PLANT CITY TIMES &
Observer
Durant High preps for district duel.
SEE PAGE 12.
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 5, NO. 16
FREE
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2017
Road plan set to begin The city’s Pavement Management Plan will rank road conditions to guide future repairs. DANIEL FIGUEROA IV STAFF WRITER
Plant City engineers are helping to create a different kind of road map for the city, one that won’t guide travel, but help to improve it. The City Commission Oct. 9 autho-
rized work to begin on the Pavement Management Plan, a new project that will assess and rank the condition of the city’s 160 miles of roads, which will be used to create a plan for using funds raised from the recent property-tax increase. Commissioners recently approved a one point property tax increase to raise almost $2 million annually with the sole purpose of fixing the city’s streets. Commissioners have frequently listed the poor condition of city-maintained roads among the most common complaints from resi-
dents and visitors. The Pavement Management Plan will create a five-year plan for how and where the money will be spent. “This will provide direction the city can use in order to address those conditions everyone has seen on the roads here in Plant City,” City Engineer Mike Schenk said. “I think we’re making the correct step forward. I think this will be extremely beneficial for the city to have moving forward for these street repairs.” SEE PAVEMENT PAGE 4
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CELEBRATING HERITAGE
YOUR TOWN
Breanne Williams
Job Fair at HCC
The Hispanic Heritage Festival raised funds to support Learn Tampa Bay, a nonprofit that provides adult, child and parenting education to families in the Tampa area. SEE PAGE 8
The Hillsborough Community College Plant City campus hosted a job fair Wednesday that connected businesses with qualified applicants. The fair was open to the public and attendees brought resumes, dressed in business attire and talked with prospective employers. Organizations like the City of Plant City, RaceTrac and Fastenal were in attendance. The fair was from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Breanne Williams
A student with Ballet Folklorico Raices de Mexico. Courtesy of Marco Ramirez
Legal drama surrounds Walden Lake Golf Course One dismissal, one denial and one small victory marked a busy week for PGGG’s lawyers in Tampa court. DANIEL FIGUEROA IV STAFF WRITER
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Legal disputes and funding issueshave led to the deteroration of the Walden Lake Gold and Country Club.
Attorneys for former Walden Lake Golf and Country Club managers Professional Golf Global Group had a busy week in court recently with three different outcomes in three different lawsuits involving PGGG and president Lynn Archibald. Three hearings were scheduled in three consecutive days for PGGG, all combating default judgments entered by the court against PGGG. In each case, defaults were entered because PGGG didn’t respond when served with court documents. Archibald is still battling for a stake in the course, despite the court appointing Andrew Bolnick as the property’s receiver due to foreclosure proceedings between Today’s Bank, the mortgagor, and Visions
Golf, which may or may not own the course. Contended ownership was the subject of the first hearing. Visions Golf, the Walden Lake golf course’s former operator, filed a lawsuit saying PGGG falsely claimed ownership over the course, removing a deed from escrow without satisfying all conditions. That hearing was cancelled, however, when Alice Huneycutt, attorney for Visions, filed a voluntary dismissal. Both parties claim ownership of the course, alleging that the other did not satisfy purchase agreements set when Archibald took control of the course in 2015. The court initially filed a default judgment against PGGG, but Jessie Ray and Elizabeth Fernandez, PGGG’s lawyers, filed a motion to set the judgment aside. Huneycutt SEE WALDEN LAKE PAGE 6
Cut for a cure City Cuts Barbershop of Plant City cut hair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 15 with all of the proceeds going toward a charity focused on breast cancer awareness.
SPIRIT SQUAD
PCHS cheerleaders go to Special Olympics gala.
SEE PAGE 11.