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Timing on traffic signals tweaked By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Motorists cruising through the intersection of State Road 54 and U.S. 41 might have noticed some differences in the timing of the traffic signals. The intervals between green lights and red lights have changed there and also in front of Lowe’s home improvement store off State Road 54. Not everyone is happy with the change, especially motorists who say they sit through more than one light interval to make a left turn heading south on U.S. 41 to See SIGNALS, page 11A
By Michael Murillo vivamurillo@hotmail.com
At first glace, Catherine Tucker's new gadget doesn't look like a useful kitchen tool. It looks like a metal cone, or the top of a missile, or maybe something the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz" would wear. In reality, it's carefully designed to provide a better cooking surface and presentation for dates and other appetizers. For Tucker, it was her dates wrapped in bacon, a frequent hit at parties, that needed to be prepared differently. "I was getting tired of cooking those on a sheet tray and transferring them to a platter," she said. Now she has a different system altogether. She invented the Hot Date Tree, a stainless steel cone with small holes that are a perfect fit for anything an inspired cook can put on a toothpick.Tucker cooks the dates and displays them for eating using the same device. She now sells it to the public as well, both on her own website and online retailer Amazon.com. Tucker, who was a postal worker in Lutz and has lived in the area for more than 35 years, said that her Hot Date Tree has uses that go beyond its name, or even appetizers. It's a suspension steamer that allows a host to cook shrimp or vegetables using the provided skewers. It's also a vertical chicken roaster, which keeps the meat away from the grease and fat that accumulates in a pan. Having multiple uses is an important characteristic for her invention. One of her cooking idols, television star Alton Brown, prefers cooking devices that serve multiple purposes, she said. As a self-described "foodie," Tucker
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MICHAEL MURILLO/PHOTOS
Catherine Tucker sits near her bacon-wrapped dates which are fresh out of the oven. She cooks and serves them using her invention, the Hot Date Tree.
wants to market something that would please some of the famous culinary people she's met over the years, such as Emeril Lagasse,Wolfgang Puck and Julia Child. She even keeps photos of them in her kitchen, where she not only cooks, but also found the inspiration to create the Hot Date Tree. Even though she created the device a year ago, it's a new business for her. Just a couple of months after she received her first shipment of Hot Date Trees, Tucker suffered a serious accident when the cable snapped in her home elevator, and she fell the length of one floor. She realizes the injuries could have been life-threatening. Still, she shattered several bones, spent two months in the hospital, and weeks afterward in a nursing home and rehabilitation. Nearly a year later, she still attends therapy several times a week, and uses a See TREE, page 11A
Keeping the church flock safe bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
813-949-4445
KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTOS
Motorists turn left from southbound U.S. 41 onto eastbound State Road 54. State highway officials tweaked the timing of traffic signals to improve traffic flow, but some motorists say they don’t like the longer waits to turn left.
Lutz resident creates 'Hot Date Tree'
By B.C. Manion
CORNERSTONEPROS.COM
APRIL 27, 2016
While many think of church as a place to lay down one’s burdens, gain spiritual refreshment and find inspiration — a house of worship is also vulnerable to potential violence. Jim Howard, executive director of Trinity Security Allies based in Trinity, knows only too well about that possibility When he was a teenager, living in Texas, his father shot and killed a deacon after church. Howard’s father was imprisoned, his family moved away, and Howard doubted his faith and left the church. He subsequently went into a career in law enforcement and eventually returned to the church. He also found a way to use his professional knowledge to serve his faith, first, by helping to protect a church’s collections and then by forming a church security team. Besides serving on the security team at Generations Christian Church, on Little Road, he is the executive director of a nonprofit organization that helps churches that need guidance in creating and preserving a safe place to worship. “Our motto for the church ministry is: ‘Have a place where everybody can come and worship God without fear.’ “Once a person doesn’t feel safe at church, then they’re not going to come to church,” said Howard, who also has a private
security consulting business. When a white man opened fire on June 17, 2015 during a prayer meeting in a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people, it captured Jim Howard national headlines. But, the issue of church violence is nothing new, Howard said. In 1999 — the same year as the killings at Columbine High School in Colorado — there was a shooting at a church in Texas were seven people were killed, he said. This past Easter Sunday, at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, a man was taken into custody after entering a church armed with a .40-caliber Beretta in his pants pocket and a 300 Blackout rifle in his backpack, according to news reports. Trinity Security Allies provides presentations to help church leaders learn about precautions they can take to help keep their churches safe, and to create plans for responding to violence, if it occurs. “We go in and educate,” Howard said. When he gets called to do a church assessment, he tours the church and its grounds. In the children’s ministry area, he said, “The first thing I do is to look to be sure the doors will lock.” That’s rarely an issue where the musical
The Hot Date Tree is a stainless steel device that Catherine Tucker created.
Church Safety WHEN: May 7, registration at 8:30 a.m.; meeting starts at 9 a.m. WHERE: Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 20735 Leonard Road, Lutz WHO: Open to anyone COST: Donations accepted for refreshments.
equipment is kept.Typically, he said, he discovers “it’s locked behind a door that Fort Knox would be proud of.” He said churches should have a check-in, check-out zone for their kids’ ministry. Some churches issue a set of matching badges — one for the child and the other for the parent. The badges must match, or the child won’t be released, he said. Churches also need to vet their volunteers, he added, especially any that have contact with children. Security team members must pay attention to people approaching and entering the church. Look for anything unusual: Someone talking to himself; someone who appears agitated or angry; someone wearing a long coat or heavy jacket when it’s warm outside. His church has a policy of being especially friendly to newcomers. They are welcomed by church staff or volunteers, and when people don’t respond, the security team lets someone else at the church know, so they can try to engage them, he said. See CHURCH, page 11A