FREE • thuRsday, OCtOBER 18, 2012

spotlightsportsDurant softball team ‘rings’ in the new year.pAgE 15

PLANT CITYObserveryOu. yOuR nEighBORs. yOuR nEighBORhOOd.

IN FoCUsDurant high students celebrate homecoming week.pAgE 10

students take ‘advantage’ of fall festivities.pAgE 14

fundraiser by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

Crossword ......... 19 obituaries ......... 13 opinion ................8 sports ............... 15Vol. 1, No. 16 | one section

PlantCityObserver.com

oUR toWN

INDEX

Four football players crouch low to the ground, hands out in front ready to receive the ball, ready to play, ready to attack. The boys appear young, handsome and ready to take on the world in the old black-and-white photo-graph from 1942.

But one player stands out from the others.

He is poised in the foreground, making direct eye contact with the camera, showing confidence, raw athleticism and tenacity. He is William Reece Smith Jr., a 1943 graduate of Plant City High School, accomplished scholar, talented athlete and a successful lawyer.

Little did Smith expect a phone call 70 years later from the date of that picture from his alma mater.

Sherrie Mueller, college and ca-reer counselor, contacted Smith in August to notify him he was se-lected to be part of the Plant City High School Hall of Fame.

“I’m proud and very pleased that my friends in Plant City re-member me,” Smith said. “It’s nice to be remembered.”

Although Smith was born in east Tennessee, he grew up in Plant City on West Reynolds Street. Smith liked hunting, fish-ing and flirting with the pretty girls while he was in school.

Smith and his friends used to sneak down to the pool hall on weekend nights, careful not to tell his parents because the pool hall sold beer. His father knew, how-ever, because the owner would call and tell him that Smith was

there and that he would keep an eye on him.

“It was a good place to grow up,” Smith said. “It was a small town where almost everybody looked after you.”

At Plant City High School, Smith played football with some of his closest friends, Jack Bend-er, Joe Brown and Shorty Brown. The highlight of Smith’s Plant City High School football career was when his team played Plant High School in 1942. As one of the smaller schools in the Big Ten Conference, Plant City High School still managed to beat Plant High School, a football giant in Tampa.

After Smith graduated high

William reece smith Jr. will be inducted into the plant City High school Hall of Fame thursday, oct. 18.

Courtesy photo

Reece smith, third from left, will take the field again for the coin toss at plant City’s homecoming game.

sEE FAME / pAGE 8

You can’t be overdressed at this gala. The first Jeans and Jacket Gala is taking place Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Strawberry Festival Expo Hall.

The gala is hosted by The Youth Alliance, an organization geared toward helping children reach their potential and inspiring them to become leaders in their homes, schools and community.

“It’s really bringing a lot of awareness to The Youth Alliance,” organizer Peggy Nelson said. “It gives us an opportunity for us to share with people about The Youth Alliance. This organization really makes a difference.”

The Youth Alliance coordinates speakers to travel to different schools in Plant City and Tampa. Speakers talk to students who are having problems.

One speaker tries to inspire stu-dents to focus on the future, no matter what their past is, by shar-ing a story about his childhood. He came from a broken home after his mother gave him to her 10th-grade teacher because she could not take care of him.

“The impact that these pre-senters make — you can hear a pin drop in an auditorium of 1,000 kids,” Nelson said. “A lot of the students just don’t have any-one whether they’re bullied or feel like they’re not pretty enough. They need someone to know they care.”

Nelson and her husband, Mike, got involved in The Youth Alliance at an event, after the founder talk-ed with Mike.

“Something connected there,” Nelson said.

Students have written letters to The Youth Alliance about the im-pact the assemblies have had on them, some even admitting they wanted to commit suicide before

Youth Alliance plans first galathe Jeans and Jacket gala will feature several celebrity guests.

sEE GALA / pAGE 8

HALL oF FAME HoMECoMING

FAmE gAmE By amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

+ optimist Club preps for tourney

the plant City optimist Club and the plant City Recreation & parks Department are still looking for players for the annual golf Classic.

the tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Nov. 3, at Walden lake golf & Country Club, 2001 Clubhouse Drive. the format will be a four-person scramble.

the tournament also will include a special putting con-test and awards for closest to the pin and longest drive.

the cost is $60 per player; various sponsorships are available. Registration and payment must be received by oct. 31.

For more information, visit plantcityoptimistclub.org or call Walt arnold, (813) 752-1602; Jeb hicks, (813) 659-1052; Paul Woods, (813) 752-0356 or Pat stottlemyer, (813) 759-1019.

+ theater hosts awards banquet

plant City Entertainment honored many of its bright-est stars during the com-munity theater’s 27th annual Applause Awards Banquet sept. 29, at the theater, 101 N. thomas st.

Awards included:• Brad Behan, Friend of

the theater Award: Bailey Family Foundation:

• Best production: “the Red Velvet Cake War”

• Best Director: dodie White, “Don’t tell mother”

• president’s Award: domin Pazo

• hall-of-Fame Award: Judy Barta

• Best Actor: John harrer, “the Red Velvet Cake War”

• Best Actress: Jennifer Fenner Jackson, “the Red Velvet Cake War”

• technical Contribution: Paul hetrick, “Don’t tell mother”

• Best supporting Actor: tyler hollis, “Don't tell mother”

• Best supporting Actress: Mollie anderson, “the Red Velvet Cake War”

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PlantCityObserver.com 3 Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

When you walk into the South Florida Baptist Hospital Cancer Resource Center, it feels like a cozy home.

Relaxing music plays in the background. Comfy couches are positioned around a wood cof-fee table. A volunteer greets you at the door, offering tea, coffee or water.

“When you’re here, we treat you like a guest not a patient like everywhere else,” Wendy Brown said.

Brown was a board member on the American Cancer Society, along with hospital Chief Oper-ating Officer Steve Nierman. Two years ago, Brown, approached Nierman about creating a can-cer-resource center at the hos-pital. The closest centers were in Lakeland and Tampa.

“When you’re tired and sick from treatment, you don’t want to drive all the way to Tampa for support groups or resources.”

Nierman agreed. Initially, Brown planned for one room in the hospital, but Nierman orga-nized the donation of an office building on Palmetto Avenue. Brown then worked on getting furniture and other equipment donated.

A Realtor friend found a living room set for the front room. An-other meeting room has a fridge and microwave which were do-nated for support-group activi-ties. Positive sayings are painted on the wall: “Everyday holds a possibility of a miracle.”

The Cancer Resource Cen-ter opened Aug. 15, 2011. Since then it’s been staffed with com-passionate volunteers like Nola Olatubosun. Nola takes pride in her work at the center, where

she volunteers every Thursdays. She herself had ovarian cancer in 2010.

Brown also has close ties to cancer. Her father and husband died from cancer, and her moth-er battled breast cancer and sur-vived.

“Every person has been affect-ed by cancer, whether it’s a friend or family member,” Brown said.

Brown made sure the Cancer Resource Center would have ev-erything it needs for those who are seeking refuge, support or information.

There is a women’s room which is stocked with pam-phlets about female cancers like breast and ovarian cancers. Free bras and prosthetics are of-fered to those who can’t afford a prosthetic or whose insurance doesn’t cover the cost.

A private dressing room deco-rated with feminine touches of-fers privacy and comfort to those who want to try on prosthetics.

“If you are confident, you are beautiful,” a saying painted on the wall says.

The center also has a wig room with every imaginable hairstyle, hair color and length someone would want. A cosmetologist vol-unteers at the center and will cut hair, style wigs and teach about wig care and maintenance.

Across the hall is a hat room. Baseball caps are hung up on the wall in neat rows. Beautiful scarves are folded neatly on a hanging rack. Knitted and cro-cheted hats sit in a drawer wait-ing to be taken home.

A reference room full of every pamphlet and booklet imagin-able is available. Many pam-phlets provide information about different types of cancers. But there are also booklets of-fering support for those whose family members have cancer.

There are several meeting rooms for support groups to gather. In one room, a sewing

group has been meeting to sew quilts and hats for cancer pa-tients. But the center would like to see more activity.

“We really want people to come, but I don’t want to pray for people to come because of the reason,” Brown said. “But we have a lot to offer those who need someone to listen to their story, need information.”

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office continues to ask for the public’s assistance in helping to solve the case re-garding two women who disap-peared late last year.

The Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of the St. Petersburg Police Department, the Bra-denton Police Department, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, has been actively investigating the missing-person case involving Plant City resi-dent Doris Carter and pursuing the homicide investigation of Bradenton resident Kelly Mori-arty.

