Volume 17 Issue 21
Inside: Karaoke, Comedy, Wine Tastings, Speed Dating & More!
October 16, 2009
The Direct-Mail Newspaper Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! THIS INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IS DIRECTLY MAILED TO: NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • West Meadows WESLEY CHAPEL: Aberdeen • Belle Chase • Brookside • Chapel Pines • Country Walk • Lexington Oaks • Meadow Pointe • New River • Northwood • Pinewalk • Pine Ridge • Saddlebrook • Saddleridge Estates • Saddlewood • Seven Oaks • Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg
Local Fund Raisers Include Aid For Injured Wharton Star Intro By Gary Nager We again salute the people of New Tampa who continue to show that even in the face of a struggling local and global economy, you are willing to do whatever you can to help others. And, we also salute that same spirit alive at high schools throughout Hillsborough County, which quickly mobilized an effort to help try to send a seriously injured Wharton High football star to college. Although we know there are more than just the efforts outlined below happening in our community (and we want to give as many of them as possible as much ink as possible in these pages), here is a brief rundown of some of the fund raisers we’ve already told you about — as well as some new ones we haven’t mentioned before.
Football Programs To Help Wharton’s Fisher
Sometimes, it only takes a split second to change a promising future into
one that is now much less certain. That’s the case with Wharton High football player Xavier Fisher, a standout wide receiver and defensive back who suffered what appears to be a career-ending injury in a game earlier this season. Fisher, a 6-foot, 170-pound junior, was returning a kick during the Wildcats’ game against Armwood High on September 25 when a hard tackle left him with not one, but two, fractures in his neck. He was somehow able to walk off the field, and is now recovering from his injury, but his doctors say that he will likely never be able to play again. That means that Fisher, who was being scouted by a number of Division I schools, also will miss out on receiving a scholarship that could have guaranteed him a college education. In order to help make up for that loss, high school coaches and their teams from around the county have stepped up to try and raise enough
money to fund a scholarship for Fisher. “That was most likely his only way to get to college,” says C.C. Culpepper, the head coach of the Tampa Bay Tech Titans, who led the effort to start the fund drive for Fisher. The Titans Hillsborough County high schools have joined forces to benefit donated their team pregame meal money injured Wharton High star Xavier Fisher. Photos by Barb Collins. for their Oct. 2 game, clearinghouse for donations for Fisher. totalling about $300, to get the drive Information about the account had started, and Culpepper said he also had not been finalized as of our press time, gotten pledges from all of the coaches but anyone who would like to make a at the county’s other high schools to donation can send it to Wharton High chip in as well. School, 20150 Bruce B. Downs In addition, Wharton High assisBlvd., Tampa, FL, 33647. tant principal for administration and For more information, call the athletics Mike Rowan says that the school at 631-4710. —Michael Smith school has set up an account through See “Fund Raisers” on page 6. the National Football Foundation as a
tion of Arbor Greene before they managed to gain access to a home at 10218 Timberland Point via an unlocked sliding glass door at around 3 a.m. on October 1. Once inside the home, they gathered up a number of items, including a Nintendo DS video game, a Wii video game system and a Star Wars DVD collection, which detectives say they put into a pillowcase that they took from the bed where a 3-year-old child was sleeping. The child did not wake
up, nor did two other children, ages 1 and 6 years old, who were also asleep in their bedrooms. The homeowner did wake up, however, when the thieves attempted to make off with a flat-screen TV from the screened-in pool area. He immediately called 911, at which point the thieves took off in the family’s 2007 Honda Odyssey van, the keys to which they also had taken from the residence. Although TPD conducted an extensive search of the area with mobile units and a helicopter, the thieves managed to slip away. The next day, a pair of suspects — a dark-skinned male, approximately 5’-9” tall with Old-English-style letter tattoos on the insides of both forearms, and a young Hispanic woman, about 5’-7” with dark hair with blonde highlights — used or attempted to use the family’s credit cards at several stores along Hillsborough Ave., including the Beall’s
Brazen Burglars Hit Home In Arbor Greene While Family Sleeps
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
City Of Tampa Receives Grant To Build New Fire Station, HH Gregg Now Open In Tampa Palms, High School Hockey & Youth Football Round-Up & More!
Recapping Reeves BMW’s Preview Of 2010 Models, Halloween Happenings Offer Frightening Fun & Your Chance To Win In Our 2009 Dining Survey !
See pages 3-26!
See pages 27-48!
ECRWSS
LOCAL NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION
Postal Customer
Also Inside This Issue!
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 2801
Detectives with the Tampa Police Department (TPD) are still on the lookout for the thieves who broke into a home in the Arbor Greene subdivision earlier this month and used a pillowcase from a sleeping child’s bed to carry their ill-gotten loot out of the house. According to TPD Det. Lisa Bishop, the burglars attempted to break into nine other homes in The Reserve sec-
department store at 2738 W. Hillsborough Ave. and the Ross Dress for Less store at 22nd St. and Hillsborough Ave. Video surveillance tapes show the couple buying shoes, clothing and numerous other items from the Ross store (see photo on page 4), where the couple was accompanied by a young girl approximately 2-3 years old. Both of the suspects spoke Spanish, according to clerks at the stores, and were driving a late-model blue or gray Mazda Millenium four-door sedan. (Those videos can be seen at the TPD website, Tampagov. net/pio). The family’s van was recovered from a parking lot at Hillsborough Ave. and Airport Blvd. on Oct. 6. See “News Briefs” on page 4. Dated Material Please Rush!
By Michael Smith
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 17, Issue 21 • October 16, 2009 • www.NTNeighborhoodNews.com
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