Category: News

Grey Wolf Armory Suffers Second Break-In Since March

Three hooded and gloved suspects knocked a hole in the Grey Wolf Armory wall and made off with more than 30 weapons early Sunday morning, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said.

The PSCO says that between 2:53 and 2:57am, the suspects entered through the east side of the Wesley Chapel gun shop, located at32733 Eiland Blvd., after smashing the exterior lighting and taking advantage of the fact that that side of the building is obscured by hedges.

The suspects made off with 30 hand guns, two long guns and one sniper rifle, leaving in an unknown direction. Other more expensive guns were left untouched.

The business has an alarm, but it was never activated, and the suspects crawled around to avoid surveillance camera and motion detectors, the PCSO said.

This is the second time in two months the Grey Wolf Armory has been broken into. According to a post on the business Facebook page from March 14, someone broke in and damaged a half-dozen guns while smashing a glass display unit, but was only able to make off with a single hand gun thanks to the PCSO’s quick response.

“If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would wonder if someone had it in for us,” a post reads on the Facebook page of the Grey Wolf Armory. The new post suggests that the Sunday break-in was orchestrated by the same people from March, because they tried to break in at the same point as March but found the walls had been reinforced and moved to a more vulnerable spot. They also, the post says, took several guns Sunday that they tried but failed to take the first time.

Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at (800) 706-2488.

Our Biggest Post Ever & Other Exciting News

So, first, the BIG news. After two years in a row of winning the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Adult Spelling Bee, yours truly reverted to his usual choking-in-spelling-bees ways, as the Neighborhood News Horrific Spellers finished in a tie for about 10th (of 23 teams) on Apr. 8, when “Kount Drakyoula” himself (see photo below, courtesy of OurTownFla.com, of one of the 20+ words we spelled correctly) misspelled the word “onomatopoeia” (I spelled it “onamotopoeia”… missed it by thatmuch). The two sad facts were that:

1) I believe our team was the only one to spell all 20 words correctly during the first two rounds of this year’s bee (held again at the Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club in San Antonio), when you can “bribe” your way back into the competition by paying $10 (we got to trade in our prepurchased bribes, which you can not use in the third round) for non-winning raffle tickets) — thanks again to another couple of great assists on medical words from my teammate, event co-chair Karina Azank, M.D..

2) I actually practiced that word only a couple of hours before the event and really thought I remembered it correctly. Old age?

It was still a great event to benefit the Pasco Education Foundation and the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon Fund (our club’s nonprofit foundation)…and hey, even the Golden State Warriors didn’t win them all this year.

And The ‘Magic’ Continues…

GarykayakWEB The photo was the happiest I was the day after the Spelling Bee, as the organizers of the 13th annual Sharkbite Challenge off Honeymoon Island in Dunedin called off the “official” race on Apr. 9 due to high winds (20-30 knots) and seas (3-4-ft. waves).

I did return to the Dunedin Causeway the next day, when the winds were down to 10-15 knots and the waves down to 2-3-ft., but I never quite finished the 4-mile race, at least not without swimming the kayak about a half-mile to shore after a wave knocked me out of it. It’s a long, crazy story (to which my fellow WC Rotarians can attest), but I’m still planning to do another race soon…just not without the proper kayak. Most of the 100+ competitors at the race I didn’t finish were in sleek 14-18-ft. composite racing kayaks that look like Olympic sculls. I was in a borrowed, 9-ft. plastic kayak that I now realize I was probably lucky to be able to swim to shore.

Lucky? Heck yeah. After all, no one else at the race did a marine biathlon that day, right?

OK, Here’s Some Actual News…

Until Apr. 7, the single “biggest” post we ever had on our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page was viewed about 28,000 times, with about 4,000 click-throughs to read the actual story on our website.

But, Apr. 7 was the day we posted the map on page 12 of this issue, which shows what’s both officially coming and rumored to be coming to the area around the Tampa Premium Outlets mall off S.R. 56.

The map was on page 1 of our Wesley Chapel issue the following day, but it already had created a record stir (for us, of course) when it received 63,000+ views on our Facebook page — more than doubling our previous best — and an even more staggering 51,000+ click-throughs to our NTNeighborhoodNews.com website! That’s more than 12 times the number of people who had clicked through to our site in any single day!

The second map — of the area near our office on S.R. 54 near I-75 and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel — was no slouch, either, although it “only” garnered 18,200+ page views and a few thousand click-throughs to our site.

What’s WCNT-TV?…

It’s the fun and informative web-based “TV” magazine show all about Wesley Chapel (WC) and New Tampa (NT) that’s launching soon. I can’t tell you much about it just yet, other than it’s a joint venture between yours truly and Full Throttle Intermedia (FTIntermedia.com), in association with the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce.

