Plant City Observer 12.13.12

FREE • thuRsday, dECEMBER 13, 2012

SPORTSINSIDEPlant City’s WishFarms celebrates90th anniversary.PAGE 6

PLANT CITYObserveryou. youR nEighBoRs. youR nEighBoRhood.

Plant City Raiderscrowned nationalchampions.PAGE 15

Briefs ...................4 Crossword ......... 19 Obituaries ......... 14 Sports ............... 15Vol. 1, No. 24 | One section

PlantCityObserver.com

+ High-schoolerearns scholarship

Plant City High School junior Lindsey English was rec-ognized recently by the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay.

Lindsey, along with mother Chrystal English, grandmother, tawauna English and College and Career Counselor sherrie Mueller, attended the 2012 Tampa Bay Scholarship Luncheon Nov. 27, at the Grand Hyatt, in Tampa.

Lindsey earned a two-year prepaid scholarship courtesy of Ronald McDonald House Charities.

+ Tree contestbrightens city

There still is time to enjoy the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas tree contest.

This year’s contest, which runs through Dec. 19, features 23 businesses, including the Plant City Observer. Each par-ticipant features a fully deco-rated tree and invites visitors to cast votes for their favorite.

Participants include BPowerful Promos, BAYADA Home Health Care, Brown’s Floral Shop, Cameron Financial, CenterState Bank, Creative Flowers by Glenn, Dinosaur World, Edwards

Platt Myer, P.A., the Florida Strawberry Festival, Grace Manor at Hunters Creek, Holiday Inn Express

Hotel, Hope Lutheran Church, Inspire Quilting & Sewing, Millie’s

Gift Shop, Myers & Wright, P.A., Plant City Family YMCA, Plant City Observer, South Florida Baptist Hospital, The Cottage in Plant City, Tip

to Toe, United Food Bank of

Plant City, Walden Lake Car Wash and Wells Memorial & Event Center.

OUR TOWN

INDEX

EXCLUSIVEThousandsattend St. Clement’sGuadalupe festival.PAGE 5

Morrisound Recording stu-dio has had an all-star list of art-ists and music headliners walk through its doors since it opened in 1981.

Third Eye Blind, Ozzy Osborne, Little Feat and more have per-formed live broadcasts in the nationally syndicated “Rockline” radio show from “A” studio in Morrisound.

Now, the studio can add music’s future stars — including two from Plant City — to that list of celebri-ties.

Springhead Elementary School students Anabel Saldaña and Walker Reeves joined others from nine other Hillsborough County elementary schools Nov. 29, dur-ing the Young Songwriters’ Sym-posium. Participating schools chose a music teacher and up to two fifth-grade students to write and perform a song.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Spring-

SWEET SERENADE by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

springheadsongwriters hit famousstudioTwo Springhead students joined others to make some music magic at Morrisound Recording studio last week in Tampa.

SEE SONGWRITERS / PAGE 4

Plant City welcomed the Christmas season with its fun, festive Christmas Parade Dec. 7, in Historic Down-town Plant City. This year’s parade featured a myriad of floats and performing groups, which helped turn downtown into a winter wonderland. Parade partici-pants also competed for top honors in front of a panel judges at McCall Park.

2012 CHRISTMAS PARADE by Michael Eng and Matt Mauney

LOVELY LYRICS

“thE sEaRCh”The Search is nearBut the distance is farI have my peers With open armsShould I choose To be afraid Of the things along the way

— Anabel Saldaña

“Fighting a BLaCk BELt”Fighting a Black Belt in a karate dojo

When I’m fighting him, I got to have my mojo

Fighting a Black Belt in karate dojo

Got to be ready at all costs‘Cus I would get mad if I really lost

— Walker ReevesFor more photos, see page 10 or visit PlantCityObserver.COm.

SEASON’S GREETINGS

CLOCkWISE FROM ABOVE: Santa rode in on the final float of this year’s parade. | Plant City Police Department motorcyclists cleared the streets for the parade. | Florida Strawberry Festival Queen Chelsea Bowden | Children loved waving and cheering from their floats. | tom thompson enjoyed the parade with granddaughter kaley. | Plant City High School’s Bassmasters were ready to reel in some Christmas fun.

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PlantCityObserver.com 3 Plant city observerTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012

Plant City commissioners approved Dec. 10 contracts with several companies for a variety of projects throughout the city.

The city accepted a bid of $207,000 from Palm Harbor-based Kloote Contracting Inc. to construct the Grant-Hunter Pond Trail, located at the 11.33-acre park at the corner of Grant and Hunter streets.

The bid is $49,675 more than the original bid from B.R.W. Contracting Inc. However, B.R.W., along with five other contracting companies that submitted bids, did not have the general contractor license or certi-fications the project requires, City Manager Greg Horwedel said.

Kloote’s bid is still under the $250,000 budget allocated for the project. That money includes a $125,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Pro-tection Recreational Trails Program and matching funds from the city.

Kloote will install a 12-foot-wide concrete trail around the pond and sod along both sides. Unspent funds will be used to add other amenities, including park benches, trash receptacles and a bike rack. The proj-ect should be complete by March 1, 2013.

Commissioners also approved Monday:• A contract with Q.G.S. Development

Inc. to complete stormwater projects throughout the city. The projects includ-ing the drainage improvements at Cherry Street; Franklin and English streets; Wheel-er Street and Veterans Memorial Park; Ver-mont Street; and Lincoln and Madison Park. The work should not exceed $900,000;

• A contract to purchase the parcel at 4609 Airport Road for $40,000. This is the fourth of five parcels the city must acquire to complete the realignment of Airport Road to create better geometry at the road’s intersection with Turkey Creek Road; and

• The awarding of a $55,860 contract to Gary Knight’s Excavating and Site Services Inc. for 9,500 cubic yards of fill material for phase two of Ellis Methvin Park.

Contact Michael Eng at [email protected].

The Plant City Commission authorized funding for several projects at its Dec. 10 meeting.

For Christmas, many children are getting toys and electronics. A child’s wish list often features plenty of things he or she wants but doesn’t need. But the Plant City Junior Woman’s Club is bringing some holiday cheer in the form of necessity.

Club member Lisa Rhodes and five James Hardie Building Products employees played the part of Santa Dec. 10, at Bryan Elemen-tary School, as they delivered 40 pairs of new tennis shoes to students.

Children were called out of class to come to the multipurpose room. There, they sat in a chair as Engineer Pius Ogolawa, Main-tenance Manager Rick Ysasi, General Fore-man Joe Rivera and Operations Manager Scott Monahan measured the children’s feet to double-check the size and fit of their shoes.

“You wouldn’t think they’d enjoy com-ing here, because they’re all big and tough, but they love doing this,” Diane Miller, of the human resources department at James Hardie, said.

James Hardie has partnered with the Plant City Junior Woman’s Club and spon-sored shoes for Bryan Elementary for about 10 years. The club gets a list from school guidance counselors and social workers of students in need.

“I like seeing them get excited when they get new shoes,” Monahan said.

Indeed, the students had big smiles on their faces as they took their shoes, which came in all colors and styles, back to class. Some had colored shoestrings, others sporty stripes emblazoned along the sides. All students also received a pair of socks. This is the first year the Plant City Woman’s Club has picked out the shoes for Bryan Elementary. In the past, James Hardie em-ployees have done the shopping.

“We go and invade Payless,” Miller said. The club and company schedule the shoe

drive around the holidays for a reason. They want the students to know someone cares and to have a new gift.

“Last year, a little boy came in and

wouldn’t speak and had the biggest eyes — all scared,” Miller said. “When he got his shoes, he wanted to put them back in the box. We asked him why, and he wanted to put them under the tree so he would have a Christmas present. It touched me.”

“It’s a good time of year to give back if you can,” Monahan said. “We really enjoy it.”

James Hardie also sponsors many other community projects throughout the year, including building houses and building handicap-accessible features to homes for disabled veterans. James Hardie also is funding a trip for a man from MacDonald Training Center who wants to go to Disney’s Animal Kingdom before he becomes com-pletely blind.

“We like doing community-involvement type of things,” Monahan said.

Bryan Elementary is lucky enough to have a corporate sponsor, but the Plant City Woman’s Club also raises funds to help the other elementary schools in Plant City, Do-ver and Turkey Creek.

