4.18.19 PLCO by Plant City Observer

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VOLUME 6, NO. 42

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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

WALDEN LAKE GOLF COURSE PURCHASED, DEVELOPER LOOKING FOR INPUT Representatives of Walden Lake, LLC, the new owners of the golf course, met with residents Saturday to discuss their plans for the property. SEE PAGE 3

RAILFEST DRAWS HUNDREDS TO DEPOT

Railfest featured several new announcements Saturday morning and filled the depot with eager train enthusiasts. SEE PAGE 11

Breanne Williams

Children received free train rides at the festive locomotive event. Many brought their own train whistles for the ride.

HIT-AND-RUN SUSPECT CLIPS OFFICER, LAUNCHES 17-MINUTE CHASE THROUGH TOWN Sirens flooded the streets of Plant City early Friday afternoon after a hit-and-run suspect collided with a PCPD motorcycle officer and continued to flee the scene, sending nearby officers into a long chase through town.

BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

It started with a good deed. A squad of PCPD motorcycle officers were escorting a veteran through town on April 12 on his scooter, taking him all the way out to County Line Road. None of them could have predicted that mere minutes before they reached their destination, one of them would be staring down the hood of a dually truck suspected in a recent hit-andrun, kicking off a massive police

chase that wrapped though the city. Ivanhoe Irizarry, the 31-yearold driver of the white dually truck, came from County Line Road, over the railroad tracks and made a left hand turn passing the PCPD escort. Sgt. Al Van Duyne and officer Kyle Russell were sitting side by side in front of the scooter when it zoomed past. The word “Hydroseeding” was plastered to its side and instantly triggered Van Duyne’s memory.

SEE PAGE 10

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

NEWS BRIEFS

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

Courtesy photo

Shelly Lynch Carroll presents the Elks’ checks to Sharon Morris.

Elks pay off school lunch debts Plant City’s Elks Lodge recently helped students at 19 eastern Hillsborough County schools by paying off their lunch debts. “Little known fact, a child’s report card or diploma can be held up until those debts are paid,” member Judy Wise said. “Another interesting fact the unpaid lunch debt is not part of the free or reduced lunches. They are lower middle-class families that are struggling.” The Plant City Elks financed the move through the National Elks Gratitude Grant and presented Hillsborough County Public Schools Area Superintendent Sharon Morris with the checks on April 10. The Elks have been paying off area lunch debts since 2017 and this year’s batch of payments was the group’s biggest yet.

Photo Archives opens summer intern program The Plant City Photo Archives and History Center is looking for interns and encouraging local high school, college and graduate students to apply for the summer. The program, which began in 2010, lets students learn skills like institution operations, accession and documentation procedures, historical research and more to help them thrive while working in a museum, archive or history center. Each intern will be paired with a mentor and Gil Gott, the organization’s executive director. Schedules are flexible and programs of the work are set out in advance. The application period opens April 22 and runs through June 4. Interested students can get

The Photo Archives is accepting applications for its summer internship program.

an application form by visiting the Photo Archives office or by emailing Gott at gil@plantcityphotoarchives.org. Call 813-7541578 or visit plantcityphotoarchives.org for more information.

day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information and to find other take back sites in the Tampa Bay area, visit deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/ takeback.

Operation Medicine Cabinet

PCHS bands to perform concerts

Not sure what to do with unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs? The Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance is teaming with the Drug Enforcement Agency and Tampa Bay-area law enforcement agencies to help fix that problem on April 27. Operation Medicine Cabinet will be back in the county on National Prescription Drug Take Back Day so those drugs can be handled and disposed of safely. Plant City residents can drop off their drugs at the CVS at 2302 James L. Redman Parkway that

Plant City High School’s jazz and concert bands are getting tuned up for a series of concerts to be played at the school next week. The PCHS Jazz Band will start things off with its fourth annual Jazz Night at 7 p.m. April 23. The jazz band will perform with guest Dan Miller, a trumpet player who has performed with Harry Connick Jr., Maynard Ferguson, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis Big Band and the Danny Sinoff Quartet. A reception will be held outside the auditorium at 6 p.m. and attendees can meet Miller and get

refreshments before the show. Admission is free but there is a suggested $5 donation to benefit the band program. The school’s symphonic and wind ensemble bands will play seven pieces in the PCHS Spring Concert beginning at 7 p.m. April 25. The bands will be joined by saxophonist Dan Ferri, a Stetson University and Seminole State College professor who is a founding member of the Orlando Saxophone Project and Central Florida Youth Saxophone Ensemble. Ferri has played around the world with The Platters, the Four Top, Deborah Gibson and other recording and Broadway artists, with Royal Caribbean Cruises and with philharmonic orchestras around the United States. Admission to the spring concert is also free.

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

WALDEN LAKE GOLF COURSE DEVELOPER SEEKS COMMUNITY INPUT The new developers of the Walden Lake Golf Course are hoping to ascertain what the majority of resdients want out of the property.

File photo

Walden Lake, LLC will soon send out a survey to all residents to determine what they hope to see in the property’s future. BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

It seems the long wait is finally over. Walden Lake, LLC purchased the approximately 425 acres of the Walden Lake Golf Course at the end of last month. The city of Plant City has already received approximately $30,000 from Today’s Bank for its lien against the property after city crews had to come in and mow the entire property. The developers presented their intentions for the property Saturday in a meeting with residents. “We’ve been through this before, we’ve dealt with sensitive communities in the past as developers,” Carmine Zayoun, co-partner of Walden Lake, LLC said. The three men that comprise Walden Lake, LLC have joint experience developing hotel properties, mutli-family and residential communities, renewable energy, retail and office space and more. Zayoun alone has overseen the purchase and sale of more than $400 million in real estate assets throughout the State of Florida since relocating to the state in 2013 from Canada for the Heafey Group. When the newly formed Walden Lake, LLC began looking at the property the trio was immediately asked what the plan was for the property. Zayoun said that was up to the residents. “We have a wide variety of background and experiences and we take a different approach,”

Zayoun said. “We’re a younger group of guys, we understand that going into a community that’s existed for 30 or 40 years is a sensitive thing to do. We’re not the type of developers that, everyone’s like, ‘What’s your plan? What’s your plan?’ So we came in and we met a while back, around a month ago before we bought the property. We came in and were asked, ‘What’s your plan?’ and we said we don’t have one. We told everyone we’re going to do this in reverse. You’re going to help us develop a plan. It’s not typical of developers to do that.” Zayoun said they’re not going to make everyone 100 percent happy, but they’ll do the best they can to get as much input as possible. That communication between the developers and the community seems to be underway. Bob Norton, member of the Walden Lake Community Association Board of Directors, said the developers have been in touch with the president and other members of the board. Norton said everything is very transparent and nothing is being done behind closed doors. The company had a $45,000 survey completed of the property and presented the results to the board. Zayoun said they want to meet with the city in the upcoming weeks to figure out details of what they need. Then they want feedback from the committee and board and once they go to the drawing board they’ll need 30 to 60 days to come up with a concept for the property. Concerns of flooding, ecological impacts, stormwater management, traffic and other items were

Zayoun said the future of the development lies in the hands of the residents. All of the residents, not just the vocal majority.

brought up and Zayoun said they would hire the right professionals that the city of Plant City would be in agreement with to address those concerns. They also agreed to share all of the future studies with the board members and committee so they could have another engineer of their choice if they choose confirm they were done properly. Zayoun repeatedly said the future of the development lies in the hands of the residents. All of the residents, not just the vocal majority. The company plans to distribute a survey to all of the approximately 2,000 homes in the Walden Lake community. If the majority, not just say 500 homes, make it clear they want a golf course Walden Lake, LLC will oblige and “find a way to work out that golf element.” However, if the majority comes back and says they would prefer a green space or a community center or something else that will be the focus of the group. By giving residents something they want the company hopes to then be able to do what they want with a cooperative partnership. “I’m giving the power to the residents,” Zayoun said. “You guys have got to help us out. We’ll do what the majority wants and you guys have to help us do what we want, but it will be a win-win for both of us.” While he understands this is a golf community he warned that golf is on the decline in the states. He joked his company’s golf course in Canada sees its most successful months when the course is closed. If the Walden Lake community

is willing to handle the brunt of financing the operations of the course, Zayoun isn’t necessarily opposed to building one. But the decision is not one to take lightly. For example, HOA fees may need to rise to cover operation costs. He recommends residents do their research before they agree to take on that responsibility. Once feedback is turned in and analyzed from the community the developers will get a plan together and start meeting with the city to get traffic analysis and ecological and storm water studies completed. Once those are done there is a high chance there will need to be at least minor tweaks to the plan drafted from the developers at the start. One thing the LLC is already “very keen on doing” in the center on Clubhouse Drive is to recreate a property Zayoun built in Orlando called Majestic at Baldwin Park. The three story multifamily development has leasable high end apartments above a bottom floor of retail spaces. Those would be boutique size businesses like a coffee shop, dog groomer, barber or restaurant that “really activates the neighborhood.” In looking at the demographics between Orlando and this community Zayoun said they found striking similarities. They’re goal is to recreate a similar structure here to act as a center for the community. They would want to do a study to find out if a hotel would be viable before they started considering that as an option. They want to “keep the community together,” so with property that abuts areas

