Local News

Business Digest 11-05-14

November 6, 2014 By Mary Rathman

Thirsting for knowledge
Community members, local government officials and employees at Zephyrhills water enjoy a day of family fun and water education at the Zephyrhills community open house on Oct. 25. The day included a tour of the bottling facility, and a visit to the kid-friendly, educational WaterVentures Learning Lab.

Allstate premier agent in Lutz
Lisette Fernandez has been named an Allstate Premier Agency for 2014.

The designation for the Lutz agent is given to less than half of Allstate’s 10,000 agency owners across the country. Fernandez received it because of what the insurance carrier described as her outstanding business performance and commitment to putting customers at the center of her work.

Fernandez’s agency is located at 4935 Van Dyke Road, and can be reached at (813) 269-5707.

Upcoming meeting for Women-n-Charge
Women-n-Charge will meet Nov. 7 at 11:30 a.m., at Pebble Creek Country Club, 10550 Regents Park Drive in Tampa.

The meeting includes lunch, a feature speaker, and networking.

Cost is $15 for members, and $18 for guests.

For information, visit Women-n-Charge.com, or call (813) 600-9848.

Award winners and officers at Dade City chamber
The Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce recently honored some of its top members during its annual banquet Oct. 16 at the Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club.

Winners included:

Business Leader of the Year — Bonnie Krummen, vice president and branch manager of CenterState Bank
Large Business of the Year — CenterState Bank
Small Business of the Year — Dade City Animal Clinic
Civic Association of the Year — Restored Hope
Citizen of the Year — Salvador Jaurequi and Joey Wubbena
Ambassador of the Year — Kelly Sinn of Sunrise Pasco County
Chamber Member of the Year — Cliff Martin of Jarrett Ford
• Richard Tombrink Lifetime Achievement Award — Billy Brown of the Withlacoochee River Cooperative
President’s Award — Jimmy Adcock of Teco

Also during the banquet, the chamber installed its new board, including Bob Van Allen of Farm Bureau Insurance as president, Randy Stovall of Pasco-Hernando State College as president-elect, Randy Surber of Florida Hospital Zephyrhills as second vice president, Steven Hickman of First National Bank of Pasco as treasurer, Kelly Sinn of Sunrise of Pasco County as secretary, and Bonnie Krummen of CenterState Bank as the past president.

Zephyrhills water donated $50,000
Nestle Waters North America, the corporate producer of Zephyrhills bottled water, donated $50,000 in honor of its 50th anniversary Oct. 25 that help support cleanup and education events at parks along the Hillsborough River.

Splitting the donation were Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful and Tampa Bay Watch.

The donation was supported by a social media campaign conducted by Nestle that invited consumers to share their favorite things about Florida. More than 23,700 items were shared, which Nestle donated a dollar for each, and then rounded up to the $50,000 donation.

The Zephyrhills plant, located at 4330 20th St., in Zephyrhills, employs 250 people locally, and 900 throughout the region. Nestle bought the brand in 1982, part of a company that was originally founded in 1964.

Upcoming SCORE seminars
The Pasco-Hernando Chapter of SCORE, which historically stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives, will host the following upcoming free seminars. For information, visit SCORE439.org.

Using the Internet in Your Business — Nov. 6 at 5:30 p.m., at Regency Park Branch Library, 9701 Little Road, in New Port Richey; Nov. 12 at 10 a.m., at SmartStart New Port Richey, 6345 Grand Blvd., New Port Richey; Nov. 12 at 5 p.m., at West Hernando Branch Library, 6335 Blackbird Ave., in Brooksville. After reviewing the various roles a website can support in enhancing a business, participants will be walked through an eight-step process of key activities needed to quickly leverage this technology in many businesses.
E-Marketing Concepts —Nov. 10 at 5:30 p.m., at New Port Richey Library, 5939 Main St., in New Port Richey; Nov. 13 at 5:30 p.m., at New River Branch Library, 34043 State Road 54, in Wesley Chapel. Attendees can obtain an understanding of e-marketing technologies and how they may help to enhance the ability of a small business to reach customers and communicate their brand, products and services.
Introduction to QuickBooks — Nov. 12 at 1 p.m., at Hugh Embry Branch Library, 14215 Fourth St., in Dade City. This is a basic hands-on introduction to the QuickBooks software, but is not designed for advanced users.
How to Apply for a Business Loan — Nov. 12 at 5 p.m., at South Holiday Branch Library, 4649 Mile Stretch Drive in Holiday; Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m., at Centennial Park Branch Library, 5640 Moog Road in Holiday. This workshop focuses on the individual requirements of the participants, including startups, mature businesses and purchasing of existing businesses. Loan sources for amounts ranging from $5,000 to $5 million will be covered, as well as business plans to accompany loan applications.

On The Agenda 11-05-14

November 6, 2014 By Mary Rathman

Doctor speaking at Democratic Women’s
The Democratic Women’s Club of Pasco County will have its regular meeting Nov. 8 at 11 a.m., at the Jasmine Lakes Civic Club, 7137 Jasmine Blvd., in Port Richey.

