Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News, Volume 25, Issue 2, January 27, 2017

Volume 25 Issue 3

Inside:

Check Out ‘Gary’s Favorites’ For 2016!

January 27, 2017

See Pages 40-44!

Now The Only Neighborhood News Publications Serving Hillsborough & Pasco Counties!

The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993!

For the complete list of the neighborhoods that receive this publication by direct mail in New Tampa (zip code 33647), see page 54!

One Year Later, Schuyler Arakawa Is Still A Light That Can’t Be Extinguished

By John C. Cotey Dyane Elkins IronWing can still picture Schuyler Arakawa as a long-haired little girl filled with fire, prancing around her New Tampa Dance Theatre (NTDT) floor in rainbowcolored socks, cowboy boots and a mini skirt, her beaming smile lighting up the room with an energy so pure it was impossible to resist.

When she looks at Schuyler today, Dyane says she sees the same thing. The smile is still bright, the dimples are irresistible, the energy still pure.

“She was angelic then, and angelic now,’’ Dyane says.

It’s as if nothing has changed, even if everything has.

On Feb. 19, Schuyler, her mother Meridith Hankenson, sister Saya and brother Lyndon will quietly mark a one-year anniversary that many in the same situation would rather forget.

Meridith doesn’t know if her youngest daughter ever saw the large boulder roll off the 30-foot-high cliff that day and plummet towards the water. Schuyler doesn’t remember it crashing into her face, driving her deep under the water, crushing her skull, breaking her leg, collapsing her lung, fracturing five vertebrae in her spine and almost killing her.

What they do know, however, is this: it changed their world forever. +++++++ Today, Schuyler, who is 23 years old, is moving forward, with many of the same hopes and dreams she had before.

A former Arbor Greene resident and longtime student at the NTDT on Cross Creek Blvd., Schuyler had the world at her feet a year ago.

She is a Berkeley Prep and Yale University

Also Inside This Issue: News, Business & Sports Updates Football Fans Fill New Tampa Hotels, Macy’s At Wiregrass Survives The Cut, FHWC Going Virtual For Opening, Apartments & Daycare Coming, ‘Good Cemeterian’ Honoring Vets, Courtesy Busing To End For New Tampa Students, Clark Leads Freedom Girls Hoops; Plus, Local Business Features!

Pages 3-38

Neighborhood Magazine

‘Zammy’ Lights Up The Internet, Fushia’s Hot Pot Hits The Right Spot, Union 72 Offers Delicious BBQ & More, Gary Reveals His 2016 Dining Favorites, Plus, More Neighborhood Nibbles & Business Bytes!

Pages 39-56

graduate, and was on a mission to make the she now lives in with her mother. world a better, happier place. There was nothForrest Maddox, a friend from Yale who vising she couldn’t do. its from New York every few months, smiles and Now, she is starting over. laughs with her, reaching over to rub her arm.

She goes to therapy three days a week, Frodo, the family’s 13-year-old dapple travels once a week to Tarpon Springs for aqua dachshund, clickety-clacks across the floor at therapy, takes a yoga class and is trying to learn her feet, a treat in her mouth, perhaps to keep how to speak again, how to get up out of her it from Tinkerbell, their chocolate, long-haired wheelchair and walk again. dachshund.

It is a quiet, peaceful, normal day. Schuyler She is still joyous, however, in an amazing sort of way. She breaks out into smiles had physical therapy in the morning, ate a big and laughter while finishing off leftover ta- lunch, and is looking forward to her daily threecos for lunch in the Citrus Park townhome hour afternoon nap.

Her therapy is exhausting. “Everything is hard,’’ she says, quietly. “But I have to do it.” +++++++++ Schuyler had traveled the world to so many places before the boulder rolled off that cliff in Colombia. She helped children and adults to read in Tanzania, and had worked with a pistachio plantation that was the lifeblood of a village in Indonesia.

She made friends everywhere she went, and created for herself a worldwide social network to help benefit the less fortunate.

Schuyler’s passion was social enterprise, and on a brief break from building schools in Peru, she was enjoying the cool water during a rafting trip. She had taken a few days of vacation before what was going to be the second installation of a Yale-affiliated post-graduate fellowship, which involved weaving for the Threads of Peru, a not-for-profit social enterprise which spreads Peruvian culture and creates a sustainable market for the local artisans by selling handmade panchos, scarves and bracelets, to name a few.

Meridith remembers getting the phone call from one of Schuyler’s friends with her at the time, Dana, frantically telling her Schuyler had been hurt.

She might not live, the friend said. Meridith needed to get to Colombia.

So began a frantic, spellbinding and critical 72-hour period in which every minute mattered, and every decision was life or death. ++++++ Meridith didn’t speak Spanish, and didn’t know anyone from Colombia, but she knew she needed help. She’s not sure why, but she posted a plea on Facebook.

See “Schuyler” on page 4.

Dade City Chamber Celebrating 20 Years Of Kumquats January 28!

Dade City’s annual Kumquat Festival will be held on Saturday, January 28, 9 a.m.

- 5 p.m. This year is the milestone 20th anniversary of the event, which celebrates the kumquat, “a unique and funky little fruit,” as described by John Moors, executive director of the event’s host, the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce.

Kumquats are small citrus fruits grown near Dade City, and the annual festival also is an opportunity to show off the city’s historic downtown district’s eclectic restaurants and new places to shop, such as Flint Creek Outfitters, a new, high-end sporting goods and camping gear store.

This year’s festival will include 440 vendors and 40 sponsors, with a car and truck show, farmers market, arts & crafts, children’s activities and all kinds of kumquat pies and other products.

“It’s an authentic, old-Florida style festival,” says Moors, “including down-home, local entertainment on the historic courthouse steps all day.”

He estimates about 35,000 people attend

each year, but exact numbers are unknown because the event is not ticketed and there’s no gate.

“It’s certainly a milestone that this is our 20th year,” says Moors. “It’s marvelous that, for 20 years, the community has pulled together to put on this completely volunteer-run event.

Again this year, our 200 volunteers are working extremely hard to make it a really enjoyable day.”

Admission and parking are free, and free transportation also is provided from multiple satellite parking lots.

For more info, see pg. 17 or visit KumquatFestival.org. — Celeste McLaughlin

Stay Tuned Right Here For WCNT-tv & Taste Of New Tampa Updates!

An editorial by Gary Nager Less than two months before the 2017 Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel — which will be held on Saturday, March 18, noon-4 p.m., at the new Florida Hospital Center Ice (which now has ice!; see pg. 12) — I’m ecstatic to say that my restaurant committee is already surpassing my expectations.

As of our press date — January 19 — we already have 30 restaurants that have verbally committed to participate in the Taste! The truly amazing thing to me, however, is that when we recorded Episode 15 of WCNT-tv (Wesley Chapel & New Tampa television) just four days earlier, we only had 23 restaurant commitments and two maybes (see below).

In other words, virtually every restaurant we’ve spoken with has jumped at the opportunity to give away samples of their cuisine to what we expect will be at least 3,000-5,000 attendees. Everybody seems to want to have a chance to be inside the largest ice skating and hockey facility in the southern U.S. for what was the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area’s signature event for 20 years, even though it’s now been four years since the Taste was held.

The Taste, which is being put on for the first time by the Rotary Club of New Tampa (which meets Fridays at 7 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club), will also feature a live cooking demonstration by formerly 465-lb. celebrity chef and author George Stella (photo), whose popular show on the Food Network is called “Low Carb & Lovin’ It.” There also will be beer and wine available at the Taste, plus great musical entertainment and emcee/Rotarian Bob Thompson will make the rounds to every restaurant and sponsor booth at the event to help our food and bever-

New Tampa Neighborhood News Address: 29157 Chapel Park Dr., Suite B Wesley Chapel, FL 33543 Phone: (813) 910-2575 Advertising E-mail: Ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com Editorial E-mail: EditorialDept@NTNeighborhoodNews.com

Publisher & Editor Gary Nager Billing Manager Stephanie Smith Advertising Sales & Office Assistant Jannah McDonald Assistant Editor / Photographer John C. Cotey Staff Writer Celeste McLaughlin Correspondents Anu Varma Panchal • Brad Stager • Andy Warrener WCNT-tv Sales & Production Assistant Gavin Olsen Graphic Designers Blake Beatty • Georgia Carmichael Nothing that appears in New Tampa Neighborhood News may be reproduced, whether wholly or in part, without permission. Opinions expressed by New Tampa Neighborhood News writers are their own and do not reflect the publisher’s opinion.

The deadline for outside editorial submissions and advertisements for Volume 25, Issue 5, of New Tampa Neighborhood News is Monday, February 13, 2017.

New Tampa Neighborhood News will consider previously non-published outside editorial submissions if they are double spaced, typed and less than 500 words. New Tampa Neighborhood News reserves the right to edit and/or reject all outside editorial submissions and makes no guarantees regarding publication dates.

New Tampa Neighborhood News will not return unsolicited editorial materials.

New Tampa Neighborhood News reserves the right to edit &/or reject any advertising. New Tampa Neighborhood News is not responsible for errors in advertising beyond the actual cost of the advertising space itself, nor for the validity of any claims made by its advertisers.

© 2016, 2017 JM2 Communications, Inc. Neighborhood News

•Buffalo Wild Wings (probable) *Cheddars Scratch Kitchen (probable) Look for more updates in these pages, on WCNT-tv and at TasteofNewTampa.org!

And, Speaking of WCNT-tv...

age providers and sponsors give away some great prizes throughout the day.

And more great news is that the website TasteofNewTampa.org is now live and will provide regular updates about the event’s sponsors and all of the participating restaurants as they commit to participating. You’ll also be able to purchase Taste tickets on the site shortly and, since Taste proceeds will benefit the Rotary Club of New Tampa Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, your Taste ticket purchases may be tax deductible!

Here is the list of restaurants that had committed to participate in the Taste, whether verbally or in writing, at our press time: •Stonewood Grill & Tavern •Ciccio Cali •Vuelo Mexican Grill •The Private Chef of Tampa •Paramount Lebanese Kitchen •GrillSmith •Dempsey’s Steak House (Saddlebrook) •Little Italy’s •Old Heights Bistro •7 Layers Bakery •Top Shelf Sports Lounge (FHCI) •McDonald’s •PDQ •Union 72 BBQ •Sonny’s BBQ) •Cantina Laredo •Happy Cow Frozen Yogurt •Charley’s Cheesesteaks •Tijuana Flats •Culver’s *Pepe’s Cuban Cafe •Buttermilk Provisions •Arroy Thai •The Cake Girl •BJ’s Brewhouse •OTB Delights Café •Nothing Bundt Cakes •Jimmy John’s

The full-age ad on the facing page (page 2) touts the accomplishments and viewership to date of WCNT-tv. Episode 15 of WCNT-tv debuted on YouTube the same day we went to press with this issue, but we are pulling some fairly impressive numbers, at least in my opinion, through the first 14 full-length episodes and special reports that have aired to date.