with million dollar homes they would want to develop properties that flow naturally with their neighbors. Condos would go by similar style homes and high-end luxury homes would go by matching units. He was still vague on the specifics of that aspect of the plan, but said everything would flow and match the already existing communities. We’re looking at approximately six months before they are ready to start presenting to the city. The company has already hired someone to care for the property and tackle cleaning up areas left in disarray, like the pool. The current problem is there are only a handful of volunteers with the advisory council ready to go door to door to get that initial survey of residents completed. They need help to tackle hitting the 2,000 homes. Zayoun said they will rent iPads out and help develop the survey and then put together a fund, donating money to cover the cost of the time of the volunteers that will go out and survey these homes. They’re going to help put a team of volunteers together. They’re searching for unbiased residents so they will meet them before they’re sent out. “The reality is yes, we are a forprofit company, we are going to build,” Zayoun said. “Are we willing to make less money to accommodate you guys? Absolutely. We’re not all about making the maximum profit possible… We want to take a route that’s fair to everyone, gives everyone a voice.”

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

TRAVELING SOLDIER

PLANT CITY

Observer

Residents of Plant City witnessed a unique traveler last week as Walter Doyle drove a mobility cart through town on his journey from Tampa to Daytona Beach.

Publisher / Karen Berry KBerry@PlantCityObserver.com Managing Editor / Sarah Holt SHolt@PlantCityObserver.com Associate Editor / Sports Editor / Justin Kline JKline@PlantCityObserver.com Staff Writer / Breanne Williams BWilliams@PlantCityObserver. com Advertising Graphic Designer / Juan Alvarez Circulation/ Office Manager / Linda Lancaster LLancaster@PlantCityObserver. com

Breanne Williams

PCPD officers with Walter Doyle and his pup Vet Sgt. Snoopy.

right in front of him the entire nestled in his lap, Doyle hit the time. road. He hadn’t even made it to “I looked at this cart and Plant City before his first hurdle thought, ‘How could I use it to arose. Walter Doyle has spent his life further the cause?’” Doyle said. “I “I hit a telephone pole,” Doyle serving others — first as a Marine, thought I could ride it somewhere said. “My pole slipped and pulled now in his personal life as he seeks pulling a banner to raise aware- this back trailer over farther than to raise money for VetSAR. ness. At first I wanted to pull one the rest. It broke the pole and This wasn’t his first attempt big banner, but with all the turns broke the hub right off the wheel. to bring in some cash for the I knew it wouldn’t make the turns I zip-tied it back together. I’ve got nonprofit, which connects vet- so I decided to go with attaching another spare wheel, but it’s a literans to a network of available a bunch of bicycle trailers and tle bit different style so I’d have to resources and helps them prepare individual banners. It evolved into jury rig it to make it work. I think for the future. Doyle said he feels what it is.” this will hold for now.” passionately about the cause and Doyle is a disabled veteran and Despite the initial hiccup he hopes to help further its mission will drive the cart, much like the persevered and slowly rolled into by raising both awareness and scooter vehicles found in shop- town Friday morning where he funds for the group. ping plazas or theme parks, along was met by an escort from Plant At first he tapped into his cre- with a long caboose of banners City Police Department and Jarative side, selling painted sty- from Tampa to Daytona Beach. rett Scott Ford, who offered rofoam garden mushrooms and It’s nearly 150 miles and the cart refreshments at its facilities as a dinosaur eggs. When that failed averages 10.5 miles per hour at stopping point for Doyle. Jarrettto bring success he thought to set full speed. Downhill, he could add Scott Ford, along with Mobility up a table for donations outside two more miles to that rate. Works, Sky Power Sports, Interestablishments, similar to when Even with the individual bike state Batteries, Mobility Plus, local Girl or Boy Scout troops trailers, Doyle was in for a diffi- PowerSource Marine, Stor-It Self Edited DavidHis Steinberg April 19, Storage 2019 and The Family Fraternity sell cookies and popcorn to passcultby journey. first stretch estiing customers. That, too, was mated to be 50 miles from Tampa Moose, all chipped in to sponsor ACROSS One day, he49toMiddle 43 Dressing less than profitable. HainesEast’s City. With13 hisVerbalized faithful the one-of-a-kind road trip. second18 Vitamin loudly room glanced at 1 hisMunch mobility cart and travel companion and beloved PCPD took him from the Forbes largest seller 6 International evaluation realized an opportunity had been pup Vet Sgt. Snoopy comfortably Road and U.S. 92 intersection all

BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

Universal Crossword

the way to Jarrett-Scott Ford on Baker Street. Sgt. Al Van Duyne said he was surprised by how quickly they were able to escort Doyle through town. “I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get him there what with the cart only going 10 miles an hour, but we made incredible time,” Van Duyne said. “He got up to around 13 (miles per hour) on a couple of downhills and we got some tail winds. I thought it wasn’t that bad so I talked to him and asked if anyone from Polk County was picking him up and he said no. I decided we would take him all the way out to County Line Road so we knew this guy made it safe. That’s a busy road so we just felt it was the right thing to do.” After a brief respite at JarrettScott Ford and the journey toward County Line Road, Doyle and Vet Sgt. Snoopy separated from the officers and continued to slowly cruise toward the coast. Daytona had never seemed so far away.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

HCSO ASKS FOR HELP IDENTIFYING DRIVER IN HIT-AND-RUN A 77-year-old Plant City man was sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries following a hit-and-run on Jap Tucker Road on March 27.

Breanne Williams

Hugh Lavaughn Gamble, known by many as Vaughn from Vaughn’s Tire Shop, was struck while walking to the Circle K down his street.

didn’t know if Gamble had been walking on the road or on the strip of grass beside it when he was hit. He was taken to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center and Eichenberger said the doctors rushed to tackle saving his leg. The limb was full of debris and they quickly realized several debridements would be necessary to ensure it was clean before they attempted to work on saving the leg. Eichenberger said before they got the chance to begin Gamble had a heart attack in the emergency room. His heart became the priority and he was rushed into surgery. “It’s horrible someone would do that, he’s probably going to lose his life over this. The doctors don’t give him much hope,” Eichenberger said. “I think a wrong has been committed and

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him at his home and they are deciding what to do. “He’s just endured so much, so much,” Eichenberger said. “He has a very long road ahead of him if he even survives… I don’t care if somebody was doing drugs, if they were high or drinking or an illegal alien that didn’t have a license or if they didn’t have insurance and they didn’t want to stop, it was just wrong to leave a human being laying on the side of the road.” HCSO said there is no vehicle description or known witnesses of the accident at this time. Deputies did a thorough check, but there is no surveillance video documenting the incident. If anyone has information regarding the hit-and-run they are asked to contact HCSO at 813-247-8200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8738477.

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I think someone needs to step up for it.” Each time he was sent into surgery for his leg, the family was warned with his weak heart there was a chance he wouldn’t pull through. He survived his surgery on that Thursday and on Friday they prepped him for another debridement, but his escalating heart rate caused them to pause. Eichenberger said Saturday they went on with the surgery as planned and that evening Gamble coded. He eventually was revived, but now is on life support. His condition only worsened as infection set in the wounded leg leading to its eventual amputation. He’s been in the hospital now for 22 days and his family has been there every step of the way. Eichenberger and her sister are the only siblings Gamble has left. His three children still live with

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Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help from the public to identify the driver of a hit-and-run that occurred on March 27, which sent a 77-yearold Plant City man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Hugh Lavaughn Gamble — who was identified as the victim of the hit-and-run by his sister Sharon Eichenberger — was walking the approximate block and a half from his home to the nearby Circle K on Sparkman Road when the incident occurred. The sun had set, but the walk would take less than 10 minutes to complete. Gamble stepped out the front door of his home on Clarkwood Drive and took a right onto Jap

Tucker Road. The tall green grass hugging the shoulder was mowed to a coarse strip, making a crude pathway down most of the street. A ditch, in some places merely a shallow dip and in others deep and overgrown by plant life, acted as a barrier between the roadway and the nearby homes. He only had a block and a half to go. At approximately 8:30 p.m. his short trip came to an abrupt end when a vehicle hit him, breaking his leg in two places and causing the bone to protrude, according to Eichenberger. The car sped off and Gamble lay unmoving in the ditch, hoping that someone would see him and stop. The beams of headlights appeared and the oncoming car slammed on its brakes. The driver rushed to his aid and called the police. HCSO’s patrol team arrived shortly on the scene. They

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Maryland Ave.

