My Personal Take On Gun Violence; Plus, The Taste Returns  March 25!

As a parent, I’m happy that both of my sons have graduated from both high school and college, because the threat of continuing gun violence, especially towards young people, seems to loom ever larger in this country.

I can’t imagine how the families of the murdered students and staff at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland are feeling. I don’t want to imagine it. But, I also can’t hide my head in the sand and pray that it somehow all goes away.

Children shouldn’t have to be afraid to go to school. Schools shouldn’t have to have metal detectors and beefed-up security, but they do.

I’ve never been a gun owner and the few times I’ve shot a gun of any kind, I could feel the death — whether accidental or intended — in my hands…and wanted no part of it.

Even so, I’ve also always had an open mind about both hunting and the need some people I have been close to have felt to have a gun (or guns) in their home in order to feel safe.

The one thing I could never understand was why anyone would own a military-style automatic weapon, other than maybe as a keepsake of someone’s time in the military. If you hunters out there are using AR-15s or AK-47s or even bump stocks to shoot deer, wild boar or even gators, I’m guessing that’s against the rules. But, if it’s not, shouldn’t it be? Even though these weapons can get off multiple shots in seconds, are they really the weapon of choice for home protection? Aren’t they, when legally kept, supposed to be unloaded and locked up when not in use and therefore harder to load and fire quickly at an intruder?

But, I certainly agree that the guns themselves are not the problem. People are. I therefore think that, in addition to trying to ban these types of weapons, anyone who wants to buy one should have to be evaluated by a licensed mental health professional before they can do so. I also think that the penalties for not only using, but possessing, these types of weapons would also need to be tougher.

And finally, I honestly think that in order to get the most people to be willing to give up these guns of mass destruction, they should be paid to give them back. Pennies on the dollar, but it’s better than having them confiscated or having to illegally hide them if they ever are banned. Even if our government had to buy back every military-style weapon and bump stock in this country, wouldn’t the monetary cost alone, much less the cost in human life and suffering be less than what we’ve seen in mass shooting after mass shooting?

I honestly believe that if anyone is going to finally bring about change with regards to guns in this country, those surviving students and families from Parkland have the best chance of finally getting it done.  I truly hope they succeed because, sadly, we never know whose children (or parents or siblings) could be next.

 Check Out Our Taste 2018 Preview Section!

At our press time on March 2, it was still three weeks out before the Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel was set to return to the (surprisingly) warm and friendly confines of Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) and I know it’s going to be bigger and better than last year.

The Taste, presented by the Rotary Club of New Tampa, in conjunction with the North Tampa Bay (formerly the Greater Wesley Chapel) Chamber of Commerce, will return to FHCI on Sunday, March 25, noon-4 p.m., or two weeks and two days after you received this issue in your mailbox.

As the restaurant coordinator for the event both years, I will say that we had a few (5 or 6) more restaurants secured with paperwork at the same time last year, but close to half of the 32 confirmed eateries and beverage providers we hdid have at our press time this year are newcomers to the event — and most of those that participated last year who don’t appear in our Taste preview section on pages 38-41 said they were going to return, we just hadn’t received their paperwork by Mar. 2. Since those pages were laid out for the issue, in fact, we have had two more providers — the Zephyrhills Brewing Co. and The Main Ingredient Catering Co. — send in their paperwork as I was writing the final page of our latest Wesley Chapel edition.

In short, I will be stunned if we don’t at least match last year’s 46 food and beverage providers and I won’t be surprised at all if the number ends up at 50 or more.

In fact, there are at least 40 additional restaurants that have expressed serious interest in being at the Taste, so keep visiting TasteofNewTampa.org every day to see what new culinary delights are expected to be added to an already impressive roster.

Please note that this year’s “People’s Choice” winners will have to keep selling tickets past 3 p.m., because the total weight of each food/beverage vendors’ tickets will…um…carry a lot of weight.

The New Tampa Players will return with new performances and guitar afficionado Shaun Hopper (right) will be the day’s entertainment headliner, known for his “fingerstyle” and percussive technique.

