Although I am now a member of the New Tampa Noon Rotary Club, the Wesley Chapel (Noon) Rotary Club that I previously belonged to (and which now meets Wednesdays at noon at Lexington Oaks Golf Club) contacted me (on deadline, of course. lol) to try to help the club promote its upcoming Casino Night fund raiser, which will be held on Friday, August 25, 7 p.m.-10 p.m., at Wesley Chapel Nissan (8519 S.R. 54).
The event is for such an amazing cause, I couldn’t let it go by without a mention here. All proceeds from the Casino Night will be donated to benefit the family of 16-month-old Clayton Mahler, who has been diagnosed with an unidentified Stage 3 pediatric cancer. Clayton’s father, Rob Mahler, is a former Hudson High football coach and eleven local high school teams (including Wiregrass Ranch High) will participate in a preseason jamboree on Thursday, August 12, at Springstead High, with all proceeds also benefiting the Mahler family.
If you enjoy a little gambling for great prizes, a $20 donation gets you $20 in chips and there will be free food, a cash bar, and a silent auction and of course, the spirit of Rotary.
For more information about the Rotary Casino Night, visit WCRotary.com or visit one of the club’s Wednesday meetings. For more about the “Preseason Clash for Clayton,” visit SpringsteadAthletics.com.
New schools like Cypress Creek Middle High School will help alleviate school overcrowding in Pasco, but an increase in school impact fees has to be approved by Pasco’s County Commissioners to build 4-5 more new schools.
After months of meetings and workshops, Pasco County’s School District and Board of County Commissioners (BCC) appear ready to seal a deal with the Tampa Bay Builders Association (TBBA) which would raise impact fees on new homes in Pasco to help build new schools.
The deal to phase in an impact fee increase of roughly $3,500 per home over three years was forged a day before a public hearing was held on July 13 regarding the issue. While signaling strong support for the increase, the commissioners ended up being unable to vote on the ordinance because it had changed significantly from what was originally advertised.
The vote will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 15. Every commissioner signaled support for the increase at the July 13 meeting.
“This gets us in the right direction,’’ said District 5 commissioner Jack Mariano.
“We’ve come to a great agreement here,” said District 4 commissioner Mike Wells. “We haven’t had an increase in the impact fee since 2007. To give the school board 92 percent of what they asked for is strong.”
Wells added, “it’s time to stop kicking the can down the road.”
Pasco Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning was seeking to increase the current impact fee of $4,876 for a single-family home to $9,028, or an 85 percent increase. That increase, it said, would help fund the construction of five new schools.
The TBBA was hoping to keep the increase at no higher than $7,176, or a 48-percent raise.
Pasco County chief assistant attorney David Goldstein said the county and TBBA worked through the weekend to get a deal done. The biggest battle, he said, was determining what was a fair increase for both sides.
“To me, a reasonable fee is when both sides have to give up a little bit,” Goldstein said. “I’m not going to tell you that either one is (completely) happy with this compromise we have reached. They both gave up a little bit, and neither is entirely thrilled.”
The school district got 92 percent of what it was hoping for, but it will be phased in over three years. The school district will get 79 percent of the amount requested ($2,252) on Jan. 1, 2018, with a $600 increase each year on Jan. 1 of 2019 and 2020, bringing the total to $3,452.
The new fee will help raise more than $200-million over the next decade for school construction, which will build 4-5 schools.
“It’s a number I feel comfortable with,’’ said District 1 County Commissioner Ron Oakley, who represents part of Wesley Chapel.in District 1. “It’s not too high or too low…you can’t have a better thing than education for your kids.”
District 3 commissioner Kathryn Starkey was part of the School Board in 2008 when she sent a letter to then-BCC chair Ann Hildebrand requesting approval of a 2007 Impact Fee Study to raise the fee to $8,983. The BCC never took up the study.
“This may not get them where they need to be, but it gets them close,’’ Starkey said. “I’m supporting the 92 percent.”
Mark Spada, president of the TBBA, said his organization was incurring significant increases that make the impact fees, “among the highest in Florida and the nation.”
Spada says while he recognizes the building industry is part of the solution, he also suggested the school district look for additional revenues, or consider selling some of the 20 school sites he claims Pasco owns to help pay for new schools. Deputy superintendent Ray Gadd disputed Spada’s numbers, saying the county currently only owns nine school sites outright.
Pasco has struggled for years with overcrowded schools, and few areas have felt the pinch more than Wesley Chapel.
Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) has been on a 10-period schedule for the last two years, and while the new school boundaries were drawn late last year will alleviate some of that overcrowding, the school still has no room. The newest school set to open next month, Cypress Creek Middle High, will do so as both a middle and high school, with 1,900 students combined.
By its second year, Cypress Creek could already be at capacity.
Everyone who spoke at the public hearing was in favor of the impact fee increase. Most, in fact, urged the BCC to vote for the full increase originally asked for by the school district.
“We’re asking you to please fully fund our schools,’’ said county PTA president Denise Nicholas. “Our children need these schools. They are overcrowded. It is absolutely unacceptable… please vote for our kids.”
