PLANT CITY TIMES &
Observer
PCHS softball falls short at state. SEE PAGE 14.
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 4, NO. 46
FREE
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FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017
Preliminary work continues on city’s third fire station The new fire station, set to be built on Park Road near Mike E. Sansone Community Park, now has a price tag. SEE PAGE 4
MEMORIAL DAY 2017
YOUR TOWN
Remembering a real
American hero Daniel Figueroa IV
Raegan Tucker
N.R.G. sings out Next Radical Generation (N.R.G.), Plant City’s local pop performance collective, held it’s third annual Sing Out Loud! talent show May 19. The show, a showcase of young, local singers, offered prizes including the opportunity to record a song and music video. See below for a list of winners.
Ten years later, Bernadine Suplee still struggles with the loss of her husband, Army Sgt. Dan Suplee.
WINNER Overall Winner: Ralph Perez Elementary: Maya Howard Middle: Astrid Victoria and Alaina Babb High School: Gina Marie Incandela
DANIEL FIGUEROA IV STAFF WRITER
D
an was her G.I. Joe. When she was a kid, Bernadine Suplee said, she never wanted a “Ken.” She wanted a G.I. Joe. When she met Dan Suplee, she said she found one. Almost two decades later, she lost him. Until he died, Memorial Day was “beer day” around the Suplee home. “It was fun. It was cookout time, beer time, cigar time,” Bernadine Suplee said. “I didn’t give it as much of a thought until it happened to me.” Army National Guard Sgt. Dan A. Suplee, Bernadine’s husband and a 20-year veteran of the Army and Army National Guard, died Aug. 3, 2006. He was two months shy of his 40th birthday and, had his humvee not been struck by a truck in early April, leaving him with a severe head injury, he would’ve been home on that day. SEE REMEMBER PAGE 3
Rick Lott’s summer reading list
Courtesy photos
Above: Dan Suplee was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Above Left: Bernadine and Jennifer Suplee mourns the loss of Dan Suplee.
Takin’ it to the streets Kim Denmark has walked more than 5,400 miles in the last 17 years to raise awareness for poverty and homelessness. DANIEL FIGUEROA IV STAFF WRITER
Daniel Figueroa IV
Kim Denmark started her walking quest 17 years ago.
As she applied a small piece of duct tape to the insole of her worn down New Balance sneakers, Kim Denmark retained her resolve. “I’ve got a bit of a setback,” she said. “I’ll probably have to get a new pair this weekend.” The shoes have, Denmark thinks, about 600 miles on them. She lost count. The “#29” written in black
sharpie and reapplied many times on the soles mark them as the 29th pair she has gone through since she started to walk across the United States 17 years ago. Last week, Denmark found her way through Plant City, coming up from Bradenton, through Riverview and Brandon, across James L. Redman Parkway and up U.S. Highway 92 heading into Lakeland. SEE WALK PAGE 4
Mayor Rick Lott spoke to a group of 119 straight-A students during Tomlin Middle School’s second annual Lock Ceremony. Lott gave advice to help the students continue their success, and also offered two of his favorite books for good motivational summer reading. “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World” by William H. Raven, Lott said, is a good example of how little things can help lead to positivity by starting every day with an accomplishment. “Rhinoceros Success” by Scott Alexander, he said, helps teach that developing thick skin, like that of a Rhinoceros, can prevent outside negativity from affecting your own positivity.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS Plant City selects new leader. SEE PAGE 5
Courtesy photo
Interim City Manager Kim Leinbach