Local News

Wade Boggs, others support new Little League park name

February 20, 2014 By Michael Murillo

Because it’s located at 18050 Kinnan Street, many people know New Tampa Little League Park as Kinnan Fields. But soon it could be getting a whole new name.

Kinnan Fields could soon get an official name after a couple that devoted a lot of time to bring Little League to the area. Eber Park, named for Dick and Kathy Eber, could be made official as early as this spring. (Photo by Michael Murillo)

A final decision has yet to be made, but a public meeting on Feb. 10 to discuss options ended with one clear choice among interested parties.

“Every person there spoke to renaming the park Eber Park, after Dick and Kathy Eber,” said Jack Carlisle, director of Parks, Recreation and Conservation for Hillsborough County. The couple was instrumental in the formation of the league, first as the Northeast Little League, and then its move to New Tampa.

And the Ebers still live in the area, Carlisle said, with Kathy Ebers an assistant athletic specialist for the county, and Dick Eber a retired postal carrier.

The Ebers have a vocal group of supporters who want to see them honored with the park naming, but the couple was not informed of the effort, Carlisle said. His plan was to meet with Kathy this week and reveal the news, ahead of Wednesday’s Hillsborough County Commission meeting, where the item is on the agenda.

The ball to recognize the Ebers got rolling when Harald Stone, a former Little League president, spoke with Commissioner Ken Hagan about the possibility of renaming New Tampa Little League Park in their honor. Stone then spoke before the Park Advisory Board to present the issue, which led to a public meeting to consider all options and opinions.

“I had been thinking about it for two or three years,” explained Stone, who has known the Ebers for more than two decades. “They have just been the heart and soul of Little League.”

Kathy, Stone said, served as Little League president multiple times, and would handle the league’s administrative duties in the early days, while Dick would work on managing, coaching and umpiring. After their own children grew out of the league, the Ebers stayed and even sacrificed vacation time to mentor children, remain active and help it grow.

In an organization where leaders tend to come and go as their children moved through the system, the Ebers remained a constant presence and source of support. “Through all the comings and goings of the various of adults and parents who were involved in the league, there was one constant, and that was Dick and Kathy Eber,” Stone said. “We were there when our kids played. They were there long-term.”

The meeting had enthusiastic supporters for the name change in attendance, but it wasn’t a large group. Only six people came to speak to the issue, but some had well-recognized baseball credentials. Major League Baseball Hall-Of-Famer Wade Boggs and former University of South Florida baseball coach Eddie Cardieri were among those speaking on the Ebers’ behalf.

Carlisle explained that while there might not have been large numbers in attendance, it’s not surprising that those who showed up were passionate about the topic.

“I’m fond of telling staff in almost every meeting that at Parks and Recreation, we’re in the business of creating memories,” he said. “When people walk away from the park with their family or from some sporting event, they’re walking away with a memory. I believe that collectively, over time, that creates a kind of passion for a particular place.”

The renaming of the park — which boasts three fields, batting cages and a concession area — won’t be official until the board approves it. But there aren’t any other names in contention. If approved, appropriate signage will be placed at the park, and a ceremony will be scheduled to mark the change.

That could happen sometime in the middle or end of the current season, which runs through closing ceremonies scheduled for May 17.

While he was the catalyst behind the name change, Stone said he’s just one of the couple’s many admirers, and represents the sentiments of those who appreciate their contributions to youth baseball.

“There would have been a hundred other guys who, if I had been hit by a car, would have kept it going. I can tell you that,” he said. “I was not alone in this.”

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Elevated road proposal moving forward quickly

February 20, 2014 By Michael Hinman

All the talk about a proposed elevated toll road along the State Road 54/56 corridor has put it years and years in the future.

But if the Florida Department of Transportation finalizes an agreement with International Infrastructure Partners LLC, such a project connecting Zephyrhills and New Port Richey may come much faster, with the first public presentation of the road’s conceptual plan scheduled for next month.

