Category: News

The Passing Of LPGA Great Dawn Coe-Jones Leaves A Void In Tampa Palms

Dawn Coe-Jones’ son Jimmy Jones posted this picture on his Instagram account after his mother passed, writing, “Can’t even put it into words how much I will miss you. You are the greatest mom a kid can ask for! The DCJ name will be remembered and won’t ever change! Give your loved ones a hug cause you never know when they will be gone. Love yuh mum.”

One day, when Deanne Farrow was unable to get out of work to pick up her daughter Grace from school, Dawn Coe-Jones was there.

The former Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) standout, a golfing buddy of Farrow’s, hopped in her red convertible and scooped Grace up from her carpool drop off at the Publix in Tampa Palms, and immediately snapped a picture of her and the Tampa Prep student and texted it to Deanne.

“I have the package,” it read.

A few minutes later came another picture, this one of Grace enjoying a frosty drink.

“Her first Slurpee,’’ Farrow recalls. From that day forward, it became a tradition — whenever Coe-Jones picked up the now-14-year-old Grace, it was off to 7-Eleven for a Slurpee.

It’s moments like these that still wet the eyes of Deanne, when she looks back on the imprint Coe-Jones left on the lives of so many golfers at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club (TPGCC).

“That’s the kind-hearted person she was,’’ Farrow says. “I hope that’s what we can all take from her. How she treated Grace is how she treated everybody.”

On Nov. 12, Coe-Jones, a member of the Canadian Golf Hall Of Fame, passed away in hospice after a battle with dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer. It was discovered in March, and required full knee and partial tibia replacement surgery.

And, even though her golfing days ended after the surgery, she would still occasionally hop in a cart and ride along for a few holes with her Friday morning group at TPGCC, cracking jokes and cheering them on.

“She was a great friend,’’ said Pat Rogers, who also played in that same Friday morning group.

Coe-Jones was 56 years old when she died. She is survived by her husband Jim, whom she married in 1992, and son Jimmy, a former standout golfer for Freedom High School, as well as her brothers Mark and John Coe.

Jimmy played golf at Freedom High, as well as, naturally, hockey. His mother grew up as a big Montreal Canadiens fan in British Columbia (before converting to the Tampa Bay Lightning). Jimmy followed in his mother’s footstep on the golf course, winning the district golf title as a sophomore in 2011.

He attended Florida Southern College for two years (where he was a semifinalist for the Division II Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year award earlier this year) before transferring to the University of South Florida in June.

Born on Oct. 19, 1960 in Campbell River, British Columbia, Coe-Jones won the 1983 Canadian Women’s Amateur before embarking on a nearly-25-year career on the LPGA Tour. She won the 1992 Women’s Kemper Open, the 1994 Palm Beach Classic and the 1995 Tournament of Champions, and finished in the top 10 in 41 other tournaments. For her career (1984-2008), she earned more than $3-million.

Her best finish in a women’s major championship was third at the Women’s LPGA Championship in 1990 and at the du Maurier Classic in 1993.

A former college All-American at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX, Coe-Jones was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2003 and later played on the Legends Tour, the LPGA senior circuit.

Coe-Jones was honored as the recipient of the 2016 Colleen Walker Spirit Award during the inaugural Dawn Coe-Jones Golf Classic at Tampa Palms on Oct. 14, a golf fund raiser for the Amandalee Fund, which benefits Sarcoma Research at Moffitt Cancer Center.

The Amandalee Fund has hosted two tournaments every year, and this year’s event raised a record $51,000.

The Colleen Walker Spirit Award is presented yearly to a Legends Tour Player who best exhibits the tenacity, determination and never-give-up attitude that Walker demonstrated throughout her life and career. Walker, who won nine times on the LPGA Tour, died of cancer in 2012.

Coe-Jones was known by many on tour for her kind heart, especially for the Canadian players she would often take under her wing.

“She treated everyone equally,” Lori Kane told Golf Week magazine. “Being on tour and walking the fairways with 144 women each week, there’s not many that you can say treats everyone the same. But Dawn Coe-Jones did that.”

It was that humility that helped win Coe-Jones friends at TPGCC, where she became a fixture.

Farrow says that when she met Coe-Jones about four years ago, all the LPGA golfer wanted to do was make friends and play golf. “You would never have guessed she was a professional golfer,’’ Farrow said. “She was just one of the girls.”

