The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Zephyrhills/East Pasco News

They’re not ‘just pets.’ They’re family.

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A woman sits inside a modest chapel in Zephyrhills, and her voice is shaking. She’s describing the loss of a loved one, and the guilt she feels about that loss.

A chaplain and a therapist sit with her and listen, then try to comfort her by sharing their own perspectives.

Mary Ann Polom attended a recent pet loss support group meeting to share her feelings after losing Annie, her toy poodle. Michael Murillo/Staff Photo
Mary Ann Polom attended a recent pet loss support group meeting to share her feelings after losing Annie, her toy poodle.
Michael Murillo/Staff Photo

Her grief is natural, they say, and a normal part of life. Beginning that afternoon, she takes important steps on her journey of mourning and healing.

It’s a scene that plays out all too often at Gulfside Hospice, 5760 Dean Dairy Road in Zephyrhills.

But this time it’s different.

Mary Ann Polom isn’t grieving over the loss of a human family member. It’s her beloved toy poodle, Annie, who was put to sleep just a few weeks before.

For Polom, and many others with pets, a dog or cat isn’t like family. They are family. And the loss they feel when their pet dies is just as real and valid as other losses.

Friends and family sometimes don’t see it the same way.

They will say things like “it’s just a dog,” not realizing the depth of the connection the two shared. That can leave a pet owners feeling confused, embarrassed, and guilty over their feelings, which compounds the grief.

Shelley Schneider, vice-president of counseling and advocacy services at Gulfside Hospice, said their reaction is actually a perfectly normal response to the death of a loved one.

“Sometimes people don’t quite understand why people are grieving so hard for losing an animal,” Schneider explained. “We just really want to validate that what they’re going through is appropriate, normal, and common.”

Gulf Hospice provides that validation with a free monthly pet loss support group, and the organization is hoping to reach anyone in the community mourning a pet’s death who needs to share and be heard by people who understand.

Word of the group reached Polom in her time of grief, and she attended a recent meeting.

‘My Little Partner’

Annie’s problems started about a year earlier, when she broke her hip. A heart murmur was also detected, and after hip surgery she never healed properly. She lost her appetite, and after a long struggle the veterinarian said it was time to put her down.

Chaplain Michael Merritt, left, and Gulfside's Shelley Schneider offer words of encouragement and a safe place to share feelings and memories for pet owners grieving a serious loss. Michael Murillo/Staff Photo
Chaplain Michael Merritt, left, and Gulfside’s Shelley Schneider offer words of encouragement and a safe place to share feelings and memories for pet owners grieving a serious loss.
Michael Murillo/Staff Photo

Polom made that tough decision, and a month later she still felt guilty.

“I can’t seem to forgive myself,” she admitted. “She was like my little partner.”

One thing that sticks in her mind is how Annie seemed to be doing better right at the end of her life. It’s a common occurrence, even with humans, for the sick to experience a rally of sorts even as their condition worsens. Polom experienced the same thing with her father when he passed away.

But seeing Annie behave normally, even for a short time, makes her question if she did the right thing. And after losing her husband to cancer a decade ago, letting Annie go has left her alone.

The parallels between human and pet loss aren’t unique to Polom’s situation. According to Schneider, the grief and loss can be similar, so helping those in mourning can be similar as well.

“A lot of what we do in the pet group is what we do with families, because

we live in a society that really doesn’t educate, and doesn’t really like to talk about death and dying,” she said.

In the session, Schneider, a licensed clinical social worker, and Michael Merritt, a chaplain, offer advice and comfort. But they also do a lot of listening, from stories about Annie’s loving personality, to the guilt and grief Polom feels about losing her closest companion.

Just knowing that those feelings aren’t unusual, and being able to share their story can be extremely beneficial to those who have lost a pet. Especially when they know they’re talking to people who share that love of animals, like Schneider and Merritt, and understand the degree of closeness that owners feel.

Polom said attending the group was beneficial for her.

“I think it’s part of the journey. I think it’s a good part for me,” Polom said. “It makes me feel normal, like I’m in my element.”

Pet Peace of Mind

Schneider deals with issues related to pets outside the bereavement sessions. Gulfside Hospice received a grant for the Pet Peace of Mind program from Banfield Trust, which enables them to assist Hospice patients and their pets.

That assistance might include providing food, boarding assistance or basic veterinary care. It’s not unusual for patients to be concerned about the welfare of their pets, Schneider said, and the Pet Peace of Mind program helps alleviate those concerns. In less than two years they’ve cared for more than 80 animals, and found new homes for more than a dozen.

Knowing that Hospice will be there to assist them with anything from grooming to dog-walking to providing food and kitty litter lifts a burden from patients, and provides comfort with the knowledge that someone will step in and help care for a pet if and when an owner cannot do so anymore.

Again, Schneider notes the similarities in concern for pet welfare, and that of human family members.

“One of the great things about the Pet Peace of Mind program is that they want us to come up with an individual plan of care for the pet, just like we do for our patients,” she said.

Just like with humans, consistency of care is considered important. If a pet sees a certain veterinarian, efforts are made to ensure that relationship continues.

The pet loss support group is free, but they do accept donations to keep Pet Peace of Mind funded and active.

Whether it’s reading a pet-related poem, offering thoughts as a fellow animal-lover, or just listening to a grieving owner’s stories, Schneider wants the pet loss support group to be available for anyone in the area who needs to know that their feelings are normal, their sense of loss is valid, and they’re not alone in forging special relationships with their pets.

“It’s really to bring peace of mind and decrease their own emotional and spiritual pain and suffering,” Schneider said.

The next group is scheduled to meet Oct. 29 from 3 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. For more information about the pet loss support group, call Schneider at (727) 484-7995. For information about the Pet Peace of Mind program, call (800) 561-4883 or visit GHppc.org.

