The Laker/Lutz News

North Carolina

Bellamy Brothers headline Rattlesnake Festival

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The Bellamy Brothers are returning to a local festival that launched the beginning of their iconic country music career five decades ago.

Darby natives and residents Howard and David Bellamy will headline a special concert at the 53rd annual Rattlesnake Festival on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., at the Pasco County Fairgrounds’ Dan Cannon Auditorium, 36722 State Road 52 in Dade City.

The duo will be available to sign autographs at their merchandise tables following their hour-and-a-half long performance.

The concert serves as a prelude to the traditional festival days on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20.

The Bellamy Brothers are scheduled to perform a special concert at the Rattlesnake Festival on Oct. 18. It marks their first appearance at the festival in about 40 years, event organizers say. (Courtesy of Rattlesnake Festival)

The Rattlesnake Festival marked The Bellamy Brothers’ first official gig back in 1968 — where Howard and David performed on stage with their father at San Antonio Park.

The Bellamys continued to play the festival for several years prior to the the release of their 1976 chart-topping country pop hit, “Let Your Love Flow,” which spearheaded a career of 20 No. 1 hits and 40 million album sales worldwide.

In an exclusive interview with The Laker/Lutz News, Howard Bellamy said he’s looking forward to returning to the Rattlesnake Festival and host a concert for his hometown community.

“There’s no place we love better. We’ve toured in 72 countries and somehow we always come back to Darby, Florida,” Howard, 73, said.

“It’s a special place and special people around, so when they got this all together and asked us, we jumped right on. It’s very special and you get to see a lot of old friends you haven’t seen forever.”

He added, “We’re always grateful to be back home because this is where it started and this is where it will end.”

Howard and 69-year-old David Bellamy graduated from Pasco High School in the 1960s before embarking on their successful music career.

They spend any downtime amid their frenetic showbiz schedule on their 200-acre family ranch in Darby, just outside the Dade City limits.

When they return to town next month, The Bellamy Brothers will be fresh off an overseas tour that takes them to Norway and Sweden. They’ll immediately head out for a show in North Carolina following the Dade City concert. “We should be well-rehearsed,” Howard quipped.

Howard said the special concert’s set list “definitely” will include “Let Your Love Flow” and several other hit tracks. He noted there also will be some cuts from the band’s latest studio album, “Over the Moon,” which released in February.

“You know, we do as many hits as we can during the show, and we thank God we have enough of them that we have a choice, so people want to hear the hits,” Howard said.

Known for their busy ways, the Bellamys’ appearance comes in the midst of filming the third season of their reality television show, “Honky Tonk Ranch,” airing on the Cowboy Channel. Howard said the band is also working on several other projects with other artists.

“We’re always up to something,” he said.

The Bellamy Brothers’ last appearance at the festival came about 40 years ago, according to Joe Simmons, executive director of the Thomas Promise Foundation that puts on the Rattlesnake Festival.

Simmons said he tried to book The Bellamy Brothers for the event a few years ago, but they were on another road tour at the time.

The event organizer went about getting in touch with the band’s manager earlier this time around, to try to work the Rattlesnake Festival into the band’s lineup that includes roughly 150 tour dates every year.

Simmons’ friendship with David Bellamy’s son, Noah, also helped get things rolling.

“I tried to put a bug in his ear about talking to his dad about them being able to come out to the festival,” Simmons said. “We’re just appreciative that everything worked out to where we could bring them back to the festival. You know, everybody loves The Bellamy Brothers.”

Simmons acknowledged The Bellamy Brothers’ forthcoming appearance has generated extra buzz for the weekend long festival.

“Everybody’s excited,” he said. “Everybody loves it when the Bellamys come back home and play and, for us to be able to accommodate that and bring them back, it was a win-win situation.”

All proceeds raised from the Rattlesnake Festival will go toward the Thomas Promise Foundation, which provides meals and other programs to food-insecure children. It is the nonprofit organization’s largest fundraiser of the year.

The Bellamy Brothers concert is described as an “intimate affair,” with 528 total seats available.

Beer and wine will be offered inside the auditorium during the concert. Proof of age is required. Food will be available from vendors outside the auditorium.