Profits from the Little Miss Plant City event and the Florida Strawberry Festival’s Baby Parade go to fund this and other club charities. Next year, the club will organize

its first golf tournament at Walden Lake Golf and Country Club.

“There’s a lot of need out there — es-pecially with the economy,” Rhodes said. “There’s probably more of a need now. I wish we could do more.”

In addition to the shoe drive, the 30-mem-ber club also adopts a school, which they visit three times per year to complete proj-ects with the students. At the end of the year, the club donates a book to each stu-dent to promote reading.

Contact Amber Jurgensen at [email protected].

When Xiomara Meeks is in Winter Park, she loves to eat at The Ravenous Pig, and she is not quiet when it comes to spreading the word about its food. On her most recent trip, Meeks tweeted about the delicious dish she ordered. And Meeks knows good food — she oversees the day-to-day operations at Parkesdale Farm Market.

“It’s just a really good restaurant,” Meeks said about The Ravenous Pig. “Everything’s really fresh. They use in-teresting combinations.”

The marketing manager for The Rav-enous Pig, Erin Allport, and own-er and chef James Petrakis saw the tweet and re-sponded back.

“After Xiomara came in for din-ner and tweeted about it, we were intrigued and looked (her) up,” Petrakis said.

They liked the local aspect of Parkes-dale. Allport felt Parkedale took the same pride in its work and food as The Ravenous Pig did when creating dishes. Meeks felt the same respect for the res-taurant and took a liking to Petrakis’s cookbook, “Seasons of Florida.” The book focuses on the food seasons in the state, playing on the irony that although Florida’s climate doesn’t change much, it has diverse palate when it comes to food.

“Where we get food is not just a giant company pumping things out,” Allport said. “There are people behind it like Xiomara and her family and their farm.”

The Ravenous Pig uses local ingredi-ents specifically from Florida in its dish-es. Farmers send their produce within 24 hours of being plucked off the vine. Petrakis inspects items on the truck and will send items back if they are not fresh.

Allport took notice of Parkesdale’s fa-mous strawberries. She reached out to Meeks to see if Parkesdale would be in-terested in having Petrakis do a cooking demonstration at the store and a sign-ing for his cookbook.

“We love finding great local farms and thought it would be fun to do a cook-book signing and cooking demonstra-tion with them — especially because they have a seasonal market,” Petrakis said. “There’s also a great synergy be-

tween what Parkesdale Farms does and what we do. Our cookbook is focused on local, seasonal ingredients, and because Plant City does have a seasonal focus as well ... it’s the perfect fit.”

Meeks sent The Ravenous Pig some strawberries to play with before coming to the event. Petrakis made a salad with the strawberries and put it on the menu at The Ravenous Pig. The salad sold out.

“Their strawberries are amazing,”

Allport said. “They weren’t tart. They were firm and deliciously juicy. We were blown away by how good they were.”

Petrakis and his wife, Julie, started The Ravenous Pig in 2007. They have won many awards and received recog-nition in publications, including Food & Wine, Saveur, and Southern Living, for their ever-changing menu.


Courtesy photo

Trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, James and Julie Petrakis always dreamed of owning their own restaurant.

Parkesdale to host chef’s demo

club helps children put best feet forwardThe Plant City Junior Woman’s Club delivered 40 pairs of tennis shoes this week to Bryan Elementary School.

kicking the need by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

City accepts bid for newpark trail

Amber Jurgensen

Forty Bryan Elementary students now have new kicks for Christmas.

governance by Michael eng | Managing Editor

Chef James Petrakis, owner of The Ravenous Pig in Winter Park, will sign books and host a demonstration this weekend.

FooDIES UNITE by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

IF YoU GoWHen: 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 15 WHere: Parkesdale Farm Market, 3702 W. Baker St. contact: (813) 752-0502

Plant city observerTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012

+ Girl, 12, in criticalcondition after crash

A 12-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was struck by a car while riding her bicycle.

According to Plant City Police Department reports, the girl was riding her bicycle Dec. 9, on the 1800 block of East Calhoun Street, when she was struck by an oncoming vehicle.

The girl was stabilized on-scene and air-lifted to Tampa General Hospital.

The investigation is ongoing.

+ DeeDee Moore sentencedfor Shakespeare murder

It took only about three hours of delib-eration Dec. 10, before jurors came back with their verdict: Dorice “DeeDee” Moore is guilty of killing Florida lottery winner abraham shakespeare.

Then, shortly after the verdict was read, Judge emmet battles delivered the sen-tence: life in prison without parole. Battles had harsh words for Moore, whose emotional outbursts disrupted the two-week trial daily.

“Cold, calculated, cruel — they all apply,” Battles said. “Manipulative ... probably the most manipulative person that this court has seen. Abraham Shakespeare was your prey and your victim. Money was the root of the evil you brought to Abraham.”

Moore was on trial for killing Shakespeare in 2009. Shakespeare, of Lakeland, won $17 million in 2006. Three years later, his family reported him missing.

Shakespeare’s body was found in January 2010 under a concrete slab at a Turkey

Creek home owned by shar Krasniqi, Moore’s boyfriend. He had been shot twice in the chest.

+ Flatbed semi-truck strikes car downtown

A flatbed semi-truck hauling rebar hit a parked car on Collins Street Dec. 5, as it tried to make a turn at the corner of Reynolds and Collins streets.

The 2008 red Mitsubishi Eclipse sus-tained damage to its back and rear driver-side door. The back tire also sustained dam-age.

“It just ruined my day,” Janet Denham, owner of the Eclipse, said.

According to police, the truck driver was using his GPS to navigate through town. Trucks are not supposed to come through downtown and down Collins Street. The proper trucking routes direct trucks down Wheeler Street, Alexander Street and Park Road.

+ Jarrett-Scott Fordcommits to National FFA

Jarrett-Scott Ford’s Jim scott announced this week the Plant City dealership would join Ford Motor Company in its ongoing commitment to the National FFA.

Ford has committed to a 16th year of the Built Ford Tough — FFA collegiate scholar-ship program, which will award $1,000 scholarships to hundreds of FFA members, each co-sponsored by dealers.

“We’re pleased to be able to support the local chapter and Ford Motor Company in its strong commitment to the National FFA,” Scott said.

Jarrett-Scott Ford is sponsoring the Built Ford Tough collegiate scholarship program for Plant City, Durant and Strawberry Crest high schools.

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St Peter’s Episcopal Church302 N Carey Street, Plant City 813 752-5061

On Baker Street (92 West), 1/2 mile west of Wheeler Street (SR 39), at the corner of Carey Street

An Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols

First held on Christmas Eve, 1918, at King’s College, Cambridge, this holiday tradition has spread throughout the world as a blessed way

to prepare for the arrival of our Savior on Christmas morning.

You are invited to join our congregation and gifted choir as we ‘look forward to the yearly remembrance of Christ’s birth

with hymns and songs of praise.’

Sunday, December 16, 2012, 10:30 a.m.

Childcare provided.

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head music teacher Jennifer Burrows said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Most kids never get to do that.”

The students recorded 19 tracks during their day-long session. The next day, Nov. 30, the students performed the songs live at a concert for friends, family and school employees and board members at Orange Grove Middle Magnet School.

Burrows has participated in the program for three years after learning about it at a meeting. She applied and was accepted into the program.

“It sounded like something fun,” Burrows said.

This year, she picked Anabel and Walker to work on writing songs. The students were selected based on their interest in mu-sic and also creative writing because song-writing takes both skills. The duo, along with Burrows, brainstormed for months on their songs, meeting after school weekly to collaborate.

“Students often write about tragedies or things that happen in their lives, impor-tant issues (such as) bullying, cute things like ‘I want a dog,’ or about the actual writ-ing process like how they might be scared to perform their songs on stage,” Lorri Naylor, chair of the advocacy committee of the Hillsborough County Elementary Music Educators Council, said.

The students wrote two songs — “The Search” and “Fighting a Black Belt.” The

two songs are vastly different. Anabel’s creation, “The Search,” was in-

spired by a book she was reading, “Out of my Mind,” about a paraplegic girl. From there she brainstormed different ideas about friendship, loneliness and family. “The Search” is soft, almost melancholy. Anabel’s soft voice resonates to the tune of a humming guitar and gentle piano.