She became part of a group of golfers referred to as the “Tampa Palms Girls,” and the members exchanged texts with each other all week in between rounds.

When Coe-Jones was diagnosed with cancer, Farrow said it was never discussed. “We didn’t really talk about it because we didn’t want to believe it,’’ she says.

But, month after month provided more and more bad news.

“It was heartbreaking,’’ Farrow says.

Rogers says she met Coe-Jones three years ago, but it was 20 years ago, after being transferred to Saskatchewan for work, that she would read about the Canadian golf legend in the newspapers there.

She told Coe-Jones this after a few holes of golf one morning. Duly impressed by her game, Rogers simply said, “No wonder they wrote about you.”

Dawn Coe-Jones

District 7: One More Vote, Dec. 6

After spending months just trying to get voters familiar with their names in a crowded six-person race, Hunter’s Green residents Jim Davison, an emergency room doctor, and Luis Viera, an attorney, are ready to start talking about issues and getting voters who live in the City of Tampa to the polls one more time — on Tuesday, December 6, in case you didn’t know.

“I think the name recognition part is pretty much over,’’ said Davison. “Now it’s about turning out the people that you think are going to vote for you.”

After taking the top two spots at the Nov. 8 General Election, Davison and Viera are headed to the Runoff Election on Dec. 6 to decide who will replace Lisa Montelione and serve her final 16 months representing District 7, which includes all of the city-based Neighborhoods in New Tampa, on the Tampa City Council. District 7 is a large and diverse area which runs north from Waters Ave. to County Line Rd., and includes Forest Hills, Terrace Park, New Tampa and the University of South Florida area.

Early voting for the runoff continues through t0day, Sunday, December 4.

Despite entering the race last and raising only $14,000 for his campaign — easily the least of the all the candidates — Davison received 9,158 votes in the general election, or 30.6 percent, winning 13 of the 20 precincts that cast ballots on Nov. 8. He was second in five others. Davison, 62, celebrated his win on election night with chicken wings at the Hunter’s Green Tennis & Athletic Center.

Viera, who has raised more than $80,000, far more than any other candidate in the race, finished with 6,689 votes, or 22.3 percent, to advance to the runoff. Viera did not win any precincts but was second in 10 of them and third in eight others.

“It was a difficult race,” Viera says. “We fought for every single vote.”

Arbor Greene’s Avis Harrison, a former school teacher, was third (4,781), followed by former police officer and Copeland Park resident Orlando Gudes (4,218), Cory Lake Isles resident Dr. Cyril Spiro (3,719) and La Gaceta editor Gene Siudut (1,319).

Now that the race has been whittled to two candidates, Davison and Viera say they are eager to start focusing more on issues that were overshadowed during the last campaign, due to the number of candidates and the overwhelming presence of a nasty and contentious presidential election.

Here are some of the issues both candidates say they will focus on if elected:

TAXES: Davison says the biggest difference between he and Viera is their position on taxes. “I never saw a tax Luis was not in favor of,” Davison says, adding that he would work to roll back the millage, or property tax rates, in New Tampa. He claims they haven’t been rolled back since 2008, and ad valorem taxes will set a record in 2018 to offset any cuts.

luisviera2 — Luis Viera with supporter Mike Suarez.

Viera, 38, says he is in favor of a robust development of District 7’s communities. But, he says it is foolish to expect that those things can be accomplished simply by rolling back taxes.

“We certainly cannot, given the development we need in this city and our communities, just frivolously lower taxes,’’ Viera says, adding that he isn’t pro-tax, but, “I haven’t seen a tax reduction that Jim is clamoring for that will benefit the community.”

Both candidates agree that New Tampa should receive a larger piece of the pie made with its tax dollars, in the form of the same community enhancements being made in west and south Tampa’s parks, as well as downtown. “Downtown needs to be spruced up but not at the expense of its neighborhoods,” Davison says.

Viera has long-referred to New Tampa as a “donor district,” and also does not agree with the way tax monies are dispersed.

“We give way too much of our money to downtown Tampa without proper development of our neighborhoods (in North Tampa),” Viera says.

TRANSPORTATION: Davison has been a transportation activist in New Tampa for nearly two decades. He adamantly opposed government initiatives like GO Hillsborough, which sought a half-cent sales tax to pay to fix and maintain existing roads, relieve congestion and build new roads.

luis Davison says those promises were lies, and that the money is already available in future budgets to help with transportation without more taxation.

