Author: John Cotey

Grey Wolf Armory Suffers Second Break-In Since March

Three hooded and gloved suspects knocked a hole in the Grey Wolf Armory wall and made off with more than 30 weapons early Sunday morning, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said.

The PSCO says that between 2:53 and 2:57am, the suspects entered through the east side of the Wesley Chapel gun shop, located at32733 Eiland Blvd., after smashing the exterior lighting and taking advantage of the fact that that side of the building is obscured by hedges.

The suspects made off with 30 hand guns, two long guns and one sniper rifle, leaving in an unknown direction. Other more expensive guns were left untouched.

The business has an alarm, but it was never activated, and the suspects crawled around to avoid surveillance camera and motion detectors, the PCSO said.

This is the second time in two months the Grey Wolf Armory has been broken into. According to a post on the business Facebook page from March 14, someone broke in and damaged a half-dozen guns while smashing a glass display unit, but was only able to make off with a single hand gun thanks to the PCSO’s quick response.

“If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would wonder if someone had it in for us,” a post reads on the Facebook page of the Grey Wolf Armory. The new post suggests that the Sunday break-in was orchestrated by the same people from March, because they tried to break in at the same point as March but found the walls had been reinforced and moved to a more vulnerable spot. They also, the post says, took several guns Sunday that they tried but failed to take the first time.

Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at (800) 706-2488.

New Tampa YMCA Hosting Healthy Kids Day Saturday!

YMCAWEB The New Tampa Family YMCA will host Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. For 25 years, this event has been celebrated at YMCAs across the nation. This year, the focus of this free event – open to everyone in the community – is to inspire more kids to keep their minds and bodies active, especially as the summer months approach.

This year, after several years of participating in one central event for all nine Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA branches, the New Tampa Family YMCA will host its own Healthy Kids Day celebration. Located just off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. next to Compton Park in Tampa Palms, the New Tampa Y will open its doors to the community for a variety of fun activities, all encouraging families to focus on an active lifestyle.

“The New Tampa YMCA is here to support families in healthy lifestyle choices,” says membership director Jill Godfrey Rupp. “Everything you will see and experience at Healthy Kids Day will reflect that.”

Godfrey Rupp says there will be a bounce house, face painting and lots of crafts and activities for kids. They can sample activities to get a feel for some of the Y’s summer day camps, as well as camps offered by vendors, including LEGO learning activities provided by Bricks 4 Kids.

There also will be games led by camp counselors, and sports led by youth coaches. The day will include water safety information and activities, and the chance for families to sample wellness classes, such as the popular “family boot camp” classes. The childcare area for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, known as the “Kid Zone,” will have a parachute activity for those ages.

Vendors such as doctors, dentists – including New Tampa Pediatric Dental – and even the New Tampa Regional Library, will help families see how to make healthy choices in many areas of their lives.

“We look at it from a whole healthy lifestyle perspective,” explains Godfrey Rupp, saying that healthy kids need to both be active and make healthy food choices, and also be actively engaged in learning in a way that’s fun. “We want to show families how they can make those choices.”

Since Healthy Kids Day is open to the entire community, non-members can get a glimpse of the amenities available to those who join the New Tampa Y. Members were recently emailed a survey asking about their experiences and the improvements they would like to see. Last year, those survey results led branch leadership to add an additional group exercise room and expand group exercise classes to include Barre, boot camp, Active Older Adults and more. This year’s survey will help drive the next round of improvements at the Y.

The New Tampa Family YMCA is located at 16221 Compton Dr. For info, call 866-9622 or visit TampaYMCA.org/locations/New-Tampa. — CM

Hargreaves III Is Headed To The NFL, But Where?

The best high school football player in New Tampa history is about to become the highest-drafted National Football League (NFL) player in New Tampa history.

Former Paul R. Wharton High star defensive back Vernon Hargreaves III, who went on to a standout career at the University of Florida in Gainesville, is expected to be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft, which will pick the first round tonight beginning at 8 p.m.

Hargreaves will attend the draft, which runs through the weekend and is being held at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.

While other Wildcats football grads have flirted with the NFL (linebacker Larry Edwards was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Buffalo Bills in 2007, and linebacker Josh Jones played in some preseason games for Jacksonville in 2012), none has had the impact Hargreaves is expected to.

According to NFL.com’s analysis, “With top-notch ball skills and exceptional instincts that drew praise from Alabama’s Nick Saban, Hargreaves possesses the football makeup to become a Pro Bowl corner.”

