Plant City Times &
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
A PARTNERSHIP WITH
OUR TOWN
Hope Lutheran’s Director of Music Ministries Christine Mansell, the Rev. Dean Pfeffer and District President Rev. Gregory Walton
+ Church workers honored for service
SPOTLIGHT
SPORTS
INSIDE
Runners do battle with Tactical Titan.
Tough Trojans stay ‘Corny’ festival competitive, despite offers plenty of 12-man roster. fall family fun.
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governance by Catherine Sinclair | Staff Writer
Walden Lake leaders select new management company The majority of the Walden Lake Community Association voted to negotiate a contract with Greenacre Properties Inc. The Walden Lake Community Association Board of Directors voted Oct. 20, to enter into a contract with a new management company for 2015. The motion was to negotiate a contract with Greena-
Two staff members of Hope Lutheran Church received special recognition at the President’s Convocation of the Florida Georgia District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, held Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, in Orlando. Christine Mansell, Hope’s director of music ministries, was honored for her 40 years of ministry at Hope and the Rev. Dean Pfeffer was honored for his 20 years of ministry (18 at Hope).
cre Properties Inc. Five board members, including President Jim Chancey, voted in favor of the motion. Three board members voted against it, preferring to continue management under longtime man-
agement company Associa. A final contract with Greenacre has not been agreed upon yet, so many details are unclear. The change in management companies will affect the four employees who work in Walden
ruff day by Catherine Sinclair | Staff Writer
+ Applications open for youth parade Applications are now open for the Florida Strawberry Festival Civitan Youth Parade. The deadline for entering is at 4 p.m. Jan. 9, 2015. The theme is the same as that of the Florida Strawberry Festival: “Come Join the Party!” The parade will be Feb. 28, 2015. Award categories include best club/group float, best church float, best marching unit and best band entry. Applications are available at FlStrawberryFestival.com.
, 3&
This week’s winner is
Mimi Nguyen
See her photo on PAGE 17.
Lake. Under Greenacre, three of them — administrative assistant Bette Guarino, community administrator Marlene Merrin and grounds technician Larry Evans — could be employees of the association but paid under Greenacre’s federal identification number. Chanc-
SEE WLCA / PAGE 4
Catherine Sinclair
The WLCA voted to spend $10,000 on shrubbery to block a fence near the community’s east entrance, in hopes of preventing graffiti on the fence.
CLOSE CALL by Catherine Sinclair | Staff Writer
Blood-pressure check saves life at health fair The Woman’s Club sponsored a health fair, where one man’s dangerously high blood pressure was discovered.
+ Food bank kicks off Turkey Drive The second annual United Food Bank Turkey Drive will begin Nov. 1 and run through Nov. 25. You can help by dropping off a 10- to 12-pound turkey, or several, to the food bank, 702 E. Alsobrook Street. The food bank is open on Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The United Food Bank served more than 420 complete Thanksgiving meals to families in need in 2013. This year, the demand on its pantry has almost doubled and it expects more families will need Thanksgiving meal baskets this year.
FREE • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2014
Catherine Sinclair
Josh Harrell said there weren’t words to describe his gratitude for Chuck Sullivan’s compassion for his dog, Ellie.
DOG’S
BEST FRIEND When a pet dog was hit by a car, a complete stranger rescued her and helped her find her way back to her owner.
From being the victim of a crime, to suffering a possible concussion, and then losing his dog, October was not off to a good start for Josh Harrell. On Wednesday, Oct. 1, someone broke into his house. The whole place was ransacked, although fortunately, nothing seemed to be missing. The next morning, his dog, Ellie, escaped from the fence in Harrell’s Plant City yard. “She’s done it a couple times,” Harrell said. “I was afraid somebody had snatched her up.” Harrell saw Ellie escape and ran after her, but he slipped and hit his head on the fence. He went inside to lie down
and ended up unconscious for 14 hours, possibly suffering a concussion. His injury allowed Ellie plenty of time to explore the neighborhood unsupervised. A few hours later, Chuck Sullivan was driving along Park Road and came across a dog that looked as though it had been hit by a car. “She couldn’t move,” Sullivan said. “I think she was in shock, and she was certainly injured. Somebody had hit this poor dog and just left her, and that’s what really bothered me.” Ironically, Sullivan’s own two dogs had gone missing just two days before Harrell’s.
WHAT TO DO
If your pet is lost, you can contact Hillsborough County Animal Services or search its online database of lost-and-found pets. Another helpful resource that led to Ellie’s return is the Facebook page Lost and Found Pets of Hillsborough County. The average cost to insert a tiny ID microchip under your pet’s skin is $45, but less expensive procedures can be found. For example, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay charges just $15 for microchipping at its clinic.
A man who lived in the Madison Park Road apartments, right near where Ellie got hit, had found the dogs and called Sullivan to return them. “I wasn’t about to leave (Ellie) there,” Sullivan said. “My dogs had been gone, and I was in that mode.” Sullivan wasn’t able to identify the 70-pound dog or her owner. Harrell doesn’t always keep Ellie’s collar on her, because she has a lot of extra skin
SEE ELLIE / PAGE 4
When the Plant City Woman’s Club hosted a health fair Saturday, Oct. 11, the organizer of the event did not know it would save her husband’s life. Lynn Connor is the chair of the club’s Home Life Community Services program. The program focuses on a different aspect of home life each month, and October’s emphases were breast cancer and domestic-violence awareness. Connor and other club members decided to organize the health fair to correspond with breast cancer awareness but also general wellness. Vendors sold health and wellness-promoting projects, and nurses aboard the South Florida Baptist Hospital Wellness Wagon offered free checks at the fair. Connor’s husband, Evans
SEE CROSBY / PAGE 4
crime by Dan Sullivan | Tampa Bay Times
Plant City boy, 16, accused of making child pornography PLANT CITY — A 16-year- Police about a computer old from Plant City is facing user from Plant City who was more than 100 adult crimi- sharing images of child pornal charges after nography via the Inauthorities accused ternet, officials said. him of making child They began investipornography. gating Henry. Jared Kyle Henry, On Oct. 1, FDLE a student at Plant agents and HillsborCity High School, ough County Sherwas arrested Oct. iff’s Office deputies 19, on a warrant folcarried out a search lowing an investigawarrant at Henry’s tion by the Florida Jared Kyle Henry home. Inside, they Department of Law found numerous Enforcement, and U.S. Im- pornographic images of a migration and Customs En- child, officials said. A subforcement. sequent investigation found Local authorities received that Henry had molested the a tip in September from the Royal Canadian Mounted SEE HENRY / PAGE 4
INDEX Calendar.......................2
Crosby, had been at the fair early in the morning to help Lynn set up and run last-minute errands in preparation of the event. Crosby had been on medication for high blood pressure, but he took it irregularly. “He would get a prescription for 30 days, but it would last him six months,” Connor said. “He was taking his blood-pressure medications
Vol. 2, No. 14 | One section Crossword...................17
Obituaries...................13
Weather ......................17
Sports.........................14
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