Blast from the past on New Year’s Eve

WMNF presents Rewind, featuring the music of 1968, champagne, party favors and breakfast, at 8 p.m. tonight (Dec. 31) at Skipper’s, 910 Skipper Road. $25-30. Ages 21-plus or with parent. Call (813) 238-8001.

Empty houses mean higher fees for deed-restricted communities

By Dong-Phuong Nguyen

NEW TAMPA — Homeowners association fees are what keep deed-restricted communities from falling into disrepair. They pay for landscaping and upkeep, security and gym equipment.

But what happens when more and more homes go into foreclosure or enter into short sales, or when paying the fees becomes a low priority for struggling families?

The rest of the homeowners must cover the costs. And it's not just the shortfall they need to make up — a litany of items goes with it.

For a more detailed look at how this growing problem is affecting communities, consider the 1,100 households in Live Oak Preserve in New Tampa, where more than $500,000 in assessments have gone uncollected.

Recently, the homeowners association board approved a 2009 budget that increases fees by more than 40 percent — to $163.79 per household per month — to cover the bad debt and items associated with it, such as stamps and legal bills.

"These are very bad times," Ellen De Haan, the board's attorney, told the more than 60 residents at the budget meeting. "And it's happening everywhere."

Residents must now shell out almost $2,000 a year in assessments — about $200 more than last year — mainly because of foreclosures and short sales. The fees will cover such items as:

• $22,500 for postage and supplies that the association is anticipating it will need for mailings and certified letters to collect the fees. In the first nine months of this year, it spent $16,700 — $7,000 more than what was budgeted.

• $42,000 in legal fees because lawyers will be busy drafting the letters to collect the fees. The board had budgeted $5,900 this year and ended up spending $34,700 through September.

• $250,000 in anticipated uncollected fees.

The board also decided to make the assessments due monthly instead of quarterly, to make the smaller, more frequent payments appear less painful.

"It's pretty steep for some people to pay on a quarterly basis," said board chairman Rick Feather, adding that late fees will not be assessed during the first quarter of 2009.

Feather also emphasized that several contracts, such as for lawn and landscaping work, were renegotiated, bringing some costs down.

But one issue that has rankled residents in Live Oak is a bulk cable deal between the developer and a cable company that charges the community $1.1-million for cable — including cable for the unoccupied homes.

Many residents who attended the meeting blasted Feather for his role in the agreement, asking for ways to get out of the contract. The contract does not expire for 11 more years. Some residents have taken their fight to the federal level, meeting with Federal Communications Commission officials earlier this year for help. The FCC has not made a decision.

"If our neighbors need food, we will gladly step up and give it to them," said resident John Cutter. "We just don't want to pay for their cable."

Another resident, Realtor Martha David, said she thought she knew what she was getting into when she moved into Live Oak, but she feels she was misled.

"(The developer) presented to us that we would be saving money and have all these extra features,' " she said. Today, 25 houses in her 125-home village within Live Oak are vacant. "Now we're paying for people that have foreclosed and people who have walked away."

De Haan, the board attorney, likened living in a deed-restricted community to establishing a business with others.

"You went into a full equity partnership with everybody who lives in this community," she said. "As homeowners, you have to make it up. You're all partners in this business."

Freight Train Annie’s Girlie Show

The Marys, featuring Freight Train Annie, play with Lorna Bracewell and Stephanie Carpenter at 8 p.m. tonight (Dec. 30) at Skipper’s, 910 Skipper Road. $7. Ages 21-plus or with parent. Call 1-800-594-8499.

Deer hunters

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From the Times:

Three arrested after hunting at night

LAKE MAGDALENE -- Three men were arrested along Interstate 75 early this morning when deputies found two dead deer in their vehicle during non-hunting hours.

Around 2:45 a.m. a woman near Lake Magdalene and Florida Avenue called 911, reporting that she saw someone loading what looked like a body into a trunk of a vehicle along I-75, said Gary Morse, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman.

