,3&

3ODQW&LW\2EVHUYHU�FRP

COMMUNITYCALENDARFRIDAY, FEB. 27Acoustic Happy Hour — livemusic takes place from 5:30to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27,at O’Brien’s Irish Pub andFamily Restaurant, 1701 S.Alexander St. (813) 764-8818.Corner Store Happy Hour —takes place from 3 to 7 p.m.Friday, Feb. 27, at The CornerStore, 121 E. Reynolds St.Enjoy craft beer and sangriain a relaxed environment.

Kitchen stays open late fordinner. (813) 754-0900.Christian Contemporary Music— takes place from 6:33 to8:13 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, atKrazy Kup, 101 E. J. ArdenMays Blvd. (813) 752-1220.Live Music — takes placefrom 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday,Feb. 27, at O’Brien’s IrishPub and Family Restaurant,1701 S. Alexander St. (813)764-8818.Moonlight Magic — takes

place from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.Friday, Feb. 27, at the FloridaStrawberry Festival. The mid-way stays open late for thisspecial event.Publix Feeding Florida Day— takes place from 12 to 10p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.Present any Publix brand,non-perishable item at theentry gate and receive $4 offthe regular price of $20 FunPack Ride Coupon Book.Uncork your Friday! — livemusic takes place from 6 to10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, atKeel and Curley Winery, 5210Thonotosassa Road. (813)752-9100.

SATURDAY, FEB. 28Daddy Daughter Dance —takes place from 4 to 7 p.m.Saturday, Feb. 28, at the JohnR. Trinkle Center, 1206 N.Park Road.Kids Day — begins at 10a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28,at the Florida StrawberryFestival. Kids through highschool age are admitted freeto the festival. Sponsored byMIDFLORIDA Credit Union.Uncork Your Weekend! — livemusic takes place from 6 to10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, atKeel and Curley Winery, 5210Thonotosassa Road. (813)752-9100.Young Adult Nite — takesplace from 7:33 to 10:33p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, atKrazy Kup, 101 E. J. ArdenMays Blvd. Enjoy live musicfrom local artists. (813) 752-1220.

SUNDAY, MARCH 1Baby Contest — takes placebeginning at 10:30 a.m.Sunday, March 1, at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.Coca-Cola Family Day — takesplace beginning at 10 a.m.Sunday, March 1, at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.Present any Coca-Cola brandcan product at the entry gate

to receive a voucher for $5 offthe $25 ride wristband.Divorce Care: The Road toHealing/Finding Help —takes place from 4 to 6 p.m.Sunday, March 1, at PlantCity Church of God, 2103Mud Lake Road.Regional Qualifier forNathan’s Famous July FourthInternational Hot Dog-EatingContest — takes place begin-ning at 6 p.m. Sunday, March1, at the Florida StrawberryFestival.

MONDAY, MARCH 2Ride-a-Thon — takes placefrom 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.Monday, March 2, at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.Ride most mechanical ridesfor $20.Strawberry Festival GrandParade — takes place begin-ning at 1 p.m. Monday, March2. The parade will go throughPlant City and end at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.

TUESDAY, MARCH 3GriefShare — takes placebeginning at 6:30 p.m.Tuesday, March 3, at HopeLutheran Baptist Church,

2001 N. Park Road. EachGriefShare session includes avideo seminar and group dis-cussion to help cope with thedeath of a loved one. (813)752-4622.The Recovery for Life — takesplace from 6:30 to 8 p.m.Tuesday, March 3, at theLorena Jaeb Rainbow House,504 N. Palm Drive. It is a12-step Bible-based programto help free individuals fromall forms of addiction. DebbieRay, (813) 763-1562.Red Hatters Day — takesplace beginning at 10 a.m.Tuesday, March 3, at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.Red Hatters get $2 off gateadmission of $10.

Ride-a-Thon — takes placefrom 12 p.m. to 11 p.m.Tuesday, March 3, at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.

Ride most mechanical ridesfor $20.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4All American Heroes Day— takes place beginning at10 a.m. Wednesday, March4, at the Florida StrawberryFestival. All active, reserve,retired military, veterans,law enforcement and firstresponders are admitted freewith valid ID. Sponsored byFriends of Military Families.Open Mic Night — takesplace beginning at 8 p.m.Wednesday, March 4, atO’Brien’s Irish Pub andFamily Restaurant, 1701 S.Alexander St. (813) 764-8818.Plant City Local HarvestFarmers Market — takesplace from 4 to 8 p.m.Wednesday, March 4, atMcCall Park, 100 N. CollinsSt. PCLocalHarvestFarmersMarket.com.Read with Bonnie the TherapyDog — takes place from4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday,March 4, at Bruton MemorialLibrary, 302 W. McLendonSt. Reading with Bonnie canhelp children improve read-ing, communication skills andbuild confidence. For childrenof all ages. (813) 757-9215.Ride-a-Thon — takes placefrom 12 p.m. to 11 p.m.Wednesday March 4, at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.Ride most mechanical ridesfor $20.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5Florida Blue Senior CitizensDay — takes place beginningat 10 a.m. Thursday, March5, at the Florida StrawberryFestival. Patrons 60 years orolder get $2 off gate admis-sion of $10.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6Moonlight Magic — takesplace from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.Friday, Feb. 27, at the FloridaStrawberry Festival. The mid-way stays open late.

To publicize your event in our Community Calendar, pleasesend by mail: 110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100-A, Plant City, FL33563; or by email: ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com. Photosare welcome. Deadline is noon Thursday.

BEST BET42nd Annual Civitan Club Youth Parade — takes place begin-ning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28. The parade begins at theState Farmers Market and goes through town, ending at theFlorida Strawberry Festival.

PlantCityObserver.com 3FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015PLANT CITY TIMES & OBSERVERPLANT CITY TIMES & OBSERVER

City officials have an-nounced that HendersonProperties LLC has purchaseda vacant area adjacent to In-terstate 4 and plans to turn thesite into a Hampton Inn.

The hotel will be at 2702Thonotosassa Road, behindthe existing Waffle House andjust across the street from Star-bucks and the new Wawa. It isexpected to be four stories tall,cover 49,900 square feet on1.66 acres, have 88 rooms andprovide 24 permanent jobs.

“As a gateway into Plant City,Exit 19 on I-4 has a large num-ber of high-quality nationalrestaurants,” David Hender-son, manager of HendersonProperties, said. “For sometime, it has needed a first-class hotel to accommodate itsmany visitors.”

For a time, vagrants had usedthe site as a camp. But WaffleHouse employees said last No-vember after a new owner hadpurchased the land with plansfor a hotel, the homeless camp-

ers had moved elsewhere.Henderson Properties be-

gan the permitting processlast week. Permitting will takefour to six months. Construc-tion is expected to be 12 to 14months.

Henderson estimates con-struction costs at $7 million.

“This is a welcomed addi-

tion to our lodging industry inPlant City, and certainly con-tributing to the local tourismeconomy,” City Manager MikeHerr said.

Film ProductionCity commissioners ap-

proved Monday, Feb. 23, anordinance requiring filmmak-

ers to have a permit if they arefilming within the city limits.

Plant City did not previouslyhave laws regarding filmmak-ing. The ordinance, effectiveimmediately, is consistentwith an initiative through-out Hillsborough County toinstate the requirement forpermits in all of the county’smunicipalities. The goal isto streamline the process forfilmmakers to obtain permis-sion to film in the municipali-ties or unincorporated county.

All videographers mustobtain a permit before start-ing their work within the citylimits, except: members of thenews media, those who arefilming for personal or fam-ily purposes, those who arefilming at a studio, producersof public service announce-ments for which there is nocharge and filmmakers usingonly a handheld camera witha combined cast and crew ofthree people or fewer.

Some still photographersalso must obtain permits, suchas those with a productioncrew or six or more people.

Applications for permitscan be submitted via theTampa Hillsborough Film andDigital Media Commission, atFilmTampaBay.com. The Filmand Digital Media Commis-sion acts as a liaison betweenproduction companies andthe relevant governmentaldepartments. It is responsiblefor making necessary arrange-ments for traffic or crowd con-trol, or even fire departmentsupervision of pyrotechnics.

Dale Gordon, executive di-rector for the Tampa Hillsbor-ough Film and Digital MediaCommission, was present atthe Plant City Commissionmeeting last Monday and haddiscussed the film productionpermit application with thecommissioners prior to themeeting.

“We’ve been successful atthe county level of passingthe one-stop permitting or-dinance, to allow filming inour market to be an easierprocess,” Gordon said. “We’veworked with (City Attorney)Ken (Buchman) in draftingthis ordinance.”

“We’re hoping and lookingforward to some future filmsfilmed in our area,” Lott said.

Contact Catherine Sinclairat csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.

Plans revealed forHampton InnonThonotosassagovernance by Catherine Sinclair |StaffWriter

IN OTHER NEWS• Commissioners

approved resolutions toauthorize the purchaseof new police and fireemergency dispatchingconsoles, as well as twopolice canines and relatedequipment.• The Plant City Police

Department received theHumanitarian Award at thePlant City Black HeritageBanquet Friday, Feb. 13.Other recipients wereMount Moriah Ministries(Cornerstone Award), EssieDixon-Lewis (CommunityService Award),Larry Sykes (LifetimeAchievement Award) andDurrie Reaves (HeritageAward).

The new hotel is expected to open in 2016.

Catherine Sinclair

The Strawberry Queen and Court received a proclamation fromMayor Rick Lott and the commissioners Monday, Feb. 23.