Our Facebook reach is now at more than 334,000 people, up nearly 100,000 people since our last update in these pages.

We’ve also now had nearly 64,000 views on YouTube (which, we’ve been told, are usu-

ally much harder to come by than Facebook views) and nearly 83,000 views on Facebook itself for all of the segments combined.

Those may not be local TV station numbers...at least not yet...but with some episodes garnering as many as 10,000 views and with all of the big news coming up over the next several months, my partner Craig Miller (of Full Throttle Intermedia) and I are confident that we’ll soon pass a reach of half a million people and more than 100,000 views each on Facebook and YouTube.

Craig and I again thank our exclusive webcast partner, the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, and our Studio Sponsor, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, for believing in this project and trying a different way to bring attention to local businesses. Subscribe to the WCNT-tv YouTube channel today!

Table of Contents

Local News Updates.....................3-17

Football Fans Help Fill New Tampa Hotels......6 Macy’s Survives; New Stores Coming To Wiregrass...8 FHWC To Virtually Unveil Its Expansion.........10-11 New Apartments & Daycare Center Coming ...........12 ‘Good Cemeterian’ Shares His Stories................14 New Tampa Community Calendar..............................16

Local Business Updates..............20-31

Premier Heart & Vascular Keeps You Beating......20 Pediatric Dentists Dr. Duga & Dr. Feeney...............22 New Doctor, But Still Offering Tendercare........24 Let Florida Pain Medicine Manage Your Pain...........26 Legacy Makes Seniors Feel At Home...................28 Mary Catchur Makes Mark In Mortgage Biz........30 SPOTLIGHT ON: Shuayb Dental.........................31

Education/SportsUpdates...34-37

End Of Courtesy Busing A New Tampa Concern..34 Freedom’s Clark Makes Herself Into A Star...........36 Freedom’s 78-0 Victory A Girls Hoops Rarity........37

Neighborhood Magazine

Zammy The Sheepadoodle An Internet Sensation..39 Our Editor Reveals His 2016 Food Favorites!....40-45 Fushia’s Hot Pot Buffet Hits The Right Spot.......46 Union 72 BBQ A Welcome Mall Addition.........48 ‘Neighborhood Nibbles & Business Bytes’.........50 New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Classifieds.........52 DICK’s Lacrosse Tourney Is Still A Hit Locally......54 @NTWCNews

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

3

‘Schuyler’

Continued from Page 1

One of Schuyler’s friends knew a woman who was originally from Colombia. Her name is Amalita Estrada, and her daughter had attended Berkeley Prep with Schuyler. Along with another family — Chris and Georgette Tsavoussis, whose daughter Alexis went to school with Schuyler and immediately created a GoFundMe page for her classmate that raised more than $200,000 — they began helping to pave Meridith’s way in and out of Colombia.

“I got a phone call as I was checking out at the grocery store, and for some reason I felt a connection instantly,’’ says Amalita, who had never met Schuyler or her mother. She had to look in her daughter’s yearbook to even see what Schuyler looked like.

She began making calls from her Tarpon Springs home, trying to get Meridith to Colombia, eventually booking her plane tickets.

She called her cousin, a neurosurgeon in Bogota, the capital of Colombia.

Amalita told him he needed help getting Schuyler to Bogota, where the main hospitals would be. He asked where Schuyler was, and Amalita told him Socorro, in the northeastern part of Colombia.

Her cousin told her to take a deep breath and relax. It just so happened that one of Colombia’s best neurosurgeons, and his former teacher, had retired to Socorro, a small town of 30,000. And not only that, he had built an Intensive Care Unit in the middle of this small city because there had been so many motorcycle accidents in the area.

“Out of his own heart and goodwill, he built that there, because there was a need,’’ Amalita said. Without it, it is unlikely Schuyler would be alive today.

“That saved her life,’’ Amalita says.

Schuyler had been pulled from the river by the tour guides, and transported along dirt roads to the hospital in Socorro. Amalita doesn’t know how they did it, but they had help from an American man, she says, who just happened to appear and helped them get Schuyler up the ravine and into a vehicle. No one saw him again.

“An angel,’’ Amalita explains, because how else would you?

At the ICU, doctors stabilized Schuyler, but the prognosis was still grim. Meridith and her two other children couldn’t get a flight out of Tampa, so they raced to Miami to catch the last one out that night to Colombia.

Meanwhile, the woman back in Tarpon Springs that they had never met and didn’t know was making calls, talking to doctors, organizing transportation and making the biggest decisions of the family’s life.

“Amalita was a blessing,’’ Meridith says. “I didn’t know her, but I could feel her energy, and I think Schuyler could too.”

On the flight to Colombia, a near calm had come over Meridith. A deeply spiritual person, she says she reached deep into her soul and found a positivity, a peace, that even she didn’t know was there.

She decided, on the airplane, that Schuyler was going to be all right…and nothing could shake her from that belief. +++++++ When Meridith arrived, the doctors showed her the x-rays.

“A whole part of her skull was gone,’’ she says. “They told us for sure she would not see, ever again, no possible way. She would never smell, or taste, if she survived at all.”

By the next morning, on Feb. 20, a CAT scan revealed dramatic improvement. Though in a medically induced coma, Schuyler had already begun the fight.

4

In the ICU, Meridith told Saya she wished she could play music for Schuyler, because she loved it so much. She fiddled with her cell phone, but there was no Wi-Fi, and she was not receiving service despite her efforts to load Pandora.

She says she placed her phone on top of the paper towel dispenser while she washed her hands, and “all of a sudden Izzy’s ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ comes blasting from my phone.”

Meridith reaches out her arm as she recalls the moment. “Look, my Schuyler Arakawa on a mission trip to Tanzania (above), hair still stands on end with her sister Saya (right) and getting a view of the Anwhen I tell this story.” des mountains in Peru (next page).

Somehow, the PanOnce they were able to get her dora app on her phone began playing, even though her phone still had no bars. They gently back to the U.S., doctors in Miami placed it on Schuyler’s bed and agreed not to worked on putting Schuyler back touch the phone again. The playlist continued together again. In March, Meridith posted on to pipe in tunes. “It proceeded to a playlist that Facebook: “Dear sweet Schuy is going to continue was as if she was having a conversation with us,’’ her titanium transformation beginning at about Meridith said. “It was mind-blowing.”

She wrote down all the songs as they 6 am tomorrow morning. She will have a rod played, and later published them to a “Schuy placed in her right thigh then screws and wires is the Limit” Facebook page, which Meridith in her left ankle, shin and knee cap. The miracles started during her time in Colombia to keep the of modern science!”

While Schuyler may need an additional hundreds of Schuyler’s friends from around the surgery to repair her right eyelid later this world updated.

The Facebook page proved to be a won- spring, she has not required any other surgerderful source for the family, as prayers and well ies, remarkable considering that the boulder had made a direct hit on her head. wishes poured in.

Amalita is Catholic, so she has read all Some wrote that Meridith’s updates were so filled with a positive joy, that it transformed their lives. One mother wrote that her son had been suicidal, but after following the daily posts had told his mother he loved her for the first time in years.

Meridith and Amalita were talking on the phone regularly, about getting Schuyler out of Colombia and to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where they would eventually meet.

The second night in the ICU, before one of her many surgeries early on, the two mothers talked about positive colors, and how they can affect mood. Independently, they had both imagined Schuyler in a room awash with the healing colors of purple and green. “I thought, well, that’s interesting,’’ Meridith said.

The next morning, at 6 a.m., the doctors and nurses show up, wearing purple scrubs.

Meridith found the head nurse, and wanted to give her a hug to thank her. The nurse’s name was Violet.

After the surgery, a new nurse had rotated in. Her name was written on the whiteboard in Schuyler’s room — it was Hazel, which is, of course, a shade of green. And, everywhere Meridith looked that day, people seemed to be wearing purple and green.

“There were a lot of things like that happening,’’ she remembers. “Things like that were smattered throughout the whole process.”

Over the next couple of weeks, as Schuyler recovered, there were more miracles.

The girl that was never supposed to be able to smell again complained about a particular aroma from the essential oil that was being diffused near her.

The girl that was never supposed to see again, whose optic nerves had been smashed by a direct hit from a boulder, tapped the correct number of fingers when the doctors asked how many fingers they were holding up.

The room erupted in cheers.

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

about miracles. But, this was the first time, she says, that she had been a part of one.

“I tell everybody that you hear about these many miracles in Biblical times, and about angels and the Pope and so many religious stories, but before my eyes, I can testify that this is a miracle,’’ she says.

She is witness to it every week. She had a pool, so Amalita volunteered to learn aquatherapy. On Thursdays, Meridith drives Schuyler to Tarpon Springs for treatment. Amalita marvels at the progress she gets to see.

“It’s a beautiful, flowing story, and Schuyler is getting better when the odds were that she wasn’t supposed to.”

Neighborhood News

@NTWCNews

+++++++ It has been almost a year since the accident, and the road to recovery is still a long one for Schuyler. But, she isn’t angry, she never asks why this had to happen to her, and she remains undaunted.

“She is championing her way through this,’’ Meridith says. “Neither she nor I have any doubt that within another year, she will be walking.”

The mother has been transformed, too.

Before the accident, things hadn’t been easy for Meridith. There were bad relationships, failed businesses, financial strife.

At times, life had proven difficult.

Before she got off that plane in Colombia, though, everything had come together.

She looked at her past, and how it had shaped her for this moment. She was determined to will Schuyler to live, until she could arrive at her side. Once there, in concert with all of the wonderful medical advances employed by the doctors and nurses, she draped her daughter in love, and powered her to recovery, until she could bring her home, and take care of her.

Everything that Schuyler wanted to be before the accident, Meridith will make sure she still becomes.

“I am in awe of the beauty of this mom and her daughter,’’ says Amalita. “What Meridith has done, her positivity, it defies belief.