Guest speaker is Dr. Lawrence Floriani, an educational lecturer on the Affordable Care Act. He is a member of Doctors for America.

For information, call (727) 372-9321.

Library board to meet in Land O’ Lakes
The Pasco County Library Advisory Board will host its annual library supporters meeting Nov. 13 at 7 p.m., at the Land O’ Lakes Library, 2818 Collier Parkway, in Land O’ Lakes.

At this informal meeting, the Library Foundation and other groups will present information about activities going on at the individual cooperative branches, as well as within the overall library system.

It is open to the public.

Workshops planned for transportation plans
The Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization is looking for public input on its 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan.

This plan includes highway, transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects over the next 25 years. A formal 30-day comment period extends through Nov. 23, with a draft of the plan available at PascoMPO.net.

Two workshops are planned for Nov. 18 and Nov. 19. The Tuesday gathering will be at the West Pasco Government Center, 8731 Citizens Drive in New Port Richey.

The second will take place at Alice Hall Community Center, 38116 Fifth Ave., in Zephyrhills.

Both workshops begin at 5:30 p.m.

For information, visit Mobility2040Pasco.com.

Hillsborough government office to close
The majority of Hillsborough County offices and facilities will be closed Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day.

Closed facilities include the administrative offices county government, all libraries, recreation centers, Head Start/Early head Start centers, and senior citizen centers and nutrition sites.

Collection of garbage, recyclables and yard waste will continue on a normal Tuesday schedule in the unincorporated areas of Hillsborough County. That service area includes Tampa Palms, Hunter’s Green and New Tampa. All disposal facilities also will be open.

Additional county facilities that will be closed on Veterans Day include:

The Pet Resource Center — A limited number of animal safety and enforcement officers will be on duty for emergencies only at (813) 744-5660. The Pets-For-Vets adoption special will be offered throughout November, with more information at HillsboroughCounty.org/Pets.
Hillsborough County’s Information and Service Center line at (813) 272-5900
All county recreation centers, skate parks, the Bakas Equestrian Center, and the administrative offices of the Parks, Recreation and Conservation department.
The Sunshine Line transportation service
All social service community resource centers
The call center for the Public Utilities Department, and water/wastewater customer service centers in Northdale and Brandon. Emergency water calls can be directed to (813) 744-5600.

All regional parks as well as the Southeast County Landfill and transfer stations will remain open.

Growth at The Grove may depend on traffic light

October 30, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Hiring has begun at a Chuck E. Cheese’s store now under construction at The Grove at Wesley Chapel, a shopping center opened at the height of the recent housing boom, which is now growing again.

How much the shopping center bordering Interstate 75 will expand, however, depends on the cooperation developers get from Pasco County officials.

Future growth at The Grove at Wesley Chapel depends on help from the county to keep traffic moving in and out of the shopping complex off County Road 54. (Fred Bellet/Photo)

“The challenge we have with all the major future development out of The Grove centers around the fact that the project lacks a traffic signal at the main entrance,” Jim Mazzarelli, managing director at Genesis Real Estate Advisers — the company working with The Grove developers — told members of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce last week. “As our engineers say, we don’t have an ingress problem, we have an egress problem. You can get in, but you can’t get out.”

The Grove has two entrances off County Road 54, using Oakley Boulevard less than 1,000 feet from the I-75 interchange, and Gateway Boulevard, located another 800 feet or so from there, where customers can find a traffic signal.

Getting to Gateway is not easy, however. Shoppers have to leave The Grove, turn onto Dayflower Boulevard, and then turn onto Gateway on the other side of an Econo Lodge. Anyone wanting to drive just straight out on Oakley either has to make a right turn, or journey across three lanes of traffic to make a U-turn at Gateway.

“It’s a really awkward work-around,” Mazzarelli said. “It might work for everyone who is there now, but it doesn’t work for the big anchors who are going to come in and invest millions in a store. That’s a hurdle we’ve been working to overcome for the better part of three-and-a-half years. We’re getting there, but it’s a long road.”

One 17-acre piece of land on the southern end of The Grove property, for example, is set up for a large box store, like a Lowe’s or Target, Mazzarelli said. The land has been vacant since The Grove opened in 2007, but developers are in negotiations with a large department store “with a well-known name.”

Such a deal, however, is contingent with adding a traffic light for the Oakley connection to County Road 54. The Grove developers already have spent more than $250,000 in studies and other work to get that light in, but it still hasn’t happened.

“We are not taking this lightly by any means,” Mazzarelli said. “It is a critical element to the center as it stands today, especially right now when it’s only half built-out.”

Although 54 is now a county road, there are still Florida Department of Transportation restrictions in place since it controls the traffic lights for vehicles looking to access I-75. Generally DOT wants 1,260 feet separating traffic lights, and by adding one on Oakley, that would put three traffic lights in a stretch of road totaling a little more than 2,000 feet.