+ Teacher arrestedfor sex with studentA Turkey Creek Middle

School teacher has beenarrested for sexual battery ofa minor.

Megan Christine Connors,30, of Brandon, had aromantic and sexual rela-tionship with a 15-year-oldmale student during andafter school hours, accord-ing to the HillsboroughCounty Sheriff’s Office.Over time, the relationshipprogressed to kissing andallowing the victim to touchConnors underneath herclothing.It then progressed to

sexual intercourse with thevictim multiple times duringschool hours. Connors wouldremove the victim from otherclasses and engage in sexualactivity in private rooms des-ignated by Connors.On another occasion,

Connors and the victim leftthe school grounds in hercar and drove to the victim’shome where they had sexualintercourse in the victim’sbedroom.Connors was arrested Feb.

20 and booked into OrientRoad Jail with no bond.There is no indication thatother students are involved.The investigation is stillongoing.

+ Woman killedin traffic crashA 22-year-old Plant City

woman died in a car acci-dent early Feb. 22.At about 6:15 a.m., Sonia

Roldan was asleep in theback seat of a 2001 Toyotawhile Hector Estrella Jr.,21,of Plant City, was drivingsouth on State Road 39.Just south of Old Welcome

Road, Estrella drove off theroadway at 55 mph, strucka culvert and overturned thevehicle.Roldan was not wear-

ing a seatbelt and wasejected, according tothe Hillsborough CountySheriff’s Office. She died atthe scene as a result of herinjuries.There has been no arrest

at this time, pending toxi-cology and blood analysis.Alcohol does appear to havebeen a contributing factor inthe cause of this crash.

+ Fire burns homesFriday the 13thHillsborough County Fire

Rescue units responded toa structure fire located atHighway 60 and State Road39 Friday, Feb. 13.HCFR units reported two

mobile homes fully engulfedin flames in an emptyfield. The homes were notoccupied. There were noinjuries.

Three Plant City HighSchool students might havehad knotted stomachs andshaking knees standing onstage in front of a packedgroup of Rotarians Monday,Feb. 23, at the John R. Trin-kle Center. But they didn’tshow it. With poise, eachone delivered a well-writtenspeech for an annual Rotaryspeech contest for a chanceto win scholarship money.

Ashlyn Yarbrough, Brit-tany Nesbitt and Chase Lottprepared speeches on Ro-tary’s theme for this year,“Light Up Rotary.” Althoughnot required to have theirspeeches memorized yet,the trio did well to pres-ent a clear and memorablespeech.

Ashlyn walked away thewinner, giving a vivid andarticulate speech abouther mission trip to Haitiwhile relating it back to thetheme.

“I get kind of jittery whenI go up there, but I end uphaving fun,” Ashlyn said. “Ilike these kinds of things.I was just happy becauseI don’t win many things.It was fun to do it withfriends.”

The Plant City High soph-omore has been competingin public speaking since shewas in seventh grade. Hermother calls her the writerof the family.

Ashlyn won $100, andalong with second-placewinner Brittany, will com-pete at the Rotary districtlevel for a shot to advanceto the championship round.There’s more money as eachstudent advances. If theymake it to the champion-ship round, a $1,000 schol-arship is up for grabs.

Brittany seemed com-

fortable on stage. She hadmemorized her entirespeech and even venturedfrom behind the podium totalk with the audience.

“I feel more natural whenI’m able to move around,”Brittany said.

Brittany said she was shywhen she first entered highschool, but now as a senior,she has matured into a con-fident leader.

“I’m pretty excited,” Brit-tany said. “I never thoughtI’d be able to do somethinglike this.”

Chase also had his set ofobstacles. He said he fellasleep researching andwriting the six- minutespeech, trying to make itperfect.

“I’m glad I did (thespeech),” Chase said. “It’s agreat opportunity to be partof.”

The students were pro-moted by Sherrie Mueller,college and career counsel-or at Plant City High School.

“These are some of thebest students,” Muellersaid. “They be great repre-sentatives for Rotary at thenext level. I’m very proud ofall three of them.”

Each student is very in-volved at school. Ashlyn ison the cheer team, in Civi-nettes, Youth Alive, FBLAand FFA among other or-ganizations. Brittany isthe Student Governmentpresident, on the SeniorExecutive Council, in AVIDand was the OutstandingOptimist Youth of the Year.Chase is in Civitan Club,Student Athlete Club, foot-ball and tennis teams, andNational Honor Society.

Contact Amber Jurgensenat ajurgensen@plantcityob-server.com.

PCHS studentscompete in Rotaryspeech competitionTwo students have advanced to the secondround of an annual Rotary speech contest.

Amber Jurgensen

Ashlyn Yarbrough, Brittany Nesbitt and Chase Lott deliveredsome impressive speeches at the Noon Rotary Club meeting,Feb. 23.

ORATORS by Amber Jurgensen |ManagingEditor

Challenge teamspick with purpose

The second annual WishFarms Strawberry PickingChallenge was held Satur-day, Feb. 7, as a fundraiserfor Redlands Christian Mi-grant Association.

Corporate teams com-peted for a championshiptrophy. They were judgedon their picking speed,packing skills and adher-ence to the rules.

Community memberswho were not competingcould pick their own ber-ries, participate in familyactivities and enjoy delec-table strawberry shortcake.There were appearancesby Florida Commissionerof Agriculture Adam Put-nam, local band ClemonsRoad and the famous Mr.Berry mascot.

fielding a win by Catherine Sinclair |StaffWriter NEWSBRIEFS

Strawberry shortcake wasone of the most deliciousattractions.

Right: Judges assessed eachpackage of berries.

Misty the Garden Pixie enchanted pickers of all ages.

Dolio Rodriguez competed on theSantos and Sons Trucking team.

Ellen Romano, Erin Fox, Madeline Fox andJase Romano picked some of their own ber-ries.

Left: Misty’s little pixies were excited to tryout the old tractor.

unit assisted living facility.The submission came

shortly after a group of resi-dents filed to sue Visions Golfif the rezoning and develop-ment are completed. Facingproperty value losses, resi-dents united under WaldenLake Community Preserva-tion don’t think developingThe Hills is the answer.

“The rezoning applica-tion ... is intended to providefor new investment into thecommunity, which is criti-cal to any future success ofWalden Lake Golf and Coun-try Club,” Steve Mercer, gen-eral manager of Visions Golf,said.

Because Visions Golf was

suffering financial strain froma struggling economy, TheHills first closed in May 2013.Representatives of VisionsGolf have said they hope tosell The Hills for developmentto pay off the company’s debtand pour more money into itssister course at Walden Lake,The Lakes. Membership issagging at the country cluband many feel the communitycan’t support two 18-hole golfcourses.

If the rezone is approved bythe city, Visions Golf will con-tinue to operate The Lakesgolf course at Walden Lake,but it will be renovated, alongwith the clubhouse.

“Timing on all future plansfor golf course and amenitiesrenovation ... is tied directly to

city zoning approval,” MargieMartin, a communicationsrepresentative for VisionsGolf, said. “Visions Golf iswaiting on Plant City’s confir-mation for (a) zoning hearingdate.”

Phillip Scearce, director ofplanning and zoning for theCity of Plant City, said he alsois unsure of a timeline. Thecity first has to consider thestormwater analysis that wassubmitted in the plan, and anindependent consultant forthis task has not been chosenyet.

If the rezone is considered,residents near the courses willbe alerted to a public hearing.

Contact Catherine Sinclairat csinclair@plantcityobserv-er.com.

characters a couple of yearsago. And now that they’vecome to fruition, Davis will beselling the calendars at a boothoutside the festival Feb. 28 andMarch 2. They will also be forsale at local downtown busi-nesses, incuding Blue ThumbComputers.

But even before the idea forthe calendar took root, Davis’girlfriend, Raiannah Zazulia,recognized the talent and po-tential in the lighthearted com-ics. She planted the seed in hishead to compile them intosome kind of showcase. Afterthe calendar concept grew,his brother, graphic designerJesse Starr, helped to polish thecomics by taking them fromthe pages of a sketchbook andtransforming them into digitalart.

Zazulia, the business man-ager of the two, continued toencouraged Davis to get busi-ness sponsors and advertisersto cover the printing costs andshow their hometown spirit.

“Most people were willing tohelp support, because it’s localart being supported by localbusinesses, and vice-versa,”Davis said.

There are two sponsorshipsfor each month and 18 cou-pons for businesses, such asNick’s Pizza, Blue Thumb Com-puter Repair, RAOK Boutiqueand Focus 4 Beauty.

“They’re really like three-in-one, because they’re a comicbook, a calendar and they havecoupons inside,” Davis said.

Part of the goal of the calen-dars was to involve local busi-nesses. But there’s another aimfor the project. Davis is lookingto go on another cross countrytrip to help promote his “Pre-scribed Life” book series andmusic.

From May to October 2014,Davis traveled around thecountry by bus, hitting 44states and trading his book se-ries or musical performancesfor food, laundry, transporta-tion and other needs. He en-joyed the trip so much that hedecided to do something simi-lar this year, but this time, in acamper van that he will soonbe purchasing.

“I needed something to dowhen I came home, so this wasmy project,” Davis said.

Zazulia, also a musician,will be joining in on the trip,planned to start in June.

Sales from the calendars,which are $10 each, havehelped Davis and Zazuliawork toward their fundraisinggoal. They also raised about$1,000 from the local busi-nesses who advertised withinthe calendar.

