells, Pasco County Administrator Michele Baker and Pasco County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder.
(Photos courtesy of Richard K. Riley)

Adams was addressing the Pasco County Commission, which was bestowing a resolution it passed honoring her and her 91-year-old brother, Bill Smith, for their work in preserving the heritage of Wesley Chapel and Pasco County.

They accepted the resolution on June 7 in what is now the Dade City Historic Courthouse.

The siblings are descendants of one of Pasco’s pioneering families dating back to 1867 when their great-grandfather, William R. Smith, settled in Wesley Chapel after the Civil War. In 1883, the elder Smith became owner of 160 acres of open land under the Homestead Act of 1862. He married Annie E. Sims and had six children, including Daniel Smith, the grandfather of Adams and Bill Smith.

Wesley Chapel remained part of Hernando County until 1887, when maps were redrawn to create Pasco.

Local historian Madonna Jervis Wise recorded the memories and recollections of Adams and Smith during hours of interviews for her book, “Images of America: Wesley Chapel.”

The pair also provided Wise with documents including homesteading deeds and photographs. And, they assisted her in drawing a map of area settlements in the 1900s.

“This is quite an honor,” Smith told commissioners.

He recounted the day in 1941 that he walked out of a Zephyrhills’ movie house after seeing a John Wayne western.

Ruth Smith Adams and her brother, Bill Smith, are descendants of one of the pioneer families that settled Wesley Chapel.
Ruth Smith Adams and her brother, Bill Smith, are descendants of one of the pioneer families that settled Wesley Chapel.

“I started walking and someone came running down the street, yelling that (Japan) had bombed Pearl Harbor,” said Smith, who was 16 at the time.

He joined the U.S. Army when he was 19 and was shipped to the Philippines. He was there when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on two Japanese cities.

“I saw Nagasaki when it was still smoking,” said Smith, during a telephone interview.

Back home he worked for a while on the family ranch, later joining a seaman’s union and working on cargo ships for a couple of years. He also worked as a coalman for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad before again returning to help with the family’s cattle and citrus farming endeavors.

His father, Luther Smith, was the son of Daniel Smith and Elizabeth Geiger Smith, who was born near Zephyrhills. To honor Daniel and Elizabeth’s marriage, friends and family held a barn raising to build their home in 1894.

This is the map of pioneer families in Wesley Chapel, as recalled by Ruth Smith Adams and her brother, Bill Smith. The Smiths were instrumental in helping Madonna Jervis Wise , research the community’s history for her book, “Images of America: Wesley Chapel.” (Courtesy of Madonna Jervis Wise)
This is the map of pioneer families in Wesley Chapel, as recalled by Ruth Smith Adams and her brother, Bill Smith. The Smiths were instrumental in helping Madonna Jervis Wise , research the community’s history for her book, “Images of America: Wesley Chapel.”
(Courtesy of Madonna Jervis Wise)

Luther Smith helped bring electricity to Wesley Chapel in the 1940s when he served on the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative. The cooperative then was part of the Rural Electric Administration, a federal agency created in 1935.

Luther Smith’s home was located off Smith Road in Wesley Chapel.

In 1979 the family donated the pioneer, cracker-style home of Luther Daniel Smith to Cracker Country, a living museum located at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Hillsborough County.

When the house was moved there initially, members of the Smith family participated in special pioneer days and shared memories of life in Wesley Chapel and Pasco. Later, fair officials recruited volunteers to take over those duties.

According to the resolution, Smith and Adams remember a heritage of “open range, general stores over time, the Fifth Sunday Sings (Singing Convention) which so defined Wesley Chapel culture, the weekly rodeo, and the economic mainstays of timbering, turpentine, and ranching, as well as family farming, charcoal making, moonshining and hunting.”

Wesley Chapel was also known for The Singing Convention, which was held any month there was a fifth Sunday, Wise said. Families gathered, spread picnic lunches outdoors on orange crates, and enjoyed songs and music, Bill Smith said.

The siblings also recalled traveling to Zephyrhills every Saturday for grocery shopping. Their mother carried homegrown vegetables and eggs to trade for supplies.

“They wanted to tell a positive story, and I think there is something to be said for that,” said Wise. “They really are preservers of history.”