I give big kudos to FHCI owners Gordie Zimmermann and George Mitchell for being so happy to welcome the Taste back to the largest skating complex south of New York state, with an amazing floor covering one of the complex’s 17,000-sq.-ft., NHL-sized rinks. Gametime indoor temp? Right around 72 degrees (F.). Seriously.

I also congratulate New Tampa Rotary president Karen Frashier, her awesome team of “JCs” — James Carner and Jason Contino — who already have brought in more sponsors and sponsorship dollars for the event this year than last, logistics guru Matt Palmer, our beer & wine license expert (and Private Chef) Peter Gambacorta, entertainment chair Bob Thompson, volunteer coordinator Dr. Colin Beach, marketing whiz Craig Miller, the always-helpful Lesley Zajac and Debby Amon,  and new Taste committee member Nikki Smith, who has made sure that any food that isn’t sold during the event this year will be donated to local food banks immediately following the Taste.

For more info about the 2018 Taste, including how to pre-buy tickets or volunteer, visit TasteofNewTampa.org. And, check out our Taste Preview Section on pages 38-41 in our latest issue and look for exclusive WCNT-tv Taste preview segments on Facebook, too.

Is This Your Next AMERICAN IDOL?

Zach D’Onofrio is good at keeping secrets.

For years, he was a squeaky-voiced kid who sang quietly in the church chorus, who ran the lights at his family’s Dreamhouse Theatre, a kid happy to work behind the scenes in the midst of his song-happy family of performers.

Then one night, at the age of 15, he called his family into the living room of their Seven Oaks home.

“Mom and Dad, I want you to hear something,” he told them.

Sensing something dramatic was about to happen, Darci, his mother, pulled out her phone and started recording.

Zach started singing. Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight.”

Everyone’s world changed that night.

“When I heard his voice like that, I started bawling, just crying,” Darci says.

His sister, who was in her room, heard her brother sing and started screaming, and came rushing into the living room.

“It was like, whaaaaaaat?,” says Bryan, his father.

Zach has always been afraid of what people would say if he sang for them. He told his parents he wasn’t sure he should share his voice.

“You need to share this with the world,” Darci tearfully told him.

And he has, from one “American Idol” audition to the next, from Wesley Chapel to Orlando to New York.

But, how about Hollywood? Well, no one is saying.

Zach D’Onofrio is good at keeping secrets.

Zach and Darci, before he entered the room to sing for the celebrity judges.

Once America’s hottest television show, “Idol” is back for the start of its comeback season this Sunday. March 11 , 8 p.m., on ABC-TV (WFTS-TV Channel 11 locally).

At the D’Onofrio home, friends and family will gather in that living room again, this time sharing Zach’s voice with the world. Everyone will see the audition for the first time, including Zach.

“I am kind of nervous about how I’ll look,” he says, sitting under a green shade at the Starbucks on S.R. 56 near the Shops at Wiregrass, surrounded by a caffeinated crowd that has no idea that, possibly, the next “American Idol” sits among them.

A junior at Wiregrass Ranch High, Zach was one of the hundreds to audition for “Idol” at Florida Hospital Center Ice back in August 2017. He was one of 25 to continue on to auditions in Orlando two weeks later. And, he also was one of 16 who flew to New York City in October for a chance to sing in front of this season’s “Idol” judges — pop/soul legend Lionel Richie, country star Luke Bryan and perky pop performer Katy Perry.

“I can post about it now (on Facebook) that I auditioned, and can tell people that I have gone to New York for the show,” Zach says. “A lot of kids know that, like my close friends, but they don’t know anything past that. Some kids sitting next to me in classes don’t know. People don’t know that I danced with Katy Perry.”

* * *

Wait
what?

His father just shakes his head and smiles. Yes, it really happened. It only took 10 seconds of “The Way You Look Tonight” to drop open the jaws of the judges, and another 10 seconds after that, Perry was dancing her way towards Zach. Richie stood and danced as well, and Bryan couldn’t help but join in.

Zach maintained his poise, and continued singing, even as he and Perry danced together.

“I just kept going,” he says. “We were dancing. I twirled her, I dipped her, things like that. Kept singing.”