By contrast, Walker’s song, “Fighting a Black Belt,” is an upbeat tune with come-dic lyrics about fighting a black-belt karate master. His voice is strong and confident as he talks about his karate instructor, Chris Welbon.

The district has offered the symposium since 2003. The project initially was de-signed by former Elementary Music Su-pervisor Margaret Griffin, district resource teacher Janice Lancaster, former Florida Department of Education Program Special-ist June Hinckley and executives at Broad-cast Music Incorporated. Later, Apple and Sibelius joined the project.

The Hillsborough County Elementary Music Educators Council currently funds the symposium. Daniel Shea and Sean Moats are teacher coordinators, and Super-visor of Elementary Music Education Mela-nie Faulkner oversees the project.

“The program is absolutely amazing,” Naylor said. “It covers so many aspects of the creative process and learning. They have to look deep down inside of them.”


Courtesy photo

The students recorded a studio version of their songs and also did a live performance.

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The steady beating of power-ful drums resonated Dec. 11, inside of the Plant City Stadium, as Matlachines dancers hopped from foot to foot, opening the procession of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration.

Boom. Grasping maracas in their

hands, they rattled them fero-ciously.

Boom. Their feathered headdresses

blew in the wind. Boom. Glitter designs in the shape of

the sacred heart and the cross on their traditional red garb sparkled in the night.

Throughout Mexico and the United States, the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe takes place on the same nights. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic icon of Mary. In the 1500s, peasant Juan Diego saw a vision of Mary in Tepeyac, in Mexico. Her face was imprinted mysteriously on a robe when the archbishop asked for proof of her existence.

Since 2007, St. Clement Cath-olic Church has hosted a cel-ebration in honor of the holiday. In the first year, more than 5,000 people attended the first day. During the three-day celebra-tion, which featured rides, food, vendors, dances, local bands and Mass, 10,000 came through.

This year, the celebration was

more religious, because the holiday fell in the middle of the week. But there still were plenty of rides, games and food outside the stadium, including a fun-house, ferris wheel, spinning tea cups and bumper cars. Red and green flags representing Mexico zigzagged over vendors, who sat in the hallway of the stadium, selling beaded rosaries, trinkets and clothing.

The celebration took place from 6 p.m. Dec. 11, to 6 a.m. Dec. 12, instead of the usual three-day vigil.

“What we are trying to do here for the Hispanic community and the people in the surround-ing areas is to celebrate our faith and culture,” said Anselma Fer-nandez, who coordinated the event for St. Clement. “Some cannot go back to Mexico, so we put together our celebration. It’s for anybody — especially Cath-

olics. It’s part of our religion, faith and culture.”

Throughout the year, the church raises funds for the event through dances, drawings and collections. They also ask members to be “padrinos,” or sponsors.

“In our culture, it is an honor to be a sponsor for the celebra-tion,” Fernandez said.

Dancers kicked off the event at 6 p.m. followed by an of-fering of homemade bread to Mary. At 7 p.m., there was a pa-

rade of flags, more dancing and recognition of a member of the church that has exemplified ex-ceptional volunteer service.

The youth performed folk-lore dances and put on a play about the vision of the blessed lady, the chorus sang traditional songs, and Mariachis played for Mary.

The stadium fell silent from all the activity for a tradition-al Mass at midnight. Families gathered in quiet reverence to pay respect to Mary. From 2 to 5

a.m., migrant workers, children and families prayed to the Lady of Guadalupe for favors in ex-change for promises.

“This is an enrichment, espe-cially to young people so they can learn the culture and be proud of their culture,” Fernan-dez said. “It’s educational for the community, too, because it’s a way of learning about our culture.”


Thousands attend St. Clement church celebrationCULTURAL EXCHANGE by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

The Plant City church has hosted its Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration since 2007.

Photos by Amber Jurgensennorma Hernandez leads the group in a practice dance before the procession.

rocio rodriguez and eva Munoz couldn’t wait to perform.


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and Timpani

Although the name has only been around for a few years, the story behind Wish Farms dates back much earlier — 90 years in fact.

Now a fourth-generation, family-owned company, Wish Farms is a leader in the straw-berry growing industry and has been a major contributor to Plant City’s title as the Win-ter Strawberry Capital of the World.

“We’ve made some big tran-sitions over the years,” said owner Gary Wishnatzki. “Look-ing back, it was quite a different world from where we are today.”

HUMBLE BEGINNINGSGary Wishnatzki is the third

generation of this long-standing family business. His daughter, Elizabeth, represents the fourth generation and is assisting with marketing efforts. Her husband, James, also works for the com-pany in the sales department.

The company’s story dates back more than 110 years, when Gary’s grandfather, Harris Wish-natzki, emigrated from Russia to New York City and began sell-ing fruits and vegetables from a pushcart. There, he met Daniel Nathel, and the pair eventually became business partners.

In 1922, Wishnatzki and Nath-el combined their large pushcart fleets and formed Wishnatzki &

Nathel. Seven years later, Wish-natzki moved to Plant City and established a produce-shipping operation.

After two more generations of Wishnatzkis joined the business, the family and the Nathel family agreed to split the company. The Wishnatzkis oversaw the Florida division and changed the name to Wishnatzki Farms in 2001.

In 2010, the company launched its consumer brand, Wish Farms. A year later, it became a year-round supplier of blueberries, strawberries and vegetables. The blueberries have seven different growing regions. The strawberries have an operation in Salinas and Santa Maria, Calif., when they are out of season locally. Wish Farms also has a vegetable-growing op-eration in Pine Island.

In January 2011, the company made the official name change

to Wish Farms and has kept its headquarters in Plant City.

“We’re trying to separate ourselves from the pack and have our brand recog-nized,” Wishnatzki said.

HOUSEHOLD NAMEWish Farms has become

a major player locally, not only as a produce grower and shipper but also away from the crops and fields. Marketing Director Amber

Kosinsky is helping to expand the brand, including expanding its social media outreach with active profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Wish Farms also has utilized the Florida Strawberry Festival as a way to market its products and name. It sponsors the per-formance stage that has brought some notable music acts in the past.

“We go way back with the com-munity here, so that’s one reason why we want to stay involved with events like the Florida Strawberry Festival,” Wishnatzki said. “We want to give back to this community that has given us so much over the years.”

MAKING STRIDESIn addition to new branding

efforts and the name change, Wish Farms has made some oth-

er significant changes through-out the past 10 years.

When Gary Wishnatzki started working for his dad and uncle in 1974, the company operated out of a rented railroad platform Par-adise Plastics calls home today.

“We were a little bit behind the times compared to what Califor-nia was doing,” Wishnatzki said.

At that time, the company wasn’t automated with its daily operations. But in the last de-cade, Wish Farms has updated and enhanced its cooling efforts and has made great strides in its processing.

“Processing has enhanced our ability to pick the crops to the very end,” Wishnatzki said. “Processing gives us the ability to stay fresh.”

Wishnatzki said improve-ments also have been made in forecasting.

“We used to not have a scien-tific way of predicting produc-tion, and today, we do,” he said. “It allows us to make promises and keep those promises.”

A traceability system has been put in place that allows the com-panies to track berries from the crop to the consumer.

“When we get feedback from customers on our berries, we can track and find out exactly where and when those berries were picked,” he said. “That was a tre-mendous innovation for us and allows us to correct our failures.”

Contact Matt Mauney at [email protected].

Gary Wishnatzki and his wife, therese, are the third generation in the family to own Wish Farms.

HAPPY AnnivERSARY by Matt Mauney | Associate Editor

A LONG TIME GROWINGWith humble beginnings, Wish Farms has established itself as one of the leading growers and shippers of strawberries in the state.

Courtesy photos

Wish Farms has come a long way since its humble beginnings.


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Nothing seemed out of the ordi-nary for Jaretha Fletcher when she left her house for church Nov. 14. She showered, got herself ready, grabbed her purse and drove away in her 2002 Ford Explorer. The 62-year-old lives in Turkey Creek and was headed for Whitehurst Road Baptist Church when she suffered a seizure, blacked out and crashed into a tree.

Police estimated she hit the tree at 60 mph. An eyewitness said Fletcher was maintaining a constant speed and then suddenly started accelerat-ing before crashing into the tree.