The woman followed the vehicle until it stopped, at which point a Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputy pulled up, Morse said. In the car, the deputy found a dead buck and doe, along with at least one rifle and a spotlight.

The men in the car, 38-year-old Eliecer Delapaz of 3401 N Macdill Ave., 39-year-old Elioenai Gonzalez of 2521 W Beach St. and 19-year-old Elionai Silverio, also of the Beach Street address, were each charged with unlawfully taking deer at night.

According to the Conservation Commission, this region's season for hunting deer runs through Jan. 18. But Morse said hunting at night with a light is always against the law. When you shine a light in a deer's eyes, it's temporarily blinded and freezes -- making it a too-easy target.

"It's essentially like shooting fish in a barrel," Morse said. "It's unsportsmanlike."

Morse said any hunter knows the hunting hours -- a half-hour before sunset to a half-hour after sunset. He calls those who skirt the rules poachers.

"Real hunters don't do stuff like that," Morse said.

Delapaz, Gonzalez and Silverio were taken to the Hillsborough County Jail, where they remain on bail of $500, $1,000 and $1,000, respectively.

Kim Wilmath, Times staff writer

Crime report Dec. 18-24

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This report contains incidents called in to the Tampa Police Department for ZIP code 33647 from Dec. 18-24. Please contact Tampa police for more information on individual reports. Addresses may reflect where the incident happened or who reported it.

• HARVEST OAK CT, 20400 BLK, Domestic Violence, Sunday, 12/21, 12:08 pm
• LEATHERWOOD AV, 9300 BLK, Drug Law Violation, Saturday, 12/20, 9:08 pm
• NOB OAK AV, 20000 BLK, Domestic Violence, Thursday, 12/18, 4:10 am
• ROCKROSE DR, 9200 BLK, Assault/Battery, Sunday, 12/21, 2:04 pm
• ROCKROSE DR, 9200 BLK, Theft, Saturday, 12/20, 10:43 am
• VENITIA REAL AV, 10300 BLK, Burglary-Residence, Sunday, 12/21, 7:25 pm
• WEATHERSTONE DR, 19000 BLK, Theft, Friday, 12/19, 6:37 am
• BRUCE B DOWNS BL, 15500 BLK, Burglary-Auto, Wednesday, 12/17, 6:47 am
• AMBERLY DR, 15300 BLK, Theft, Monday, 12/15, 12:04 pm
• BRUCE B DOWNS BL, 15500 BLK, Stolen Vehicle, Wednesday, 12/24, 3:23 am

Note to readers: Because of confidentiality laws, police agencies cannot report the addresses of sexual assaults, and this report does not contain those incidents.

Battle of the Mullets

Local bands featuring Skipper's staff members, "mullets," will perform at 5 p.m. tonight (Dec. 28) at Skipper's, 910 Skipper Road. Bands include Freight Train Annie, Gravesiders, John Hancock and the Declaration, Morgan and Wildflower, Mike Ralston, Sarge and the Aeromen, Shakes Society, and the Vodkanauts. Cost is $5. Ages 21-plus or with a parent. Call 1-800-594-8499.

Rhythm 'n' blues

The nine-piece band Blue Dice plays at 8 p.m. tonight (Dec. 27) at Skipper's, 910 Skipper Road. Cost is $8. Ages 21-plus or with a parent. Call 1-800-594-8499.

After zero-gravity flight, teacher sees new career opportunities for students

By sheryl Kay

LUTZ — She did her first loop de loop in her dad's Cessna 172 airplane at age 7.

The feeling was something Mary Epperson wouldn't experience again until this month, only this time she was flying in zero gravity, weightless.

Epperson, 54, a technology teacher at Hudson Middle School in Pasco County, was one of 62 educators and students chosen to fly Dec. 7 in simulated zero gravity and perform small-scale research experiments with Space Florida, the state agency charged with promoting aerospace economic development.