Serenity & 55-plus Community To Meadow Pointe

Anand Vihar 55-plus community — Anand Vihar is already transitioning in preparation for construction in Meadow Pointe, which will include a 17,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse

When good friends and Tampa Bay-area doctors Krishna Nallamshetty M.D., and Seenu Sanka, M.D., envisioned a place their parents could live their later years in, they imagined a calm and peaceful setting. People in a 55-plus community with shared interests, an active and vibrant community with trails to walk.

Fitness rooms to exercise in, places where they could worship and meditate and partake in the vegetarian lifestyle they have enjoyed their entire lives.

Beginning in June, that’s exactly what the two physicians plan to build in Wesley Chapel’s Meadow Pointe community.

Anand Vihar, which means “Blissful Living” (according to its website), promises to be the premier 55-plus community in Tampa Bay. It will be one of the only 55-plus adult communities in Wesley Chapel.

It will be built on a 50-acre site on Mansfield Blvd., less than 100 yards north of where the road currently dead ends (as we reported about again last issue) and is surrounded by large conservation and ponds.

55-Plus Community Coming Together

Drs. Nallamshetty and Sanka, who searched for the right place for two years before enlisting the help of another friend, Santosh Govindaraju, the CEO of Convergent Capital Partners (CCP), hope to break ground on Anand Vihar this summer.

Eric Isenbergh, the CEO of Oxford Homes, has joined the team as the property’s builder.

“I think it’s a phenomenal area to be in,’’ said Govindaraju, whose company focuses on development and repositioning of commercial real estate. He said CCP has put more than half a billion dollars into redeveloping places like Carrollwood Golf Club (previously Emerald Green Golf & Country Club) and a number of hotels and commercial properties. This is the company’s first foray into Wesley Chapel.

Govindaraju said he was able to secure a great price for the property. The deed, he says, will show the partners paid $25,000 for the land itself, but because the previous owners chose not to pay taxes on it — the recession stalled a previous project on the property — the new owners had to pay off liens on 87 lots, at a cost of $11,000 per lot.

According to Govindaraju, multiple banks owned parts of the parcel, but none had any interest in developing it and allowed it go delinquent.

“It was a very fragmented ownership,’’ he said. “We diligently put it back together.”

The roads, parking areas, utilities and detention ponds were all constructed in 2006, after the previous owners had received approval for 330 townhomes and condos.

Three of the buildings in the southeast portion of the project were constructed, with 24 apartments that currently have residents and eight townhomes that don’t, but any further development came to a halt.

The existing buildings and roads will remain, with a new one planned near Anand Vihar’s soon-to-be-built, 17,000-sq-ft clubhouse. CCP plans to invest $5 million into the 55-plus community, building 280 units and incorporating more green space.

“We are very excited,’’ Govindaraju said. “There’s so many great things happening in this area. We want to contribute to the success at Meadow Pointe by creating more upscale opportunities, and increase the value of them by investing more in these properties.”

Although the project appears to be targeting the existing Indian community in our area, Govindaraju says it’s more about a lifestyle than people of any particular origin.

“We will be targeting more of a healthy living lifestyle,’’ Govindaraju says, noting that the Anand Vihar clubhouse will have an exclusively vegetarian kitchen (non-vegetarian meals will be catered on a weekly basis), a yoga room, a multi-faith prayer and meditation room and a theater room to watch the latest Bollywood (and other) movies.

“We will also have a full-time activities director, and I think that will also set us apart,’’ Govindaraju says.

Anand Vihar already has 30 reservations, he added.

For more information, visit AnandViharTampa.com, or call 534-4127.

Wesley Chapel man finds kidney donor

Can a hashtag help find a kidney donor and save someone’s life?

Count Wesley Chapel mom Dana Richman as a believer, after a Facebook and Twitter campaign she started in January helped find her son Joey, a 22-year-old pre-med student at the University of South Florida, a living kidney donor.

Tampa’s Mike Miller, a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter known by friends as “Muffin Man,” saw a #AKidneyForJoey post on Facebook, and has stepped forward.

The surgery and selfless sacrifice, which will effectively end Miller’s MMA career, is scheduled for Wednesday.

Battling Kidney Failure

Joey suffers from Alport’s Syndrome, a genetic condition that Dana says was passed down from her side of the family, which has suffered a number of deaths from the condition. Alport’s Syndrome causes hearing loss and renal failure. Joey first suffered hearing loss in the fourth grade, but doctors could do little to help, Dana says, until he went into renal failure, which has taken root in the past year.

Joey is fortunate. According to the National Kidney Foundation, more than 100,000 people are awaiting kidney transplants. More than 3,000 new patients are added to the kidney waiting list each month, and 13 people die each day while awaiting a life-saving kidney transplant.