Fletcher suffered a compound fracture in her leg and a broken arm. She was able to give the police her in-formation, but in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, she went into shock. Fletcher was then airlifted to Tampa General Hospital.

The police contacted Fletcher’s family.

“It was really, really hard,” her grandson, Trey Fletcher, said. “I’m re-ally close to my grandma. I see her ev-ery day, and in a second, everything changed.”

The police told the family she had a broken arm and leg fracture, but when they arrived at the hospital, a doctor told them she also had more serious internal injuries.

“That’s when it really hit me,” Trey Fletcher said. “When we got to the hospital and found out what was re-ally going on.”

Her small intestines were ripped into three sections, but the surgeons couldn’t operate until her body tem-perature was raised.

That wasn’t the last of her troubles. Jaretha Fletcher got an infection in her compound fracture, which was causing her blood pressure to lower. To stabilize her pressure, doctors am-putated her right leg below the knee.

Her blood pressure is still is low. Several days after the accident, her

brain began to swell. Fletcher awoke from the coma two weeks ago, but she is weak from lying in a hospital bed.

Doctors still are trying to find out what caused her seizure. About 14 years ago, Fletcher had a similar ac-cident in Walden Lake. She blacked out at the wheel of the car and almost crashed into a swimming pool. Her daughter-in-law, Brittony Fletcher, grabbed the wheel to steer the car, and the car ended up crashing into a home.

“The nurses tell us to stay positive; don’t give up on her,” Trey Fletcher said. “We’re all thinking positive. She is going to get better. She’s come so far.”


Family asks for prayers for accident victimJaretha Fletcher is recovering in a hospital after crashing into a tree with her SUV a month ago.

UPDATE by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

Courtesy photo

Jaretha Fletcher is active in her church, Whitehurst Road Baptist.

The following information was gathered from inci-dent and arrest reports obtained from the Plant City Police Department.

DEC. 2MAKING A MESS

4600 block of country Hills court. Vehicle Burglary. The victim reported someone entered her 2001 silver BMW through the driver’s door and ransacked the in-terior. The victim stated she did not find any property missing.

ANIMAL HOUSE4500 block of country Hills boulevard. Noise Ordi-

nance Violation. The homeowner was in violation of a city ordinance in reference to loud dogs and birds at this location.

FUNNY MONEY610 block of north Maryland avenue. Counterfeit

Bill. An unknown black female customer passed a counterfeit $20 bill when she made a purchase and left prior to officers’ arrival. The bill was collected and placed into evidence.

SEEK AND FIND4600 bock of south country Hills court. Attempted

Vehicle Burglary. The victim said she left her vehicle unlocked and found someone had gone through the glove box and ransacked the paperwork.

DEC. 3BLOCKBUSTER NIGHT

1510 block of Plantation Grove court. Vehicle Bur-glary. During the night, unknown person(s) smashed the passenger-side window out of a car and stole an in-dash DVD player, valued at about $800.

WALDEN LAKE CARS TARGETEDThe Plant City Police Department investigated nu-

merous vehicle burglaries in Walden Lake. In some of the cases, victims reported nothing stolen.

DEC. 21400 block of live oak court. Unknown suspect(s)

entered the vehicle by an unlocked door. The victim advised nothing was missing from the vehicle.

DEC. 33350 block of silverstone Drive. On Nov. 30, an un-

known suspect entered a convertible Isuzu Rodeo SUV and stole a wallet containing $600 cash, credit cards and IDs. According to the reporting victim, some of the credit cards were used in Plant City at a Citgo gas station.

DEC. 43200 block of thackery Way. The victim reported

that sometime on Dec. 3, unknown person(s) en-tered his unlocked 2006 Pontiac car, emptied the glove box but took nothing.

3210 block of Pine club Drive. Unknown person(s) entered an unlocked Dodge truck. The victim was unsure whether anything was taken.

2510 block of clubhouse Drive Unknown suspect(s) entered a locked Dodge Caravan and stole $47 cash and a power converter. The door handle was dam-aged to gain entry.

3200 block of thackery Way. The victim reported that a U.S. passport and miscellaneous IDs were tak-en from his unlocked Honda Civic.

Kipling avenue. The victim stated unknown suspect(s) entered her vehicle and stole her wallet, which contained her driver’s license and other pa-perwork.

DEC. 74100 block of concord Way. A Compaq laptop

computer was taken from inside an unlocked Chrys-ler Sebring car.

2900 block of Forest club Drive. Unknown suspect(s) smashed the driver’s window out of a Ford Expedition and stole a purse containing $60 in cash.

3000 block of Pine club Drive. The victim stated an unknown person(s) entered an unlocked GMC truck and stole a brown wallet containing $100.

2770 block of Hammock Drive. Unknown person(s) entered an unlocked Toyota SUV last night. As of now, nothing is known to have been taken.

COPS PLANT CITY

CORNER

See more Cops Corner reports online.www.PlantCityObserver.com


At exactly 5:53 p.m. Dec. 13, 2006, I witnessed a miracle — the birth of my daughter, Scarlett Joy Plants.

I remember holding her for the first time, wrapped like a burrito, and gazing at the sweet-est face I had ever seen.

Little by little, I’ve been loosening my grip on my little burrito baby.

I remember letting go so she could take her first steps, leaving her for her first day of preschool and saying good-bye on her first day of kindergarten.

I know it sounds cliché, but where did the last six years go?

This sweet child of mine is growing up. She’s 6 going on 16, and it scares me to death!

She got her first love note last week. Scarlett loves to give gifts, a trait she learned from me, and she brought a candy cane for every child in her class. One lit-tle boy returned the favor with a

picture he drew of Scarlett, with her long hair adorned with a bow. I think someone just may have a bit of a crush.

She wanted bangs because Mommy cut bangs, and they just happen to be the lat-est trend. I let her cut bangs; however, my answer was “no” when she wanted to add red streaks like Mommy’s.

Miss Sassy Pants had her first pedicure. The nail technician had to bring a pillow to prop

up her small frame. She chose red sparkly polish for the both of us. I have to admit, this was the best pedicure I had ever gotten, simply because I lived it through those beautiful eyes and sweet smile.

I realize that although I no longer walk the catwalk, I am still modeling. However, this gig is the most important one of my life.

My daughter looks up to me as her guide, and I want to steer her in the right direction.

I love showing her the fun side of me, like when I let her pick the songs on the radio and we jam out in the car.

She also knows there’s a seri-ous side of me, too, and when I mean business, I mean busi-ness.

Mothers tell me all the time, “Just wait until the teenage years. She won’t adore you so much anymore!”

Time is already slipping through my fingers, and I don’t have time to worry about what’s ahead.

For now, I will just relish every second I have being the center of her universe.

This weekend, she’s having a movie night with a bunch of little girls from her class.

I can already hear their giggles and see their smiling faces.

Happy birthday, my sweet Scarlett Joy! Thank you for six of the happiest years of my life!

Emilie Plants, a Plant City na-tive, is a stay-at-home mother of two, freelance journalist and a former Florida Strawberry Festi-val Queens Court member.

PAJAMA MAMA

EMILIEPLANTS

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding

principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly

progressive policy.” Friedrich Hayek

“Road to Serfdom,” 1944

ObserverPLANT CITY

Founding Publisher / Felix Haynes

Managing Editor / Michael Eng, [email protected]

Assistant Managing Editor / Jess Eng, [email protected]

Associate Editors / (Community) Amber Jurgensen, [email protected]; (Sports) Matt Mauney, [email protected] Advertising Executives / Veronica Prostko, [email protected]; Ronda Kyler, [email protected]

Advertising Coordinator / Linda Lancaster, [email protected]

Accounting Manager / Petra Kirkland, [email protected]

Advertising-Production Operations Manager / Kathy Payne, [email protected]

Advertising-Production Coordinator / Brooke Schultheis, [email protected]

Advertising Graphic Designers / Peter Carlson, [email protected]; Monica DiMattei, [email protected]; Marjorie Holloway, [email protected]; Luis Trujillo, [email protected]; Chris Stolz, [email protected]

President / Felix HaynesDirectors / Nate Kilton, Ed Verner,

Matt Walsh110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100A

Plant City, Fla. 813-704-6850

www.PlantCityObserver.com

The Plant CityObserver LLC

Locally OwnedPublisher of the Plant City Observer and

PlantCityObserver.com

©Copyright Plant City Observer LLC 2012 All Rights Reserved

to aDvertiseCall veronica Prostko or ronda Kyler at 704-6850.

senD Us yoUr neWsWe want to hear from

you. Let us know about your community events, celebrations and family member achievements. To contact us, send your information via: Email: Michael Eng, [email protected]

Mail: The Plant City Observer, 110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100-A, Plant City, FL 33563

contact UsThe Plant City Observer is published once weekly,

on Thursdays. It provides free home delivery to several neighborhoods in Plant City. The Plant City Observer also can be found in many commercial locations throughout Plant City and at our office, 110 E. Reynolds St., Suite 100-A.