According to Carter’s live-in daughter, she last saw her mother and Moriarty at Carter’s Plant City home the evening of Dec. 16, 2011. She said when she awoke the morning of Dec. 17, both women were gone, and so was Moriarty’s car. Both women had been romantically involved for the past two years.

Three days later, on Dec. 20, 2011, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies spotted Mori-arty’s car abandoned on the side of S.R. 62 in Parrish and placed a red tag in the window for the owner to move the car.

On Dec. 27, 2011, a severed leg washed ashore behind 6990 Fourth St. S., in St. Petersburg. It later was identified as Moriarty’s leg.

Bradenton Police Department officers responded to Carter’s Plant City home Jan. 28, and spoke with her daughter. She told police she had not seen her mother since she left with Mori-arty Dec. 16 or 17.

The next day, Carter’s daughter reported Carter missing to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

To date, investigative initia-tives have required inter-agency cooperation for the exploration of underwater recoveries, out-of-state leads and interviews, and vast forensic evidence col-lection and processing.

Detectives have not deter-mined the initial crime scene where the leg was severed. De-tectives are looking for anyone who may have any information related to the disappearance of these two women.

Anyone with any information in reference to the suspects is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 247-8200, or anyone with any infor-mation regarding the identity and whereabouts of these sus-pects and who wants to be eli-gible for a cash reward is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477), report anony-mously online at crimestopper-stb.com or text “CSTB plus your tip” to C-R-I-M-E-S (274637).

crimeby Michael eng | Managing Editor

Area police searchingfor leads in casePlant City resident Doris Carter and Bradenton resident Kelly Moriarty disappeared just before Christmas last year.

The Walden Lake Commu-nity Association agreed Monday night that a section of a path ad-jacent to Laurel Lake is an acci-dent waiting to happen.

The path runs west toward Forest Club Drive along Timber-lane Drive near the third hole of the golf course. It needs about 1,600 square feet of patching. The WLCA voted to repair it up to $3,000.

The path, which is used for golf cart and pedestrian traffic, has potholes, which can cause people to stumble. The WLCA has received complaints about the path.

There is no other path on that section of Timberlane Drive and

traffic would have to use the road or grass to avoid the path.

The patching should take about two days and is an easy project. The WLCA has decided to use the same contractor that paved the neighboring Laurel Lake path.

The Laurel Lake path began its repaving Wednesday, Oct. 3, after the WLCA voted to repair it in September. The project fin-ished Monday, Oct. 15. It cost $22,000 to pave the 1,980-foot path that had many tree roots bulging the concrete, making it a safety issue.

Cart path still in limboThe WLCA discussed whether

or not to proceed with a plan to allow golf carts to use a pedes-trian path in The Hammocks.

The proposal first surfaced in August, when Hammocks residents Rod and Ima Storts approached the WLCA about the path’s usage. The Storts told board members it is dangerous for golf carts to travel from The Hammocks across Timberlane Drive to the golf course. The entrance of The Hammocks is located on a bend, making it difficult for golf cart drivers to see fast moving cars around the corner.

Board members say there are few residents that use golf carts on the path.

The WLCA tabled the issue so that two board members who are unsure of the location of the path can inspect it personally, before deciding if the path is necessary. Party will be a scream

The fourth annual Howl-o-ween Party will take place 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27. The WLCA is expecting about 300 to 500 people to attend this year, along with 30 to 50 dogs. Last year 200 people attended.

The party will have a separate dog costume contest and kids costume contest; prizes will be awarded. There are also prizes for every game. Hayrides and a bounce house are all part of the fun.

Weight Watchers, Burlap Dreams and a produce compa-ny are among the different ven-dors that will be on display at the party, which will take place at the Walden Lake dog park. Krystals is donating coupons for goodie bags.

Four plants will be raffled off with proceeds going to the Unit-ed Food Bank.

support by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

COMMUniTY by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

Walden Lake Community Association to repair pathAfter opting to pave the Laurel Lakes path last month, the WLCA will also patch another nearby path in need of repair.

caring about cancerThe South Florida Baptist Hospital’s Cancer Resource Center turned a year old in August.

Amber Jurgensen

Wendy brown and volunteer nola olatubosun have big hearts for the guests of the Cancer Resource Center.

EvEnts

somebody Who cares cancer support 6 to 8 p.m. the second Thursday of every other month, starting in February.colon cancer supportThird Thursday of every monthCancer Resource Center1708 W. Palmetto Ave. 813-644-6720

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bob HenriquezAs a fourth-generation Florida native,

Democrat Bob Henriquez has been able to experience the Hillsborough County life-style for years. His great-grandfather was the last mayor of West Tampa, before it was annexed into the city of Tampa in 1925. Growing up, Henriquez was an All American football player at Tampa Catholic High School, enjoyed going to the beach and spending time with his big family.

But Henriquez’s favorite thing about Hillsborough County was traveling out to Parksdale in Plant City on a clear spring day to savor strawberry shortcake.

Henriquez wanted to leave Hillsborough County to go to col-lege, but knew he always wanted to return to Florida. After high school, Hen-riquez attended to Princeton University and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

“My passion and goal has been to pro-vide community service and give back,” Henriquez said, adding that the political arena is a way to do that.

Henriquez completed his fourth and fi-nal term in the Florida Legislature in 2006 as a state representative for District 58.

In April 2008, Secretary of State Bob But-terworth and Gov. Charlie Crist named Henriquez the Sixth Judicial Circuit ad-ministrator. He headed the Department of Children and Families efforts in Pinel-las and Pasco counties until 2011. He dealt with multimillion-dollar budgets and over-saw about 300 people.

“My reputation is someone who can work with people on both sides of the ta-ble,” Henriquez said. “I can be a very posi-tive force.”

Besides being involved in politics, Hen-riquez also worked as head football coach from 1990 to 1999 at his alma mater, Tam-pa Catholic High School. He was recently inducted as an inaugural member of the Tampa Catholic High School Football Hall of Fame. Henriquez says coaching has parallels to working in the political arena.

“My definition of a coach is someone who can take a group of individuals with God-given talent from point A to point B without them knowing,” Hen-riquez said. “It takes motivation, patience. It’s building a team, dealing with young people, ad-ministration, parents and bud-gets.”

Henriquez decided to make the choice to run for Hillsborough County Property Appraiser after some employees from the office

talked to him about their dissatisfaction with the way things were being ran.

“Rather than talking about it, why don’t I get back into it,” Henriquez said. “The circumstance of the race and the position really appealed to me.”

Henriquez wants to establish better technology in the property appraisers of-fice. He thinks the website should be more user friendly and have more information available.

Henriquez also wants to improve effi-ciency in the office, by having the Property Appraiser’s Office work with other county government offices like the permitting de-partment, code enforcement, emergency management and the tax collector’s office.

“I want to make myself visible and ac-cessible to those in the community and find ways to make it more convenient for people to get access to the Property Ap-praiser’s Office,” Henriquez said.

— Matt Mauney

CANDIDATE PROFILES: Hillsborough County Property Appraiser

James DemioNo-party-affiliation candidate James

DeMio hopes to use his 20 years of real estate experience in the race for Hill-sborough County Property Appraiser.

In those 20 years, 10 have been spent as a licensed broker in Hills-borough County. The rest was spent in a court with jurisdic-tion over real-estate related cases.

Currently, DeMio is the broker/owner of Florida Property International in Tampa and has sold millions of dollars of residential, com-mercial, retail, apartments and office real estate to local and international clients.

“A strong work ethic in any business during these times is impor-tant in staying in business,” he said. “I will put my real-estate knowledge and apply my strong work ethic as a public servant.”

He has managed his own property holdings since 1990 and has repre-sented hundreds of taxpayers in filing federal tax returns.

DeMio plans to change the culture at the Property Appraiser’s Office, say-ing that the biggest issues facing this election are fair taxes and assessments of property values.

“(That) would require lower assess-ments on homeowners and small-business properties, while assuring large corporate property owners pay their fair share of property taxes,” he noted.

This is why he supports voting yes on Amendment 4.

DeMio is a member of the Greater

Tampa Association of Realtors, Florida Gulf Coast Association of Realtors, Na-tional Association of Realtors, Nation-al Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and Women’s Council of Realtors. He is also a volunteer donor for the Red Cross and the McDonald Training Center and has been a mem-

ber of the NAACP, helping raise $22,000 for the Rain-bow Coalition.

When he isn’t working, De-Mio enjoys traveling. With his work in real estate, he has seen the problems faced by Hillsborough County prop-erty owners in tough eco-nomic times.

He said that, in the long run, the real estate market in the county “will fair better

than most parts of the country.” “Until the number of foreclosures

and shorts are reduced, the real-estate market will continue to have abnor-mal and unstable growth.”