The calendars have alreadyproven to be popular, and Da-vis’ first shipment sold outwithin two weeks of its arrival.He has ordered another ship-ment just for the festival, whichincludes about 300 calendars.They could sell out quickly, sobe sure to stop by the boothearly.

Anyone who buys a calendarat the booth will also be enti-tled to free coffee and cookies,and face painting for childrenwho accompany them.

“Whenever you leave, justcatch us on your way out,” Da-vis said.

And if Strawberry Festivallovers take the bite, Davis hasplans to make more “Straw-berry Short Stories” comics fora 2016 calendar.

VISIONS / PAGE 1

+ Beary sweetOn Sunday, Feb. 15th, the

members of Hope LutheranChurch celebrated their annualTeddy Bear Sunday. This dayis always the Sunday closest toValentine’s Day as it remembersGod’s love.

Teddy Bear Sunday, asdirected by Hope’s Human CareMinistry Team, asks members tobring a new teddy bear to churchwith them that day to be given tovarious agencies.In years past, Hope has sent

bears to New York City followingthe events of September 11, toa Hope member who was servingin Iraq to share with the troops,and locally to various agencies inthe Plant City area.This year, Hope will donate

their bears to the Plant CityPolice and Fire Departments,Hillsborough County Sheriff’sOffice and to children of thehomeless families that the con-gregation feeds at Veterans Parkin Plant City.

OUR TOWNCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CALENDAR / PAGE 1

spired them. There are threecategories: visual art, perfor-mance and literature. Stu-dents’ work is judged on itsoriginality and quality, butthe students must also sub-mit statements of why theychose their particular lead-ers.

Taylor Johnson, a fourthgrader at Bailey ElementarySchool, entered the visual artcategory and won first placein her age group. She was se-lected out of more than 1,100contest winners throughoutthe district, 50 from Bailey.Taylor received a host of im-pressive prizes, including a$1,500 scholarship.

“It’s unbelievable. We’restill in shock,” Rachel John-son, Taylor’s mother, said.“We never saw any of thiscoming.”

The portrait painting waschosen partly because of theinspirational story behindthe subject, a homeless mannamed OJ.

Almost weekly, Taylor andRachel serve the homelesswith their church at PlantCity Veterans MonumentPark off Wheeler Street. On anumber of occasions, Taylornoticed OJ, who was particu-larly selfless and caring. Healways made sure the chil-dren were able to eat beforehe did, and he helped the el-derly get their food.

OJ even gave his blanketaway to a homeless womanwho had not received onewhen the church ran out ofblankets to give.

“He helped people andtreated others better thanhe treated himself,” Taylorsaid. “That’s amazing, to careabout others more than youcare about yourself.”

“(Taylor) was so inspiredthat someone who could bedown on their luck and livinga hard life could still be car-ing and worry about otherpeople, and it has inspiredher to be a better person,”Rachel said.

Taylor was shocked whenshe found out she had wonthe LEAD contest.

“I was incredibly happy,”she said. “I thought that the

picture didn’t even have achance.”

Hillsborough County Pub-lic Schools honored Taylorand the other eight LEADwinners at a reception Mon-day, Feb. 16, at the TampaMuseum of Art. But all ofthe students who enteredthe contest from Bailey weretreated to a special breakfastat school later in the week,where they received personalthank-you cards from thedistrict, and rubber braceletswith the LEAD acronym onthem.

“We wanted to make a bigdeal out of not just Taylorwinning, but all of the kidswho participated,” Baileyprincipal Russell Wallacesaid. “We definitely encour-aged all of our kids to enter.... I think it’s just a great over-all thing to do anytime of theyear, let alone Black HistoryMonth.”

Contact Catherine Sinclairat csinclair@plantcityobserv-er.com.

THE PRIZESAs one of the nine win-

ners of the LEAD contest,Taylor Johnson receivedthe following: A set ofScholastic books, fam-ily membership to theTampa Museum of Art,family tickets to a TampaBay Rays game, an ECHOpen, an Amazon tablet, aDell laptop and a $1,500scholarship to use aftershe graduates from highschool.

CONTEST / PAGE 1

Courtesy Photo

Taylor Johnson painted a picture of a man she met in PlantCity named OJ.

Parading for a cureThe residents of The Mead-

ows on Sam Allen Road raisedawareness and money forbreast cancer with a series ofevents this month. ThoughOctober is Breast CancerAwareness month, manyof The Meadows’ residentsare in Plant City for only thewinter, so the annual rally isheld when the population isat its peak. In addition to thegolf cart parade Wednesday,Feb. 4, there was a golf tour-nament benefit Thursday,Feb. 5.

Roseann Malagrino rang a bellwhile driving her cart.

PAINT THETOWNPINK by Catherine Sinclair |StaffWriter

The women were decked out in their vibrant pink attire toshow support.

Right: The parade wound its way around all of the streets inthe neighborhood.

IN FLIGHT by Amber Jurgensen |ManagingEditor THEATER by Catherine Sinclair |StaffWriter

Jacob Ward played Fester, who fell inlove with the moon.

Morticia and Lurch (Gloria Kelly and Ryan Maddock)listened to a rhyming poem recited by Lucas’ mom(Abby Moore).

Dramatically Different

Gomez (Trent Davidson)tried to bond over cigarswith Lucas’ dad, (WilliamDesharnais).

Durant High School per-formed “The Addams Family,”a musical comedy, Feb. 19 to21. In the play, Wednesday,the oldest child in the Addamsfamily, falls in love with a boynamed Lucas. When Lucas’family comes over for dinner,

everyone hopes for just onenormal night, but the meetingis anything but that.

Durant’s next theatre per-formance will be “The WorstTalent Show Ever,” a collabo-ration of faculty and seniorstudents, April 23 to 25.

Grandma Addams (KyeSaunders) divulged herromantic desires during “TheGame.”

Wednesday and Pugsley, played by Rebecca Sebastian and MaryMcAnally, had a torture chamber for a play room.

Planes, Trains and Automo-biles, the annual transporta-tion-themed event sponsoredby the Greater Plant CityChamber of Commerce, washeld Saturday, Feb. 21, at thePlant City Airport. Some of themost popular activities werefree flights for children in realplanes, flight simulation soft-ware, airport K-9 unit demon-strations and viewing of modeltrains and planes. A numberof Cub Scout packs and BoyScout troops earn badges.Throughout the day, therewere plenty of giveaways, foodand meet-and-greets.

Michaela and Jennifer Salcido were passengers in Rich Glorioso’s shiny red plane.

Prepared for Takeoff

Christine and Michael Wynne took offinto the sunny skies.

Left: Pete Cooper showed off his 1937Ford at the event.

Christopher Gonzalez got to bethe co-pilot during his flight.

Right: John Iskra helped KyleTruini with the flight simulationprogram.

General Manager/Executive Editor / Michael Eng, meng@PlantCityObserver.comGeneral Manager/Advertising / Stacey Hudson, shudson@tampabay.comManaging Editor / Amber Jurgensen, ajurgensen@PlantCityObserver.comAssistant Managing Editor / Jess Eng, jeng@PlantCityObserver.comStaff Writers / Justin Kline, jkline@PlantCityObserver.com; Catherine Sinclair,csinclair@PlantCityObserver.comAdvertising Executives / Veronica Prostko, vprostko@PlantCityObserver.com;Joanna Verga, jverga@tampabay.comCirculation/Office Manager / Linda Lancaster, llancaster@PlantCityObserver.com

110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100-APlant City, FL 33563(813) 704-6850www.PlantCityObserver.com

Plant CityTimes & ObserverLocally Owned by Ed Verner,Nate Kilton and Felix HaynesThe Plant City Times & Observer is published byPlant City Media LLC, a joint-venture of the TampaBay Times and Plant City Observer LLC.

Plant City Times&

ObserverTO ADVERTISECall Veronica Prostko,(813) 716-0007, orJoanna Verga, (813) 451-6489.

SEND USYOUR NEWSWe want to hear from you. Letus know about your events,celebrations and achievements.

To contact us, send your information via:Email: Amber Jurgensen, ajurgensen@PlantCityObserver.com.

Mail: The Plant City Observer, 110 E. ReynoldsSt., Suite 100-A, Plant City, FL 33563

CONTACT USThe Plant City Times &Observer is publishedonce weekly, on Fridays.

It provides free home delivery toseveral neighborhoods in Plant City.The Plant City Times & Observer alsocan be found in many commerciallocations throughout Plant City and atour office, 110 E. Reynolds St., Suite100-A.

If you wish to discontinue homedelivery or if you wish to suspendhome delivery temporarily, call LindaLancaster at 704-6850.

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.” — Friedrich Hayek, “Road to Serfdom,” 1944

MYVIEW

THISWEEK’S CROSSWORDANSWERS

THISWEEK’S CRYPTOQUIZ ANSWERS1) USSR 2) Balanchine 3) Apollo 4) New York 5) WhiteNights. Mikhail Baryshnikov

Something was a little fruityat our office in Historic Down-town last week. The fragranceof Plant City’s blooming fieldswas brought in a delivery ofnewspaper bundles — notflats. And it’s because our 2015

Florida Straw-berry FestivalGuide has ajuicy strawber-ry on the frontthat smellsjust as goodas it looks. It’sscratch andsniff.

We thoughtthe gimmickwould be the

exact kind of thing the WinterStrawberry Capital of the Worldwould appreciate. And we sureappreciate being able to repre-sent one of Plant City’s greatesttraditions by becoming themain media partner, alongwith the Tampa Bay Times, forthe first time in festival history.

