New Tampa residents on alert; fake solicitors unlocking windows

Here's an e-mail circulating around Meadow Pointe and New Tampa:

WARNING...PLEASE READ, Especially Meadow Point Residents:  There is a
very pretty young girl (looks to be around 20 or so...) who claims to
be a USF Foreign Exchange Student.  She has a very thick accent. She
is knocking on doors all throughout MP (1, 2, 3 and even 4).  She
claims that she has books for young school aged children (she can
often have much information about you & or ur children)...she keeps
trying to talk to you, even if U say U have No interest.  Then, she
asks to use ur restroom or wash her hands & she is going in &
unlocking any window &/or side doors that she can. This is a SCAM.
Please be aware. She is VERY Persistent. She has knocked on my door
once. I've just heard that she has knocked on some peoples doors two
or three times. Apparently she might be organized with a ...group who
may have access 2 a database & have info, names of our children, the
school they attend & even teacher names...PLEASE BE AWARE,, please
post on ur FB 2 alert everyone! and pass this email on to everyone.

Even if she doesn't come to your door, or if someone lives in another
community this can easily happen in any neighborhood.  NEVER LET
ANYONE in your home...even if they seem sweet and innocent.  The MP
community website has even had some postings on message boards about
her.  Their also may be more than one girl doing this. 

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Lawsuit: Fraternity hazing killed former Wharton golf standout

TAMPA — A violent night of Hell Week hazing killed 19-year-old Harrison Kowiak of Arbor Greene, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his parents.

Kowiak, a Wharton High School graduate with a golf scholarship at Lenoir-Rhyne University, suffered trauma to his head during a pledge week activity for Theta Chi fraternity.

A complaint filed Friday by the Kowiak family's attorneys, Justin Leto of Miami and David Kirby of Raleigh, N.C., holds the university, the fraternity and 21 fraternity brothers responsible for his sudden death.

The lawsuit filed in Durham County, N.C., offers new details about what happened the night of Nov. 17, 2008, as the brothers took Kowiak and one other pledge to an open pasture outside of Hickory, N.C.

New Tampa talks transportation

Faye Allen, of Thonotosassa, places transportation dollars into boxes indicating where she wants money to be spent during a Transportation Task Force Public Outreach Meeting at the New Tampa Library tonight.  DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN/Times Staff

CROSS CREEK --- Embarking on a sweep of Hillsborough county, officials from several transportation departments stopped in New Tampa tonight to gather public input on future road projects, taxes and spending.

About 50 residents attended the Transportation Task Force meeting at the New Tampa Library, where they were presented with road maps, construction statistics and goals, and asked to vote on future spending projects.

Representatives from the Task Force, along with the Metropolitan Planning Organization, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, Florida Department of Transportation and the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, discussed the need for light rail, rapid bus transit systems, roadway projects, and bicycle/pedestrian improvements.

Arbor Greene CDD to meet

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The Board of Supervisors of the Arbor Greene Community Development District will meet at 6:30 p.m. today (Feb. 23)  in the Gathering Room at the Arbor Greene Community Center, 18000 Arbor Greene Drive. Call (954) 753-5841.

Arbor Greene meeting

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The Board of Supervisors of the Arbor Greene Community Development District will meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Jan. 15) in the administration center of the Arbor Greene Community Center, 18000 Arbor Greene Drive. Call (954) 753-5841.

Arbor Greene CDD meeting

The Board of Supervisors of the Arbor Greene Community Development District will meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Dec. 11) in the administration center of the Arbor Greene Community Center, 18000 Arbor Greene Drive.

College frat game turns deadly for Wharton High grad

TAMPA — Something happened to Harrison Kowiak Monday night. Exactly what remains in question.

The former Wharton High School golf standout was in the middle of a North Carolina pasture, known by the Theta Chi fraternity of Lenoir-Rhyne University as the "Buffalo Ranch," when he somehow suffered trauma to his head.
By 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, the 19-year-old was dead.

Capt. Roy Brown, a spokesman for the Catawba County Sheriff's Department, said detectives have been talking with young men who were at the Buffalo Ranch Monday night.