If you wish to discontinue home delivery or if you wish to suspend home delivery temporarily, call linda lancaster at 704-6850.

Six going on 16

Photos courtesy of Emilie Plants

emilie Plants welcomed her daughter, scarlett, Dec. 13, 2006.

Celebration lights pathto Christmas season

The Lights of Love Celebration sparked some holiday cheer among its hundreds of spectators.

The annual event, held Dec. 6, at McCall Park, kicked off the Christ-mas season in Historic Downtown Plant City. Youth pop group NRG and singers from Plant City’s First Baptist Church provided evening entertain-ment, as families and couples en-joyed the glittering displays.

The event is hosted annually by South Florida Baptist Hospital and several other sponsors.

“We’re going to net about $25,000, which supports the community out-reach programs for South Florida Baptist Hospital,” South Florida Bap-tist Hospital Foundation Executive Director Jana Butler said. “And those programs (include) our Wellness on Wheels mobile unit, our Ladies Night Out education series and our faith community nursing programs.

“My favorite part is the amount of people that we get here,” Butler said. “We get (more than) 300 people to attend. My second favorite is all the children that have their photos with Santa tonight. Santa came from the North Pole tonight to be here this eve-ning. So we have lots of children that will see Santa.”

The displays will be lit every night until the first of the year.

Jackson Howard was happy in his mom’s arms.

festive display by amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor

Michael EngThe downtown display will remain lit until the new year.

Plant City High School Calendar Girls Deena lemelin, Maddy Keene, regan McGavin and erica Williams loved seeing all the lights.

Jessica and lilly Hall relaxed in the park.

The Wolfe family came decked out in their holiday gear.


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TALLAHASSEE. Jodi stevens took two Plant City babies with her on a recent trip to Florida State University in Tallahassee. This was the first time in the state capital for both Jodi’s son, evan, and the Plant City Observer.

IT’S READ EVERYWHERE!

If you’re going on vacation, remember to grab a copy of the Plant City Observer to take with you. Snap a photo of you with the paper at your destina-tion of choice and email it to Managing Editor Michael eng, [email protected]. Make sure you include your full name and where the photo was taken.


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1206 N. Park Rd. | John R. Trinkle Centerwww.newlifeplantcity.org

New Life ChurchPastor Fred Harrold

Worship Experience at 10:00am

1st - 5th Grade Children’s Worship

“Come and join us in the hunt”

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Commissioner bill Dodson loved seeing so many happy Plant City residents.

The drummers from Mt. Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church brought some groove to the parade.

Tampa-based Revealing Truth Ministries’ march-ing band performed in this year’s parade.

Left: Plant City Little League 10-11 players enjoyed their time on the parade route.

Plant City residents lined the parade route for a night of holiday fun.

David Wolf rode in a tiny Smart Car.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The Marshall Middle School Mighty Dragon Band performed.


”““”

As a fifth-generation Plant City resident, I am proud to

have the Plant City Observer as an integral voice in the

community. With a focus on hometown news, the

Plant City Observer provides relevant, interesting

and valuable content each week.

Al HigginbotHamHillsborough County Commissioner

WHy tHe observer?

PLANT CITYObserverYou. Your Neighbors. Your Neighborhood.

ObserverPlant City. Longboat. East County. Sarasota. Pelican Press.

Longboat Observer and Sarasota Observer were named Local Media Association’s 2012 newspapers of the Year. OMG has brought its award-winning journalism to Plant City.

“”

It’s wonderful to have an actual newspaper in Plant City

that provides quality stories that are of direct interest to the

people who live here. On top of that, the people at the Plant

City Observer show a great love for our town. The Plant City

Observer is bringing our diverse community closer by

giving us stories that educate, entertain and inform us

of the city in which we live.

JOsePH mendoliaexecutive and Artistic Director, Plant City Community Choir

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Smiles were all around for Christmas in the Park Dec. 8, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center.

Local children in need re-ceived bags of gifts and met Santa at the annual event, now in its 15th year. Children were pre-registered for the event, and the ones in at-tendance also were entered to win a shiny new bike in a raffle.

A total of 16 bikes were giv-en away. Half were donated by the Improvement League of Plant City, and the other eight came from a collabora-

tion among Friends of Recre-ation and Parks, a non-profit, and other sponsors, accord-ing to Parks and Recreations Director Jack Holland.

The Improvement League also donated 20 turkeys that were raffled to families in need.

In addition to Santa, the Aaron’s Lucky Dog mascot was in attendance to spread some holiday cheer. Free hot dogs and drinks also were available.

Christmas in the Park spreads holiday cheer

gift of giving by Matt Mauney | Associate Editor

Geremiah and Zariah Faison loved meeting Santa and the Aaron’s Lucky Dog.

Marshawn Hilery, 4, loved his new matching game.


Roseate Spoonbill

Richard T. Paul Alafi a Bank Bird Sanctuary

Hillsborough Bay, Florida

That’s our promise.

As Mosaic produces essential phosphate crop nutrients to help the

world grow the food it needs, our 3,000-plus Florida employees are

unwavering in our commitment to wildlife stewardship. Mosaic has

pioneered wildlife relocation techniques and created prime habitats,

as well as fi nancially supported wildlife rehabilitation and education.

We’ve worked with regulators to develop the largest scrub jay

population in Southwest Florida; we’ve reclaimed numerous

popular fi shing lakes; and we own and help fund an island sanctuary

that is home to as many as 18,000 pairs of native water birds. At

Mosaic, we are dedicated to the protection of local wildlife, and equally

dedicated to the creation of local jobs and economic opportunities.

Join in Mosaic’s promise at www.mosaicco.com/promise.

We’re growing a future for creatures great and small.

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For the second consecu-tive year, the Kiwanis Club of Plant City held a holiday pancake breakfast Dec. 8, at the Plant City Bingo Hall.

The event was a fund-raiser for the club, which strives to help children in the local community, in-cluding funding scholar-ships for local students.

“We’ve had great suc-cess with this event, and the turnout this year was better than last year,” said Vice President Michael Lo-pez.

In addition to a delicious breakfast, kids also had the opportunity to have their picture taken with Santa Claus.

SwEET TREAT by Matt Mauney | Associate Editor

Lincoln Elementary School Principal Jennifer West with emory and elizabeth

Kids, Plant CityKiwanians dinewith Santa Claus

Former Florida State Rep. rich Glorioso was one of the cooks for the event.

carol boxtha, vickie nguyen, ana boxtha, aaron blankenship, samuel carrizales and Michael agustin

Jim Hayes and sue Hawthorne manned the coffee station.

Mary Davis and Martha torres enjoyed serving guests.


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Join Haught Funeral Home during the month of December as we remember those we have lost. Stop by during regular business hours and place a personalized Angel on our Angel Tree. There is no cost for the angel. This is our way of remember-ing our loved ones during the holiday season. This service is available to everyone in our community. Also plan on joining us Tuesday December 18 at 7:00pm for

our Service of Remembrance. Our address is 708 W. Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Blvd.

Please Join us as we remember.

Join Haught Funeral Home during the month of December as we remember those we have lost. Stop by during regular business hours and place a personalized Angel on our Angel Tree. There is no cost for the angel. This is our way of remember-ing our loved ones during the holiday season. This service is available to everyone in our community. Also plan on joining us Tuesday December 18 at 7:00pm for

our Service of Remembrance. Our address is 708 W. Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Blvd.

Please Join us as we remember.

Join Haught Funeral Home during the month of December as we remember those we have lost.

Stop by during regular business hours and place a personalized Angel on our Angel Tree.