DeMio is a Democratic Party pre-cinct leader, but is running no-party affiliation.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in business and finance in 1989 from Ohio State University. From 1990 to 2000, DeMio served as an administra-tor and officer of the Housing Court Division of the Cleveland Municipal Court, overseeing the multimillion dollar budget, payroll and purchas-ing of the 40-employee division. He also testified on nearly 1,000 cases in the enforcement of civil and criminal housing codes, health codes, zoning codes, fire codes, agricultural, air pol-lution and landlord/tenant laws at the court.

— Matt Mauney

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rob townsendNo-party-affiliation candidate Rob

Townsend is concerned with the current policies and trends when it comes to prop-erty appraisals and property rights.

“I intend to use this constitutional office to challenge unconstitutional laws and policies of the current tax system, to represent the peo-ple before interests or agendas,” said Townsend, a lifelong Hill-sborough County resident and Plant City High alum. “I want to uphold the oath of the office to appraise property solely on the Florida Constitution with re-spectful and courteous service at all times.”

Townsend said that he is con-cerned about the sheer number of amendments and the “reckless wording that our legislators are putting on the bal-lot.”

Townsend added that he doesn’t support the DROP Program, saying that the sup-port of the program through property taxes is a “huge travesty.” If elected as Hillsbor-ough County property appraiser, he said he would lobby for a 16-member board to direct state retirement monies, so a cata-strophic loss of funds won’t occur.

“Overvaluing the county to support the DROP Program should not occur,” he add-ed.

Townsend also noted that a return to the agriculture and business schedule is a must with a mandatory compliance of the new Value Adjustment Board rules.

Lastly, Townsend said that he is con-cerned with current appraisals in this mar-ket.

“When the property taxes and insurance are more than the principal payment of the home, something is wrong,” he said. “I

would make fair and steady assessments based on actual value not overheated mar-kets or housing bubbles.”

A farm owner, Townsend said that he has a solid understanding of the green belt and the importance it has on agriculture and property rights.

“I will be able to administer a fair pro-gram for all,” he said.

He also said he understands the 1968 Florida Constitution in respect to the two Department of Revenue schedules.

“I understand the importance of small businesses and manu-facturing to the local economy,” he said. “I believe in an open of-fice with a return to sunshine, and I also believe that my life experi-ences will enable me to manage this office efficiently.”

Townsend has held several jobs in his life, including working in the mines to working in a combined-cycle, power-plant operation presently. He believes that his work ethic will benefit him if elected.

“I understand and represent the values of the hard-working people of this county,” he said. “I conduct myself with high ethi-cal standards with moral values and can be considered a man always willing to stand up for what I believe is right.”

He added that he isn’t afraid to challenge the system or status quo.

Married to his wife, Cathy, with four chil-dren and six grandchildren, Townsend said that he is “supportive of family values in our county.”

In his spare time, Townsend enjoys being outdoors and spending time on his farm as well as hunting and fishing. He also spends a lot of time reading and studying natural science, history and politics.

“I have devoted a lot of time studying the history of the Florida Constitution,” he said..

— Matt Mauney

CANDIDATE PROFILES: Hillsborough County Property Appraiser

ronda stormsRepublican Ronda Storms considered

herself a military brat. Born in Iowa, the state senator moved overseas when she was 4 years old. She lived in Turkey and Germany, and could speak Turkish and navigate the streets by the age of 10.

Storms continues to share that love of travel now with her family. On one trip to Arizona, the family put 2,000 miles on a rental car traveling the state. Like the TV show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” they stopped at a quirky eater-ies just for the adventure.

“Traveling gives you a broader perspective and lets you understand something in a broader spectrum,” Storms said. “I’ve always been thankful for growing up in the military and traveling.”

And, although Storms has been all over the country and overseas, she loves Hillsborough County and calls Brandon home. Her father retired from the Air Force at MacDill Air Force Base. Ronda graduated from Brandon High School and went on to the University of South Florida to get a Bachelor’s in Education in 1988.

Storms taught English at Blooming-dale High School, before attending law school at Stetson University College of Law. Storms says her teaching expe-rience has helped her in the political arena.

“I learned how to talk to people and hold people’s attention,” Storms said. “If you can get graduating seniors to pay attention to you in April, then you can get anyone to listen to you.”

Storms, then, practiced law before

moving onto politics. “I like to do it all and see it all,” Storms

said. “It’s wonderful to be a person who spends her whole life learning.”

Storms has spent many years vol-unteering for political campaigns for candidates who include Buddy John-

son, Chris Cors and George W. Bush. Storms was on the Hillsborough County Com-mission from 1998 to 2006. She was elected state senator in 2006.

Storms chose to run for Hillsborough Country Prop-erty Appraiser after a porn email scandal surrounding former Property Appraiser Rob Turner erupted.

“From my perspective, we couldn’t let it go on and if no one was going to step up from my party, I would,” Storms said. “It was poisonous for morale and poisonous for advance-ment in the office.”

Storms beat incumbent Rob Turner in the GOP primary with 70% of the vote.

As a former attorney, Storms consid-ers herself more experienced in land use and property rights which makes her an ideal candidate for property ap-praiser.

Storms wants to maintain greenbelt policies to keep agricultural areas des-ignated for agriculture.

“If that farmland converts, you change the flavor of the community,” Storms said. “That’s a problem for the community, families and businesses.”

Storms also wants to make the Prop-erty Appraiser’s Office more accessible to its constituents and have services available to the broad range of people that live in Hillsborough County.”

— Matt Mauney

PlantCityObserver.com 7 Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

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NEWSBRIEFS+ School board approves raises

The Hillsborough County School Board approved pay increases for teachers, administrative support staff, non-represented employees and administrators Oct. 9.

Instructional-support employee raises were approved in September.

Eligible teachers, admin-istrative support staff and administrators will advance one pay level and all pay levels will increase by 1.5%. Eligible instructional-support workers will advance two pay levels.

The district will continue to pay the cost of fingerprint monitoring for about 20% of employees and for the employee-only, health-insur-ance premium designated by the board. In addition, committees will be formed to study salaries for nursing positions and bilingual aides, and the district will cover the full cost of uniforms for eligible employees.

The negotiated settlement for teachers also includes $1,000 bonuses for national board-certified teachers with 10 documented hours of mentoring or tutoring. Certain exceptional-student-education teachers also will be eligible for $500 bonuses.

Raises for employees represented by Hillsborough School Employees Federation will begin Oct. 19, and retroactive pay will be in their Nov. 2 pay-checks. Raises for employees represented by the teachers union also will appear on Nov. 2, and their retroactive pay will be in their Nov. 16 payments.

+ Choir warms up for fall concert

The Plant City Community Choir will present “An

Evening with the Masters” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at First Presbyterian Church, 404 W. Reynolds St.

Tickets are $5 in advance; $7 at the door.

For more information, visit pccommunitychoir.com or call concert manager Joyce nestor at (813) 493-1979.

+ Bayada opensPlant City office

Bayada Home Health Care will host an open house for its new Plant City office from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, at 108 Southern Oaks Drive.

Bayada offers home care, nurses and aides, through-out the Tampa Bay region. Services include pediatrics, adult nursing, assistive care and more. The new office will expand its reach into Eastern Hillsborough and Polk counties, Director Madeline scannell said.

Attendees will enjoy food, refreshments and more at the open house.

For more information, call Bayada, (813) 754-4805.

Meetings & agendas Plant city commission — 7:30 p.m. second and fourth Mondays, 302 W. Reynolds St., Plant City. Hillsborough county commission — 9 a.m. first and third Wednesdays, second floor of County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Hillsborough county school board — 3 p.m. second and fourth Tuesdays, 901 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Walden lake community association — 6 p.m. third Mondays, 3035 Griffin Blvd., Walden Lake.

Members of the Astin and Swin-dle families were present for the ribbon cutting of the Evelyn and Batista Madonia Agricultural Cen-ter Oct. 12, at the Strawberry Fes-tival grounds.

“Isn’t this a wonderful occa-sion, isn’t this a wonderful day for the city of Plant City and the Strawberry Festival,” Mayor Mike

Sparkman said to a crowd of more than 300 people.

The 33,000-square-foot build-ing took three years to complete. It will be used for trade shows, ban-quets and events.

Two pavilions flank both sides of the agricultural building. The pavilion on the west side of the Madonia center is named for Ed

and Myrtle Lou Swindle; the one on the east side is named for the Astin family. The pavillions will provide more space than tents, which means more entries in fes-tival competitions.

Memorial bricks are still avail-able for $150 each. Contact KeeLee Tomlinson at keelee@flstrawber-ryfestival.com to get a brick.