Public meetings will be in three locations across the county beginning in late spring, the same time IIP begins its negotiations to lease the right of way along the corridor needed to build the elevated road. They would take place on the east and west sides of the county, as well as in between.

“We’re having further discussions about what is going to be happening after those public hearings, but it’s all kind of a simultaneous thing over the next several months,” said Lee Royal, a public involvement director with the FDOT, during last week’s Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting. “There will be possible lease negotiations depending on the outcome of those public hearings.”

Which way the pendulum swings will depend on who shows up for those meetings. Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano says he’s received nothing but negative emails about the project in recent weeks, while county planning and development administrator Richard Gehring said a good number of people from a meeting he had in Wesley Chapel chose the elevated road as the best solution for long-term traffic woes in the county.

Negative public sentiment might kill the project before it even gets going, Mariano said, based on how IIP has reacted to bad news in the past. When a member from the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute recommended against an elevated road, IIP took a step back from its request, and asked for more time to think through its proposal.

“I have not heard anything back positive from the public,” Mariano said. “I think it’s disingenuous to keep those things rolling down the road when all they are going to do is step back again.”

Yet if the elevated road isn’t built, the county and the state will still have tough decisions to make when it comes to fixing pending traffic congestion issues along the corridor while Pasco County continues to grow.

“I am not 100 percent in favor of this managed toll lane … but we have to evaluate everything,” Commissioner Ted Schrader, another MPO member, said. “If (IIP) withdraws their proposal, we still have an issue to deal with because people will be stuck in traffic.”

Another possibility facing the county is that IIP might not build all 33 miles of the road as initially proposed, Gehring said. The prospective traffic problems in the near future will focus on the 10-mile stretch of State Road 54/56 between the Suncoast Parkway and Interstate 75.

Connecting those two major north-south roads might be the best option for everyone in the long run, he said. And while there are some eyeballs on State Road 52 to the north as an east-west connector, the county still has limited options to build since much of the central part of Pasco is protected conservation land.

“There are a lot of natural constraints in this system that we are trying to deal with,” Gehring said.

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Putting God’s love into action through clothing

February 20, 2014 By B.C. Manion

Drop by Phyllis T. Lise’s home and you’ll see piles of clothes on the living room sofa, boxes of clothing stacked against walls, and plastic bags full of shoes and other stuff.

Phyllis T. Lise, founder of Dressing Angels, stands near a stack of boxes filled with clothing in her Wesley Chapel living room. She delivers gently used clothing and shoes to the mentally ill and others in need. (Photo by B.C. Manion)

However, the piles, bags and boxes are not a sign that Lise is becoming a hoarder.

Instead, the Wesley Chapel woman is the founder of Dressing Angels, a charity that, according to its mission statement, “actively seeks to put God’s love into action by providing gently used clothing and shoes for the mentally ill and those in need.”

Lise was inspired to start the charity after her son was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

When she went to see him at mental health facilities or accompanied him on appointments, she noticed that many of the mentally ill patients were wearing clothing and shoes that were dirty or worn. At one facility, she heard patients complaining they were cold. They weren’t wearing any socks, she said.

“Their families had abandoned them,” Lise said.

She decided she needed to get involved.

“This is something God wanted me to do,” she said. “Somebody has got to help. Somebody has got to do something.”

So, she and her husband Fred found time outside their full-time jobs to start purchasing clothing and shoes at thrift shops and garage sales. Lise then launders the clothing and packages it to deliver to mental health facilities, group homes and to schools in Pasco and Hillsborough counties, which have large enrollments of poor children.

The charity also helps the homeless.

The need is great, Lise said.

“The mentally ill, they’re the forgotten in our community,” Lise said. “The stigma is still there. If I tell you I have breast cancer, you would feel so sorry for me. If I told you I had heart disease, you would feel sorry. But if I said I had mental illness, you would treat me as though something is wrong with me.”