This is the third year I’ll becovering the Florida Straw-berry Festival. And I know formany of you, this is your 10thStrawberry Festival or 50thStrawberry Festival — dare Isay 80th?

But I will tell you, as excitedas Plant City gets about itsannual event, the staff at thePlant City Times & Observer,myself included, does too.

There’s nothing like the

anticipation that comes withcovering the events leading upto the celebration — strawber-ry balls, pageant girls, queens,fashion shows.

And then comes the 11 daysof organized chaos. It’s a whirl-wind of magicians, steer andswine shows, rides, monkeys,shortcakes, fish prizes in plas-tic bags, strawberry paintings,racing pigs, big-name countrystars and fried Oreos.

We are there for it all, frontand center — making sure tocapture the smiling faces, themouths full of whipped creamand strawberries, the confi-dent, young hands leadingtheir livestock around the ring.They appear in print stories,countless photo galleries, so-cial media posts and more.

This year, we’re bumping upthe coverage.

The 2015 Florida StrawberryFestival Guide is 48-pages andhas grown substantially sincelast year.

With a map, complete sched-ule, concert lineup, shortcakerundown, list of have-to-havetrinkets and more, we know itwill be a hit with all of the out-of-towners the festival and ourgreat city attracts every year.

But we also designed it withPlant City in mind. From Q&Aswith well-known festival redcoats and an extensive profileon our beloved 2015 Straw-berry Queen Samantha Sun,

to an ag profile on a local feedstore and a personal welcomecolumn from Festival ManagerPaul Davis, we know Plant Citywill turn to our 2015 FloridaStrawberry Festival Guide forall the information it can getduring the festival.

Stop in at our office in His-toric Downtown to read (andsmell) the guide, or pick one upat the festival when you visit.

In addition to our guide, wewill be uploading photo galler-ies and videos to our websiteeveryday, active on Facebook,Twitter, YouTube and Insta-gram, and still on the searchfor hometown stories, bothfestival-related and not, to fillour pages.

We encourage you to takeyour best shots of festival hap-penings and send them to us

by emailing me at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com withthe subject line: StrawberryFestival. Or you can hashtagyour best shots on Instagram:#TheSweetBeat.

We know the StrawberryFestival is more than just anevent to Plant City. With an80-year history that grew out ofa humble desire to appreciatea small-town way of life, familyvalues and agricultural heri-tage, the festival has blossomedto become a Florida landmark,shared with hundreds of thou-sands of people from all overthe world every year. We arehappy that we get to share inthe tradition and celebration,too.

Plant City lives for its FloridaStrawberry Festival. And so dowe.

Living for the Strawberry Festival

AMBERJURGENSEN

Tonda Morris started herposition as the new directorof Bruton Memorial LibraryFeb. 16. She had been work-ing as a librarian in Georgia,but Morris is happy to returnto her hometown after yearsof being away.

“She met all of our qualifi-cations for the position, shedid an excellent job in theinterview with our team, andshe also had an opportunityto meet with our employ-ees and tour the Bruton Me-morial Library at the end ofDecember,” Mike Herr, citymanager, said. “She also metwith our library board mem-bers as well and did an excel-lent job conversing with thelibrary board.”

For the past 12 years, Mor-ris worked as the head librar-ian at Whitefield AcademyPreparatory School in Mable-ton, Georgia, a suburb of theAtlanta area. Before that, shewas a youth services librarianwith the city of Smyrna, Geor-gia, for nine years.

Morris holds a bachelor’sdegree in social work fromMars Hill University, and amaster’s degree in library andinformation science from Val-dosta State University, whereshe had a 4.0 GPA.

“I thought that was abso-lutely excellent,” Herr said.

Morris comes from a fam-ily that represents PlantCity through and through.Her great-great-grandfatherimmigrated from Ireland,settled in the area and wasa strawberry farmer. Hergrandfather, Don Walden Sr.,was mayor of Plant City formultiple terms in the 1940s.And one of her aunts was aStrawberry Queen in the fes-tival’s early years.

Morris graduated from

Plant City High School. Sheremembers walking to BrutonMemorial Library as a youngstudent and always knewwhere to look for her favoritebooks.

“I loved this library when Iwas growing up,” Morris said.“When I found out that theyhad an opening here ... I wasquite interested.”

Morris’ first goal is to orientherself with the library’s cur-rent programs, and then to“capitalize on the successfulprograms they already havein place, and look for oppor-tunities for new programs,”she said.

“Libraries are similar inmany ways, but they all havetheir own unique program-ming,” she said.

As a public librarian in

Smyrna, Morris workedclosely with Friends of the Li-brary because the group wasessential for the library’s suc-cess. She hopes to continuethis sort of relationship withFriends of the Library in PlantCity.

“What I like best about be-ing a librarian in a city, isthat you’re really meeting theneeds of the citizenry,” Morrissaid. “I love that idea of beingpart of the city team.”

Morris was originallyscheduled to start in March,but her start date was movedup to Monday, Feb. 16. Herannual salary will be $73,000,in addition to a weekly $45 al-lowance for transportation.

Contact Catherine Sinclairat csinclair@plantcityobserv-er.com.

New Bruton MemorialLibrary director takes leadTonda Morris moved back to Plant City to work at thelibrary she loved throughout her years growing up here.

homecoming by Catherine Sinclair |StaffWriter

Cathrine Sinclair

Tonda Morris started at Bruton Memorial Library Feb. 16

Relay for Life brewssweet time at tea party

Ladies and gentleman gath-ered for tea time Saturday, Feb.21, at First Baptist Church toraise money for the Plant CityRelay for Life. Each table wasdecorated to different themes,including “Alice in Wonder-land” and superheroes. Pro-ceeds from a silent auctionwith massage and hair pack-ages, Improv tickets and morewent to Relay.

SPOTOFTEA by Amber Jurgensen |StaffWriter

Honorary Survivor and elementary student, Ava Raab, attendedwith family and friends.

How did your businessfirst get its start?

A concept, a dream, thatwas put into action.

What kind of services canyour business offer the com-munity?

We serve restaurant-stylecooking. We don’t believein “Stouffer’s To Go” food.The majority of our food hassome freshly prepared com-ponent. We focus on freshingredients and home-styleprepared dishes. We caterevents, as well.

How does your businesscontribute to the commu-nity?

We support local chari-table events and a myriadof other sponsorships andvolunteer efforts.

Why is your businesslocated at its site?

Our food is not ubiqui-tous, and so we think ourestablishment shouldn’t beeither. We think downtownhas a unique charm notfound in other places.

What specials are yourunning?

Vary on a daily basis,some examples include“Hamburger Tuesday” and“Wings on Wednesday.”

What is your business’motto or mission, and why?

To always serve. It doesn’tmatter if it’s serving the bestfood, or serving the com-munity — service is thatpart of the American work

ethic that can’t be duplicat-ed in the same manner by amachine.

Can you describe yourclients/customers?

Our customers arehardworking people whogo out and want to have anice time in a chill atmo-sphere away from the hecticlife that is waiting outsideof our doors. We give ourcustomers comfort food atan appropriate price and anatmosphere that is right forthem to get their “release”so they can face their day.

What is your back-ground? Professional?Education?

The owners are a collegeeducated husband and wifeteam.

How long have you beenin the business?

Since May of 2014.

What is your secret tosuccess?

Great food, good teamand hard work.

What kind of restaurantculture do you promote?

Fun environment, butone that has the neces-sary rules and proceduresto make sure it’s a safeand productive workingenvironment. We believein integrity, and we threadthat ideal throughout thecompany culture.

What is your manage-ment style?

We are not micro-man-agers, and we don’t believein Theory X managementstyles. We believe our as-sociates can be self-directedand autonomous once theyare given the right toolsfor success. We believe inempowering our associates,and we treat others like wewant to be treated.

TOPSHELFSPORTSBARANDGRILL

Q&A WITH LAWRENCE AND ZEE BROWN, OWNERS

““

I loved this library when I was growing up.When I found out that they had an opening

here ... I was quite interested.Tonda Morris, library director

Did you know that every $100 spent at a local, independently-owned store generates$45 of secondary local spending, compared to $14 for a big-box chain? This was firsttested in 2003 by the Institute for Local Self Reliance and is nearly identical to later resultsacross multiple Civic Economic studies.

The Plant City Times & Observer agrees with buying local. With the Greater Plant CityChamber of Commerce, we’ve launched the Buy Local campaign, encouraging residentsto shop local. This week’s Buy Local spotlight is Top Shelf Bar and Grill. We caught upwith owners Lawrence and Zee Brown to get all the info on this successful business.

Cathy Villianatos helpedserve up the three courses.

Guests wore big hats and unique headpieces.

At just 14, Michael Stanleyhas already had more profes-sional accomplishments thansome people have in a lifetime.

He operates a baked goodsbusiness completely on hisown, he has designed numer-ous professional websites, andnow, he is the co-manager ofthe Plant City Local HarvestFarmers’ Market.

When he visited the marketduring its second week afteropening last fall, Stanley sawan opportunity to become anentrepreneur.

“I was baking a lot at home,and everyone loved my cook-ies, and scones, especially,” hesaid.

He decided to capitalize onthe deliciousness of his all-

natural sweet treats by becom-ing a vendor at the market. Heopened a booth as The StanleyBakery.