That has been a theme of Davison’s in this campaign — that government officials aren’t being honest with the numbers. He says the city claims the half-cent tax would raise $3.5 billion over 30 years. Davison says that figure is actually closer to $6 billion, creating essentially a slush fund for the city. He says he has stacks of papers that prove it.

“Lets just say this: Jim is skeptical of a lot of things,’’ Viera says. “This goes back to the issue of being able to work with others. When you presume they are liars, you say they are lying to you.”

Viera says Davison is making “unfounded accusations” and, “to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never seen anything to prove that the mayor’s office is lying to us.”

Davison is in favor, however, of the ongoing Tampa Bay Express (TBX) project, which will primarily widen I-275, I-75 and I-4 with 91 miles of express or toll lanes. “Without more lane capacity on 275, that will strangle District 7,’’ Davison says.

Viera, a TBX supporter, says transportation is a huge issue and an important need, with $8-billion in needs in the coming years that need to be paid for. Realistic solutions, he says, cannot be implemented unless there is funding to pay for them.

COMMUNITY NEEDS: The 2017 budget unveiled earlier this year by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn has $4.72 million in it for Fire Station No. 23, which will be located at 20770 Trout Creek Dr., behind the AutoZone and Christian Brothers Automotive off Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Also in the budget but unfunded — and opposed by Davison — are plans for another fire station, No. 24, earmarked for the K-Bar Ranch area off Morris Bridge Rd.

Davison says that as someone who has spent much of his career in the emergency medical field, he doesn’t think New Tampa needs another fire station as badly as it needs more paramedics, as he claims 80-85 percent of 9-1-1 calls in New Tampa are for medical reasons. Davison adds, however, that he would like to a see a police station built in our area and an expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center, which has been promised twice and never delivered by city officials.

Viera says he thinks a firehouse in K-Bar Ranch is necessary, especially as the area grows and expands.

And, he wonders if Davison is for community development, how can he expect to pay for such enhancements?

“You’re going to have more parks and rec centers, but you’re also going to cut your taxes?,” Viera asks. “Voters should be suspicious of that. You can’t serve both sides. It’s math: 2+2 equals 4, and Jim is for the 4, not the 2+2. I am for the 2+2. It’s a reality that if you make investments, you need revenue (to pay for them).”

KINNAN-MANSFIELD: New Tampa’s 100-foot stretch of unconnected road continues to befuddle local politicians. Despite some movement earlier this year — as Montelione and Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore tried to force the issue — the connection of Kinnan St. in New Tampa to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe remains in limbo.

Both candidates say they want the roads connected. Davison says the city should pay the $500,000 for a traffic study that Pasco County is requesting in order to move the connection along.

Viera says the link should have been made long ago. He says it is, “symbolic of the kind of respect we don’t get in New Tampa. If this happened in South Tampa, it would be fixed immediately. We need a sense of urgency on it.”

GETTING THINGS DONE: Because Viera has a long list of endorsements from high-ranking local Democrats like U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor and City Council chair Mike Suarez, as well as Montelione, Davison says Viera will just become part of the problem on a City Council already filled with Democrats.

“Luis is a nice guy but has fallen into that same political trap of telling people what they want to hear,’’ says Davison, whose most recent endorsements have come from former opponent Avis Harrison and District 63 State Rep. Shawn Harrison. “That upsets me about him. I thought he was better guy than that. That’s disappointing.”

Viera says Davison, a registered Republican and Donald Trump supporter who relishes his role as an outsider, lacks the temperament to work with others and get things done. On a Council with six other members, Viera says diplomacy will get more things accomplishment for New Tampa.

“I think that issues of temperament are important,’’ Viera said. “I believe you achieve results with vigor, and by being resolute, not by being the type of person who will make accusations and be a loose cannon.”

Vote through Nov. 17 for John Long Middle School

fl-jlms-yolo-entry — John Long Middle School students entered this photo into a nationwide contest bringing awareness to the dangers of drug use. You can vote for their entry at http://redribbon.org/vote/#view/43801/4183314.

Every year, students across the U.S. participate in “Red Ribbon Week” during the week of October 23-31, to pledge to be drug-free.