“If you put in another stop light, that and the other two stop lights already there creates the possibility of traffic backing up into the off-ramps of the interstate,” county spokesman Douglas Tobin said. “We are reviewing that, but one solution might be if you put a stop light in there, we have an agreement that, in the future, if it backs up, we’d be able to remove it.”

Other hindrances to expansion are restrictions The Grove had to negotiate through when it signed leases with some of its big tenants, like Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Old Navy. That was what stopped the Pasco County Tax Collector’s office from opening a new location at the center, and also kept the Pepin Academy charter school from considering some space.

“We had an idea to create this nice little educational court that could’ve been sealed off” from the rest of the complex, Mazzarelli said. “We went to the anchors and did a great deal of negotiating with them, but we couldn’t get the anchors to sign off on it.”

However, those restrictions could change in the near future. Many of the anchor leases are up for renewal, and since some stores would like the chance to upgrade their facilities, that gives The Grove a little bargaining power at the negotiation table.

“In addition to giving the anchors some money so they can refurbish their stores, we are getting a lot of these restrictions relaxed,” Mazzarelli said. “That will have obviously long-term benefits for the center, because the fewer restrictions we have, the more flexibility we will have, and the most success we’ll have in this space.”

Published October 29, 2014

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Bamboo canes soar above 70 feet at Dade City sanctuary

October 30, 2014 By B.C. Manion

“I’m not so much a nurseryman. I’m more of a collector of bamboo,” said Leonard Daszkiewicz, who has a bamboo farm and garden off U.S. 98 in Dade City.

“When the latest ones come out of quarantine in China, I usually add one or two to my collection,” he said, leading a tour group from the Land O’ Lakes Garden Club around his property.

These towering canes of Bambusa chungii, also known as tropical blue bamboo, shoot skyward at Greenbelt Nursery & Bamboo Gardens on U.S. 98 east of Dade City. Members of the Land O' Lakes Garden Club recently toured the farm to check out Leonard Daszkiewicz’s 10-acre garden sanctuary that includes his impressive collection of bamboo plants. (Fred Bellet/Photo) — These towering canes of Bambusa chungii, also known as tropical blue bamboo, shoot skyward at Greenbelt Nursery & Bamboo Gardens on U.S. 98 east of Dade City. Members of the Land O’ Lakes Garden Club recently toured the farm to check out Leonard Daszkiewicz’s 10-acre garden sanctuary that includes his impressive collection of bamboo plants. (Fred Bellet/Photo)

Daszkiewicz’s collection boasts more than four-dozen stands of bamboo, with some canes soaring more than 70 feet. As he led the group around his property, Daszkiewicz told the garden club members about the various kinds of bamboo in his collection.

The avid gardener also told the group about the multitude of plants and trees on his 10-acre plot.

The pride and joy of his collection is a tropical blue bamboo that he bought for $90 in 2003. At the time, it was in a pot and it was 2 feet tall.

Now, it towers skyward.

Bamboo is a resilient plant, Daszkiewicz informed the group. In 2004, he thought he’d lose his bamboo because of the three back-to-back hurricanes that hit the state.

“The river was in flood stage for six weeks,” Daszkiewicz said. “I thought I was going to lose my bamboo. I didn’t lose a one. (But) it killed every laurel oak tree.”

The bamboo didn’t die, because it’s technically not a tree, but a giant grass.

“It can take flooding,” he said.

In another spot in the garden, Daszkiewicz has a stand of running bamboo. This bamboo lives up to its name, he said, unless steps are taken to keep it from running too far.

He has enclosed his stand in a barrier that runs more than 2 feet into the ground. Even so, he keeps an eye on it just to be sure it doesn’t escape its confinement.

“You can’t ignore it,” Daszkiewicz said. “It’s invasive.”

Besides being beautiful, bamboo canes also are musical. When the wind is blowing around 15 to 20 miles an hour, he said, “The canes bonk together and make musical sounds.”

Daszkiewicz’s wife Noreen is impressed by her husband’s handiwork.

“It’s fantastic,” she said. “It’s a sanctuary.”

Daszkiewicz’s extensive garden sits on a plot that is part of the acreage his grandparents homesteaded during the 1930s, after moving here from Chicago.

As the garden club members made their way around the property, Daszkiewicz — a Pasco County master gardener — pointed out his extensive collection of trees and plants. Some yield beauty for the soul. Others, food for the body.

He grows okra, kale, onion, beets and sweet potato, among other things. He also grows giant stalks of sugar cane.

“In December, I’ll cut it down,” Daszkiewicz said. Then he’ll take it to a processor, who will turn it into syrup.

“Last year, I got about three gallons of syrup,” he added

Daszkiewicz uses the syrup on everything from pancakes to rice. He also grows camellias, which add color during the cooler months.

Marie Woody, president of the Land O’ Lakes Garden Club, said the club goes on field trips to see beautiful gardens, and to learn new gardening techniques. The group has 15 members, coming primarily from Land O’ Lakes, but also from Zephyrhills, Tampa and other areas, too.