But mental illness is pervasive, Lise added. Of Florida’s approximately 18.3 million residents, close to 660,000 adults live with serious mental illness, and about 181,000 children live with serious mental health conditions, according to statistics reported by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Lise has encountered many people who have family members or friends who are mentally ill.

“Every time I talk to somebody, they’ll say, ‘I know somebody, my relative …’ People do not realize how prevalent mental illness is in our society,” Lise said.

After she launched the charity and began making appearances in television and radio interviews, she became much more attuned to the scale of the issue.

“You don’t know how many people are suffering until the story gets out there and people start emailing you with their stories,” Lise said.

She acknowledged that she, herself, didn’t realize the extent of the issue until her son was diagnosed. He was 17 when she began noticing something was wrong.

“All of a sudden, he stopped taking a bath. He stopped eating. He stopped brushing his teeth,” she said. “He started having signs of dementia, like mumbling. He couldn’t put his words together.”

Initially, she thought he was using drugs. But he told her he wasn’t. They both spent months visiting doctors before he was finally diagnosed, she said.

Besides donating items to mental health facilities and schools, Lise and her husband also visit a homeless camp where they donate clothing and cooking utensils.

Once a month, Lise delivers 50 bags of clothing to a school in Pasco or Hillsborough county. Each bag holds a week’s worth of clothing.

Some of the clothing she gives away has been donated, but Lise and her husband purchase most of it, she said. They spend much of their time shopping for bargains.

“I go to all of the Salvation Armys. Goodwill. Mom-and-pop thrift stores,” Lise said. “I go to a lot of garage sales because you can find a lot of clothes for like a dollar.”

Dressing Angels Teen and Young Adult Group
People between the ages of 14 and 26 meet the second Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the North Tampa Library, 8916 North Boulevard.

The group might participate in arts and crafts, watch movies, go on field trips to the Museum of Science & Industry or out to bowl.

Current Needs
• Clothing: Gently used or new clothing of all kinds for all ages.
• Gently used or new tennis shoes, shoes, sandals or boots for all ages.
• Donation center space where people can pick up clothing and shoes, and also can meet for support meetings and activities.
• Laundry detergent
To help, call Phyllis T. Lise at (813) 498-7967, or email .

For more information, visit DressingAngels.org.

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Wesley Chapel agriculture program making its mark

February 20, 2014 By B.C. Manion

When sophomores Spencer Brass, Amber Maxwell and Savannah Musser were students at Weightman Middle School, they were all involved in the school’s National FFA Organization program.

Savannah Musser and Spencer Brass help care for the goats behind Wesley Chapel High School as part of the school’s agricultural program. (Photo by B.C. Manion)

But they weren’t sure what would happen after middle school, since Wesley Chapel High didn’t have an agricultural program.

“We were like, how are we going to go into high school and not have this?” said Maxwell, 15. So the students pushed their former agriculture teacher and adviser Halyee Monk to help them out.

With Wesley Chapel High School principal Carin Nettles as a driving force, the school got its agriculture program, and students like Brass, Maxwell and Musser were able to continue their work.

“She definitely was the one who pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed to be able to get this program. Without the support of the principal, it’s impossible,” said Brass, 16.

The students were happy to get to attend a high school that was right next door to their middle school, instead of having to travel to Zephyrhills or Pasco high schools to pursue their interests, said Musser, 16. All three said they would have transferred to different high schools if necessary, but were glad it didn’t come to that.

While Wesley Chapel High’s agricultural program is still in its infancy, it is growing, said teacher Erin McCann Farquhar. It has two courses now and will add another next year.

Despite its short history, the school’s FAA chapter already is beginning to make a name for itself, Brass said.

“I think a lot of people underestimated us,” said Brass, who, along with Helena Polansky, won an award last April for their egg carton herb garden in the ornamental horticulture demonstration category.

“We all have so much determination. We are so new we are trying to get our name out there,” Musser said.