General admission seats are numbered for reservation and tickets come in two tiers: closer seats cost $75 and seats further back cost $40.

Corporate tables are comprised of eight seats and include unlimited beer and wine, and are available for $1,500 per table and must be bought as a full table. Businesses purchasing tables also get their logo on the festival banner.

Tickets may be purchased by visiting RattlesnakeFestival.com, or by calling (813) 312-7119.

53rd annual Rattlesnake Festival

When: Oct. 18, Bellamy Brothers Concert; Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, festival activities

Where: Pasco County Fairgrounds, 36722 State Road 52, Dade City

What: Food, arts & crafts, live music, wildlife, children’s games, and local history are highlighted each year. Family fun and entertainment are a main focus of the event.

Cost: $5 public admission, free for ages 2 and under; Bellamy Brothers concert tickets sold separately.

Info: Visit RattlesnakeFestival.com, or call (813) 782-0000.

Published September 25, 2019

Wesley Chapel dojo heads to karate nationals

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The 2018 AAU/USA Karate National Championships kick off this week in Fort Lauderdale — and one local dojo will be well-represented.

Wesley Chapel’s Keiko Shin Karate Academy (KSKA) is sending 22 athletes, ranging in ages 6 to 18, to square up against more than 3,000 elite, top karate competitors from the United States and beyond.

The event runs from June 27 to June 30 at the Broward County Convention Center and draws competitors from all across the U.S., as well as from Israel, Poland, Russia and South America.

Keiko Shin Karate Academy (KSKA), in Wesley Chapel, is sending 22 athletes ages 6 to 18, to the 2018 AAU/USA Karate National Championships, where they’ll square up against more than 3,000 elite, top karate competitors from the United States and beyond. The event, held at the Broward Convention Center, runs from June 27 to June 30.
(Les Borowski)

The academy, located at 3753 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., is no stranger to the national stage.

In 2015, KSKA took 20 students to the AAU nationals in Raleigh, North Carolina, and returned with 34 medals, including 22 gold medals.

The next year, the team claimed 17 medals at nationals.

Under the instruction and guidance of their sensei, Ernesto Fuentes, this year’s group has undergone rigorous preparation, enduring various types of cross-training, cardio, yoga and intense hours of traditional Shotokan karate, fine-tuning speed, agility, reaction times and more.

Since the beginning of summer, training has consisted of many 10-hour days, often from 10 am. to 8 p.m.

Alongside the fitness and technical components, Fuentes has coached his students on motivational techniques, to help them maximize their potential.

“I don’t believe that we have another academy, at least not in the state of Florida, that’s training so many hours,” said Fuentes, an International 5th Dan Karate Instructor who’s been teaching the sport since 1983. “We believe the training is going to pay off.”

Destiny Walls, 18, is the oldest member of KSKA competing at the AAU/USA Karate National Championships. She credits traditional karate for turning her life around, physically, mentally and socially.
(Les Borowski)

Several KSKA athletes are making their return to AAU nationals, including 15-year-old Lauren Anderson and 18-year-old Destiny Walls.

In 2015, Anderson, then 12, won a gold medal in the Kumite (sparring) beginner division. The following year, she placed second in the Kata (form) novice division.

An advanced brown belt, she’s hoping for similar results.

Meantime, she’s excited to cheer on 21 of her peers.

“It’s really nice to watch everyone (succeed),” said Anderson, who attends Wiregrass Ranch High School. “I like to go and support as many people as possible.”

She also noted: “It’s really nice to see them excel, but it’s also nice to be there and to help them when they fall or don’t do as well.”

Anderson said nationals is “almost the same as other competitions, but it’s just bigger.

“It gets nerve-wracking,” she said, “(but) it makes you better, because you have more people (to compete against).”

Walls, meanwhile, earned a third-place finish in the Kata intermediate division at 2016 nationals.

A black belt, Walls is striving for gold this time around.

With thousands of other top athletes looking on, Walls said she expects to feel an adrenaline rush when it’s her turn to compete.