It is open to men and women, she said, and welcomes new members.

The club meets on the first Tuesday of the month at the Land O’ Lakes Community Center, from September through April. It ends the year with a celebration dinner in May.

Annual dues are $10.

For more information about the Land O’ Lakes Garden Club, call (813) 961-2697.

Published October 29, 2014

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First-hand challenges provide new perspectives on disabilities at Saint Leo

October 30, 2014 By Michael Murillo

Caitlin Carter struggles as she tries to maneuver her wheelchair while holding a tray. She reaches down to pick up a pen, and spills her water.

Across the room, Jamie Ray — who doesn’t have full use of her hands — is having trouble opening a simple piece of candy. Only after a long, deliberate process is she able to finally open the wrapper.

Caitlin Carter has trouble keeping her tray balanced as she picks up objects while in a wheelchair. She was a volunteer participating in Saint Leo University’s annual challenge experience on Oct. 23, which gives able-bodied students and faculty an opportunity to learn about physical and learning challenges first-hand. (Fred Bellet/Photo)

A few minutes later, Carter gets out of the wheelchair and Ray takes the socks off of her hands. Neither is disabled. They’re students who participated in Saint Leo University’s Challenge Experience on Oct. 23 as part of the school’s recognition of National Disability Awareness Month.

The challenge gives able-bodied students and faculty a chance to experience a small part of the challenges that some people face in their everyday lives. Carter learned the difficulties of multitasking while using a wheelchair, while Ray’s challenge simulated coordination challenges associated with muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy.

Other activities included making a sandwich while blindfolded to simulate sight difficulties, identifying items in a bag based only on feel and smell, and tracing a shape while looking at a projection of an image, which replicates some challenges of dyslexia.

The challenges were part of a week of events at the university. A guest speaker and a table filled with information were other aspects of the program.

Paige Ramsay-Hamacher, director for multicultural and international services at Saint Leo, said simulating the challenges that some people face enables able-bodied people to get an inkling of what it’s like to have a very different daily experience.

“The purpose is really to give students an idea to walk in somebody else’s shoes who deals with challenges that they might not have to deal with on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

The annual event has been going on for several years at the university. It allows people to help those with disabilities by recognizing their challenges in a more personal way, Ramsay-Hamacher said.

In the sandwich-making experiment, for example, people will move the ingredients while the subject is trying to make a sandwich. They learn that moving items around can be detrimental for someone with a sight disability, since they often memorize where items are.

For Ray, the disability challenges already had a personal connection for her. Her stepmother suffers from multiple sclerosis, and trying to open the candy gave her an even better understanding of the challenges she faces.

“She’s always been complaining that she had trouble holding stuff, gripping stuff,” she said. “I never really understood it until I was not able to use my hands.”

Student volunteers guide each participant through the stations, but that doesn’t make the challenges easy when they try it themselves.

“They find it’s much, much harder than they expect it to be,” Ramsay-Hamacher said.

Carter is one of those volunteers, and admitted to struggling with the experiments.

“I’ve done this the past two years, and I still can’t do the whole wheelchair part,” she said.

Participating in the challenges has given her a better understanding regarding how to interact with people who have disabilities. If someone is in a wheelchair, Carter doesn’t see them as incapable or as an object of sympathy. But she would be better aware of their challenges, and be in a position to make their path easier or remove obstacles they might face.

And even though the experiments are short and everybody knows the challenges are temporary, Carter believes people leave with a more honest appreciation for what other people face on a regular basis.

“I’m a psychology major, so I learn about different disabilities,” she said. “But actually doing it and seeing how hard it actually is for them, it gives you a deeper respect for them.”

Ray agrees about the benefits of participating in the annual challenge.

“It’s really weird,” she said. “But it’s really awesome to be able to experience something like that because you never really know what someone is going through until you actually at least try to experience it.”

Published October 29, 2014

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Pet shelter changing way animal owners think

October 30, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Out of sight, out of mind.

Pat Mulieri wasn’t part of the decision that built Pasco County’s animal shelter well off the beaten path inside the Lake Patience community and behind Oakstead Elementary School, but there are times she wishes she was.

Adult cats have some of the hardest times being adopted, since kittens are in such high demand. Last year, more than 800 cats came to the shelter, but less than 75 percent found homes. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

The shelter is 2 miles off Land O’ Lakes Boulevard, requiring a little bit of navigation along Lake Patience Road to Dogpatch Lane. Locals know exactly where to go when they need to deliver a pet, or adopt one, but the thousands of new residents calling Pasco home each year are surprised to learn Pasco even has such a facility, and that sometimes makes it difficult to get the word out.

“I came to this shelter years ago when I had lost a pet,” Mulieri, a 20-year member of the county commission, said. “My husband didn’t lock the screen door for our two little dogs. One came back, and the other didn’t.”

What Mulieri found at the shelter, however, was something she was not ready for.