Published October 28, 2015

Cutting a path toward development

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At 128 feet tall and 26 feet around, a bald cypress tree in Pasco County is the eighth tallest of its kind in Florida.

The Ehren Cypress Tree was photographed on Aug. 27, 1989, on property owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, near Ehren Cutoff Road. Jack Vogel, Patsy Herrmann and Eddie Herrmann, all of San Antonio, are standing with outstretched arms, leaning against the tree’s estimated circumference of 27 feet. The tree was spared from being cut down decades before because it had a split in its trunk. Courtesy of Eddie Herrmann
The Ehren Cypress Tree was photographed on Aug. 27, 1989, on property owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, near Ehren Cutoff Road. Jack Vogel, Patsy Herrmann and Eddie Herrmann, all of San Antonio, are standing with outstretched arms, leaning against the tree’s estimated circumference of 27 feet. The tree was spared from being cut down decades before because it had a split in its trunk.
Courtesy of Eddie Herrmann

And, it will always be protected in the Upper Pithlachascotee River Preserve, 1 mile east of the Suncoast Parkway. The land was purchased from the proceeds of the Penny for Pasco 1-cent sales tax approved by Pasco County voters.

That is good news for future generations.

Because it only took 37 years for the Cummer Sons Cypress Company to log the centuries-old cypress trees for the company’s logging operations.

Loggers like Jacob Cummer, who harvested much of the old-growth cypress in east and central Pasco County, probably skipped over this tree because of a large scar on its western side, presumably from a lightning strike.

Cummer had bought land for timber in Virginia, North Carolina, and Louisiana.

In 1922, the Cummer operation acquired a 100-acre site in Lacoochee to construct the largest sawmill and box factory in the South.

A railroad was built in the Green Swamp to transport cypress trees from land that totaled more than 50 square miles in east Pasco and west Polk Counties.

Many of the cypress trees were cut with an ax before the chainsaw was invented.

Using a sophisticated network of levers and racks, cypress logs as large as 6 feet in diameter were lifted out of the swamps and, at one point, produced more than 100,000 citrus crates each day.

With 700 employees and the largest payroll in Pasco County, coupons could be used as part of workers’ paychecks in the prospering downtown of Lacoochee.

In the years after the Cummer sawmills opened, a two-story, 30-room hotel was built.

The new growth in the town also included four churches, two bakeries, two drug stores, two service stations, three barbershops, two train depots and a constable.

Over in central Pasco, all was not lost when the stage line stopped running around 1856. The area was surrounded by vast stands of virgin timber.

Established along what is now County Road 583, 100 people found work at the Ehren Pine Sawmill.

By 1910, a community called Ehren had a hotel and school, along with the sawmill.

The first permanent settlers such as George Riegler, of Lutz, needed lumber from the local sawmill to build homes for their families.

Greer’s Mill was used by Jim Greer to “sawmill a new town site” as a retirement area for Union veterans of the Civil War.

Lumber magnate and former Zephyrhills Mayor I.A. Krusen built The Home Theatre in downtown Zephyrhills. Opening in 1948, it was billed “as one of the most modern movie theaters in the South, with comfortable seats, a wide stage and a glass-enclosed ‘crying room’ for cranky babies.” Courtesy of Henry Fletcher
Lumber magnate and former Zephyrhills Mayor I.A. Krusen built The Home Theatre in downtown Zephyrhills. Opening in 1948, it was billed “as one of the most modern movie theaters in the South, with comfortable seats, a wide stage and a glass-enclosed ‘crying room’ for cranky babies.”
Courtesy of Henry Fletcher

Called the Zephyrhills Colony, Harold B. Jeffries, a captain who served in Pennsylvania’s 28th Cavalry, started it with lumber from Greer’s Mill.

Even the railroad cross ties came from Greer, transported by a team of oxen owned by Brantley Smith, a great-grandfather of Lance Smith, a future developer and a member of the Zephyrhills City Council.

Greer had plenty of competition.

James L. Geiger and I. A. Krusen, to name just a couple.

Geiger’s sawmill was located south of Greer’s Mill. He was one of the five signers of the Town of Zephyrhills charter, granted by the Florida Legislature in 1915 and ratified in a special election a year later.

“At the height of his business,” Madonna Wise wrote for the Zephyrhills News on March 3, 1994, “Krusen employed 300 men, turning out a million feet of lumber per month.”

Krusen’s mill was part of the Krusen Land and Timber Company that once owned 13,000 acres, extending as far south as present-day Tampa Palms and Pebble Creek.

Despite cypress exteriors exposed to harsh winters and hot summers, many old buildings in New York City have a rooftop water tank that is hardly considered outdated.

Local sawmills were familiar with the term “tank cypress.”

Also known as “The Wood Eternal,” the heart of old cypress trees was valuable for marquee customers including the Atlantic Tank Company of New York.

And, the majority remain in use due to the unique benefits that cypress shells provide for water tanks, brewer’s tanks, oil tanks and tanks for canneries.

Cypress trees, which took centuries to grow, were felled in great numbers by logging operations.

It took only 37 years for the Cummer Sons Cypress Company to close its doors and move farther south.

In 1959, the company relocated to the Everglades to harvest a stand of bald cypress as “pond timber.”

Some of the company’s land holdings in the Green Swamp were sold to Agri-Timber, and, in 1992, that area was set aside for water resource protection and conservation by the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Totaling 37,500 acres as the Green Swamp-West Tract, the area shares a boundary with Pasco County’s regional park that is operated along a section of the Withlacoochee River east of Dade City.

Local Sources

Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and Susan MacManus: “Citrus, Sawmills, Critters and Crackers: Life in Early Lutz & Central Pasco” (1998) University of Tampa Press.

Rosemary W. Trottman: “The History of Zephyrhills, 1821-1921” (1978) Vantage Press.

