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PlantCity’sSecond ChanceBoxerRescue planscircusparty.
Black Heritage Festival honors local leaders.
FREE • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014
Plant City Little League celebrates 60th anniversary.
little man,big voice by Justin Kline | Staff Writer
RISING STAR
+ PCHS crowns prince, princess
Plant City High School has new royalty. The school crowned Jana Watkins as its new princess and Bryson Keel as its prince. Students entered the contest, sponsored by the Civinettes, and carried around containers collecting money for the PCHS Relay for Life Team and the PCHS Scholarship Fund. Top fundraisers were named to the court, with the top male and female named prince and princess. Other court members, all freshmen, include Kassie Case, Zoee Causey and Ashlyn Yarbrough.
+ City to host brick ceremony
Plant City Armed Forces Memorials Foundation will host a dedication ceremony for the latest engraved commemorative bricks for Plant City’s Veterans Memorial Monument Park. The ceremony will take place at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 24, at the park. The public is invited. To date, about 750 bricks have been engraved and installed. The engraved bricks can be purchased for a $150 donation. Order forms are available at the park, the Plant City Photo Archives and History Center, the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce or on the website, veteransmonument.com.
I PC
This week’s winner is
April Farkas
See her photo on PAGE 15.
by Amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor
Teacher, Yankees collaborate to provide new shoes Marshall Middle School’s Brandy Mordecai teaches students with emotional behavior disorders.
French street urchin, as well as his other work, did not go unnoticed: he won the Overall Child Singer Award at the Actors, Models and Talent for Christ’s SHINE Conference in January 2013, and got the call from NET-
It was Valentine’s Day, and some students at Marshall Middle School were in for a sweet surprise. No, they weren’t getting candy. They were being gifted with something a little more essential: shoes. Teacher Brandy Mordecai pushed a metal cart into her classroom. A bulky box pressed against its cool surface. Her students perked up. She revealed they were getting brand new shoes provided for by the New York Yankees. “It means a lot,” Mordecai said. “There’s a lot of kids in the poverty area. So it’s a blessing. A lot of them can’t afford it.” One by one, the students were called up to get their pair. Some were blue, some had neon stripes. The Yankees hit it out of the park for style. “We’re going to be twins,” Zanaria Austin yelled across the room to her friend, Tracy James. They both scored new pink and purple kicks. Mordecai had been working on getting the shoes since before Christmas. She received an email from the Yankees marketing department last year, asking if her students needed any donations. And some of her students really did need the extra help. Mordecai and aides Robert Chin and Jenny Pemberton had seen the hardships some students had to endure. Chin even bought a pair of shoes for one student after seeing the soles almost come off. “They are so excited,” ESE Specialist Valenica Jackson said. “A lot of these kids are less privileged.” On this day, Jackson, Mordecai’s mother, was watching Mordecai’s class, while the shoes were being prepared and delivered. The class comprises 10 students who have emotional behavior disorders. Some of the students have anger
SEE SILVA / PAGE 4
SEE SHOES / PAGE 4
+ Law firm honors Kellyanne Hurst
Vanguard Attorneys recently presented $1,000 to Plant City High School in honor of the accomplishments of Kellyanne Hurst. The award is to be used by athletic departments Hurst to enhance the competitive sports programs. The Vanguard Award is given to a student athlete that is also involved in community service. The award is open to student athletes throughout Hillsborough County.
out of the park
Courtesy photo
Those who attend USF home games will recognize Julian Silva and his voice, and they’ll see even more of him soon.
Plant City’s Julian Silva turns 11 years old next week, but already, he has toured North America for one of the world’s most popular musicals and appeared on national television. If anybody’s happy to have some downtime right now, it’s Julian Silva. The soon-to-be 11-year-old Plant City resident recently performed all over North America in a NETworks Presentations production of “Les Miserables,” playing the part of Gavroche. On top of that, he appeared in a “Duck Dynasty” commercial in July and could be seen on televisions everywhere for three months. “It was really fun,” Silva says. “I got to meet a lot of new people and make friends with them, get to know how they got on tour.” For now, he’s back on his regular schedule, singing the national anthem before USF sporting events and working on school. Sure, it’s not a typical schedule for a 10-year-old, but Silva himself is anything but typical.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
Dan and Maria Silva enjoy opera music, preferring the group Il Divo.
When their son was 5 years old, they quickly learned that he enjoys opera, too. They went to see Il Divo perform in Tampa one night and brought some CDs home. It didn’t take long before Julian caught on and started mimicking what he heard. At that moment, Dan says, they knew their son had the potential to make a name for himself in the entertainment business. When Julian was 6 years old, they began to take him to vocal lessons to refine his voice. His teacher suggested he take up acting, too, and at age 7, he performed in a production of “Aladdin, Jr.” That was when Julian caught the acting bug. After performances in “Mulan” and “Alice in Wonderland,” Silva was tapped to play the role of Gavroche for the first time in Riverview and Newsome high schools’ productions. His performances as the young,
CLOSER LOOK
BIRTHDAY: Feb. 26, 2003 SCHOOL: Home-schooled TALENTS: Singing, acting YEARS ACTIVE: 2009 to present HIGHLIGHTS: Toured North America, playing Gavroche in “Les Miserables;” appeared in nationally syndicated “Duck Dynasty” commercial in 2013; regularly sings national anthem at Tampa Bay-area sporting events
show of support by Amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor
Plant City extends helping hand for car-crash victims
After a Brandon couple was involved in a fatal accident, their Plant City friends have come together to help support the family.
As of last week, Kasie Durden was lying in a hospital bed, ventilator tubes down her throat. She had been in a horrible accident with her husband, Jeremy, just after midnight on Feb. 8. Durden suffered a broken neck and bruised spinal cord, among
many other injuries. At first, she didn’t even know Jeremy had died. The news of the Interstate 4 rollover had traveled through social circles around Plant City throughout the night and into the morning. Now, friends in Plant City
are hosting a yard sale, a barrel run speed show and have started an online fundraiser to help with medical costs. The Durdens were celebrating Kasie’s 28th birthday at Applebee’s in Plant City on
SEE DURDENS / PAGE 4
Courtesy photo
Kasie Durden, center, is recovering from the injuries she sustained in a car crash that killed her husband, Jeremy. Kasie has two sons, Austin, 10, and Jared, 3.
INDEX Calendar.......................2
Vol.1,No.30 | Onesection Crossword...................15
Obituaries...................10
Sports.........................11
Weather......................14
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