Doug Wood, a Wiregrass Ranch High parent, urged the BCC to “pass the full impact fee that was asked by the school system; why should the burden fall on our kids?”
Wood said an extra $10,000 to buy a house wouldn’t deter him as long as the money was going to help build schools. Others worried the higher fee would just be passed on to homebuyers, citing how the same villa in the new Estancia at Wiregrass Ranch development that was $320,000 last year already now sells for $370,000.
“Home prices in Pasco County are up 10-15 percent,’’ said Trinity’s Heidi Janshon. “That’s awesome, but not awesome when we need to fund our schools. I’m asking you to vote for the full amount….I reiterate, please fund us.”
New Carnegie Hero Fund Medal winners and West Meadows residents Lisa Missana (left) and Shane Mitchell (right) were awarded their medals from former winner Cash Kaschai on June 29 at Stonewood Grill & Tavern for saving the life of Marla Zick in March 2016.
They have been honored by the Tampa Police and Firefighters, by the City Council and by Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
But, when Lisa Missana and Shane Mitchell were presented with medals from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, the West Meadows residents who last year pulled a drowning woman from her submerged vehicle couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the distinguished bronze medals in the cherry wood cases.
At Stonewood Grill & Tavern in Tampa Palms on June 29, Cash Kaschai of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission officially presented Mitchell and Missana with their Carnegie Medals, which were announced back in March.
“He just said this was the highest award a civilian gets in the United States,” Missana said, “and that’s crazy. That is crazy.”
“This is kind of incredible,’’ Mitchell said.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission was established in 1904, after the Harwick, PA, coal mine disaster that claimed 181 lives. Two of the victims entered the mine after the explosion in a rescue attempt.
Three months after the disaster, Carnegie set aside $5 million for the Commission to recognize civilian heroes while also providing financial assistance to those disabled and the dependents of those killed helping others.
In 113 years, only 9,953 Carnegie Hero Medals have been awarded (from more than 89,000 nominees).
Kaschai said that those awarded Carnegie Medals don’t think about dying when they put themselves in danger trying to save others and, in fact, about 20 percent of the medals are awarded posthumously.
The medals, he said, are befitting the heroism and swift selfless action Missana and Mitchell showed in saving 26-year-old Marla Zick’s life last year.
How It Happened…
On March 31, 2016, Zick suffered a seizure while driving her gray Mustang over the Gateway Bridge, linking West Meadows to Tampa Palms, on the way to Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.
The car, heading east, rolled down the bridge, smacking into the white brick retaining wall and leaving black marks as it scraped against it all the way down.
“Every time I drive by there, I can’t help but look over at the marks on the wall,’’ Mitchell said.
Maurice Rolle was driving behind Zick, and watched in terror as the car rolled past the end of the retaining wall, missed a cement light post and a tree before rolling between two bushes and into the retention pond at the corner of Meadow Pine Dr. and New Tampa Blvd.
Sam Harris was driving toward the bridge when he saw Zick’s car careening out of control. He pulled over, and then got out of his car and ran toward the pond. He called 911.
Mitchell was taking his 7-year-old son to school and was driving down Meadow Pine Dr. when he saw the car slip between the two bushes and into the pond.
The car had yet to sink and Mitchell had a wincher on the front of his truck, so he pulled it up close. He said he thought at the time it would be as simple as hooking up the car in the water and pulling it out. Rolle grabbed the hook at the end of the wincher chain and headed into the water, only to discover, however, that the water was too deep to reach the car.
Missana was a few minutes behind Mitchell on Meadow Pine Dr. and also on the way to drop her son off at school. She saw the car in the pond, and grabbed her phone to start taking pictures. She saw Mitchell and Rolle yelling at an unconscious Zick to get out of the car.
Then, the Mustang started to sink, nose first. Missana remembers three bubbles coming up. Rolle described the scene as total chaos. Mitchell started into the water, and Missana slipped off her shoes and, after briefly flashing back to the times she had seen alligators in the pond, followed him in.
Thankfully, Zick had been driving with her window down. Mitchell and Missana took multiple turns, unsuccessfully, trying to get Zick’s seat belt unclasped. Because the water was green and murky, neither could actually see the car.
Missana screamed for someone to get her scissors. Before she could go back under to cut Zick free, however, Mitchell came up and said he had freed her.
Mitchell and Missana then went back under and, after a few attempts, were able to pull Zick through the open window and to the surface. The Tampa Police Department had arrived and helped them pull Zick to shore, where paramedics tended to her before taking her to Florida Hospital Tampa.
The rescue took all of two minutes, although it felt like two hours to Mitchell and Missana.
“It felt like an eternity,’’ Mitchell said at the time. “I remember when I stopped to catch my breath, I was just thinking, ‘Oh my God, if I don’t get her out she is going to die. I can’t stop.’ It felt like such a long time, and I dove so many times.”
Mitchell and Missana said that they don’t feel like heroes. They didn’t think about saving Zick, they just did.
