New Tampa student heading to Spain to study abroad

This school year, New Tampa resident Schuyler Robinson will attend his senior year at School Year Abroad’s school in Zaragoza, Spain. He will study with about 60 other students in an academically rigorous high school and second-language immersion program while living with a Spanish host family.

Schuyler’s sense of adventure was honed from an early age, listening to his parents’ tales of traveling and studying abroad.

“I’ve always been fascinated reading about and exploring foreign cultures," Schuyler said.

Crime report Aug. 13-19

View Crime report Aug. 13 to 19 in a larger map

This report contains incidents called in to the Tampa Police Department for ZIP code 33647 from August 13-19. Please contact Tampa police for more information on individual reports. Addresses may reflect where the incident happened or who reported it.

• CROSS CREEK BL, 10000 BLK, Drug Law Violation, Monday, 8/17, 9:05 PM
• CROSS CREEK BL & BRUCE B DOWN, Drug Law Violation, Friday, 8/14, 12:29 AM
• PLANTATION DR N, 15400 BLK, Burglary-Auto, Friday, 8/14, 12:01 PM
• AMBERLY DR, 15300 BLK, Assault/Battery, Friday, 8/14, 3:16 AM
• BURCHETTE RD, 5400 BLK, Assault/Battery, Friday, 8/14, 10:35 AM
• PLANTATION OAKS DR, 15400 BLK, Stolen Vehicle, Friday, 8/14, 9:53 PM
• PLANTATION OAKS DR, 15200 BLK, Domestic Violence, Saturday, 8/15, 2:10 AM
• AMBERLY DR, 15300 BLK, Stolen Vehicle, Saturday, 8/15, 3:09 AM
• PLANTATION OAKS DR, 15400 BLK, Stolen Vehicle, Saturday, 8/15, 11:59 AM
• AMBERLY DR, 15300 BLK, Domestic Violence, Monday, 8/17, 5:09 AM
• BRUCE B DOWNS BL, 15500 BLK, Burglary-Auto, Monday, 8/17, 2:09 PM
• PLANTATION OAKS DR, 15200 BLK, Domestic Violence, Tuesday, 8/18, 7:31 PM
• PLANTATION OAKS DR, 15200 BLK, Theft, Monday, 8/17, 12:00 AM
• AMBERLY DR, 15300 BLK, Theft, Wednesday, 8/19, 11:11 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.

USF to Host Pew Forum on National Security, Energy and Climate

The domino effect of climate change leading to natural disasters, famine and increased security threats will take center stage at the University of South Florida on Monday, Aug.  31, as two former U.S. senators, a vice admiral and a leading academic authority on the issue come together in the Pew Project Forum on National Security, Energy and Climate.

Former Sens. John Warner, R-Virginia, and Bob Graham, D-Florida, will be joined by Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn and USF professor Thomas Crisman in the event, co-sponsored by USF’s Joint Military Leadership Center and the Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions.

The event, which is open to the public, will be held at 3 p.m. in the Kokolakis Auditorium at C.W. Bill Young Hall.

Watch the forum live Monday at 3 p.m. here.

Strip center near new SweetBay filling up

Soon you can drop off your dry cleaning, choose a lunch of burgers, egg rolls, pitas or pizza, get your hair cut and nails done at the strip mall across from the new SweetBay supermarket and LA Fitness.

Signs for Five Guys Burgers and Fries, China Wok, Pita's Republic, and Hungry Howie's have appeared in the windows of the center at Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and County Line Road. Also coming are Hudson Cleaners, Grandeur Hair Design and Ego Nails.

SweetBay and LA Fitness opened in July.

Lisa Buie, Times Staff Writer

*

Thousands come to church for Tampa Cpl. Michael Roberts' funeral

[KATHLEEN FLYNN | Times]

Family, friends, Tampa police officers and hundreds of visiting law enforcement officers honor Cpl. Mike Roberts during the funeral Tuesday morning at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Lutz.

LUTZ — Cindy Roberts leaned into Sgt. Mark Delage for support as she walked toward her husband's casket.

A sea of uniforms and badges surrounded her as more than 4,000 gathered at St. Timothy Catholic Church to honor the life of a man known for his love of policing and family.

Cpl. Mike Roberts, 38, an 11-year veteran of the Tampa Police Department, died Wednesday, Aug 19, after a man pushing a shopping cart full of weapons shot him on a Sulphur Springs street corner.

Delage and the rest of Tampa's police force have been offering Roberts' widow support ever since.

"Who would have ever imagined the events that have taken place in the last several days?" Father David DeJulio told those gathered in the sanctuary. "In one moment, there is this kind and generous man full of life and love. In the next minute, that life would be taken away."

DeJulio, of Roberts' home church, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in New Tampa, said Roberts used to direct traffic during Mass and slip into the back pew after all the cars were in place.