Published July 13, 2016

Using technology to enrich learning

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There was a quiet buzz around the room, as teachers conferred with their colleagues.

They were working in teams, planning projects they will use in the coming year that will infuse technology into their daily teaching.

The 20 teachers, from across Pasco County, were part of the Teacher Technology Summer Institute that recently wrapped up at the University of Saint Leo, near Dade City.

Kristen Fuqua and Alyse Buckalew, teachers at Pine View Middle School, both took part in the Teacher Technology Summer Institute at Saint Leo University. The institute aims to help teachers harness the power of technology in their classrooms. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Kristen Fuqua and Alyse Buckalew, teachers at Pine View Middle School, both took part in the Teacher Technology Summer Institute at Saint Leo University. The institute aims to help teachers harness the power of technology in their classrooms.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

They were there on their own time — eager to learn how they can take advantage of technology to improve student learning.

In selecting teachers for the technology institute, the university wasn’t looking for evidence of “tech wizardry” in the applications, said Holly Atkins, associate professor of education at Saint Leo. Rather, it was seeking “teachers who are very student-centered, and really eager and open to learning more.”

Saint Leo fully understands the value of infusing technology in classrooms, Atkins said.

“We have a foundation of people who have the idea that the best use of technology is when it moves from the teacher’s hands to the students, so that they are engaged and they are creating,” she said.

“We not only encourage, we require, our student teachers to really become proficient at using the technology,” Atkins said.

But, the university has noticed it students often face a different scenario when they begin their student teacher experiences.

“Some of these students (student teachers) said, ‘My teacher doesn’t know how to use the tools. My teacher doesn’t let me use the tools,’” Atkins said.

The technology institute is part of the university’s service to the community, Atkins said.

“But, it also serves our education department and our own students, because the teachers that are in there (the institute) right now, almost all of them have received clinical instructor training. This enables them to host a student teacher,” Atkins said.

Teachers at the institute each could choose a technological tool to take back to their classroom. Their options were a class set of Virtual Reality headsets, a Microsoft Surface Pro, an iPad or a MimeoTeach, which is a toolbar that turns any whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard.

The institute addresses the four elements that teachers need to be successful at infusing technology into their teaching, Atkins said.

Teachers need the technological tool, they need training, they need time to practice using it and they need teams — so they can encourage and help each other enhance their skills.

“A teacher’s toolbox today should be broadening, rather than shrinking,” Atkins said. “So, it should be filled with chart paper and markers and all that good stuff, and also iPads and interactive whiteboards. It’s not an ‘either/or’ it’s an ‘and.’,” she said.

Like any other tool, technology needs to be used when it’s appropriate, Atkins said.

“So, just like any kind of skilled craftsman, the accomplished teacher looks at student learning needs, opens up his or her toolbox and says, ‘What’s the best tool to make this happen?’”

Atkins said.

This year’s crop of 20 teachers came from schools including Pine View Middle School, Pine View Elementary and Sanders Memorial S.T.E.A.M. Magnet Elementary in Land O’ Lakes and Quail Hollow Elementary in Wesley Chapel.

They were enthusiastic about the opportunity to build on their technological skills.

“Being at Sanders, we’re very fortunate. We already have a 1-to-1 ratio with devices,” said Megan Bender, a third-grade teacher.

But she was delighted to learn more about various apps and websites, and to hear the creative approaches used by other teachers.

“Getting all of these ideas is so exciting,” Bender said.

Mitzi Whitaker, another Sanders teacher, noted that both teachers and students came to the magnet school from across Pasco County.

So, they arrived there with various levels of technical knowledge, Whitaker said.

Even with a year of experience behind them, technology is constantly evolving, she said.

“We’re going to always be changing up our game,” Whitaker said.

This is the third year that Saint Leo has hosted the technology institute, which was paid for with grants the first two years and from the university’s budget this year.

The university also added a Teacher Technology Leadership Institute, also paid for through university funds.

The leadership institute involved 10 teachers who had completed the technology institute, Atkins said.

As part of their leadership development, those teachers will serve as mentors during the coming school year to the teachers who just finished the technology institute.

The teachers in the technology institute will be conducting a research project throughout the school year, measuring the success of a particular technology tool in connection with student learning.