Schuyler would not have survived without her.”

Schuyler has plans to start a travel website, based on the travel blog she kept before the accident. It will highlight user-generated trips made by the more curious travelers, who eschew the typical Top 10 places to visit in a city.

“If you’re ever in Montana, for example, go see the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas,’’ Meridith says.

The website will keep Schuyler engaged,

Neighborhood News

as she is currently brainstorming ideas. “By the time Schuyler is up and running, she’ll be able to use he own passport and will have plenty of ideas for places to visit,’’ Meridith says.

Forrest was one of Schuyler’s closest friends at Yale, and he says he still sees the same joy and enthusiasm in her face he did before the accident. Her says her personality is the same and that he has little doubt that whatever she chooses to do, the best is still ahead for her.

“I don’t see this being a defining story for Schuyler, which is weird to say,” Forrest says.

“I honestly think this is something where, she’ll be doing something else amazing and she’ll say, ‘Oh by the way, a couple of years ago I was in this horrible accident, but right now I’m doing this incredible thing.’”

In October, Elkins IronWing, who helped teach Schuyler jazz, ballet, modern and even hip-hop dance (“She loved them all,’’ Meridith says) for more than a dozen years at NTDT, held a large Dance-a-Thon fund raiser for her.

Hundreds showed up, and dozens of local businesses chipped in to pull it off. Dyane was not surprised about the large turnout.

“She was a light that everyone was drawn to,’’ Elkins IronWing says. “I always tell people, if you met her for five minutes, you would remember her for the rest of your life.”

When Dyane saw Schuyler for the first time after the accident, she was overcome with emotion. Her voice chokes up even now recalling the moment, how she so badly just wanted to run to her former pupil and kiss the familiar dimples on her cheeks.

“From the time the accident happened until that moment, she was on the front of my brain,’’ Dyane says. “I just wanted to see her, feel her and kiss her to let her know that everything would be okay.”

The women of Threads of Peru didn’t

@NTWCNews

get the chance to host Schuyler, but her story moved them to make 10,000 of the very same bracelets with the exact pattern Schuyler was wearing that day on the water. She still wears that bracelet today.

Dyane sells them at her dance studio, for $10, with all proceeds going to the cost of Schuyler’s medical care and therapy.

Schuyler has a long way to go to “complete” recovery, or as close as anyone can get to that after a boulder lands on their head. But she’ll get there. She promises.

“I’m just a positive person,” she says.

To follow Schuyler and Meridith on Facebook and learn more about her amazing recovery, search Schuy is the Limit. To purchase a bracelet at the New Tampa Dance Theatre (10701 Cross Creek Blvd), visit Monday-Thursday 4 p.m.-8 p.m., or 9 a.m.1 p.m. on Saturday.

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

5

College Football Championship Game Fans Helped Fill New Tampa’s Hotels, Too!

By John C. Cotey The total economic impact of the recent College Football Playoff National Championship game between Clemson and Alabama at Raymond James Stadium is debatable, but there is no disputing that even though the game was held nearly 20 miles away, New Tampa felt some of the effect.

While certainly no Super Bowl, whose impact is larger and usually stretches more than a week in areas where it is held, Holiday Inn Express & Suites general manager George Sandona said the Tigers’ thrilling victory over the defending national champion Crimson Tide on Jan. 9 helped fill all of the rooms the day before and night of the game at his hotel, located on Galbraith Rd. off Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. in New Tampa.

“It was particularly good that it was a Sunday and Monday night, because, in the world of hotels, those do not typically sell out,’’ he said.

Sandona said that all 100 rooms at his Holiday Inn Express & Suites were booked Sunday and Monday, and he estimates that at least 60-70 of those rooms were occupied by Clemson and Alabama football fans.

And, at the Spring Hill Suites on Primrose Lake Cir. in Tampa Palms, rooms also were packed with football fans, but not the ones general manager Barbara Scott says she initially anticipated.

According to Scott, as many as 25 rooms had been booked months in advance by Ohio State supporters. But, when the Buckeyes were beaten by Clemson 31-0 on New Year’s Eve, those rooms were cancelled.

Most of them, she says, were filled by Clemson fans, the rest by Alabama fans.

Scott said her hotel (which will be undergoing a transformation this summer) was nearly sold out on Sunday, the day before the game, but all 127 suites were filled Monday night, with 50 percent of those bookings by football visitors.

“Was it lucrative? Yes,’’ Scott says. “Was it as lucrative as we thought, with people booking six months out? No.” The Clemson fans, Scott said, were a delight. She said the big group took it easy on the breakfast tables of Alabama fans, who had, “their heads in their plates” the morning after the Tigers’ 35-31 victory.

“They (Clemson) are a lovely travel team,’’ Scott says.

The college football championship game was a pleasant economic boost during what can be a slow time for area hotels. This year’s DICK’s Lacrosse Tournament in nearby Wesley Chapel (see pg. 54) had 20 fewer

6

teams than last year, so the usual infusion of visitors for that event didn’t materialize in New Tampa.

But, the Tiger and Tide faithful made up for it.

“2017 is starting out well,’’ said Sandona, who anticipates the success to continue as the Florida Hospital Center Ice hockey facility opens, even though there Clemson fans were in the majority in our area for the is another Holiday National Championship game, which helped fill our local Inn Express opening hotels, including the Holiday Inn Express in New Tampa. directly adjacent to the these events definitely provide a boost to local hotel off S.R. 56. FHCI already has booked businesses, and not just his own. almost half of its year with events that are sure He said his staff fielded dozens of to fill more local hotel rooms. inquiries from fans looking for things to do Jackie Ramos, who has been the general locally, with the most common question bemanager at the 84-room La Quinta Inn ing — where are the best restaurants? on Doña Michelle Dr. for three years, said “It was great for local restaurants, and that hotel didn’t sell out for the championit probably had a positive impact on Busch ship game, but hit definitely received a large Gardens attendance,” Sandona said. “Most increase in bookings due to the game. people had already done a lot of research “We certainly did,’’ she said. “Mostly about the events at the (downtown Tampa) Clemson fans.”

RiverWalk near the stadium. And, everyone The Tampa Bay Business Journal said tries to include a beach day in their trip.” the number of out-of-town visitors for the Sandona has been the general manager game was estimated at 75,000-100,000, with at the Holiday Inn Express since 2010 (and more than half of those booking hotel rooms. before that, also held the position from 2003Southern Hillsborough and Pinellas County, 07), and has worked through a few Super which are closer to the beaches, were exBowls, which booked his hotel full for 4-5 pected to receive the lion’s share of that total. days at a time.

Tampa Bay Sports Commission execuSandona only wishes the event had more tive director Rob Higgins estimated that the staying power. Clemson and Alabama didn’t economic impact to the Tampa Bay area was roughly $300 million.

Last year’s championship game — also played between Alabama and Clemson — was played at the University of Phoenix Stadium and, according to Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, generated $273.6-million from out-of-state visitors.

That was the highest total ever reported for a national championship game.

Scott says Tampa came off great on television and seemed to be a hit with visitors, adding that measuring the success of the event by that standard reaps more benefits than the final financial figures. “The success can not be tethered to dollars,’’ said Scott, who has been with the SpringHill Suites since 2013. “We got some great press, and these things help put (Tampa) on the road to being the next great city.”

While final economic impact figures for Tampa Bay aren’t yet available, Sandona says

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

Neighborhood News

win their semifinal games until Dec. 31, so fans couldn’t plan too far ahead, creating some special booking process requirements.

And, because the game was held on a Monday night, that meant, at most, only a likely weekend stay.

However, Sandona said it was a friendly, festive crowd that filled his rooms over the weekend. He said even the Alabama fans remained upbeat after the loss, confident their team would return to the championship game next year.

But they don’t win the award for most faithful fan at the hotel.

“One of my favorite interactions was with a Clemson fan who booked his rooms on June 1, 2016,’’ Sandona says. “I spoke to him a week before the game and told him he gets my ‘Boatload of Faith’ award. He told me he just figured the best thing to do was stay positive.”

@NTWCNews

Macy’s Store In The Shops At Wiregrass Mall Will Remain Open

an Avalon Spa is under construcBy John C. Cotey tion next to Dillard’s. Lenners says Macy’s has announced that it will be closthe mall also recently completed a ing 68 store sin 2017, but the good news is, lease agreement with Noble Crust, one of them won’t be ours. a trendy and popular St. Petersburg The department store chain, which anrestaurant that offers “Seasonal nounced in August that it would be closing 100 Italian with Southern Soul.” of its 700 stores by next year, announced 68 of Lenners also said the so-called its store closings and the Macy’s location at the “connector site” to the east of the Shops at Wiregrass mall was not on the list. existing Shops at Wiregrass, which That’s good news, says Shops at Wiregrass will include luxury apartments, a general manager Greg Lenners. movie theater and a green grocer, “Having a Macy’s, it basically rounds out is still making it’s way through the the selection of stores that we have and it’s a Macy’s at the Shops at Wiregrass mall was con- environmental permitting process, great anchor to have,’’ Lenners says. sidered to be in danger of closing, but the location but hopes to break ground some- The south St. Petersburg location of Noble Crust is a When Macy’s announced its potential time in the fall. was not among the 68 stores the company is closing. closings last year, Morningstar Credit Ratings “There’s going to be lots of popular dining destination, thanks to the fresh food identified 28 locations that had sales below the two are set to close later this summer. and craft beers. activity,’’ Lenners says. company’s national average for 2014, the most Lenners says he is pleased Macy’s, whose recent year information was available, putting storefront faces the center – and, probably, busthem at higher risk. iest -- section of the mall, is staying open. He The Wiregrass Macy’s was No. 8 on that says the store’s selection, as well as the selection list, reporting $118 in sales per sq. ft. The aver- at the other anchors, JC Penney and Dillard’s, age for Macy’s overall in 2014 was $169 per fits the local shopping demographic perfectly. sq. ft.

Big-name anchors are generally considThe other Florida store on the Morning- ered vital to a mall’s success, and the loss of one star Credit Ratings list was the Lakeland Square can sometimes be a hint of a downward spiral.

Mall location. That location did not survive and Lenners, however, points to some recent will close this spring. and planned openings that show the mall is still Lenners says that despite the report, he growing and going strong. never thought the location at his mall would A few months ago, PhoLicious, a Vietbe axed. namese noodle soup café, opened, and on Jan. “We always anticipated it wouldn’t close,’’ 8, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt debuted. he says. “We are in one of the fastest-growing By the time this issue arrives in your communities in the state. It didn’t make sense mailbox, the Chinese stir-fry kitchen Wok why they would close it.”