“Dipped her,” says Zach’s dad, shaking his head and beaming proudly, with maybe a tinge of jealousy. “My man!”

If it wasn’t his voice that prompted Perry to dance with Zach, maybe it was his “socks appeal.” Socks are kind of Zach’s thing. He has a collection of 50 pairs or so of uniquely designed footwear. He brought pairs for each judge — American flag socks for show host Ryan Seacrest, skulls for Richie, roosters for Bryan.

For Perry, her socks depicted cats sitting on rainbows shooting lasers from their eyes, which sounds like a description of some of her videos. It was, Zach says, the perfect choice, and she wore them on her hands while she danced with him.

“It broke the ice,” Zach says. “It definitely made things easier.”

* * *

It is only natural that Zach would discover his talent for singing.

Bryan and Darci met at a concert at the Happy Gospel Center in Bradenton. Bryan was in a band with other family members called Southern Praise, and they were the headliners that day. He was the eligible bachelor of the group, and his sister joked to the crowd that, “if you can feed him, you can have him.”

Darci thought Bryan was a wonderful singer. When it was her turn to sing later that day, she was nervous thinking he might be watching. She wrote him a letter afterward, he wrote back, and one year later, they were married.

Zach and his older sister, Taylor, were born into music. Taylor embraced it, performing and singing at a young age, and Zach remembers singing “Oh, Holy Night” with his family at a Christmas church service when he was eight.

Bryan, Taylor, Zach and Darci before a Dreamhouse Theatre production.

But, for the most part, he hung back and mostly played youth soccer, even making the junior varsity team at Wiregrass Ranch High.

Four years ago, his parents, who both work full-time at North Tampa Behavioral Health on S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, started the Dreamhouse Theatre. They performed shows at various locales before settling at their current location in Lutz.

Zach was working the lights for a production of the “Little Shop of Horrors” in October 2016,  when he was struck by how much fun all the performers seemed to be having. He decided afterward he would surprise his family with a Frank Sinatra song in the living room that night.

After that, Zach took his first role as Benjamin in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Bryan played Joseph, and Darci and Taylor also were in the production.

“Oh my gosh, it was so exciting seeing him getting into it,” Bryan says. “He had a solo in the show, and just nailed it. I was so excited to see him shine.”

Zach took on roles as one of the three little pigs in “Shrek,” and played Lord Farquaad in “Shrek The Musical Jr.,” sitting on his knees the whole show. “That was probably my favorite,” he says. “I wondered why I waited so long to do this.”

At Wiregrass Ranch, he joined the chorus this school year, ready to refine the talent he had unleashed the year before. His teacher originally thought by the sound of his speaking voice that Zach would be singing tenor, until he showed off the rich, deep sound that surprises so many.

“He’s very talented,  but it wasn’t something I heard from the very, very beginning,’’ says Wiregrass Ranch fifth-year choral director Solangi Santiago.  “Every now and then, though, we could see that this kid had something special.”

Then, one day, a friend sent Zach a link to sign up to audition for “Idol” at Florida Hospital Center Ice, where he took his first steps in the hope of becoming the next big thing.

* * *

Given a choice of audition spots after getting through the Wesley Chapel and Orlando stages of the audition process, Zach selected New York, an obvious pick, considering his crooner style and affection for Sinatra, which he developed after buying old vinyl records of the legend on shopping excursions with his father.

It was Darci, however, who got to go on the Sunday-through-Wednesday trip with him, the first trip to New York for both of them, and they stared wide-eyed at everything around them for three days. They visited the Statue of Liberty and the 9-11 Memorial, Facetiming the best moments with Bryan and Taylor.

“I made him sing ‘New York New York’ in the middle of Times Square,” Darci says.

Outside the judges room at the Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown Manhattan, Darci was all nerves, while inside, her teenage son was taking a giant bite of the Big Apple — dancing with a pop princess while impressively, considering the circumstances, remembering all the words to his song.

“I didn’t faint,” Zach joked.

For three minutes, Darci strained to hear her son sing. The television cameras were trained on her, and she looked at them and asked: “Have you ever had a mom pass out before?”