There is no cost for the angel. This is our way of remembering

our loved ones during the holiday season. This service is available to everyone in our community.

Also plan on joining us Tuesday December 18 at 7:00pm for our Service of Remembrance.

Our address is 708 W. Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Blvd.Please Join us as we remember.

HAUGHT FUNERAL HOME(813) 717-9300

Timothy Curtis BallardTimothy Curtis Ballard,

57, of Dover, died Dec. 5, at his home.

Born Aug. 24, 1955, in Plant City, he was the son of the late Jesse Ballard and Georgia Butler Bal-lard. He was the husband of Cynthia Ballard.

Mr. Ballard was a mem-ber of Sydney Baptist Church and had worked for Mosaic for more than 20 years.

Survivors include a daughter, Tara Kras-nichan; brothers, Alan and Charles Ballard; and one granchild, T.J. Krasnichan.

The family will be having a private ser-vice.

If you would care to make donations in lieu of flowers, please direct those to The Shriner’s Children’s Hospital, 1-800-241-GIFT, or Shriners International Headquar-ters, 2900 Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607.

Online condolences may be made to the family at haughtfuneralhome.com.

Joy Ann Marley BaxterJoy Ann Marley Baxter died Dec. 6, at

home in Beach Park, with her children at her side.

She was preceded in death by her father, W. D. Marley, and mother, Mrs. Willie Mar-ley Skeith.

Mr. Marley was a prominent business-man in Plant City and was one of the initia-tors of the Florida Strawberry Festival. Mrs. Marley’s early years were spent immersed in the “Strawberry culture” of pageants and parades.

She also was preceded in death by her husband, William “Billy” Melbourne Bax-ter.

A Celebration of Life ceremony was Dec. 10, at Blount & Curry Funeral Home, Tam-pa.

A guestbook for Mrs. Marley is available online at BlountCurryMacDill.com.

Ruby M. GrayRuby M. Gray, 79, of Plant City, died Dec.

6, 2012.Survivors include her children, Annie

McElyea (Tom) and Judy Rose (David); brother, Hurley Mayo (Dorothy); sisters, Ledell Jordan and Louise Barnett; grand-children, Mary Lewis (Jr.) and Melinda Taylor (Johnny); and great-grandchildren Elizabeth Lewis, Annberlin Lewis, Justin Taylor and Shelby Taylor.

She was preceded in death by her par-

ents, Alex and Eula Mayo; and brothers, Junior and Neal Mayo.

A Celebration of Life was Dec. 11, at Wil-low Oak Church of God, 4087 S.R. 60 W., Mulberry.

Interment followed at Hopewell Memo-rial Gardens, Plant City.

Online condolences may be made to the family at hopewellfuneral.com.

Gregory Stephen LongGregory Stephen Long,

52, of Tampa and Plant City, died Dec. 6.

Mr. Long was born March 12, 1960, in Plant City, to the late William Long and Murel Tindle Jones (Billie).

Survivors include sib-lings, Ray (Judy) Long, Billy (Jeanette) Long, Kenneth Long, Shawn Long, Patricia (Donald) Stancil, Kevin (Lisa) Jones and Virginia (David) Rodriquez.

A funeral service was Dec. 11, at Haught Funeral Home Chapel.

Online condolences may be made to the family at haughtfuneralhome.com.

Norma Kate Thrasher (Douglas)Norma Kate Thrasher (Douglas), 91, died

Dec. 5, at home. She was born in Dixie

County, Ala., in 1921 and was a resident of Florida since 1935, living in Plant City, Blountstown and for the past 15 years in Lake Wales.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Willie Harmon Thrasher; fa-ther, McCary McNeil Douglas; mother, Alma Lee (Shields) Douglas; brothers, Tommy Ray and Jerry Mack Douglas; and sister, Talatha (Kay) Griffin.

She is survived by her children, Sandra Parrish and Barbara Hill, of Lake Wales; Linda Dixon (Donald), of Plant City; Mack Neil Thrasher, of Banks, Ala.; and Bill Thrasher, of Winter Haven; 11 grandchil-dren; 22 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were Dec. 8, at Wells Memorial and Event Center, Plant City. In-terment followed at Mt. Enon Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Mt. Enon Cemetery Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 326, Plant City, FL 33564.

Condolences may be offered at wellsme-morial.com.

OBSERVEROBITUARIES

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Plant City

SodFREE

DElivERyin Plant City limits

St. AuguStine $115

BAhiA grASS $95

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C a l l t h e S O D M a N TODAY (813) 431 - 9636

98737

I’ve been around sports all my life.

I’ve seen a lot of things in that time.

In the past five or so years, I’ve especially been interested in recruiting and scouting for various sports. I’ve al-

ways been intrigued by what im-pressed some scouts and didn’t impress others.

Today, recruiting has gone to a whole new level with the Internet

and social media. The digital landscape has allowed college coaches to keep an eye on prospects well before their junior or senior years of high school, even if the player isn’t aware.

The United Youth Football League National Champion-ship Tournament, held here in Plant City, had a plethora of young talent take the field last week, at Otis M. Andrews Park.

Some people may think it sounds crazy to use the words prospects and scouting when referring to 6- to 16-year-olds, but I assure you, it’s not.

Okay, maybe with 6-year-olds, but everyone else is fair game. The truth is, like it or not, kids are put under the microscope earlier than ever.

I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do, but it happens.

Take, for example, an eighth-grade all-star team from Chicago. As I chatted

Y O U T H | H I G H S C H O O L | G O L F | S E N I O R S | C O M M U N I T Y | T E N N I S

SportsATHLETE OF

THE WEEKShelby Jacobsen

is a multi-talented8-year-old. 16

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012PLANTCITYObserver.COm

SEE MAUNEY / PAGE 16

SHOW ME THE MAUNEY

MATTMAUNEY

One local Plant City youth football team is a national

champion, and it didn’t have to go far to earn the title.

Defense set the tone for the Plant City Raiders 10-year-

old unlimited team, which allowed just 12 total points through three games in the bracket-style United Youth

Football League National Championship Tournament this month.

“Our defense has been strong all season, and they played especially well through this tournament,” said head coach Fabian Walker.

The Raiders didn’t have an easy road to the championship and faced some of the top youth teams from around the country. Plant City opened the tourna-ment with a 26-0 shutout over the Newark (N.J.) Bears Dec. 2, and punched their ticket to the championship game two days later with a 12-6 defensive battle against the Oakleaf (Jacksonville) Black Knights.

In the championship game, the Raiders squared off against the Homewood Flossmoor (Chicago, Ill.) Junior Vikings, which had not lost a game in two years.

Plant City’s defense limited the Vikings and made several third- and fourth-down stops. Home-wood’s only score of the game came late in the third quarter. That touchdown was set up by a long run by the Vikings.

“We wanted to bring the cham-pionship to Plant City,” Walker said after the win. “Our city was hosting this tournament, so we wanted to keep the trophy here, where it belongs.”

This was just the second tour-nament for the Raiders this sea-son. They competed in a tourna-ment a week earlier, in Atlanta.

Many young football players who grew up in this area dream of one day being able to run out of the tunnel at Raymond James Sta-dium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For many of the players on the Turkey Creek Trojans junior var-sity team, that experience has al-ready become a reality. And the ones that haven’t yet experienced the stadium will do so Dec. 15.

As the Super Bowl champions of their division in the Florida

Youth Football and Cheerlead-ing Association, the Trojans will have the opportunity to have the unique experience as they face the Nuccio Jaguars, a champion in its respective league, at Ray-mond James Stadium.

“It’s a cool experience for the boys,” Trojans head coach Dub Atkins said. “They really get the superstar treatment.”

Players will get to have their picture taken on the famous pi-rate ship and get to use the same

lockers and locker rooms of the Buccaneers and other visiting NFL teams.

They also will get to feel like NFL stars when they are intro-duced individually over the loud-speaker and run out of the fa-mous tunnel.

In addition to the experience, the Trojans will be on a mission to finish what they started, which includes an impressive 14-0 re-

Big thingsin youngpackages

Championship Form

Trojans create lasting memoriesThe Turkey Creek Trojans junior varsity team hope to end its 2012season with a perfect record Dec. 15, at Raymond James Stadium.

youth football by matt mauney | Associate Editor

Matt Mauney

The Turkey Creek Trojans have been hard at work practicing for their big game Saturday at Raymond James Stadium, in Tampa.