They’ll convene at the the end of the school year to see how the research went.

Jennifer Ippolito and Desi Krell, teachers at Pine View Middle, welcomed the chance to work on teams for the research.

They said they already work together on projects, and the institute has helped them take that collaboration to the next level.

Julie Saez, a teacher at Watergrass Elementary School, was thrilled when she was selected to be part of the leadership institute.

She said she knew it would be worthwhile because of her positive experience at the technology institute.

“The collaboration with everybody was exactly what I needed,” she added, noting that she formed lasting friendships and established valuable professional relationships.

“We’re like-minded people — always looking for new, upcoming technology,” Saez said.

Published July 13, 2016

New yogurt shop coming to Lutz

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A new yogurt shop — sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt — plans to open soon in a storefront in the Willow Bend Town Centre, at 22920 State Road 54, at Collier Parkway in Lutz.

The center’s anchor, Kmart, closed in mid-March.  Representatives of Sears Holdings said the Kmart closing would cut company expenses overall and speed up its efforts to recast Kmart’s business model.

sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt will open a shop in August in the Willow Bend Town Centre, at Collier Parkway and State Road 54. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt will open a shop in August in the Willow Bend Town Centre, at Collier Parkway and State Road 54.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)

No additional announcements on a prospective tenant to fill Kmart’s spot, as well as a handful of other vacant storefronts, are available yet, according to Courtney Bissett-Hayes of Bissett McGrath Properties.

The sweetFrog shop is expected to open in August next to South Beach Tanning, Bissett-Hayes said.

The franchise owner could not be reached for comment.

The sweetFrog brand began seven years ago in Richmond, Virginia, as a start-up business by South Korean immigrant Derek Cha and his wife, Annah, according to the yogurt shop’s website.

The company is operated on Christian principles, similar to the model of Chick-fil-A. The second part of its name —Frog —is an anagram for Fully Rely on God.

Company mascots are Scoop and Cookie. The shop is available for birthday parties and special events. A Leap Forward School program offers free frozen yogurt cards to schools as giveaways for students who are on the honor roll, have perfect attendance or are singled out for exceptional citizenship.

There is a sweetFrog location in Spring Hill.

Worldwide, the yogurt franchise has 350 locations. It has shops in 25 states across the country, and in the Dominican Republic, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, according to its website.

Published July 13, 2016

JCPenney announces 250 jobs

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JCPenney stores in the Tampa Bay area, including Pasco County, are taking applications for 250 jobs, according to an email announcement from the national department store chain.

Many jobs are part-time, but company officials say most positions can be stepping stones to longtime careers with Penney’s.

Stores are hiring now as they gear up for back-to-school shoppers, according to the company email.

Classic JCPenney 4CThe Florida Sales Tax Holiday in 2016 generally heralds the start of the new school season. This year the holiday begins Aug. 5 and ends Aug. 7. Sales tax exemptions apply to clothing, shoes and school supplies.

Jobs are available at area malls including The Shops at Wiregrass in Pasco, Westfield Brandon in Brandon, Westshore Plaza in Tampa and Westfield Citrus Park in Hillsborough County.

There are openings for cashiers, commission sales associates, merchandise support associates and customer support positions.

The company is seeking “energetic associates,” according to Joey Thomas, a company spokesman who responded by email to The Laker/Lutz News.

James Cash Penney founded the department store chain 114 years ago in Wyoming. He learned the retail business initially by working for owners of the Golden Rule stores in Colorado and Wyoming. Eventually, he bought them out.

Penney’s sells clothes, cosmetics, electronics, shoes, furniture, housewares, jewelry and most recently, appliances.

There are more than 1,000 stores in American and Puerto Rico. JCPenney had about 105,000 employees as of 2015, according to company data.

People can apply in-store at Applicant Kiosks or online at JCPcareers.com.

Published July 13, 2016

Forester’s days are anything but routine

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One day, Mona Neville may be riding in an airplane over Pasco County searching for signs of Southern Pine Beetle infestations.

Another day, she may be talking to a homeowner who wants to create a stewardship plan for his property, or explaining a cost-share program aimed at encouraging healthier forests.

