Benito 8th Grader Ellie Pleune Earns Two Historic Wins At Gasparilla!

A day after becoming the youngest-ever female winner in the 40-year history of the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic 5K race, Benito Middle School eighth-grader Ellie Pleune decided to run in the 8K as a training exercise, or a “shake-out” run.

Here’s what shook out: Ellie ended up surprising everyone and winning that race, too, capping a history-making weekend for the 13-year-old Arbor Greene resident.

Pleune broke away from the other 2,930 other runners in the 8K race before the halfway point, and cruised to the finish line in 31 minutes, 13 seconds (about 6:30 per mile), far ahead of 27-year-old Stefanie Shimansky of Winter Springs, who crossed more than a minute later in 32:33.

Ellie became the first runner in Gasparilla history to win both the 5K and 8K races, which were run Feb. 25 & 26 along Bayshore Blvd. in South Tampa.

“I was surprised to see her finish first,’’ said Ellie’s mother, Julie, who chuckles as she says didn’t even have her phone out ready to snap a picture. “I was under the impression she was using it as a training run.”

She wasn’t alone.

“I think it felt the same as (crossing the finish line in the 5K), but I was more surprised with myself,’’ Ellie says. “I didn’t think I would win both.”

Ellie did, however, think she had a good chance at the 5K title, considering that she finished ninth as a sixth-grader and second (by 19 seconds) last year. She trained for the race by putting in 25-30 miles a week, with additional exercises as part of a regimen she put together two months before the race.

Although she confesses to some nerves when she stepped to the starting line with 6,942 other participants for the start of the 5K, Ellie says she ran the exact race she wanted to, winning with a time of 18:14 (less than 6 minutes per mile), which was 31 seconds faster than last year, when she finished second to Kailand Cosgrove (who was sixth this year).

“At the start, I didn’t want to go out too fast,” Ellie says. “You have to save some energy so you don’t burn yourself out. There’s a point with about 1.5 miles left where you turn around, and I started to pick up the pace. With a mile left, I just give everything I have left.”

Ellie said she could hear former club teammate Lydia Friedman behind her, but she knew she wasn’t too close. Friedman finished 10 seconds later than Ellie in 18:24.

“It was probably better than I imagined it would be,’’ Ellie said of breaking the tape in the prestigious 5K race.

Following that first win, Ellie returned to New Tampa to watch older brother Casey, a freshman at Wharton High, compete in the Wharton Wildcat Invitational, where he finished 7th in the 3,200-meter race and 12th in the 1,600 meters.

Ellie, who runs for the Hillsborough Harriers club after starting with the Running Tigers club, gives Casey credit for helping to make her a better runner. When they train together, Ellie says it gives her a better and more competitive workout.

“He’s faster than me, so I have to really push to keep up with him,’’ Ellie says. “And he won the State championships (in middle school), so I look up to him because he won (that race).”

The middle school State Championship meet is in May, and Ellie says she has that at the top her list when it comes to races she wants to win, even ahead of Gasparilla. She was fourth in the fall at the middle school cross country championships.

Ellie began running in the fifth grade, unsure of where it would lead. She doesn’t even remember the first race she ever won, but does remember the first one she ran. At a meet at Armwood High in Seffner, Ellie mistakenly lined up with the wrong, and younger, age group. She didn’t win.

She has progressed the past three years and become one the top middle schoolers in Tampa Bay. She says expectations have grown — “Some people expect me to win every race” — but she says she welcomes the challenge.

“I would like to get a scholarship for running and not have to pay for college,’’ Ellie says. “It would be cool to run in college and be part of a team.”

First things first, however. Ellie will attend Wharton next fall, and plans to join the Wildcats’ highly-touted cross country and track programs.

And in May, she will race for that middle school State 5K title she wants more than any other.

We’ll keep you posted.

Noon Rotary’s Bike Rally Returns Tomorrow!

As a proud member of the Rotary Club of New Tampa Noon — which meets Wednesdays at noon in Mulligan’s Irish Pub, inside the Pebble Creek Golf Club — I am really excited about my club’s fourth annual bike rally (the photo is from last year’s event) to benefit U.S. military veterans and first responders.

The ride — which is not a race — is an opportunity for riders to ride a 4-, 18- or 39-mile course, starting from the Chili’s Grill & Bar on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (directly adjacent to the BBD entrance to Flatwoods Wilderness Park) while raising funds to benefit four nonprofit charities that help local veterans, law enforcement and firefighters.