Joey, who lost 30 pounds in the last year, currently administers dialysis to himself every 4-6 hours, for a total of 10 hours daily. Dana says there are 75 boxes of solution in her home. It has made her son weak and tired, barely able to climb a flight of stairs. He is taking his college classes online because getting around campus is too difficult.

Dana has watched Joey deteriorate over the past year, and can’t work herself because she has been taking him to almost daily doctor appointments. She looks forward to April 20 and the months to follow. She says Joey will be isolated after surgery for 3-6 months, but hopes to be well enough to return to classes at USF in August.

“He will feel amazing, probably back to how he felt in elementary school,’’ Dana says. “He’ll be able to do everything other people his age can do. I have goosebumps already just thinking about it.”

Response Overwhelms Mother

Dana said she was stunned by the outpouring of support for her son’s plight. She says Miller is “the most humble, respectful young man you’ll ever meet.’’ She is also quick to thank the dozens of folks who called Tampa General Hospital (TGH) to volunteer for testing when the story broke.

She said TGH received up to 40 calls a day, and many are still volunteering to be Joey’s back-up if the transplant fails for any reason. A host of others, she added, asked to be matched up with others needing transplants. “Amazing,’’ she says. “That makes me happy.”

For Dana — a single mother of three boys including Wiregrass Ranch High graduate Jason, 19, and current WRH senior Jake, 17 — the amount of community support has been a blessing. The one-time military family has moved up and down the east coast, settling in Wesley Chapel three years ago from Pasadena, MD. Even then, she wasn’t sure what the future held.

“I’ll tell you what, Wesley Chapel is an amazing place,’’ Dana says. “Tampa is too, but Wesley Chapel, we couldn’t imagine any place better. It really feels like home, like we finally have a place to put our roots.”

To donate to the Richman family, visit GoFundMe.com/AKidneyForJoey. To help Mike Miller in his recovery, visit GoFundMe.com/6aunghtw. To become a kidney donor, contact Jenni Binns of Tampa General Hospital at 844-5669 or email her at jbinns@tgh.org.

Both Sides Taking A Closer Look At Kinnan/Mansfield Connection

A new study to determine the feasibility of connecting Kinnan St. in New Tampa and Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe could be on the horizon, after both Pasco and Hillsborough counties met recently in hopes of settling the long-simmering disagreement between the sides.

Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore and Hillsborough County District 7 City Council member Lisa Montelione, accompanied by lawyers, city administrators and engineers from each side, met in Dade City on March 9, as negotiations to connect their two counties heated up.

The result: a decision to send the engineers back to work, looking at old plans from 2007-12 to determine if any are applicable today in light of the new developments in the area.

“Our staff, the engineers who do the technical stuff, are going to look at prior studies to see if we need to do a new study,’’ said Moore. “Things have obviously changed in that area, with more homes, schools and daycares.”

Kinnan St., which is on the Hillsborough side, and Mansfield Blvd., which is on the Pasco side, are separated by a 100-foot patch of grass (photo) that is more a dumping ground than the commuter convenience it should be, argue some.

The last traffic study in the area was done roughly two years ago, says Montelione, by ICON Engineering, Inc., as part of the process for M/I Homes during the re-negotiation of the development agreement for K-Bar Ranch.

She said similar studies go back to 1996, and that both staffs plan on taking inventory of those to determine the next step forward.

Kinnan St. was paved north to the Pasco County line in 2007 by the developer of Live Oak Preserve, but never completed. Barricades mark the end of Mansfield and block the road heading south, while steel poles with red diamond-shaped signs on them prevent any traffic further north on Kinnan St.

Last publicly discussed in 2012, when the two sides failed to come to an agreement, Montelione raised the issue again of connecting the roads in January, writing a letter to Moore. The two officials first met later that month to discuss it, before agreeing on the latest meeting with government staff, namely the engineers. “We’ll see what was discussed in the past,’’ Moore said. “There’s no guarantee either way. But, I think what we all agree on is we need an end result.”

If both sides decide a new study needs to be done, Moore and Montelione said public meetings will be held so that residents and business owners of both sides of the debate can be heard.

Montelione attended the meeting with Tampa city attorney Julia Mandell.

Mandell, who was the senior assistant attorney for the City of Tampa during the last round of negotiations with Pasco County in 2013, is now the City Attorney, having been appointed in March as only the second female City Attorney ever by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

Susan Johnson, the subdivision/DRI coordinator for the City of Tampa, and Melanie Calloway, the senior transportation planning engineer, also attended the meeting.

Pasco was represented by county administrator Michelle Baker, assistant county attorney David Goldstein and Ali Atefi, Pasco’s transportation engineer.

The meeting also included discussions on other possible extensions to help alleviate traffic issues affecting both counties, like one linking Beardsley Dr. in Meadow Pointe southeast east to Morris Bridge Rd. in K-Bar Ranch, Moore said.