Madonia Ag Center honored with ribbon cuttingCOMMUNITY by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

Photos by Amber Jurgensen

The astin family was a big donor to the agricultural building.

The swindle family was also a big donor.The Strawberry Court was present serving punch and greeting guests.

The state-of-the art Ag Center will be used for shows and banquets and will be the staple location for Florida Strawberry Festival events.

emma arkins, lauren Madera, John banks and cheyenne sommer represented the Tomlin and Strawberry Crest FFA chapters.

Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 20128 PlantCityObserver.com

the presentation. Mike Nelson flew up to New

Jersey to train and see other as-semblies and banquets. The Plant City native brought back what he learned to his community and started a local chapter about four years ago. He left his position as the youth pastor at Church of God to focus on The Youth Alliance full time as the chief operations offi-cer.

“He’s able to make an impact on students on a broader scale now,” Nelson said. “He’s very passionate about helping.”

Tickets to the Jeans and Jacket Gala are $60 per person or $480 per table, which seats eight peo-ple. A prime rib dinner will be served.

A number of celebrity guests will be present for a meet and greet. Anthony “Booger” McFar-land, a former defensive tackle with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NHL hockey player Jassen Cul-limore, Seth Franco, a former Harlem Globetrotter, and WWE’s “Little Boogyman,” Chris Holly-field, are among the athletic spe-cial guests for the evening.

A silent auction with prizes, including signed jerseys, auto-graphed footballs, stadium club seat tickets and other sports memorabilia, such as helmets, baseballs and bats, will help raise more money for The Youth Alli-ance.

Nelson came up with the theme of the event. Mike Nelson coordi-nated the silent-auction items and celebrity guests along with the

help of Darek Sharp, who works in sports radio as a host and pro-ducer, and Mark Cook, a writer for a Buccaneer digital paper and a sports radio host, who were able to contact many of the athletes.

The Mike Storter Award will also be given out to someone in the community who demonstrates character and devotion to service. Six nominations were received for the award.

“He was a huge role model to the community, and we wanted to honor Mike,” Nelson. “He rep-resents everything The Youth Alli-ance stands for, helping and work-ing with kids.”

Mike Storter was a health and physical education teacher at Plant City High School and was involved with college ministry at First Baptist Church of Plant City. He died from leukemia this sum-mer at age 45.

“We are excited about the event,” Nelson said. “We wanted something to be fun, but still a nice event.”

Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.

IF YOU GOJeans and Jacket GalaWhen: 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27Where: Strawberry Festival Expo Hall, 303 Lemon St. Price: $60 per person, $480 per table Website: jeansandjacket.orgcontact: (813) 719-0245

school he joined the Navy. Upon completion of boot camp, he at-tended an officer-training pro-gram, for which he took classes at Georgia Institute of Technology. He then went on to join ROTC at the University of South Carolina, where he also played football.

During his time at the Univer-sity of South Carolina, he was quarterback in the first Gator Bowl. More than 15,000 people watched him play.

“That is a proud and happy memory,” Smith said. “It was a thrill for those of us who partici-pated.”

Smith took many math, sci-ence and engineering classes at college, but wanted to study liberal arts instead. However, he graduated in 1946 with a bach-elor’s of engineering from the University of South Carolina.

“Back then they were training people to be part of a war,” Smith said.

But, Smith finally got to study what interested him. He graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law with high honors as first in his class in 1949. Smith prac-ticed law for a short period of time un-til he received a scholarship to study at the University of Oxford in England.

He originally started earning his baccalaureate of law, but after a year switched to graduate stud-ies in private and international law, which was the equivalent of conflict law in the U.S. Except for the cold and rain, Smith loved his three years studying abroad.

“It was an enlightening time for me,” Smith said. “I had never really had a normal university experience because I had to do naval training in college while in the service. That was always hurry, hurry, hurry, catch up to something.”

Smith kept his athletic spirit up at Oxford. He went out for English rugby at first, thinking it might be similar to football.

“I learned very quickly that English rugby and American football were two different things,” Smith said.

Lacrosse was the next alter-native. Smith ended up playing for three years and lettered in lacrosse after playing the Univer-sity of Cambridge.

Smith also played basketball for three years, which was a club sport in England.

After becoming a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford in 1952, Smith came back to the U.S. and joined the faculty at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he taught for a year.

In September 1954, Smith joined the Carlton Fields law firm and became active in the Young Lawyers Division of the Ameri-can Bar Association. He has been part of the American Bar Associa-tion for 55 years.

Smith was sworn in as the president of the ABA in 1980 in Australia, where he spoke on how to make legal services available to the poor and made it his life’s mission.

“I think law has a desirable social goal, a useful goal,” Smith said. “It’s about mak-ing a notable contri-bution. It’s not about money for me.”

Smith helped save the federally funded Legal Ser-vices Corp., after former Presi-dent Ronald Reagan announced a plan to eliminate it. He brought 100 leaders representing 300 as-sociations to Washington, D.C., to lobby and testify on behalf of the LSC, which handled approxi-mately 1.5 million cases at the time.

For his humanitarian efforts, he has received various awards such as the B’nai B’rith National Humanitarian Award.

Smith has obtained many no-table accomplishments, includ-ing the president of the American Bar Association, chair emeritus of Carlton Fields, 12 honorary degrees at the doctorate level and the Distinguished American Award in the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

When I left teaching to be-come a stay-at-home mother, I did it for one reason — to be with my babies.

According to Sal-ary.com, which asked thousands of mothers to complete a detailed survey about how they spend their days managing a household and raising their chil-dren, Pajama Mamas are worth more than $112,000 annually, in today’s dollars.

Aside from my side job as freelance journalist, I’ve earned more than $500,000 in paychecks never received.

It seems shocking, but I wear a lot of hats.

I’m a chef, a personal shop-per, a maid, a lawn service, a chauffeur, a nanny, a beautician, a referrer, a doctor, a counselor, a teacher — and the list goes on.

It seems there is still a group of people in America who thinks that stay-at-home moms sit on the couch eating Cheetos and watching Oprah all day. There

may be some — but not those who truly embrace their calling.

With the presidential elec-tion just 20 days away, there has been a “war on women” waged. Stay-at-home mother Ann Rom-ney — wife of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney — has taken a few blows for her career as a stay-at-home mother who raised five boys.

According to Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, Ann Romney “never worked a day in her life.”

In response to Rosen, Ann Romney tweeted, “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.”

Rosen’s statement makes my blood boil, and I’m sure it infuri-ates every stay-at-home mother across the country.

I would never criticize a woman who chooses to be a career woman over a stay-at-home mom, or the mother who is financially unable to stay at home and must work.

However, just as I respect your job, I would appreciate the same respect for mine.

I do have the privilege of wearing my pajamas until noon, but sometimes, I may not even have time for a shower. When my kids were babies, I smelled like formula and baby puke most of the time.

I get to watch television all day; however, cartoons really can get to me after a while — es-pecially when I find myself sing-ing melodies from the shows when I finally get my shower.

I don’t have to deal with rude co-workers, but, sometimes, it gets so lonely that I start to miss any kind of adult interaction.

My husband will never truly understand what I go through every day. (Although, I’ve left the kids with him on weekends just so he can get a taste.)

Working mothers get to escape the insanity of mother-hood for eight hours a day. They have more money to spend on vacations. I haven’t had one of those since before the kids were born.

They have a more active social life and can feel the satisfac-tion of balancing a career and a family.

It’s the eight hours of the day that they have to miss of their children’s lives that make the escape from insanity not worth it for me.

I would gladly give up trips to Disney for the memories I have of my children’s first steps and first words. I realize you can’t get back moments in time after they happen.

I also realize there’ll be time for embracing me in 14 years. That seems so long away — and so close — all in one.

One day, they will move out, and I will have all the time in the world to pursue my own desires.

I love America, because, as women, we get to choose our path, whether it be a working woman or stay-at-home mother.

I have been richly blessed being a Pajama Mama, and no six-digit salary could compare.

The love and appreciation of my children is priceless.

Emilie Plants, a Plant City native, is a stay-at-home mother of two, freelance journalist and a former Florida Strawberry Festi-val Queens Court member.

