The LAKER
ee r F
EAST PASCO EDITION
LAKERLUTZNEWS.COM
Auto Accident? Slip and Fall? FREE CONSULTATION
No Fees Or Costs Unless You Win HOLLIDAY KARATINOS
O C TO B E R 1 4 , 2 0 2 0
Efforts underway to encourage tourism
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
It’s no secret that Florida’s tourism economy has been decimated from impacts of COVID-19, and Dana Young, president and CEO of Visit Florida, recently detailed tourism losses the state has suffered during a Zoom breakfast meeting with the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce. At the same session, Young outlined ef-
forts that have started to spur a tourism rebound. “Prior to the pandemic, Florida tourism had just capped off our 10th consecutive year of record visitation.We welcomed over 130 million visitors to our state in 2019,” Young said, during the Oct. 6 meeting. “And, these folks contributed $91 billion to our economy and supported 1.5 million jobs,”Young added. In fact, she reported that Florida’s State
Economist Amy Baker warned last year that tourism-related revenue losses posed the greatest potential risk to Florida’ economic outlook. “A little over a year later, that prediction has come true. In the long-range financial outlook released last month to the Legislature, the economists reported that the pandemic’s fiscal impact on tourism acSee TOURISM, page 11A
LAW FIRM, PLLC HelpingInjuredPeople.com Call Attorney
JIM HOLLIDAY “I Will Aggressively Fight To Protect Your Legal Rights”
Local chiropractor keeps Lightning fit for ice By Kevin Weiss kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
813-868-1887 OR
352-597-0009
FILE
The Historic Jeffries House, 38537 Fifth Ave., will be decorated for family picture taking opportunities, in lieu of the canceled Halloween Howl event. Candy bags also will be given out around the property on Halloween night.
Halloween Howl canceled; smaller event planned By Kevin Weiss kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
While it likely won’t generate quite the level of fanfare as Halloween Howl, Main Street Zephyrhills Inc., is working to salvage some type of celebration for the holiday. The full-on Halloween Howl has fallen victim to a concern for safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Typically, Halloween Howl features about 100 vendors, trick-or-treating along all the downtown shops, haunted house, hay ride, costume parade, carnival and more. The event generally attracts more than 6,000 people, including 3,000 kids who went through the haunted house last year. “It’s a busy day,” said Gail Hamilton, director of the Zephyrhills Community Redevelopment Agency. When people found out that Halloween Howl had been canceled, they expressed their displeasure, Hamilton said during a recent meeting of the Zephyrhills CRA Board, which is made up of members of the Zephyrhills City Council. “When we said we weren’t doing anything at all, the community was not happy, so we’re trying to come up with something that is safe for the kiddos and the parents — something to be happy that you live in a small town,” Hamilton said. So, the organization has proposed an alternative. It includes decorating the front of the Historic Jeffries House with a “tasteful” Halloween theme to allow families to use it as a backdrop for photos, either standSee HALLOWEEN, page 11A
B
INSIDE, PAGE 1B
Dr. Timothy Bain dreamed of someday hoisting the NHL’s Stanley Cup, as he grew up in the Northeast and played and watched hockey. Little did he expect, however, to actually get that rare opportunity. “Who knew at 53 (years old) that this would happen? I thought it’d happen at like 23,” Bain quipped, in reference to hoisting the Cup, after the Lightning’s Stanley Cup win after six games against the Dallas Stars. The Wesley Chapel resident has been the Lightning’s team chiropractor since 2011. He also runs his own practice, B3 Medical, with locations in Wesley Chapel, New Tampa, Carrollwood and Riverview, and works with a sports performance facility at Saddlebrook Resort & Spa designed for elite-level athletes. Bain assists Lightning players on injury prevention and body maintenance. The scope of work includes neurological-based adjustments, post-concussion therapy, craniosacral therapy, plus other exercise therapies to help improve muscle tissue on extremities, such as feet and ankles. “Ultimately, it’s about getting the athlete better,” Bain said, describing his role with the team. The chiropractor’s work to enhance players’ bodies for the ice was deemed so critical that he was included in the team’s 52-member traveling party (including players and coaches) to the NHL’s quarantine “bubble” for the postseason tournament in Canada. “They were really great at saying, ‘We need you there, we want you there, you’re a big part of our team,’ and it made me feel really good and proud of that,” Bain said. The traveling party spent a combined 65 days at hotels in Toronto and then Edmonton through the team’s lengthy title run, from late July through late September, where all games were played without fans in attendance.The great measures were put
COURTESY OF DAVID MILES
Tampa Bay Lightning team chiropractor Dr. Timothy Bain celebrates the organization winning its second Stanley Cup in franchise history. The Wesley Chapel resident spent 65 days with the team in the NHL playoff ‘bubble’ in Canada from late July through late September.