“You’re so nervous, but at the same time when you get at the mat, the nervousness goes away, and you’re ready to go,” Walls said.

Karate offers physical, social benefits
At KSKA and other dojos, karate is more than just a martial art sport — it’s a lifestyle.

Anderson credits it for boosting her confidence and self-esteem, as well as her composure.

“I used to be super sensitive, like certain things would get to me really easily, but now I’ve learned to take control of my emotions and stuff,” Anderson said.

The sport’s benefits also translate to the classroom, she said.

“It helps you with not only being physically active, but it also helps you mentally,” she added. “My grades weren’t very good before I came here, and now I have straight As, As and Bs.”

Karate also transformed Wall’s life, since she signed up more than eight years ago.

Wall said she was headed down the wrong path, getting into trouble and performing poorly in school — but karate gave her a positive outlet and a sense of belonging.

Over the years, she’s become an honor roll student and now has aspirations to become a nurse once she graduates from Cypress Creek Middle High School in 2019.

“I wasn’t really focused and my self-esteem had a lot to do with it. Since I started karate, it’s helped me,” Walls said.

“I’m able to talk to (people), which I used to never be able to do that. I’m able to go out and learn, and just keep going and not quit,” she said.

Fuentes said Walls has morphed from a shy, insecure girl into a leader — “being the person that she wanted to be and we all want to see in a child.”

Now, one of the dojo’s most experienced students, Walls assists Fuentes in the afterschool program as a youth instructor.

“I love now that I teach,” Walls said. “I love helping the little ones, being able to show them what family is and how to grow with each other.”

Fuentes, who has a master’s degree in child psychology, explained the sport’s structure, plus the discipline and dedication required to master it, aids in social and intellectual development.

Fuentes trains more than 200 students at KSKA and each must maintain at least a B average in school.

“Karate works a different aspect, different segments of their brain,” Fuentes said. “It’s proven that the kids that practice karate are immediately better students in school. In a fraction of a second, they need to be able to think and be in position.”

The sensei, too, incorporates a holistic approach in his karate teachings, encouraging students to believe in themselves, show compassion for others and avoid confrontation. Sportsmanship is emphasized, too.

“It’s not about self-defense, it’s about self-esteem,” he said.

“When you have self-esteem, you’re not going to let anybody mess with you, nobody bullies you, you’re OK if somebody looks at you weird; you have self-esteem, so you don’t care.”

Wesley Chapel-based Keiko Shin Karate Academy (KSKA) has more than 200 students, ranging from youth to adults. During the past several years, the dojo has had several strong showings at nationals, including in 2015, when they brought home 34 medals, including 22 gold medals.
(Les Borowski)

Parent Les Borowksi has witnessed the benefits karate has had on his two children, Nicholas, 12, and Olivia, 10 — both of whom will compete in AAU nationals.

Borowski said his children have become more attentive at school, more respectful to adults and peers, and generally more helpful toward others since they became involved in karate.

“This thing (karate) turns lives around,” Borowski said. “When I talk to other people who have kids, they think I’m some kind of marketing person (for karate).”

While he’s not paid to tout it, he is enthusiastic: “Just find a good quality, traditional martial arts school and go for it,” Borowski said.

For more information about Keiko Shin Karate Academy, call (813) 994-9253, or visit KeikoShin.com.

Athletes from Keiko Shin who qualified to represent Florida at 2018 AAU Karate National Championships.

Preston Achille

Lauren Anderson

Nicholas Borowski

Olivia Borowski

Travis Hamilton

Kristen Hooper

Wilson Irizarry

Ella Jannette

Kiernan Lauderdale

Jacobo Lopez

Camille Pamplona

Claire Pamplona

Jude Pamplona

Kathely Pamplona

Gian Jaydem Rios

Brady Rizzuto

Joshua Robinette

Carter Robinson

Destiny Walsh

Mackenzie Whitaker

Brandon White

Kaitlyn Wilson

Published June 27, 2018

 

Saint Leo lacrosse celebrates its program-best season

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Saint Leo University made history in 2006 as the first NCAA lacrosse program in the state of Florida.