Chi, located near the Barnes & Noble, Of the 68 stores Macy’s will close, three should be open as well. have already been shuttered, with another 63 Despite rumors to the contrary, Irish closings expected by the spring. The remaining 31 is still expected to open this spring, and

8

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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FHWC Ready To Unveil New Rooms, New Technology & A New Experience

By John C. Cotey Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) is virtually ready for another grand opening. Oops. Make that ready for a virtual grand opening.

After drawing an estimated crowd of 8,000 people to its initial Grand Opening in 2012, FHWC is set to unveil its new $78-million, 118,000-sq.-ft. expansion to the general public via social media. FHWC marketing director Tracy Clouser says that because the hospital now has patients being treated everywhere, it isn’t possible to allow thousands to stroll through the corridors, checking out the new rooms and advances in technology.

However, everyone can still attend the Grand Opening of the expansion virtually, via both YouTube and Facebook, on Monday, February 6, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Clouser says the public will even be given the opportunity to ask questions of FHWC CEO Denyse Bales-Chubb.

“We’ll be showcasing some of the areas people wouldn’t ordinarily get to see,’’ Clouser said during an interview with Neighborhood News editor Gary Nager for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce Featured Business Segment on WCNT-tv, which hit YouTube on Jan. 6. SA few days after that episode hit YouTube, the hospital also held a VIP tour of the expansion.

FHWC, constructed in the shape of a “W” with North, Center and South wings, is doubling the size of the Center wing, which now has six floors instead of the original three.

A three-story connector wing, called the

10

Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel’s $78-million expansion should be completed by the end of the month. Drone photography by Brad Hall Studios.

“Southeast Connector,” between the Center ing brisk business at the hospital hastened the and South wings, also is nearly complete. need for expansion to within only three years.

The extra floors will allow the hospital to “We have been very, very busy,’’ Clouser expand from 83 private patient rooms to 143. says. “Obviously, there has been a need in this Emergency room space also is nearly dou- area for quality healthcare close to home for bling, from 18 rooms to 35. That may be the (local) people.” best news for area residents, as even the influx of urgent care centers in Wesley Chapel and Even More Technology New Tampa hasn’t stopped the FHWC emerThe new patient rooms at FHWC are gency rooms from overflowing some days.

Cerner Smart Rooms, which offer better Clouser said there was no true origi- workflows for hospital personnel, with instant nal timetable to expand, but the top brass bedside access to real-time data for doctors, with FHWC’s parent company, the Advent- while providing better communication beist Health System originally estimated there tween patients, their providers and visitors. would be a need for expansion within 5-7 years Visitors will be able to see if the patient is when FHWC first opened. But, the unrelent- with their doctor, resting or does not want to

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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be disturbed before entering the room, while FHWC staff will know, for example, which of their patients have allergies or are fall risks.

“It’s all right at their fingertips outside the room,’’ Clouser says, adding that the older rooms at FHWC will be retrofitted with the Cerner technology as well.

The new rooms also have the Get Well Network, another technology that bridges the gap between patients and doctors and empowers patients and their caregivers to participate in their healthcare. It also helps track the care patients are receiving — like dosages of medicine or blood tests — while they may be sleeping, right down to knowing when hospital personnel are washing and sanitizing their hands.

Clouser also said that some of the expansion already has been completed. A second heart catheterization lab opened in March, and a new wing with 20 additional beds in the Southeast wing opened in October. That third-floor wing will be an all-women’s wing when all of the other new rooms have opened, all expected by the end of this month or early in February.

The majority of the new rooms and technologies will be on the new fifth and sixth floors. Clouser also said that, for now, the fourth floor will remain as shell space, until future growth dictates adding 24 more patient rooms. Until then, the fourth floor will feature conference and classrooms that will host many of the free community health and wellness programs FHWC currently hosts at the hospital’s adjacent Wellness Center.

Clouser also noted that the expansion, which will be completed by the end of the month or early in February, will at-

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FHWC marketing director Tracy Clouser shows off the new Cerner Smart Rooms system which is in all of the new rooms constructed during the expansion. Photo courtesy of Brad Hall Studios. tract new physicians offering new procedures, since FHWC will now have more space in the new operating rooms. “That means new treatments, new services and new programs,’’ Clouser says.

Doctors also will soon have access to the MAKO platform, which is a roboticarm-assisted system that can perform orthopaedic surgeries like partial knee or hip replacements. FHWC also has the daVinci System, another robotic-assisted device that specializes in minimally invasive surgery, such as removing a gall bladder or performing a hysterectomy through a patient’s belly button.

“We are the only site in Pasco County able to do that,’’ Clouser said “Surgeons like

Neighborhood News

it because it’s minimally invasive, there’s less scarring, less pain, shorter recovery times and less blood.”

FHWC also will feature a tech room that allows doctors to enter via keyboard the patient’s name and type of surgery being performed, prompting a shelf to open up that provides all of the tools needed to perform that particular operation.

To RSVP for the virtual FHWC expansion Grand Opening, please visit FHInspiredByYou.com. The event will be on YouTube and Facebook, on Mon., Feb. 6, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Check out the drone footage and much more inside FHWC from Brad Hall Studios on Episode 14 of WCNT-tv on YouTube now!

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For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

11

Apartments, Learning Experience Under Construction; FHCI Finally Adds Ice!

proprietary L.E.A.P.® (Learning Experience Academic Program) that is guarantees will provide children with exceptional core academic skills. For more info, visit TheLearningExperience.com.

By John C. Cotey

A new luxury apartment community has broken ground on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. across from the Muvico Starlight 20 movie theaters, and could be a boon or those seeking corporate lodging in the future.

The Oasis at Highwoods Preserve will offer 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartment homes, and “the amenities are incredible,’’ says Anna Hoang, a spokesperson for Picerne Real Estate Group, which is one of the largest diversified real estate management and development firms in the country.

Some of those amenities include a clubhouse with computers with free WiFi, faux wood flooring, a dog park, a theater room, cabanas and outdoor grills and a beach entry, saltwater pool.

Hoang says special added touches, like soft-closing drawers, granite countertops, crown molding and distinct archways will “make it feel more like a home than an apartment.”

The Oasis at Highwoods Preserve will have 302 units, and will be four stories tall, with elevators.

Construction began earlier this month, and the first building is expected to be completed by September, with a grand opening of the entire community in spring of 2018.

For more info, visit Picerne.com.

A New Learning Experience

New Tampa and Wesley Chapel continue to be fertile ground for companies offering a mixture of childcare and early education, and the latest entry into the local market is The Learning Experience.

Work has begun on the physical struc-

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The FHCI Iceman Cometh

Above is a rendering of a Diverging Diamond Interchange, like the one planned for the S.R. 56 exit off I-75, which has been moved up to a Fiscal Year 2018 start date. Source: FDOT. ture of the new facility, which will be located guage programs (like Chinese), manners and at 20780 Trout Creek Rd. The Learning Ex- etiquette, physical fitness and a philanthropy perience will be almost directly across from program that teaches children the value of the Wesley Chapel Super Target, but on the selflessness and giving.

New Tampa side of County Line Rd. Boca Raton-based The Learning ExThe facility will be large. According to perience was founded in 1979 by Michael site plans on the City of Tampa website, The and Lina Weissman, and is currently run by Learning Experience is being built on 1.39 their son Richard. It began franchising in acres and will be a 10,000-sq.-ft. facility, with 2003. Forbes.com a 9,310-sq.-ft. playground. picked it as one of A similar venture, the Goddard School the top franchises to in Wesley Chapel, is opening a mile or so to own in 2015, with the north off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., $42.6-million in revacross from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel. enue that year from The Learning Experience offers childcare its 200-plus locations, and early education for kids ages six months as well a 73-percent to six years old. growth rate over the According to the company’s website, the three preceding years. curriculum includes sign language for infants The Learning and toddlers, a phonics program, foreign lan- Experience uses its

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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For those of us who have previously toured the new Florida Hospital Center Ice (FCHI) off S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, there were only two things missing — people skating and the ice itself.

Well, as of Jan. 19, the largest ice skating and hockey facility south of New York state began the process of creating the ice, so that it can be painted, finished and open for skaters.

The facility and the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) were set to host a ceremonial puck drop on Jan. 25, or a few days after we went to press with this issue, but we’re pretty sure the pic below and the others on our website and our WCNT-tv Episode 15 (which debuted on Jan. 20) are some of the first glimpses anyone has had of the ice inside FHCI. For more info, visit FloridaHospitalCenterIce.com.

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For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

13

‘The Good Cemeterian’ Restores The Final Resting Places Of U.S. Military Vets

By John C. Cotey

It was as a budding photographer, and through a camera lens, that Andrew Lumish first noticed the mold and dirt covering the headstones he was taking pictures of in Oaklawn, Tampa’s oldest cemetery. He was particularly struck by the grime that obscured the memorials to fallen veterans, to the point where you could no longer make out their names. Lumish says he was moved by the thought that they had not only been forgotten, but that their marble and granite shrines had fallen into such disrepair.

So, with a handful of brushes, some water and D/2 Biological Solution — the only product approved for use in our national cemeteries — Lumish did something about it.

He started cleaning them, taking every Sunday to do so, and sharing his work on Facebook and Instagram. What began as the act of a good samaritan evolved into Lumish developing a cult-like social media following as “The Good Cemeterian.”

“It bothered me that many of the military markers were neglected for decades, if not for more than a century,’’ Lumish says. “I thought this would be a good way to honor our veterans, many who have just been forgotten.”

The 46-year-old Land O’Lakes resident, who owns his own cleaning business, Lumish tackled his newfound calling with vigor.

He slowly perfected his trade, tombstone by tombstone, with some restorations taking 20 minutes, while others have taken months.

“It’s kind of an art form,’’ Lumish says.

“It all depends on the complexity of the monument. Some have lots of nooks and crannies, and they require tooth brushes, Q-tips, whatever it takes.”

WFTS-TV, Ch. 28, the local ABC affiliate, did a small segment on Lumish in 2015 — he jokes that it was between a “Dirty Dining” segment and the weather — and it went viral, with more than 30 million online views.