The Plant City Raiders beat teams from Newark, N.J., Jacksonville and Chicago en route to the United Youth Football League National Championship this monrth.

SEE TROJANS / PAGE 17

football by matt mauney | Associate Editor

Zamir Knighten and marquel Gabriel celebrated with their teammates with a team chant after the win.

Left: Tyriq Thornton broke several tackles on this touchdown run.

Daquan smith was ready to go in whenever his number was called.

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What was the experience like getting to compete at the Buccaneers stadium?

It was fun, because we got to actually go to the game. I didn’t watch the game last year, but I got to go with two of my broth-ers this year.

Have you ever seen a game there before?No, this was my first time.

What did you like most about the game?

I liked the jets that flew over the sta-dium before. I also liked the pirate ship, even though we didn’t go on it. It was cool when the team scored.

Do you play flag football like your brothers?

No, I did one year though. I do dance and cheerleading.

Which one of those do you like the most?

I would say I like them both equally.

What was your first Punt, Pass and Kick competition like?

I didn’t really know what was go-ing on, but I’m more used to it now.

What’s your favorite part of the competition and why?

Kicking, because get a special tee that you use, and

it’s really fun to run up and kick it.

What’s the biggest difference between playing soccer and being a football kicker?

There’s a lot more pressure in football, because you may only get one chance to prove yourself.

How long have you been dancing and cheering?

I’ve been dancing since I was 2, and I just started cheering last year.

For whom do you cheer?The Shiloh Stars.

What kind of dancing do you do?

We do all kinds: regular dancing, hip-hop, jazz and clogging.

What is your favorite?Clogging, because its really

fast.

What else do you like to do for fun?

I like to read.

Do you have a favorite book?

I like “Junie B. Jones” and “Diary of a

Wimpy Kid.”

What’s your favorite subject in school?

Math

Shelby JacobSen With a house full of older brothers, it’s not a surprise that some football skills

rubbed off on 8-year-old Shelby Jacobsen. The Plant City native has even shown up some of her brothers with her past performances in Punt, Pass and Kick competi-tions. Jacobsen recently placed second in the 8- to 9-year-old girls division of the NFL team competition at Raymond James Stadium Nov. 25.

ATHlETE of THE wEEk by Matt Mauney | Associate Editor

with coaches, they pointed out some of their best players. Most of those eighth-graders currently are being recruited by high school teams all over Illinois and the rest of the Midwest.

How is that possible, you ask? It’s simple: Those schools are — or at least should be — private schools, which allow that sort of thing.

It becomes a vicious cycle. The high school coaches want the players to ben-efit their teams, and the parents want to put their child in the best spot to succeed.

Don’t forget, many of those private schools also offer top-notch educations if the whole football thing doesn’t work out.

This all creates a fine line. It’s an argu-ment that has been at the forefront of sports for some time: What’s really in the best interest of the athletes?

Throughout the week, I saw some of the biggest kids I’ve ever seen. There were teams full of 13-year-olds that had an offensive line bigger than that of my high school.

I’m not kidding. Hey, is that Warren Sapp? Nope, it’s a

12-year-old. In July, ESPN reported the LSU Tigers

offered a hopeful prospect a scholarship

after his performance at a camp. His name was Dylan Moses, and he had yet to begin eighth grade. Moses may not be old enough to drive for another few years, but he’s committed to join the LSU football program in 2017.

That’s just one of many examples. There’s a couple of ways to look at this.

Is it exploiting or putting too much pres-sure on the young athletes? Or is it giving them a platform to succeed and do big things — whether that’s playing profes-sionally or getting to college and receiving the education that comes with it?

I’m going to play devil’s advocate and say it varies depending on the situation.

Let’s face it. Football may be the only answer for some, like it or not. Others may have more options and may be play-ing simply for the love of the game.

Even if they have bigger dreams, let’s hope they are still playing with that love and passion — now and in the future.

Regardless of your thoughts on middle-school athletes being recruited by private high schools and colleges, it still was pretty cool seeing some of the top young athletes in the nation on display right here in our backyard.

Who knows? Maybe in 10 or 15 years, that 12-year-old will be the next Warren Sapp.

MaUney/PaGe 15

Matt Mauney

The Chicagoland All-Stars featured some of the top young football players from the Midwest, including a 6-3, 355-pound lineman prospect.


CROSS_ANS_121312

This week’s Cryptogram answers

This week’s Crossword answers

2012

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2. The boss was livid in a big way. He was yelling at his apprehensive secretary, “I need patience and I need it now!”

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cord and a devastating defense that has allowed only 18 points all season.

The Trojans got here by beat-ing the rival Plant City Dolphins JV team in the FYFCA Super Bowl 32-8. Four teams in the Turkey Creek program advanced to their respective Super Bowls, but only the JV team came out with a win.

NOT THEIR FIRST RODEOAs Atkins did a roll call of how

many of his players have played in one of the annual Raymond James games, more than half raised their hands.

The Trojans JV team, compris-ing 11- to 13-year-olds, played there just a year ago, when it suf-fered its only defeat of the sea-son in a 12-8 loss to the Town and Country Packers, coached by Tampa Bay Buc great Derek Brooks.

This year’s Trojans team fea-tured only seven returning play-ers.

“We brought some kids in from other parks, but to start pretty much from scratch with just a few Turkey Creek boys and have the season we did is pretty special,” he said. “They’re a great bunch of boys, and I’ve been blessed with a great coaching staff.”

This will be the third game at Raymond James for defensive tackle Casey Flouro, 13, who said he was nervous the first time.

“I’ve already been there, so I wasn’t as overwhelmed about playing on the field,” he said. “The players that have been there be-fore help the other players there for the first time be relaxed.”

According to Atkins, two key players on this year’s squad are Amir Abdullah and Treshaun Ward, the nephew of Plant City High head coach Wayne Ward.

GUEST OF HONORThe JV Trojans have been in-

spired all season by the story of former defensive coordinator Kenny Brown, who was diag-nosed with brain cancer.

“He missed the whole season, and after going through chemo and having his tumor removed, he actually made it out to our Su-per Bowl game,” Atkins said.

According to Atkins, Brown is expected to make it out for the game Saturday.

“That is something extra special that should motivate them when they take the field,” Atkins said.

FOR THE LOVE OF COACHINGAtkins has coached the JV team

for three years and has coached for the Turkey Creek youth foot-

ball program since 1997. He has coached every age group except varsity.

This will be his fourth time coaching a Trojan team at Ray-mond James.

“His heart is in it, and he always does what’s best for the boys,” said Turkey Creek assistant trust-ee and Mighty Mite coach Ruben Fuentes of Atkins. “He wants to win for the kids and not for him-self or personal reasons.”

Atkins is unique, because he didn’t get involved with the Tur-

key Creek program through one of his three sons. Atkins’ young-est currently plays for the Midget division of the Trojans, but At-kins said he never had a desire to coach one of his sons.

“I didn’t want to justify his playing time, because he was a pretty decent player,” Atkins said of his oldest son. “I wanted to make sure whatever he got, he earned it.”

He has kept that mentality with his other two sons.

“People feel good when they

don’t think you have an alterna-tive motive,” he said.

Atkins said none of the Tro-jans JV coaches have a kid on the team, a trend that’s popular with other Trojan teams in the pro-gram.

“I think that’s a big thing with our park, that we have coaches that come out to coach the kids because they want to coach the kids and not just to coach their own kid,” Atkins said. “I think that helps a lot.”

Atkins credits that as being a large reason the park has pro-duced talent that has moved on to the high school and college ranks.

“Our program usually sends a few teams to the Super Bowl every year, so that helps to bring kids in from other parks,” he said.

Receiver and safety Jaden Gar-rett came over to the Trojans af-ter playing for the Brandon Cow-boys last year.

“We never got a chance to go to Raymond James, because we used to lose to Turkey Creek all the time,” Garrett said. “I think it should be fun, because we’re fac-ing a new team, and they’re sup-posed to be pretty good.”


troJans/PaGe 15

Matt Mauney

Trojans junior varsity head coach Dub atkins has coached in the Turkey Creek youth football program since 1997.