“They let me in with the place closed, when they only had one building out here, and that’s when I saw the dead cats,” Mulieri said. “They had killed so many cats a day, and I didn’t even realize it. I couldn’t come back.”

It would actually take years for Mulieri to return, but when she did, she was there to stay. Now Mulieri is a common face around the halls of the shelter’s administrative offices, and has been a major proponent in helping to build the shelter’s profile, and find homes for hundreds of pets each month.

Promoting the shelter and finding ways to attract adopting families has fallen on the shoulders of Andrea Ciesluk, the assistant education coordinator at Pasco County Animal Services. Ciesluk joined the staff there earlier this year, and almost immediately, the shelter was getting noticed.

“We want to advertise and get the word out so that people know who we are and where we are,” she said. “That’s not as easy as it sounds.”

Ciesluk is doing it using a much different approach than what the shelter has done in the past. While animal services have typically worked with newspapers, television and radio to spread the word about the shelter’s needs, Ciesluk is reaching deep into the business community to find corporate partners willing to lend a hand — even if it’s simply through a new way of promoting events and specials the shelter has on a monthly basis.

“What we are doing is getting new businesses and local businesses to sponsor an animal,” she said. “In return, every time we post that animal’s picture, people will see their involvement too.”

Those businesses also have helped to reduce adoption fees for many families who might want to take a dog or cat home, but balk when they find out how much they have to pay in order to do it. Business donations, Mulieri said, have helped reduce those costs to as low as $20.

“That’s neutering and spaying, immunization and microchipping all in the same package,” Mulieri said. “That’s the best buy in town, and it’s the only way we’re going to cut down on euthanizing.”

In 2011, less than 40 percent of the animals boarded at the shelter left it alive. But in 2012, the live release rate grew to 55 percent, and last year, had reached 81 percent.

The shelter’s goal is to find homes for 90 percent of the dogs and cats brought through its doors, Mulieri said, but it’s going to require more work than just adoption specials.

“You’ll never be able to adopt them all out, and you’ll never be able to cut down on the pet population until you change people’s ideas,” Mulieri said.

Despite animal overpopulation, many families with pets shy away from spaying or neutering, feeling their pets need to have litters. A typical cat can have up to six kittens in a litter and can have three litters a year. That means one cat couple and their offspring, according to one animal group, can result in 420,000 more cats in seven years.

And it’s not easy to find them homes. Last year, the Pasco shelter put down 27 percent of the cats it received.

New shelter manager Mike Shumate realized that mindset needed to change. Before he arrived, qualifying families who fixed their cat or dog could send their bill to the county, and be reimbursed up to $40.

“That rarely covered those costs,” Mulieri said. “People couldn’t afford to do it, so they wouldn’t do it. And the number of animals coming into the shelter was just getting out of control.”

Instead, the goal is to partner with local veterinarians to offer discounts that would make such procedures affordable. On top of that, the shelter has partnered with Spay Pasco with the Trap Neuter Return program that allows for the trapping of feral cats that are then fixed for $10, and returned to their habitat.

“We need to do this,” Ciesluk said. “And we’re going to keep working to expand it even more.”

For more programs and specials at the shelter, visit PascoCountyFl.net/PAS.

Published October 29, 2014

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International athletes ‘swoop’ in for world championships

October 30, 2014 By Michael Murillo

Imagine hurling toward the Earth at nearly 90 mph, then negotiating your way over land and water while you skim across the surface, before landing back on solid ground and tumbling to an abrupt stop.

Now imagine doing it on purpose, over and over again.

Florida resident and reigning national champion Tommy Dellibac will be among the competitors vying for gold at the World Canopy Piloting Championships in Zephyrhills. (Courtesy of Randy Swallows)

Canopy piloting, also known as swooping, is a form of skydiving where jumpers maneuver through a course upon their descent as they make contact with the ground. And it isn’t just a growing activity. It’s a full-fledged competitive sport, with international championships and competitors from dozens of countries vying for gold.

The 5th World Canopy Piloting Championship will be Nov. 4-6 at Skydive City, 4241 Sky Dive Lane in Zephyrhills. It’s the first time the world championships have been held in the United States, and is expected to attract more than 100 competitors representing nearly 30 countries.

Swooping is more than just a competition of rare skills, said T.K. Hayes, president and general manager of Skydive City. It’s the most audience-friendly form of skydiving around.

“All the action happens in the last 10 seconds of the skydive, close to the ground,” Hayes said. “It is totally a spectator sport.”

For the November event, a tent close to the swoop pond, where athletes will make contact, will have visitors just 50 feet from the action.

The World Canopy Piloting Championship is held every two years and is sanctioned by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the international governing body that covers aviation competitions, including skydiving, ballooning and even airplanes.

Following the last championship, Hayes heard that nobody had yet applied to host the 2014 event. He threw his hat into the ring, then fended off a bid from a city in Russia to host it.

Afterward, the Pasco County Tourist Development Council chipped in $15,000 for advertising and promotion for the event, which Hayes estimates will cost around $100,000 to put together from start to finish.