Lumish shared his story with a raptured gathering at the New Tampa Rotary Club’s breakfast on Jan. 6. Club member Craig Miller had seen Lumish featured on “CBS Sunday Morning” last November — Miller says he and his wife Dee always tape the show and watch it after church — and reached out to him to be a featured speaker for the club..

“He had some really interesting stories,’’ Miller says. “He was great.”

Lumish, who says he has cleaned roughly 800 headstones and monuments of military veterans from the Civil, Spanish American, Korean, Vietnam and two World Wars, doesn’t just do restorations — he includes

14

Rotarian Craig Miller (left) reached out to ‘The Good Cemeterian,’ Andrew Lumish, to speak at a New Tampa Rotary Club breakfast. stories about the people buried beneath them to complement his before-and-after photos.

His most recent restorations were for World War I veteran Milton Payne Turner, who died in 1963 in a nursing home, and his son, Milton Owen Turner, who preceded his father in death when he was killed in WWII by the Nazis, just 23 days before Adolf Hitler committed suicide.

Lumish shares details of the men’s lives on his Facebook page (search: TheGoodCemeterian), and his posts have been shared, liked and commented on tens of thousands of times. He estimates he reaches roughly 400,000 people a week (or more than 20 million a year) through social media.

Lumish started on his path to becoming the Good Cemeterian in the Lutz cemetery, where he returned the luster to a monument honoring a Civil War veteran.

“I never thought about it, I just wanted to give respect back,’’ he says. “Once I became better (at it), I took on bigger projects.”

One such bigger project involved a 10-foot-tall monument to two Tampa brothers, ages 16 and 14, who died in 1891. The story goes, the older brother goaded the other, who couldn’t swim, into removing his flotation device. But, once it was removed, and the older brother realized the mistake, they both drowned while he tried to save his younger brother.

“Some of the stories are sad,’’ says Lumish, who has been lauded by the Department of Veteran Affairs and other organizations for his efforts.

Lumish has an assistant, Jen Armbruster, who helps research the stories, and uses a number of online geneaology accounts to dig into fallen soldiers’ backgrounds in great detail. He often includes photos of his subjects

when they are available, and even researches unmarked graves he has restored, to unlock the past.

“We try to tell their entire life stories,’’ says Lumish, who says he spent most of his adult life in corporate America before discovering a knack for photography. “I’ve always loved history, and this has allowed me to tell stories. It can be like finding a treasure.”

People from across the globe have shown their appreciation.

Lumish says he gets thousands of messages from relatives and friends of those he features, and he says schools have contacted him about having their students do something similar for projects in their classes. Lumish honors the memory and service of U.S. military Lumish may be cleaning the veterans by restoring their headstones. Yes, these photos surfaces of monuments, but he is are before (above) and after (below) his handiwork. only scratching the surface of what he hopes to accomplish. He has a number of projects in the pipeline as he continues to tackle lost history, one grimy tombstone at a time.

“I love doing it, I love telling stories,’’ he says. “In a world bombarded with negativity, this is something positive. It’s just a personal thing for me, but it has struck a nerve across the globe.

There is no better feeling.”

You can follow The Good Cemeterian at Facebook.com/ TheGoodCemeterian and on Instagram at instagram.com/ thegoodcemeterian.

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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JANUARY 2017 Saturday - January 28 - 9 AM - 5 PM

Dade City Kumquat Festival - See story, on page 1.

Saturday - January 28 - 9:30 AM

Baychapel Food Pantry - Free food for needy families. Open every Saturday from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. behind Christian Brothers Automotive at 20300 Trout Creek Dr. (off BBD). For more info, visit BayChapel.com/foodpantry.

Saturday - January 28 - 10 AM - Noon

Friendship Singers Practice - Volunteers who perform in local nursing homes, senior centers & assisted living facilities invite anyone who enjoys singing to join them for two practices and two concerts a month, including this practice at the Pasco Senior Services Center at 6801 Wisteria Loop Rd. in Land O’Lakes. For info, contact Joyce Ruby at 442-7879 or joyceruby99@yahoo.com.

BNI Millionaire Makers - The BNI Millionaire Makers chapter meets Weds. at Heritiage Isles Country Club (10630 Plantation Bay Dr.), at 7:15 am. $13 to attend includes hot breakfast. Call Lisa Jordan at 621-6015 for info.

Wednesday - February 1 - 7:30 AM

Business Networking International (BNI) - BNI, a group of business pros dedicated to helping their member businesses grow through qualified referrals, meets every Wed., 7:30 a.m., at the Cory Lake Isles Beach Club clubhouse (10441 Cory Lake Dr.). Call Bill Sullivan at 994-1143.

Wednesday - February 1 - 11:45 AM

Partners In Network (PIN) - Partners In Network is a group of professionals, one specializing in each area of business, who form a connection for the joint effort of networking to share business referrals and attain business prosperity. Meets every Wednesday for lunch at Stonewood Grill, 11:30 am. For info, call Georgianna Strickland (477-7306) or Ken Fernandez (334-6000) or email gstrickland@strategicmarketingarts.com.

Wednesday - February 1 - Noon

New Tampa Noon Rotary Club - The New Tampa Noon Rotary Club meets Meditation Group - All faiths and all levels of meditation experience are wel- every Wed. for lunch, noon, at Mulligan’s Irish Pub at Pebble Creek Country come at this free meeting at Sanctuary Wellness Center, 8903 Regents Park Club. Guests are always welcome. For more info, call Valerie at 317-8886.

Dr., Suite 120. For info, see The Sanctuary Wellness Center in New Tampa Friday - February 3 - 7 AM on Facebook or New Tampa Intuitive Development Center on Meetup.

Rotary Club of New Tampa - The original New Tampa Rotary Club meets every Friday for breakfast at 7 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club Monday - January 30 - 6:30 PM (TPGCC, 5811 Tampa Palms Blvd.). For additional information, contact Wesley Chapel Speaks - The Wesley Chapel Toast Masters meets every David Lanigan at 760-6548 or dave@davidlanigan.com or visit NewTamMonday at 6:30 pm at Wesley Chapel Nissan (28519 State Rd 54) to teach the pa Rotary.org. community public speaking and leadership skills. Arrive at 6 pm for networking opportunities. For more info, call Martin at 693-0969.

Saturday - February 4 - 10 AM - 10 PM Go Craft Yourself Grand Opening - See ad, right.

Sunday, January 29 - 10 AM - 11 AM

Tuesday - January 31 - 9:30 AM

English As A Second Language (ESL) - The ESL group meets Tuesdays at Tampa Bay Presbyterian Church (19911 BBD Blvd. in Pebble Creek), 9:30 a.m.11:30 a.m. Classes are taught by a native English speaker. The cost is $40 each semester for the workbook & class materials. For info, call Holly at 360-2077.

Tuesday - January 31 - 11:30 AM

Keep It Local - This seat-specific networking group emphasizes small, local businesses. Meets meets every Tuesday at GrillSmith at The Shops at Wiregrass. For more info, call Marino Cecchi at 513-9001.

FEBRUARY 2017 Wednesday - February 1 - 7:15 AM

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Monday - February 13 - 6:30 PM

GFWC New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club - The GFWC New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club meets the second Monday of every month at the New Tampa YMCA at 16221 Compton Dr. For info, visit GFWCNewTampaJuniors.org.

Visit NTNeighborhoodNews.com to add your upcoming events that are open to the public to our online calendar. Once approved, they appear in the “Events” section on our home page. With enough advanced notice (at least 3-4 weeks), events that take place in our readership areas may also appear in print, as space allows.

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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Peabody’s To Host Benefit Concert Feb. 25

The Other Side of the Dunes, a nonprofit organization that provides beach-accessible wheelchairs for paralyzed veterans, will host a benefit concert featuring the popular local Deacon Blues Band (TheDeaconBlues.com) on Saturday, February 25, in the Palms Lounge at Peabody’s Billiards & Games in the Shoppes of Amberly plaza in Tampa Palms.

Last year’s event drew a crowd of roughly 200 and raised more than $2,300.

There will a $10 donation cover charge, with all proceeds going to the Other Side of the Dunes, a U.S. Military Veteran-run 501c3 charity, which was created in 2015 by former Marine Eric Wooten and his wife Sandra.

The beach wheelchair (pictured above) allows the user to travel along the beach thanks to the larger wheels that won’t sink

Neighborhood News

into the sand and become impossible to rotate by hand, which is what happens with conventional wheelchairs. The sand wheelchairs cost roughly $6,500 apiece.

Moneca Lemos McVey, a U.S. Navy veteran, will be the next wheelchair recipient.

Her chair will be three-wheeled, in bubblegum pink, with a USB port.

The concert, which will begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 7, is one of a number of events hosted each year by Other Side of the Dunes. The group held a toy drive and its first annual golf tournament last year.

Peabody’s (PeabodysTampa.com) is located at 15333 Amberly Dr. For more information, call 972-1725. For more info about Other Side of the Dunes, visit OtherSideoftheDunes.org.

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For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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Premier Heart & Vascular Doctors Keep Hearts Pumping & Blood Flowing

By Brad Stager Over the course of a lifetime, a healthy human heart proves itself to be a reliable muscular pump, beating thousands of times a day and sending blood throughout the body via a network of veins, vessels and capillaries.

When working right, most people don’t even notice this life-supporting cardiovascular system functioning.

But, when something goes wrong, such as clogged arteries, heart disease or other damage, the physicians and staff of Premier Heart & Vascular Center in the Summergate Professional Park off S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel. Dr. Sunil Gupta, MD, FACC (Fellow of the American College of Cardiology), founded the practice with an objective that has remained constant throughout its 15-year existence. “Our goal is to provide care to patients and do it promptly and do it right,’’ says Dr. Gupta, whose FACC fellowship was conferred by virtue of his cardiology training at the Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, NJ. “That’s what drives us.”

According to Dr. Ketul Chauhan, MD, FACC, another one of the physicians at Premier Heart & Vascular, patients benefit from the ability to devote the substantial resources and knowledge available within the practice to provide needed treatment.

“We’re able to take care of them from seeing them and diagnosing them to consulting with them and fixing them with interventional procedures if needed,” Dr. Chauhan says. That’s as comprehensive as it gets.” Dr. Chauhan earned his M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West

20

area, from Carrollwood to Lakeland. An additional clinic in Dade City is closed because it is in the process of being relocated.

