Turnout for Special Operations Warrior Foundation a thriller

hamptoweenThe New Tampa community of Grand Hampton recently held its second annual community 5K road race and children’s one-mile fun run, raising $6,050 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

The theme of the event this year, held on Oct. 17, was the “Grand Hamptoween Monster Dash” and “‘Lil Monster Dash,” featuring a twilight run through the streets of Grand Hampton. Children and adults also competed in monster costume contests, sponsored by Cartwright Realty.

A haunted house, bounce houses, DJ dance party, face painting, popcorn, pizza and food catered by OTB Delights Café provided hours of fun and entertainment to hundreds of Grand Hampton residents and Tampa Bay-area runners. Florida Race Management provided the 5K race course and timing, as all runners had chipped bibs this year.

A “flash mob” of monster dancers set the tone for the race, performing a routine to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Twelve other area corporations and businesses combined as donors for this year’s race, and many were present at the race site.

Walgreens at Country Line Road and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. was a second-year sponsor and also provided flu shots on-site. Other second-year sponsors were the Melrose Management Partnership, Two Men & A Truck, The Breakfast Nook of Lutz, Valley Crest, Bright House Networks, Dr. Lisa LaPresti of Sea of Smiles Children’s Dentistry and ICI Homes.

First-year sponsors included AAA, Donna “K” Kempinksi of Keller Williams, Ierna’s Heating & Cooling and Dr. Bill Scheu’s New Tampa Chiropractic & Injury Center.

The Tampa-based Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) provides full scholarships and grants as well as counseling to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in operational or training missions. Immediate financial assistance also is provided to severely wounded special operations personnel and their families.

As the main community event for the fall season, this year’s Grand Hamptoween 5K race more than doubled the charitable donation to SOWF over last year’s race and provided lots of family and athletic fun for all.— Special to the Neighborhood News

 

Ninth Annual Tampa Fisher House Golf Tourney A Classic!

FisherHouseWEBMeanwhile, we went to press so soon after the ninth annual Fisher House Golf Classic (held at Pebble Creek Country Club off Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd.) on October 30 that organizer and New Tampa Noon Rotary Club president Val Casey and her amazing committee did not yet have a total amount of funds raised.

But, with a full field of golfers and plenty of great sponsorships — including, for the first time, Val’s employer Delta Airlines — there’s little doubt that this year’s Fisher House Golf Classic was, indeed, a true classic.

Of course, the Tampa Fisher House is the 20-bed residence which houses and feeds — at no charge — the families and significant others of the wounded soldiers being treated at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital.

And, thanks to Val, the Arbor Greene resident from a military family who has organized and run the annual golf tourney to benefit the Haley Fisher House, more than $210,000 already had been raised in the previously eight years of the event, including surpassing her goal of $30,000 this year.

Val again thanks her fellow New Tampa Noon Rotary Club members Barry and Clare Shuman, as well as all of the tournament’s sponsors, golfers and supporters for their efforts this year and was again thrilled that injured U.S. Army Ranger Romy Camargo and several other Purple Heart recipients and other military veterans were again on-hand for the event.

Tampa Fisher House director Paula Welenc and Fisher House national Board member and U.S. Marines Lt. Gen. (ret.) Marty Steele, who has been a member of the Board of Directors of the national Fisher House Foundation, were both again thrilled to be able to attend — and speak at — the tournament’s awards ceremony.

“We certainly couldn’t have housed more than 850 family members of our wounded soldiers at the Tampa Fisher House without all of you supporting events like this one,” Welenc said.

To make a donation, email ValCasey3@aol.com or visit FisherHouse.org.

Shoppers tolerating not-so-bad traffic, seem pleasantly surprised

TRAFFICWEB2While traffic in and around the new Tampa Premium Outlet mall (2398 Grand Cypress Dr., at the interchange of I-75 and S.R. 56) is bound to get worse as the holiday season approaches, reviews for the first day were mostly positive.

But with one major caveat: So far.

The S.R. 56 and I-75 intersection traffic has taken on almost mythic status among those who find the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel areas to be frustratingly congested. Whether it’s long drive times to work, traffic signals that drivers are convinced aren’t timed properly or long enough and backed-up lines of cars getting on and off the interstate, many can’t imagine the new 441,000-square-foot upscale mall not adding to those problems.

But, Pasco Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Eddie Daniels said that may not be the case. While acknowledging the S.R. 56 and I-75 intersection has yielded its share of complaints in recent months, Daniels says PCSO doesn’t believe the mall will add to the traffic woes, once the opening weeks and holiday season are past.

Most of the build-up on the opening days, said Daniels, was at the I-75 northbound off-ramp to S.R. 56.

Some shoppers feel the trade-off is worth it for the potential of a good bargain and a gorgeous new mall to stroll around.

LaboyWEB“I think you’ll always have your morning and rush hour traffic in that area,’’ said Pebble Creek resident Linda Laboy, “but there were no problems for me today.”

Thursday’s shoppers appeared more impressed with the layout and design of the sprawling outlet mall and the selection of stores than they were discouraged by the traffic woes.

“It wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be,’’ said Melissa Blas of Land O’Lakes. “(There was) a little traffic, but not too bad.”

Stephen Yalof, chief executive officer of Simon Premium Outlets, said he was aware of the traffic concerns.