Pasco County Environmental Lands Division

Doug Sanders has a penchant for history and has developed his sleuthing skills through experience in newspaper and government work. For more information, or to submit your ideas for a local history column, please contact Doug Sanders at .

By Doug Sanders

Published October 28, 2015

Chamber director ready to move forward

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Ideas come readily to Rod Mayhew; sometimes they can wake him up in the middle of the night.

The city of Zephyrhills and its future growth are where his thoughts have been focused, day or night, for the past two weeks.

He is the new executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, stepping into the leadership role held by Vonnie Mikkelsen for six years.

Mikkelsen departed in July to accept a similar chamber position in Springfield, Oregon.

Rod Mayhew, the new executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, is focused on the city’s future growth. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
Rod Mayhew, the new executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, is focused on the city’s future growth.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)

Mayhew, 61, is starting at a particularly busy time as the chamber prepares for the Pigz in Z-Hills BBQ & Blues Fest coming up in January. This annual shindig takes thousands of volunteers and months of planning.

“I’m still getting my feet wet,” Mayhew said. “But, I enjoy this. I’m the person who doesn’t like to sit idle.”

Less than one week into his new job, Mayhew woke up in the early morning hours thinking about a Leadership Zephyrhills program.

He is putting his experience in business ownership, marketing and publishing to use, as he sorts through what’s next on his plate, day to day.

The Zephyrhills’ chamber position opened up just as he was rethinking his career options. The opportunity to take the helm of a chamber proved too good to pass up.

“I’ve been working with chambers all my life,” Mayhew said. “I know how the economy works. I know what makes businesses successful. I know what makes communities grow.”

His dual perspectives of business owner and chamber enthusiast makes him a good fit, according to Tim Linville, the chamber’s president and search committee chairman.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for Zephyrhills to continue to move forward with somebody that has previous skills, both in business and working with the chamber on the other side of the fence, as he has in his past other jobs,” said Linville in a press release announcing Mayhew’s selection. “It should be a good move for Zephyrhills in its future.”

Some early ideas from Mayhew include the nine-month leadership program and increasing the number of education programs available for business owners to keep up with technology and resources in the community.

He is excited about the growth potential in Zephyrhills, especially with plans to redesign and widen roads into and out of the city.

“The way to growth is coming,” Mayhew said. “It’s coming in this direction. There is so much that is happening. It’s just primed for growth. It’s a good, central hub.”

He is a believer in teamwork at the chamber and among other chambers in the area.

“I want to see everyone all working together,” he said.

Mayhew has experienced, first-hand, growth in other counties. He moved his mortgage company – Presidential Mortgage – to Brandon when that area was still largely cow pasture.

“There wasn’t too much there,” he said. “I saw the growth coming.”

He also met his wife Cathy when she became office manager at Presidential. They live in Brandon with daughter Danielle who is a mass communications student at Hillsborough Community College. The 20-year-old plans to transfer to the University of South Florida.

The Mayhew family will soon move to Zephyrhills.

Mayhew grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, across from the U.S. Naval Academy. In fact, he was born at the academy during a blizzard.

“It was either give birth at home or go to the Naval Academy,” he said.

Mayhew initially considered journalism as a career but steered toward marketing and public relations. He has an associate’s degree from Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland; a bachelor of science marketing from Towson University in Towson, Maryland; and, a master of business administration from the University of Miami.

It was in 1984 when he headed to Tampa, where he got into banking.

He also did a “financial facts” column for the Tampa Bay Builders Association, and occasionally appeared on Channel 8 with anchor Gayle Sierens, discussing financial matters.

He has worked as a mortgage broker and real estate agent, and owned his mortgage company for about 15 years.

And wherever he has gone, Mayhew has published magazines focused on real estate.

His first magazine went from zero to 100 pages in five months, Mayhew said. He has done magazines in Brandon, Riverview and Apollo Beach.

“This was before the Internet became really popular with real estate companies,” said Mayhew, who also created the hometown magazine website.

He has always been a chamber supporter and served on the board of directors of the Ruskin Chamber of Commerce.

Real estate interests took him to Pennsylvania, where he and his wife have a second home. Mayhew helped with a Main Street initiative in Bedford, Pennsylvania.

For a time, he was marketing director for Pierpont Community & Technical College in West Virginia. He created a campaign to name the school mascot, Montgomery “Monty” the Lion.

In upcoming months, Mayhew will put his marketing and business skills to the test.

With more than 450 businesses enrolled as members, he sees room for growth, as new jobs and development come to Zephyrhills.

“Our membership is ready to take off,” he said.

And then there is the annual barbecue festival, and volunteer recruitment that will keep Mayhew and his staff busy.

“I’m always looking for volunteers,” he said. “We want people who want to participate.”

For information or to volunteer, contact the chamber office at (813) 782-1913, or visit ZephyrhillsChamber.org.

Published October 21, 2015 

 

Diggin’ in the dirt at the library

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Judy Curran enjoys seeing people having fun outdoors.

So, when the chance came her way to get library patrons — young and old, digging in the dirt — she seized the opportunity to put her passion for gardening into motion.

“I get so much peace and joy from it,” said Curran, the youth services provider at the New River Branch Library in Zephyrhills. “It’s my hobby, and I want to share that,” she said.

A Pasco County work policy made it possible.

Marigolds fill the foreground as Judy Curran checks the variety of plants, vegetables and flowers planted in the community garden of the New River Branch Library. Curran, and about a dozen adults and children, tend the garden. (Fred Bellet/Photos)
Marigolds fill the foreground as Judy Curran checks the variety of plants, vegetables and flowers planted in the community garden of the New River Branch Library. Curran, and about a dozen adults and children, tend the garden.
(Fred Bellet/Photos)

A few years ago, employees were encouraged to choose a project that excited them. They could then devote 10 percent of their work hours to making it happen.