Dr. Gupta says Premier has grown by performing work that promotes a good reputation in the local cardiology community, which brings in more patients and qualified professionals to treat them.

“Because of our reputation, we are able to attract good people to work for us — physicians, physician assistants and other staff members,” he says.

All of the doctors are Board-certified cardiologists, with advanced training in diagnosing and treating cardiovascular disease.

A Variety Of Sub-Specialties

The Premier Heart and Vascular team: (Back row, l.-r.) Dr. Konstantinos Marmagkiolis, MD; Dr. Chetan Khamare, MD; Dr. Rajesh Lall, MD; and Dr. Vikas Soma, MD. (Middle row) Dr. Jaime Caballero, MD; Dr. Sunil Gupta, MD; Dr. Ketul Chauhan, MD; Tracee Eger, PA-C.(Front row) Marilyn Joseph, ARNP; Andrea Harkins, PA-C; Sabrina Tedesco, PA-C; Kristina Long, PA-C; Michele Gordon, PA-C. Indies, and earned his FACC through Tampa General Hospital.

Premier’s physicians specialize in interventional cardiology and among the non-invasive services provided to patients are diagnostic procedures like tilt-table, treadmill and pharmacological tests; as well as Coumadin, pacemaker/defibrillator, and congestive heart failure (CHF) clinics. They also perform laser vein ablation, which treats varicose veins by sealing them.

Invasive procedures performed on an inpa-

tient basis include angioplasty, which uses small balloons to open narrowed or blocked blood vessels, and implanting stents (small, mesh-like devices made of metal, which are placed inside of a coronary artery to support and keep it open to ensure adequate blood flow).

Pacemaker implantation as well as heart valve repairs and replacements also are performed.

There are seven physicians who are part of the Premier Heart & Vascular team, treating patients at five clinics in the Tampa Bay

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Each physician also brings unique knowledge and skills that emphasize particular aspects of the field, such as Dr. Chetan Khamare, MD, FACC, who has a focus on congestive heart failure. Dr. Khamare received his M.D. degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Portsmouth, Dominica, and earned his FACC through his work at West Virginia University Hospital in Morgantown.

When there are structural problems with a patient’s heart, such as a defective valve, Dr. Konstantinos Marmagkiolis, MD, FACC, contributes his expertise of the emerging field of structural heart disease. Dr. Marmagkiolis graduated with his M.D. degree from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine in Thessaloniki, Greece, and achieved his FACC through the Montreal Heart Institute of the University of Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Supporting the body’s natural cardiovascular system with technology such as stents

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and pacemakers requires a deft hand and the training required to implant devices. Dr. Chauhan performs device implants, as does Dr. Vikas Soma, MD, FACC, whose M.D. degree was awarded by Santiago University of Technology School of Medicine in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Dr. Soma’s FACC was achieved through his fellowship training at St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers in New York, NY. One of the ways that cardiac health is evaluated is through stress tests conducted using nuclear isotopes. Besides earning his medical degree from the University of Debrecen Medical & Health Science Institute in Debrecen, Hungary, and his FACC fellowship training at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Dr. Rajesh Lall, MD, FACC, also is Board-certified in nuclear cardiology.

Also supporting Premier Heart & Vascular’s nuclear cardiology program is Dr. Jaime Caballero, MD, FACC, who also has received training in the proper handling of radioactive materials used in the practice’s accredited nuclear stress test lab. Dr. Caballero earned his M.D. degree from the University of Tolima School of Medicine in Ibagué, Colombia, and received his cardiac fellowship training at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

It can be stressful when people find themselves needing the services of a cardiologist and Premier’s Wesley Chapel office manager, Lisa Sylvester, has the prescription for easing patients’ concerns.

“From the time they walk in the door, the greeting is important. Smiles on the faces are big,” she says. “It could be their first time at a cardiologist, so it’s important to let them know that we are here to help them.”

Dr. Gupta also recognizes that patient care begins with caring professionals.

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“It’s the people,” he says. “Our defining principle is doing the right thing and that allows us to always put the patient first.”

Outstanding Reviews & More

Louis Capasso expresses his patient satisfaction by awarding Premier a five-star Google review with the comment, “Fantastic.

Everything was explained to me so that I understood things,” he wrote.

Premier accepts a long list of insurance plans and is willing to add to it, according to Robbie Balbontin, RN, who as Premier’s clinical manager, coordinates the practice’s administrative operations.

“We take everything,” she says. “If we don’t take it, we’ll apply for it.” Premier also accepts Medicare and even Medicaid, which Balbontin says is not typical. “We’re one of the few cardiology practices that accepts Medicaid.”

Since starting the practice 15 years ago, Dr. Gupta has seen it grow to its current level of five locations employing 45 healthcare professionals.

“We are surprised at how fast we are able to grow,” he says. “More patients are coming to us and more doctors are joining us.”

Much of that growth is taking place at the Wesley Chapel office, which opened seven years ago. In order to accommodate the increase in patients, Premier is moving to a new 8,000-sq.-ft. building to be located across Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel this summer.

Premier Heart & Vascular Center’s Wesley Chapel is currently located in the Summergate Professional Park at 27424 Cashford Cir. You can learn more about Premier by visiting online at PremierHeartandVascular.com, by calling 788-1400 or see the ad on pg. 11.

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21

Dr. Duga & Dr. Feeney Can Help Your Child’s Smile Last A Lifetime and she earned her Certificate in Pediatric Dentistry from the University of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, after receiving her DMD degree from the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston.

“I like working with kids,” Dr. Adams-Feeney says. “We have the ability to help them form good habits early and create good patients from the start.”

By Brad Stager

Your child’s wide and toothy smile may easily brighten a room, but ensuring that his or her teeth are healthy requires good dental hygiene at home and the kind of care that professionals like those at Dr. Duga, Dr. Feeney & Associates Pediatric Dentistry has been providing in our area for 19 years.

The colorfully decorated office in the Somerset Professional Park in Tampa Palms (located off Bruce B. Downs [BBD] Blvd. and Amberly Dr.) has more video game consoles than X-ray machines and the approach to dentistry is child-friendly as well, for a practical reason.

“Doctor Feeney and I feel it is most important to provide one-on-one personalized care,” says Paul Duga, DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery). “Kids are not little adults. They need that familiarity, so it’s not a clinic where they see a different dentist every time.”

Shawna Adams-Feeney, DMD (Doctor of Medical Dentistry) says that part of the attraction of pediatric dentistry for her is the chance to make a difference in a young person’s life.

“I like working with kids because we have the ability to help them establish good habits early,” she says.

Although Dr. Duga and Dr. Adams-Feeney (who are both Board-certified pediatric dentists) share the goal of providing a welcoming dental home for New Tampa’s children, they say they reached it in different ways.

After earning his DDS degree from the Marquette University School of Dentistry

Getting Started Early

Pediatric dentists Dr. Paul Duga, DDS (left), and Dr. Shawna Adams-Feeney, DMD, have been brightening smiles in New Tampa for nearly two decades, and their caring, professional staff and child-friendly office are as well known as any in this area. in Milwaukee, Dr. Duga says he worked as a general dentist in Milwaukee for a few years before becoming interested in pediatric dentistry.

He followed up by earning his Certificate in Pediatric Dentistry from the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry in New Orleans, an experience that, he says, validated his belief that children’s dental needs are best served by specialists.

“Every day, something came up that improved my knowledge base and skills to care for kids,” Dr. Duga says. He adds that there’s a good reason to choose a pediatric dentist over a general dentist to meet the oral health needs of your children.

“With kids, things are dynamic, always changing,” he says.

For Dr. Adams-Feeney, pediatric dentistry was always her professional goal

When it comes to pediatric dental health, Dr. Duga says that starting early means seeing a dentist by the time a child is between 12 to 18 months old, both to establish a clinical relationship and monitor oral development. Those early visits also are opportunities for parents to get information about caring for their child’s gums and teeth. Dr. Adams-Feeney stresses the importance of baby teeth in overall dental health.

“If you lose a baby tooth early, teeth can shift and that can cause problems when permanent teeth erupt, which can cause problems with bites,” she says, adding that dental health also can play a role in a child’s school performance.

“Dental issues are the number one reason children miss school,” she says.

Services available at the practice include examinations, cleanings, sealant placement, tooth repair such as fillings and crowns, as well as cosmetic whitening and orthodontic alignment.

Digital X-ray technology is used, which produces images with less radiation, and

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sedation dentistry with nitrous oxide is available if a young patient is particularly nervous about having a dental procedure.

Perhaps one of the best means of easing anxiety in young patients, however, is the overall ambiance of the dental practice.

The walls at the office of Drs. Duga and Adams-Feeney are decorated with an aquatic-theme mural, video games and kid-friendly reading material, while overhead video monitors allow patients to enjoy some of their favorite shows while being treated.

There’s also an understanding that a pediatric appointment may require a little more flexibility on the part of the staff, says Dr. Adams-Feeney.

“We work on kid time,” she says.

“Sometimes we really have to work with them to make it a positive experience.”

That flexibility means being available for families when dental emergencies come up outside of normal office hours.

“One of us is always on call, so if something happens on a weekend, we can still be reached,” Dr. Adams-Feeney says.

Another example of the practice’s commitment to its patients is that the two doctors continue seeing their patients through their college years, ensuring continuity of dental health at a time of great personal change.

“Otherwise, sometimes if they go away to college, they won’t see a dentist during those four years,” says Duga. “During winter break, we get a lot of our college kids coming back.”

A History Of Care & Caring Dr. Duga established the practice in 1998 and he has been an active resource in

the New Tampa community by participating in events such as the Hunter’s Green Health & Safety Expos, supporting local schools and sports teams and working with Christina’s Smiles, a national nonprofit organization that provides dental care to children whose families have trouble affording it.

With February marking National Children’s Dental Health Month, Dr. Duga says the practice’s dentists and staff will be out and about in New Tampa schools spreading the word about oral health and dispensing bags filled with dental treats such as toothbrushes.

“We want to be part of the community because (New Tampa is) like a small town in a big area,” says Dr. Duga, a longtime Tampa Palms resident.

The practice’s business coordinator Renee Mari says that meeting the dental needs of their young patients is the mission of the staff at the office, but accommodating the expectations of their parents also is an essential element of its success. Mari ensures that things go well on the administrative side of the relationship.

“We’ll work hard with you to determine how your insurance benefits work in our office,” says Mari, who also emphasizes the importance of first impressions. “We extend a friendly, caring approach to every patient that comes in the front door.”