BREANNE WILLIAMS

Lakeland

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

CRA ADDS NEW MATCHING GRANT The Community Redevelopment Agency is now offering a $15,000 matching grant for food-related businesses as an expansion of its Incentive Grant Program.

BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

n order to help Plant City’s downtown core blossom the Community Redevelopment Agency has long offered an Incentive Grant Program to encourage businesses to choose downtown as their new home. The financial incentives could be used for interior build-out assistance with a $10,000 matching grant, homeowner down payment assistance with a $5,000 grant and homeowner facade and site improvement with a $5,000 matching grant. Now the deal is even sweeter with the addition of a $15,000 matching grant for food-related businesses. “I hope that this is so successful that we have to reallocate funds from the others,” Mayor Rick Lott said. The new addition is available for any new or expanding eligible businesses that want to add more food options into the downtown core. The grant is for physical renovations to buildings, which can include equipments and furnishings, utility connections, carpeting, electrical, plumbing and more.

Any business that sells food or beverages ranging from sit-down restaurants to bakeries and coffee shops to produce markets or health food stores all fit the bill. Priority will be given to the projects that convert other retail uses into restaurants. If an existing and eligible business is hoping to expand it too can use the grant for any of the above stated as well as for adding additional restaurant equipment. The purpose of the new grant is to provide assistance to establish a more diverse mix of foodrelated businesses downtown, with hope many of those would expand their hours of operation beyond 5 p.m. It’s a one-to-one matching grant that goes up to $15,000 per building and can be used to help business occupants with up to 50 percent of the total project costs. Lott added that one of the benefits of CRA Incentive Grant Program is eligible businesses can potentially access more than one grant at a time, creating a combined superpower of support from the CRA. “I think it’s a wonderful pro-

Downtown Incentive Program Target Area courtesy of the City of Plant City

gram,” Commissioner Bill Dodson said. “I think it’s kind of a spinoff of what we were doing with the community development block grant funds, if I’m correct in saying that. I think that’s where we allocated improvement grant money available and it was quickly used up. The chamber of commerce was one of the first to grab it and grow downtown. It was a perfect outcome with that.” Details of the new matching grant will be available on the city’s website and social media for those wanting to go shopping for available space in the downtown core. Lott said this was a concept they had last summer, but they needed to work out the details of how to set up the perfect matching program. City Manager Bill McDaniel

said the city as a whole wants to see more of that type of activity downtown. Echoing the sentiments of many of the commissioners he said people need to come to the heart of Plant City and want to stay for a while. The hope is the change will help downtown Plant City mimic the renaissance communities like Lakeland and Winter Park are seeing. Even Ybor has a thriving downtown due to its awardwinning restaurants and cultfollowed coffee shops. If people walk through a downtown and see a variety of diverse restaurants, bakeries, food stores and cafes they’re more likely to linger, which in turn helps other local businesses thrive. Instead of driving downtown to go to one specific location and then

leave the hope is people will start to stroll the sidewalks and get involved with all of the gems downtown has to offer. With its unanimous approval last week, the grant is now open to applicants. The timing, Lott said, couldn’t be more perfect now that the city has altered its alcohol ordinance to be more friendly to economic growth and is bracing itself for the creation of the long awaited Midtown district. “I think the problem we’ll have right now is managing a stampede of the, let’s say, understated level of interest we will have right now,” McDaniel said. “We’re going to have people taking advantage of this by the end of the week. The word is out.”

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

COMMISH ROUNDUP: PLANT CITY PREPARES FOR MAJOR GROWTH A Fortune 500 company, a new water treatment plant and SR 39 utilities may now be on the way thanks to a jam-packed commission meeting last week.

BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

While the interest revolving around the passing of the alcohol ordinance drew the majority of the crowd last Monday, commissioners approved many massive projects that night sending Plant City down the path for future growth. For months, commissioners have debated the value of exploring further expansion of utilities along State Road 39 in hopes of securing the area for future development. The ball has officially begun rolling as a $340,739 contract was awarded to Inwood Consulting Engineering, Inc. Monday night to design and provide construction services for the project. The city had nine respondents for the Request for Qualifications for the massive undertaking when bids were pulled on Feb. 14. The RFQ evaluation committee, composed of Lynn Spivey, Mike Darrow, Wayne Everhart, Lyudmila Gassaway and Quiltonya Grant met on Feb. 28 and determined Inwood would be the best fit for the city. After seeing the overwhelming success of County Line

Road, commissioners began to cast their eyes around the city to see if another section would possibly work as a similar concept. Economically another massive development project would continue to boost the city’s standing and help ensure Plant City isn’t “boxed in” when new development comes to call. The plan is to extend water and force utility mains along the west side of S.R. 39 all along the south side of the city. The east side of S.R. 39 from Johnson Road to both of Holloway and Colson Road will have the new utilities. A new pump station and a two-inch conduit for future fiber optic cable or other electrical or telecommunication needs would also be added to the expansion. “It’s a 72-week project in total, so the 72 weeks have probably already started, let’s say we’ve got 70 to go,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. “You’re talking a year and a quarter from now we’ll have utilities down 39 all the way to Holloway. They’ve already got things underway, they’ve done the SEW, the survey of underground utilities, they’ve already done all that.” Inwood is the same company the city used with County Line Road and McDaniel said they’ve had very positive experience

working with them in the past. The city also approved a contract with Hydro Solutions Consulting, LLC. last week for engineering services for a new water treatment plant along Paul Buchman Highway near where much upcoming expansion is estimated to be occurring. The city already has four water treatment plants ranging from both water towers and ground tanks. Plant number five will be a ground tank and Hydro Solutions is receiving $1,379,200 to bring it to life. “It will just add another source of potable water to our city system,” McDaniel said. “I think also it adds to the ability to meet the capacity needs. You have to be able to take up more water and you can’t get more water from the same well. If you think about it, this is going up on Paul Buchman Highway just below Sam Allen so the north and northeast corridor is where all the expansion is supposed to occur so it makes sense to put another well up that way.” Last week, commissioners approved the start of studies and designs for the well. McDaniel said the location had the well for 10 years but it wasn’t used. Now it needs to be retested and studied and approved for viability. In one of the more exciting

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votes of the night, commissioners approved the rezoning of 64.94 acres of land located on South Wiggins Road, taking it from Hillsborough County Agriculture Single Family 1-Unit per acre to the Wish Farms Logistics Center Planned Development District. The rezoning allows for a warehouse or distribution facility with the maximum total square footage of the development to be around 900,000 square feet. Jake Austin, president of the Plant City Economic Development Corporation, stepped up to the podium and told commissioners he felt it was time to discuss the background of the potential tenant of the proposed development. While he is under a confidentiality agreement and could not reveal the name he did let commissioners know they were faced with a major opportunity. “The company that we are engaged with right now is a Fortune 500 company,” Austin said. “They proposed between 250 and 300 new jobs for Plant City. We hope that the project’s capital investment based on other developments similar to this, we expect to do well over $50 million for investing directly into Plant City. I have been working in economic development and representing Plant City and Eastern Hillsbor-

ough County since 2012. We’ve had one other project close to this magnitude, which was Amazon.” At the prior meeting commissioners had voiced their concerns regarding the quality of the roads in the area and how they would handle the increase in heavy truck traffic. Since then they said their concerns have been addressed and it was unanimously approved. “I think just about every community in Florida would be cheering at the top of their lungs if they just landed a Fortune 500 company that’s bringing 300 jobs — and those are direct jobs — 250 to 300 jobs and you have the indirect jobs that comes along with that,” Mayor Rick Lott said. “There’s a domino effect so, Jake, to our staff, to this commission for making the investments we’ve made into our area, to Jake you and your team and your board, this whole group that’s worked together, listen we’ve just been chosen by a Fortune 500 company. They want to be in our city, not someone else’s city. They want to bring the jobs here and those investments here so I think this is a major celebration time and I want to congratulate everybody.”

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

PlantCityObserver.com

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PLANT CITY OBSERVER

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

An Easter Docuseries April 21st - April 28th @10:15 AM

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PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

HIT-AND-RUN SUSPECT CLIPS PCPD OFFICER FROM PAGE 1 Breanne Williams

Sgt. Al Van Duyne and officers Russell Fredrick, Christian Lopez, Adam Heist and Kyle Russell.

BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

“I review all of the crashes, so I saw that ‘Hydroseeding’ on the side of this old dually truck and that’s a word that I remember,” Van Duyne said. “I was like, ‘Where did I read that? Was it a new report? An old report?’ I looked over to Kyle and said, ‘Hey didn’t one of you guys have a wreck with a Hydroseeding truck?’ He said yeah and I told him it just drove past us. He turned his head and said, ‘That’s the truck.’” Irizarry had left the movie theater plaza and attempted to get across the street, making a left turn onto Alexander Street. He failed to yield to an eastbound vehicle and while he did relatively minimal damage he fled the scene because he had a revoked license. The victim wasn’t able to give officers much information other than it was a white dually truck with ‘Hydroseeding’ along its side. Officer Christian Lopez was one of the two motorcycle cops flanking the scooter. Van Duyne told him to go pull the truck

over and they would finish taking the veteran to their drop off point. From there things quickly spiraled out of control. Lopez pulled behind the truck, turned on his lights and followed him down the road. The truck crossed over into HCSO jurisdiction, turned into the Parkwood Estates trailer park, popped a u-turn and Irizarry drove directly at Lopez who had stopped to wave down the truck to pull over. “He came toward Lopez and the fight was on after that,” Van Duyne said. While he said he can’t put words in Irizarry’s mouth, Van Duyne did state that Lopez was an identifiable police officer, on a visible police motorcycle with lights and sirens on. He was behind the driver for at least 75 feet going down U.S. 92 before he made the right hand turn into the trailer park. Van Duyne said there is no doubt in his mind Irizarry knew he was barreling toward an officer. Lopez was able to avoid a head-on collision by angling his bike and steering to one side, PCPD said. One of the truck’s tires rubbed against the right side of the motorcycle, forcing him to the ground. The tire hit the saddle bag and the chrome bars that go around it. The lens to the light at

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the location is scraped, but Lopez wasn’t injured. He quickly grabbed his radio and called out to all nearby officers. Van Duyne and his team had just finished their escort and were looking for the perfect place to turn around when they heard Lopez buzz through the radio that he was hit and Irizarry had fled. Turning on their lights the team “busted through the intersection,” checked on Lopez and upon realizing he was uninjured sent Russell off after the fleeing truck. Guidelines state as long as motorcycle officers have been involved in the incident they are allowed to initiate a pursuit, however, for safety reasons once a patrol car arrives they give the lead to the more secure officers and let them continue the pursuit. Russell tailed Irizarry for two to three minutes before patrol cars caught up. For 17 minutes, the truck wove in and out of the streets of Plant City. Luck was on their side, Van Duyne said, as traffic was minimal and the vehicle never went above 53 to 58 miles an hour. They continued to monitor direction of travel and traffic conditions and were able to continue the chase without having to

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terminate the pursuit in order to ensure the safety of other drivers. Eventually Irizarry turned into Walden Lake East, heading toward his “significant other” who was the mother of his child. At one point Van Duyne said while the driver was on the phone with the woman she was able to help convince him to stop and give himself up near Teakwood Drive and Sandalwood Drive. He told the officers he knew he was going to jail and wanted to say goodbye to his kid. When he realized he was surrounded he finally gave up, bringing the truck to a stop. According to PCPD an officer told him to get out of the truck and lay in the grass. He did and after confirming he was also not injured they transported him to Orient Road Jail. PCPD said they do not believe the driver was under the influence during the incident. However, his license was revoked more than two years prior to Friday’s chase. He received one HCSO charge and four PCPD charges, including aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, aggravated fleeing to elude, possession of controlled substance (meth), active warrant for failing to pay child support and driving with a revoked license.

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

JOB FAIR FOR COMMUNITY ON ITS WAY Grab your resumes and take an hour to go find the job of your dreams.

File photo

Students throughout Plant City have beneffitted from Future Fair for years. This is the second year the program has been open to the public.

BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

Plant City has put itself on the map with its unique opportunities available for local students. For years they’ve been able to attend the Plant City Future Fair, which connects graduating students to local employers who are hoping to expand their staff with local bright minds. It was a partnership that Yvonne Fry, Plant City High School Raider Champions Board member and organizer of the fair, said came organically and has only continued to grow since. “What we’re doing with the Future Fair is really meant to bridge the gap and meet the needs of students in need of jobs and businesses that are wanting to find committed employees,” Fry said. “Afterward we always survey the businesses and get their feedback and use that to continue to improve. That constructive criticism is very helpful and one of the things that they told us — and at this point we’ve got such

a strong relationship with these business- the community,” Fry said. “That was just es that they’re really opening up to us — is amazing and I didn’t know what to expect. that they’re not going to find everybody The Sheriff’s Office representative told they need from graduating students.” me that was the most she’d seen at any Last year Fry said it only made sense to job fair she’d been to. The businesses were open up the fair later in the afternoon to the happy. It was concentrated, it’s not all day, community since all of the businesses were it’s broken up and really gets them to see already set up and ready to extend their a good number of people in a short period hand and welcome new staff members. of time.” Fry said it was something they’d been The event is returning April 25 with the thinking about adding for years. She has Future Fair in the morning for students and had several students reach back out to her the doors will open to the community from following graduation, after a year of not 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Fry encourages attendees being able to find work, asking if there was to present their best self and bring their any way they could get back into the next resumes so they’ll be prepared to talk to the year’s fair. The real world can be harder 40 to 50 organizations present at the event. than expected even though the students This year there are several new activiare frequently encouraged to take advan- ties in the fair including special navigators tage of the countless opportunities avail- strewn throughout the event. Fry rememable to them while they are in high school. bers last year watching a woman walk into Several times current students have the fair, doing a quick lap and leaving in a come up asking if a family member or older mere handful of minutes. She slipped out friend could come to the fair and try to land before Fry could speak to her and it immeB:10.167” a job alongside the young applicants. diately raised a level of concern in her. T:10.167” “Last year saw about 300 people come Later that afternoon when she saw S:10.167” through during the time it was open to another man do the same thing she quick-

ly stopped him at the door to find out why he hadn’t stopped to talk to anyone. His answer was simple, he didn’t know who to talk to or how to start that conversation. She quickly ascertained his interest in an employer and personally escorted him to several companies inside she knew would fit. She said it spurred a desire to have those volunteers in place this year to ensure that never happens again. “It just broke my heart last year to think about the one lady that left and didn’t have a single conversation,” Fry said. “The volunteers will make sure nobody leaves without having that chance to connect. Sometimes all it takes is someone building that bridge and making that interaction. I think about the people that have been out of work for a while, that first hello is the hardest thing and we want to make sure that’s not a barrier in helping our community find great jobs.” Fry knows of several people that have started careers based off the program. The hope is this year they’ll be able to do a pseudo-signing day at local high schools to celebrate the students that walk away from the Future Fair with lasting job offers. The program is gaining attention across the state, has won awards and is becoming the foundation of replica programs that are beginning to pop up in other counties. “I think we’re on to something here,” Fry said. “People recognize that Plant City is doing something special. We’re serving both our local businesses and our community... It’s a big deal and I’m grateful for all of the people that have worked so hard to help this program get the recognition it’s starting to receive.”

IF YOU GO Plant City Job Fair When: April 25 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Cost: Free Bring some resumes and be prepared to chat with local employers.

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PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

CUTEST CRITTERS

Do you want Plant City to see how cute your favorite pets are? Send your pictures to Staff Writer Breanne Williams at bwilliams@plantcityobserver.com to be featured.

LIZZIE LUU AND NEWT: Lizzie Luu, a Welsh Corgi, loves helping around the farm. Her brother Newt, a Pie Bald Dapple Dachshund, turned two years old in April. He loves to hunt lizards, play with his sister Lizzie Luu and lay in the sun.

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PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

PRAISE IN THE PARK

DOUBLES DOWN AT OPENING CEREMONY In just one year, Praise in the Park more than doubled its opening ceremony attendance, drawing thousands to downtown for the evening of praise and worship.

Brayton Costello and Dwayne Wasson enjoyed a sticky treat. BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

It may only be the second year Praise in the Park has come to Plant City, but the public has proved it’s heavily desired. This year Praise in the Park partnered with On Common Ground to transform the entertainmentthemed night into a worship one-stop shop. Every type of worship ranging from dance to rock to contemporary music was performed throughout the evening. The event, which ran from 3 to 9 p.m., drew more than 20 per-

formers to the heart of downtown and the crowds spread out to check out their preferred entertainers. “Our opening is more than double what it was last year spread over two blocks of Drane Street,” Frank Trunzo, owner of Krazy Kup and creator of Praise in the Park, said. Vendors lined the two blocks of the event and families camped out in folding chairs to enjoy the local singers. There were performers at the depot, at the gazebo, the end of McCall Park and inside Trunzo’s upcoming performance pizzeria. The event also raised money for the Pregnancy Care Center of Plant City.

Breanne Williams

Families enjoyed cold refreshments while they checked out the live entertainment.