Jake English and Mona Neville discuss plans for managing English’s pine forest, and also talk over some cost-sharing programs available through Florida Forest Service. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)
Jake English and Mona Neville discuss plans for managing English’s pine forest, and also talk over some cost-sharing programs available through Florida Forest Service.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)

Or, perhaps she’ll be providing technical advice on tree ordinances to local governments or guiding some scouts through some forested land — in their quest to earn a badge.

Neville’s job — as the forester for Pasco County — is anything but a 9-to-5 behind the desk routine.

In fact, if you call her, chances are she’ll be out in the field.

And that’s exactly how it should be, said Neville, who grew up in Wesley Chapel, graduated from Land O’ Lakes High School, and received her bachelor’s degree in forestry management from the University of Florida.

“We’re out of the office more than we’re in the office, or we try to be. That’s the whole goal, working with the landowners,” Neville said.

She began her career with the Florida Forest Service Withlacoochee Forestry Center, as a state lands forester. She was delighted when she had the chance to return to her roots. She became the forester for Pasco County in January and is stationed in the forest service’s Dade City office.

“As the county forester, we help any private landowner with any of their forest management needs,” Neville said.

She also can help local governments with urban forestry or parks forestry issues, she said, And, she can advise private landowners on urban landscape issues, she said.

“It may be somebody in a development that calls me and it looks like their tree is dying or declining, or they don’t know what type of tree it is, and they want to know more about it. I’ll go out and see them,” she said.

“It could be shade tree calls, or forest health calls,” Neville said.

Pasco County Forester Mona Neville uses a prism to help gauge the number of trees in an acre of pine forest.
Pasco County Forester Mona Neville uses a prism to help gauge the number of trees in an acre of pine forest.

“Some of the bigger developments, that do their own maintenance, will call when they have sick trees,” she said.

If a homeowner’s association needs technical advice, she’s happy to provide it.

The Withlacoochee District includes Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, Sumter and Lake counties, and each county has its own forester.

Neville said she’s noticed a growing interest in the preservation of forested lands.

“That whole sustainability concept is really starting to come back,” she said.

Recently, she made a visit to Jake English’s wooded property in Land O’ Lakes.

She was there to help English work on his stewardship plan and to explain some cost-share programs available through the Florida Forest Service.

There were cows grazing on the property.

“They go through the pine stand and chew up all of the grass, and mow it for him,” she said.

“Florida Forest Service offers several cost-shares, different times a year,” Neville said. Those include programs to prevent the spread of Southern Pine Beetles, to eradicate cogongrass, to thin out pine stands and to replant trees.

“This property is due for a thinning, because trees can only grow so much before they’re competing too much for nutrients,” Neville said.

“A healthy stand needs to be thinned, usually 15 (years) to 20 years after planting. And, then you go out another 15 (years) to 20 years and you start getting the bigger, more quality, better trees,” she said.

“The prescribed burning, a lot of people don’t realize, puts a bunch of the nutrients back into the ground.

“We will assist, when we can, to help landowners do a prescribed burn,” Neville said.

In addition to returning nutrients to the ground, a prescribed burn reduces fuel that can spread fires quickly when lightning sparks a blaze.

“Most of our wildfires are lightning strike-induced,” Neville said.

When a stand is thinned out, the remaining trees have a better chance to thrive.

The forest service will also cover a portion of the costs to eradicate cogongrass, which Neville describes as “a big invasive nightmare.”

“Cogongrass is an exotic, invasive, that was brought in originally to feed cattle, except they found that cows don’t like it,” she said.

“It usually takes two years, if not more, to kill a patch of cogongrass,” she said.

English grew up on his property, but his family later sold it for a planned subdivision. When the economy crashed, plans for the subdivision were dropped, and English was able to buy the property back four years ago.

“He has a stewardship plan written up, which is a 10-year plan that goes through and pretty much maps out what his goals are for his property,” Neville said.

“Normally, when we do the stewardship plan, they do the best management practices,” she added.

English appreciates Neville’s guidance.

“This is a huge help for me. Otherwise, I would be clueless as far as how to control invasive weeds and other issues,” English said.

After consulting with English, Neville will hop in her white truck and head off to her next assignment.

Her knowledge, coupled with her enthusiasm, conveys her passion for her work.