Hargreaves — whose sister Chanelle graduates this spring from Wharton after a sterling volleyball career and who also will attend Florida — grew up in Miami and Greenville, NC, where his dad Vernon II was an assistant football coach at the University of Miami Hurricanes and at East Carolina University, respectively.

In 2010, Hargreaves II took a job at the University of South Florida in Tampa, eventually enrolling his son at Wharton.

Hargreaves did not play football until high school, but was clearly a natural and excelled from the start.

According to various NFL draft experts and analysts, as well as most mock drafts, Hargreaves should be a top-10 pick as arguably the purest cornerback in the draft (although FSU safety Jalen Ramsey is rated a notch higher on most boards). ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper, in one of his most recent mock drafts, has Hargreaves going No. 14 overall to the Oakland Raiders.

“Hargreaves lacks some measurables, but the tape doesn’t lie,” Kiper wrote, alluding to the one knock on the former Wildcat — his 5-foot-11, 207-pound frame. That did not stop Hargreaves, though, from earning all-Southeastern Conference honors every year as a Gator, nor does the former Wildcat see that as a negative.

“Playing in the SEC, I’ve covered Amari Cooper (currently with the Oakland Raiders), I’ve covered Odell Beckham (New York Giants), Jarvis Landry (Miami Dolphins) and Kelvin Benjamin (Carolina Panthers),’’ Hargreaves said at the NFL Draft Combine last month. “You gotta compete. At the end of the day, it’s all about competing. Height, size, that doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, if you can play ball you can play ball.”

Hargreaves can certainly play ball. He was an All-State pick every season he played at Wharton, and excelled everywhere coach David Mitchell put him. On special teams, he returned kicks when called on and blocked a handful of field goals and extra point attempts. He also filled in at quarterback and wide receiver, rushing for 237 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior and adding 313 yards and three more touchdowns receiving that same year.

“He could do it all,’’ Mitchell said.

It was as a lockdown corner, however, that Hargreaves achieved fame, with nine career high school interceptions and more than 203 tackles while twice earning All-American honors, winning two national titles on Team Tampa in 7-on-7 and earning MVP honors as a senior at the prestigious Under-Armour All-America Game in St. Petersburg.

Hargreaves was a freshman starter at Florida, and a sensation his first two seasons. He proclaimed himself to be the best cornerback in the country prior to his junior season, and went out and totaled 33 tackles, 4 interceptions and 4 passes defended.

So, where will Hargreaves, who is lauded for his quick-twitch athleticism, aggressiveness and 39-inch vertical jump allowing him to get his hands on passes intended for taller wide receivers, be drafted?

While Kiper (and CBSSports.com) has him at No. 14 in mock drafts, he also said on a national conference call that Hargreaves could be in the mix to go to the Baltimore Ravens at No. 6. Most recently, however, he has been more critical of Hargreaves and his chances at an All-Pro career.

Drafttek.com says Hargreaves will be taken 8th by the Philadelphia Eagles, WalterFootball.com has him going No. 10 to the New York Giants, and SBNation.com has the Chicago Bears taking him at No. 11.

Chances are, however, that local fans of Hargreaves are hoping that NFL.com analyst Charles Davis and Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks are correct:

They both have Hargreaves lasting until the No. 9 pick, where the hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers could address a glaring need and snatch up the local kid.

The NFL Draft will air live on the NFL Network, with Round 1 tonight at 8 p.m. Rounds 2-3 will be held Friday, Apr. 29, and rounds 4-7 will be held Sunday, Apr. 30.

Those Who Serve Again Benefit From Noon Rotary’s Bike Rally

More than 60 riders turned out March 19 at the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. entrance to Flatwoods Wilderness Regional Park for another successful “Cycling for our Vets, Military & First Responders” — the third annual bicycle “rally” hosted by the New Tampa Noon Rotary Club.

“It was another great turnout,’’ says current club president and longtime member Valerie Casey, whose club meets Wednesdays at noon at Café Olé on Cross Creek Blvd. “We had a lot of new riders and interest, and more than last year. There were riders of all ages, and, as always, it benefited a great cause.”

This year’s event, which took off from Chili’s Grill & Bar, located at 17643 BBD Blvd. (just south of the BBD entrance to Flatwoods), raised $3,500 to help benefit the Navy Seal Foundation, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, Support the Troops and the Stay In Step Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center.

Romy and Gabriela Camargo, who run the Stay In Step Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center (located at 10500 University Center Dr., south of E. Fowler Ave.) were on hand to encourage the riders, who had their choice of distances to bike — 4, 18 or 39 miles. Also participating again was long-time New Tampa resident and former Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk.