in place to safely complete the NHL playoffs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For Bain and other Lightning personnel, being away from family and home for so long was quite challenging. So, too, was being cooped up in a hotel room, ice rink or training room. The Wesley Chapel physician made the best of it, however. He approached it as a valuable bonding experience, particularly when the club shifted to Rogers Place in Edmonton for the conference finals, where rinks and hotels are intertwined. He likened it to a kid’s summer camp, where everyone bunks together on the same floor and is around each other seemingly at all times. “We lived on basically one floor, and we walked to the rink and walked back to the
floor,” Bain said.“We had a really small, little treatment room, and all the guys kind of came in there and hung in there while they were getting treated, or waited to get treated, so we became a real close-knit group through this whole bubble process. “I never want to have to leave my family again for that long, but it was a really great experience,” he said. Boredom might’ve set in for some on non-gamedays, but Bain kept busy all throughout. He worked with each of the 25-plus active players on various therapy regimens and body maintenance, all while keeping tabs on his medical businesses back in Tampa. “Me, I really didn’t have a lot of downtime,” Bain said. “All of us therapists were See CHIROPRACTOR, page 11A
Pasco experiencing recent spike of overdoses By Joey Johnston Special to The Laker/Lutz News
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) has reported a record-setting spike in drug overdoses. A lethal dose of the painkilling opioid Fentanyl is 2 milligrams, almost imperceptible, but the PCSO Narcotics Unit removed 435,000 lethal doses of the drug from the county’s streets during a six-week period. The story doesn’t stop there. Aided by a federal grant, the PCSO has established a Behavioral Health Intervention Team, which helps citizens with mentalhealth issues or substance-abuse problems. Members of the 16-person team contact overdose survivors within 48 hours of the incident, then connect them with community rehabilitation partners such as BayCare. According to Sheriff’s Office records, Pasco County overdoses reached an all-time monthly high of 167 (37 fatal) in May, then maintained a steady pace in June (146, 18 fatal); July (140, nine fatal); and August (147, 24 fatal). From 2017-2019, the largest overdose total in any month was 89. In 2020, there were startling overdose upticks in May (297% increase), June (239% increase), July (204% increase) and August (234% increase), compared to the average of those month’s totals in the previous three years. But, to Pasco County Sheriff’s Capt.Toni Roach, the key number is 49.Those are the people who have been placed under the care of a substance-abuse program because of the intervention team’s work. “I know that doesn’t seem like a large
quickly and reduce the withdrawal effects, they’re going to be more successful in staying,” she said. Sometimes, it’s difficult to follow through, though. Roach said the intervention team has worked with approximately 1,000 overdose follow-up assignments in the last year.About one-third of the subjects couldn’t be located, potentially because they were homeless, transient or intentionally avoiding authorities. For subjects who are loCOURTESY OF THE PASCO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE cated, about half of them Even a 2-milligram dose of the painkilling opioid Fentanyl, are interested in services. although almost imperceptible, can be fatal. After a recent Most of the time, Roach uptick in overdoses, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has said, they don’t know emphasized rehabilitation solutions. where to start. “We have that hard connumber, but we’re running at about a 25% versation and tell them, ‘This is your rock commitment into a program (after interven- bottom, and we’re here to help you,’” Roach tion),’’ Roach said. “That’s (49) people I said.“We help take away all the excuses.We know who aren’t going to potentially over- do all the legwork and take people to their dose and die in our community. That’s first appointment. If the process is intimidatbecause the detective has been able to en- ing or they don’t have transportation, we gage them and help them get appointments get them that help.’’ with behavioral health providers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, “We’ve created a path, giving these over- that help has been needed more than ever. dose subjects a golden ticket, getting them “We definitely saw an increase in the to the head of the line for services. These overdose numbers and there were multiple overdose subjects, they overdose, they al- potential reasons,’’ Roach said. “Some of it most die and they want help.“The overall was stimulus related. When the stimulus effects of withdrawal and addiction manifest checks came out, some people partied like themselves within the first 24 hours.That’s it was 1999.The substance abuse communiwhy it’s crucial to get to them before they See OVERDOSES, page 11A use again. If we get them into services