"It goes without saying this isn't a perfect world," DeJulio said, trying to help a room full of officers make sense of the death. "It isn't a holy one either."

Kennedy Barbeque takes over restaurant at Heritage Isles

 

[ATOYIA DEANS | Times]

Ernest Kennedy Jr. is the co-owner of Kennedy Barbeque at Heritage Isles Golf and Country Club. He owns the restaurant with his father, Ernest Kennedy Sr. “Because it’s our dime, we have the incentive to do well,” Kennedy Jr. said.

HERITAGE ISLES — The restaurant at this golf community has never been known for its cuisine. Rather, the buzz has been about its debt.

New ownership hopes to change all that.

A barbecue restaurant intent on becoming a popular New Tampa eatery has taken over.

Kennedy Barbeque already has a loyal following from its to-go barbecue smoker in the parking lot of a gas station at the corner of Cross Creek Boulevard and Morris Bridge Road. The family that owns it has moved to the Heritage Isles restaurant, hoping to attract a bigger fan club.

Long-delayed road extends SR 56 past mall to Mansfield Boulevard

WESLEY CHAPEL — It's open.

Drivers can now take State Road 56 east past the Shops at Wiregrass and turn onto Mansfield Boulevard in the Meadow Pointe community.

Crews opened the road quietly at 5 p.m. Friday, said Deborah Bolduc, the county's engineering services program administrator.

The opening came three days before classes resumed for Pasco County public schools. Two campuses, John Long Middle and Wiregrass Ranch High, are off Mansfield Boulevard.

Sand Pine Elementary media center shows library has gone far beyond books

[KERI WIGINTON | Times]

Belinda Pope, head of the media center at Sand Pine Elementary, arranges the Sunshine State books on Friday.

With the increasing use of technology in education, the importance of a school's media center continues to grow. The Florida Association for Media in Education has recognized the media center at Sand Pine Elementary in Wesley Chapel as one of 26 to meet its highest standards. Media specialist Belinda Pope spoke with the Times about the award and the changing role of what the school system used to call libraries.

What is a Florida Power Library, and why did you want to have one?

Last year was the inaugural year for that process, and it all came about because of our district self-evaluation process that we have. Our school did real well on that, so the district personnel kind of challenged us to go for it. Because they knew it was coming up.

Shops at Wiregrass contributes to job growth

[BRENDAN FITTERER | Times (2008)] A 'CNN Money' report on job growth from 2000 to 2008 ranked Pasco No. 13 in the country. Places such as the Shops at Wiregrass have created jobs like those at Cosi, where baker Omar Ramos prepares bread.

Pasco and Hernando bear the unfortunate distinction of having the two highest unemployment rates in the Tampa Bay area — but that didn't stop CNN Money from listing them Wednesday among the nation's top 25 counties in terms of job growth over the past eight years.

The story, which appeared on Yahoo! under the headline "Where the Jobs Are," ranked Pasco No. 13 and Hernando No. 18. (No. 1 was Pindal, Ariz., south of Phoenix, with a job growth rate of 95.9 percent.) Other Florida counties making the list included Lake at No. 8, St. Johns at No. 12 and Lee at No. 23.

The story, which cites the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as its source, described Pasco as a "sleepy retirement community" that got "a wake-up call with an influx of young workers over the past decade."

"Retail and service jobs followed a boom in residential construction, and the area is trying to attract other businesses as well," it said, noting that financial giant T. Rowe Price was considering the area for an expansion that could bring 1,600 jobs.

Karate students bring home titles

WESLEY CHAPEL --- Two members of the Keiko Shin Karate Academy competition team, Melissa Wark, pictured second from right, and Tyler Luginski, pictured at far right, traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, to participate in one of the largest traditional karate tournaments held in the United
States earlier this month.

Hosted by the Amateur Athletic Union, top-rated athletes from all over the country were invited to compete for the gold in 22 different sporting events, including karate. The duo competed in their respective advanced black belt divisions in both kata (form) and kumite (sparring), bringing home a total of four medals. Each won gold medals in their sparring competitions and silver medals for kata.

In order for Melissa and Tyler to be invited to participate in the Junior Olympic Games, both placed in the top of their divisions in district, super regional and national qualifiers throughout the year.

Also pictured are Elvis Ramic, 14, and Sabina Ramic, 10, of New Port Richey. At the Junior Olympic Games, Elvis earned two silver medals in the 14-year-old male advanced black belt division by placing second in both kata and kumite.

Sabina, who competed in the 10-year-old female advanced black belt division, won second place in kata and secured the gold medal in kumite by defeating all opponents in her division. 

Under the instruction of owner and Sensei Ernest Fuentes, third-degree black belt, the academy, at 26312 Wesley Chapel Blvd., Ste Road 54, offers traditional Shotokan Karate-do training to children and adults, based on tradition, philosophy and discipline.

*