The university has added another significant notch to its belt — becoming the state’s first lacrosse program to make a national championship appearance.

Saint Leo’s men’s lacrosse team squared up on May 27 against Merrimack College in the NCAA Division II Lacrosse National Championship at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The Saint Leo men’s lacrosse team recently became the state’s first program to make a national championship appearance. They lost to Merrimack College 23-6 in the NCAA Division II Lacrosse National Championship at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo Athletics)

The Lions were overmatched by the Massachusetts-based foe, surrendering 23-6. However, the season still goes down as the best run in team’s 13-year history.

Saint Leo finished the 2018 campaign with a 16-3 overall record, including a 7-0 mark in the Sunshine State Conference.

The team ranked among the nation’s leaders in scoring (11th, 13.63 goals per game), shot percentage (first, .393) and clearing percentage (third, .907).

Leading up to the season finale, the Lions defeated conference rival University of Tampa 11-10 in the national quarterfinals and then downed Lenoir-Rhyne (North Carolina) University 12-11 in the national semifinals.

As the team regroups from a biting title game loss, players are proud to finish national runner-up and be part of the remarkable campaign.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Tom Tatarian described the season as “an incredible run.”

Senior attacker Anthony Visintin evoked similar feelings: “It sounds cool and awesome to say that we had the best record in Saint Leo history and we get to go down as one of the best teams to go through here. Obviously, we would’ve rather it gone the other way and we would’ve rather won and have the whole big grand ending, but I guess you could say it’s the second-best ending that could happen.”

As one of 15 seniors on the 2018 roster, Visintin and others took the onus upon themselves to make their final season count — by improving upon a relatively disappointing 2017 where the Lions finished 9-5 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

Many of those upperclassman, including Visintin, were also part of squads that finished 9-5 and 7-7 in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

“I think for me, playing for four years, we kind of found ourselves underachieving almost every year,” he said.

“But I think this year we were able to finally put it together. Having a big senior class definitely helped,” added Visintin, who finished with 20 goals and 11 assists.

Saint Leo men’s lacrosse coach Brad Jorgensen said the team, starting in the offseason, “worked hard to go from a pretty good team to a great team.”

Saint Leo men’s lacrosse coach Brad Jorgensen launched the program more than a decade ago.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo Athletics)

Jorgensen, who helped launch the program more than a dozen years ago, explained there was a “re-energized” commitment and attitude toward game preparation, strength and conditioning, among other team aspects.

The heightened focus and mindset, Jorgensen pointed out, allowed the Lions to win several close games this year; eight of their wins came by three or fewer goals.

The prior year, the Lions lost two conference games by two goals. They lost two others by four goals and five goals, respectively.

Jorgensen explained: “I think we had a tendency, when the pressure got on, to do what felt comfortable instead of what needed to be done on some occasions and it was really that tougher battle of, ‘Am I willing for the next 10 months to do the hard stuff to get us to where we want to go?’”

He added: “Guys needed to realize the devil’s in the details and, when you lose as many close games as we did in 2017, it just points to a little bit of a lack of attention to detail and commitment to getting the little things right.”

Thinking ahead to next year
Like many of the Lions’ players, Jorgensen acknowledged he’s still reeling from the national championship loss.

But the longtime coach hasn’t lost sight of what just getting there means for the program’s future.

“We got unbelievable exposure over the course of the (championship) weekend,” Jorgensen said. “Being able to have the Saint Leo logo plastered all over Gillette during the final four where you’re talking 35,000 to 40,000 people were able to see us and see our school and be exposed to it, that’s obviously huge.”

It’s especially important for recruiting because the national title appearance enhances Saint Leo’s reputation as a bona fide lacrosse power.

“I think every coach tells recruits that they want to play for a championship and that they’re a championship program and all that other stuff, but it becomes a heck of a lot easier sell now that you’ve been that close,” the coach said.

Meanwhile, the lacrosse program looks to move on without a senior class that made up about 40 percent of the 2018 roster.

Among the key departures is attacker Jake Gilmour, the program’s first-ever United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division II First-Team All-American.

Another is defender Jake Bye, who was named USILA honorable mention.