Over the first three years of the rally, Noon Rotary president Valerie Casey says that more than 200 total riders have helped the club raise more than $18,000 to helped its selected first responder charities. “We’d love to get to 100 riders this year,” Valerie says. “Come on out and support some great charitable organizations.”

Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit four charitable organizations — Support the Troops, the Stay in Step Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue & The Homefront Foundation. The suggested donation to ride is $30 anytime after March 10.

This year’s sponsors include Chili’s, The Little Greek Restaurant, Gentle Care Dentistry (the office of Dr. Tom Frankfurth), Stifel Financial/Mike Wallace, Children’s Dentistry (the office of Dr. Greg Stepanski), State Farm Insurance/Joyce Coleman and the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.

For registration & info, visit Active.com and search “Cycling for Vets” or see the ad in the latest New Tampa issue.

Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Mmm Mmm Good!

Florida Hospital Center Ice Provides The Perfect Venue For The Triumphant Return Of The ‘Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel!’

Congrats to all of my friends in the Rotary Club of New Tampa (which meets Friday mornings at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Cub) for successfully bringing back “The Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel,” in partnership with the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC).

An estimated crowd of about 2,000 people came to sample the wares from the 49 restaurants and beverage providers my restaurant committee assembled for the event, which was held on March 18, inside surprisingly not cold Florida Hospital Center Ice off S.R. 56.

The food and beverages were awesome — my favorites being the seared ahi tuna from the People’s Choice 1st place-winning Bonefish Grill, the fresh sushi from Olde Heights Bistro, Little Italy’s meatballs, the angus burgers from OTB CafĂ©, the short rib sliders from Twisted Sprocket CafĂ©, Wok Chi’s spring rolls and pot stickers, gnocchi ricotta from Noble Crust (the 2nd-place People’s Choice), chocolate bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes (3rd place) and The Cake Girl’s double chocolate brownies.

563 Pride Students To Move To Hunter’s Green

The School District plans to move students who live in Arbor Greene & Cory Lake Isles to Hunter’s Green Elem. for 2018-19 school year 

**Please note — This story had to be updated after we went to press (on March 17) with our March 24 New Tampa issue. The information about which students the Hillsborough County School District planned to move wasn’t made available to the public or the media until March 21st.

On Thursday, March 30, 6 p.m., officials from Hillsborough County Public Schools will meet with parents at Benito Middle School (10101 Cross Creek Blvd.) to discuss proposed changes to attendance boundaries.

The affected schools will include Pride, Heritage, Hunter’s Green and Clark elementaries. These changes will not take effect for next school year (2017-18), but the following year, starting in August 2018.

Plans outlining the proposed new boundaries were released on the school district’s website on March 21 and are now available at http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/doc/251/growth-management/resources/boundary/.

The biggest change in the proposed boundaries is that the students from the University area who currently are being bused into Hunter’s Green and Clark are being reassigned to neighborhood schools closer to their residences to make room for expected growth – about 1,500 homes – in K-Bar Ranch.

Then, the boundaries of the four schools along Cross Creek/New Tampa Blvd., are being adjusted to balance attendance at those schools.

In the proposal, 563 students who live in Arbor Greene and Cory Lake Isles who currently are assigned to Pride will be re-assigned Hunter’s Green, says Lorraine Duffy Suarez, Hillsborough County Public Schools’ general manager for growth management. “We’re changing a lot of students, and I understand that,” Duffy Suarez says. “They have a lot of pride in their Pride, but Pride can’t hold all the students who are going to come there.”

She says moving so many students should give the affected students a measure of reassurance. “The whole neighborhood is moving,” she explains. “You’re going to a different school, but you’re taking 562 of your friends with you. It’s like a big chunk of Pride is now going to be called Hunter’s Green.”

She explains that, while it may be uncomfortable for those who are affected, the change is needed. “We monitor growth, and we know how much growth is coming, and we have to accommodate it,” she says. “Pride was built on land that we bought from K-Bar Ranch. The school was sited there because we knew that development was coming. Now is the time.”

School grades for last year, which are based on test scores, rank Pride and Clark as A schools, Heritage as a B, and Hunter’s Green as a C. For those families moving from Pride to Hunter’s Green, Duffy Suarez says, “You’re not moving from an A school to a C school, you’re taking your A school with you.”