O B S E RV E R C RO S S WO R DEdited by Timothy E. Parker

CRYPTOGRAMS

1. E C X H E L C V H X O H H E C V U F Q O F O D L X O F M H R K C H O H R J O H H D V U

A C A O X R H Q O R B O O X X M T H : R K O T O M E O D V U K C V J H B K O X I C V

E M X O H E M T O D J C A J O M U L R I .

2. L S N K G F F B Z F P X U X H X R Z K X D B Z M . S N B Z F M N P P X R D Z L S X F

Z C C A N S N R F X U N F N J A N L Z A M , “ X R N N H C Z L X N R J N Z R H X R N N H

X L R G B ! ”

ACROSS 1 Voice below

soprano 5 “Do ___ others as

...” 9 Desert drifter 14 Shopper’s

compilation 18 Bit of live bait 19 Recurrently 20 Licoricelike flavor 21 The “A” in A.D. 22 Largest portion 24 Tuxedo, in slang 26 Circus performer’s

support 27 Chicken’s lack? 29 Hockey Hall of

Famer Phil 30 Denies access to 32 Thingamajig 34 Clever people 35 Careful

examination 39 ___ Bator,

Mongolia 40 Grimm story 42 Timeline divisions 43 Many are screened 45 Backwoods folk 47 Successful turn in

Battleship 50 Steal from 51 Blend with traffic 52 Hauler’s

destination, sometimes

53 Only average 54 Forrest Gump’s

friend 56 Muscle twitch, say 57 Contemptible one 59 ___-burly 60 Network test show 62 Jazz great Vaughan 64 Insanity and

others, in court 66 Poi roots 68 Type of bear 70 Golden ___

(Mongol army)

71 It improves when you have contacts

74 Tree of the cashew family

76 Bailiwick 78 Butchers’ offerings 79 Itty bits 81 Bit of financial

planning, for short 83 Lollapalooza 85 Land of

Opportunity? 86 Planning to vote

“no” 87 Impudently bold 89 “Mentalist” Geller 90 Sighs of relief 91 Octad plus one 93 Believer in a

nonintervening God

94 “Good heavens!” 95 Fix, at the vet’s

office 96 Laugh heartily 98 In a loud, tasteless

way 100 “Daniel Boone”

co-star Ed 102 Cassava root 104 Wine press residue 105 Strangler of the

Amazon 108 Kind of wave 110 Grown-up bug 113 Wall Street down

time? 115 Sight-unseen

purchase 118 Like some excuses 119 It’s full of holes 120 They’re not odd 121 Count’s

counterpart 122 Beginning for

“while” 123 Church recesses 124 Pete Rose’s team,

for most of his career

125 Cheese that’s made backwards?

dOwn 1 Belt-making tool 2 One of the

Flagstons, in comics

3 Hurried pace 4 Volume of reprints 5 “That turns my

stomach!” 6 Indian flatbread 7 Exhausted 8 Burdensome 9 Christening

observance 0 Lennon’s “Woman” 11 Looked for the

mother lode 12 Inquires 13 Intellectually

penetrating 14 Timmy’s dog 15 Mukluks wearer 16 Agitated fits 17 Tornado-riding

dog 19 One way to sit on a

horse 23 Bed-frame

crosspiece 25 Bellows 28 TV control (Abbr.) 31 Sound like a bull 33 Battery terminal 35 Belgrade resident 36 Baby’s woe 37 Old-style TV

antenna 38 Bear and Berra 40 Fermented

soybean cake 41 Swiss high-rise? 44 Sportscaster’s

summary 46 One of an Iraqi

minority 47 Whinnying yuk 48 ___ of Capri 49 Christmas stocking

stuffers, perhaps 51 New Zealand

natives 53 Ice cream parlor

offering

55 Beer parties 57 Anklebone 58 “Wake Me Up

Before You Go-Go” group

59 “I ___ declare you ...” (start of a decree)

61 Clothe 63 Sub ___ (in

confidence) 65 Supporting 67 Climb up a pole 69 Do more than see,

in poker 71 Jane Austen novel 72 “She Loves You”

word 73 Shopping bag 75 Jenny of dieting 77 Large wall painting 80 Miss America’s

headgear 82 Tea-growing area

of the Himalayas 84 Neat 86 Santa ___, Calif. 88 Viral varieties 91 ___ salts (bath

water additive) 92 Supports a charity 93 Eye medication

dispenser 94 Object of a police

hunt 95 Confidential

matter 97 Be sick 99 “ ___ la Douce” 100 What the

sympathizer lends 101 Titles for ladies 102 Creates 103 Sour cream add-in 105 Capable 106 “Apollo 13” org. 107 Tap trouble 109 Like geriatric

patients 111 Egg on 112 Gumbo pod 114 First lady 116 Elected ones 117 “A Nightmare on

___ Street”

AnIMAL FARM by Kathy Islund

2

CROSSWORD_121312

When the Plant City High School boys soccer team holds its second annual Alumni Night Friday, there will be a large con-tingent present from Palm Beach Atlantic University, in West Palm Beach.

That’s where two recent Plant City graduates — Cameron Rob-erts and A.J. Black — currently play. It’s also a program that has much deeper ties to the city.

Two of Cameron’s brothers, Cheyne and Caleb, played there. Cheyne currently serves as an as-sistant coach for PBA, a path his older brothers, Caleb and Clay, also followed.

Caleb returned to Plant City High this year as a teacher and head coach of the girls soccer team.

Cameron, the youngest of the four brothers, was a standout senior for PCHS last year. It was the first season for current Raid-ers head coach Chris Black, A.J.’s father.

A.J. was also a notable standout senior for the Raiders in 2010-11, the year before his father took over the program. He is now a sophomore for the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish, a Division II pro-gram that competes in the Na-tional Christian College Athletic Association.

A.J., a longtime friend of the Roberts family, said having Cheyne there as an assistant coach made the transition eas-ier.

“Coming down here, I didn’t know anyone except him,” A.J. said. “Knowing him and know-ing that he played at Plant City and here (Palm Beach Atlantic), it definitely made it easier.”

In addition to the deep fam-ily connections, having A.J., with whom he played soccer since he was 10, was a big reason Cam-eron chose to play his college ball at PBA.

“When A.J. got recruited, it became one of my top choices,” Cameron said. “I was able to con-tinue to play with A.J. and play for my brother, and the school has a great location right on the beach, so it was a perfect fit.”

Playing time was also a large reason for Cameron’s selection.

“I didn’t want to go and sit on the bench somewhere, so getting to come in and play immediately was big,” he said.

A.J. and Cameron both played a large part in Palm Beach Atlantic’s best season to date, as the Sail-fish went 16-4-2 and took fourth place in the NCCAA national tournament. In the semifinals of the tournament against Fresno

Pacific, Cameron and A.J. both picked up goals. It was Cameron’s second goal of the tournament. Both he and A.J. finished with six goals apiece for the season.

Cameron was one of three players on last year’s Plant City Raiders team to play at the next level, with Brennan Smith going to Rollins College and Trent Lott playing for University of Tampa.

“There’s a lot of talent in Plant City when it comes to soccer,” Cameron said.

On the first-ever PCHS soccer Alumni Night last year, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of the program, Cameron had a big night, tying the school’s scor-ing record.

“It was pretty exciting seeing friends I haven’t seen in a while,” he said about Alumni Night. “Be-ing the 30th anniversary, a lot of people came in town for it, so it was a special night.”

Both Cameron and A.J. plan to attend this year.

“Alumni Night is a great way to get everyone together and get a chance to see some of the older guys,” A.J. said. “It’s just a great way to be a part of the Plant City soccer tradition.”

A.J.’s dad, PCHS head coach Chris Black, said he hopes Alum-ni Night will continue to be a

success and build exposure for the players and the program.

“The whole idea came about as a way to create excitement for soccer here in Plant City,” said Black, who played on the inau-gural PCHS team.

Plant City will play Strawberry Crest at 8 p.m. Friday for Alum-ni Night, preceded by the girls game at 6 p.m., as they celebrate Senior Night.


raiding sailfish The Plant City High School boys soccer program has some deep ties with a college three hours away.

home away from home by Matt Mauney | Associate Editor

Courtesy photo

cameron roberts and a.J. black, both Plant City High School alum-ni, now play for Palm Beach Atlantic University.


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