The Wesley Chapel team of Polansky, Stephanie Reschke, Renee Carpenter and Shawn Devisfruto had the highest score in the state in the preliminary round of the dairy judging competition.

“Our school is actually home to three of the top 10 individual scorers,” Brass said. “There’s no other school that has more than one. We have three.”

Reschke tied for first place, while Polansky was No. 4 and Devisfruto was No. 8.

“Helena Polansky, she coached the entire thing,” Brass said.

Reschke gave kudos to Polansky for helping prepare the team.

“Helena, our leader, has helped us quite a bit with the written test she gives us and the study guides on the information,” said Reschke, who enjoys being in FFA.

The school’s dairy judging team placed fourth in the state last year. Results were not yet available for this year’s competition that was on Feb. 15.

Wesley Chapel students have shown animals at the state fair and will show animals at the Pasco County Fair, as well.

Musser, Brass and Polansky are showing steer at the Pasco County Fair. Others in the program who are showing steer are Justin Taylor, Nick Wrage and Carpenter.

Maxwell and Devisfruto are showing pigs.

“These are market animals,” Musser said. “We put our money into them, then we’re going to take them and auction them off and hopefully have a really good profit.”

Before joining FFA, Maxwell said she had some misconceptions about the organization.

“I thought it was all like people who just wanted to be farmers,” she said.

Musser believed it was all about agriculture, too. “I never thought of the public speaking aspect of it, until I got involved,” she said. “When you get involved, you really learn a lot.”

The lessons go far beyond tending to animals or growing crops, Brass said. It provides excellent opportunities to take leadership roles.

“This is a youth-led organization. We run all of the meetings. You learn a lot of life skills,” Brass said.

Musser agreed. “It teaches you how to talk to people, how to approach things.”

While all three students are involved in the program because of their interest in animals, Musser and Maxwell said they don’t plan careers involving animals.

“I want to be a neonatal nurse,” Musser said.

“I want to do physical therapy,” Maxwell said.

Heissler, Reschke and Brass, on the other hand, do expect their careers to involve animals.

Heissler is debating between equine veterinary or zoology. Reschke is debating between a veterinary career or training dogs for people with special needs.

Brass wants to continue his involvement with FFA.

“After high school, I want to go on to serve as a state and national FFA officer,” he said. “I want to go to UF (the University of Florida) and become a vet and have a large and small animal practice.”

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Announced layoffs won’t affect Dade City hospital

February 20, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Just a day after its $7.6 billion sale to Community Health Systems was finalized, Health Management Associates told state officials that it planned to lay off 395 people by the beginning of April.

New signs advertising the renamed Bayfront Health Dade City hospital line Fort King Road in front of the campus. Community Health Systems says its recent layoff announcement will not affect the Dade City facility. (Photo by Michael Hinman)

HMA made the announcement to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Jan. 29. So far, it is the largest job cut of the year reported to the agency.

The cuts, however, are not expected to affect Bayfront Health Dade City, or most of the other hospitals in the chain.

“There is no impact on jobs at former HMA hospitals … as a result of the merger,” CHS spokeswoman Tomi Galin told The Laker/Lutz News. “The hospital names and leadership teams remain the same, and most importantly, patients can continue to count on these hospitals for high-quality care, delivered by the physicians and employees they already know and trust.”

The announcement, however, was based on what Florida requires companies to do by law to any potentially impacted employees of restructuring. This particular notice focused on corporate employees for HMA based in Naples, including many who do not actually work in Florida, Galin said.

The notice, known as a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification — or WARN — also includes about 100 people who are being offered jobs with the new ownership, as well as those who have chosen to leave the organization voluntarily, but did not plan to give notice until after the sale of the chain closed.

“As a result, even though the WARN notice indicates that approximately 400 jobs are affected, many of these individuals will have jobs in our organization, or have already found other jobs,” Galin said.

The purchase of Health Management Associates, first announced last July, included what was then known as Pasco Regional Medical Center and 22 other hospitals in the state. Before the sale, CHS had just two hospitals in Florida, the closest in Lake Wales.