The theme for this year’s campaign was “YOLO – You Only Live Once.” Students at John Long Middle School in Wiregrass Ranch kicked off the event by inviting students and their families to paint “wise owls” at Pinot’s Palette, located in The Shoppes at New Tampa plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., south of S.R. 56. The owl paintings incorporated both the double-looped red ribbon that signifies Red Ribbon Week, and the “YOLO” theme.

Images of these paintings were then turned into a banner that will hang in the school. Gianna Ginsen, a student in John Long’s after-school photography club, took a picture of the banner — along with a group of students spelling out the theme “YOLO” with their bodies — to enter into the official annual nationwide photo contest. If Long proves to be the highest vote-getter in its region at RedRibbon.org/vote by Nov. 17, the school will win $1,000 and an iPad. The winners will be announced at that website, starting Friday, December 2.

“I don’t think a lot of students understand what Red Ribbon Week is really about,” says Angie Bastedo, the vice president of programs for the school’s PTSA and the event’s organizer. “This year, I hoped to bring more awareness as to why we’re encouraging students to wear a hat or crazy socks during Red Ribbon Week.”

Angie, who says she recently lost her nephew to drug use, says while conversations about not using drugs start at home, “it doesn’t hurt to bring the message to school, too,” she says. “Especially in middle school, kids sometimes listen to other people more than their parents. They need to know that all it takes is once. Don’t even try using drugs, because your first time could be your last time.”

The National Family Partnership created the National Red Ribbon Campaign in response to the 1985 abduction and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. Long Middle School is one of many in the area that recognize this week each year to encourage students not to use drugs.

JLMS John Long Middle School Red Ribbon Week

Florida Hospital Center Ice Inches Closer To Its Opening

Gordie Zimmermann stands on one of the all-but-completed rinks at Florida Hospital Center Ice, which is expected to “soft open” sometime in December.

As the Grand Opening of the $20-million Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) fast approaches, not a day goes by that Gordie Zimmermann isn’t asked about when that will be.

He is asked in the grocery store, while walking around Wesley Chapel and his phone never seems to stop dinging with text messages and ringing with eager callers.

“Everybody is excited about it,’’ Zimmermann says. “I got hammered all weekend with phone calls, people asking when it will be open and when can they book a birthday party and what are some of the great events coming in. This is such a big community in Wesley Chapel, they can’t wait.”

They won’t have to much longer. Zimmermann says the 150,500-sq.-ft. FCHI, which is located along Cypress Ridge Blvd. on the northeast corner of the I-75/S.R. 56 interchange in Wesley Chapel, is looking at a soft opening in December to test out some final details. He says there are plans for an official Grand Opening in January. A tentative date has been set, but he still can’t reveal it.

fhci11_9_5 A tour through the facility on Nov. 9 revealed that it won’t be long.

One rink is all but finished, framed by completed dasher boards, glass and scoreboards. Once it is cleaned up, the ice will be ready to go in.

A second rink is right behind, as the protective glass was carefully put in recently by workers. A third rink, as well as the main NHL-sized rink, are taking form.

“We’re working as fast as we can to get all the kinks out,’’ says Zimmermann, a developer for Z Mitch, LLC. “Everything has to be just right.” As we went to press last week, the electricity was turned on, lighting up the interior.

Zimmermann said the demand for the new facility has already far exceeded what he expected.

“It’s already basically booked into the summer,’’ he says. “And, we haven’t even gotten to our fall schedule yet.”

fhci11_9 Zimmermann says FHCI is about 80-85 percent done. The seating and kitchen for the Top Shelf Restaurant & Bar, which will overlook the rinks below, and seating areas for fans are now easy to visualize.

Sometime in December, Zimmermann says the palatial new complex will be open for some public skating, pick-up hockey games and skate-and-shoot sessions. Learn to Skate USA classes also will be offered sometime in December.

Come January, those in charge of getting the facility up and running will be on a power play. Zimmerman says some events are already scheduled with the Tampa Bay Lightning, including a street hockey tournament (on FHCI’s multi-sports pad) followed by a skills camp put on by former Lightning players.

Zimmermann says the Lightning, who also will hold occasional practices at the facility, will release those details when the plans are finalized.

Better Book Now!

