The LAKER
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EAST PASCO EDITION
LAKERLUTZNEWS.COM
OCTOBER 12, 2016
Zephyrhills’ website getting upgrade By Kevin Weiss
kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
Less waiting where it matters most – our emergency room.
The Zephyrhills City Council has approved a considerable upgrade to the city’s website. Council members unanimously approved a $22,848 contract with CivicPlus — a government website design company— to revamp the city’s website. Ongoing maintenance costs for the new website will be $10,000 per year. The contract also includes a 3 percent maximum increase to the annual maintenance cost over 10 years. “In today’s society, it’s just more and
COURTESY OF CIVICPLUS
The Zephyrhills City Council unanimously approved a $22,848 contract with CivicPlus to revamp the city’s website.
more demanding with technology at the forefront,” said Kenneth Compton, the council’s president.
“A website is a gateway for the city,” he said, during the council’s Sept. 26 meeting. “If someone wants to see what’s going on...they’re going to look at the website first.” CivicPlus works with over 2,000 local governments nationwide, including Pasco County and the City of Safety Harbor in Pinellas County. The refurbished website is expected to be easier to use and more technologically current. Key features will include greater storage capacity, faster upload times and enhanced See WEBSITE, page 11A
The 30-Minutes-or-Less E.R. Service Pledge* – only at Bayfront Health Dade City.
BayfrontDadeCity.com *The E.R. team will work to have you initially seen by a medical professional within 30 minutes of your arrival in the Emergency Room.
Get all your favorite local news stories online. COURTESY OF RICHARD K. RILEY
Sister Helen Lange turns 103 Sister Helen Lange was known as Laurina Lange, when she traveled by train from Texas to San Antonio to join the Benedictine Sisters of Florida. She was just a teenager then. Paramedic John Ward helps Sister Helen Lange blow out the candles that lit up her 103rd birthday cake at a surprise party at Heritage Park in Dade City.
lakerlutznews.com
A half-century of old-fashioned fun By B.C. Manion
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B INSIDE, PAGE 1B
bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
A half-century ago, the San Antonio Jaycees got together and hatched a plan for a fun way to raise money to support local causes. They figured they could hold a festival, with rattlesnakes as the centerpiece. Over the decades, the leading organizers have changed — and so have some of the particulars — but the essence of the annual event remains the same: Every year, on the third weekend of October, residents and visitors flock to the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run in City Park. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE SAN ANTONIO RATTLESNAKE FESTIVAL This year, to celebrate the 50th anniverChildren enjoy riding around in a barrel train during a previous San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival. sary, organizers have scheduled a two-day festival. Organizers of the event have gone San Antonio from the Jaycees, to R.A.G.E. Rattlesnake (Rattlesnake and Gopher Enthusiasts), to a group of Rotary Clubs, to the Festival & Run Rotary Club of San Antonio, which has WHERE: City Park, 12202 Main St., San been the chief organizer for the past Antonio, Florida, 33576 three years. “We, of course, have help from the WHEN: Oct. 15 and Oct. 16 people who did it all of those years,” COST: Parking, admission and most of the said Betty Burke, chairwoman of the entertainment are free; there are nominal current organizing committee. charges for the snake show. “Dennis Devine, he’s been with it since the beginning, and he’s our music master. “Jack Vogel is one of the people the end — and rounding up snakes. who started it. He was in the Jaycees,” Amateur and professional snake hunters Burke said. His son, Jay, is this year’s vol- Cowboy Tom is a popular act at the annual San would bring the snakes in, and organizers unteer coordinator. would pay for their snakes, according to Antonio Rattlesnake Festival. Betty’s daughter, Andrea Calvert, published reports. who works for the Town of St. Leo, is The gopher tortoise races used to feature involved, too.The town sponsors a pumpkin gopher tortoise races, food booths, chil- live tortoises, too. patch, which is a popular place for people dren’s rides and a pumpkin patch. People would decorate the creatures to take photos of their children, and to snap Other attractions include a butterfly ex- with glitter and nontoxic paint, and pit selfies, too. hibit, children’s crafts and games, a farm them against each other. Burke’s sister, Winnie, who is the presi- animal exhibit, M.A.D. Flames Fire The live gopher tortoise races ended dent of the Rotary Club of San Antonio, is Entertainment and Pioneer Village demon- after increasing development in Florida led also involved. She’s in charge of the arts and strations. to the state placing them on its protected crafts area. Vendors will be selling a variety of items, species list. Other members on the festival planning there will be a farmer’s market, and there Undaunted, organizers began using committee include Terri Grissom, Rick will be a pet corner, too. wooden replicas, operated by yanking ropes Behnke and Anne Kibbe. Visitors also will have a chance to learn to pull them to the finish line. Event highlights include 5-mile and 1- more about the festival’s history. Over the years, the festival has helped to mile runs, a family bike ride, musical In the beginning, preparing for the event create many fond memories. entertainment, a snake show, a cowboy meant going out into the woods — See RATTLESNAKE, page 11A show, crocodile demonstrations, mechanical equipped with a long pole with a hook on