As part of its acquisition, the Federal Trade Commission required CHS to put two hospitals in Alabama and South Carolina up for sale.

Bill Hussey is overseeing the company’s new hospitals in Florida. He has a bit of an indirect connection with the Dade City hospital because he was the Tampa Bay division president when Columbia/HCA owned the Dade City facility.

He would later become chief executive officer of Gulfside Medical Development. Hussey has been with CHS since 2001, and will manage hospitals for the company not just in Florida, but in Georgia and South Carolina as well.

The 120-bed Bayfront Health Dade City was originally founded in 1973 as Community General Hospital, and has had various names over the years. It was known as Pasco Regional Medical Center soon after HMA acquired the hospital in 2000 for $17 million.

It’s located at 13100 Fort King Road in Dade City.

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Bilirakis joins push to get flood insurance bill moving

February 20, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Just days after his Democratic counterparts sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner asking that he clear the way for flood insurance reform, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, is doing the same with his own letter that has received a little bit of bipartisan support.

“We have heard from thousands of Tampa Bay residents who are deeply concerned that these increases will create a significant economic hardship and make it difficult to make ends meet,” Bilirakis said in a letter that was signed by five other Congressional members, including Tampa Democrat Kathy Castor.

Castor had already joined in a Democratic effort earlier this month that pushed for the bipartisan bill to get consideration on the House floor, saying she and other Congressional members “share the frustration of our neighbors that many of the changes adopted by FEMA are outside the original intent of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers insurance to those living in high-risk flood areas, but announced plans to raise premiums after heavy losses from super storms like hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Some of the increases would’ve had homeowners paying more in insurance than they did in mortgage.

“Without legislation, homeowners will be forced to abandon their homes, putting the housing market’s recovery at risk,” Bilirakis said in his letter. “Further, the loss of homeowners participating in the (National Flood Insurance Program) will hurt the solvency of the program, and put the recent reforms to the program on jeopardy.”

The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act passed Congress and was signed by President Obama in 2012. That bill phases out government subsidies for premiums in long-standing policies, but caps the annual increases at 25 percent.

The new bill before Congress would cap premium rates, and try to ensure that costs for homeowners in high-risk flood areas don’t get out of control.

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Elevated road brings community together … to protest

February 20, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Author Margaret Mead once cautioned to “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world” because “indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

If a private company wants to build an elevated toll road above State Road 54, it will have to convince homeowners like Patrick Knight, Jason Amerson, Brian Narcum and Kristine Narcum, to do it. The four say communities like Stonegate, where they live, will be subject to noise and heavy traffic outside their quiet community. (Photo by Michael Hinman)

Jason Amerson isn’t exactly looking to change the world. But he is building support to stop change along State Road 54 that could bring an elevated toll road in the future.

“I never imagined something like this was going to land right on my doorstep,” said Amerson, who moved into the Stonegate community west of Land O’ Lakes Boulevard five years ago. “That is why I am taking this so seriously.”

Amerson is one of a growing group of residents living just off State Road 54 opposed to International Infrastructure Partners’ plan to build a 33-mile elevated road between Zephyrhills and New Port Richey. Such a project could be visible from his neighborhood, currently shielded by trees and other homes, Amerson said, and the highway noise could destroy his property value.

So Amerson has joined a new community activist group known as Pasco Fiasco that has just one goal: Stop the elevated road.

“I am tired of seeing businesses go out of business around here,” Amerson said. “A road like this would force businesses and families to move, and it would be impossible for any of us to ever sell our homes here. We’re going to be kind of locked in here.”

Pasco County officials, however, disagree on that kind of impact. County planning and development administrator Richard Gehring insists the expressway portion of the road would be used by travelers who likely wouldn’t have stopped at businesses along the State Road 54/56 corridor anyway. By moving them up, local traffic will move easier on the lower roads, and actually help businesses rather than hurt them.