“She was going to die if we didn’t do something,’’ Missana said.
That is the essence of being a hero, Kaschai said.
A former Carnegie Medal honoree himself in 1972, Kaschai was 19 years old when he remembers steering his car into a guardrail to avoid a 110-gallon gas tank flying at him. The tank had come free from a semi-truck transporting tomatoes, which had smashed into an AMC Gremlin on the other side of the road.
“I still remember glass raining down all over,’’ he said. “And flames 25-30 feet high.”
Inside the car were two paraplegics, Kaschai said. They were on fire, and along with two other men, he helped pull them out and roll them in the dirt to put the flames out.
“It was kind of cold that day, and I had a t-shirt on under a button-up shirt, and a pullover sweatshirt,’’ he said. “I remember it burned through three different places all the way through to my chest.”
Kaschai said a moment like that stays with you forever. “And it will for Lisa and Shane, too,’’ he said.
It was fitting that Missana and Mitchell received their award at Stonewood Grill & Tavern, since that’s where they came together with Rolle, Harris and Zick for the first time, a week after the pond rescue.
Although they have received dozens of accolades for their actions, including a photo shoot with National Geographic for an as-yet unpublished piece, and a recent appearance on WFLA-TV’s “Daytime,” Missana and Mitchell still feel all the awards and recognition are much ado about nothing.
What they take the greatest joy in, however, is the continuing relationship and friendship they have with those involved.
Mitchell and Missana still talk to Zick, who is now living in New York. When she is in town, they get together for dinner.
“I think the coolest thing was to see Marla graduate from school and move on and be able to live her life,’’ Mitchell said. “That was the best thing. We’ll always be connected. Sometimes, you need that in your life.”
American Idol auditions are Aug. 12, but you need to sign up Aug. 5.
Those who have always yearned for the chance to be on American Idol, circle Saturday, August 5 on your calendars.
On that day, sign-ups will open at ABCActionNews.com/Idol, with the first 400 registrants given the chance to audition — by performing a short a capella song before a panel of local celebrity judges — at Wesley Chapel’s Florida Hospital Ice Center on Saturday, August 12.
The winner of “Tampa Bay Idol” will receive a “Front of the Line” ticket to audition for American Idol producers during their bus tour stop in Orlando on Thursday, August 17.
“Pasco County has so much talent and I couldn’t be happier Tampa Bay Idol is holding their next tryout (here),” said Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore, who represents much of Wesley Chapel. “The ice arena where this will be held is a wonderful facility and we look forward to seeing the talent and the arena featured for the Tampa Bay Idol.”
To audition, local singers must meet all eligibility requirements and download the official rules & local registration which can only be found at ABCActionNews.com/Idol.
Dr. June Hall, aka Dr. June (2nd from left) is hosting her fourth annual APTacious Experience Conference on August 5.
Dr. June Hall (aka “Dr. June”) is a motivationalist and the “Proprietor of Positivity.” She founded “Time to APT” (Accentuate Positive Thinking) in order to help others find their way through dark periods and began the annual APTacious Experience Conference four years ago. The fourth annual APTacious event will be held on Saturday, August 5, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel (8310 Galbraith Rd., New Tampa).
With her background in Counseling and Education, she has worked with many individuals to help them overcome and deal with adversities. Not only has Dr. June been an educator for more than 20 years, she also penned a syndicated advice column and had her own advice segment on the “CBS Morning News” in Miami. Since then, she has also developed an advice talk show, “Cooking Up Advice with Dr. June,” to reach as many individuals as possible to reduce personal and relationship stress.
Through facing her personal struggles with darkness and negativity, including fighting cancer, Dr. June put her faith in God, learned to “APT” and to turn her own darkness into sunshine. In addition to her published books, No More Pity Parties: A Guide to Celebrating Your Way through Life and No More Career Pity Parties, she also is Editor-in-Chief of It’s APTAcious magazine. This is an extension of the APTacious event and is available online and in print. Dr. June has traveled throughout the country motivating individuals on national television shows such as “Daytime” and “Jenny Jones,” and has been an adviser and speaker for organizations such as the Pasco Lawyers Group, SALO (Student Activities & Leadership Officers), RA Group on Relationships, Mental Health Assn., Florida Developmental Education Assn. and others.
In addition to Dr. June, this year’s APTacious Experience Conference includes four other motivational speakers, so whether you’re a small business owner, “mompreneur,” interested in health & wellness or just want to be inspired, the APTacious Experience is for you!
Seating is limited, so register today at APTacious.com, call (813) 993-8100 or see the ad on page 19 of this issue.
Although I am now a member of the New Tampa Noon Rotary Club, the Wesley Chapel (Noon) Rotary Club that I previously belonged to (and which now meets Wednesdays at noon at Lexington Oaks Golf Club) contacted me (on deadline, of course. lol) to try to help the club promote its upcoming Casino Night fund raiser, which will be held on Friday, August 25, 7 p.m.-10 p.m., at Wesley Chapel Nissan (8519 S.R. 54).