This “10 percent initiative” of the county was Curran’s signal to step forward and organize a community garden at the New River branch. It is the only community garden in Pasco sponsored by a library.

Curran put a flier on the bulletin board and got the kind of feedback she needed.

Nearly a year ago, the first sprouts in the garden were small, and so were her first volunteers.

Daisy Scouts planted herbs in a handful of rain barrels that were cut into two halves. The barrels – painted by the Scouts – flank the parking lot and walkway leading to the library’s entrance.

“To me that adds charm,” Curran said. “It’s obvious kids painted these barrels.”

Over time, these first plantings gave way to dwarf fire bushes that now drop their roots into the soil of the rain barrels, and attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Judy Curran, youth services provider at New River Branch Library, shows off bouquets of lantana.
Judy Curran, youth services provider at New River Branch Library, shows off bouquets of lantana.

And the garden grew again, but this time as a memorial to a friend of the library – Samuel Smith. The teenager died in 2011. He came to the library nearly every day after school.

“He was a volunteer and helped with troubled kids,” Curran said.  “It was heartbreaking when that happened.”

One weekend, his friends planted a flowering garden that blooms with lantana, firecracker bushes, ginger plants and 4 o’ clocks.

Nearby, community gardeners tend raised beds filled with pepper squash, oregano, sorghum and carrots, and a cluster of marigolds. A Japanese plum tree and a peach tree stand tall as stand-alones planted inside more half-size rain barrels.

About a dozen people tend these garden beds. There are individuals, a mother and daughter, and friends.

There is no fee, and Curran hopes to enlist more gardeners.

“I want it to be all inclusive,” she said. “I want families to come and 4-H gardeners. I don’t want anyone to think ‘Oh, I can’t do that’.”

A spider inhabiting a Japanese plum tree fends off an invading insect.
A spider inhabiting a Japanese plum tree fends off an invading insect.

Three plastic swimming pools filled with dirt, rest next to the raised beds, ready for children to try out their green thumbs.

“I have a lot of seeds,” Curran said. “They can come in and plant seeds, and see what happens.”

Curran said books and gardening go together naturally.

“It’s about sharing information,” she said.

Seeds and plants also are shared at plant exchanges.

At the rear of the library, two cisterns catch rainwater.

“That was all the water we used during the dry season,” she said. “We’re trying to go as natural as possible.”

In the future, a compost tumbler is on the wish list.

A mound of mulch is piled next to the garden beds.

A small grant helped seed the garden, and pay for lumber. County employees built the raised beds, including one high enough for disabled gardeners to use. Master gardeners and the Pasco County Cooperative Extension provide expertise and teach classes at the library.

A small sign identifies Nancy G., as the community gardener for one of several raised beds at the community garden at the New River Branch Library.
A small sign identifies Nancy G., as the community gardener for one of several raised beds at the community garden at the New River Branch Library.

“It’s a very cooperative effort between the library, the county’s cooperative extension, master gardeners and the facilities department,” Curran said.

Curran herself is not a master gardener, but gardening is a tradition in her family. She worked side by side in gardens with her father and grandfather.

“I want people to see that they can grow their own food,” she said. “Everywhere I’ve lived, I’ve always had a vegetable garden. There’s a lot you can grow in small spaces.”

The library hosts community garden meetings every third Thursday of the month. The next meeting is Oct. 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

For more information, call New River at (813) 788-6375, or email Curran at .

Published October 14, 2015

Dade City joins Pasco’s 911 system

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911Dade City Police Chief Ray Velboom could see the need for better communications between his police officers and deputies with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, on a daily basis.

Each agency had 911 centers operating on different radio frequencies.

“We’re surrounded by the county. We interact with them every day,” said Velboom. But, a deputy who needed assistance just outside city limits might be sent backup from 10 miles away, when a Dade City police officer was a few blocks away.

Critical time can be lost and the safety of police officers jeopardized, Velboom said.

On Oct. 5, a consolidation of the Dade City 911 Center and Pasco County’s Public Safety Communications addressed that problem.

Two staff members from Dade City completed weeks of training with the new consolidated system and transferred to Pasco’s Emergency Operations Center in New Port Richey.

The consolidation had been under discussion for two years as a way to increase both public safety and efficiency.

“It just made sense,” Velboom said.

The consolidation also reduces duplication because Dade City police officers now will file police reports on the county’s system. Both agencies previously had separate records management systems.

“We’ll be sharing all the data,” said Velboom.

Dade City will pay the county about $90,000 a year.

Velboom will serve on a board of directors that will oversee emergency operations, including the hiring and firing of staff.

“We have some ownership of this,” he said.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said law enforcement agencies across the country are moving toward consolidation, in part due to recommendations that emerged after the 9/11 terrorists attacks.

“We have realized that public safety communications is critical for the safety of our citizens and first responders,” Nocco said.

Several months ago, the Pasco County Commission approved hiring of eight additional call takers for the county’s emergency operations.

Call takers answer 911 calls and relay information to dispatchers who use GPS tracking to pinpoint locations of patrol units for both Dade City and the county.

Pasco County has 15 administrative staff members and 82 operational members.

About 600,000 calls for service are answered each year.

The increasing volume of calls is complicated by the disappearance of landline phone service in favor of cellphones, Velboom said.

Under the old separate systems, a resident who called 911 in Dade City from a cellphone would reach the county’s emergency center in New Port Richey. That call would then be transferred to Dade City’s emergency center where information had to be repeated, and there was a chance of a dropped call.

“About 75 to 80 percent of 911 calls come in on cellphones,” Velboom said. “And cellphone calling is going to go up.”

Consolidation also has brought improvements regarding how calls are handled.

In years past, dispatchers were trained to handle one of three types of calls: police, fire or medical. Velboom said now dispatchers are cross-trained in all three protocols.