Sometimes, the patients come in as a group, such as when Lori Simon brings her six children, whose ages range from three to 17, in for checkups, cleanings and treatments.

“I love the staff,” Simon says. “I actually moved from New Tampa to Dade City but we still go there because they’ve always

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been very responsive and willing to work with the kids.”

New Tampa resident Rebecca Berton says her two children, ages five and seven, also have found a welcoming dental home with Drs. Duga and Adams-Feeney.

“Even when they’re little (the doctors) tell them what they’re doing, and they’re always very friendly,” Berton says, adding that she has received a lot of knowledge and support from the staff regarding the daily dental care needs of her children.

“They’ve been coaching me how to take care of their teeth and what kind of toothpaste is best for different stages of their lives,” Berton says. “They also come in and support what we’re trying to instill in them — to have good habits for healthy teeth —so it’s not just mom saying sugar’s

not good for them.”

“Dr. Feeney and I really want the parents involved,” Dr. Duga says. “It’s not a situation where a parent can’t come back and ask questions.”

He adds that the goal is to achieve a positive outcome for the practice’s young patients by the time they’re ready to go out on their own.

“We practice conservative dentistry and try to establish lifelong healthy habits so our patients can become adults with virtually no dental concerns,” he says.

Dr. Duga, Dr. Feeney & Associates Pediatric Dentistry is located at 15293 Amberly Dr. You can learn more about their services by visiting DrDugaDrFeeney.com or by calling 631-1100. Or, see the ad on pg. 29 of this issue.

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23

Children From Newborns To Age 21 Get Quality Care At Tendercare Pediatrics

By Celeste McLaughlin Dr. Lalitha Raguthu is the new owner of Tendercare Pediatrics in the Summergate Professional Park, located behind Sam’s Club off S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel.

Dr. Raguthu bought the practice with her husband, Dr. Durga Chintakayala, or “Dr. Chinta” for short. The pair already own Blossom Pediatric Care on E. Martin Luther King Blvd. in Tampa, where Dr. Chinta has been in solo practice for the last three years, with Dr. Raguthu occasionally covering for him. Now, she is the primary doctor at Tendercare, and he covers for her as needed.

“One of us is always here,” Dr. Chinta says. “When Dr. Raguthu is away at conferences, I see the patients.”

Dr. Chinta and Dr. Raguthu have been married for 22 years and have two children.

Their son, Sahas, is 15, and their daughter Sveta, is 12. The New Tampa residents are happy to have a practice closer to home.

Tendercare Pediatrics previously was owned

by Dr. Radhika Ranganathan.

“The opportunity arose for us to buy this practice, and it was a quick transition,” says Dr. Chinta.

The couple bought their home in Cory Lake Isles in 2013, when Dr. Chinta accepted a position in the spinal cord unit at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa. At the same time, they opened Blossom Pediatric Care, and Dr. Raguthu began working at Night Owl Pediatrics on Cross Creek Blvd.

Prior to that, the couple lived in New York City, where Dr. Raguthu spent three years working in the emergency room at the Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn and

24

Check Out The Changes

Your child will always see either Dr. Durga Chintakayala (left) or his wife, Dr. Lalitha Raguthu, at Tendercare Pediatrics in the Summergate Professional Park. one year in Urgent Care at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

She had previously earned her MBBS degree (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery; equivalent to the M.D. degree in the U.S.) from the Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College in Gulbarga, India. She did her residency at Brookdale University Hospital & Medical Center in Brooklyn and served a one-year fellowship in Neurology at New York University in Manhattan, NY. During their time in New York, Dr.

Chinta worked at the VA New York Harbor Health Care System and also worked as an emergency physician and urgent care doctor at Montefiore Medical Center.

Dr. Chinta earned his MBBS degree from Guntur Medical College in Guntur, India. He then did a one-year post-doctoral fellowship in nuclear medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD. He completed his residency in family medicine at St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center in New York, NY.

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Dr. Raguthu is proud to show off the new play area (photo, right) she created in the waiting room, so little ones don’t get antsy if they have to wait a few minutes to see the doctor. Even more than that, she says she gets a great response from patients when they visit her new room for nursing mothers.

“A lot of mothers are breastfeeding, and that’s very important,” says Dr. Raguthu.

“We want to give them privacy and encourage breastfeeding, so we created a nursing room just for them.”

She says parents can feel comfortable bringing their kids to her, especially when they are sick or injured.

“I have a lot of experience in urgent and acute care,” says Dr. Raguthu, explaining that she is well trained in handling emergency issues if they arise, such as acute asthma or lacerations.

“We are accepting new patients, and we especially want to welcome back any patients who were with the practice before we came here,” says Dr. Raguthu, explaining that insurance companies have told former Tendercare patients that they needed to find a new doctor because Dr. Ranganathan no longer took their insurance.

Dr. Raguthu wants those patients to know that while Dr. Ranganathan is no longer at the practice, Tendercare Pediatrics can accept their insurance. They can continue coming to the practice where they are already established, and she is there waiting to see them.

Dr. Raguthu says that the new office offers an improved experience for anyone who

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She adds that she also has experienced recovering from a stroke that she suffered right after medical school. “I look at life differently because of my experiences,” she says.

“I appreciate things that are often taken for granted, like walking, talking, even picking up the phone with my right hand,” all things she could not do at one point.

“I can feel the pain of every mother who calls with a concern,” she says. “I never brush them off.”

Always Available For Patients has been to Tendercare Pediatrics in the past.

Sowmya Ayyala, a mom who lives in Arbor Greene and has taken her two daughters, ages 4 and 1, to Tendercare Pediatrics since they were born, says that the claim is true.

“It was a very smooth transition,” says Sowmya. “Dr. Raguthu spends good, quality time for each visit, and the wait is usually only 10-15 minutes from the front desk until the time I see the doctor. On all my visits, she spends a lot of time explaining everything, and medically, what she recommends works for my daughters.”

Sowmya also admits that she was, “concerned about having a new pediatrician because I was used to the other one, but I had met Dr. Raguthu at an urgent care and I liked her then. I thought I would try a couple of visits, and I’ve had a fantastic experience.”

Dr. Raguthu believes that her own personal journey has helped her to be a more empathetic practitioner.

“I love kids,” she says. “My husband and I were in medical school when we lost our infant baby, who was three months old. That’s where my interest in pediatrics really started.”

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As a primarily solo practitioner, Dr. Raguthu makes herself available in a way you might not find in a larger practice.

“I am accessible via phone 24/7,” she says. “After hours, the business phones roll over directly to my cell phone.”

She says she generally adds her patients to her contacts so she can text them to follow up. “I want them to have a personal touch,” she says. “My patients appreciate the fact that I can help them on weekends by providing triage care and calling in prescriptions. I do as much as I can to help them after hours.”

Tendercare Pediatrics is accepting new patients from birth to age 21, and accepts self-pay patients, as well as those with Medicaid or private insurance.

“We welcome walk-ins, so feel free to just come by,” she says. “When patients call, we are happy to give them a same-day appointment if we can, and most of the time we’re able to.”

Tendercare Pediatrics is located at 27432 Cashford Cir., Suite 102. The office is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

For more information about the practice, see the ad on page 5 of this issue or call 973-9900.

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For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

25

Florida Pain Medicine — When You Want Your Pain Managed Responsibly

By John C. Cotey

Maulik Bhalani, M.D., knows that when some people hear of pain clinics, they think of the so-called “pill mills.” He understands that, after years of headlines about the abuse of certain pain medications, particularly in Florida, the reputation is tough to shake.

But, at Florida Pain Medicine on Windguard Cir. (across from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), Dr. Bhalani says the perceptions are not even close to reality.

“The typical working class person doesn’t want to see a pain management doctor because they think that doctor is going to get them hooked on medication,’’ says Dr. Bhalani. “Little old ladies, grandmothers, will come in and tell us...I know those stories that are out there on the news. But, when they come in here, from minute one, it’s a totally difference experience.”

The Florida Pain Medicine offices are clean and lively, the doctors are open and friendly and the approach to managing your pain, which employs the latest technological advances, is always, they say, measured and restrained, yet effective.

“There’s not a bunch of guys outside in the parking lot smoking, looking disheveled, seeking pain meds,’’ Dr. Bhalani says. “That’s not the kind of practice we are.”

The kind of practice Florida Pain Medicine is, Dr. Bhalani says, is one that focuses on interventional pain management. “Start-tofinish pain care,’’ he says.

Sometimes, in the best cases, that means opioid management, ice and injections until the patient can complete physical therapy.

“Then, we wean them off pain meds, hopefully with the goal of we never see them again, which means they are doing great and back to living their lives,’’ Dr. Bhalani says.

In other cases, like patients with terminal cancer, Dr. Bhalani says his goal is not to let them live out their final days in misery.

Whatever the malady, “We never force anything on anyone,’’ Dr. Bhalani says.

Pain management means different treatments for different people. Every patient is unique, but the main goal for Dr. Bhalani and his associates at Florida Pain Medicine — Navdeep Jassal, MD, Arpit Patel, DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine), and Stephanie Epting, DO — is to help their patients return to a normal way of life. Their motto is, “Restore Function, Relive Life.”

“We want to get you back to where you can live your life the way you like living it,” Dr. Bhalani says.

26

(L.-r.): Dr. Arpit Patel, Dr. Navdeep Jassal and Dr. Maulik Bhalani pride themselves of providing top-notch pain relief at Florida Pain Medicine in Wesley Chapel.

Dr. Bhalani’s credentials also include A Little Information About sitting on the Board of the Florida Society of The Doctors Interventional Pain Physicians (FSIPP) as a Dr. Bhalani, a huge local sports fan and Director-at-Large, and he says he is proud of 11-year Tampa Bay Buccaneers season ticket the work the FSIPP did in helping craft Floriholder who dons a Jameis Winston jersey for home games, has followed in the footsteps of da’s so-called “Pill Mill Bill” in 2011.

The bill forced clinics to register with his father, who is a pain medicine physician in the state and banned doctors from dispensing the Ormond Beach area of Florida, as well as opioid prescription painkillers like Vicodin several of his uncles and aunts. and Oxycodone from their offices. The PreIn fact, Dr. Bhalani is one of 13 cousins in his family — and all are physicians.

“We don’t know how to do anything else,’’ he says, chuckling and joking that he might raise his kids, who are ages 4, 2 and 1, to be NFL punters instead.