Said Jorgensen, “It’s not like this class graduating snuck up on us, but it is kind of impossible to discount what we’re losing to graduation. …Some guys who have been starting here for four years won’t be here in the fall when we get started. That’s going to be an adjustment.”

Even so, the Lions do have solid core in place for next season.

That includes Tatarian, a second-team All-American goalkeeper who ranked sixth nationally with 13.84 saves per game; attacker Charlie Kurtenbach, who was second on the team in goals (40) and assists (29); and midfielder Julian Taylor, a Tampa product and Plant High School alum who tallied 23 points.

Tatarian, for one, is embracing what’s in store for 2019, where he’ll be a graduate student exhausting his final year of eligibility. (He received a medical redshirt for an injury suffered as a freshman in 2015.)

He will be the longest-tenured player on next year’s roster, likely forcing him to become more of a leader in both actions and words.

Said Tatarian, “There’s really going to be a movement forward to a younger team and I have to take that responsibility upon myself as well as the other seniors to really shoulder the dynamic for this program, for what we’re about, and what we’re going to do moving forward. I think it’s going to be a very exciting process seeing all the young guys coming in and see what they’re going to bring to the table.”

Published June 6, 2018

Area teenager bowls perfect 300 in North Carolina tournament

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Chandler Carr, who got his start bowling at Royal Lanes in Lutz, shot his first sanctioned perfect 300 in the Randy Pedersen 4 Game Sweeper in Shallotte, North Carolina.

He achieved the perfect score on Oct. 7 at Planet Fun, helping him to take fifth place in the competition.

Chandler Carr recently shot a perfect 300, while he was in Shallotte, North Carolina. (Courtesy of Suzin Carr)

Carr — whose mom is Suzin Carr, the only person to win the Lutz Guv’na race twice — has done a substantial amount of volunteer work at the Old Lutz School in Lutz, and in various Lutz activities.

The family moved to Citrus Park in November.

Besides this most recent accomplishment, Carr is one of 25 finalists for the Positive Coaching Alliance-Tampa Bay Chapter “Triple-Impact Competitor Scholarship.”

The 17-year-old will be the Athlete of the Week in partnership with Casper’s Company on 860AM radio on Oct. 14.

Carr is a senior at Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School. Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate Charter School is the only public school in Hillsborough County which has a bowling team.

Published Oct. 11, 2017

Giving thanks with a grateful heart

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a time to reflect on the blessings in our lives.

This past year has been particularly joyful for me, both professionally and personally.

Since this newspaper is such a big part of my life, I want to share with you the top 10 reasons Thanksgiving is especially meaningful to me this year.

Our readers
I want to thank all of the readers of The Laker/Lutz News for embracing our new, bigger size. We took a leap of faith in August, changing our format to match the size of most daily newspapers.

Besides becoming 30 percent bigger overnight, we added a B section to give us a second front page, and to organize our classified products.

I confess I was more than a bit nervous about making such a significant change and taking on the additional expenses that came along with it. But taking risks comes with ownership, and it’s the only way to grow.

Four months into this change, we continue to receive positive comments — almost daily — about our new size.

My staff
A huge thank you goes to my staff of 12. I am ever so thankful to this group of professionals who meet challenging deadlines every week.

Think about it: How many business owners ask their staff to create a brand new product every week? But this is what my staff does — writing stories, taking pictures, selling and creating ads, and then putting it all together to fill typically 24 very big pages of stories and advertisements.

This requires an unbelievable amount of talent, commitment and hard work. Our staff box on Page 3A does not begin to give my employees enough recognition for the work they to do to bring you one of the best community newspapers in the state. 

Our advertisers
The newspaper we produce each week is possible because of the support we receive from our advertisers. They recognize that we offer an excellent vehicle to let patrons know about the services and products they offer.

My son Andy’s safe return
My son, Andrew Mathes, a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, returned home at the end of May after seven months in Afghanistan. There is no greater gratitude that a mother can have than knowing her child is away from harm’s way.