Some of the non-sports events already booked include the Taste of New Tampa and an unnamed (by Zimmermann) 250-person corporate roundtable discussion.

fhci11_9_3 On June 17, Skate For Hope, which will feature many of the world’s top figure skaters and will benefit cancer research, will be held at FHCI. Also in June, there will be a National Roller Hockey Tournament that Zimmermann says will feature 200 teams playing for 10 days on three of the FHCI rinks.

USA Hockey adult leagues for age groups ranging from 40+ to 70+ also are coming, and Zimmermann says Tampa Bay Lightning High School Hockey League games will be played at the rink beginning Jan. 4, with the Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) team he coaches getting the opening night honors, highlighting a doubleheader (and potentially a triple header), along with a to-be-determined opponent and 2-4 other teams.

High school ice hockey players from WRH, Freedom, Wesley Chapel and Wharton (which currently does not have a team but has in the past) high schools will use the rink for practices and games.

On Jan. 18, Bright House Sports Network (BHSN) will televise a live high school hockey game from FHCI.

fhci11_9_4 The eagerly-anticipated facility, which will be the largest skating complex south of New York the day it opens, will feature three NHL-sized hockey rinks and one larger, Olympic-size rink, as well as 17,000-sq.-ft. multi-sports pad that can accommodate a number of other sports, even basketball and volleyball and lacrosse.

In addition to the rinks and restaurant, FHCI will have a sports performance center, fitness room and plenty of room for yoga, pilates and dance classes, as well as corporate outings and parties.

“Everything is going smoothly,’’ Zimmermann says, “and when we open, it’s going to be good.”

The most important aspect of the facility – the 65 miles of refrigerated pipe laid in by Toronto’s CIMCO — has to be tested thoroughly as the big motors that will eventually keep the ice for the various rinks at a cool 22-28 degrees or so are revved up, and the final touches are being carefully addressed.

For more information, visit FloridaHospitalCenterIce.com or see the ad on page 12 of this issue.

florida hospital center ice gordie zimmerman

Local Business News

The Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) is offering a great luncheon seminar called “Get Down to Business,” which will be held Tuesday, November 15, at Saddlebrook Resort Tampa off S.R. 54. There will be a Trade Show & Registration at 11 a.m., with lunch from noon-1:30 p.m., featuring Keynote Speaker Julie Jenkins, the CEO of Churchill Leadership Group.

At ChurchillLeadershipGroup.com, Jenkins writes, “We believe there is so much untapped potential in leaders and teams. That’s why we turn talent into performance. Churchill is a global provider of leadership development solutions including Executive Coaching & Corporate Leadership Programs.”

For reservations & info, call 994-8534 or visit WesleyChapelChamber.com. — GN

TAMPA PALMS EXPANDING: Cal Atlantic, which began site work on a new housing community called Stafford Place at Tampa Palms in the spring, is targeting completion by the end of 2017, with a model opening in February of 2017. It expects its first residents next summer.

Stafford Place is being built on 52 acres of land just south of BJs Wholesale Club off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. , between the Emerald Pointe Townhomes and I-75.

According to Danielle Tocco at CalAtlantic, the community will have direct access to a future City of Tampa park abutting the property. “This community will provide residents one of the last opportunities t crafty o purchase a new home in all of Tampa Palms,’’ Tocco wrote in an email.

CROSS CREEK CRAFTERS: Samantha Harrison, who lives in West Meadows, is in permitting now and hopes to open Go Craft Yourself, a do-it-your-self creative studio, soon.

Go Craft Yourself will be located in the Cory Lake Isles Professional Center at 10311 Cross Creek Blvd., Suite A, and will offer classes in things like wood framing, metal stamping, canvass painting and more.

Or, she says, “You can walk right in and do it right there, if you don’t want to sign up for a class,’’ Harrison said. “That’s what makes us different.” Need more info? Check out GoCraftYourselfFl.com.

DOUBLE FAULT!: Internet shopping has claimed another victim. And this time, it’s MP Tennis.

The New Tampa store, located next to Bigel Music at 20437 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., closed for good on Sept. 17. The store did well when it first opened, taking advantage of an area heavy with tennis players from nearby communities, but the popularity of online shopping was too much for the store to overcome.

In its final weeks, the store was carrying fewer and few racquets, shoes and clothing, although its racquet stringing services were still popular. MP Tennis still has a retail location at 14845 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Carrollwood. — John C. Cotey & Celeste McLaughlin