My Father’s Day Weekend Was Definitely A Dream Come True!

Gary Nager Editorial

Twenty years after having both of my knees arthroscoped, and after too many years of trying to deal with being bone-on-bone in both knees (and walking with an obvious limp), I finally decided to get my knees replaced.

Yes, I was motivated for myself, as I wanted to improve my quality of life, but my true motivation was that I wanted to be able to dance at my 30-year-old son Jake’s wedding to Meghan Hathaway, which just happened to finally take place on the Saturday night of Father’s Day weekend.

I say “finally” because Jake and Meghan had to twice put off their wedding celebration with their family and friends, due to concerns about Covid-19, even though they were married at a courthouse more than three years ago. While they were waiting for their first party in 2020, they became pregnant with my now 2-1/2-year-old grandson Jackson (Jax).

The renewal of their wedding vows and reception, which were held in Miami, will forever be among the highlights of my life.

Jared, Jake & their Dad

Perhaps best of all, for me, was that I did accomplish my goal — only nine weeks after having my right knee replaced and 17 weeks after receiving a new left knee, I did indeed get to dance at Meghan and Jake’s big event. I was one of somewhere between 150-200 people — more than 50 of which were members of Meghan’s huge family from Boston — who were able to participate in this magical celebration of their love.

One of the other highlights of the weekend was getting to spend some grandpa time with the adorable Jax — who looks almost exactly like Jake did at the same age (some people even said he looks like me, which made my heart melt). Jannah and I also were able to spend a lot of quality time over the course of the weekend with more than a half-dozen of Jake’s closest friends from Wharton High, some of whom I didn’t recognize at first because I hadn’t seen them at all since their high school days more than a decade ago. 

It also reminded me of how precious this life is, as neither my own father nor mother — Jack and Marilyn Nager — were able to attend the wedding, due to health concerns, although my sister Bonnie was able to make her way down from her home outside of Philadelphia to share this most joyous event.

I can’t imagine a more perfect Father’s Day gift or a better weekend. I finally got to witness the celebration with this most beautiful (inside and out) couple and my older son Jared absolutely killed it with his Best Man speech at the wedding — “I never thought I had a problem making friends until I found out that Jake had more than eight groomsmen. To me, it seemed like kind of an excessive number, but it did make me question my own popularity.” J-Man made me so proud and he even gave me credit for helping him become a better writer. I also got to join in the fun, as I made a toast of my own to the happy couple at their rehearsal dinner.

If there’s ever been a happier father on Father’s Day, I’d like to meet him. Congratulations to Jake, Meghan and Jax, to Meg’s mom and dad, Janice and Kevin Hathaway and this happy couple’s entire family.

Community Comes Together To Celebrate The Too-Short Life Of Andres Chateau

Gary Nager Editorial

As a father and now a grandfather, I can’t imagine anything harder for any parent to deal with than their child passing away.

But sadly, more than 20,000 children die of all causes in this country each year, or more than 50 per day, and while motor vehicle crashes cause the largest percentage of those (more than 4,000 in 2016, the last year I could find full statistics for), roughly the same number of children (more than 1,800 each in 2016) are victims of homicide each year as die from all forms of childhood cancer.

But, this editorial isn’t about statistics, it’s about the passing of one precious child named Andres Chateau. Andres — a nine-year-old Wesley Chapel resident who attended the Innovation Prep Academy off Curley Rd. — and his father, Kevin Bybee, were both found shot dead in Bybee’s apartment in St. Petersburg in an apparent murder-suicide.

Andres’ mother, Jessica Chateau, had gone to Bybee’s apartment on April 4 to pick up her son, but got no response when she knocked on the door. She notified the St. Pete Police Department but they were reluctant to enter the premises because, according to a police spokesperson, there was no reason to suspect foul play and none of Bybee’s neighbors had heard anything unusual.

The next morning, the management at the Trellis at the Lakes apartments opened the apartment for Jessica, who found Andres and Bybee dead from gunshot wounds.