What little she says she could hear of Zach, she liked.

“He sounded incredible, like never before,” Darci says.

Afterward, he told her he thought it was his best audition yet.

Did he have a golden ticket in his hand when he told her?

“You have to tune in March 11,” he says, smiling. “You may see me on the show.”

Zach D’Onofrio is good at keeping secrets.

Marc & Kelly Rockquemore are proud to have opened their third Tampa Bay-area New Identities Hair Studio, in the New Tampa Center plaza on Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Marc & Kelly Rockquemore are proud to have opened their third Tampa Bay-area New Identities Hair Studio, in the New Tampa Center plaza on Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Not unlike the local restaurant business, the hair salon scene in New Tampa has been pretty volatile the last two decades. It’s therefore pretty impressive that Marc and Kelly Rockquemore, who are now the proud owners of three New Identities Hair Studios in the Tampa Bay area — including two right here in New Tampa — have not only survived, but thrived during that span.

The Rockquemores opened their first New Identities Hair Studio in what was then called the Palm Lake at Tampa Palms (now the Shoppes at Amberly) shopping center 17 years ago, which means I’ve known them for 18 years, because they came into my office in that same plaza looking for advertising for the salon several months before it opened.

Since then, the Rockquemores have opened a second successful New Identities salon in the Riverview/Apollo Beach area that they refer to as their “South Shore” location, and have now opened their third studio — and hosted  a Feb. 7 North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting — in the space in the Publix-anchored New Tampa Center plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. that most recently was occupied by Bella Mia hair salon.

The 1,400-sq.-ft. space also previously was home to the second Bostonian Hair Salon. Marc admits that Bostonian owner Joseph Caetano was something of a role model for them, as Caetano’s salons were well-known throughout the area for high-quality, affordable hair services provided by professionally-trained stylists and hair color specialists.

“Even though Joseph (now 84 years old) no longer owns a salon in this market,” Marc say, “his success paved the way for salons like ours. The key for us is being able to sustain that success long-term.”

Maintaining success hasn’t really been an issue for the Rockquemores, who opened the new salon on BBD with some of the popular stylists from the Tampa Palms location.

“I just think that Kelly and I have both have been relentless in our pursuit of success, by our own definition,” Marc says. “We’re always working to make this thing better all the time and we’ve been fortunate to have great people who have stayed with us long-term.”

Kelly adds, “We had to open another salon up here. We were having two stylists working at each station in Tampa Palms.”

The Rockquemores say they started looking for a new salon sometime last summer and quickly found the New Tampa Center location. They were open by November.

“We did a lot of the work ourselves, whatever we could do,” Kelly says. “It all came together pretty quickly.”

The new New Identities, which has a total of ten stations available, already has eight stylists, four of whom came from the “overcrowded” Tampa Palms studio, but Marc says, “We still have room for more here, and we’ve been getting some outstanding applicants.” At New Identities, stylists have to be properly trained, and clients pay different rates for the same services, based on the level of a stylist’s training.

They both credit advertising in not only the New Tampa but also the Wesley Chapel edition of the Neighborhood News with helping them get the new salon started off right.

“It hasn’t been easy getting this place open and running properly,” Marc admits, “but it’s truly been a blessing to us so far.”

New Identities specializes in “anything to do with hair, including hair styling for men and women, coloring, perms, relaxers and even extensions. “We definitely are known for our color specialists,” Kelly says.

The salon also specializes in playing a vital role in the biggest day of a woman’s life. “Our Bridal Services primarily consist of hair design up-dos, shampoo & blow dries), as well as makeup application,” Kelly says. “Let us take care of your entire wedding party!”

Your Stylists, Your Salon

The Rockquemores are somewhat skeptical about the rise of “Salon Suites,” where stylists (or other beauty industry professionals) can rent a space, set their own hours and “be their own boss.”

“But, some states, like New Jersey, are banning the salon suites because it’s easier to avoid paying taxes on what you make,” Marc says. “Those booth rental people are independent contractors, whereas we work on commission and offer employee benefits and continuing education training.”