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

This week on Cops Corner: Swiped tools, a golf cart getaway, a

COPS CORNER

gunslinging ghost, construction site woes, a mobile heist, vain vandals and an eBay bamboozler. APRIL 5 SWIPER NO SWIPING E. Sam Allen Road/N. Maryland Ave. Theft: This victim told officers between April 4 and 5, someone cut the gate lock and entered their property. They then pried open trailer doors and stole approximately $6,000 worth of tools. CONSTRUCTION SITE WOES 2300 block of S. Frontage Road Business burglary: This construction site was struck by an unknown suspect who entered the property, broke a window for the mini office to gain entry and then stole over $600 worth of miscellaneous tools. MOBILE HEIST 1900 block of N. Frontage Road Vehicle burglary: This victim reported that an unknown person burglarized one of the GTS Mobile Module Services work vehicles, taking more than $5,000 worth of equipment including a generator and miscellaneous tools. METH-Y ORDEAL 2600 block of James L. Redman Parkway Shoplifting: Officers came out to Walmart after learning of a shoplifting attempt that was in progress. Two men were arrested for both shoplifting and for possession of meth. They were

transported to Orient Road Jail without incident. BLACKOUT 2100 block of W. Baker St. DUI/refusal: Officers came upon a man who was passed out in his vehicle while it was running. He was arrested for driving under the influence and for refusing to submit to testing.

APRIL 6 GUNSLINGING GHOST 2400 block of W. Lowry Ave. Possible shooting: Complainants told officers they saw a grey vehicle driving toward South Alexander Street and watched the occupants shoot a firearm twice. PCPD checked the area and were able to confirm the vehicle was no longer present and that no one was injured as a result of the alleged shooting. That was all the officers were able to locate during the sweep. EBAY BAMBOOZLER 1 Police Place Fraud: This victim learned the hard way that online shopping can always be a gamble after purchasing fraudulent gift cards for more than $1,000 from eBay. SAYING GOODBYE 4000 block of S. Thackery Way Information: PCPD made contact with

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this woman who said when she came home she found her dog deceased in the backyard with what appeared to be two large puncture wounds. PCPD documented the incident and contacted Animal Control.

APRIL 7 GOLF CART GETAWAY 2700 block of Turkey Creek Road Retail theft: The Walden Lake Food Mart told officers that four juveniles entered the store, selected a package of buns and some candy and then left without paying for the items. As the owner walked out to speak to them, they left on a white golf cart and entered Walden Lake. BATTERED AND ABANDONED 1200 block of W. Madison St. Aggravated battery: Officers came out to the area after hearing of a man laying in the roadway bleeding. Upon arrival they made contact with the victim who told them he was attacked by four unknown subjects.

APRIL 8 SELF-APPOINTED RAISE 1400 block of E. Tomlin St. Fraud: This complainant told PCPD that he wrote a personal check for $260, but was shortly notified by his bank that the check was electronically cashed for $838.16. OH HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED 1 Police Place Warrant arrest: This man came to PCPD to file an unrelated report. While he was there officers found he had an active HCSO VOP warrant for burglary. He was arrested and transported to Orient Road Jail.

APRIL 9 FORCED MINIMALISM 900 block of Coronet St. Theft: This complainant told officers he placed his personal belongings — clothing — on the back porch of the above listed address while he was in the process of moving. When he returned to collect the items he found several of them were missing.

APRIL 10 ANOTHER BREAK-IN, ANOTHER MISSING GUN 1000 block of N. Vermont St. This victim told officers his vehicle was broken into on the night of April 9 and someone took his Bersa .380 firearm. VAIN VANDALS 500 block of S. Knight St. Theft: This victim told officers that multiple trophies had been stolen from his home.

APRIL 11 FOOL’S GOLD 1500 block of E. Baker St. Counterfeit bills: This clerk at the Dollar General told officers someone had used $420 worth of counterfeit bills to make purchases at the location. CLEANED OUT 2400 block of James L. Redman Parkway Theft: This victim reported his company’s vacuum/air machine that was at the 7-11 had been pried open by an unknown suspect, who took $250 and a $20 money bag and fled.

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

HUNDREDS ALL ABOARD FOR RAILFEST The annual Railfest event never fails to highlight some of Plant City’s eclectic history. This year, the event added several new experiences to its lineup.

The engine-eous event held in the heart of historic downtown proved once again Plant City will forever remain a locomotive town. Hundreds flocked to the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum to take part in the festivities, taking pictures with “H.B. Plant,” riding in a small train and exploring the museum. In a shock to attendees, the museum announced the grand opening of “The Tower,” which had acted as storage for the museum for all these years. Willaford and his wife cut the ribbon and welcomed the horde of excited visitors. After the ribbon was cut the crowds flocked to check out the new space and then spent the rest of the afternoon

Breanne Williams

Henry B. Plant was available for photos throughout the train themed event Saturday morning.

IF YOU GO Anyone wishing to pop into the museum can do so for free from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

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enjoying hearty food, live music and a thrilling auction. Bennie Lubrano has been the executive director at the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum for five years now and was awarded a gold watch and an original painting of the train viewing station by the members of the museum’s committee for his continued service to the depot. Lubrano announced the museum would soon be accessible to train enthusiasts worldwide with the addition of cameras, which were installed to watch trains pass at the tracks by the depot. The footage should be live in approximately a month’s time. Jim Scott was awarded the prestigious Golden Spike Award for the hard work and contributions he has provided for the museum’s work.

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PLANT CITY OBSERVER

PlantCityObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

SIXTH ANNUAL BREAKFAST IT’S READ EVERYWHERE FOR HEROES AT DURANT The high school’s criminal justice program hosted law enforcement officers and celebrated its four-level graduates Wednesday morning.

SPORTS/ASSOCIATE EDITOR

The sixth annual Durant High School Breakfast for Heroes was bigger than ever on just about all fronts. Not only was the school’s cafeteria chock full of students and law enforcement officers — mostly from Plant City Police Department and Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, though some even came from as far as St. Petersburg and Moore Haven to attend — but it was also a celebration for the criminal justice program’s largest-ever graduating class. Forty-two Durant students received certificates for completing all four levels of the program throughout their four years of high school and all of them passed the test to receive their Florida Class D security licenses.

This year’s keynote speaker was PCPD’s own Sgt. Al Van Duyne, a 19-year veteran of the department who shared his humor and life experiences with the students. He encouraged them to be “agents of change” as community servants and encouraged them to stay true to their core values and beliefs. “We didn’t do this for personal gain. We didn’t do it for recognition, awards or money,” Van Duyne said. “We do what we do because it’s our job. We do what we do because it’s the right thing to do.”

56427 - 56428 - PCE - Poster and Postcard - Ivy Gap.pdf

Justin Kline is the SportsEditor at the Plant City Observer. Email: jkline@plantcityobserver.com.

MISSISSIPPI: Essie Dixon Lewis brought the Observer to D’Iberville, Mississippi. D’Iberville, Mississippi is just north of Biloxi on the state’s Gulf Coast line and is also a tourist destination. Essie Dixon Lewis visited the city earlier in April and brought the Observer along to read.

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Did you take the Observer with you on vacation? Send your pictures to Associate Editor Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com to be featured.

APRIL 18, 2019

Rachel Stevens is a four-sport athlete and has a 5.88 GPA. See Page 18

SPORTS

FONT FIGHTING FOR WRESTLING GLORY

Quick Hits

Jackie Font is establishing herself this spring as a wrestler to watch in the Tampa Bay area.

Justin Kline

Jackie Font is working hard to chase her dreams of becoming a national champion wrestler and later, a professional fighter.