Another proposed change is that students who are residents of the Morgan Creek apartments, just north of the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. exit off I-75 will move from Hunter’s Green to Clark, which affects assignments for 187 students.

Students who live in most of K-Bar Ranch, who currently are assigned to attend Heritage, will move to Pride. This affects 154 students. Some students who move into areas of K-Bar Ranch that are not yet built, along with students in Easton Park, will remain at Heritage.

Duffy Suarez explains these numbers are not exact. “These are the numbers of students who are assigned to (those) schools,” she says. “Not every kid we assign to a school actually goes there.” Some students attend magnet, charter, or private schools, or are homeschooled.

Jason Pepe, chief community relations officer for Hillsborough County Public Schools, encourages all parents and interested community members to visit a special webpage that’s been set up with frequently asked questions regarding the changes that are happening in New Tampa and surrounding areas. It is available at sdhc.k12.fl.us/doc/1831/universityfaqs.

“The purpose of the FAQs is to be transparent,” says Pepe. “We have shared everything we know at this point and we really want to get this information to as many people as possible.”

Comments from parents and the community will be accepted at the meeting on March 30, as well as via email.

Duffy Suarez explains that the meeting will be “open house” style. “We have tables and stations set up for people to ask questions,” she says. “For example, if you’re being changed, you can go talk to the principal of the school you’re moving to.”

She says they’ll have maps set up, and she and her colleagues will be there to explain the maps to those who attend.

There also will be staffers on hand at the meeting who can answer questions about the process for choosing a different school, rather than their assigned neighborhood school.

“Our purpose in this meeting is to hear from (people who are affected by the changes),” Duffy Suarez says. “We will take written comments, and then we (will) come back and sort through it. We can’t make everyone who doesn’t want to move not move, but we will review comments and rationale and can make changes to the proposals.”

Plans outlining the new proposed school boundaries were released on the school district’s website at sdhc.k12.fl.us on March 21 (after we went to press with our latest issue, hitting mailboxes Friday).

These proposed changes will not take effect for next (the 2017-18) school year, but the following year, starting in August 2018.

“It’s important to recognize that these changes are (only) proposed,” says Pepe. “All boundary changes have to be approved by the School Board.”

Comments from parents and the community will be accepted at the meeting on March 30, as well as via email. Changes may be made based on that input before a final recommendation is made by school superintendent Jeff Eakins to the seven-member School Board.

The School Board is expected to consider the proposed recommendation – including any changes made as a result of comments from the community – at its meeting on Tuesday, May 16.

Judge Rules Reeves Can Not Use ‘Stand Your Ground’ Defense

Curtis Reeves said he believed he was in a “life-or-death struggle” with Chad Oulson before killing him on Jan. 13, 2014, at the Cobb Grove 16 Cinemas.

Curtis Reeves will face second-degree murder charges for the shooting death of Chad Oulson at the Cobb Grove 16 Cinemas in Wesley Chapel after Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Susan Barthle ruled March 10 that the controversial “stand your ground” defense did not apply in his case.

Reeves, a 74-year-old retired Tampa Police Captain, and Oulson, who was 43 when he died, had an altercation at the cinemas prior to the showing of the movie “Lone Survivor” on Jan. 13, 2014.

Reeves claimed he feared for his life and that Oulson was aggressive towards him after Reeves asked him to stop texting during the movie previews. Reeves claimed Oulson punched or threw a cell phone at him, and that he had no choice but to shoot.

Oulson was shot in the chest and died at the scene. 

Reeves’ attorney, Richard Escobar, invoked the “stand your ground” defense, which says a person does not have to retreat when confronted and can use deadly force if they feel they are in danger of bodily harm or death. If “stand your ground” is permitted by the judge, the accused does not have to stand trial.

But, a two-week-long hearing (Feb. 20-March 3) failed to convince Judge Barthle that it was applicable.

“After careful consideration of all of the evidence provided in this case, this court finds that the defendant did not credibly demonstrate that he reasonably believed it was necessary for him to use deadly force in this situation, therefore, defendant’s motion is DENIED,” Judge Barthle wrote.

Reeves’ defense hinged on his account of being attacked by Oulson and in fear for his life. According to Reeves, Oulson, who was sitting one row in front of him, was coming over the seat to attack him and practically on top of him when he pulled the trigger.