Some members of the newly formed Pasco Fiasco group made their first public appearance during a Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting last week in New Port Richey. They included Land O’ Lakes native Sharon Ogborn, who feels the elevated road is more about accommodating commuters from other areas than it is her Odessa community.

“We moved to our present home in Odessa for the country feeling and the rural setting,” Ogborn said. “It’s going to help Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.”

Pasco Fiasco has already received some support from the Pasco County Commission. Henry Wilson has already made his opposition to the project clear, and at last week’s MPO meeting, fellow commissioner Jack Mariano started to question the project as well.

Yet, the final decision lies not with county officials, but with the Florida Department of Transportation. And while officials there have said they’d want county support before moving forward with the elevated road project, they don’t require it since State Road 54 is just that, a state road.

“Ultimately, the FDOT probably does have the final say, but I think they are going to basically honor what the county commission wants,” Amerson said. “But if Tallahassee thinks it’s a great idea, and the FDOT thinks it’s a great idea, I’m not sure if they’ll listen to the county commissioners in the end.”

Amerson admits that growth in Pasco County is going to eventually require something be done with State Road 54. But he feels county officials have not exhausted all other options quite yet.

Gehring, however, said the county explored 18 alternatives to move traffic east and west in Pasco County. And even if State Road 52 is expanded into multiple lanes, and the expansion of Ridge Road is completed, the best plan to move the large volume of traffic projected along the State Road 54/56 corridor in the next decades is an elevated toll road.

The project most likely wouldn’t have been necessary if homeowners in Hillsborough County didn’t successfully protest road expansions there — like the proposed Lutz Expressway blocked by area residents — that could’ve helped move traffic to the south. And Amerson is interested in taking a little from that playbook.

“Each time they have tried to do this somewhere, it gets beaten back by the people,” he said. “I don’t feel what we have here is any different. I think we really can stop this.”

In the meantime, Amerson has teamed up with Richard Connors, and they are recruiting more people to challenge the elevated road. They are finding people through neighboring communities thanks to a social network site called NextDoor.com that connects people online based on their geographic proximity. Brian Narcum, a Stonegate resident opposed to the road, said it’s helped bring in hundreds of people in just a couple weeks.

And the focus, for now, will remain in lobbying county commissioners against the project, hoping that will be enough to discourage both the FDOT and the private builder IIP from moving forward.

“If you want to bring our area up to the next level, you have to be attractive to businesses and keep that interest in our urban development,” Amerson said. “You can’t put something like this elevated road down the heart of our county that is going to scar the road, and still expect people will want to move here and be next to that.”

To learn more about the local efforts to oppose the road, visit PascoFiasco.com.

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Porter campus enrollment exceeds expectations

February 20, 2014 By B.C. Manion

The numbers are in, and they paint a bright outlook for Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, the new satellite campus for Pasco-Hernando State College.

Officials at the college had forecast an enrollment of 1,500 for the first semester of the new campus, located on Mansfield Boulevard just off State Road 56 and slightly east of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. The actual count, however, came in at 1,749.

Stan Giannet, the provost for Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, said he had hoped for at least 2,400 students during the first year of operation, and that goal should be surpassed.

Most of the students enrolled there are between 18 and 30 years old, Giannet added. The statistics also show where the students are coming from.

Porter includes 587 students who had attended PHSC’s East Campus, 283 who had been going to the West Campus, 57 who traveled to the North Campus, and 29 who took courses at Spring Hill, Giannet said.

Some of those students may still be taking courses at other campuses, but they are now taking the majority of their courses at Porter, Giannet noted.

Porter Campus also attracted 180 students who have Tampa ZIP codes. But that was no surprise to Giannet.

College officials had expected Porter to draw students from Hillsborough County because the campus is so close to Interstate 75. For many Hillsborough residents, the PHSC campus is more convenient than other educational options.