“I love the fact that it’s never the same,” Neville said.

Want to know more?
If you’d like to know more about cost-share programs through the Florida Forest Service or about services offered by the Pasco County Forester, contact Mona Neville at (352) 523-5101 or .

Published July 13, 2016

Lutz celebrates Independence Day

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Lutz was awash in red, white and blue, during the community’s Independence Day celebration.

Tributes to Old Glory showed up on T-shirts, hats, shorts and skirts. There were patriotic socks and headbands, too.

Runners took part in a 5K or a one-mile fun run, and bakers showed off their skills in a cake and pie contest.

From left, Debbie Sumbury, of Lutz, and her granddaughters, 2-year-old Amelia Donovan, and 3-year-old Stella Donovan, beckon for beads along the Lutz Fourth of July parade route. Hundreds turned out for the event, despite the blazing heat. (Fred Bellet/Photo)
From left, Debbie Sumbury, of Lutz, and her granddaughters, 2-year-old Amelia Donovan, and 3-year-old Stella Donovan, beckon for beads along the Lutz Fourth of July parade route. Hundreds turned out for the event, despite the blazing heat.
(Fred Bellet/Photo)

Entries in the baking contest included cakes from 10-year-old Maddox Foreman, a veteran competitor and his 3-year-old sibling, Raider, entering for the first time. There was a Samoa cookie cake, too, baked to honor the late Ron Gashler.

Other points of interest included a flag raising, conducted by members of Boy Scout Troop 12, with a quartet of North Tampa-Lutz Cadet Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol marching in precision —lending a dignified air. Cristine Hundley added to the day’s patriotic theme through her rendition of The National Anthem. After the parade, Greg Gilbert was sworn in as the new Lutz Guv’na.

The real stars at this celebration were the people.

They put up with sweltering heat to march or ride in the parade, or lined the route to cheer them on and to chase after beads, candy and other swag tossed generously to the crowd.

They were there to enjoy an old-fashioned Fourth of July in Lutz, a community that takes the word “community” seriously — especially on Independence Day.

Published July 13, 2016

Thousands enjoy festivities at Connerton

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Rain threatened to spoil the celebration, but the weather cleared just about time that festivities were set to begin at the Nation Celebration Independence Day Party at Connerton.

Colorful bursts of fireworks across the night sky at Connerton drew an appreciative response from a crowd estimated at 5,000 for the Nation Celebration Independence Day Party at Connerton in Land O’ Lakes. (Courtesy of Connerton)
Colorful bursts of fireworks across the night sky at Connerton drew an appreciative response from a crowd estimated at 5,000 for the Nation Celebration Independence Day Party at Connerton in Land O’ Lakes.
(Courtesy of Connerton)

The rain stopped around 5 p.m. — the time the July 2 event was scheduled to start, but then there was a light drizzle until around 5:30 p.m., said Joan Staut, marketing coordinator for Connerton, a master-planned New Town Community in Land O’ Lakes.

After the rain stopped, people began streaming into the community, and by the time the event was over, officials estimate that more than 5,000 turned out for the festivities.

People ranging from grandparents to babies, and all ages in between, clearly were enjoying themselves.

Some kids jumped around in bounce houses. Others slid down an inflatable slide. Some tested their skills in miniature golf. Others played carnival games.

Families, couples and friends sat around large round tables, under a giant tent, to eat meals they purchased from nine food trucks from Tampa Bay Food Truck Rally, and to listen to live music by Gottagroove. The Fraternal Order of Police, Pasco County Lodge 29 hosted the beer and wine garden.

People mingled, played games and relaxed, waiting for the fireworks to begin, and there was plenty of “oohs” and “ahs” from the crowd, as they went off, sending colorful bursts in the sky.

Numerous sponsors were involved in the event, including Benedetto’s, which sponsored the fireworks. Other sponsors included McDonald’s, Air Hawk Heating and Cooling, Wayne O’ Brien, State Farm Insurance, Greenacre Properties, Yellowstone Landscape, Mary Ann Carroll-Homeward Real Estate, Ierna’s Heating & Air Conditioning, and Medi-Weight Loss.

Connerton’s staff was pleased by the turnout and gratified by the expressions of appreciation they heard from people attending the event, Staut said.