According to published reports, Bybee and Jessica Chateau were estranged and involved in a contentious custody suit, “but there had been no threats or signs beforehand” that this type of tragedy would occur.

On April 10, less than one week after the tragedy, at least 300 Wesley Chapel residents came to the Epperson Lagoon to celebrate Andres’ life. Jessica had posted the event on Facebook a couple of days earlier and many of those in attendance brought food, beverages and their own children to take part in the celebration. PizzaMania donated at least 20 pies and Pasco County Commission candidate Troy Stevenson brought two of his ACME On The Go billboard trucks, which displayed pictures of Andres and Jessica from happier times. Troy also called his friends at Pasco Fire Rescue, who brought one of their fire trucks to the event. 

There wasn’t anyone in attendance who didn’t want to speak with and hug Jessica, who talked about giving birth and holding him for the first time. “I called him Tutu because he was too too much,” she said.

Pastor Joel Eason of nearby Bridgeway Church spoke during the candle light service at the lagoon, which was held at sunset. He spoke about the light that Andres brought into the lives of everyone he touched.

“My son was pure sunshine,” Jessica told WTSP-TV Channel 10. “He was just full of energy and loved playing. I have every moment burned into my brain…Just appreciate every moment with your babies.”

My sons are 33 and 30 and it just so happened it was my younger son’s birthday the same day of the event for Andres.

And, while I definitely feel fortunate to still have and be able to share such happy occasions with my boys and my grandson, I could feel Jessica’s pain, even as she seemed genuinely moved by the community’s outpouring of love. 

Her ability to smile in the face of such unspeakable tragedy definitely inspired me and I promised her I would try to do justice to her and her relationship with her beautiful son, even though I knew I would fall short. 

There is a GoFundMe page to help Jessica Chateau. Visit https://gofund.me/41b194b7 if you would like to help.

The 2021 Holiday Shopping Season Begins With Two 5K Runs

Although I always try to support our local business community, I’ve never really been a big fan of the holiday shopping season. And, I generally shake my head when I see and hear of so many people who are willing to wait on line outside a store for hours on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday in order to save a few dollars on a big-ticket item.

Gary Nager Editorial

But, if you’re the type of person who doesn’t think your time is worth more than that, I’ve always said “more power to you.”

What I will say is that this year, I’m genuinely hoping that all of our local mom-and-pop businesses — including our advertisers, of course — will be able to rebound from last year’s Covid-induced coma.

And, since this is our pre-Christmas issue for New Tampa, I promise to do my part to help as many small businesses as possible this holiday season. I also would like to help as many charitable organizations as possible, because I know that Covid also was brutal to nonprofits, especially those whose mission is to help people in need.

So, feel free to email me at ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com or post on our “Neighborhood News” page on Facebook with information about your locally owned small business or a nonprofit organization that you support anytime between now and December 23 and I’ll share that information with our online audience. Considering that we have more than 12,000 followers of our Neighborhood News page on Facebook, I hope it’ll help.

About Supply Chain Issues & Employee Shortages 

  I also will admit that I don’t really understand why Covid also has caused the worldwide supply chain problem, but I do know that it’s real and that the issue doesn’t bode well for the holiday shopping season.

What I do have a better first-hand understanding about are the ongoing employee shortages that also are making things more difficult for local businesses. In addition to having difficulty finding one part-time office and sales assistant, despite months of looking, I also have had a number of restaurant owners tell me that they couldn’t afford for me to do a Dining Feature story about their place because they’re short-staffed and couldn’t handle the expected huge influx all at once of new patrons when the story would break. This is literally a problem I had never heard of before in my nearly 28 years in this business.

And, as someone who dines out as often as possible for both business and pleasure, this obvious shortage of employees — despite more employers paying (or offering to pay) their people more money — has greatly affected me personally. 

It seems that every local restaurant is hiring and many across the country are facing, according to a recent New York Times article, “a potentially catastrophic inability to hire,” because of Covid fears, too-generous government benefits (that make it too easy for people to not work) and other factors.