“One dispatcher can answer every call,” he said. “It makes it so much easier.”

Published October 7, 2015

Teacher says technology is ‘great equalizer’

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If Woodland Elementary teacher Bobbi Starling had it her way, every child would have access to the kinds of technology her students use.

“The technology in my room does not represent what is school-wide. The other classrooms have one iPad for the whole classroom,” said Starling, who earlier this year was named one of 100 teachers nationwide as a PBS Digital Innovator.

From left, Kaitlyn Gard, Isabelle Hicks, William Poe and Bryce Beson use traditional and digital tools during a science lesson about adaptation. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
From left, Kaitlyn Gard, Isabelle Hicks, William Poe and Bryce Beson use traditional and digital tools during a science lesson about adaptation.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)

Woodland Elementary, which has an enrollment of roughly 1,000, is a Title 1 school, meaning that it serves children living in an area with high rates of poverty.

“The PTAs in communities with higher socioeconomics provide the equipment the schools can’t provide,” said Starling, who has been able to equip her classroom by securing grants.

She believes technology levels the playing field in education.

“I think it’s the great equalizer. They (students) get to experience a lot of things they normally would not have access to,” Starling said.

“We do virtual field trips,” said Starling, who also was selected by PBS as one of the nation’s 30 lead digital innovators.

Starling incorporates digital tools in every aspect of her teaching.

In science, for instance, the students use electronic notebooks as well as traditional notebooks.

Her lessons combine instruction from Starling, as well as information from videos that play on each student’s computer.

Children wear ear pods, as they listen to the videos to gather needed information to answer questions.

And, as they work through the lesson, students record what they’re learning in their science notebooks.

They cut and paste the old-fashioned way, using scissors to trim worksheets and glue sticks to paste them into their notebooks.

They move with ease, from traditional to digital.

Technology gives children access to a much broader frame of reference than traditional textbooks.

And, when there’s a glitch or a question, Starling is right there to help.

Besides engaging the students in the classroom at her Zephyrhills school, Starling also spends considerable time before and after school preparing to deliver instruction.

“I try to make it personalized for the kids. I try to figure out what they’re missing and then try to fill those gaps. They’re kind of like Swiss cheese, and I’m trying to fill the holes — and the holes are not the same for every kid in every subject. They are all so different.

“So, to really try to pinpoint what they need and then get something (to fill the gap), takes a long time,” Starling said.

Bryce Beson and Bobby Hilton listen to a video through their ear pods during a science class in Bobbi Starling’s class at Woodland Elementary. Starling wishes all children had the same kind of access to technology as the students in her classroom have.
Bryce Beson and Bobby Hilton listen to a video through their ear pods during a science class in Bobbi Starling’s class at Woodland Elementary. Starling wishes all children had the same kind of access to technology as the students in her classroom have.

She customizes instruction. Some children may be reading for one purpose, while others are reading for another.

“It depends upon what their goal is, and what they are working on at the time and what they need,” Starling said.

Besides obtaining grants, Starling’s classroom is involved in a district pilot of an engineering program called “Project Lead the Way.”

Her selection as a lead digital innovator by PBS enabled her to attend an all-expense paid summit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she enjoyed luxurious accommodations and great food, while enhancing her digital know-how.

She also had the opportunity to attend some sessions at the International Society for Technology in Education conference. And, she has access to premium content from PBS.

For “Project Lead the Way,” Starling went down to Florida Gulf Coast University, where she spent a week in the dorms, again, adding to her tech savvy.

Starling is obviously passionate about her work.

Her interest in becoming a teacher dates back to when she was just age 5.

“I had a teacher that I fell in love with in kindergarten,” she said. “I just loved being there.”

She believes that new educational standards, commonly referred to as Common Core, benefit both students and teachers.

“I think that it definitely helps them (students) to become college ready, and I actually think that it really focuses the instruction (for teachers),” Starling said.

Teachers can look at the standards children are expected to achieve and plan how they are going to get them there, she said.

The culture at Woodland Elementary promotes a college education for every child.

“They go to a different college campus every year, from the time they are in kindergarten,” Starling said. “For a lot of the kids at Woodland, they might be the first kid in their family to get to college.”

And, while the teacher believes that new education standards are beneficial, she also realizes that the transition may not be easy.

Children beginning kindergarten with the new standards in place will have an easier time than fifth-graders who are facing new expectations, she said.

For older students, she said, “not only do you have to teach that year of standards, but you have to go back and fill in, and make sure that they’ve got the standards that they missed before it became Common Core,” Starling said.

Starling applauds the idea of adding standards for speaking, listening and technology.

“Most of the jobs that these kids will be competing for have not even been invented yet. I definitely think that they need the 21st century learning skills. Collaboration is going to be big. They’re going to have to be pretty techie,” Starling said.

As a teacher, Starling hopes her students will realize “that learning is fun — and that they should be lifelong learners, that every day they should be learning something new.”

She also hopes parents understand that they can turn to her if they need help in supporting their child’s education.

“Sometimes, I’m not sure that they’re aware of what’s available, or what’s out there, or how to help them (their children).

“I guess my message to them would be if they needed anything, whether it was resources, information or just extra time, that I could meet with parents and kids one-on-one,” Starling said.

While teachers do not command the kind of salary often enjoyed by those in other professions, Starling has not been tempted to leave teaching.

“The pay is there for me. It’s not monetary pay – but the pay you get in changing lives, making kids realize if they can dream it, they can do it.

“I am excited every day,” Starling said.

Published October 7, 2015

Stepping into the world of dementia

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The tourists sat waiting for instructions.

They filled out forms. They answered questions. Then, they began putting on special equipment.

They put ridged plastic insoles into their shoes.

They put on plastic gloves for protection and a different outer glove for each hand.

Then, they stepped up a few steps into a dim room, where they donned special headphones and glasses.

Next, they were asked to perform a list of tasks.

