PLANT CITY TIMES &
Observer
Al Berry is Senior of the Month. SEE PAGE 5
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 4, NO. 15
FREE
YOUR TOWN
Emily Topper
•
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016
HALLOWEEN IS IN THE CARDS
Little Library Winner Jeannette Teeden has won the Little Free Library giveaway for her Walden Lake neighborhood. Little Free Library was an Eagle Scout project completed by Blake Dunn, in conjunction with the Plant City Times & Observer. The cabinet-like libraries have been decorated by Plant City artists and placed around town at the United Food Bank of Plant City, Robert Willaford W. Railroad Musuem, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, the Plant City Family YMCA and the Plant City Times & Observer. Teeden said this in her entry: “I would love to win a Little Library for my neighborhood, Walden Lake East. I would put it near the clubhouse and park. I am the reading coach at Durant High School and would help keep the books up-to-date for the community.” Teeden can pick up the library at the Plant City Times & Observer, 1507 S. Alexander St. #103. Thanks to all who entered.
Emily Topper
Grab and Go Cars lined up outside the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum Thursday, Oct. 20, for the GFWC Woman’s Club of Plant City’s barbecue chicken dinner fundraiser. The proceeds of the event go to scholarships for three high school students and a woman returning to the workforce. Johnson Barbeque catered the event. Members of the Woman’s Club put together about 800 to-go meals of chicken, coleslaw and beans.
Photos by Observer staff
Focus for Beauty won the Plant City Times & Observer’s Halloween costume contest for businesses.
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Get Free Tickets Carlisle events is offering Plant City Times & Observer readers the chance to win free tickets to the Fall Florida AutoFest Thursday, Nov. 10, through Sunday, Nov. 13, in Lakeland. The Fall AutoFest will include a car show, collector car auction, swap meet, auto vendors and more. To enter to win a pair of tickets, email Managing Editor Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@ plantcityobserver.com.
Taylor Breuggeman decorated a pumpkin at Walden Lake’s Halloween party.
houls, ghosts and goblins stalked the streets of Plant City the week before Halloween. Schools, churches and neighborhoods held fall festivals and trunk-or-treats, including Knights Elementary and Plant City High schools, Hopewell Baptist Church and Walden Lake. Check out the CALENDAR ON PAGE 10 to see upcoming Halloween events. To see a roundup of this year’s Halloween parties as they continue to happen through Monday, Oct. 31, go to PLANTCITYOBSERVER.COM.
Clowns in a scare house at Rising Star Ranch gave guests the creeps.
Contamination at Planteen Recreation Center to be checked Contamination was first detected in the 1980s and is not considered to be a threat to visitors of the center or nearby residents.
EMILY TOPPER STAFF WRITER
It was the 1980s when contamination was detected outside of the Planteen Recreation Center on North Dort Street in Plant City. Almost three decades later, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has found funds eligible for a statefunded cleanup of the site. City Commissioners approved an agreement with the Florida Depart-
ment of Environmental Protection regarding site access to the center at a Monday, Oct. 10, meeting. The contamination was first found when the center was being expanded. “When the construction was going on for the addition, the contamination was discovered when they were moving dirt around,” Jack Holland, director of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, said. Because the center was first built in the 1960s, finding contamination two
decades later signified that the contamination was caused by something that had been on the grounds prior to the center. The contamination was thought to have been caused by a mechanical garage or similar structure that was once in the area. The FDEP did not find the funding for a site cleanup until September 2016 because the Planteen site contamination was not considered to be a threat to area residents. “They just found funding to reme-
diate older sites — the smaller, noncritical ones,” Holland said. “They’ll be testing the ground to see if there is still contamination in the area. They may test, and there may be nothing there.” The purpose of checking the site now, Holland said, is so the FDEP can remove any remaining contamination and prevent such contamination from reaching the water table. By approvSEE PLANTEEN PAGE 5