In three years, the event has attracted nearly 200 riders and raised about $18,000. “We’re already planning for next year’s event,’’ Casey says. “We’re hoping to tie it in with the return of the Taste of New Tampa.”

For more info about the great organizations that were the beneficiaries of this year’s bike ride, visit NavySealFoundation.org, HCFRFoundation.org, OurTroopsOnline.com or StayInStep.org. For more info about the New Tampa Noon Rotary, check out Facebook.com/NewTampaNoonRotary.

Dermatology Institute Has Plans For New Tampa

Dermatology Site — The land adjacent to the Legacy at Highwoods Preserve has been purchased by Dr. Debra Shelby, who plans to build a state-of-the-art dermatology practice and school at the site shown in red.

On a visit to Singapore’s acclaimed National Skin Centre in 2012, where she was invited to lecture the nursing staff and meet with the medical staff, Dr. Debra Shelby, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Ph.D., witnessed a state-of-the-art, comprehensive dermatology facility that treats 1,000 patients a day, while also serving as a home for continuing education for doctors, new technologies and research studies.

Making a place like that became one of her dreams, and soon, it may become a reality right here in New Tampa.

Shelby, a Tampa Palms resident, is the CEO and Clinical Director for Florida Specialty Medical Services (FSMS), LLC, located on Amberly Dr. in Tampa Palms, where she currently sees patients.

She will soon begin building a new facility, to be called the National Institute for Dermatology: Dermatology Education, on the corner of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. and New Tampa Blvd. in West Meadows.

“I wasn’t even aware the property was for sale,’’ said Shelby. “I had been looking around the New Tampa area and didn’t find anything I really liked, and this was right in front of me the whole time. It’s a beautiful piece of property.”

The 7-acre property, most of it conservation and wetlands, with 2.5 acres of usable land, has been dormant for years, following a failed attempt to build a charter school on the site in 2012. Sold for $300,000, it was originally zoned for three 2,500-sq.-ft. offices or medical buildings. Shelby said an architect is currently “reconfiguring” that plan to instead include just one 8,000-sq.-ft. building, “with a nice flow.”

Dermatology Care From Start To Finish

Board-certified in dermatology (DNC) through the Dermatology Nursing Association, Shelby’s plan is to build and staff with qualified doctors a facility modeled after the one she visited in Singapore, offering a variety of services, including things like a pharmacy, a shop with sun protective clothing, laser-care, skin cancer treatments, aesthetics as well as a training center for doctors.

The project is currently in permitting.

“It will be a unique concept,’’ Shelby said. “We’re very excited about it.”

Dr. Debra Shelby has big plans for dermatology care.

Shelby, who has a number of specialties but says she has a love for geriatric dermatology, developed the country’s first Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) Dermatology Residency at USF and became the first resident to ever complete the program in 2008, and has learned from the best doctors while serving as a Perioperative Clinical Specialist at the Moffitt Cancer Center on the USF Tampa campus.

Shelby spent 15 years at a practice, mostly in Hudson, at the Center for Dermatology, before scaling back to part-time while she founded FSMS, LLC, which provides dermatology care and education.

Shelby visits most of her patients at senior-assisted facilities.

“It was always my vision to do this, but being part of a practice, it wasn’t something I could make come to fruition,” she said.

Shelby, who says she will start law school in January to study elder care health policy, said she has received so many requests from patients for a land-based facility to visit, creating one in New Tampa only made sense. To that end, the National Institute for Dermatology will be located right next to the Legacy at Highwoods Preserve assisted living facility.

Florida Specialty Medical Services, LLC, is located at 15243 Amberly Dr. For more information, visit FSMSLLC.com, or call 765-0688.

Massage Franchise Set To Open In New Tampa Center

Massage Green Spa, a national spa chain, is opening a new location in the Publix-anchored New Tampa Center plaza at the site formerly occupied by Dine or Dash and La Cubanita Café.

Live Oak resident Todd Phillips is one of the owners. He says he hopes to have the new spa open by mid-June or early-July.

Massage Green Spa bills itself as an affordable luxury spa offering massage therapy, skin care, nail care and “internal care with the latest technology of our infrared saunas.” Phillips says infrared saunas are “all the rage in California” because they offer all the health benefits of a sauna without the stifling heat and atmosphere of traditional saunas. “A little bit more modern,’’ Phillips said, “with greater effect.”

For additional information, visit MassageGreenSpa.com.

dermatology New Tampa