People wait to experience ‘The Virtual Dementia Tour.’ When taking the tour, they wear gloves, headphones and glasses, and walk on ridged plastic insoles in their shoes in an experience that simulates impacts of dementia. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)
People wait to experience ‘The Virtual Dementia Tour.’ When taking the tour, they wear gloves, headphones and glasses, and walk on ridged plastic insoles in their shoes in an experience that simulates impacts of dementia.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)

Through the headphones they heard recordings of chatter and continual noises. The glasses obscured their vision.

It didn’t take long to discover that the experiences on this “Virtual Dementia Tour” were disorienting and frustrating.

“I felt lost. I really felt lost,” Grace Walker said. “You can’t see, you can’t hear. You’re mixed up,” said the woman who works in housekeeping at American House Zephyrhills, on Pretty Pond Road.

That’s understandable, said Glen Scharfeld, a senior care specialist and owner of Senior Helpers, based in Spring Hill.

His company brought a mobile Virtual Dementia Tour to American House Zephyrhills last week.

The Virtual Dementia Tour was created by P.K. Beville, a geriatric specialist, as her postgraduate work. It is a scientifically proven method that builds sensitivity and awareness in individuals caring for those with dementia by temporarily altering participants’ physical and sensory abilities.

The tour is designed to simulate:

  • Loss of auditory interpretation and increased confusion
  • Loss of central and peripheral vision
  • Loss of sensory nerves and fine motor skills
  • Onset of arthritis and neuropathy

Beville donated the program to Second Wind Dreams, which has provided the experience worldwide.

An estimated 44.4 million people worldwide, including 5.2 million Americans, are living with dementia, the Second Wind Dream’s website reports.

This mobile unit is rigged to give people an opportunity to experience the impacts of dementia. The idea is to promote greater awareness, sensitivity and empathy for caregivers of people experiencing dementia.
This mobile unit is rigged to give people an opportunity to experience the impacts of dementia. The idea is to promote greater awareness, sensitivity and empathy for caregivers of people experiencing dementia.

“The Virtual Dementia Tour is designed to emulate mid-level dementia,” Scharfeld said.

“We provide this education to the community, to families, family caregivers. The reason we’re here is that there are caregivers here who deal with dementia every day. It’s designed to promote empathy and for people to understand what people are going through,” he added.

The experience helps people step inside the shoes of individuals who are living with dementia.

“We’re here to help you empathize with them and be patient with them,” Scharfeld said, as he chatted with some staff members from American House Zephyrhills, who had just completed the tour.

“We age. We get older. Our senses start to diminish. With dementia, it’s a whole different ballgame. What you’ve got to realize is that the brain, the brain cells are depleted in the different areas of the brain,” Scharfeld said.

“It takes the most recent memories, and they’re gone.

“People don’t remember stuff that just happened. They may remember their daughter as 30 years ago.

“They may think that they’re 30 years younger than they are. They won’t believe when they look in the mirror. It’s like, ‘Who is that? Who is that?’ You say, ‘That’s you.’ And they’ll say, ‘That’s not me. That’s an old lady,” he said.

Scharfeld is a retired law enforcement officer, who worked in Hillsborough County. He used to encounter people with dementia when responding to calls.

“I didn’t know that when I was running code to a burglary in progress, (it was) because a lady saw herself in the slider. She thought there’s somebody out there.

“Or, they’ll think the people on the TV are actually in the house,” Scharfeld said.

The sounds coming through the headphones enable those on the tour to experience the kind of confusion that people with dementia have in processing information.

“The person is sitting there. They’re confused. Some caregivers think, if I talk louder, they’re going to get it.

It’s not the hearing. It’s the processing,” Scharfeld said.

“They hear bits and fragments. That’s why they do crazy stuff. You ask someone to something, and they wind up doing something else,” he said. “The caregiver gets mad and frustrated.”

“We’re here to promote to you, empathy,” Scharfeld said.

The Virtual Dementia Tour has spread to 17 different countries, he said.

“What we did is, we took it mobile,” he said. “We basically have a house on wheels. We’re independently owned. This is our rig.

“I wanted to bring it to the community,” he said.

To find out more about future stops on the tour, call (352) 835-7191.

Published September 30, 2015

Pasco County’s namesake led an interesting life

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Some of us may know a bit about where the names for Collier and Flagler counties came from.

But for those who don’t, it was Barron Collier who constructed the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades, connecting the two coasts of Florida.

And, Henry Flagler was a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida as the founder of the Florida East Coast Railway.

But how much do we know about where Pasco County got its name?

The historic courthouse in Dade City was named for Samuel W. Pasco. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
The historic courthouse in Dade City was named for Samuel W. Pasco.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

The county is named after Samuel W. Pasco, who was born in London, when Charles Dickens was still a young newspaper reporter for The Morning Chronicle.

Pasco was born in a family of Cornish ancestry on June 28, 1834, some 200 feet from St. Paul’s Cathedral.

He immigrated to the United States with his family and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1846.

A strong student, Pasco graduated from Harvard College in 1858. He was recommended to a group of Southern Planters in Jefferson County, Florida. They wanted to educate their children with Pasco as the Principal of the Waukeenah Academy.

But that appointment didn’t last long.

When Fort Sumter was bombarded at the start of the Civil War three years later, Pasco closed the academy and, he along with 15 of his older students, enlisted in the Confederate army on August 10, 1861.

They served in the Third Florida Volunteers.

One former student, Pvt. Tom Pettus, was wounded during a heavy exchange of fire in July 1863 near Jackson, Mississippi.

According to Clarence Smith’s wartime diary “Camp Fires of the Confederacy,” Pasco searched and found Pettus among the wounded during the heat of battle. Although Pettus died the next day, Pasco received a commendation from the vice president of the Confederacy.