What is a mother’s work worth?PAjAmA mAmA

EmILIEPLANTS

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding

principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly

progressive policy.” Friedrich Hayek

“Road to Serfdom,” 1944

ObserverPLANT CITY

Publisher / Felix Haynes, fhaynes@PlantCityObserver.com

Managing Editor / Michael Eng, meng@PlantCityObserver.com

Assistant Managing Editor / Jess Eng, jeng@PlantCityObserver.com

Associate Editors / (Community) Amber Jurgensen, ajurgensen@PlantCityObserver.com; (Sports) Matt Mauney, mmauney@PlantCityObserver.com Advertising Executives / Veronica Prostko, vprostko@PlantCityObserver.com; Ronda Kyler, rkyler@PlantCityObserver.com

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Accounting Manager / Petra Kirkland, pkirkland@PlantCityObserver.com

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Advertising Graphic Designers / Monica DiMattei, mdimattei@yourobserver.com; Marjorie Holloway, mholloway@yourobserver.com; Luis Trujillo, ltrujillo@yourobserver.com; Chris Stolz, cstolz@yourobserver.com

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Matt Walsh110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100A

Plant City, Fla. 813-704-6850

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to aDvertiseCall veronica Prostko or ronda Kyler at 704-6850.

senD Us yoUr neWsWe want to hear from

you. Let us know about your community events, celebrations and family member achievements. To contact us, send your information via: Email: michael Eng, meng@plantcityobserver.com

mail: The Plant City Observer, 110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100-A, Plant City, FL 33563

contact UsThe Plant City Observer is published once weekly,

on Thursdays. It provides free home delivery to several neighborhoods in Plant City. The Plant City Observer also can be found in many commercial locations throughout Plant City and at our office, 110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100-A.

If you wish to discontinue home delivery or if you wish to suspend home delivery temporarily, call linda lancaster at 704-6850.

FaMe/PaGe 1

Gala/PaGe 1

Courtesy

reece smith

The gala has many sports prizes and athletic speakers. “my husband is very much a sports fan,” Peggy nelson said of her husband, Mike.

PlantCityObserver.com 9 Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

Customers and former employees of Plant City Outback Steakhouse

If you or someone you know has experience with a slippery floor at the Plant City Outback Steakhouse or if you are a former employee of Outback or know a former employee of Outback and have information about slippery floors at the Plant City Outback please contact:

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neiGHbors

ED DUNCANLongtime travel enthusiast Ed Dun-

can will now have more time for that passion.

“A lifelong ambition and desire of mine is to visit Australia,” said Dun-can, who recently retired as a colonel with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office after a 34-year career in law en-forcement. “We plan to make a lengthy stay in Australia if we get the oppor-tunity,” he said about himself and his wife.

Duncan, 56, officially retired Sept. 22, and says that the biggest adjustment has been not being on alert.

“The biggest thing has been getting used to the quiet,” he said, noting that he has been on call for more than 25 years.

A retired friend of Duncan’s told him that he wouldn’t realize the stress level of day-to-day service in law enforce-ment until it was over.

“Any moment you could be called into action,” he explained. “Going from a million miles a minute all the time to zero is a big adjustment.”

Duncan isn’t going into his retire-ment blind, saying that he has been thinking about it for a while. One of the things he says makes the transition easier is having a network of friends outside of the field.

“That’s a healthy part of the profes-sion, to have that outside involve-ment,” he said. “Like with everything, that career will come to an end one day.”

Duncan mentioned that he has friends involved with strawberry farm-

ing and cattle ranching, saying the lat-ter has always been an interest of his and something that he is considering pursuing in his retirement.

“All my life I’ve been interested in the

cattle business,” he said, noting that he has been a member of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association for more than 15 years.”

Duncan got involved with that

through law enforcement, serving in the agricultural unit as a sergeant.

“I’ve always had an interest in raising cattle,” he said. “It’s not something that I would do as a total means to a liveli-hood, but that type of business is very interesting to me.”

Duncan is currently in the process of searching for a piece of land for a small herd.

Looking back on his long career in law enforcement, Duncan says many stories stand out. But one in particular left a lasting memory, because it hap-pened right here in Plant City, which Duncan has called home for more than 30 years.

It was on a Friday in December three years ago, when the city was having its annual Christmas parade. There was a shooting by a homicide suspect who fired several rounds, killing an inno-cent bystander.

Duncan helped coordinate a massive manhunt with all of the surrounding jurisdictions. The manhunt led to the apprehension of the shooter.

“A situation like that can be chaotic, but it takes an effort where all units are working together,” he said.

Duncan had one more memory to add to his bank a few months ago, when he helped coordinate law enforcement for the Republican National Conven-tion in Tampa.

In addition to traveling, Duncan said he is a runner and outdoor enthusiast. He plans on having some more time for these passions in his retirement.

— Matt Mauney

Col. ed Duncan, right, received a plaque from Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee during Duncan’s retirement ceremony Sept. 22.

Col. Ed Duncan is still adjusting to a quieter life of not being on call in retirement.

BUSINESS | PLANT C ITY L IFE | OBITUARIES | GAMES | RELIGION | SPORTS

NeighborhoodplantcityObserver.cOm THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

Last week, students on the cam-pus of Durant High School could be seen using walkers, wearing feather boas and posing as ring leaders during the school’s homecoming spirit week.

Wednesday, Oct. 10 was Elderly Day, when students came decked in gray wigs and bifocal glasses and were seen using canes and walkers.

Gangsters and flappers were abound the following day for Roar-ing Twenties Day.

That evening, Durant held its an-nual homecoming parade, featur-ing a circus theme, as floats parad-ed around the track at the football stadium. Students dressed as lions and, of course, Durant’s mascot, the cougar.

After the junior varsity game Oct. 11, the varsity cheerleaders were hit with pies in the face, and Principal Pam Bowden was slimed. The Du-rant step team also performed.

The week concluded with a 49-0 varsity football win over Chamber-lain Friday, Oct. 12, and the home-coming dance Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Strawberry Festival grounds.

teen spirit

durant spirit week by amber Jurgensen and matt mauney

Students at Durant High showed their school spirit last week, leading up to the homecoming game against Chamberlain.

Freshmen lacy Howard, sydney soloman, chase spieldenner and megan short embraced the circus theme on their homecoming float.

Durant Principal pam bowden was doused in slime as part of a homecoming tradition.

Danielle Oberle, megan short and amery van De Grift couldn’t wait to get on the dance floor.

Katie Gonzalaz and victoria Fanning looked like fabulous flappers on 1920’s day.

connor Kurtz came dressed as a lion and was confined to a cage on the freshman homecoming parade float.

tyler roberts and elisa Denton cozy up at the homecoming dance.

chris Deshong, mackenzie navicky and Dallas cline mix flappers and aviators for a jazzy 1920’s theme.

natalie Knopp and macaley barrow wore matching boas during Durant’s spirit week. tyler Flack, trevor cantrell and Konnore long were having a blast at the dance.

David sands dons a pinstripe suit.

PlantCityObserver.com 11 Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

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MICHIGAN. Plant City residents Jim and Patty branz, and their daughter, Katie, took the Plant City Observer to read while on vacation in Cedar Springs, Mich. The family enjoyed high temperatures of only 64 degrees while relaxing at Patty’s aunt and uncle’s lake house.

IT’S READ EVERYWHERE!

If you’re going on vacation, remember to grab a copy of the Plant City Observer to take with you. Snap a photo of you with the paper

at your destination of choice and email it to Managing Editor Michael eng, meng@plantcityobserver.com. Make sure you

include your full name and where the photo was taken.

Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 201212 PlantCityObserver.com

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Sirens sounded Oct. 12, for the preschoolers at the First Baptist Church of Plant City. But there was no emergency. Three fire-fighters and a shiny red truck from Plant City Fire Rescue came out to show and tell for Community Day at the school.

Capt. James Wingo, Lance Borgers and Jason Mesa talked with 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, showing them firefighting equipment, blaring the siren and rais-

ing a 75-foot ladder.The 2-year-olds were

a bit frightened by the noise and commotion, but some ventured to sit in the driver’s seat. The 3- and 4-year-olds loved the truck.

So far, the school has had a police officer come for the community unit, in which the students learn about heroes in town. The school also hopes to have a nurse come to talk with the students.

Firefighters visit First Baptist preschoolers

All fiRED Up by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

sawyer Johnson, Gavin stuart and bronson smith were interested in what the firefight-ers had to say.

camdyn Mosley took her teddy bear to sit on the front bumper of the truck with her.

Dax tharrington was ready to honk the horn. casey Jarrett thought the fire truck was neat.

PlantCityObserver.com 13 Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

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Golfers from the community gathered Oct. 13, at the Walden Lake Golf and Country Club, for a golf tour-nament benefiting the Plant City Lions Club.

Leos from the lo-cal high schools came out to help. The tour-nament lasted from noon to 5 p.m. Raf-fles and prizes were awarded. Golfers had a chance to score a hole-in-one to win a new four-seat golfer.

Publisher Felix Haynes and Associate Editor Matt Mauney played on the Plant City Observer team.

Lions Club Golf Tournament a hole-in-one

tee off by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

Strawberry Crest Leos helped the president of the Plant City Lions Club, Kerrie Gafford, with the tournament.