While athletes will travel across the globe to compete at the event, one of them will enjoy a bit of home-field advantage. Tommy Dellibac, a Florida resident who lives in DeLand, trains regularly at Skydive City. He’s also the reigning national champion after this year’s competition, which also was in Zephyrhills.

Dellibac is looking forward to competing with the world’s best near his own backyard.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s going to be nice just to be able to drive an hour and 45 minutes to be there, versus having to travel to a different country in a different time zone.”

In the past, Dellibac has competed in places like Australia and Dubai, the latter which was the site of the last world championships two years ago.

Athletes will compete in three separate types of events, measuring speed, distance and accuracy on the course. The best will earn gold, silver or bronze in each event, and the one with the best combined score will earn the title of overall champion.

Dellibac, 34, has 14 years of skydiving experience and more than 15,000 jumps on his resume. He even coaches other canopy pilots and works with the military as part of Flight-1, which provides courses to those who enjoy and can benefit from the sport.

For the world championships, he’s been training for the accuracy portion to improve his overall game, but considers speed his favorite part of the competition, and skydiving in general.

“There’s nothing like jumping out of an airplane, when you leave that plane for the first few seconds and you’re just free before you open the canopy and just falling through the air,” Dellibac said. “Riding a motorcycle fast, or going fast in a car, none of that compares.”

While the athlete’s abilities are impressive, their equipment also is considered among the best in the industry. The main parachutes used at this event can cost nearly $4,000, Hayes said. After adding in the harness, reserve parachute and other equipment (often custom-designed and custom-built), the total cost can run more than $8,000.

But the end result is a visual demonstration of skill and competition that Hayes said will leave spectators amazed.

“The first time they see it, they think these guys are going to crash at 80 or 90 mph,” he said. “They’ll see this stuff and go, ‘Oh my God, I had no idea these people come in so fast. How do they control these things? How do they do that?’”

The World Canopy Piloting Championship is free and open to the public. Hayes suggests arriving sometime after 7 a.m. each morning, and bringing a chair and hat to shield the sun.

For more information, call (813) 783-9399, or visit CPWorldZHills.com.

If you go
WHAT: World Canopy Piloting Championships
WHEN: Nov. 4-6, beginning at 7 a.m.
WHERE: Skydive City, 4241 Sky Dive Lane, Zephyrhills
COST: Free
INFO: (813) 783-9399, or visit CPWorldZHills.com

Published October 20, 2014

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Sunlake really wants state soccer title

October 30, 2014 By Michael Murillo

The Sunlake Seahawks boys soccer team went undefeated in their district last season on their way to a 29-2-1 record. And for the second straight year, they lost in the state semifinals.

Having two dominating seasons in a row would be a source of great satisfaction for any high school. But when it comes to competitive soccer, Sunlake isn’t just any school, and team members aren’t satisfied with bowing out in the final four.

If teams want to get past Sunlake’s soccer team, they’ll have to first get past star goalkeeper Daniel Hrenko, who has a habit of shutting out opponents. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

“It’s disappointing, really, to go all that way twice and not win the championship,” goalkeeper Daniel Hrenko said. “Getting to the semifinals is a good accomplishment, but I feel like we could go farther, and we should have gone farther.”

Teammate Connor Spencer agrees.

“I kind of look back on it as a negative thing because it’s two years we’ve gone back to the same spot,” he said. “We’ve finally got the school behind us and supporting us, and then we just come up short every year.”

If players feel badly about their recent playoff results, that could be bad news for Sunlake’s opponents. Even though the season hasn’t started yet, the Seahawks are focused and working on taking a serious attitude into the beginning of the schedule as they try to get over the hump and claim a state title.

They’ll also take a familiar lineup into the season as well. Eight out of 11 starters are returning to the team, and Coach Sam Koleduk said the team’s veteran leadership makes them at least as dangerous as his previous teams.

“We know what it takes now,” Koleduk said. “I think we’re just as talented, maybe even better than last year.”

Last year’s team had plenty of talent itself, with Remi Pimm leading the nation in scoring. Pimm’s status with the team is uncertain at this time, and Koleduk said they’re preparing to not have him this season.

But with scorers like Spencer — who already has more than 90 career goals — they expect to be in good shape up front. And with solid goalkeeping from Hrenko, who led the nation in shutouts last season, opponents should be challenged to put goals on the board once again.

Sunlake’s team also benefits greatly from its athletes’ participation in club play, Koleduk said. While some teams might have just a few players who participate in local club soccer, all 26 members of his varsity team — from starters to reserves — play at the club level. That gives the Seahawks a higher caliber of talent, consistent focus on the game, and the depth to overcome injuries as they occur during the season.

Chris Wilkinson, another offensive-minded player, agrees that extensive club experience gives the Seahawks an advantage over many opponents.

“At the club level, you really know what you need to do,” he said. “A lot of other schools have some kids that play (club soccer) and some kids that don’t, and they struggle to gel in that sense.”