Porter also has 358 students enrolled in Internet courses and 283 dual enrollment students. Most of the dual enrollment students — high school students earning college credits – attend Wiregrass Ranch and Wesley Chapel high school.

Enrollment figures indicate that general education courses leading to associate’s degrees are popular, as are allied health, business and information technology programs, Giannet said.

Popular information technology areas include associate’s degree programs in computer programming and analysis, networking services technology, Internet services technology and information technology security.

Giannet noted that the associate’s degree in human services — which leads toward a career in social services, social work and counseling — is attracting interest.

“This is very important for us because with the advent of our new behavioral health facility just down the corner from us,” Giannet said. “This will be a very good collaboration that we’ll forge.”

Giannet also expects the college to have a close partnership with Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel.

The college’s nursing department and the hospital are planning to work together to arrange rotations for the college’s nursing students. He also expects similar opportunities to develop for the college’s pharmacy technician and surgical technology students.

Plans also are in the works for Florida Hospital to provide some scholarship opportunities in the allied health areas for PHSC students, Giannet said.

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Pigz in Z’Hills already looking ahead to next year

February 20, 2014 By B.C. Manion

It was a brisk January day, but that didn’t stop the fourth annual Pigz in Z’Hills BBQ & Blues from setting a few new records.

Crowds gathered along a row of barbecue vendors, trying to decide which of the many varieties of barbecue they would like to try. (File Photo)

The event raised about $30,000, after expenses were covered — 50 percent more money than it ever did before, said Vonnie Mikkelsen, executive director for the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the annual festival.

Most of the money raised will be doled out to various organizations, which help put on the event, she said. The festival also drew 44 barbecue teams and a crowd of about 6,000 to 7,000 people.

The event had a lot of firsts this year. It had a new venue, the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport. And it was in January for the first time, giving winter residents a chance to check it out.

Sixteen private pilots flew in for the day to enjoy the barbecue and bands, and Mikkelsen expects that number to grow in coming years as word spreads in the aviation community about the event. This year, they flew in from as far away as Miami and Jacksonville, she said.

Plans call for continuing to stage the event in January at the airport, Mikkelsen said.

“Having it at the airport, it presents a whole new horizon,” she said, noting next year organizers plan to showcase more aircraft at the event.

In addition to barbecued foods and bands, the event also featured exhibitors, a car and truck show and rides for kids.

The barbecue competition, which is sanctioned by the Florida BBQ Association, drew 30 competitors in the professional category. The grand champion of the professional division will receive an invitation to the American Royal National Championships in Kansas City, Mo., and entered in the drawing for the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue Competition in Lynchburg, Tenn.

This year, Sweet Smoke Q of Winter Haven, with head cook Jim Elsner, won the professional division. The team received the Pigz in Z’Hills BBQ & Blues Grand Champion Professional Division trophy and a $1,700 prize.

Hot Wachula’s of Lakeland, with head cook Matthew Barber, was the reserve champion professional division, and received a $1,500 cash prize.

Bettern Store Bot, with head cook Dave Grantham, won the grand champion trophy and a $150 cash prize in the Backyard Division. Papa P’s, with head cook Wayne Peterson, was named reserved champion, placing second.

Since its inception, the festival has raised thousands of dollars for local youth and education programs, and community services provided by the Zephyrhills chamber.

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Political Agenda 02-19-14

February 20, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Democrat files for Mulieri commission seat
A race that was previously dominated by Republicans now has a Democrat in the running.

Erika Remsberg, a Land O’ Lakes social worker with Pasco County Schools, is set to face the winner of a primary for Pasco County Commission that already includes Mike Moore, former State Rep. Ken Littlefield, and Bob Robertson. That is, if she doesn’t draw a Democratic opponent of her own forcing her into a primary.

All are looking to replace Pat Mulieri, who has spent more than two decades on the county commission.

On her official campaign website, Remsberg says she has been the homeless liaison for the school district for the past seven years, helping children in homeless situations receive the resources they need to access schools.