Kellee Kudzinski and Jana butler

verna McKelvin and bob clark

Associate Editor Matt Mauney played for the Plant City Observer team.

OBSERVEROBITUARIESBetty J. Busby

Betty J. Busby, of Knoxville, Tenn., and formerly of Plant City, died Oct. 6, at UT Medi-cal Center.

Mrs. Busby worked as a teach-er, a seamstress and a child-care pro-vider at various day cares.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Nathaniel Sr.; her parents, Wilson Tolbert Jr. and LeAnn Clem-entez; grandparents, Wilson Sr. and Lilly Tolbert; and two sisters.

She is survived by a daughter, An-drea (Eugene) Busby; sons, Nathan-iel, Jr., Christopher, Amos (Maya) and Allen Busby; grandson, Na-thaniel III; 17 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two sisters; two brothers; and many other relatives and friends.

Virginia Calderon CampbellVirginia Calderon Campbell, 65, of

Wesley Chapel, died Oct. 7, at HPH Hospice, in Dade City.

Born July 18, 1947, in Carlsbad, N.M., she was the daughter of the late Manuel Calderon and the late Manu-ela Vigil Calde-ron.

She was the owner of Housekeeping by Virginia, a

member of Just Church in Zephy-rhills, a member of the Christian Net-work, and was a loving and adoring mother.

Survivors include a daughter, Evarista Marie Campbell; brothers,

Miguel, Daniel and Samuel Calde-ron; sisters, Margarita Gentry and Naomi Calderon; and many nieces, nephews, family and friends.

She was predeceased by her broth-er, Raul Calderon.

Services are pending at this time.Online condolences may be made

to the family at haughtfuneralhome.com.

Bernice FutchBernice Futch, 94, of Plant City,

and born in Franklin, Ky., died Sept. 30, following complications from a fall.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Aaron Futch, and grandson, Gregory Futch.

She is survived by her children, Helen Graves (Ken), Ronald Futch (Faye), Lester Futch (Dorinda) and Chester Futch (Corinne); siblings, Carolyn Jordan and Billy Grace (Joanne); seven grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

The family received friends Oct. 3, at Hopewell Funeral Home, Plant City. A Celebration of Life was held Oct. 4, at Springhead Church of Christ. Interment followed at Mount Enon, Plant City.

Online condolences may be made to the family at hopewellfuneral.com.

Wade E. KirkpatrickWade E. Kirkpatrick, 53, of Plant

City, Died Oct. 7, at home. Mr. Kirkpatrick was born in Ham-

ilton, Ontario, Canada. He was mar-ried to Jandira DeOliveira, who sur-vives.

Other survivors include his moth-er, Dorothy S. Kirkpatrick; one son, Nolan J. Kirkpatrick; two brothers,

Drew and Rex Kirkpatrick; and one sister, Tara Kirkpatrick.

A celebration of was held Oct. 10, at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Plant City.

Charles ‘Buddy’ RogersCharles “Buddy” Rogers, 47, of

Plant City, died Oct. 9, after a sudden struggle with cancer.

Mr. Rogers was born on Feb. 12, 1965, in Plant City. His passion was music, including Bach, rock and lul-labies.

He is survived by his parents, En-nis and Betty Rogers; children, Josh-ua, Connor and Guinevere; wife, Melissa; sisters, Judy (Gary) Brin-kley, Catheryne MacPherson, Beth (Joe) Campoamor, Susanne (Frank) Frangie; brothers, Michael (JoAnne), Bruce (Cindy), Daniel and John (Judy); and numerous nieces, neph-ews, aunts, uncles and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, please make do-nations to the American Cancer So-ciety.

Dora WilliamsMrs. Dora Williams, 75, of Plant

City, died Sept. 17, in Plant City.Survivors include a daughter, Pa-

tricia Carmartie; three grandchil-dren, Tommy McKinnie, of Brandon, and Trenchia and Torrance McKin-nie, of Plant City; seven great-grand-children and may other relatives and friends.

A memorial service was Sept. 22, at Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Plant City. A funeral service was held Sept. 23, at St. Joseph A.M.E. Church in Chipley, with the Rev. Anthony McKinnie officiating.

Interment followed in the St. Jo-seph Cemetery, with the Cooper Fu-neral Home of Chipley directing.

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A wide array of booths, from nail paint-ing to football-throwing contests, were buzzing with activity Friday, Oct. 12, at Advantage Acade-my for its fourth annual Harvest Hoedown.

Students of all ages came out to play. A bounce house was con-stantly rocking. One of the most popular booths was the dunk tank. A booth where students could throw pies at their P.E. teacher also had a constant line.

Cotton candy and other treats were avail-able for those with a sweet tooth.

Advantage Academy students enjoy annual festharvest hoedown by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

elian Garcia pies his P.E. teacher, larry bass, in the face.

clara bruce alex rodriguez Maddie Madenis

ariel navarrete, alana Watts, Kendall Jones, Jagger Jones and Dale Matthews

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Y O U T H | H I G H S C H O O L | G O L F | S E N I O R S | C O M M U N I T Y | T E N N I S

SportsATHLETE OF

THE WEEKAustin

Eldridgeis a triple threat. 18

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012PLANTCITYObserver.COm

Nothing says football like old people, pirates and ’20s-style gangsters.

Am I right, or am I right?Durant held its Homecoming

Spirit Week last week, and stu-dents at Plant City and Strawberry Crest are showing their school spirit this week.

Spirit Weeks are nothing new, but it’s always interesting to see what students come up with. I’ve had a chance to visit all three

schools through-out the past two weeks and can tell you that there is no shortage of school spirit in Plant City.

In comparison to my former coverage schools in Georgia, it’s not even close. Not to say that those schools didn’t

have school pride, but students down here seem to relish these opportunities.

For instance, last week students at Durant not only came cos-tumed as the elderly, but many remained in character through-out the day. Some even adopted names, including “Pappy” (a guy dressed as a woman) and “Edna” (a girl dressed as a man).

Plant City wasn’t to be outdone, as students also sported walkers and canes last Friday, for the first day of its Spirit Week. This time, it was Generation Day, for which each class was directed to come dressed as a different age, with freshmen as babies and seniors as senior citizens. Many of those stu-dents also remained in character, especially the seniors.

This all got me thinking about

SHOW ME THE MAUNEY

MATTMAUNEY

Durant High’s softball team is five months removed from bring-ing home the school’s first state softball championship.

A week ago, the team gathered to relive that moment and that his-toric and emotional playoff run. As the team members gathered on the track at halftime of the Durant junior varsity football game Oct. 11, waiting to receive their Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) state title rings, the girls were all smiles. But last spring was full of both smiles and tears.

May 4, just a week before the Lady Cougars began the state play-

offs, Antoinette Cuellar, “Momma C,” lost her battle with breast can-cer. Cuellar’s daughter, Olivia, was a senior shortstop for Durant.

Current senior Paige Davis, who was one of the big-time perform-ers for Durant in the postseason, says that the team banded togeth-er to win in the memory of Antoi-nette Cuellar.

“I think that helped us play to-gether as a team and, when we were behind, we used it as motiva-tion to step up our game,” Davis says. “She was our guardian angel throughout the whole playoffs.”

Although the events of the sea-

son certainly affected Olivia Cuel-lar more than anyone, she says looking back on the 8-2 win over Miami Palmetto to win Durant’s first softball state championship was a “great feeling.”

“Coming back to this school, it makes me remember that night and it was special for me, and I bet it was special to the rest of the school,” she says.

Durant entered the state play-offs as a dark horse, but the team pulled out several come-from-be-hind victories to finish a remark-

Durant softball relives historic title run

The Durant High offense is averaging 34 points per game with 235 rushing yards per con-test.

That offense has certainly been a key part in the Cougars’ 6-0 start to the season, despite going up against big names de-fensively, including Wharton’s

Vernon Hargreaves III — a five-star cornerback committed to the University of Florida — or Plant City’s Devyn Salmon, a defensive lineman committed to Michigan State.

But equally, if not more im-pressive this season, has been the Cougars’ defense. Individu-

ally, there aren’t any blue-chip-pers. Most of this group prob-ably won’t even play at the next level, much less for a big-time Division I program.

But, collectively, the group is a solid, cohesive unit that is well-disciplined and relies on fundamentally sound football.

“They’re lunch-bucket type guys who come to work every-day,” says Durant head coach Mike Gottman. “That’s how a team gets better, by coming to work everyday and trying to get a little bit better.”

Durant is giving up fewer than five points per game this year. The Cougars have allowed only one double-digit score in six games, in a 13-12 grind-it-

out battle with a good Wharton team.

