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B INSIDE, PAGE 1B
EAST PASCO EDITION
DECEMBER 13, 2017
City poised to adopt anti-corruption code By Kathy Steele
ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Dade City is on track to become the first municipality in Pasco County to embed an anti-corruption measure into its city charter. The Dade City Commission and members of the Charter Review Advisory Committee met Dec. 5 to discuss recommendations on charter revisions. Plans are to let voters decide on at least some of those recommendations during the
April 2018 city elections. Other items might be handled through an ordinance instead. Details on which charter items to include on the ballot will be determined in coming weeks. A handful of residents attended the Dec. 5 meeting at City Hall, including members of the nonpartisan citizens’ group, Representing Pasco. The activists are part of a growing anticorruption movement in Florida. Tallahassee and Cocoa Beach have been
at the forefront of approving ethical standards for elected officials and government employees. Locally, Representing Pasco wants the county and other cities in Pasco to follow Dade City’s example. “We think people are basically protected through ethics provisions (in the charter),” said Land O’ Lakes resident Elyse Mysles. She told committee members and city See CODE, page 13A
Residents get preview of Curley Road project By Kathy Steele
ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
New development is changing the landscape in northeast Pasco County. And, road projects – both state and local – are seeking to address road widenings and intersection improvements to handle a growing volume of vehicles along State Road 52, and its offshoots. Residents had a chance on Dec. 6 to review proposals for road work on Curley Road, including its intersections with State Road 52, Prospect Road, and the future Mirada Boulevard. New developments along Curley include Epperson, with its Crystal Lagoon, the future Mirada master-planned community, as well as the Villages of Pasadena. Pasco County officials were available to answer questions about Curley. Residents also could leave written comments. Pasco County commissioners are expected to get a report on the study in January. However, no funding is available for either design or construction of the project. Work is not likely for several years.
Residents check out proposed road improvements in northeast Pasco County.
“There may be further appropriations for improvements, but we don’t know yet,” said Panos Kontses, a Pasco County project manager. The Curley Road Route Study Re-evaluation is an update of a study done in 2005, before new development began sprouting along Curley Road. The original study reviewed Curley Road, from north of Wells Road to north of a realignment of State Road 52 that will link with an extension of Clinton Avenue. The new focus looks at one segment of the study from north of Tindall Boulevard up to the realigned state highway. Pasco officials also sought comments on whether residents preferred traffic signals
KATHY STEELE
or roundabouts at intersections. “I hate seeing (development), but you’re not going to stop it,” said area resident Jimmy Smith. “I’m just here seeing what they’re offering.” In general, Smith said road plans seem to come too late and can’t keep up with growth. “They’re always backwards, the cart before the horse,” he said. “I just don’t have too much faith in how they’ll do the engineering,” he added. Longtime resident Margaret Beaumont worried about where the county would take right-of-way.They should do so where See CURLEY, page 13A
Sex-trafficked girls will soon have a sanctuary By Kevin Weiss
kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
The Tampa charity Bridging Freedom, which helps child victims of human trafficking, is developing a therapeutic safe house campus community at an undisclosed location in Pasco County. It will begin to accept girls this spring, once its first safe house is completed. The Bridging Freedom campus— situated on nearly 100 acres of donated land—will ultimately encompass seven homes, a lodge and a chapel. It will serve dozens of female victims under the age of 18 from Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, by providing long-term, comprehensive survivor care. The concept marks the first of its kind serving female minors in the Tampa area. Construction of infrastructure at the campus site began in 2016. Assistance for the project has come from state funding, corporations, local law enforcement and other stakeholders. Two homes have since been sponsored and are currently being built. The first therapeutic home—funded by Sykes Enterprises—will feature eight individual bedrooms and bathrooms, plus an educational room, counseling room, and a staff and nurse office. A second four-bedroom home — funded by Lazydays R.V. Center Inc. — will serve as the intake home for girls rescued from sex trafficking. Bridging Freedom is seeking sponsors to build the five remaining homes, either from corporate or philanthropic organizations. Girls will be referred to the property mainly through rescues by law enforcement and the Florida Department of Children and Families, said Laura Hamilton, president of Bridging Freedom. There’s no doubt about the need. Florida reports as the third-largest state for human trafficking, with 329 reported cases in 2017, according to the Polaris Project and National Human Trafficking Hotline. Locally, the Tampa FBI rescues approximately 50 or more child sex-trafficking victims per year; most of them are girls. Few rehabilitative facilities are available to place them, however. Rescued girls are either placed in runaway shelters, domestic violence shelters or foster care — with little to no rehabilitative treatment. Hamilton founded Bridging Freedom in 2011 after working for a time with the Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area Task Force on Human Trafficking.
COURTESY OF BRIDGING FREEDOM
The nearly 100-acre Bridging Freedom campus will encompass seven homes, a lodge and a chapel. It will serve dozens of female victims under the age of 18 from Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, by providing long-term, comprehensive survivor care.
By the Numbers 300,000: On average, the number of children in the United States that are prostituted annually 12: The average age that a trafficked victim is first used for commercial sex 2,700: The number of child sex-trafficking victims rescued by the FBI in the U.S., the past 10 years 3: Florida’s rank for the number of calls received by the national human trafficking hotline
KEVIN WEISS
Laura Hamilton is the president of Bridging Freedom. She founded the organization in 2011 after working for a time with the Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area Task Force on Human Trafficking.
There she discovered when children and teens were rescued from the street, there were no places for them to go for treatment and counseling, to ease their transition to normal lives. “I started doing research, and that’s when I realized (child sex trafficking) wasn’t in just India, Cambodia, Thailand, Russia. It was here in the United States, it was here in Florida and here in my own backyard,” Hamilton said. “We thought we were just bringing awareness to the community; we never
83%: The percentage of sex trafficking victims identified in the United States as U.S. citizens, according to a study of U.S. Department of Justice human trafficking task force cases 52: The approximate number of local child sex-trafficking victims rescued in 2015 Less than 250: How many shelter beds there are for commercially sexually exploited children in the U.S. Source: Bridging Freedom
thought we’d be doing this,” she added. Bridging Freedom will specifically address what’s called ‘traumatic bonding,’ where children have bonded with their trafficker or abuser. Victim’s stays could last anywhere from six months to two years, as they get treatSee SANCTUARY, page 13A