Even though Florida’s minimum wage has been raised to $10 per hour (and will rise by $1 per hour per year, to $15 per hour, by 2026), it’s apparently not enough, especially since the increase for tipped workers is currently only from a minimum of $6.98 per hour plus tips now and will increase to $11.98 per hour plus tips in 2026. 

The bottom line appears to be that despite my best hopes, wishes and prayers, despite the minimum wage increases and still-declining Covid hospitalizations, the 2021 holiday shopping season still may not be everything yours truly and so many other small business owners are hoping it will be.

And then, there’s the new Omicron variant that I hope won’t put yet another monkey wrench into the works for restaurant and retail business owners. So, if you‘re not already vaccinated, please do so ASAP.

A Turkey Trot By Any Other Name

If you were confused on Thanksgiving morning by the fact that there were two 5K “Turkey Trot” events in Wesley Chapel, you weren’t alone. Rich Wills, the former owner of the FitNiche (now Fit2Run) store in the Shops at Wiregrass, had started the annual “Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot 5K” eight years ago, but was told that since he no longer owned the store, the mall was still going to host a “Wiregrass Turkey Trot 5K,” with the New Tampa Rotary (again) as a partner, without him. 

Undeterred, Wills moved the “official” Wiregrass Wobble 5K and 1(tur)K runs to the Tampa Premium Outlets and the events at both malls attracted more than 1,000 runners and walkers and raised money for worthy causes. We were happy to help Wills promote his 8th annual run, the first ever held at the Outlets, and people raved about the new course, the camaraderie and the weather. Congrats, Rich!  

Tom Petty Tribute At Skipper’s Smokehouse — A Fun, But Sad Night

It was back in August when I saw the announcement that Skipper’s Smokehouse — the recently reopened, venerable restaurant and music venue in North Tampa — was going to host a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tribute band in honor of what would have been the late rocker’s 71st birthday.

Gary Nager Editorial

I told Jannah, who is as big a fan of Petty’s music as I am, that I was buying tickets right away — after all, if we can’t ever see Gainesville’s favorite son in person anymore, we might as well go spend an evening sharing our love for him, his band and his music with a few hundred other people at the first live show we’ve attended at Skipper’s since it reopened.

The show took place on Oct. 16, four days before Tom’s birthday and twelve days after the fourth anniversary of his passing from what has been ruled an accidental overdose of the prescribed painkillers he took in order to be able to keep performing for his legion of fans.

When I bought our tickets online, I didn’t realize that the show, which started at 8 p.m., was actually a twin bill — prior to the Petty tribute by the Broken Hearts Band, the Stevie Nicks Experience (SNE) tribute band opened the show with a full 90+-minute set of tunes by Fleetwood Mac and from Stevie’s solo career. Considering that Nicks and Petty became close friends as part of the Los Angeles rock music scene in the mid-to-late ‘70s, the combination wan’t surprising, but it did make for a long night, especially considering that I was on deadline with this issue.

Even so, both bands performed their tribute hits admirably. The SNE got the fans going by rocking out on “The Chain,” “You Make Lovin’ Fun,” “Landslide” and pretty much every recognizable song by Fleetwood Mac and Nicks herself. Although the fans were very receptive to the performance, there were only a few hardcore Nicks lovers dancing to the music and honestly, the set was probably at least 15-30 minutes too long because most everyone in attendance was there (us included) to celebrate Petty’s birthday, not Fleetwood Mac.

The SNE closed their set with the Petty-Nicks duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” with Broken Hearts Band frontman Shawn Scheller coming out from backstage to sing Tom’s part, but his microphone seemed a little off for the song, which made me (and Jannah) a little nervous about how Scheller and his band would sound when it was their turn to take the stage.

But, we were wrong. Scheller and the Broken Hearts sounded perfect, from “Jammin’ Me” to open the set to “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and, of course, “American Girl.”

