By Gary Nager
Long-time readers surely recognize at least two things about my dining reviews â #1) Iâprefer mom-and-pop restaurants to any sort of chain eatery and #2)âperhaps my biggest complaint is about having too many of certain types of restaurants and not enough of some others. For example, although we have quite a few very good-to-great pizza places, we donât really have even a non-chain Italian restaurant anywhere in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel.Continue reading
By Gary Nager
It may not have raised quite as much money as its organizers may have hoped, but thereâs little doubt that no one who attended the GFWCâ(General Federation of Womenâs Clubs) New Tampa Junior Womanâs Clubâs 15th annual âNight of 5000â on April 21 at Hunterâs Green Country Club (HGCC) will ever be able to look at one of our nationâs âwounded warriorsâ and be able to not thank them for the sacrifices they have made for all of us and for this great country of ours.Continue reading
Looking for a way to improve your childâs football skills and a fun way to spend a weekend? Check out the Josh Freeman Football ProCamp, to be held Saturday-Sunday, June 9-10, at Wesley Chapel High on Wells Rd. Freeman, the Tampa Bay Buccaneersâ starting quarterback, is holding his camp for boys and girls ages 7-14. Freeman himself will be leading the camp, alongside the areaâs top prep football coaches.Continue reading
A penny may not seem like it could do too much good, but the extra penny Pasco County residents have been paying since 2004 has raised a total of $139 million for the Pasco School District since the tax began.
However, not all of the proceeds from the tax go to the school districtâ the school board and Pasco County commission each receive 45 percent of the proceeds, with the remaining 10 percent being divided among Pascoâs six municipalities. With the tax set to expire in 2014, the county is asking the public for a second ten-year âroundâ of it, to be voted on by Florida residents in Novemberâs general election.
The money has gone towards updating and renovating area schools in need. Among the Wesley Chapel schools needing the tax to pass because they have projects that arenât funded without the second ten years include Thomas E. Weightman Middle School, which is waiting to receive campus safety improvements. The original Penny fund currently only has $30 million left.
Renovations to Quail Hollow Elementary (QHE) also are in the next go-round, and principal Michelle Berger says she supports continuing the one-cent tax. âI think there are a lot of projects in the district that still need extra funding,â Berger says.
If it passes, the second ten years of the tax is expected to raise $502.4 million, of which the District would get $226 million. The funds canât be used on salaries or other everyday expenses; instead, the money has to be dedicated to building new schools or renovating/repairing old ones. âI believe (local voters) would support the penny if they could see the good it has done in the district,â says Dr. John Long Middle School principal Christine Wolff.
Originally, the tax was intended to help with the growth of Pasco County, which needed more new schools to reduce the crowding at many older ones. With the pause in residential growth in the past few years, there are no new schools on the project list, instead focusing on the improvement of Pasco schools already in existence.
For more information visit PascoCountyFl.net.
When Cesar Mullix saw the flyer and entry form for the Uncle Benâs Rice âBenâs Beginnersâ national video cooking contest in a school package, he knew instantly that his daughter would be a contender. And, Cesar was right, as Dr. John Long Middle School sixth grader Astrid Mullix ended up as the contestâs national runner-up, surpassing hundreds of other entries, with her video on how to make Dominican-style chowfan, a dish derived from the Chinese immigrants in the Dominican Republic.Continue reading