JUSTIN KLINE SPORTS/ASSOCIATE EDITOR

here’s only one girl on Strawberry Crest’s wrestling team at this time, but that’s not the only reason Jackie Font stands out among her fellow Chargers. Font’s trip to Virginia Beach, Virginia to compete in the 30th annual NHSCA High School Nationals tournament on March 31 resulted in a sixth-place national ranking among NHSCA wrestlers and All-American status earned. With a slew of intensive summer camps and tournaments on the horizon, Font is looking to build off of that strong end to her junior season and head into the fall established as a force to be reckoned with in the area preps scene. Font went 3-2 in the NHSCA tournament and, though taking back-to-back losses in the end wasn’t the way she envisioned things ending, she’s still proud of what she was able to accomplish in the tourney’s inaugural girls division. “When I wrestled my blood round to get to All-American, I was really happy,” Font said. “I looked at my dad and smiled because I knew I was already placing, so it felt really good.” Her goals for next season and beyond are already set: become a state champion and a national

champion at the high school level, go on to wrestle in college — not unlike her older sister, Christina, who also wrestled for Crest — and become a professional mixed martial arts fighter after college. Her love of competition and diverse martial arts background, which includes jiujitsu, judo, boxing and kickboxing, has only helped her on the high school mat. “Jackie is hands-down one of the hardest workers we have here in our room,” coach Will Terry said. “She gets after it. She’s not afraid to sweat. Not afraid to hustle.” There’s only one thing Font and Terry wish were different: though Font could end her Crest career as a champion on the state level, it wouldn’t be officially sanctioned. It’s not that the FHSAA is adamantly against the idea of girls wrestling, as was confirmed in an April 3 meeting in which the state’s sports governing body approved to move forward with plans to sanction it. It’s just that the FHSAA has dragged its feet on the idea of giving girls wrestling equal footing with the boys side for so long, Font will be out of high school by the 2020-21 season that could bring the change. “We’re a little bit behind some of the ‘stud states,’ but we’re getting there and I’m very excited to see (the FHSAA) going in

WHAT’S ON KLINE’S MIND?

the right direction,” Terry said. “(Girls) deserve recognition, too. They’re out there busting their tails like the boys are, and to go to a tournament and not have it recognized by the FHSAA is kind of a letdown, you know. They bust their butts, they train all year, they run the miles and do the stadiums.” While her male teammates go through the FHSAA brackets after the regular season, things are different for Font and the other girls that have come up through Florida’s ranks and want similar recognition to show for it. They’re forced to search around for tournaments in and out of the state that are both legitimate and allow girls to compete. Though Font and others, such as Crest alum and two-time state champ Sarah Subko, have made it work, it seems like work that shouldn’t be necessary. If girls want to wrestle for Florida’s FHSAAmember schools, they’re mixed in with the boys and don’t always get to wrestle other girls at meets. That’s not the biggest problem ever for girls who have to grapple with boys every day in practice and love to compete, but it’s not preferable to having allgirls teams and events. “We’ve got some more girls coming up,” Terry said. “Eventually we would love to put together an all-girls team. Our numbers have to grow, but we’re starting here with (Charger Wrestling Club).”

Though the sport’s female population is clearly growing at the high school and collegiate levels and the FHSAA’s decision for 2020-21 should help the scene at large, Font says there’s still a stigma or two that needs to be broken before wrestling can flourish as a girls sport in Florida. She’s trying to help the team convince more girls at Strawberry Crest to give wrestling a shot. “You just really have to let them know they can do this, but it’s really hard because this is something people don’t imagine,” Font said. “It’s like, ‘That’s not a sport for me, that’s a male-dominated sport. What am I doing there? I don’t belong there.’ After you get it into their head that they can do this, that they belong here, it gets them in the practice room.” Perhaps if their words alone aren’t enough for some, a strong 2019-20 season for Font could help change some minds. To hear her tell it, she’s ready to take on anything and anyone that gets in her way. “They haven’t worked as hard as I have,” Font said. “They haven’t gone through the practices that I have. They haven’t met the people that I have. They haven’t learned from the people that I have. They haven’t put in as much work in the practice room as I have. They can’t beat me.”

JUSTIN KLINE

ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS WE WATCH FOR Tiger Woods’ incredible finish at the Masters was a once-in-a-lifetime moment fans shouldn’t take for granted.

don’t care who you are or what your viewing preferences are: if you follow sports at all, you know what just happened Sunday afternoon at the Masters was nothing short of jaw-dropping. Tiger Woods won the Masters for the first time since 2005, for his first major win since 2008, after four back surgeries, a bunch of tweaks to his swing and a hurricane of problems self-inflicted and otherwise ripping very publicly through his private life. This guy just clawed his way up from one of the deepest pits anybody in sports has ever gotten into and got

himself back out and it was so fitting this happened at Augusta National I’m surprised it happened in real life before someone in Hollywood made it the ultimate golf redemption movie. It’s truly one of the all-time greatest comebacks in the history of sports. This was one of those moments every fan hopes to see. I don’t care who you are or how closely you follow golf: this was something no one who watched, even if it was just Sunday’s action, should ever take for granted.

SEE KLINE, PAGE 19

BLESSIN THROWS PERFECT GAME April 11 brought yet another signature highlight for Plant City pitcher Ashley Blessin, as the senior threw a perfect game at home in the Raiders’ 5-0 win over Riverview. Blessin, last week’s Plant City Observer Athlete of the Week, struck out 16 of the 21 batters she faced and threw 74 total pitches. It was her 13th complete game and 10th shutout of the season and she’s also recorded two no-hitters — one of which also came against the Sharks — in 2019. The Raiders finished with seven hits and a pair of sophomores, Kelli McAvoy and Stephanie Bowers, drove in three total RBI with three combined hits. McAvoy, Emily Longoria, Rylee Moorman and Abbie DeWeese all crossed home plate for the Raiders. The Raiders entered Tuesday’s game at Bloomingdale on a streak of six consecutive shutout wins, having outscored opponents 30-0 since March 14. Plant City will host East Bay tonight at 7 p.m.

10K NEXT SATURDAY The Best Friends 10K, a U.S. Road Running event, comes to Plant City on April 27. Teams of two are encouraged to sign up to tackle a 10K loop around the pond at Ellis-Methvin Park, relay-style, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Single runners may also participate in the event. Unique medals will be awarded and awards for top runners and the best costumes will be given out as well. The race will begin at 8:30 a.m. The cost to register is $40 per team and $50 for single runners. Sign up online at runsignup.com/Race/FL/ PlantCity/BestFriends10KRelayand10KIndividualEllisMethvinPark. For more information or to get help finding a running partner, contact Darrin at missy@usroadrunning. com or 717-885-6864.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

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AREA BASEBALL, SOFTBALL ROUNDUP

Rachel Stevens

All three area teams saw action Tuesday night and most won their outings.

It’s fitting that Rachel Stevens’ advice to aspiring young athletes is to not be afraid to try new sports. Stevens, a senior at Plant City High School, is a four-sport athlete for the Raiders: she’s been competing for the cheerleading, flag football, soccer and track and field teams throughout her time at the school. She recently set the school record in the girls pole vault and is looking forward to competing in several events at the April 26 regional tournament. She’s also senior class president and carries a 5.88 GPA. You’ve played four varsity sports for PCHS and even snowboard every year. Is there anything you haven’t tried yet? Justin Kline

Kade Manderscheid and Joe Parrillo dap up after a half-inning’s end. JUSTIN KLINE SPORTS/ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Tuesday night wasn’t the kindest to Strawberry Crest’s baseball and softball teams, as both took 2-0 losses to Riverview at home. Crest’s baseball team performed well defensively and pitchers Eli Garner and Kade Manderscheid combined for seven innings, six strikeouts, six hits and two runs (one earned) allowed. But it was an off day for the offense, which picked up two hits on the evening from Ben Pues and Jacob Heath. The team will get back into district play tonight at Wharton, hoping to avoid a third consecutive loss. The softball team had better luck on offense, racking up a total of six hits between Lexi Fox (two hits), Keelyn Johnson, Sydney Watson, Kacey Fultz and Emma Cooper. The Chargers’ pitchers, Watson and Alyssa Grimes, also gave up just four hits to the Sharks. But Riverview’s pitching and defense was able to get itself out of jam after jam, and the offense took advantage of getting walked nine times to score in the third and seventh innings. Crest has now lost five of its last six games heading into tonight’s district game at Wharton. Durant’s baseball and softball teams picked up a pair of wins at East Bay. On the softball side, the Cougars picked up a 5-1 win driven by the offense’s 16-hit outing at the plate and extended their winning streak to three games. The baseball team found itself on the winning side of a 13-10 thriller in Gibsonton, rallying back from a 3-0 deficit in the fourth inning and surviving a comeback attempt that led to five East Bay runs scoring in the sixth.

Both Cougars teams are playing at home tonight, hosting Armwood to try and keep the win streaks alive. Plant City’s teams also kept their lengthy win streaks alive at Bloomingdale Tuesday night. The softball team picked up a 3-0 win over the Bulls, scoring all three runs in the sixth, thanks in part to big games from Rylee Moorman (3-for-4, one run) and Ashley Blessin (one hit, one walk, 16 strikeouts). The baseball team didn’t have it quite as easy but came through in the clutch for a 2-1 come-from-behind win. Down 1-0 for nearly five innings, Jarod Wingo and Cade Shissler each drove in runs in the seventh inning (Wingo and Mario Williams scored) and Tyler Dowdy picked up the win with flawless pitching in the last two innings. Neither Plant City team has lost a game since March, and they’ll both look to keep it that way when hosting East Bay tonight.

You’re doing pretty well in track and field this year, though. Yes. I now hold the school record at eight feet, four inches. I’m going to try to beat that even more now. When did you start track and field? My junior year because my anatomy teacher was the coach for pole vault and he said I should give it a try. Last year I tied the school record and I wasn’t able to break it, so that’s why in my senior year I was determined to beat the record, which I have.

Once your track and field season is over, that’s it for you.