Kowiak was one of two Theta Chi pledges at the off-campus event, playing a game Brown and fraternity executive director Dale Taylor described as a "team-building" exercise similar to "capture the flag."

Under rules of the game, Brown said, the pledges tried to secure an item — he wasn't sure what — from the other fraternity brothers, while upperclassmen blocked them.

"There were no sticks, bats or rocks thrown," Brown said.

It wasn't a hazing event, he said.

Taylor said no drugs or alcohol were involved.

Arbor Greene CDD to meet

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The board of supervisors for the Arbor Greene Community Development District meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Arbor Greene Community Center, 18000 Arbor Greene Drive.

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Watch out for thieves while pumping gas, warns an Arbor Greene mom

Here's an e-mail from an Arbor Greene resident, who was pumping gas at a New Tampa gas station last month:
Lock your car when pumping gas. I was at the Mobil at 6:30 last night (9/18) pumping gas when I heard my front passenger car door open. I looked over and saw it closing very slowing, but couldn't see who was doing it because they were down very low. It was light out and there were lots of people around, so you wouldn't expect that.
My initial thought was someone had gotten into my car. I then saw a little red car pulling away slowly and barely saw the people inside. I got the license plate number, then looked in my car to see what was taken. My wallet was gone. They did a quick grab since it was out and didn't even take the other bags in the car.
I called the police (came in just a few minutes) and then Tom right away who called American Express. While ON the phone with AMEX, the first person he talked to said there was no activity. When transfered to another person to get the new cards lined up, they said, are you at the 7-11 now getting gas? They were using my card down the street by Home Depot. The cop I was with called for another cop to go to the 7-11 and gave the license plate number and description and they got them! A girl and guy around 20.
I did get everything back and they had only used the card that one time. They didn't have time for anything else since the cops were so fast. When I got to 7-11, there were 5 cops and then the crime scene girl came to finger print the car. They also reviewed the tape at the Mobil to see which one took the wallet. The guy had told them he wasn't there because he was across the street eating at Bennigans. The cop said, you mean the one that's closed?
Turns out they are from a "very organized" gang out of Miami and apparently very stupid as well. They rent cars and drive around stealing. They left Ft. Lauderdale on the 15th and stole from someone in Polk County, bought something at our Publix, then headed to the Mobil to steal from me.
I never lock my car when I get out to pump the gas, but I always will from now on. ESPECIALLY IF THE KIDS ARE WITH ME!
I just wanted to warn you guys!

CDD race is hottest in Cory Lake Isles

On the day they filed to run for board seats in the Cory Lake Isles Community Development District, three candidates issued a joint press release, complete with an image of the U.S. Capitol and an acronym, SMART.

Soon, three opponents retaliated in kind. Now, the dueling trios are planning neighborhood gatherings, waves of fliers and the kind of competition common to City Council races.

All to govern the taxing district in their neighborhood, a job that in other places can sit vacant for lack of volunteers.

When filing closed on June 20, for example, CDDs in Tampa Palms and Arbor Greene had automatically filled three seats apiece with candidates who filed unopposed.

In Lutz’s Cheval West, both incumbents were instantly re-elected. Meanwhile, there is a mix of interest in New Tampa’s Heritage Isles and Lutz’s Heritage Harbor, two neighborhoods with similar problems and, well, heritages.

In Heritage Harbor, a spate of CDD resignations triggered a newsletter appeal last spring for fresh faces to get involved. Now, three seats are contested. The president of the Heritage Isles CDD, Steve Stark, was re-elected for lack of an opponent, but the other two incumbents have challengers.

As in Cory Lake, its neighbor to the south, the Heritage Isles election is shaping up as challengers allied against incumbents.

But the Heritage Isles rivalries are genteel. Incumbent William Martello says of his opponent: “If she beats me in the election, I would not be displeased.”

The Cory Lakes races are intense. Says David Burman, a challenger, “While concerned home­owners have given extensive feedback about management of the Cory Lake community, the sitting board headed by the developer remains unwilling to take our concerns into account.”

Says Suzanne Manzi, an incumbent, “I do not believe that my opponents have the least understanding of how complicated government is.”