Stanley, who is homeschooled, spends all day pre-paring for the market eachWednesday. He wakes up at 7a.m. and bakes nonstop until itis time to pack up at 2 p.m. Hecreates all of his products com-pletely on his own — in fact,none of his family members areallowed into the kitchen whilehe is at work.

The bakery has been a suc-cessful enterprise for Stanley.He usually sells out of at leastone of the items he takes to themarket.

But The Stanley Bakery isonly one of Stanley’s contribu-

tions to the farmers’ market.Patricia Rogers, who has

managed the market since itopened, had been looking forsomeone to design a website.She found out that Stanley notonly knew how to design web-sites, but had created function-al and visually appealing sitesfor a co-op, his sister’s weddingand other sites that were justfor fun. He is also in the processof creating a website for PolkWellness.

Rogers asked Stanley todesign the market’s website,which he released Jan. 12. Thedesign features a light woodbackground with bright pho-tos of colorful produce, and themenu is easy to navigate.

“I was thinking about the

market and how everything isfarm fresh,” Stanley said. “I de-cided to use the wood becausethat seems natural.”

Rogers was so impressed byStanley’s work that she decidedto promote him to co-managerof the market.

“I selected him because of hisability to do what’s right for themarket,” Rogers said. “At first, Ijust got him to do the website,and then I thought, he needs tolearn how to run a business.”

As co-manager, Stanley’s re-sponsibilities include manag-ing the website and Facebookaccount, collecting moneyfrom vendors, directing ven-dors to their places at the mar-ket, and recruiting new ven-dors. While visiting anotherfarmers’ market, Stanley cameacross a vendor he thoughtwould be a good fit for PlantCity’s market, and introducedhimself. The vendor decided tosign on.

“I also contact anyone I knowwho has expertise, and askthem if they’d like to become avendor,” Stanley said.

When he’s not baking, man-aging the market or doingschoolwork, Stanley enjoyswatching movies and critiquingtheir visual effects. He hopes tosomeday become a compositorin the film industry, so he canedit special effects for movies.He also is a gardener.

“He has been unbelievable,especially for a young man of14 years old,” Rogers said ofStanley.

Contact Catherine Sinclairat csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.

Entrepreneurial teen co-manages farmers’ marketMichael Stanley has started his own business, butalso uses his media skills to help others succeed.

MARKET MEDIATo learn more about The

Stanley Bakery and otherLocal Harvest Farmers’Market vendors, visit thewebsite Stanley createdat PCLocalHarvestFarmersMarket.com. Search “TheStanley Bakery” or “PlantCity Local Harvest FarmersMarket” to find each onFacebook.

YOUNGTALENT by Catherine Sinclair |StaffWriter

Catherine Sinclair

Michael Stanley sells his homemade baked goods at the weeklymarket downtown.

Bert BoydBert Boyd, 85, of Valrico,

and formerly of Williamsport,Pennsylvania, died Feb. 17,2015.

He was a retired brakemanwith CSX Railroad. He is sur-vived by his children, Sandra(Frederick) Pettit, RaymondBoyd, Robert (Kimberly)Boyd, Susan (Harvey) Carey,Phillip (Robin) Kern and Pam(Harold) Miller; and manygrandchildren, great-grand-children, and family. He waspreceded in death by his wife,Mary Boyd.

A celebration of life washeld Tuesday, Feb. 24, atHopewell Funeral Home. In-terment at Pleasant GroveCemetery. Online condolenc-es may be made at Hopewell-Funeral.com.

Billy Ray CanipeBilly Ray Canipe, 82, of

Plant City, and formerly ofBaltimore, died Feb. 20, 2015,surrounded by his family.

Mr. Canipe,son of Lucille andL.W. Canipe, wasborn May 30, 1932 in MitchellCounty, North Carolina, andraised in Kingsport, Tennes-see. He worked hard for hisfamily at Bethlehem Steel inBaltimore for 42 years andretired to Plant City. He wasin the Air Police in the U.S.Air Force and served duringthe Korean War. He was for-merly a member of Plant CityMoose Lodge #1668. He wasa member of the NRA, a trueblue American and a 110%dedicated Democrat. He en-joyed being with family andfriends, traveling and listen-ing to bluegrass music. Hewas fiercely proud of his rootsand heritage. All that knewhim thought him to be a trulyloving, good and honest man.He was Baptist by faith.

He is survived by his daugh-ters, Deborah Canipe Wannerand Patricia Canipe; son-in-law, George Wanner; grand-son, Phillip Wanner; grand-daughter, Susan Wanner;longtime companion, KathyCast; brothers, Artie Canipe,Wade Canipe and Bud Moon;sisters, Gladys Shackelford,Glenna Lisenby and BrendaBundrant; and many niecesand nephews. He was pre-ceded in death by his lovingwife of 35 years, Helen, whodied Aug. 7, 1986.

A funeral was held Mon-day, Feb. 23, at Wells Memo-rial Monday, Feb. 23. In lieuof flowers, please donate toMooseheart, Mooseheavenor Lifepath Hospice. Onlinecondolences may be made atWellsMemorial.com.

Haba “Evelyn” Barber DavisHaba “Evelyn” Barber Da-

vis, 76, of Tampa, died Feb.14, 2015.

She loved her family, andenjoyed raising koi fish, wa-terfalls, orchids, helping peo-ple and being a “Cheer Mom.”

She is survived by her chil-dren, Evelyn “Jean” Jenkins,Enid Carl (Ruth Cummins)Davis Jr. and Maxine Delo-res Davis; siblings, ThomasH. (Sherri Hampton) Bar-ber, Arlene (Frank) Vibbertand Loise Van Reddy; grand-children, Michael Jenkins,Heather Lamela, Randall Da-vis and Pammie (Mac Nobles)Jenkins; two great-grand-children; and many nieces,nephews, family and friends.She was preceded in death byher husband, Enid “Carl” Da-vis Sr.

A celebration of life washeld Monday, Feb. 23, atHopewell Funeral Home. In-terment at Hillsboro Memo-rial, Brandon. Online con-dolences may be made atHopewellFuneral.com.

Helen F. DryHelen F. Dry, 70, of Plant

City, died Feb. 19, 2015.She is survived by her hus-

band of 56 years, SheltonDry; daughters, Debra Steen,Karen Mansell and Lori Dry;three sisters; one brother;seven grandchildren; andone great-grandchild. Onlinecondolences may be made atHopewellFuneral.com.

Andrew David Gunter SrAndrew David Gunter Sr.,

65, of Plant City, died Feb. 22,2015.

Born Nov. 21, 1949, in PlantCity, he was the son of thelate Dillon and Agnes StyronGunter. Mr. Gunter retiredfrom CSX Railroad after 45years of dedicated service.

He is survived by his devot-ed wife of 35 years, BrendaWord Gunter; sons, AndrewDavid Gunter Jr. and James(Emily) Gunter; grandchil-dren, Lilyann, Ellison andMya; niece, Amanda Alder-man Talley; and many otherbeloved family members.He was preceded in death byhis sister, Desi Register; andin-laws, James and ShirleyWord.

A funeral service was heldThursday, Feb. 26, at HaughtFuneral Home Chapel. On-line condolences may bemade at haughtfuneral-home.com.

Wilbur Esten Hartman Jr.Wilbur Esten Hartman

Jr., 77, of Plant City and for-merly of Jacksonville, diedFeb. 17, 2015, atBrandon Region-al Hospital.

He was born April 14, 1937,in Centerville, Pennsylvania,to the late Wilbur Sr. and Ev-elyn Buckingham Hartman.He was the husband of JuliaLoizakes Hartman; she sur-vives. Mr. Hartman was inthe Air National Guard andflew for Air America duringVietnam. He was avid pilotand enjoyed planes.

Also surviving are son,Mark Roberts; daughters,Deb Ehrlich and Lynn Faust;sisters, Laura Wagner andRuth Ridgway; five grand-children; and one great-grandchild.

A memorial service washeld Saturday, Feb. 21, atHaught Funeral Home Cha-pel. Online condolencesmay be made at Hopewell-Funeral.com.

Annie Lee LightseyAnnie Lee Lightsey, 45,

of Plant City, died Feb. 19,2015, at her home.

She was born at home inPinecrest. She was a memberof Hopewell Baptist Church,and she was a realtor withWeichert Realty.

She is survived by her lov-ing and devoted husband,Craig Lightsey; children, Jo-seph Lightsey and Jacque-line Lightsey; grandaughter,Genesis Ja’de Sykes; sib-lings, Candice (Barry) Greer,Sunny (Mike) Ploch, Mark(Michelle) Dickey, MichaelDickey, Matthew (Ella) Dick-ey and Martin (Chris) Dickey;and many nieces, nephews,family and friends. She waspreceded in death by herparents, Edward and MollyVan Horn.

A celebration of life willbe held at 11 a.m. Saturday,Feb. 28, at Hopewell BaptistChurch, where the family willreceive friends beginning at10 a.m. Interment to followat Hopewell Memorial Gar-dens. Online condolencesmay be made at Hopewell-Funeral.com.

John J. McLinJohn J. McLin, 79, of Plant

City, died Feb. 16, 2015.He was a member of the

Olin S. Wright MasonicLodge #79, and he was aretired journeyman line-man. He lived and enjoyedlife to the fullest with fam-ily, friends, travel, work andhobbies, and he was a Chris-tian.

He is survived by his wifeof 55 years, Marlene K.McLin; son, Jim (Sharon)McLin; siblings, Johnnie(James “Buddy”) Fay Laneand F.D. “Buck” (Margaret)McLin; and other family andfriends.