But all teams have weaknesses, and Koleduk acknowledges that defense is an area they had to retool in the lineup. The team lost talented starters from last year, so that’s something of an unknown headed into the season. But if practice is any indicator, Spencer says the defense looks ready to provide solid support while he tries to score goals.

“From what I’ve seen from the defense, they’re good enough to where I don’t need to worry about, ‘Are they going to mess up?’ at all,” he said. “I’m confident enough in them that they’re going to do their job and they know what to do.”

Having a capable defense makes things easier for him as a scorer, since he doesn’t have to worry about converting every opportunity or be concerned that the opposing offense will have an easy time connecting when they have the ball in Sunlake territory.

While it looks like another strong season is likely for Sunlake, it won’t be good enough for them unless it ends with a state title.

“We need to win it all,” Koleduk said. “That’s how I look at it, but we’ll definitely give it our best shot for sure.”

Published October 29, 2014

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Are newspapers the dinosaur of our era? Absolutely not

October 30, 2014 By Diane Kortus

Are newspapers the dinosaurs of our era, doomed to extinction because of the Internet and social media?

I’ve been asked that question countless times as the online world explodes with more news sites, postings and blogs than one can possibly imagine.

T-Rex is the theme of The Laker/Lutz News’ community exhibit, such as this display at the recent Pasco Hernando Hispanic Chamber of Commerce business expo at Wesley Chapel Toyota. (Suzanne Beauchaine/Staff Photo)

And my answer is absolutely not — especially not community newspapers like The Laker/Lutz News. So it’s tongue-in-cheek that we chose T-Rex as our theme to promote our papers at community events, marketing ourselves as the T-Rex of newspapers.

By now, hopefully, you realize your paper is much larger than its previous size. In August, we took a leap of faith and went from a tabloid size, to one that is the same size as a daily newspaper. That’s a 30 percent jump in page size.

To introduce our larger format to the business community, we produced a fun video that I also invite you to watch. It’s on YouTube, and you can find it at tinyurl.com/LakerXLVideo.

In our video’s opening scene, you’ll see vibrating glasses of water mimicking that iconic moment in “Jurassic Park” right before T-Rex burst into the scene.

And here’s why we want you to make the connection between T-Rex and The Laker/Lutz News:

To give you a visual that our papers are bigger — the T-Rex of community newspapers. We’re bucking the industry trend of shrinking sizes and fewer pages.
We’ve both been around a long time. Dinosaurs walked the Earth for 160 million years, and our papers have been in circulation longer than any other weekly newspaper in north suburban Tampa: The Lutz News since 1964, and The Laker since 1981.
By making T-Rex our icon, we’re debunking the myth head-on that newspapers are on a path to extinction.

The Laker/Lutz News has never been financially stronger, and we’re not alone. Community newspapers everywhere are thriving because we give people news about their community that they look forward to reading, and cannot get anywhere else.

The Internet and social media have not, and will not, replace the relevancy of community newspapers. We too have an active Facebook page, and a growing website with more than 25,000 page views each month. While impressive, this still does not compare to the 64,000 people who read us each and every week.

Why is our printed product so popular? Industry research consistently reports that people prefer reading stories about their neighbors, community groups and upcoming events in a traditional printed newspaper they hold in their hands.

Since increasing our size, we have received overwhelming support from readers and advertisers. More stories in the paper mean it is a better read, and more readers result in more customers for our advertisers.

We have positioned The Laker/Lutz News to be the No. 1 source of local news, and the best way to market your business in north Hillsborough and Pasco counties.

So, to those of you who still think newspapers are dinosaurs, you are wrong.

We are here to stay. Extinction is not in our vocabulary.

Published October 29, 2014

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Ready to vote? Here’s an election primer to help

October 30, 2014 By Michael Hinman

The mute button for many television viewers has never been used more through the barrage of political ads for everything from the governor’s race, to even Pasco County Commission.

Who will win? Voters will have a chance to express their opinions next Tuesday when Florida elects a governor, while local residents will choose a new state representative and a new county commissioner. (File Photo)

But as early voting continues through this weekend, and on Election Day itself Nov. 4, all of that is about to come to an end.

The governor’s race remains too close to call, while more local races like the county commission have a history of fueling upsets.

It’s impossible to condense the entire political season into a single story, so here are some of the highlights of major candidates on the ballot.

Be sure to get the latest election news Nov. 4 on our website at LakerLutzNews.com, and aftermath coverage in our Nov. 12 print edition of The Laker/Lutz News.

GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

Rick Scott, Republican
Has he done enough to win a second term as governor? Or is Florida ready to look to its recent past and bring in a familiar replacement?

Those are the questions Gov. Scott has to answer as he touts the number of jobs created during his first term, and where the state is heading economically into the future.

It’s been a virtual dead heat for Scott and his main opponent, and both have engaged in a lot of mudslinging that some political analysts say may discourage more voters from going to the polls than welcome them.

