By Gary Nager

An editorial by Gary Nager
An editorial by Gary Nager

I was excited when District 2 Pasco County Commission candidate — and fellow Wesley Chapel (noon) Rotary Club member Mike Moore called me the day our last issue hit mailboxes…that is, excited until he pointed out one of the stupidest errors I’ve committed in my nearly 20 years of doing this job.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a mistake that damaged Mike or his campaign in any way, it just made me look stupid as an editor and spoiled an otherwise outstanding story by assistant editor Matt Wiley, who really was not at fault, even though his name was on the story’s byline and mine wasn’t.

I had confused Mike’s wife Lauren with someone we had previously written about who just happened to be Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco’s sister, and I put a note on Matt’s story to check that fact, which he did…and he told me my mistake, but I still somehow ended up saving the unedited version, so my question appeared in the print version of the story. I was able to quickly make the correction on our on-line edition (at WCNeighborhoodNews.com) the same day, but the damage was done.

Mike forgave me, despite being rightfully annoyed when he saw my boo-boo, but Sheriff Nocco called to laughingly ask me, “So, what’s the big deal about being related to me? Am I such a terrible guy?”

But again, sorry Mike.

‘Anchor’ Weighs Down Rotary Spelling Bee Squad

When I was in the fourth grade, I was the favorite to win our class spelling bee, even though there were plenty of other much smarter kids than me in my class. Spelling was just my thing. But of course, I was only ten years old and there was a lot of pressure, as any parent whose kid is into spelling these days surely knows.

So, even though I spelled words like “mellifluous” and “antidisestablishmentarianism” correctly, I choked on the word “foreign,” which I somehow incorrectly spelled “foriegn,” even though I knew how to spell the word. In short, I choked.

But, when the call went out for spellers to compete with our Wesley Chapel Rotary Club “Bikers & Babes” squad at the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce’s annual “Catch the Buzz” Spelling Bee at “the Hive”/Spartan Manor in New Port Richey on Sept. 12, my teammates Dane Parilo, Leah Marchette and Vicki Hamilton were counting on me to be our “ringer.”

And I did O.K., I guess. Our team finished in a five-way tie for third of 32 four-player teams, after I correctly spelled “gneiss” (a metamorphic rock; which eliminated at least 11 teams) and once had to correct the organizers, who misspelled the word “zeppelin” (they spelled it “zepplin”) in an earlier round.

But somehow, I choked again. Vicki probably knew how to spell “peignoir,” but I overruled her with the incorrect “penoir,” or we would have finished alone in third. And to think, I was a French minor in college, yet both times I’ve choked, it was on an “eign” word of French origin. Yeesh.

 My Thanks To Wesley Chapel Honda

I finally was able to get a new car, after putting nearly 170,000 miles on my 2007 red Honda Civic Si Coupe in more than six years, but if not for my friends at Wesley Chapel Honda, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

Rotary president Eric Johnson works for both Wesley Chapel Honda & Toyota, but he had no influence in my situation. However, the way salesman Paul Hill, finance manager PJ Leary and desk manager Justin Hann handled my unique situation speaks loudly, as does Eric, about the type of people the dealership employs.

I wasn’t easy to finance, I changed my mind mid-stream about the model of car I wanted to buy, and I had previously had a very bad experience at the same dealership when it was under different ownership.

But still, Justin and Paul didn’t let me walk away until they got me in the car I wanted at the fair price I needed and PJ got me financed. So, even though I’ve never had an advertisement in the paper from the new ownership, I genuinely appreciate the way these folks handled their business and will likely be their customer again. For more info, call 929-7200 or visit WesleyChapelHonda.com.

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