A celebration of life washeld Tuesday, Feb. 24, atHopewell Funeral Home.Interment at Hopewell Me-morial Gardens. Onlinecondolences may be madeat HopewellFuneral.com.

Billie Joe Melvin Jr.Billie Joe Melvin Jr., 66, died

Feb. 21, 2015, at his home inPlant City. He was born to thelate Billie Joe and Lulu Elo-ise (Driggers) Melvin. Survi-vors include his life partnerof 23 years, Katherine Davis;and other loving family andfriends. Online condolencesmay be made at WellsMemo-rial.com.

Bernice Blanch OsteenBernice Blanch Osteen,

88, of Ocoee, died Feb. 15,2015.

Mrs. Osteen was born Jan.22, 1927, in Plant City, to thelate Vasco and Leta Crawford.

She is survived by herdaughter, Theresa (Gary) Lu-cas; son, Larry (Pam) Osteen;eight grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and 10 great-great-grandchildren. She waspreceded in death by her lov-ing husband, John Osteen;son, Robert Osteen; and sis-ters, Juanita Davidson andDottie Dunihue.

Visitation and funeral wereheld Thursday, Jan. 19, atWoodlawn Funeral Home inGotha. In lieu of flowers, do-nations can be made to theAlzheimer’s Association atalz.org. Woodlawn MemorialPark & Funeral Home is han-dling arrangements. Onlinecondolences may be madeat woodlawnfuneralhomego-tha.com.

James L. “Red” PollockJames L. “Red” Pollock, 74,

of Lithia, died Feb. 18, 2015.He was a member of Alafia

Baptist Church. He loved hisfamily, and he enjoyed theoutdoors.

He is survived by his chil-dren, Clay (Susie) Taylor, Di-ane Pollock and Johnny (Kim)Pollock; sister, Peggy (Buddy)Elliott; grandchildren, Cayla(Aaron) Lucier, SamanthaTaylor, Sabrina Pollock, John-na Pollock and Shyanne Tay-lor; and great-grandchildren,Simon and Shelby Lucier. Hewas preceded in death by hiswife, Virginia Pollock.

A celebration of life washeld Wednesday, Feb. 24, atHopewell Funeral Home. In-terment at Bethlehem Cem-etery, Ft. Lonesome. Onlinecondolences may be made atHopewellFuneral.com.

Henry Grant RatliffHenry Grant Ratliff, 80, of

Plant City, died Feb. 21, 2015,at Saint Joseph Hospital inTampa.

Born Dec. 14,1934, in Pikev-ille, Kentucky, he was theson of the late Orville andOsie Adkins Ratliff. He wasthe husband of Jeanne Wat-kins Ratliff; she survives. Mr.Ratliff retired from the U.S.Army and served during theKorean and Vietnam wars.

Also surviving are sons,Rick (Sherry) Ratliff and An-thony Ratliff; daughters,Cynthia Ratliff and Monica(Kevin) Goodell; sisters, MaryPreston and Omega Bull;11 grandchildren; and ninegreat-grandchildren.

The family will be havingprivate services. Online con-dolences may be made athaughtfuneralhome.com.

Sonia Esmeralda RoldanSonia Esmeralda Roldan,

22, of Plant City, died Feb. 21,2015.

She loved her family, andenjoyed animals and livinglife. She is survived by herparents, Quintina and Victo-riano Binzha; siblings, Mari-sol (Juan) Gutierrez, Lorena(Jose) Gutierrez, Almanela(Carlos) Gutierrez, Samuel(Ivett) Roldan, Juan Roldanand Isaias Roldan; fiancé, An-tonio Rodriguez; dogs, Layla,Peanut and Coffee; and manyother family and friends.

A celebration of life will beheld at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27,at Rio de Dios, 410 SwilleyRoad, where the family willreceive friends beginning at1 p.m. Interment to follow atHopewell Memorial Gardens.Online condolences may bemade at HopewellFuneral.com.

OBITUARIESOBSERVER

Whenever the NFL orNCAA adopts a new rule forthe sake of player safety, themost common complaint Ihear is, “They’re turning thegame into flag football.”

That’s not exactly a ring-ing endorsement of flagfootball, which is still fun toplay. In fact, I’d ask anyonewho makes that comparisonto actually go and watch a

flag foot-ball gamein person,and watchfootball asit’s strippeddown to itsfundamen-tals. Theremay not beany big hits,but there are

still explosive offenses andbig defensive plays.

It’s also important toremember that these rulechanges aren’t being im-posed just for the sake ofwatering down the gameand making your olderuncle angry enough to startyelling about the days of theSteel Curtain or Ronnie Lott.Rather, the game is becom-ing safer now than it usedto be because, somewherealong the line, people incharge realized that playerscan play (and live) longer ifeveryone’s more responsibleon the field.

On Tuesday, I read abouta big breakthrough in braininjury diagnosis. The shortversion is that, thanks to ad-vances in modern science,we are now able to test forCTE — chronic traumaticencephalopathy — in livingpeople. Considering thatscientists were previouslyable to study and iden-tify the disease only in thebrains of deceased people,this is a super-importantmilestone that will almostdefinitely have an impact onall sports.

So, yeah, you can expecteven more rule changes inthe future.

UCLA’s Dr. Julian Bailesannounced that he’s gettingready to publish the results

Y O U T H | H I G H S C H O O L | G O L F | C O M M U N I T Y

SportsDo you have a good

sports scoop for us?Contact Justin Kline atjkline@plantcityobserver.com, or Tweet us at @PCTOSports.

BASEBALL

+ PCLL holdingsign-upsPlant City Little League

is bringing back Seniorand Big League Baseballfor boys age 15 to 18.Anyone who wishes to

play must be registeredby Saturday, March 7.Contact Jeffrey Jacobsenfor registration informa-tion at (813) 468-9362or email jakesteraider@yahoo.com.

+ Area teams startstrong in districtNone of the Plant City-

area high school baseballteams got off to a par-ticularly hot start, but allthree seem to be gettingback on track now thatdistrict play has begun.Going into the Feb.

24 games, Durant andPlant City each won theirfirst two games against7A-7 opponents, whileStrawberry Crest went.500.Durant (4-1; 3-0 dis-

trict) held a 4-0 leadover Tampa Bay TechFeb. 17 until the fifthinning, when starterJonah Scolaro allowedthree runs. Colyn Whiteand Bryce Gainer camein afterward to relieveScolaro, and ended uppreserving Durant’s leadthrough the next twoinnings. Hosting BrandonFeb. 20, Durant pickedup a 9-2 win after main-taining an 8-0 leadthrough six innings ofplay.Plant City (2-4; 2-1 dis-

trict) crushed East Bay onthe road in a 9-3 win Feb.17, and then followed itup with another slim vic-tory over Tampa Bay Tech:this one was a 3-2 win,in which no team scoreduntil the Raiders drove intwo in the fifth inning andkept the Indians in checkin the seventh to hang on.Strawberry Crest (3-2,

2-1 district) took a 2-0loss at Brandon Feb. 17,but followed up with a3-1 win at East Bay Feb.20. In that one, the teamtook advantage of fourdefensive errors as JeffMurray, Tyler Chancey andMcKenzie Wheeler eachscored runs.All three teams play

Friday, Feb. 27, at 7p.m.: Durant will playat Strawberry Crest, andPlant City will travel toBrandon.

WRESTLING

+ SCHS places atchampionshipsThe Strawberry Crest

wrestling team made somenoise at the HillsboroughCounty ChampionshipsSaturday, Feb. 21.The Chargers placed

third in the competition,including three individualchampions.

SIDELINES

ATHLETEOFTHEWEEK

Isaiah Wilson leadshis soccer teamasa forward.14

SPONSORED BY COURTNEY PAAT | STATE FARM

WHAT’S ONKLINE’S MIND?

JUSTINKLINE

flag football by Justin Kline |StaffWriter

Breakthroughshould end‘flag football’comparisons

Who’s ready for some foot-ball?

Right now, Plant City-areahigh schools are getting ready.It won’t be long before thefields are prepped, the lightscome on and the girls walkout, ready to sling that pig-skin and put some points onthe board. The outlook for allthree teams is good — in fact,maybe even better than lastseason’s.

What’s worth keeping aneye on in the upcoming 2015season? Fans of Durant, PlantCity and Strawberry Crestschools will each have some-thing to look forward to.

DURANTLast season, the Lady Cou-

gars were almost unstoppa-ble. The team finished with an11-1 record and had severalplayers, such as quarterback

Jessica McClernan and passrusher Chrissy Millard, puttheir names in the Durantrecord books with impec-cable season performances.The team’s only loss was toBloomingdale, 6-0, in the dis-trict championship game.

There have been some bigchanges in the program, how-ever.

Most notably, seven-yearhead coach Brad Brunsonstepped down from the joband has been replaced bylongtime assistant RandyCrone. Crone, who has beenwith the team for the past sev-en years, inherits a talentedroster and a big task.

Replacing McClernan willbe no easy feat. The four-yearstarter graduated in 2014 asthe best flag football quarter-back in school history. Me-gan Mooney will be filling

her shoes. Moooney started— and won — two games lastyear when McClernan sat outwith an injury.

Mooney will also have somegood help. Her top two targetswill be senior receivers AshleyPiechowiak and Kayla Collins,who are both captains, andHailey Lang.

