New Tampa Teen To Tee Off At Pebble Beach During PGA Event

Terese Romeo, 16, practices her putting at the Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club.
Terese Romeo, 16, practices her putting at the Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club.

By Matt Wiley | September 14

Terese Romeo looks down at the tee box on the signature par-3 17th hole at Tampa Palms Golf & County Club. After judging the distance and deciding her plan of attack to stay out of the hole’s large water hazard, she adjusts her stance, pulls her Ping club back, swings and watches her ball land safely on the green, just feet from the hole.

In just a few weeks, Romeo will be repeating the same process alongside a PGA Champions (formerly “Senior PGA”) Tour pro and in front of an international audience on one of the country’s most prestigious courses, the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, CA.

At just 16 years old, Romeo, a Freedom High student and Tampa Palms resident, will be playing in front of the entire world during the 2013 Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, which will be held September 27-29 and televised on the Golf Channel.

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Fugitive Killed After Manhunt Ends With High-Speed Chase, Shoot-Out With Authorities

Charlie Bates
Charlie Bates

By Matt Wiley

A fugitive wanted for violent sexual batteries on multiple women, as well as several armed home invasions during the early morning hours of September 6, is dead following a 13-hour manhunt throughout the Tampa Palms area, a high-speed chase through Temple Terrace and a final, desperate shootout with local law enforcement authorities.

Choppers buzzed overhead in the southern section of Tampa Palms and over the University of South Florida (USF) area, as law enforcement officials searched the wooded, conservation areas for 24-year-old Charlie Christopher Bates, a dangerous fugitive facing six counts of armed sexual battery, eight counts of armed kidnapping and one count of armed home invasion, with more charges possible, if the suspect weren’t already dead.Continue reading

Weatherford & Other Officials Endorse Mike Moore For Dist. 2 Commission Seat

Dist. 2 Pasco County Commission hopeful Mike Moore (right) already has picked up endoresements from several elected officials, inlcuding Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco (left).
Dist. 2 Pasco County Commission hopeful Mike Moore (right) already has picked up endoresements from several elected officials, inlcuding Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco (left). Despite a mistake in our Aug. 31 printed edition, neither Moore nor his wife Lauren is related to Nocco.

By Matt Wiley

‘We need to be shaking hands with the CEOs & company reps & letting them know what Pasco has to offer, instead of waiting for them to come to us.’ – Mike Moore

The 2014 Pasco County local elections may still be just less than a year away, but the race for the Pasco County Commission District 2 seat (which includes all of Wesley Chapel) already is heating up, as current Dist. 2 Comm. Pat Mulieri (R- New Port Richey) will not be seeking reelection.

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Labor Day To Cause Garbage Collection Interruption

By Matt Wiley

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn picks up the trash at a customer's home. Photo: City of Tampa
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn picks up the trash at a customer’s home. Photo: City of Tampa

Labor Day will cause an interruption in solid waste and recycling collection schedules for Hillsborough County and City of Tampa customers.

According to the City of Tampa, there will be no garbage, yard-waste recycling, or blue-box/green cart recycling collection on Monday, September 2, 2013. The City will resume the regular collection schedule on the next scheduled service day, Thursday, September 5, 2013, and blue box/green cart recycling and yard waste collection will resume on Monday, September 9, 2013.

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New Tampa, Wesley Chapel T-Mobile Stores Burgled, TPD Seeks Public's Help

By Matt Wiley

Surveillance footage caught two robbers taking more than $10,000 in phones and phone cases from the Cellmasters, Inc. T-Mobile store, located in the New Tampa Centre shopping plaza, early in the morning on August 23.
Surveillance footage caught two burglars taking more than $10,000 in phones and phone cases from the Cellmasters, Inc. T-Mobile store, located in the New Tampa Center shopping plaza, early in the morning on August 23.

An after-hours burglary has left the Cellmasters, Inc., T-Mobile store in New Tampa, as well as the T-Mobile store in Wesley Chapel,  short thousands of dollars in stolen phones.

According to the Tampa Police Department (TPD), at around 6:45 a.m. on August 23, two caucasian or “fair-skinned” male suspects, clad in long sleeves, gloves and ski-masks, broke into Cellmasters, located at 19024 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in the New Tampa Center shopping plaza.Continue reading