"It was absolutely awesome," said Epperson, of Lutz. "My adrenaline was pumping, and my heart was beating a million miles an hour, just thumping right out of my chest."

Epperson's selection for the flight was based on a 500-word essay about how the in-flight data they could collect would translate into classroom experiments for their students.

For days Epperson was so caught up in the excitement of possibly flying in zero gravity that she was unable to write one word. Then, the night before the deadline, she penned the entire essay in two hours, outlining how she would compare the experience of weightlessness in space to her experiences of zero buoyancy while scuba diving.

Three weeks later she got an e-mail at school congratulating her.

"The kids tell me my face turned red. I was jumping up and down and screaming," she said.

Its Epperson's enthusiasm for teaching that came through in her entry essay, said Hudson principal Steve Van Gorden.

"Mary's very passionate about teaching and her students, and she wants them to be successful in today's society," he said. "Mary doesn't do 50 percent with anything. She's always 110 percent, and I'm sure that's why she was picked for this fantastic experience."

Flight preparation included a day of videos and question-and-answer sessions in Titusville. Their aircraft — a modified Boeing 727-200 cargo plane — flew to 25,000 feet and executed a series of 15 arcs that simulate gravity on Mars, the moon and, finally, zero gravity.

During Epperson's flight, which had about 30 people on board, participants were paired off and conducted their research each time the plane simulated zero gravity.

"I never felt like I needed my sick sack," she said. "I felt a little bit of pressure, and then everything inside me just felt like it was floating."

And while experiencing zero gravity was exhilarating, she said, it's really about teaching the kids what she learned.

"I brought back a lot in terms of the sheer joy of getting to experience something not many people get to experience and that joy overflows to my students, but it's more than that," she said. "I was all for the space program before (the flight). But now, after seeing all of the experiments that were happening on board, I really understand how research in zero gravity helps people on earth in terms of helping us be efficient with what we eat, how we dispose of things and biomedical research. That opens up a whole world of career opportunities for my students."

More on cell phone towers

Check out The Why's Guy column this week, "Cell phone towers at schools? Here's a lesson"

By Kyle Kreiger

Ring.

I picked up the phone and a booming voice answered my greeting.

"Kyle, it's Zell."

I hadn't heard from Zell in a while. We met more than a decade ago when Zell was helping a bunch of rich residents in his McMansion-filled country-club community fight a cell tower someone wanted to place just outside their walled-in paradise.

Zell is the Don Quixote of cell towers. He spends all his time battling the beasts that threaten to soil our great vistas.

I once asked him why he was so passionate and became ensnared in a rant about roaming charges and small print.

"How ya been, Zell?"

Static.

"Zell?"

"Yeah, Kyle, I'm here. Damn cell reception in Tampa is lousy. It's never any good when you need it."

I considered the hypocrisy of his complaint, but decided against mentioning it.

"What are you doing in Tampa?" I asked.

"Have you heard about that school that wants to build a tower on its property? They've played right into our hands this time, Kyle."

I remembered similar words 15 years ago when he organized his neighbors in northeast Florida. That group was fighting a guy from the other side of the tracks (well, the other side of their gated wall) who had reached a deal with the devil to put a cell tower on his property. Zell's friends were appalled that anyone would allow such an attack on their quality of life, not to mention (actually, they did) their property values.

No matter that the "outsider" had lived there long before anyone thought of turning a swamp into a Preserve. Or that its developer had encroached on the guy's little slice of heaven.

Zell marshaled his group before the media. The photos would have been better had the residents left their cell phones at home.

The message was clear: They had cell phones, but they shouldn't have to endure a tower. Put it somewhere else — like in a rundown neighborhood where people can't afford cell phones.

Ska show tonight

Recently reunited ska band Magadog performs with Tribal Style and Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso at 8 p.m. tonight (Dec. 26) at Skipper's, 910 Skipper Road. Cost is $8. Ages 21-plus or with parent. Call 1-800-594-8499.