Justin Kline

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Soccer, because I get to be aggressive and be able to run a lot.

I felt really great. I just remember after I landed, I saw the bar was still up there and got excited to say I was finally able to hold the record.

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No. I like to stay active within the sports at the school, but I also like to do other different activities to keep me active.

Yes, our flag football season ended (Monday) and I was able to make the touchdown, we ended up going to overtime and winning, 13-12. It was great to win my last flag football game in my senior year. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to states for track.

Know someone who deserves an Athlete of the Week feature? Email Justin Kline at JKline@ plantcityobserver.com by the Friday before the next issue.

When high school’s over, what are you hoping you can look back on and say you’re proud to have accomplished? I’m glad that I got to beat the record for pole vault. Hopefully I’ll be able to say that I hold the record for triple jump. Hopefully my sister that comes up to high school in two years, hopefully she’ll follow in my footsteps and play a sport, too. What are your college plans? I plan to attend HCC my first year to get my AA degree, then I plan to transfer to the University of Florida and major in elementary education so I can become a second grade teacher. You’ve got this whole thing figured out already. What made you want to become a teacher? My mom’s actually a second grade teacher. Growing up, having her tell me about her little class stories, I fell in love with helping kids out and I want to be able to teach the young students and follow in my mom’s footsteps. What’s something you think you’ll miss most about high school? Being on teams, all the friends I’ve made in the different kinds of sports I’ve played. I’ll miss them for sure.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

SPORTS

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WHAT’S ON KLINE’S MIND?

JUSTIN KLINE

ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS WE WATCH FOR

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

SCORES AND MORE

FROM KLINE, PAGE 17

BASEBALL

Apr. 27

Apr. 18

Apr. 10

Plant City at Armwood, 10 a.m.

Armwood at Durant, 7 p.m. East Bay at Plant City, 7 p.m. Strawberry Crest at Wharton, 7 p.m.

Riverview 5, Durant 3

Plant City 1, Riverview 0 Strawberry Crest 4, Wiregrass Ranch 3

Plant at Durant, 7 p.m. Brandon at Plant City, 7 p.m. Strawberry Crest at Spoto, 7 p.m.

Apr. 12

May 2

Apr. 23

Durant 1, Bloomingdale 0

Durant at Gaither, 7 p.m.

Apr. 13

Apr. 3

Lennard 3, Strawberry Crest 2

Spoto at Plant City, 7 p.m. Chamberlain at Strawberry Crest, 7 p.m.

Durant at Lennard, 7 p.m. Hillsborough at Plant City, 7 p.m. Sickles at Strawberry Crest, 7 p.m.

Apr. 11

Apr. 16

Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

Tiger Woods won his fifth Masters on Sunday and his first in 14 years.

There are tons of people now who will tell you they never lost faith in Woods and saw this coming, but don’t mind them. This is a guy who, as recently as 2017, told us he doubted he’d even be able to play golf at all again. It’s not unreasonable for people to have doubted his ability to come back and win the Masters this year. No one should be raked over the coals for counting out a guy who gave us, intentionally or not, every reason to count him out. This is truly the kind of comeback story everyone in sports media is so eager to write about, they’ll mythologize just about anybody these days. One thing that bugs me about sports media at large is how comeback stories are usually handled. Some writers are so desperate that, in my opinion, literally anything can be treated as “adversity.” I don’t have enough fingers and toes to tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase “overcoming adversity” from the top of the sports media world down to even my own hyperlocal beat, talking to area kids who slip it into our conversations as casually as you might talk about the weather outside. The problem is that “adversity” is used so often these days it’s in danger of becoming just another buzzword. It’s getting so watered down it’s almost become fluid itself, so now you have to dig deeper than ever if you want to know whether someone’s talking about overcoming a catastrophic injury to defy doctors’ expectations or getting an A on an algebra test on one night’s study. When you lower the standards and broaden the definition of “adversity,” you can mythologize anybody. There’s far too much of that today. Johnny Manziel got a comeback story before he even really came back to do anything of note, other than going to the CFL only to do something (still unclear) to get banned from the entire league and end up in the now-defunct AAF. He never really got out of the weeds and turned his life around before his redemption arcs were actually published and how that happened at all still confuses me. His postNFL career has had more of a “where are they now?” vibe to it than anything else. Derrick Rose scored 50 points in a game and got everything short of a parade in Minneapolis, which led a lot of writers to sweep one of the murkiest sexual assault cases I can remember under the rug so as not to wreck the narrative of an unexpected return to form. I agree that something larger than life happened with him, but it wasn’t the in-game achievements: it was somehow admitting in court to doing pretty much everything he was accused of, then getting let off the hook by a jury so enamored with his fame its members posed for pictures with him right after quickly finding him non-liable possibly due to his lack of understanding of legal consent. That doesn’t happen for regular people,

and that it happened to a famous person everyone felt bad for due to his extensive injury history and past NBA MVP glory shouldn’t make it excusable — let alone worth making light of in an attempt to get people to worship the guy. People like to hold athletes up to a high standard as role models for the kids because of their on-field accomplishments, which means a lot of athletes who would never agree to such a thing if given the choice are caught up in that net anyway. Just ask Charles Barkley. I don’t believe anything accomplished on a playing field should be used to redeem or cancel out a person’s actions off of it, but it happens all the time and especially so when people get in the business of myth-making. I do hope athletes like Manziel and Rose have learned or are learning to take true accountability for their actions and try to become better people, but I’m not sure they truly got to the right points on and/or off the field when folks started writing inspiring comeback stories and movies about them. Woods didn’t seem to use this comeback as such a distraction from a personal life gone awry. Say what you will about his personality, but he’s publicly taken responsibility for his actions after all of his scandals came to light, from extreme infidelity to prescription drug abuse. He made attempts to get help for and fix his addictions — things he may not have had as much control over as some would think — and it appears they’ve been successful. He taught himself how to control his body after several years of it breaking down during tournaments and requiring more surgeries than anyone ever wants to go through. He got back to the top of the golf world 22 years after he first got there, 14 years after his last Masters win, two years after his fourth and possibly most intensive back surgery. This is the kind of story everyone wanted to tell but got too impatient to wait for. It truly was an unreal comeback. It truly is worth the time and effort writers everywhere, myself included, are putting in to make it the stuff of golf legend — of sports legend at large. Knowing how much adversity Woods had to overcome physically and mentally over the years to pull this off is what makes this such a special moment. It tells us that no matter what life throws at us or what we’ve done to ourselves, there’s a chance we can pull through and achieve our goals with hard work, dedication and selfawareness.

Justin Kline is the Sports Editor at the Plant City Observer. Email: jkline@ plantcityobserver. com.

Apr. 30

Durant 13, East Bay 10 Plant City 2, Bloomingdale 1 Riverview 2, Strawberry Crest 0

SOFTBALL

Apr. 18

Apr. 10

Armwood at Durant, 7 p.m. East Bay at Plant City, 7 p.m. Strawberry Crest at Wharton, 7 p.m.

Durant 4, Riverview 3

Apr. 23 Durant at Lennard, 7 p.m. Hillsborough at Plant City, 7 p.m. Sickles at Strawberry Crest, 7 p.m. Apr. 25 Strawbery Crest at Durant, 7 p.m. Plant City at Lennard, 7 p.m.

Apr. 9 Newsome 10, Strawberry Crest 1

Apr. 22 Plant City at Sebring, 7 p.m.

Apr. 25 Strawbery Crest at Durant, 7 p.m. Plant City at Lennard, 7 p.m. Apr. 27 Plant City at Armwood, 10 a.m. TENNIS Apr. 23

Apr. 11 Plant CIty 5, Riverview 0 Strawberry Crest 10, Wiregrass Ranch 0 Apr. 12

Regional championships TRACK AND FIELD Apr. 26 Regional championships at George Jenkins, 8 a.m.

Durant 7, Bloomingdale 3

FLAG FOOTBALL

Apr. 16

Apr. 22

Durant 5, East Bay 1 Plant City 3, Bloomingdale 0 Riverview 2, Strawberry Crest 0

Districts at Riverview, 7:30 p.m.

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Grantham E. ‘Grant’ Epps

Delmas Franklin Smith

One of Plant City’s own, William R. “Bill” Miley, 84, died April 7, 2019 in Jacksonville. He was born Sept 8, 1934 in Plant City, FL to William Albert and Annie Bell Miley. Bill grew up in Lutz and Tampa and graduated from Hillsborough High School. He worked hard his entire life and retired from CF Industries in Plant City as a Sulfuric Operator. When he wasn’t working he was an avid fisherman and traveler. He enjoyed road trips and traveled to every state in the US and a few countries. He was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Dover and volunteered with Meals on Wheels. He is survived by his wife, Lynne Adele Miley, three children, three step-daughters and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was laid to rest at the family plot in Wildwood, FL with a small family service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Meals on Wheels.

