The LAKER
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EAST PASCO EDITION
LAKERLUTZNEWS.COM
JANUARY 6, 2016
Loan for SR 56 no sure thing By Kathy Steele
A state loan would allow a four-lane road to be built — which is what residents and city officials in Zephyrhills have sought for years. A state loan to build two additional lanes Pasco County commissioners will review of an extended State Road 56 is in jeopardy, as eight agenda items on Jan. 12 related to the state and county officials haggle over details loan application that was made in May to the of how to repay the estimated $22 million State Infrastructure Bank. They are facing a construction costs. deadline on that date to complete an agreeThe road project currently calls for a two- ment acceptable to the county, the Florida lane extension of State Road 56 from Department of Transportation, area developMeadow Pointe Boulevard in Wiregrass Ranch ers, and Cone & Graham, which is contracted to U.S. 301 in Zephyrhills. to build the first two lanes of the project.
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Everything could fall in to place by then, or not. “Unfortunately, the ball’s in DOT’s corner. They set the deadline,” said Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein. “The deal is going to fall apart, or they are going to have to give us a new deadline.” Most of the issues with developers and the road contractor are resolved, but state department of transportation requirements on See LOAN, page 11A
PHSC issues first four-year degree By Kevin Weiss
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For one former football star, the opportunity to witness palm trees and visit family was simply too great to pass up. Jamal Roberts recently became the first student to graduate from Pasco-Hernando State College with a bachelor of applied science in supervision and management, taking advantage of one of PHSC’s two fouryear programs. “It was an accomplishment,” said Roberts, 21, who graduated in December. “It was a milestone for me, and it was a milestone for the college as well. It’s wonderful.” While primarily a two-year college, PHSC
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INSIDE, PAGE 1B
Former Zephyrhills’ football star Jamal Roberts in action at a Kent State football practice.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMAL ROBERTS
Jamal Roberts converses with other Pasco-Hernando State College graduates after the college’s winter commencement.
began offering four-year programs in 2014, starting with the supervision and management program, as well as offering a bachelor of science in nursing. Formerly known as Pasco-Hernando Community College, the institution changed its name to reflect its broader program offerings. Wasting no time after graduation, the Dade City native has already lined up a job as an administrative assistant at Irvin & Petty, a St. Petersburg-based law firm that primarily focuses on personal injury cases. “I just want to be able to get dressed up nice for work every day,” Roberts quipped. While still unsure what career path he wants to follow for the next 30-plus years, Roberts hopes to work for a company that features a positive work environment where fellow co-workers get along. “I can have the best (job) or the easiest job duties, but if I’m in a terrible place, then I’m not going to like that job,” he elaborated. “But, if I have hard duties and everyone around me is friendly, and we’re all working together, then that’s going to be somewhere where I can stay.” Prior to graduating from PHSC, Roberts was a standout athlete at Zephyrhills High School, where he shined as a dual-threat
quarterback on the football team, was an AllConference sprinter on the track team and also lettered in baseball. Showcasing extraordinary athleticism, Division I football scholarships rolled in from several out-of-state programs, including Ball State, University of Massachusetts and Eastern Michigan. However, Roberts opted to attend Kent State in Ohio in 2012, where he suited up to play defensive back. “Honestly, it was probably the best time of my life,” said Roberts, who spent three years on the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. “I had so much fun. I met a whole a bunch of people that I can call real friends.” His most memorable experience at Kent State occurred in 2012, when he was redshirting as a freshman, the Golden Flashes finished 11-3 and earned a berth to the GoDaddy.com Bowl game. “It was just unbelievable,” Roberts reminisced. “Just the way everybody played together, it was crazy.” While Roberts enjoyed his college experience, the bone-chilling Midwest winters in northeast Ohio started to become unbearable.“It was terrible,” he stated. See PHSC, page 11A
Resident crusades for safety wall on I-75 By Kathy Steele
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Construction dust, giant cranes and truck traffic are an everyday inconvenience near Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club. Road crews are busy expanding the interchange at Interstate 75 and State Road 52 from County Road 54 to Hernando County. The three-year project is slated for completion in 2017, and is meant to improve traffic flow by widening I-75 from four lanes to six lanes, with three lanes in each direction. State Road 52 also will be widened to six lanes. There will be frontage roads north and south of State Road 52, west of I-75. Sidewalks and bicycle lanes also will be installed. But, what John Hart sees and hears from his backyard in Tampa Golf & Country Club he perceives as trouble. He’s worried about a steady flow of cars and 18-wheelers delivering nonstop noise and rattling the foundation of his home. And, in a worst-case scenario, he’s concerned about an overturned semitrailer crashing into his backyard. The retired Rhode Island cop has been on a three-year crusade on behalf of his community to improve conditions. “We’re looking for a safety wall,” Hart said.“I want to see the wall out there. I want to see people protected.” State highway officials maintain that a study completed prior to construction did not justify a wall based on noise levels. And the road design, they say, meets national safety standards. The entrance into the age 55 and older community is off State Road 52, within a few yards of the highway ramps. Hart wants the sound and safety barrier installed along the approximately two-mile outer boundary of his neighborhood paralleling I-75. Currently, a row of pine trees and a vinyl fence are the only defenses against
KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTO
John Hart points out a chipped window at his home in Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club. He believes that vibrations coming from truck traffic on Interstate 75 cause damage to both his home and his neighbors’ homes.
noise, or worse, an out-of-control vehicle, just 300 feet or so from a row of homes backing up to the interstate. Hart has repeatedly raised his concerns with the Florida Department of Transportation. He isn’t a man who gives up, even though Hart acknowledges that some by now — even within his community — probably wish he would concede it’s a lost cause. Hart points to a recent accident as evidence that a safety wall is needed. On Dec. 11, north of the interchange project, a dump truck in the southbound lane of I-75 blew a tire. A chain reaction accident occurred, involving another dump truck, a van, a semitrailer and a pickup truck. The driver with the blown tire died and another person suffered serious injuries, according to media reports. The van ended up on the outside shoul-
der of the highway. Hart worries that someday a semitrailer could roll across the road into his backyard. “It would take out this house,” he said. State department of transportation spokesman John McShaffrey said the state agency can’t design roads for unexpected tire blowouts. But, he added, “We don’t compromise (safety).” Construction projects aimed at improvements for the community can be a tough sell sometimes, he added. “One thing to keep in mind is that improvements are needed for the greater good and the motoring public,” McShaffrey said. “We have to look at the greater good.” In this instance, Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club was in early stages of development when the project was designed, with 10 or fewer homes built. “The interstate was here first,” See SAFETY, page 11A