The crowd was much more raucous and the dance floor more packed for this second set, but there were very few people under age 50 in attendance and the Skipperdome offers very little seating for attendees, so people with bad knees (like me) were begging for more places to sit during the show. The much sadder thing for us, though, was that the magic we hoped to feel by sharing our love for a true Rock & Roll Hall of Famer somewhow wasn’t there.

Although Scheller & Co. were pretty spot-on with most of their renditions, the performance overall felt more like listening to Tom Petty Radio on Sirius XM in my car than it did a Petty concert, which is what I guess I wanted it to feel like. Yes, I got to sing along with most of my Petty favorites, but I do that whenever Jannah and I go to karaoke bars, so I left feeling a little empty.

The show was a too-real reminder that while his music lives on, Tom himself is sadly gone forever and it seems that no tribute band will ever make me feel the way Tom, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and the rest of the Heartbreakers did.

But, speaking of Tom Petty Radio, yours truly will be a guest DJ on the channel’s “The Last DJ” show, where Petty fans get to pick and introduce their five favorite songs by Petty, The Traveling Wilburys, etc.

Because he has such a legion of devoted fans, my “Last DJ” segment won’t air until early 2022, but I’ll give you a heads-up once that date is actually announced. 

RIP, Tom. We miss you.

Editorial: Looking Forward To Another Zoom Meeting With Rep. Driskell

Back in August 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and just a few months after the murder of George Floyd by now-convicted former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, I organized a Zoom Town Hall meeting about racism and asked Dist. 63 State Rep. Fentrice Driskell (which includes all of New Tampa and some of Wesley Chapel )to co-host it with me. 

The Zoom meeting (photo, above) went exceedingly well, with about two dozen local residents participating, and a lot of great discussion on the specific subject of systemic racism. During the meeting, I promised to organize another Zoom and/or in-person meeting with the New Tampa community in the future.

Well, it’s been a crazy nine months since then, to be sure, but now, Rep. Driskell has invited me to co-host a Zoom Virtual Town Hall meeting with her on Wednesday, June 16, at 6 p.m., and I’m really looking forward to connecting again with her and even more residents of our local communities.

Since it is a Town Hall, anyone who registers to participate (at bit.ly/driskelltownhall, see ad below) can sign into the meeting to hear our State Representative discuss some of the bills that passed during the 2021 Legislative Session, including education, criminal justice reform, the environment, bills related to Covid-19, health care and the state budget. Rep. Driskell also will discuss the bills that she got passed during the session, including police reform and a bill that will create a task force to address the issue of abandoned African-American cemeteries throughout Florida.

We also plan some time during the Zoom meeting for participants to and ask questions about life in their community, from traffic to development to what the state legislature is doing to help improve life in our area.

And, because Rep. Driskell wants to be involved in all of the communities she serves in Dist. 63, whether you miss that first meeting or not, you can connect with both Rep. Driskell and our District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera (see stories on pages 6 & 8 of this issue) at an in-person New Tampa Town Hall the following week — on Tuesday, June 22, 6 p.m., at Compton Park at Tampa Palms. 

As if that isn’t enough, Rep. Driskell also is hosting Virtual Office Hours on both Tuesday, May 25, noon-2 p.m. (the day this issue is certain to arrive in your mailbox, although it could arrive by May 24) and on Wednesday, July 7, also noon-2 p.m. To participate in either or both of these virtual office hours, email Lucile.Malone@MyFloridaHouse.gov or call (813) 936-0854.

As someone who has lived and/or worked in both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel since 1994, all I can say is that there have been very few state representatives — or elected officials in general, regardless of party affiliation — doing as much to be responsive to the needs of our communities as Rep. Driskell (or, of course, Councilman Viera).

My thanks go out to both of them.

No More Masks?

Even though Jannah and I have been fully vaccinated for some time, it took Gov. DeSantis’ repeal of all mask mandates in Florida for us to start going out in public without them.

Although it has been taking a while for us to get used to not having to wear our masks when we go out, I give Gov. DeSantis a lot of credit for taking the lead on this issue throughout the pandemic.