“The defendant testified…that he was grabbing the alleged victim’s chest or body with his left hand while he fired the fatal shot with his right hand, and even stated that he was surprised he did not shoot himself in the hand while doing so: The video evidence and other witness testimony contradicts this assertion also,’’ Judge Barthle’s order stated.

The closest Oulson came to Reeves is when he grabbed Reeves’ bag of popcorn and threw it at him.

“The video then shows the defendant lunge forward with his right arm extended, and fire at the alleged victim, who at that point was so far back from the defendant that he could not even be seen in the video anymore,’’ Judge Barthle concluded. “He certainly was not on top of the defendant, and plainly, the defendant’s left hand was nowhere near the alleged victim’s body.”

Reeves, who is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, was portrayed by the defense as old, frail and fearful for his life, but the judge concluded that he was anything but that fearful victim.

“He is quite a large and robust man,’’ she wrote. “He also appeared quite self-assured when he was testifying, and certainly did not appear to be a man who was afraid of anyone.”

Reeves testified for six hours during the hearing on Feb. 28, claiming that he politely asked Oulson to stop using his cell phone as the previews began.

Oulson swore at him, Reeves said. He said that Oulson’s wife Nicole was talking to him.

“I felt like he would ultimately comply,’’ Reeves testified.

Reeves also said that when Chad Oulson returned to his phone, he told him he was going to the cinema manager to complain. When Reeves returned from talking to the manager, he said he noticed the phone was off, and said he apologized to Oulson for involving cinema management.

That contradicted Nicole Oulson’s testimony of Feb. 23, when she claimed that Reeves was anything but polite in asking her husband to turn off his phone, calling it more of an “order” than a request.

And, she said, when he returned after talking to management, Reeves did not apologize, but rather goaded her husband.

“I see that you put the phone away now that I went to get management,’’ she testified that Reeves said to her husband. “It was not a polite, ‘Oh, thank you for putting it away’…It was to keep nagging at Chad…to keep the argument going.”

According to Reeves, a few seconds later, Chad Oulson stood and confronted him, as Nicole tried to restrain him.

“When I looked up, he was coming over the seat at me, across from where my wife was,” Reeves said. “I saw just a snapshot of something dark in his hand. Almost immediately, I saw what I perceived to be a glow from a light screen right in front of my face, and I was hit in the face.”

Reeves claimed the blow almost knocked the glasses off his face.

At that point, he testified that he began to fear for his life. “I realized I was in a life-or-death struggle,” he said.

Witness Mark Turner, a retired U.S. Air Force officer who was sitting a few seats down from Reeves, said he heard Reeves say something like, “Throw popcorn in my face” almost simultaneously with the shot being fired.

Two other witnesses sitting nearby in the theater, also testified that they heard Reeves make the popcorn comment. Another witness to the shooting,  Derek Friedhoff, said the popcorn comment was prefaced by “show you.”

Sumter County Sheriff’s Sgt. Alan Hamilton, who was off duty that day but taking in a movie, delivered what was some of the most damaging testimony to Reeves on Mar. 1.

Sgt. Hamilton testified that he saw the popcorn fly, followed almost immediately by the flash of the gun. He moved to where the shot came from, and said he heard Curtis Reeves’ wife Vivian say, “That was no cause to shoot that man.”

He then claimed Reeves scolded his wife.

“He pointed his finger at her and told her to shut her mouth and to not say another f-ing word,’’ Hamilton recalled.

Hamilton said he identified himself as a deputy and took the pistol Reeves had shot Oulson with away from the suspect.

Hamilton also testified that while he was keeping an eye on the altercation, he did not see Oulson climb over a seat to get at Reeves, as Reeves testified, or throw a cell phone or a punch at him.

“Common sense and the credible testimony of the medical examiner casts grave doubt on the likelihood of anything hitting the defendant in the eye beneath his glasses in the manner the defendant described,’’ the judge wrote. “Which begs the question, why did the defendant say he was hit. in the left eye  to the point of being dazed, when the video images and basic physics indicate that he did not get hit in the left eye with anything? The logical conclusion is that he was trying to justify his actions after the fact.”

In audio recordings of Reeves’ being interviewed the day of the shooting, Reeves can be heard saying what he had done was “stupid.”

“If I had it to do over again, it would never have happened,” he said. “We would have moved. But, you don’t get do-overs.”