Andy and Erin’s renewed wedding vows
Andy and his wife Erin, who were married a week before Andy’s deployment last November, renewed their wedding vows a year later — on Nov. 8 — at the church where Erin grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Only nine family members were present when Andy and Erin married in a military chapel in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. When they renewed their vows, more than 150 family and friends traveled from across the country to be there.

My nine brothers and sisters
I am grateful, always, for my nine brothers and sisters. But it was especially touching to see all of them at Andy’s and Erin’s renewal of vows.

Most of my family lives in Minnesota — a five- to six-hour drive to Appleton. But they were all there, as were many of Andy’s cousins, despite an approaching winter storm and the fact that the wedding was on the same day as opening of deer hunting season in Minnesota.

My daughter Rachel’s graduation and new job
My beautiful daughter, Rachel Mathes, graduated from Stetson University in May and is working as an art teacher in Jacksonville. It’s hard to say whether I’m more grateful for Rachel graduating from college in four years and landing a job in her field, or for the fact that I am no longer paying tuition.

When Rachel was born I felt so blessed to have a daughter, and that gratitude deepens with each passing year. I only wish that Jacksonville was closer to Land O’ Lakes so we could see each other more often.

My father, Don Kortus
Dad will be 86 in February, and his love for his family — which consists of more than 45 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren — holds us all together.

I am thankful for Dad’s wisdom, good health, sharp mind, and unwavering support for me.

Jonas
Jonas, my 9-year-Airedale terrier, is a cancer survivor, and I am thankful he will be my companion for many more years.

After being diagnosed with cancer in August 2013, his prognosis was poor because dogs with his type of cancer rarely live longer than a few months.

But after having a tumor on his spleen removed, he recovered so well that he underwent chemotherapy and is now in remission.

Vic Anthony
Finally, I am thankful for finding love the second time around.

When I opened my heart to love again, I met Vic Anthony, who has had my back these past three years. Sharing with Vic the pleasures and challenges of my family, my business, and my dog Jonas, has renewed my spirit and brought me much happiness.

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New Lowe’s will open end of March

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A grand open date has been tentatively set for the new Lowe’s under construction on State Road 54 just east of Land O’ Lakes Boulevard.

A spokeswoman for the company confirmed to The Laker/Lutz News that the 152,000-square-foot store will officially open its doors during the last week of March. It’s being built on a 42-acre tract of land across from the Village Lakes Shopping Center, and will bring 125 jobs to the area.

The new store will have a 103,000-square-foot sales floor and a 31,300-square-foot garden center, according to the site plan submitted to Pasco County officials earlier this year. It also will have enough parking for nearly 525 cars.

Its primary entrance will be on the east side of the property, creating an intersection with Village Lakes.

The North Carolina company purchased the land between Winter Quarters Pasco RV Park and the Pasco County fire station there in 2005 for $2.7 million, and originally had hoped to open the store by 2009. However, Lowe’s abandoned those plans in 2011, with reports at the time the company would try to sell the land.

Instead, Lowe’s kept the property, and broke ground on construction earlier this year.

The Land O’ Lakes location is the third Lowe’s in Pasco County, joining a location at 7921 Gall Blvd., in Zephyrhills, and at 8312 Little Road in Port Richey. However, the closest store to this new location is in New Tampa, at 6201 Commerce Palms Drive in Hillsborough County.

Set for success: PHSC volleyball qualifies for tournament

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Sometimes it’s good to know your schedule in advance.

The Pasco-Hernando State College women’s volleyball team still has around seven games left on their schedule, but they already know where they’ll be next month: Competing in their regional tournament at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina.

With a team full of talented freshman athletes like Amanda Turley, Pasco-Hernando State College had to find their chemistry. With a 29-4 record so far, they’ve found a regional tournament berth as well. (Courtesy of Len Umhoefer)
With a team full of talented freshman athletes like Amanda Turley, Pasco-Hernando State College had to find their chemistry. With a 29-4 record so far, they’ve found a regional tournament berth as well. (Courtesy of Len Umhoefer)

The Lady Quistas have already qualified for District P, which covers three collegiate regions.

PHSC punched their tournament ticket with a current mark of 29-4. Because they aren’t in close proximity with other schools in their region, the team must be .500 or better during the regular season in order to earn a bid into the tournament.