He also spent a week in January 1863 in Brooksville to get some stragglers to return to fight.

In the fall of that year, Pasco was left on the field with his legs shattered by a lead “minnie” bullet during the battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Pasco was taken prisoner and spent nearly six months in different hospitals before being transferred to a Union Army prisoner-of-war camp in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Despite having Northern friends who tried to persuade him to take an oath of allegiance to the Union, Pasco did not and was held captive for 14 months, when he was released in March 1865, as part of an exchange of prisoners.

He was paroled with the rank of sergeant.

In 1869, he married Jessie Denham of Monticello, Florida. They had two daughters and three sons. His son, William Denham Pasco, was a lieutenant in the Spanish-American War, when he was killed on Oct. 29, 1900.

Pasco was a Baptist and a prominent Mason. He was elected president of Florida’s Constitutional Convention in 1885. He also served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives in 1887.

During the 1880s, the southern part of Hernando County was filling rapidly with settlers.

“We all were weary of traveling the sand trails of Brooksville, the county seat, to attend court, or transact other business of varied nature,” Dr. Richard C. Bankston recalled, in a letter dated Nov. 25, 1927.

As a local member of the State Legislature, Bankston’s recollections described the need for a new county. He also noted there was opposition to the proposed name of “Banner County.”

At that time the Florida House and Senate were in joint session, voting for a United States Senator and they unanimously elected Pasco.

Bankston saw his opportunity.

“I immediately went to the committee room,” he wrote, “where I had a desk and changed our bill making the name Pasco instead of Banner,” he wrote.

Within four hours on June 2, 1887, Gov. E. A. Perry signed into law a bill to divide Hernando County and to create Citrus and Pasco counties.

On June 9, 1899, President William McKinley appointed Pasco as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission, the presidential committee that laid the groundwork for construction of the Panama Canal.

Pasco made his first recorded visit to the county bearing his name during the State Farmer’s Alliance meeting in Dade City on Oct. 28, 1891.

One newspaper reported: “Senator Pasco, who was not barred from the meeting because of being a lawyer, went on record against the sub-treasury plan.”

Seven years later, Pasco appeared again in Dade City to attend a Democratic rally that “was fairly well attended, considering the late hour at which it was held,” according to an account by another newspaper.

There are no records that Samuel W. Pasco ever lived in Pasco County.

But, for Pasco’s descendants, who attended the Pasco County Centennial in 1987, it must have been a proud occasion, to see the name of their ancestry on government offices, county vehicles and other local landmarks.

Doug Sanders can be reached at .

Descendants of Samuel Pasco and Jessie Denham
• John, b. Sept. 20, 1880, Monticello, Florida; d. May 5, 1961, Richmond, Virginia. Graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1900 (General George Marshall’s class)
• Col. Hansell Merrill Pasco, b. October 1915, Thomasville, Georgia; d. November 2008, Richmond, Virginia. He was Secretary of the Army General Staff during World War II.
• Attending the Pasco County Centennial in 1987: Mallory Pasco

Sources
Samuel Pasco at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Jonathan C. Sheppard, “By the Noble Daring of Her Sons“: The Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee, ProQuest, 2008.
Publications of the Florida Historical Society, 1908. Page 33.
Bill Dayton, member and former chairman, Dade City Historic Preservation Advisory Board.
Madonna Jervis Wise, author; “Images of America: Dade City” (2014). Arcadia publishing.

By Doug Sanders

Published September 30, 2015 

This cafeteria serves up more than food

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The cafeteria at Zephyrhills High is a busy place — serving more than 300 breakfasts, 850 lunches and about 100 a la carte items each day.

But beyond delivering daily meals, this cafeteria is also a place that helps students make their dreams come true.

There’s a storage space, in the kitchen, where there are scores of gowns, dresses, shirts, dress pants, sports jackets and shoes.

It’s a place where young women and men can be outfitted to go to prom, or homecoming, a wedding or graduation.

Suellen Smith shows off one of the gowns in the clothing closet in the kitchen at Zephyrhills High School. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Suellen Smith shows off one of the gowns in the clothing closet in the kitchen at Zephyrhills High School.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

The closet was set up about five years ago, and hundreds of students have used it.

“The kids come in during their lunch and try them on,” said Suellen Smith, cafeteria manager at Zephyrhills High.

“We stay back there with them, and we make them have a fashion show,” she said.

The students change in a bathroom next to the supply closet, and then they come out to show how they look.

“Even through it’s in a kitchen, and it’s in the middle of lunch, and we’re running around with hot pans … I make a couple of my co-workers stop and try to make it nice for the girls,” she said.

As they model the clothing, Smith responds.

“I tell them how pretty they look,” she said.

Or, she might mention: “I saw another one in there that you might like better.”

Smith said she wants to make sure the students leave with clothes that put them in their best light.

“We make sure it fits. I don’t want them going out with something that doesn’t look appropriate,” she said.

She also recommends that students choose classic looks, rather than trendy attire.

I tell them: “You can take that to college with you. You can wear this to a New Year’s Eve party.

“When we make a match, I cry. I openly weep. I’m actually feeling like they’re my own daughter,” said Smith, who has been managing the cafeteria at Zephyrhills High for 15 years.

The clothing comes from all sorts of sources — people in the community who know about the closet, former students, staff members.

“Sometimes, I struggle with larger sizes,” Smith said, and when that happens, she puts a post on Facebook.

“Then, miraculously, two days later, I get some dresses,” Smith said.

“The day before yesterday, somebody brought up a whole bin of dresses and shoes. A dress came in the courier Friday,” she added.

While she can’t recall the precise particulars of how the clothes closet began, she believes it started the year the county’s Cinderella Project moved to a location in Trinity.

“That’s a long way to drive for my kids to go, to Trinity. They don’t know how to get there, and some of them wouldn’t have a ride,” Smith said.