Grantham E. “Grant” Epps, 90, of Plant City, born on June 23, 1928 in Plant City, entered into eternal rest on April 10, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

Delmas Franklin Smith, 68, of Brooksville, passed away on April 10, 2019. Delmas was a United States Army Vietnam Veteran. The family will receive friends Thursday, April 18, 2019 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Haught Funeral Home, 708 W Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd., Plant City, FL 33563. Funeral services will follow at 11:00 a.m. Online condolences may be left for the family at www. haught.care.

Sterling Bush Salcedo Sterling Bush Salcedo, 35, of Tampa, born on April 20, 1983, entered into eternal rest on April 12, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

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Earline Gay Davis Earline Gay Davis, 76, of Dover, born on May 18, 1942 in Lakeland entered into eternal rest on April 10, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

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Albert Turner Pope Sr. ‘Big Albert’

Albert Turner Pope Sr. “Big Albert”, 79, of Plant City, entered into eternal rest on April 12, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

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Jose A. Esparza Bautista Jose A. Esparza Bautista, 63, of Plant City, born on July 12, 1955 in Mexico, entered into eternal rest on April 14, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

Michael Alan Jones Michael Alan Jones, 60, of Hudson, born on Oct. 22, 1958 in Titusville, Pennsylvania, entered into eternal rest on April 11, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

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William Richard ‘Rick’ Stokes William Richard “Rick” Stokes, 62, of Plant City, born on Oct. 8, 1956 in Tampa, entered into eternal rest on April 13, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

Kathryn Bass Wetherington Kathryn Bass Wetherington, 82, of Plant City, born on July 31, 1936 in Opp, Alabama, entered into eternal rest on April 12, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

OBITUARIES

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Maria S. Lopez Maria S. Lopez, 78, of Plant City, born on Sept. 25, 1940 in Mexico, entered into rest on April 12, 2019. Expressions of condolence at www.HopewellFuneral.com.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

THURSDAY, APRIL 18 PLANT CITY TOASTMASTERS

7:30 to 9 a.m. Plant City Toastmasters is held every Thursday. Guests are always welcome to come join the free meeting at the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, 106 N. Evers St.

BRUTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY BOARD MEETING 9 a.m. The monthly Bruton Memorial Library Board meeting is held at the library, 302 McLendon St., and is open for the public to attend.

SHUFFLEBOARD CLUB

10:30 a.m. Come on out to the Planteen Recreation Center, 301 Dort St., each Thursday to find out more about a new Shuffleboard Club. Topics being discussed are days of the week, times, skill levels and anything else you may want to know. The club is hosted by Anita Balch and she can be contacted at 808-722-5821 for more information.

BREASTFEEDING AND NEWBORN CARE CLASS

6 to 8 p.m. South Florida Baptist Hospital is hosting a class that covers several aspects of newborn care, such as breastfeeding, bathing, diapering and safety risks. Participants can bring one guest to the class and are encouraged to bring a notepad. Snacks will be provided. The class is free, but registration is required. Call 1-855-2694777 for more information.

BLUEGRASS NIGHT W/ TRINITY RIVER BAND

6:33 p.m. Krazy Kup, 101 E. J. Arden Mays Blvd., is hosting its monthly Bluegrass Night. Enjoy the strings and harmony of this Florida family group as “Trinity River Band” performs in the Krazy Kup loft. Tickets are $15 and available in store and on Eventbrite. Visit the event’s Facebook page for more information.

FRIDAY, APRIL 19 SPECIAL NIGHT OUT

6 to 7:30 p.m. The Plant City Family YMCA, 1507 YMCA

Place, hosts a Special Night Out event each month for persons with intellectual disabilities and their parents or caretakers to enjoy new experiences, meet new people and have fun. It’s free to attend and April’s event will feature group sports.

SATURDAY, APRIL 20 ULTIMATE BOOT CAMP

8:30 to 10 a.m. The Plant City YMCA is hosting an Ultimate Boot Camp. The cost is $10 and nonmembers are welcome to attend, just register prior to the event at the Y’s Welcome Center.

STRAWBERRY CLASSIC CRUISE-IN

3 to 8 p.m. The Plant City Strawberry Classic Cruise-In is held in downtown Plant City, 102 N. Palmer St. The free car registration begins at 3 p.m. and there will be a variety of vendors, classic cars and trucks, a live DJ and more.

PLANT CITY SOCIAL DANCE

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Plant City Social Dance is kicking off its summer schedule with three April dances at Strawberry Square MHP, 4401 Promenade Blvd. The cost is $6 and will include slow dances, waltzes, line dances, cha-cha and more.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23 PLANT CITY LIONS CLUB

12 to 1 p.m. The Plant City Lions Club holds a meeting every Tuesday at Buddy Freddy’s, 1101 Goldfinch Drive. For more information on membership call 813-924-3829.

ASPIRE ANNIVERSARY PARTY

6 to 8 p.m. Aspire Plant City is hosting its anniversary party at Wishing Well Barn, 4302 Pippin Road. This event is to show its appreciation to its members and welcome women in the community to check out the young group. Be sure to RSVP online at aspireplantcity.org to secure your tickets.

the head. You can find her on the couch in the children’s area. Reading with Bonnie can help children improve reading, communication skills and build confidence.

THURSDAY, APRIL 25 PLANT CITY TOASTMASTERS

7:30 to 9 a.m. Plant City Toastmasters is held every Thursday. Guests are always welcome to come join the free meeting at the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, 106 N. Evers St.

BEST BET SATURDAY, APRIL 20 CITY-WIDE EASTER EGG HUNT

10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Plant City Recreation & Parks Department is hosting the 31st annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Otis M. Andrews Sports Complex, 2602 E. Cherry St. The hunt is at 10 a.m. and activities will last until 12:30 p.m. The egg hunt is for children ages 3 to 11. There will be 10,000 candy-filled eggs and some golden eggs for additional prizes. Bring your own basket. There are also bunny photos, face painting, food and more.

SHUFFLEBOARD CLUB

YOUR HOSPITAL STAY AND POSTPARTUM ISSUES

6 to 8 p.m. South Florida Baptist Hospital is hosting a class to discuss hospital policies regarding hospital stay, emotional changes and adjusting to the new parent role. Participants can bring one guest to the class and are asked to bring a notepad for notes. The class is held in the ICU Conference Room, 2-South. Registration is required, but is free for the class. Call 1-855-269-4777 for more information.

UNDERSTANDING CREDIT

7 p.m. Bruton Memorial Library, 302 McLendon St., is hosting an Understanding Credit seminar. Join GTE Financial expert Michelle Christie as she breaks down the topic of credit. During the presentation you will learn about credit reports, interpreting scores, common myths and more. No registration necessary.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 READ WITH BONNIE THE THERAPY DOG

4 to 5 p.m. Bonnie the Therapy Dog comes to Bruton Memorial Library, 302 McLendon St., every week for children to have the opportunity to share a book and some soft pats on

SAT, APRIL 27 | 10am-1pm AT THE PLANT CITY FAMILY YMCA PLANT CITY FAMILY YMCA 1507 YMCA Pl., Plant City 813.757.6677

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PlantCityObserver.com

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

Edited by David Steinberg April 18, 2019

4/18

FORECAST THURSDAY, APRIL 18 High: 92 Low: 72 Chance of rain: 20%

FRIDAY, APRIL 19 High: 86 Low: 61 Chance of rain: 100%

SUNDAY, APRIL 21 High: 79 Low: 56 Chance of rain: 0%

BLUEBERRIES Shipping point: Central Florida $16-$19

Tearing Open by Erik Agard

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SUNRISE/SUNSET

Sunrise Sunset

Thursday, April 18

7:00a

7:55p

Friday, April 19

6:59a

7:56p

Saturday, April 20

6:58a

7:56p

Sunday, April 21

6:57a

7:57p

Monday, April 22

6:56a

7:57p

Tuesday, April 23

6:56a

7:58p

Wednesday, April 24

6:55a

7:59p

MOON PHASES

SATURDAY, APRIL 20 High: 72 Low: 55 Chance of rain: 0%

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May 4 New

Apr. 18 Full

May 9 First

Apr. 30 Last

RAINFALL Monday, Apr. 8

0.00

Tuesday, Apr. 9 0.05 Wednesday, Apr. 10

0.00

Thursday, Apr. 11 0.00 Friday, Apr. 12

0.00

Saturday, Apr. 13 0.02 Sunday, Apr. 14

0.21

YEAR TO DATE:

MONTH TO DATE:

2019 4.04 in.

2019 0.65 in.

2018 4.88 in.

2018 1.06 in.

WEATHER

I LOVE PLANT CITY

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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

PLANT CITY OBSERVER

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019

PlantCityObserver.com