They technically qualified back with their 20th win, but have compiled even more victories with both a potent offense and stifling defense to improve on their strong record.

Coach Kim Whitney is glad to have gotten tournament qualification out of the way with plenty of games to spare.

“We have that expectation for that goal, but once you get into the season, you’re not really sure how you’re going to match up with your opponents,” she said. “It was a big deal for us to get to that point.”

Part of that uncertainty was the makeup of this year’s team. Of the 15 players, 10 are freshmen. And while they were recruited for their ability, the coach said, one never knows how they’ll actually perform under pressure.

Now it’s clear this year’s squad will fit in nicely with other teams during Whitney’s 11-year tenure at PHSC. The school tends to expect this kind of success each year, and Whitney has the track record to justify those expectations.

In her previous 10 seasons as volleyball coach, PHSC qualified for their regional tournament every year. They’ve reached the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament four times, and took home their division’s national championship in 2010.

Earlier in the season, continuing that regional tournament streak was no sure thing. PHSC started their season just 5-3, and were still trying to determine their most effective lineup and how best to match up with their opponents.

But those early losses motivated the team, and now the coach thinks the early-season struggles were character building and a positive experience for her athletes. She was particularly happy to see them bounce back from a poor game against the College of Central Florida with an excellent one against Hillsborough Community College.

“We didn’t really play well in that match, and the following night they played phenomenal,” Whitney said. “I think it did make us better and stronger.”

And 15 consecutive wins later, the Lady Quistas were playing more to their potential and sewing up a tournament berth.

Freshman Amanda Turley is one of the impact players helping her team reach that potential. Recruited from Franklin High School in Tennessee, Turley accepted a scholarship to play volleyball for PHSC, partially because of its coach.

“She was one of the main reasons why I decided to come here,” Turley said of Whitney. “She’s so smart and knowledgeable about the game, and what we need to do.”

Part of the coach’s plan was to get her young team prepared early in the year and acquire important game experience ahead of their opponents. Whitney purposely scheduled many games at the beginning of the season so they’d have an opportunity to gel as a team and get several college-level matches under their belts while their opponents were still easing into the season.

The team also faced Santa Fe College for that school’s first-ever home volleyball game. Whitney’s team had to perform in a hostile environment with a crowd of around 500 cheering against them. The coach hopes those intangibles will help the Lady Quistas if and when they face adversity on the court later in the year.

In the meantime, as the PHSC volleyball team keeps achieving their goals, Whitney keeps creating new ones for them. They reached their first goal, a .500 season, relatively early. Then they were challenged to reach 27 wins.

With that accomplished, the coach has a new one: Fewest losses in her tenure as coach. All her previous teams finished the regular season with at least seven losses, she said. The current team has the opportunity to beat that mark and go into their tournament, which begins Nov. 7, with a great deal of momentum.

And at that point, she’ll probably have a new set of goals to keep her team focused.

“When you don’t have something you’re driving for and you’re trying to reach, you lose that vision,” Whitney said.

Whatever that next goal is, Whitney has a history of success that says she can help them reach it, and a team full of eager players who are listening and ready to do what it takes to accomplish it.

“She’s really balanced,” Turley said of her coach. “She never gets too angry, but is never too calm. She still always has something to tell you, even if we’re up by a lot.

“I can trust everything that she says.”

Published October 22, 2014

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Simon: Outlet mall construction has started

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Crews were out this week clearing the land near the intersection of State Road 56 and Interstate 75 for a new outlet mall, and it looks like come this time next year, there will be a new place for residents to shop.

Simon Property Group told investors in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, that construction has started on Tampa Premium Outlets, a 441,000-square-foot center that is now expected to open next October. That is later than what Simon had hoped to complete construction, originally saying last year that it would open by the end of 2014, and then pushing that back to July 2015 a short time later.

It’s one of two new projects Simon has started in the most recent quarter, according to the filing, joining a 366,000-square-foot center start in Tucson, Arizona.