Kelly adds, “A lot of those people get stuck at a certain level because they don’t want to have to pay out of their own pocket for education. Here, everytime you receive more training, you have an opportunity to earn more money.”

Marc adds that he has very strong opinions about booth rentals because, “all you’re doing is renting a 10-foot-by-10-foot space in a store. You’re not incorporated, you don’t have employees or have to pay business taxes, you’re not inspected and on and on and on. You’re not a business owner, but that’s what the stylists are being sold.”

Marc says that he and Kelly were particularly proud to have been named the “Best Hair Salon in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel” in the recent Neighborhood News Reader Survey & Contest. In addition to those accolades, New Identities  has been the official salon of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tampa Bay Storm cheerleaders, and most recently, the Tampa Bay Lightning girls. The Tampa Palms location was featured on the HBO series “Hard Knocks” last summer, when Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander (photo, above left) took the advice of  teammate (and New Identities client) Gerald McCoy, and came to New Identities for a new color job.

“We do a lot to make sure people know who we are (including possibly being a sponsor of the upcoming Taste of New Tampa, see pg. 3),” Marc says, “but Kwon being filmed here for ‘Hard Knocks’ was a great bonus.”

For appointments at the New Tampa New Identities Hair Studio (19038 BBD Blvd.), call (813) 579-1575. For Tampa Palms (15307 Amberly Dr.), call (813) 979-0760. For the South Shore studio (10639 Big Bend Rd. in Riverview), call (813) 741-1177. For more info, visit NewIdentitiesSalon.com or the Facebook pages for any of the locations.

Freedom’s Gibson Cruising Through High School Competition

Freedom sophomore tennis standout Julianna Gibson has been playing the sport since she was five years old, and so far has been unbeatable during her high school career as the No. 1 player at Freedom High in Tampa Palms. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Freedom High tennis player Julianna Gibson doesn’t race across the tennis court, she glides.

Her forehand and backhand aren’t harried, they are harmonious.

Her demeanor isn’t delirious, it is docile.

It all works together to make Gibson one of the top high school tennis players around.

Last year, as a freshman, she played line 1 (where typically the best players at each school line up) and went 14-0 in singles, winning District and Regional titles on her way to the State tournament.

She kicked off her sophomore season on Valentine’s Day by winning 8-0 against Gaither in singles, and teaming up with Zoe Rosen for another 8-0 win at doubles. She is 4-0 so far this season.

“I think it’s gone pretty smoothly,” Julianna says of her brief high school career. “A few of the matches were pretty competitive, but I have gotten through most of them pretty easily.”

Gibson has been playing tennis since she was 5. Her parents, Mike and Carri-Ann, say Julianna tried a number of sports, like soccer and volleyball and even earned a black belt in Tae Kwan Do.

“I coached her Little League softball team, and she was a really good hitter and threw really well,” Carri-Ann says. “I thought, “We might have a softball player here.’

But, Julianna gravitated to tennis. Carri-Ann and Mike remember Julianna running around and chasing balls to hit as a toddler while her parents played.

Despite having physical gifts — Julianna is 5-feet, 9-inches tall with a long reach — that lend themselves to almost any sport, none had the amount of action to keep his daughter’s attention like tennis, according to Mike.

“She took to tennis like a fish to water,” he says. “It was a sport she seemed she could really get into. I remember she said in tennis, the ball comes right back to you and you get another chance. It’s a constant engagement. You have to be constantly engaged when you’re playing tennis.”

As an only child, Julianna said she enjoys the individual aspect of playing singles. She started out in playing in the USTA’s Junior Team Tennis leagues, but most USTA junior tournaments focus on singles.

The competition can range from friendly to fierce. Many of the opponents Julianna has faced in her junior career are training 5-6 hours a day at expensive and prestigious academies away from their families.

The Gibsons prefer a more balanced approach. Julianna has hopes for playing in college, and does train with personal coaches, but she says her obsession for being a professional tennis star takes a back seat to enjoying her high school years.

And so far, she says she has been enjoying them.