Crone has high expectationsfor the defense, anchored byjunior linebacker GiavannaFullwood, and also expectsbig things from lacrosse play-ers Ally Louden and Casey De-catur.

“Our team has a good bal-ance of experienced seniorsand new talent,” he says. “I ex-pect a very competitive team,as well.”

Whether Durant can repeatlast year’s success remains to

Area girls gear up for flag footballFlag football may not be as popular as the boys game, but Plant City-area high school teams are looking to make some noise this season.

FOURTH TIME’STHE CHARM

The Plant City High soft-ball team has gotten usedto change over the last fouryears. In fact, this year’s cropof seniors will graduate with-out having played for thesame coach for more than oneseason.

For the underclassmen, newhire Ashley Bullion wants tomake sure that they can’t saythe same.

Bullion was hired in the lastoffseason to take over the suc-cessful Lady Raiders programin the wake of Maggie Fiex’sdeparture. Fiex, who led theteam to a 20-7 record and aplayoff appearance, left thejob and Plant City for personal

reasons after the 2014 seasonended.

Athletic director Traci Dur-rance and the school wantedto make sure they’d find some-one who would be in it for thelong haul, even if they were arookie coach.

FIELD EXPERIENCEBullion, a Crystal River na-

tive, has been around thegame of softball since age 7.She started at first base in allfour of her years at Crystal Riv-er High and then took her tal-ents to the University of SouthFlorida’s program. It was therethat she found her biggestcoaching influence.

Head coach Ken Eriksen is abig name in softball circles. Ontop of coaching the success-ful Lady Bulls program since1997, he’s also served as headcoach of the U.S. Women’s Na-tional Team. Under Eriksen,Bullion and her teammateswent to the playoffs twice infive seasons, including a runthat saw USF come just onewin shy of making the 2006Women’s College World Series.

“That was a big deal,” Bul-lion says. “We traveled all theway across the country to playone of the top teams in the na-tion, and it was an incredible

SEE COACH / PAGE 13

Ashley Bullion plans to stick around for more than just one year.

LACROSSE by Justin Kline |StaffWriter

Justin Kline

Ashley Bullion is Plant City High School’s fourth softball coach in asmany years. She may be a rookie coach, but she’s up for the challenge.

COACH’S EYEAshley Bullion has got-

ten to know her players,and expects big thingsfrom all of them. So, who’slooking likely to do bigthings for the Lady Raidersthis year? Take it from her:

“Edmilly Molina hada really good season lastyear,” Bullion says. “Herand Bekah Schulte —she’s gonna be anotherone that’s a great hitter.Molina is just an all-around player.

Becca Sorenson isanother all-around playerand a threat for anybody.Once Schulte gets in hergroove, she’s going to be abig threat. Powerful swing.She will be one of ourgo-to players once she getsin a groove.And of course, there’s

Noelle Dietrich, and AlexisWilliams, who is alsothrowing good pitches thisyear.”

File photo

Durant enjoyed a great 2014 season with quarterback JessicaMcClernan.SEE FLAG / PAGE 13

SEE COACH / PAGE 13

PLANTCITYOBSERVER.COM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015

Courtesy photo

COACH / PAGE 12

be seen, but it appears thatthe pieces are there.

PLANT CITYThe Lady Raiders had to

deal with several big chang-es last year, losing their starquarterback and bringing ina new head coach. The teamposted a 5-5 record, whichdid include a three-game winstreak near the end of the sea-son, but took a 32-0 loss toArmwood in the first round ofthe district tournament.

Things do look clearer thisseason. Boys football assistantcoach Greg Meyer is returningas the team’s head coach, andhe says he knows how to im-prove upon last season’s per-formance.

“It’s just adapting the of-fenses I’m used to to the girls’abilities,” Meyer says. “We’llhave a more balanced attackthis year.”

A big part of that is thatthe majority of the offensivestarters are returning. Thesenior-heavy offense includeswideout/free safety SamanthaBlack and WR/QB Kellen Mor-ris, whom Meyer expects bigthings from in 2015. Also, ev-ery member of the defensivebackfield is returning.

What he’s most excitedabout is the return of talentedquarterback Avery Brown.Brown, who last played forthe flag football team in 2013,took last year off to focus on

softball. Now that she’s return-ing, Meyer hopes she’ll helptake the team to new heightswith her dual-threat skills.

With those girls, plus ath-letes like Sharice Morales andDrew Knotts on board, Meyerbelieves that this squad haswhat it takes to walk the walk.

“This could be one of thebest teams PCHS has fielded,talent-wise,” he says. “Wehave a lot of experience incrucial spots.”

STRAWBERRY CRESTThe Lady Chargers won’t

be dealing with big changeslike Durant and Plant City, butthat may be a good thing.

Head coach Andre Lewis’steam posted a 6-4 recordlast season, but there wereseveral great signs for the fu-ture. One of them came onApril 17, when Crest went toPlant City and picked up an18-0 win — the first over theLady Raiders in program his-tory. The girls also picked upa 26-23 win over a tough EastBay High team the followingweek.

And, in the district tourna-ment, Crest nearly beat Kingto advance to the secondround. The Lady Lions got thebetter of the Lady Chargers ina gritty, 13-7 victory.

This year, the team will haveseveral key players returningin senior Marviana Mackey,sophomore Jordan Snapp andjunior Amanda DaSilva. But,for the most part, this teamis relatively young. Lewis saysthat the team plans to makeup for whatever it may lack inexperience with a strong workethic.

“We will be young, but com-petitive,” he says.

With games against PlantCity, Armwood, King andBloomingdale on the sched-ule, the Lady Chargers willhave their work cut out forthem in 2015. But, if the team’sas competitive as Lewis claimsit is, then these girls couldturn some heads in the dis-trict come tournament time.

FLAG / PAGE 12

from a 20-subject study ofCTE patients, like legend-ary Dallas Cowboys runningback Tony Dorsett. Whateverhe and his team found willchange the rules and willchange the way athletes allover the world are treated forhead injuries.

The only real way to avoidcontracting a disease like CTEis to avoid playing sports.For all of the backhands thatdiehard football fans like tolevy on flag football, even theboys, girls, men and womenwho wear flags instead of fullpads are likely to get concus-

sions on the field.That’s why I’d say it’s time

to stop complaining aboutrule changes and addedsafety procedures “water-ing down” our sports. Thingsdefinitely aren’t what theyused to be, but that’s for thebetter.

Sure, some of the changesthat have been made arequestionable in that they maynot actually do anything. Inthe NFL, moving kickoffs upto the 35-yard line was and isa dumb idea. And, though itmay be somewhat safer, theHeads-Up Tackling move-ment that the league pro-moted among youth football

programs is not nearly aseffective as traditional arm-tackling.

But, that’s small potatoesif the overall effect of makingsports safer gives our athleteslongevity. They’re playingthese games, after all, be-cause they have fun doing so,and to take that away foreverat a young age would be de-pressing. I don’t want to writeabout a local high schoolquarterback or point guardhaving to walk away from thegame forever because of con-cussion issues, and I wouldreally hate to do a follow-up ifhe were to develop memoryproblems and brain damage.

CHECK IT OUTDurant will get things

started next Friday, March6, playing in a tournamenthosted by Celebration High.After that, they and theirPlant City-area counterpartswill have just over a weekto prepare for the regularseason. If you need to bethere for the home open-ers, here’s what you needto know:

Durant: at Plant City, 3/17;vs. Jefferson, 3/20.Strawberry Crest: vs. PlantCity, 3/23.

All games start at 7:30p.m. For full schedules,visit c2cschools.com andsearch for your school ofchoice.

KLINE / PAGE 12

experience.”She says that playing for Er-

iksen opened her eyes to howwell a good coach can affect ateam’s play and took plenty ofleaves from his book.

“He’s stern, but also nurtur-ing — that’s what I aspire tobe,” she says.

Throughout high schooland college, Bullion alsohelped younger players withskill training. She graduated in2011 with a masters degree inexercise science, but the train-ing appointments stoppedthere.

MAKING A CHANGEBullion ended up in Mul-

berry, working in several jobsunrelated to coaching ortraining. She always knew thatshe’d wanted to coach, but theopportunity hadn’t come up.

“I said, ‘What am I doingwith my life?’” she says.

This summer, she finallysaw her shot when Plant Cityposted its opening. AlthoughBullion had no formal coach-ing experience in any role, shedecided to go for it. Clearly,she did something right in theinterview.

“I think that they saw myattitude and passion towardscoaching,” Bullion says.“They’ve had four coaches infour years — they need some-body with a strong personal-ity who can come in and takecharge.”

Strong, indeed. From dayone, Bullion came in andmade it clear that no one onthe team could get away withbeing lazy on the field or in theclassroom.

“As soon as I came in, theythought I was crazy,” she says.“I was very strict, very on-point.”

Bullion is relaxed when itcomes to academics, but onlyin the sense that good gradescome first: If a Lady Raideris going to be late to prac-tice because of tutoring or atest make-up, then there’s noproblem there. Any other ex-cuse, though, will probablynot go over so well with thecoach.

“I make sure they’re attend-ing all their classes, sitting atthe front, being respectful to-wards their teachers and stay-ing on top of their studies,”Bullion says.

Keeping this team in its usu-al spot at or near the top of thedistrict will be one of the big-gest expectations for Bullion,as the team has won no fewerthan 17 games per season inthe last four years, even withall of those coaching chang-es. Feix’s 2014 squad was themost successful yet, winning20 games and advancing tothe regional semifinals, andmany of those players are stillon the roster.