Scott struggled in his first couple years to connect with people, including media, and suffered a low approval rating until this past year when he worked to fix it. But issues like high-speed rail (which he killed) and his time as the head of a major hospital chain continue to provide fodder for Democrats.

Charlie Crist, Democrat
He tried being governor once, and ended up presiding over one of the worst economic downturns in history, where hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost.

But if that wasn’t difficult enough to overcome, Crist also has to convince voters he’s now a Democrat after a lifetime of being a Republican, which also means he’s changed his stance on a number of hot-button political issues.

Crist entered a race where the incumbent was certainly vulnerable, but it’s tough to tell if the $9 million he’s raised through last week is enough to top the deep pockets of the current governor.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Pam Bondi, Republican
She’s not afraid to take a stand and express her opinion, and it seems that’s what voters liked about Bondi when they first elected her to office in 2010.

Yet, her firm stance on controversial issues could pose some problems, especially as the state fought against the federal Affordable Care Act, and continues to defend its ban of gay marriage, which is now legal in most other states.

Bondi has raised $2.2 million in her re-election bid through last week.

George Sheldon, Democrat
He’s raised far less money than his opponent, but Sheldon — an attorney and government administrator on both the state and federal level — jumped into this race because he says the current attorney general has mishandled her responsibilities.

He feels there’s a disconnect between Bondi’s fight for the ban on gay marriage and her battle over the Affordable Care Act, saying that while marriage might be defending a law, the program informally called Obamacare also is the law of the land.

Sheldon has raised $760,000 through last week.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 38

Danny Burgess, Republican
He became the youngest Zephyrhills councilman at 18, and was the youngest mayor at 27. And he’s raised nearly $142,000 to try to replace Will Weatherford in Tallahassee.

Many Republicans look at Burgess as the future of the party, but opponents fear he lacks specific plans to help Pasco County overcome some serious growing pains.

Read more about Burgess at tinyurl.com/DannyBurgess.

Beverly Ledbetter, Democrat
After spending more than three decades as an educator in Pasco County’s school system, Ledbetter says she’s ready to use her experience in the state House.

While she has worked with the teachers union quite extensively, Ledbetter has not held any public office before. However, she is getting advice from her husband, Michael Ledbetter, who was a Pasco County commissioner in the 1970s.

But it could be a tough battle, as she’s raised just $34,000 through last week.

Read more about Ledbetter at tinyurl.com/BeverlyLedbetter.

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 2

Mike Moore, Republican
He easily moved past a busy primary against two opponents — one who was a former state legislator — and has raised some serious cash: $171,000.

But if history is a guide, county commission races don’t always go to the best-funded campaigns.

Moore has run primarily on job creation, using his experience as an entrepreneur to help get face time with large corporations who might consider moving to Pasco County. Yet, he brings a personality far different from the woman who’s held the office the past two decades, Pat Mulieri, and that might turn off some voters.

Read more about Moore at tinyurl.com/MikeMoorePasco.

Erika Jean Remsberg, Democrat
She’s raised less than $11,000 in her race to become the first Democrat on the county commission since 2010, but Remsberg has certainly made her mark.

In fact, she won the endorsement of Mulieri, the retiring county commissioner who isn’t even a member of the same political party.

Remsberg is hoping for a major grassroots boost to propel her to victory, but the social worker knows it will be tough. Plus, it’s hard to tell how much she can accomplish as a political minority on a board with its own agenda.

Read more about Remsberg at tinyurl.com/ErikaRemsberg.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT No. 1

Water and Land Conservation – Dedicates funds to acquire and restore Florida conservation and recreation lands.
This amendment to the state constitution would move money already collected through an existing excise tax into a fund that would help purchase more conservation lands in the state.

The goal would be to help improve the environment and water quality, supporters say, and help provide a boost to the growing ecotourism movement as well.

Although there are no groups organized to oppose this amendment, some lawmakers and individuals feel this is an overreach of the constitutional amendment process, and could be more effective as a standard law through legislators.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT No. 2

Use of marijuana for certain medical conditions.
By far the most controversial measure on the ballot, which would have likely received far more attention if it weren’t for the tight gubernatorial race.

If passed, this amendment would open Florida up to allowing the use of marijuana for specific health conditions, under the guidance of a doctor.

The battle over medical marijuana has played out in several states already, with proponents saying this is a move of compassion for those who would suffer otherwise. Opponents, however, call this a loophole to try and legalize the drug for everyone, especially since other states like California have very loose restrictions on who qualifies for the program.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT No. 3

Prospective appointment of certain judicial vacancies.
This is probably the least known of the three amendments on the ballot, but one that could have significant impact on the state in future years.

Right now, Florida Supreme Court justices have terms that run the same time as the governor, meaning they are typically chosen by a new governor, rather than an outgoing governor.

If this amendment passes, the winner of Tuesday’s gubernatorial election will likely appoint three justices to the state supreme court before he leaves office in 2019. However, if the amendment fails, then the system will remain allowing the winner of the 2018 election to make that appointment.

Published October 29, 2014

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