So, Smith said, “I just have my own event, all of the time.”

While girls are more likely to come to the closet, it is also intended for boys, Smith said.

Sometimes the boys are reluctant to come to the closet, so their girlfriends will come pick something up for them, Smith said.

The clothes closet is just one of the ways that Smith reaches beyond her daily cafeteria duties to touch lives.

She’s also heavily involved in Relay for Life activities, has been involved in homecoming festivities, pitches in at school events and has served as a mentor.

Earlier this year, she was honored for her many contributions.

She received the Community Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Florida School Nutrition Association in May, and also received the district’s “Best Behind the Scenes” award.

While gratified by the honors, Smith quickly credits her family and staff for enabling her to do the things that she does.

Published September 23, 2015

Solemn service marks 9/11

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Sept. 11, 2001 is a day people remember for the ordinary details of life — and then the shattering horror of two hijacked planes flying into the World Trade Center in New York.

Hijacked planes also struck the Pentagon building, and crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Veteran Bill Hansberger of American Legion Post 118, left, wipes his eyes at the memorial service at Zephyr Park honoring the victims of 9/11. Next to him are fellow post members, George Hansen, Keith Holz and Gil Shepard, far right, of the Marine Corp League’s Sgt. Maj. Michael S. Curtin Detachment #1124. (Fred Bellet/Photos)
Veteran Bill Hansberger of American Legion Post 118, left, wipes his eyes at the memorial service at Zephyr Park honoring the victims of 9/11. Next to him are fellow post members, George Hansen, Keith Holz and Gil Shepard, far right, of the Marine Corp League’s Sgt. Maj. Michael S. Curtin Detachment #1124.
(Fred Bellet/Photos)

Those acts of terror cost 2,606 people their lives in the Twin Towers. Another 246 died in the four planes, including 19 terrorists. And 125 people died at the Pentagon.

On the 14th anniversary of 9/11, communities across the nation held thousands of memorial services to honor the victims who died — including first responders, who risked and lost their lives to save others.

About 50 people gathered at Zephyr Park in Zephyrhills for a solemn ceremony — “We Remember: 9/11 Memorial Service.” The Marine Corps League, Sgt. Maj. Michael Curtin, Detachment 1124 sponsored the event.

Curtin was a first responder with the New York City Police Department who died while saving lives at the World Trade Center.

“An attack of this magnitude, it calls for heroes, doesn’t it?” said Zephyrhills Mayor Gene Whitfield. “It calls for people to step up and go in where no else wants to go. These folks that went in these towers were heroes.”

VFW Post 8154 Honor Guard bugler Jerry Morel, 82, sounds taps during Zephyrhills’ ‘We Remember: 9/11 Memorial Service.’
VFW Post 8154 Honor Guard bugler Jerry Morel, 82, sounds taps during Zephyrhills’ ‘We Remember: 9/11 Memorial Service.’

Whitfield recalled that 9/11 was not Curtin’s first encounter with terrorism. In 1993, Curtin was with the NYPD’s first response team at the first World Trade Center bombing.

Two years later, Curtin went with a team of New York police officers to Oklahoma after Timothy McVeigh’s bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

“His history of service has said it all,” Whitfield said.

After a moment of silence, an honor guard fired a 21-gun salute, and 82-year-old Jerry Morel blew taps on the bugle.

Everyone can recall memories of a day that began with the steady thrum of normalcy.

Zephyrhills’ resident Meaghan Sammons drove to a local home improvement store to buy roof nails requested by her job supervisor.

Meagan Sammons of Zephyrhills and her son, Heath Sammons, 11, a Boys Scout with Troop 2 watched the American flag billowing in the wind as it flew at half-staff to honor those who died on 9/11.
Meagan Sammons of Zephyrhills and her son, Heath Sammons, 11, a Boys Scout with Troop 2 watched the American flag billowing in the wind as it flew at half-staff to honor those who died on 9/11.

When she got back, everyone was gathered around a television. Her first thoughts were of her father who drove a delivery truck near the World Trade Center.

“I tried to call him and I couldn’t get him,” she said. “You are numb. It didn’t hit right away, until you saw the second building coming down and the aftermath.”

She finally reached her father who had left the area before the attack.

Sammons brought her 11-year-old son Heath to the memorial service. He wore his Boy Scout uniform.

She wanted to honor the day and share in a moment of unity. And she said, “If history is not taught to younger generations, it will repeat itself. I hope this never repeats itself.”

State Rep. Danny Burgess was in the 10th grade on 9/11.

“This is very real. This is very raw,” he said.

But the day after, Sept. 12, also should be remembered, especially the moment when President George W. Bush called for unity as he stood on a mound of rubble at the Twin Towers, he said.

“Let’s remember that in the midst of all this, we all united. That’s what’s best about the American spirit,” Burgess said. “We saw so much love and compassion…It shouldn’t take such tragedy to pull us together as a country.”

Sal DiMartino, 92, was a medic during World War II and is a current member of the Marine Corp League’s Sgt. Maj. Michael Curtin Detachment 1124.
Sal DiMartino, 92, was a medic during World War II and is a current member of the Marine Corp League’s Sgt. Maj. Michael Curtin Detachment 1124.

World War II veteran Sal DiMartino, 92, served in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marines. He got a call from his daughter in California on 9/11, telling him to turn on his television.

People need to bring back the spirit that brought the nation together in World War II, he said. “That was when you were dedicated to your fellow man.”

Rod Rehrig Sr., recalls being at work at his real estate office when he saw the events unfold, also on television.

“It was really sad,” said Rehrig, who is the commandant for Detachment #1124 of the Marine Corps League. “All those lives wasted.”

But the memorial service can offer solace, he said.

“I think we have a little more peace of mind. We’re doing something out of respect for those who died. It strengthens people,” Rehrig said.

Published September 16, 2015