Published July 13, 2016

The agony of justice frozen in legal amber

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An aphorism as old as jurisprudence itself is enduring a strain in the courtroom of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Susan Barthle. You know the one: “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

Tom Jackson rgbLast week, Barthle set a February hearing for the linchpin of the infamous movie house shooting case, in which only one relevant fact is not in dispute: Retired Tampa police captain Curtis Reeves Jr., used his .380 semiautomatic pocket pistol to kill Chad Oulson, forever 43.

The rest — whether it was about texting or bullying or stubbornness or testosterone or a cop’s mindset or etiquette or management failures or some blend of it all — is window dressing, stuff for gossips, speculators and storytellers.

Not that all that and more won’t become relevant at next February’s hearing, when Barthle will hear arguments regarding Reeves’ stand-your-ground claim. Then, at last, context will be everything. Then, at last, we’ll have it out.

Let’s be clear. The delay/deny business playing out here isn’t on Barthle. She’s the second judge on the case. Pat Siracusa recused himself last July after he became openly frustrated with both sets of lawyers’ delays, about the only area in which the prosecution and defense have been cooperative.

Assuming this date holds, the February hearing will unfold more than three years — roughly 1,100 days — after the bizarre episode inside auditorium No. 10 at the Cobb Grove 16 cineplex in Wesley Chapel.

At last, finally, the timeline will matter.

The Reeves and the Oulsons, married couples who’d never before laid eyes on each other, arriving minutes apart for the day’s first showing of “Lone Survivor.” The ensuing dispute over Chad texting during the pre-show entertainment. Curtis retreating to the lobby to ask the management to intervene.

Arguably, the entire texting chapter of our tragedy ended right there. This is not to say both couples could not have saved themselves endless heartache if, at this point, one or the other had found new seats. But that’s not what happened, and arguments can’t be hung from nonexistent pegs.

So the timeline resumes. Chad rising to confront Curtis when he returned, berating him for tattling, bouncing a box of popcorn off him, followed by a glinting object, claimed by the defense to be Oulson’s mobile phone. Curtis going into his pocket and coming out with the pistol, leaning forward and squeezing the trigger. Flash. Bang.

Curtis slumping back into his seat. Someone hearing Chad murmur, “I can’t believe I got shot” as a crimson floret bloomed on his shirt.

Now, everything depends on February, when Reeves’ attorneys will press Barthle to apply Florida’s stand-your-ground law, the statute that allows the use of deadly force when (a) a person is somewhere he has a right to be and (b) he reasonably believes such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.

Before stand-your-ground was enacted in 2005, people caught in similar circumstances had a legal obligation to retreat. In recordings taken after the shooting, Reeves concedes he wished he’d done exactly that.

Arguably, though, by the time Chad, having chosen to escalate a silly dispute, loomed in, the old cop’s avenues of retreat had vanished. Maybe, after all, Reeves acted reasonably.

What this isn’t, by any stretch, is an easy call. One man is dead. Another could spend the rest of his life in prison. And however it tilts, the outcome is sure to be imperfect. The survivors always will bear their scars.

Which brings us back to delays and denials.

Two-and-a-half years later, in the summer of 2016, everything remains mired in legal limbo, and will remain so until Judge Barthle decides whether the state can proceed. If she grants Reeves’ stand-your-ground motion, there will be no prosecution for second-degree murder. He will be immune from civil suits.

Until then, Reeves lives in the shadows of freedom, out on bail but restricted in his movements, his fate bound up in legal gymnastics.

And Nicole Oulson, Chad’s bereaved widow, one of two absolute innocents in all of this — we mustn’t forget now 3-year-old Lexi, the subject of Chad’s fateful texts — must muster on with her feet planted in two worlds: One where life moves on and Chad is forever absent, and the other, frozen in legal amber, where there’s always the darkness and Chad, and the roaring gun.

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

Published July 6, 2016

New centers coming soon to Land O’ Lakes

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What the Great Recession took away, boom times are bringing back.

Three properties in Land O’ Lakes, along U.S. 41 and State Road 54, are poised to deliver new restaurants, retail and offices. All three sites languished as the economy tanked.

Now, Strategic Properties Group is ready to build the first of three new shopping centers on land that the real estate development firm held onto for nearly a decade.