The Indianapolis-based company didn’t say how much it was spending on construction of the outlet mall in the general Wesley Chapel and Land O’ Lakes area, but said all of its current construction projects totaled about $2.2 billion. That includes the Tucson project, as well as recent premium mall openings in North Carolina and Minnesota, and construction and expansion of at least 30 other projects throughout North America.

Tampa Premium Outlets LLC purchased the more than 48 acres of land on three parcels for $14.1 million on Oct. 3, according to Pasco County property records. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Simon Property Group, according to state corporate records, and Simon’s financial filings with the SEC.

The full project will be built in seven phases, according to plans filed with the county last February, which would include the main outlet mall in the first phase located in nine buildings. It will include nearly 2,400 parking spaces, far more than the 1,600 spaces required by the county for a project of this size.

Simon has not made any formal announcements on tenants for the property, or who will anchor, although some of those announcements are expected by the end of the year.

Lowe’s wants to open with a big(ger) bang

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When Lowe’s opens its doors later this year, it wants to make sure drivers on State Road 54 just east of Land O’ Lakes Boulevard realize it’s there.

The hardware store, now under construction in 152,000 square feet of space across from Village Lakes Shopping Center, is asking Pasco County’s Development Review Committee to allow its wall sign on the building to be more than double the size the county currently allows.

Current code limits a wall sign — that is, one that is hung on the front or side of a business — to 150 square feet. However, Lowe’s wants to build a sign on the front of its store at a little more than 375 square feet. That would make the sign nearly 19 feet tall and 20 feet long, instead of the 15 feet long and 10 feet tall usually allowed under county ordinance.

In return, Lowe’s says it’s willing to build just one sign at the road, instead of the three the county allows. Overall, that would reduce the amount of signage Lowe’s has to 37 percent smaller than what the county allows, according to records submitted to the Development Review Committee.

County officials have recommended the Development Review Committee approve the change at its Sept. 25 meeting, set to begin at 1:30 p.m., at the West Pasco Government Center, 8731 Citizens Drive in New Port Richey. The county’s Development Review Committee is led by County Administrator Michele Baker, and includes assistant county administrators Heather Grimes, Cathy Pearson and Bruce Kennedy, as well as John Walsh from the Pasco Economic Development Council, and Chris Williams from Pasco County Schools.

Lowe’s is expected to bring 125 jobs for the project, that had been planned since the North Carolina company purchase the land between Winter Quarters Pasco RV Park and the Pasco County fire station in 2005 for $2.7 million. It had originally hoped to open the store by 2009, but Lowe’s abandoned those plans in 2011 before resurrecting them earlier this year.

Farmers markets are growing in numbers locally

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Florida may not be the biggest state when it comes to farmers markets, but it — along with other states in the south — are certainly growing.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Farmers Market Directory now lists just under 8,300 markets, an increase of 76 percent since 2008.

The data reflects continued demand and growth of farmers markets in every region of the country, according to a release.

Because of that, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is developing three new local food directories that will expand USDA’s support for local and regional foods by providing easy access to the most current information about the local food market.

“Farmers markets play an extremely important role for both farmers and consumers,” said Anne Alonzo, the services administrator, in a release. “They bring urban and rural communities together while creating economic growth and increasing access to fresh, healthy foods.”

The National Farmers Market Directory is available at FarmersMarkets.USDA.gov, and provides information about market locations, directions, operating times, product offerings and more.

The data is collected through voluntary self-reporting, and is searchable by ZIP code, produce mix and other criteria.

The directory receives more than 2 million visits annually.

California has the most farmers markets with 764, followed by New York with 638. Florida has 234, with 11 of them within a 20-mile radius of Land O’ Lakes, according to the directory.

That includes Cheyenne’s Country Thangs in Lutz, Florida Estates Winery Market in Land O’ Lakes, and the Seminole Heights Sunday Morning Market in Wesley Chapel.

All geographic regions saw increases in their market listings, with the most growth in the south, according to the USDA. The states with the biggest increases included Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Arkansas, North Carolina, Montana, Florida and Nebraska.

Development of farmers markets is a cornerstone of the USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative, which coordinates the department’s policy, resources and outreach efforts related to local and regional food systems.