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Crafts show set for December By Kevin Weiss kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
With a new venue in place, the 37th annual GFWC Lutz Arts & Crafts Show promises to be “bigger and better than ever.” The show — one of the most popular events in Hillsborough County — will be on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 at Keystone Prep High School, 18105 Gunn Highway in Odessa. After last year’s show was cancelled due to a sinkhole at Lake Park, the GFWC LutzLand O’ Lakes Woman’s Club scrambled for about three months to find a new permanent venue location. The club signed a five-year contract with Keystone Prep to hold the festival on the school’s property, which spans over 60 acres.
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ELECTION
2016
Staff writers with The Laker/Lutz News will be out and about at polling sites on Nov. 8, finding out what’s on the minds of voters as they cast ballots in a momentous presidential election, and also make choices in state and local elections. A story on the election will be published in the Nov. 16 edition of The Laker/Lutz News.
NOVEMBER 9, 2016
FILE PHOTO
The 37th annual Lutz Arts & Crafts Show will be held on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 at Keystone Preparatory High School in Odessa.
“We’ve got a lot more room,” said club chairwoman Faith Sincich. Other possible venues — Land O’ Lakes
See CRAFTS, page 13A
Pasco to help homeless ‘navigate’ to better lives
Local author is inspired by mysterious phenomenon
By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
By B.C. Manion
The second-grade teacher said she finds windows of time for writing after her boys are in bed. She squeezes in about four hours a night for her writing. She envisions a third book in the series, which she describes as a dystopian novel, in the vein of books like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent.” She expects her third book to be released in the spring. White thinks she has an unusual writing process, which she describes as a “reversemovie” approach. “I see it playing out in my head, and it just comes out,” she said. Since she sees what’s happening to her characters — and it can be violent at times — it can be an emotional experience, said White, who teaches at Turner/Bartels K-8, in New Tampa. In addition to writing her books, White also designed the covers and does all the marketing, through social media, such as
Pasco County is exploring a new program to address the needs of the homeless population. It would provide a one-stop location to provide shelter, and an array of services and resources for homeless individuals. County officials are proposing to remodel two vacant buildings at 8239 Youth Lane in Port Richey, formerly the home of a Boys & Girls Club. Described as a “navigation center,” the site would be able to house up to 100 homeless people at a time, and be a central location for nonprofits and other agencies to provide “wraparound services.” County officials provided Pasco County commissioners with a presentation on the program at the Oct. 24 meeting in New Port Richey. In a 4-1 vote, commissioners agreed to pursue the program, potentially as a 2018 budget item. “It’s a chance to take a step forward. It’s a chance to give these people a hand up,” said Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore. “One of the things you don’t see is a facility like this in Pasco County.We’ve got to move forward on this.” The commissioner serves as chairman of a citizen’s advisory board with the Coalition for Homeless in Pasco County. Estimates put remodeling costs for the vacant buildings at about $1 million. County officials plan to pursue state funding. Annual operating cost would be about $600,000, with funds from public and private resources. The program is modeled after one adopted in San Francisco. County officials also are looking at other programs, including ones in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. About 4,500 people are homeless in Pasco, with about 800 chronically homeless. According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, there are more than 100 homeless camps countywide. Individuals stake out camps often in wooded areas all over the county, including west Pasco, Zephyrhills and Dade City, sheriff’s data shows.
See AUTHOR, page 13A
See HOMELESS, page 13A
bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
The notion of writing about “things that go bump in the night” is not a new idea for novelists. Many authors have used the presence of unexplained sounds to help create a sense of suspense for their readers. But, in the case of Alicia White, an author who lives in Wesley Chapel, it was a sound that she actually heard — similar to a sonic boom — that sparked the the idea for her first novel,“The Roar.” White has lived in the Tampa area since 1991, but she didn’t hear the sound until she moved into Wesley Chapel about a year ago and, since then, she’s heard it about five times. “It rattles things, kind of like a sonic boom would,” she said. She quickly learned that she was not alone. “There have been reports within a 15-mile radius,” said White, who uses the pen name A.M.White. “People make note on social media to get reassurance that they’re not going crazy,” she notes. So far, there’s no explanation for the phenomenon. The author said she’s heard the sound, and so has her husband, Mark, and their 8-year-old son, Landon.Their 4-year-old Grayson hasn’t heard it, but White’s dad, Gary Orchard, who lives in Lutz, also heard it once while sitting in White’s living room in Westbrook Estates. “It’s not just this neighborhood. People have reported hearing it in Lexington Oaks, up near Quail Hollow, over to Meadow Pointe,”White said. The author, who expects to release her second novel,“Into the Roar,” on Nov. 17, said she’s wanted to be a writer since she was young, but never seriously pursued it until last year. “Last spring, I kind of had a brush with my own mortality. I had a health scare,” she said. That motivated her to stop thinking about trying her hand at writing and to start doing it.
Community Center and the Florida State Fairgrounds — were also explored. “Our club really banded together,” said Kay Taylor, art show director.“We have 100 members, and we had people from the whole club check out venues.” The club is hoping for a “smooth transition” in the show’s first year at Keystone Prep. “We’re trying to anticipate every single hiccup that can happen,” Sincich said. The show director agreed. “We know we have more to address,” Taylor said, “because the county provided things like dumpsters and electricity.” After the show’s cancellation in 2015,
B.C. MANION/STAFF PHOTO
A.M. White was inspired to write her first novel by a mysterious booming sound she has heard in Wesley Chapel. She called that novel ‘The Roar.’ She has finished a sequel and expects the third book in a three-part series to come out next spring.
Beach House to offer assisted living in Wesley Chapel By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Beach House Wiregrass Ranch is some distance from the seashore. But, the seniorliving community in style and design will evoke the “good memories of the times families spend together,” according to Allan Brown Jr., co-owner of Prevarian Senior Living. Brown and Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore were among about a dozen people who attended the groundbreaking for Beach House on Nov. 1. The two-story, approximately 93,000square-foot facility is expected to open in December 2017. It will be the third Beach House to open in Florida. Others are in Jacksonville and Naples. “As the population grows in Wesley Chapel and Pasco County, there is a huge need for this assisted living facility,” said Moore, who previously owned a home health care business.“We don’t want to have to drive to Tampa and Hillsborough County to see our loved ones.” Indeed, Wesley Chapel’s growth is a major reason company owners opted to build on a large parcel fronting State Road 56, at Hueland Pond Boulevard at Wiregrass Ranch. The area is “amenity rich. It’s very family
KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTO
Allan Brown Jr. (center in sunglasses), co-owner of Prevarian Senior Living, shovels dirt at the groundbreaking for Beach House Wiregrass Ranch, a senior living community that will open in 2017. Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore (next to Brown) and Hope Allen (in red), executive director of The Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, also shovel dirt.
oriented with a lot of services like restaurants and shops,” said Brown. Beach House is a short distance east of The Shops at Wiregrass, and the PascoHernando State College Porter Campus. Restaurants, the Tampa Premium Outlets and the anticipated Florida Hospital Center
Ice hockey complex also are nearby. Beach House is an up-to-date living environment that supports senior living, but shouldn’t be confused with a nursing home, Brown said. See BEACH, page 13A