“It’s nice playing on a team with other girls, and cheering them on,” Julianna says. “I like that part of it.”

Her height and long frame give Julianna an advantage over most opponents when it comes to serving and her forehand, her two strengths.

Still More To Accomplish

That helped catapult her to her unbeaten season last year, and the Patriots advanced to the Class 3A Regionals as the District runner-up.

Gibson won her singles match at Regionals against Largo, with her opponent remarking that she couldn’t believe Julianna was only a freshman.

At States, Julianna lost her first match 7-5, 6-2 to Fort Myers’ sophomore lefty Shani Idlette, still the only blemish on Julianna’s high school record.

“It was a lot more competitive there,” says Julianna, who says she was sick the week of the match. “I lost, but it was pretty competitive.”

Her main goal for this season is to make it back to States, but she doesn’t plan on going alone.

“I want the whole team to go,” says Julianna. “The one thing I thought when I was there last year was that this would be more fun as a team.”

New Tampa Resident Helping Impoverished School In India

Joshua Gomes visiting the Premdan School in Mumbai, India, last summer.

In 2008 and 2009, when Joshua Gomes was just 6 and 7 years old, he accompanied his family on trips to India, where so much of what he experienced left a lasting impression on him.

Joshua is now a high school sophomore who lives in Hunter’s Green and attends a biomedical magnet program at Middleton High on N. 22nd St. in Tampa.

His goal is to one day become a cardiologist, but he’s not waiting until he graduates from medical school to help people.

He’s working now for the benefit of children in India, just like he remembers from his trips there when he was a little boy.

Back then, Joshua tagged along as his mom Arlene and sister Ayesha volunteered at a small school in Mumbai, called the Premdan School for Impoverished Children, which is run by Catholic nuns. It was started in the 1970s by a nun who wanted to help children living in the slums of Mumbai, who don’t have access to the educational opportunities reserved for the upper class.

Joshua says his mom and dad are both from India, and his family traveled there in 2008 and 2009, when his grandparents passed away. While they were there,  Arlene offered to provide a meal to students at the school, which teaches kindergarten to children no one else will educate.

At right in the red shirt, Joshua’s first visit to the school in 2008. He is raising money to support students at the school via a GoFundMe page.

The experience was eye-opening, because of the poor conditions of the school, how eager the kids were to learn, and also because of the gratitude the children showed for the help they received. Arlene and Ayesha, who was about 12 at the time, continued to volunteer with the students throughout their time in India. They helped the children with their studies, provided food and handed out candy as treats. Joshua sometimes got to come along.

“The kids are cramped in tiny rooms, with small desks and small chalkboards,” he recalls. “There’s such poverty.”

After those trips, Arlene says she was putting off going back, although she needed to take care of business related to her parents’ deaths. But, Joshua didn’t forget about the kids in that little school.

“Even after all these years, I have always remembered how appreciative these children were for what we gave them, and I always wanted to go back one day,” Joshua explains.

Arlene says he asked to return to the school many times over the years. “He finally told me, ‘I don’t want to hear any excuses,’” Arlene says. So, they planned a trip last summer and Joshua was thrilled to be able to finally visit the kindergartners at the Premdan School again.

“I think education is so important for these children to make something of themselves in life so they can take a different path and stay off the streets,” he explains. “It is a foundation for these children.”

Before he left, Joshua promised the principal of the Premdan School, Sister Sylvia, that he would continue to promote the school and raise support for it back here in the U.S. After reaching out to friends, family and local businesses, he hopes the New Tampa community will support his efforts, as well.

Joshua is hoping to re-stock the school’s three classrooms with necessary supplies — such Joshua as books, colored pencils, maybe even playground equipment — before the new school year starts in June.

“He has a very caring personality,” says  Arlene. “He’s always been interested in helping kids, in education and in making a difference and helping out.”

He’s set a goal to raise $750 through a GoFundMe page. While he had raised more than half of that at our press time, Joshua says, “I want to raise as much as I can because the school and the children really need it.”

To support Joshua Gomes’ efforts to help the Premdan School, visit GoFundMe.com/PremdanSchoolForTheImpoverished.