Half of those six wins were shutouts, including a 49-0 dominate showing against Chamberlain last week.

“The kids are fundamentally sound and have bought into our system,” says defensive co-ordinator Kevin Kelley. “They trust the system and each oth-er.”

There were question marks up front coming into the sea-son, especially with the line-backing corps, after losing se-niors to graduation.

“Those questions have been answered as we’ve had some kids step up,” Kelley says. “Our defensive line has actually been a strength for us, as well as linebacker.”

Matt Mauney

Durant’s 2011-12 softball team received its Class 8A state champi-onship rings Oct. 11, at halftime of the junior varsity football game.

put a ring on it by matt mauney | Associate Editor

Durant’s first state championship capped off a season full of highs and lows.

Matt Mauney

The Durant High defense has been virtually impossible to put up points against this season.

see sOFTbALL / PAGe 16

DOMINATE DEFENSE

A shutdown defense is a big reason why the Durant High Cougars are 6-0.

SEE GAME / PAGE 16 SEE MAUNEY / PAGE 16

by matt mauney | Associate Editor

GAME OF THE WEEK

Newsome at DuraNt | 7:30 p.m. oct. 18

Homecoming weeks bring fun into sports

Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 201216 PlantCityObserver.com

According to Gottman, that’s because several players took on additional roles, such as starting tight end Paxton Sims filling in at free safety, and Randy Baker, who moved from corner to strong safety. Baker currently leads the team in tackles with 39.

“It comes down to everybody doing their jobs,” Baker says about the success of the defense. “We lost some of our top tacklers, but we’ve found the guys to get the job done, and we’ve all been working hard to just get better.”

Up front, the Cougars are led by Michael Mendez, Chris Powell, Dontriell Perry and Zach Whitney.

Linebacker Zack Hoffman came into the year as a leader and has filled that role nicely. The senior has 29 total tackles along with an interception and a forced fumble this season.

Gottman also mentioned Chris Smith and Tyler Moody as players who have been key cogs in the defensive success of his team. Senior corner Terry Grimsley is tied with Hoffman with 29 tackles and had a key interception return for a touchdown against Wharton.

Speaking of turnovers, the Durant de-fense has been opportunistic this season, coming up with 18 turnovers (six inter-ceptions and 12 fumble recoveries), giving its team a plus-14 turnover differential.

Durant will once again be tested this week as it prepares to host district foe Newsome. The Wolves are 3-3 on the year but sit on top of the 7A District 8 standings along with Durant at 2-0.

Like Durant, Newsome is a run-heavy team, running its offense out of the old Wing-T formation. Senior quarterback Will Worth, who comes in averaging 116 rushing yards per game, leads the Wolves.

“It’s going to be a war,” Gottman says. “It always is with them. It’s going to come down to which team executes better and makes the least amount of mistakes, be-cause it’s going to be a barn burner.”

Spirit Week during my high school days. In a nutshell, there wasn’t a whole lot of school spirit at my high school. Granted, our football team was terrible, but it still would have been great to have the kind of pride I’ve witnessed in area schools here in Plant City.

In metro Atlanta, my high school was very much a basketball school. USA Today even had us ranked No. 2 in the nation my fresh-man year. Some students lobbied for home-coming week to fall during the basketball season, hoping that would increase partici-pation. That never happened, and our spirit weeks became busts year after year.

So few people dressed up that you were seen as uncool if you did participate.

I got the opposite impression as I’ve toured area schools the past two weeks.

Sure, all three area schools are having pretty good-to-great seasons, but I think it’s more than that. There seems to be a sense of pride here.

All three schools are fairly close to one another and have other connections between them. Some students live in one zoning district but attend a different school, as is the

case with some of the students in the IB pro-gram at Strawberry Crest.

Being competitive in football helps, but I think it’s safe to say that at least some of the students who put on wigs and dressed as their favorite movie characters don’t care that much about football.

These students do it for the sheer fun of it. After all, that’s what it’s all about.

As a high school senior in 2004-2005, a group of my friends tried our best to make our senior year memorable by attending football games and participating in things such as Spirit Week.

I’m proud to say that it sort of worked. I left with some great memories, and our football team that year won six games, the most in two decades. The team even made the state playoffs, however, we were blown out in the first round.

I love that students here are not waiting un-til their senior years to make those memories. Some might view events such as Spirit Week as hokey or lame. Sometimes, depending on the theme, it might be.

But, if it leaves a positive memory, isn’t it worth it?

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able playoff run. “We had more post-season home runs than

we did the entire regular season,” says head coach Matt Carter.

Carter explained that a mid-season tourna-ment in Bartow was the turning point of the year.

“We made some defensive changes and went undefeated from then on,” he says. “We changed our whole infield up, and it just made a huge difference.”

It was the opening game of the district tour-nament that set the pace for the remainder of the postseason, when the Lady Cougars battled back from an 11-0 deficit to Alonso to come back and win 15-14.

“That was our big turnaround,” Carter says. Durant lost four seniors, but returns a solid

nucleus that has played together for a while and now has the experience of playing for and

winning a state championship. Davis, a pitcher and catcher, will be one of the key returning players, as Durant seeks to defend its state title.

“I really want to get another ring and get to have the ceremony again and have the school see what we accomplished,” the senior says.

In addition to Davis, Carter says that the team brings back a good amount of speed and some new talent.

“We have a lot of good speed coming back and some good bats, and we’re playing fall ball right now, so we’ve seen a lot of the new talent we’ve got with the ninth-graders we have com-ing in,” he says.

Team chemistry is always an important part in the equation of a championship team. Cart-er says that last year everything “just seemed to gel together.

“We should still have some of that,” he says. “We’ve got good leadership coming back, and I think we should be OK.”

IN OTHER ACTIONleto at strawberry crest

last week: Strawberry Crest made some strides last week against Armwood. After suffering an 80-0 loss last year, the Chargers went toe-to-toe with Armwood and trailed by just one score with less than five minutes to play before falling 35-18. tristan Hyde stayed on his record-setting pace with 316 passing yards, but threw a pair of picks to go along with two touchdown strikes to karel Hamilton, who finished with 235 receiving yards. The Chargers will be looking for their first district win against Leto, a team that will be looking for its first win, com-ing in at 0-7. The Falcons fell to Bloomingdale 38-0 last week.

last meeting: Strawberry Crest won its only on-field game of the year last season, beating Leto 37-32. SCHS got a forfeit win against Armwood.

east bay at Plant citylast week: The Raiders fell to

.500 last week with a 27-10 loss at Alonso. Plant City returns home this week for its homecoming game against East Bay. Plant City was outscored 20-7 in the second half against Alonso. East Bay comes in at 2-4 and 1-1 tied, with Plant City in Class 7A District 8 play at 1-1. The Indians are coming off a 33-18 loss at Gaither last week, a team Plant City defeated earlier this season. East Bay rushed for 266 yards in the loss, led by chris carpentier, with 103 yards on 22 carries.

last meeting: Plant City beat East Bay 43-36 last year.

game/Page 15 soFtball/Page 15

maUney/Page 15

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This week’s Cryptogram answers

This week’s Crossword answers

2012

1. A doctor was interviewing a new patient. He got started by saying: “Let’s review your medical history. Do you pay your bills on time?”

2. A girl was smitten and wanted to move things along with her flame. One very scorching day, she started to fan him with a marriage license.

The amount of pies taken to the face by Durant’s varsity cheerleaders Oct. 11, as part of homecoming festivities.

JUSTTHESTATS14

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Amount of kills Strawberry Crest freshman Terra Brooks recorded for her team Monday in a 3-0 win at Freedom.

The amount of nights until the next high school varsity football game. All three area schools will be playing on a special night Thursday, Oct. 18, because there is no school Friday.

Amount of points the Strawberry Crest girls’ swim team earned Oct. 10 as the Lady Chargers finished fourth at the annual Western

Conference meet. The boys team finished fifth with 232 points.0244

The finishing place for Plant City’s Diana corzine dur-ing the Armwood Invitational Oct. 12,

at the University of South Florida Golf Course. She was the top fin-isher for the Lady Raiders out of a field of 128 runners.

34

Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 201218 PlantCityObserver.com

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ATHlETE Of THE wEEk by Matt Mauney | Associate Editor

Austin EldridgEAustin Eldridge, 13, is a wide receiver/defensive end for the 9-0 Plant City Dolphins

junior varsity team. He has played football since he was 6 years old and has been a member of four teams that advanced to the league’s Super Bowl, with two of those teams taking home a championship. Austin was also a pitcher and played third base for the Plant City Little League 13-year-old All-Star team that won a state championship this year. In addition to football and baseball, Austin plays basketball for Tomlin Middle School, where he is in the seventh grade. Austin’s Dolphins face the Brandon Bears Sat-urday and will attempt to finish the regular season undefeated.