Remsberg has “worn many hats,” according to her website. Among other things, she’s been a clinical therapist, grant writer, substance abuse counselor and a crisis intervention counselor.

Elections bill needs revision
Elections supervisors around the state were ecstatic last year with the Legislature’s passage of the Paper Reduction act, but now it’s in need of a small correction.

When the latest legislative session kicks off March 4, the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections will ask lawmakers to revisit its law that did, among other things, allow voters to opt to receive sample ballots electronically.

The goal is to reduce paper use and cost to county elections offices, but the law passed last year omitted four key words that practically changed the very nature of the law itself.

The bill, according to Pasco County elections supervisor Brian Corley, would save the expense of publishing a sample ballot in the local newspapers. However, while the law allowed for electronic distribution, it failed to include the phrase “in lieu of publication.” Because of that, elections supervisors like Corley were still required to publish sample ballots in local newspapers.

Lawmakers quickly realized that voters who provided their email addresses for the distribution would want to have them protected. However, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed that law.

Elections supervisors want to promote more privacy protection for voters, while limiting the full disclosure of birth dates, Corley said. The group is pushing for new legislation that would allow the age of voters to be disclosed, but not specifically with the month, day and year of their birth.

No specific legislation has been introduced as of yet this year.

Local builder puts support behind Moore
Mike Moore, who is seeking the Republican nomination to replace Pat Mulieri on the Pasco County Commission, raised $3,000 in January, with $2,000 of it coming from those involved a company that has been quite active in the county recently.

Ripa & Associates LLC, the builder behind projects like Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel and Ten Broeck Wesley Chapel Psychiatric Hospital, donated $1,000 to Moore’s campaign. Adding to it was $1,000 more from Ripa president Christian LaFace, and a company from his same address, TCM SWFL IX LLC. The latter company is connected with Trax Capital Management, a property investment company out of Orlando.

Ripa also was the builder of projects like the Florida Medical Clinic offices in Land O’ Lakes, The Grove in Wesley Chapel and Medical Center of Trinity. Ripa has worked with the county extensively in the past, including road projects like Collier Parkway extension in 2011.

Moore spent a good portion of those funds in January as well, including $1,875 to Capital Consulting who has been advising his campaign. Moore has paid the company just under $3,400 over a two-month period.

Moore has raised $43,700 since starting his campaign in July, by far outpacing all of his opponents.

Corcoran speaker at Republican Club
State Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, will be the featured speaker at the Republican Club of Central Pasco’s meeting Feb. 26 at 6 p.m., at Copperstone Executive Suites, 3632 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes.

Corcoran is the speaker-designate for 2016, and chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, and the Select Committee on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

For more information, call Steve Graves at (813) 996-3011.

Knight challenges Wilkeson for council seat
Zephyrhills City Councilwoman Jodi Wilkeson is getting a challenger for her seat in City Hall from Alan Knight, the current chair of the city’s Parks & Recreation Board. This is the first time Wilkeson will have a challenger to her seat since she first won election in 2008.

Knight is a retired Pasco County Schools educator, and spent a short time as head coach of the Zephyrhills High School football team in the 1970s.

Wilkeson filed for re-election in the middle of January, opening her campaign account with her own $100. She is the president and founder of WDA Design Group, an interior architecture firm she launched in September 2001.

The only other candidate filed to run for the April city council elections is Ken Burgess for his own seat, and so far has not drawn any opposition. Also, Gene Whitfield is seeking the mayor’s chair currently held by Danny Burgess. With a state House run gearing up, Burgess is not seeking another term in Zephyrhills.

Burgess fundraiser at Abbott Station
A fundraising campaign for Republican state House candidate Danny Burgess is slated for Feb. 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Abbott Station Restaurant, 5327 Gall Blvd., in Zephyrhills.

Tickets are $100 each, and will include hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine and other drinks.

To RSVP by Feb. 24, contact Jeff Meserve at , or (813) 322-3686.