Bullion’s squad got off to aslow start, dropping its firsttwo games, but she earnedher first win as a coach Friday,Feb. 13 against Plant: a teamthat the Lady Raiders haven’talways been so lucky against.

“It was a big win for myself,and for the girls to see whatthey’re capable of,” Bullionsays.

As of press time, Plant Cityhas a 5-5 record, winningthree of its last five games.

With plenty of relatives inPlant City, she’s already com-mitted to sticking around for awhile. After a handful of one-and-dones, that should bewelcome news to Raider fans.

“My whole family lives here,and I have two little babies,”Bullion says. “My entire sup-port system is here. I reallydon’t have anywhere else togo, and I don’t think I wouldleave my family.”

Bullion believes now thateveryone’s getting more com-fortable, she can help thisteam stay on the high level it’sbeen at for the past few years.Or if everything goes reallywell, exceed that.

“I keep telling them we’recapable of doing big things,”she says. “They just have tobelieve in what I’m preach-ing.”

“ “They’ve had fourcoaches in four years— they need some-

body with a strong per-sonality who can come

in and take charge.Ashley Bullion

ISAIAHWILSONATHLETE OF THE WEEK SPONSORED BY COURTNEY PAAT | STATE FARM

Local soccer club FC Plant City just wrapped up its season, and forward Isaiah Wilson hasbeen on a tear. After putting on a solid performance in the Presidents’ Day Cup, Wilson hasbeen tabbed to join the FC Tampa Rangers club team just in time for its appearance in theupcoming IBERCup Tournament at IMG Academy.

How old are you?Nine.

Where do you go to school?Jackson Elementary.

How long have you been play-ing soccer?

Since I was 4.

What positions do you play?All of them, but I like forward.

You get to score goals.

I understand you have a pret-ty big tournament coming up,with some international teamscoming to play you guys.Whatare you looking forward to?

To winning.

Who’s your favorite soccerplayer?

Lionel Messi.

What’s your favorite team?FC Barcelona.

What’s the coolest thingyou’ve ever done on a soccerfield?

My free kick in the Presidents’Day Cup. I was outside the box,and I was lined up. There wasa little bit of space between thepost and the wall, so the goaliethought I was going to the left.But, I actually went to the rightand scored it.

How many other sports doyou play?

Just soccer.

If you could try any sportyou’ve never played before, whatwould it be?

Probably basketball.

What’s your favorite subjectin school?

Probably writing. You don’treally have to think — you justhave to write what you’ve gotin your mind, or about whatyou’re reading.

What do you like to writeabout?

Your opinion.

If you could meetanyone you re-ally look up to, whowould it be?

Messi.

If you could hangout with him fora day, what would youwant to do?

Go out and play soc-cer.

Do you have anygoals for this year, likesomething you want toget better at?

I want to get better atdefending, and I want tobeat 14 goals in this onetournament.

If you could have any su-perpower, what would it be?

Super speed.

What would you use itfor?

To run really fast. To getthe ball. When a kid goespast you, and you aren’t fastenough to go get him, youcan use your speed to goand get the ball back.

Local runners flocked toWalden Lake on Saturdaymorning for the 2015 install-ment of the Strawberry Dis-tance Challenge.

The event, sponsored by As-tin Farms, consisted of a one-mile “fun run,” a 5K and an 8K.All funds raised from the eventwill benefit the Youth Alliance,a locally-based anti-bullyingorganization.

P.C. takes the Strawberry Distance Challenge

SWEETRACE by Justin Kline |StaffWriter

Bethany Baptist Church brought a huge crowd to the event.

Right: Francis Garcia and KenWinter Erika Filmore and Monica Landers

SUNRISE SUNSETFriday, Feb. 27 6:56 a.m. 6:27 p.m.Saturday, Feb. 28 6:55 a.m. 6:27 p.m.Sunday, March 1 6:54 a.m. 6:28 p.m.Monday, March 2 6:53 a.m. 6:29 p.m.Tuesday, March 3 6:52 a.m. 6:29 p.m.Wednesday, March 4 6:51 a.m. 6:30 p.m.Thursday, March 5 6:50 a.m. 6:31 p.m.

MOONPHASES

PLANT CITYWEATHER

HIGH LOWFriday, Feb. 27 66 55Saturday, Feb. 28 74 59Sunday, March 1 83 63Monday, March 2 85 62Tuesday, March 3 84 62Wednesday, March 4 85 60Thursday, March 5 81 56

TEMPERATURES

RAIN

March 27

SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES

March 5

March 13

(INCHES)

March 20

Sarah Haines said,“What else do you findat the end of a rainbow?Plant City of course!”

The Plant City Times &Observer and GrimesHardware have partneredto host the I Love PlantCity Photo Contest.Winners will have theirphoto featured and receivea $15 gift certificateto Grimes Hardware’sStrawberry Town Cafe! Toenter, email your photo,along with a caption, toEditor Amber Jurgensen,ajurgensen@plantcityob-server.com; subject line:I Love Plant City. Winnerscan pick up their prize atGrimes Hardware.

THURS.Feb. 190.00

FRI.Feb. 200.00

SAT.Feb. 210.00

SUN.Feb. 220.00

MON.Feb. 230.00

TUES.Feb. 240.00

WED.Feb. 250.00

5.92(2014: 1.19)

FEB.TO DATE4.14

YEARTO DATE

(2014: 1.19)

STRAWBERRIES

$6.90-7.90Courtesy of the

United StatesDepartment of

Agriculture

SHIPPING POINT: Orlando

CROSSWORD ‘A’ SANDWICH by Jill Pepper

ACROSS1 Feudal workers6 Day spa attire10 Had a role to play15 Ties up the phone19 Where embryos develop20 Poetry on a grand theme21 City in Greenland22 Surveyor’s map23 Time to rise, for some24 Prepares to shoot25 Causing goose bumps26 Shrek, for one27 Ethiopian capital29 Anxious31 The Roaring ‘20s, for one32 Bluebird’s residence33 Better-than-anything suffix34 Stereotypical Beemer driver37 Fix, as stones in cement39 Sharp attack of emotion41 Get ready for the O.R.42 In a just manner43 Golden State basketball player46 Composer Copland48 Heavy winter coat49 Curved moldings50 Like a prison window52 Barbera’s cartooning colleague53 Parasitic pests54 Lorenzo of “Falcon Crest”55 “Barbara ___” (1965 hit)56 Airhead60 Andy Capp’s missus61 Cry64 Some assembly places66 Accelerate (with “up”)67 Epic by Virgil68 “Journey to the Center of theEarth” actress Dahl69 “How ___ doing?”70 Last czarina of Russia72 Dunk in liquid73 Hamilton’s bill74 “___ Breckinridge”75 “Com” preceder76 Open, as a fort gate77 It goes before a fall78 Best dishes, often80 Dangerous fly in Africa82 It also goeth before a fall83 Do penance84 Diamond headgear85 Copied87 “See ya!”89 Oven for firing porcelain90 Prevents littering?91 Backspace92 Use, as food stamps94 Type of lettuce95 Not present or future99 ‘60s war zone, informally100 “All systems go!”102 Loss of bodily sensation105 Suit to ___107 1973 Rolling Stones ballad109 Source of harm110 Yellow-orange

111 Executive’s list heading112 Weeny partner113 “... happily ___ after”114 Martin or McQueen115 Pitching stats116 Wetlands plant117 “Make do” amount118 More than a third of Missis-sippi?

DOWN1 Actress Sarandon2 Musical study piece3 Rips to pieces4 Orchard part5 Has a taste of, as wine6 Use a sponge over and overagain7 A narcotic drug8 Big flop9 Long English assignment10 Consumed11 Lower in esteem12 Rutabaga, e.g.13 Cream of the crop14 Not the best grades15 Fed. documents producer

16 Math with x, y and z17 Oil container18 Not jumpy at all28 Prefix with “dynamic”30 Have a craving35 Raise or erect36 Urges on38 Gilbert and Sullivan opera(with “The”)40 Belonging to that guy42 Spreading (out)43 Atomic number 7444 With nimbleness45 Bounce back46 Domain for Lawrence47 Packing a pistol, e.g.48 Play to the crowd51 Canadian province52 Eighteen-wheelers, essentially57 Woman plaintiff58 Summer beverage59 Contaminated61 Ewe sound62 Credit union’s activity63 Brought to ruin64 ___ di Mare (fashion label)65 Golfer’s little helper

68 Grain-field color71 Some knives72 Of unsound mind76 Helpful, as a tool77 Chances79 Blade sharpener81 Scandalmongers and whistle-blowers82 Use a lever83 Shaded public walk84 Spiffing (up)86 Word that used to precedeGermany87 Capitol Hill gang88 Keynote giver, e.g.89 Towed, at sea90 Movie snippets92 Punjabi princess (var.)93 Normand of the silents96 Arson aftermath97 Sifting aid98 Weight allowances101 Has a snack103 Central church part104 Groundskeeper’s tool106 Goddess of the dawn108 CBS logo

SUDOKUSolve the puzzle by placing the numbers 1 through9 in each row, column and box.

CRYPTOQUIZEach of the following cryptograms is a clueto the identity of a renowned dancer. Usingthe hints Z=A and M=L, decipher the clues toname the dancer.

1. V H H X

2. K Z M Z C G R E C U

3. Z T D M M D

4. C U Q I D X S

5. Q R E P U C E F R P H

This dancer has been called one of thegreatest ballet dancers in history:

©2015 Universal Uclick