PLANT CITY
Observer
PC fights youth drug use. SEE PAGE 3.
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 6, NO. 12
FREE
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018
It’s the final countdown The 2018-2019 city budget will be approved by city commissoners on Monday. SEE PAGE 8
YOUR TOWN
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Strawberry runners unite The 2019 Astin Farms Strawberry Distance Challenge is now accepting registration. The run will be held from 7 to 10 a.m. on Feb. 9, 2019. When you sign up at itsallgoodeventsllc.redpodium. com, you will receive a tshirt, timing for the 5k and 10k races, a finishing medal, free photos, water, bananas and, of course, tons of strawberries at the finish line. Check out the Strawberry Distance Challenge 2019 Facebook page for more information.
Staffing dilemma Breanne Williams
Durant High School ROTC color guard did the presentation of the colors.
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Officer Eric Cruz conducted a vehicle search for an impounded car after the driver was arrested for DUI.
Plant City Police Department has had the same number of officers on staff for years, despite the city’s rapid growth. SEE PAGE 4
Class of ‘73 celebrates 45th Photo courtesy IGers of Plant City
Could it be any more fun? Despite first hitting the airwaves in 1994, the love of the sitcom classic “Friends” drew a packed house to The Corner Store for the specially themed trivia night. The Corner Store had a “Friends” menu featuring items like Central Perk Brew, Nestlay Toulhouseur Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars and the Stolen Cheesecake.
PCHS’s class of 1973 was the first to graduate from the current location on Alexander Street.
BREANNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
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hey made up the class that brought Plant City together. In 1973, for the very first time, the doors of the new Plant City High School building located on Alexander Street opened, inviting students from very different schools into its halls. For years they had been rivals, now they all wore the teal and orange. Prior to the new school opening, Marshall High transitioned into a middle school, sending the majority of its stu-
dents to PCHS. Students from the former PCHS, Turkey Creek and Pinecrest merged together in 1973 as the new students of Plant City High. “It’s going to be a fun night,” Debbie Swindle said. “There will be a social hour and then a casual dinner. We’re hoping for a packed house.” The alumni will have a chance to catch up with old friends and reminisce about the memories of that fateful year. The semester prior, a survey was sent out to the merging classes and they voted on the
new colors. Joy Burt Lingenfelter said because of the University of Miami’s whirlwind success it wasn’t a surprise that the majority of the votes were for teal and orange. She said when they first started out students were “cliquey” and that it took “quite some time” for everyone to begin mingling and uniting as one student body. “It was an adjustment, to say the least, all of us coming under one roof, but I met new friends from the other schools that I SEE REUNION, PAGE 5