What are some goals for this Dol-phins team as the season wraps up?

We won our division champion-ship, so that was our first goal. Our second goal is to make it to the Super Bowl, and our third goal would be to win the Super Bowl and go to Raymond James (Stadium) to face anoth-er Super Bowl winner.

When was the last time you were a part of a team that went to a Super Bowl?

2008 What was that experience

like?It was fun, because we were

playing on a professional field. It was really cool.

Do you have a favorite out of the sports you play?

I like football because you get to hit people hard. I like the adrenaline rush when you hit somebody.

Do you have a favorite posi-tion and why?

I’d say defensive end, be-cause you get to hit people.

Do you want to play all

three sports (basketball, baseball and football) in high school?

I’m going to try, but if not, I’ll probably just stick with foot-

ball and baseball.

What was winning a second state baseball championship like this year?

The year was fun, and our coach taught us a lot about baseball, but more

than that, he taught us a lot about God. We had a talk before the game about people who don’t get to do what we get to do. It was an emotional year.

What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the last six months?

Probably “Act of Valor,” because it shows the frontline of war and

what those guys go through.

Favorite food and/or restaurant? The Homewrecker burrito from

Moe’s.

Do you have a favorite pro athlete?

I like Ray Lewis from the Balti-more Ravens, because there’s no quit in him. He hits people hard, and most people are afraid of him. He has no fear.

PlantCityObserver.com 19 Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

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O B S E RV E R C RO S S WO R D

Edited by Timothy E. Parker

CRYPTOGRAMS

1. J I P Z G P L X J Q V M G W L K V W X V M T J M W X U J G V W M G . B W T P G

Q G J L G W I H C Q J C V M T : “ D W G ’ Q L W K V W X C P F L A W I V Z J D

B V Q G P L C . I P C P F U J C C P F L H V D D Q P M G VA W ? ”

2. C E A I G O C H H Q AV V M D C D R O C D V M R V S Q S K M V B A D E H C G S D E

O AV B B M I X G C Q M . S D M K M I F H N S I N B A D E R C F , H B M H V C I V M R

V S X C D B A Q O AV B C Q C I I A C E M G A N M D H M .

ACROSS 1 Refuse sites 6 Big name in

business planes 12 Monthly bill, for

many 17 Serves the purpose 19 Not informed 21 Feathered

companion? 22 Cashing in 24 Feature of some

kitchens 25 Patronal feast 26 Bar and bakery

buys 27 Prefix meaning

“bogus” 28 Publisher’s blunder 32 Rug factor 34 Hostels 35 World bankers’ grp. 38 Leg bones 39 Home stretch? 41 Medicine bottles 44 Joule fraction 45 Impudently bold 47 Canine of primers 51 Dress in finery 52 Slovenly 54 Tummy turners 56 Hardly worth

mentioning 58 Moved like a

mouse 60 Cyma ___ (molding

type) 61 Make furious 64 Catch red-handed 65 Rubbernecker 66 Huge coffeepot 68 Making a fuss 71 “___ showtime!” 72 “American ___”

(Richard Gere movie)

75 Reason to use Stridex

76 Islands in the Bay of Benga

l

79 Parkinson’s disease drug

80 Loves, in the Louvre

82 Paid a visit along the way

85 Galapagos lizards 87 Osso buco

accompanier 90 Sleeper’s rumble 91 Rogen of “The

Green Hornet” 92 Butler on a fictional

plantation 94 “Friend or ___?” 95 Containers that

may be cracked 96 Vowel run after “A” 97 Picture house 100 End of the work

wk. 101 Certain Berenstain

bear 104 Start to cycle? 106 Hitting the fridge at

midnight 108 Herons and ibises,

e.g. 110 No longer duped

by 112 Hash house pan 117 Kelly the clown 118 Making one’s way

with effort 122 Horseshoe maker’s

workshop 123 Tympanum 124 Nancy’s pal, in

comics 125 Plant with aromatic

leaves 126 Most like Solomon 127 Radiator noise

dOwn 1 Fix the socks 2 Iris location 3 Address with a

letter missing? 4 Water or gas carrier

5 Descend a firehouse pole

6 Mangy mutt 7 Compass point

opposite WSW 8 Logging tool 9 Hordes of bees 10 Hardly any 11 Big name in

cosmetics 12 Cinnamon variety 13 “Wizard of Oz”

composer 14 Electric razor brand 15 Gives for a time 16 Poi source 18 Wolf (down) 20 College application

parts 21 Diner’s prerogative 23 “Did ___ and

gimble in the wabe” (“Jabberwocky”)

29 ___ corner (church area)

30 Bulgarian neighbor 31 Didn’t just suggest 33 Prepared for a

photo 35 Tennis star Lendl 36 Spanish Surrealist

Joan 37 Subcontracting 40 Place for a school

dance, often 42 (Has) remained

prone 43 Lip-___ (pretend to

sing) 45 Wedge placed

under a wheel 46 New York prison 47 Meat and potatoes

dish 48 Intercepting 49 Duo, quadrupled 50 Erstwhile Russian

rulers 52 Radius partner 53 Good things to

bring to the table 55 Historical chapter 57 Start for “plane” or

“sol” 59 Dash and splash 62 Thailand, prior to

1939

63 Do ushers’ work 65 Chew like mice do 66 Wrinkly citrus fruits 67 Ruffles potato chip

feature 69 Mukluks wearer 70 “___ much rather

be there” 73 Brilliantly colored

food fish 74 PC linkup letters 77 “No ___, no fuss!” 78 Moffo or

Kournikova 80 “Give it ___!”

(“Try!”) 81 Bulgaria’s capital 83 Rabbit or Fox’s title,

in stories 84 “___ Can” (Sammy

Davis Jr. autobiography)

86 Jackie’s love, for short

88 Nobel-winning author Morrison

89 Angered (with “off”) 93 Second-smallest

continent 96 Like a farm smell 97 Store sights around

Christmas 98 Rainforest haze 99 Signs of life 101 “___ mia!” 102 Governing grp. 103 Athletic contests 105 Eloper’s acquisition 107 Sign on an

elementary school door

108 “Go ___, young man!”

109 Porcine abode 111 Actress Spelling 113 Gehrig and Costello 114 Chowderheads 115 They’ll run if you

drop them 116 Jefferson or Edison

(Abbr.) 119 Wrath 120 Some Greek letters 121 Hr. at the prime

meridian

dOwn On THE FARM by Milton J. Ruff

2

The Plant City girls golf team is headed to regionals.

The Lady Raiders shot a 375 as a team on the 18-hole Lakes course at Walden Lake Golf Club Oct. 15 in the Class 2A District 10 tournament.

Kellyanne Hurst shot a team low 83 for Plant City, placing fifth overall. Freshman Kendall John-son shot a 92 in her first district tournament.

“We left a lot of shots on the putting green, but, overall, I’m pretty excited with our perfor-mance,” said PCHS head coach Meg Jordan.

Steinbrenner won the district title, shooting a 338. Durant will send Krista Reinhardt to regionals as an individual, after the sopho-more shot an 87 and placed sixth overall.

No area team made the cut on the boys side in the District 10 tournament, held Tuesday, at Summerfield Crossing Golf Club in Riverview, but Plant City’s Wil-liam George will be going to the regionals. George played in the group with the low-medalist from Newsome (70) and held strong, shooting a 73 and finishing third overall.

Durant’s Chase Levesque also qualified as an individual, shoot-ing a 75, along with Riverview’s Donte Davis (75).

Strawberry Crest’s Greg Cran-dall fell short of his goal of region-als, with an 86 on the day.

The 2A Region 4 girls tourna-ment will be held Oct. 22, at Coun-tryside Country Club in Clearwa-ter, while the boys regional will be held Oct. 22, at Cypress Run.

Playing a round of 18golf by Matt Mauney | Associate Editor

Area golf teams competed in district tournaments this week, with the girls at Walden Lake and the boys at Summerfield Crossing in Riverview.

Durant’s girls team missed quali-fying as a team, but sophomore Krista reinhardt qualified for regionals as an individual, finish-ing sixth overall.

Durant’s osian Dickerson hit this shot on hole No. 16, while Plant City’s Kory brevik and Strawberry Crest’s clay Joyner watch.

Plant City’s Kellyanne Hurst fin-ished fifth overall, shooting an 83 Monday, at Walden Lake.

chase levesque shot a team-low of 75 Tuesday for Durant, earn-ing a spot at regionals.

Plant City freshman Kendall Johnson shot a 92 in her first district tournament.

Plant city observerTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 201220 PlantCityObserver.com

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