“We pick out our locations based on access, that’s the most important thing,’’ he said, “but the last thing we want to do is frustrate a customer and have them

not want to come back. In addition to great parking (roughly 2,200 spots), there also is public transportation that will be operating from here to Wesley Chapel. So, that’s just (another) way to ease some of the traffic.”

An overflow lot across from the mall and the Walgreens at the S.R.54/56 intersection also were available, with shuttles to transport customers to the mall during the Grand Opening weekend (Oct. 29-Nov. 1). There also is valet parking available in front of the Saks Off 5th anchor store.

MatthewsRegina Matthews of New Tampa said she had little problem getting into the mall on Thursday, where she was directed by parking attendants who were working hard to get cars swiftly into spots. She did say she wished there were more signs in the area directing people to the mall, however, which she thinks could ease confusion and make the process go more smoothly in the future.

“I think you get a lot of people slowing down to get their directions,’’ she said. “I do think they are going to need additional parking, though.”

It’s too early to declare that longterm, the traffic around S.R. 56 and I-75 will be unaffected by the new outlet mall. Obviously there are some complaints, and some shoppers have claimed bad experiences. But in the early stages of the honeymoon period that accompanies a grand opening, most seem willing to navigate any road turbulence for a new experience.

 

 

Caetano running for school board post

CaetanoWEBAfter filing last year to regain his old Tampa City Council District 7 seat, New Tampa’s Joseph Caetano ended up not running, saying he had a change of heart.

Now, he says, he is following his heart.

Caetano is one of five candidates who have (so far) filed to replace Carol Kurdell in the District 7 seat on the Hillsborough County School Board in 2016, returning to what he says are his roots.

Caetano says he was a school board member in Woburn, MA, from 1981-85, and he plans on taking some of the things he championed then and using them to build his platform now for the District School Board election, which will be held during the Primary Election on August 30, 2016.

(Note-Unless one of the five Dist. 7 candidates garners at least 50-percent of the vote on Aug. 30, the two candidates with the most votes will advance to a runoff during the General Election on November 8, 2016.)

Specifically, Caetano, 82, says he will run on vocational education, which he says was the backbone of the school district he served up north.

“I know vocational education is a dirty word (to some people),’’ he says. “But it’s a very good system.”

Some other concerns Caetano said he hopes to tackle: the financial woes of the Hillsborough school district, graduation rates that he says remain far too low and increasing the pay for the District’s bus drivers.

This won’t be the first time Caetano has run for the Hillsborough School Board. In 1996, he was unsuccessful in a deep field of nine for a countywide that included winner Sharon Danaher, although Caetano says he received 20,450 votes.

“I know they (the voters) are going to end up loving my message when I come out again,’’ he said.

“They” had better love him, because Caetano already faces four other candidates for the District 7 seat — a little less than a year before the Aug. 30 Primary Election.

If he ends up following through this time on his filing, this will be Caetano’s first campaign since he served on the Tampa City Council from 2007-11. He was unseated in March 2011 by current District 7 Council member Lisa Montelione, finishing third of four candidates and attracting 19 percent on the vote.

Caetano, a longtime Tampa Palms resident now living in Grand Hampton, owned the Bostonian Hair Studio in the City Plaza at Tampa Palms shopping center for more than two decades (and a second salon in the New Tampa Center plaza for several years), before filing for bankruptcy in 2008 and closing both of those salons. He later opened and closed two salons in Wesley Chapel and helped his daughter, Jacquie, open the Urban Renewal Hair & More salon in the Pebble Creek Collection a couple of years ago.

The always-colorful Caetano promises that his age won’t hold him back. He said he works out at a gym every day and is in top shape.

“I think I can make a difference; I’m a hard worker,’’ Caetano said. “I’m going to win the election, I’ll tell you that now. I’ll work my (butt) off. And I’m running from here down to Apollo Beach. I’ll be knocking on doors and advertising.”

Caetano said he plans on forming a committee in the coming months to plan his campaign and begin his fund-raising efforts in earnest.

For more information, email Joseph Caetano at caetanobim@aol.com.

First Pasco County all-star game will feature 10 from Wesley Chapel

Wiregrass Ranch RB/DB Brandon Mosley is one of 10 players from Wiregrass and Wesley Chapel High named to the first all-star game. (photo: John C. Cotey)
Wiregrass Ranch RB/DB Brandon Mosley is one of 10 players from Wiregrass and Wesley Chapel High named to the first all-star game. (photo: John C. Cotey)

Wiregrass Ranch and Wesley Chapel didn’t come close to making the football playoffs this season, but a handful of players from each team will get one more high school football game their senior season.

The rosters were announced for the 2015 Pasco County East-West Classic, the first-ever all-star game for the county, and the Bulls and Wildcats are well-represented, by players and coaches as Wiregrass Ranch head coach Mark Kantor will be in charge of the East.

Making the team from Wesley Chapel were wide receiver Brian Mena, offensive and defensive linemen Naim Smith and Tristan Pauwels, kicker Chase Oknefski and linebacker Mike Mosley.

The Bulls representatives will be wide receiver Taylor Bleistein, offensive and defensive linemen Tyler Ichimura and Marque Davis, running back and defensive back Brandon Mosley and linebacker Ty DeCarire.

 

The game, organized by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, is scheduled for Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. at Sunlake High School (3023 Sunlake Blvd., Land O’Lakes). Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at any of the high schools or at participating Beef O’Brady’s.