Two more centers are in planning stages.

First up is Camp Indianhead Crossings, a triangular swath of land fronting State Road 54, at the corner of Camp Indianhead Road.

Camp Indianhead Crossings will open in early 2017 with Hungry Greek and OTB Delight Café among its tenants. An artist’s rendering shows the shopping center as a one-story building at State Road 54 and Camp Indianhead Road in Land O’ Lakes. (Photos courtesy of Strategic Properties Group)
Camp Indianhead Crossings will open in early 2017 with Hungry Greek and OTB Delight Café among its tenants. An artist’s rendering shows the shopping center as a one-story building at State Road 54 and Camp Indianhead Road in Land O’ Lakes.
(Photos courtesy of Strategic Properties Group)

Hungry Greek and OTB Café are the first announced tenants. Both restaurants also have locations at The Shoppes of Wesley Chapel on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

A groundbreaking will get dirt moving this week on the slightly more than 1 ½-acre site, according to Barry Jackson, managing member of Strategic Properties.

The swath, just west of Pep Boys, will be home to a one-story building with approximately 12,700 square feet of restaurant, retail and office space. Facades on both sides of the structure will match. Multiple driveways onto the site will include an entrance off State Road 54.

In addition to Hungry Greek and OTB, Jackson is negotiating with a national chain restaurant for a third dining spot at the center.

A nationally known hair salon also is anticipated at Camp Indianhead.

Exit Prime Realty and Jackson’s own company will relocate offices to the new center.

Another 6,500 square feet remains leasable.

Jackson said a nail salon likely could be another tenant.

“I’ve had several talking with me,” he said.

Jackson expects to have the building ready for occupancy by the end of the year. Tenants then will complete the build out for their individual spaces.

Some shops could open in February, with restaurants likely to open in March.

Barry Jackson is managing member of Strategic Properties Group. The real estate development company plans to build three shopping centers in Land O’ Lakes.
Barry Jackson is managing member of Strategic Properties Group. The real estate development company plans to build three shopping centers in Land O’ Lakes.

Visibility and traffic volume along State Road 54 made the location an attractive real estate buy in 2006. But, just as Jackson anticipated construction, the bottom fell out of the economy, and the project stalled out.

With the economy rebounding and development on State Road 54 humming again, Camp Indianhead finally is ready for its debut. Its attractiveness is still intact, Jackson said.

“Demographics in the area are terrific,” he said. “The county counts about 70,000 cars a day between Collier Parkway and U.S. 41. You pick up all the traffic going both ways from the two intersections.”

Strategic Properties is eyeing development of two more shopping centers in Land O’ Lakes that also had to wait out the economic downturn.

Though Wesley Chapel has been in the development spotlight with the opening of Tampa Premium Outlets, development at Cypress Creek Town Center — the Land O’ Lakes area is starting to share in the action.

“It’s not happening as fast as Wesley Chapel and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard are,” said Jackson. “But, it’s not far behind, probably a year behind.”

Land O’ Lakes Landings is in the planning stages, Jackson said. That center likely will begin construction in 2018.

It will be similar in size to Camp Indianhead at about 13,000 square feet, located on U.S. 41, more than a mile south of State Road 52. The site is next to an approximately 500-home master-planned community from Ryan Homes that will be built on land formerly part of the Lester Dairy farm.

Leases are not in place, but Jackson said he is in discussions with a national chain restaurant.

“We’re waiting on them (Ryan) to get stuff moving,” Jackson said. “We are the first commercial parcel outside of this development’s entrance.”

Another shopping center is in the planning stages, as well, Jackson said. That center, Lake Thomas Crossings, likely will begin construction in 2017.

It is a 16,000 square-foot shopping center on U.S. 41, about three miles north of State Road 54, and south of Ehren Cutoff.

“There is a desperate need for restaurants and retail up there,” Jackson said.

Connerton is another of Pasco’s housing developments that came to a standstill during the recession. But now, new homes are sprouting, and a McDonald’s restaurant is under construction at an entrance into the community.

Jackson said the draw to that area remains 100 percent the development of Connerton.

“If Connerton didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have bought the property,” he said.

Revised on July 8, 2016