Dr. Bhalani received his M.D. degree from the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, NE. He also spent two years as a resident at Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore in 2005; was the chief resident at the University of South Florida (USF)’s Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency Program; and completed an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Pain Medicine Fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine at USF in 2010.

He is Board-certified in Interventional Pain Medicine and in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

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scription Drug Monitoring Program also was implemented, which Drs. Bhalani and Jassal reference to look at a patient’s prescription drug history.

Dr. Jassal says he heard about all the “wild, wild west stories” about Florida’s pill mills when he was studying in New York.

“I didn’t believe it until I came down here,’’ he says. “But, it’s improved dramatically (since 2011), thanks to the efforts of Dr. Bhalani and others.”

A car enthusiast and avid runner who sometimes puts in 15 miles on a weekend as a way to relax, Dr. Jassal joined Dr. Bhalani in July 2015 after completing a Pain Medicine Fellowship at USF, where he was one of Dr. Bhalani’s students.

Before that, Dr. Jassal was a resident at North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health Systems and Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine in Great Neck, NY. Dr. Patel, who joined Florida Pain Medicine seven months ago, has known Drs. Bhalani and Jassal for years. A University of Maryland graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Neurobiology and Physiology, Dr. Patel has worked with his fellow physicians at the University of South Florida, where he completed his Interventional Pain Medicine Fellowship.

In between his B.A. and fellowship, Dr. Patel graduated with honors from Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg, and completed residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, NY, where he was selected as Chief Resident. He also served as a Clinical

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Instructor for spine anatomy at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

A recreational tennis and basketball player, much of Dr. Patel’s work involves sports-related injuries, and he says he also has an interest in helping cancer patients with their pain.

Most patients the physicians at Florida Pain Medicine see are what you might expect — those suffering from back, neck and joint pain. Others have more serious conditions, like poor recovery from back surgery, painful diabetes and even cancer. Each treatment plan varies with that patient’s particular needs.

The doctors at the practice say they prefer a conservative approach. Patients generally will not be prescribed any controlled pain medications on the first visit. The doctors are careful to give a full exam — surprising to some patients who have been to other pain medicine doctors — and look over X-rays and other images and notes from the referring doctor, as well as run a urine drug screen, before determining a course of treatment.

The physicians will sometimes suggest a smaller dose of medicine than the patient is currently taking. Others are often offered alternatives to stronger prescription drugs, like local anaesthetic injections (epidurals, for example), anti-inflammatory meds, physical therapy and even weight loss to help relieve their pain.

Sometimes, an injection, which can relieve pain for months, is suggested instead of a prescription. “Sometimes, they are like wow, I wish someone had recommended this 4-5 years ago,” Dr. Bhalani says.

And if that doesn’t work, he adds, “we’ll use more aggressive measures. We really try to be kind of conservative initially.”

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Dr. Bhalani says he recently treated a 90-year-old patient who told him, “Well, Doc, if this works as good as the last one, that’d be great,” to which Dr. Bhalani replied, “Oh, the last one helped you?,” and the patient told him that was the reason he hadn’t been back to see him for seven months.

“And I’ve been golfing the whole time!,” the patient said.

That approach, by younger, Board-certified physicians willing to look at alternative treatments, was one of the things that Dr. Patel says originally attracted him to Florida Pain Medicine.

“We bring a new ‘taste’ of interventional pain medicine to the community,” Dr. Patel says. “I think a lot of (older physicians) around here thought opiates were the best way to go. We just have a different mindset.

Today, I had a patient who literally had been seeing every surgeon in town, and finally we did a procedure called Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) on a very special nerve, and for the first time in his life he doesn’t have the (same) pain. He has been able to return to what he loves, flying kites. He’s never been able to do that (after previous treatments).

The satisfaction of seeing how patients do right after the procedure, and the fact that they are able to travel and spend time with their families, is the best part of my job.”

Dr. Jassal says that since joining Florida Pain Medicine, he has seen as many patients in six months as he expected to see in nine months or a year. On average, each physician sees 25-27 patients a day, a number they think is perfect to give them time to give each patient the individualized care they require.

“That’s what makes our practice very different,’’ Dr. Patel said. “There are other

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practices where you will be waiting for 4-5 hours at a time. Our goal, and really my biggest thing, is examining every patient and having a hands-on approach. That’s very important to me and (helps) me make the proper diagnosis, rather than just looking at an MRI.” Business has been so brisk that Dr. Bhalani, who opened his second Florida Pain Medicine on Arbor Ridge Dr. in Zephyrhills in 2015, has since opened another office in the Brandon area and has been serving patients there since June 2016.

“We seek to expand to underserved areas of the state to provide quality pain management care to those who need it most,” says Dr. Bhalani. “We’re hopeful that 2017 takes us to additional markets where patients can benefit from our services.”

Dr. Jassal thinks the office’s reputation, which includes strong relationships with local pharmacists and doctors, comes from the way the patients are cared for at Florida Pain Medicine. Dr. Bhalani adds that he recommends for his patients the same things he would for his own parents: “Literally, that is how we treat every single patient,” he says proudly.

A soft, personal touch and firm recommendations are something Dr. Jassal thinks patients appreciate, as well as the physicians’ desire to help patients return to the things they love.

He has a 97-year old patient who receives periodic injections, which he says, “keeps her happiness, and her happiness is dancing with her son.’’

Most of the office’s business, Dr. Bhalani says, comes from referrals. He believes that the practice treats as many local physicians and their family members as anyone in the area.

Dr. Bhalani can do procedures at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, where he is the director of the Intervention & Pain Program, Tampa Minimally Invasive Surgery Center, Brandon Surgery Center and at the Advanced Surgery Center of Tampa.

However, state-of-the-art pain management procedures are often performed in the Wesley Chapel office, as opposed to a hospital or at ambulatory surgery centers, which helps save patients money.

“The whole spectrum of care gives us flexibility,’’ says Dr. Bhalani.

For more information, visit FloridaPainMedicine.com or see the ad on pg.

18. To reach the Wesley Chapel Florida Pain Medicine office (2553 Windguard Cir.), the Zephyrhills’ location (38011 Arbor Ridge Dr.), or the Brandon office (426 W Brandon Blvd), call 388-2948.

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The Legacy At Highwoods Preserve Provides Quality Care For Your Loved Ones

By Celeste McLaughlin The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve has been open since the summer of 2015, offering top-quality assisted living and memory care in New Tampa, less than two miles off Bruce B. Downs Blvd. on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy.

It is now both owned and managed by PinPoint Commercial, based in Houston. PinPoint was the community’s original developer, and recently established its own company to manage The Legacy and its other properties, called LifeWell Senior Living.

The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve offers spacious rooms, an extensive array of facilities and amenities, expansive views over a nature preserve outside and even a putting green at the center of one of the facility’s courtyards.

With 82 private suites and a license to house up to 88 residents, The Legacy offers Resident Ruby Smith (seated) and Legacy at Highfive floor plans, from 330-sq.-ft. studios to woods Preserve executive director Janis Stovall pose for 525-sq.-ft. deluxe suites. There are 60 suites a photo before beginning a game of dominoes, a favorite for assisted living, as well 22 suites in the activity at the community. secured memory care wing of the building. love dominoes with Janis,” says Lilly. She adds Constance says Ruby had been at As part of The Legacy’s all-inclusive that Janis is one of the reasons The Legacy is another care facility, where she had a fall, and package, residents are served three meals a unlike any other assisted living facility. ended up in the hospital, then rehab. That’s day at the Palm Pavilion, with menus and fine “She’s truly a resident advocate who is when Constance decided to move her closer linens. They also can grab a snack from the always looking to connect one-on-one with to home.

Key Lime Bistro any time of the day or night. our residents,” Lilly says.

“When she came in, she was using a There’s even a sports bar, a private dining feeding tube and wheelchair,” explains Conroom that can be reserved for visiting family, a Making Residents Feel At Home stance. “Now she’s up, and thinks she runs full-service salon, game room, theater, library, Lilly and Taylor also explain that the the place.” grand piano and fitness center. building has been designed to encourage Constance says The Legacy has given her Residents’ medical needs are monitored interaction among the residents. “Each suite peace of mind.

24 hours a day, seven days a week, by Certiis private, but the whole building is home,” “I don’t have to worry about her,” she fied Nursing Assistants (CNAs), with overexplains Lilly. “Our common areas are very says. “The staff communicates with me very sight from Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs). purpose-driven, because we don’t want resiwell, gives me lots of updates, and there are And, it’s not just the building itself that dents isolated in their rooms.” community relations directors Lilly Gonzalez The staff is intentional about extending and Taylor Penvose want you to know about its community to the residents’ families, too.

The Legacy, however. They really want to share how The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve There’s an air hockey table that kids enjoy, for example, or families can bring a movie to helps seniors live a, “connected, active, safe, watch together in the theater room. and purposeful life,” which is the philosophy Marsha Wolf, a Cory Lake Isles resident of LifeWell Senior Living. whose husband Harvey moved into a memory “We’re not a nursing home or a cold facare residence at The Legacy this summer, cility,” says Lilly. “We’re truly a community.” says the community feels like a family to her.

For example, the residents have frequent “Everyone here does everything,” says Maroutings to locations such as the Seminole sha. “If someone needs help, they all work Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. “They have together. Janis is just the best and goes out weekly lunches at Ruby Tuesday or Burger of her way to do things to accommodate the 21, or even Bahama Breeze on the (Courtney residents. I’m thankful I found a place that I Campbell) Causeway,” says Lilly. “Recently, feel like he’s safe and I don’t have to worry.” they went to visit Tarpon Springs and the Hunter’s Green resident Constance residents couldn’t wait to go put their feet in Salters moved her great aunt, Ruby Smith, the sand.” into The Legacy last March. She agrees with She says another favorite activity among Marsha that her aunt has been well cared for residents is dominoes with The Legacy’s exat The Legacy. ecutive director, Janis Stovall. “Our residents

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tons of activities so she’s always entertained.

They even text me pictures of her dancing, so I feel included in what she’s doing.”

Constance says The Legacy feels like one big family. “She’s home, and I feel totally comfortable that I don’t have to do surprise visits or monitor her. Everyone treats the residents like their own family. I definitely recommend it.”

Using Technology

The Legacy incorporates the latest technological advances to offer its residents the best in health and safety, such as Quiet-

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technology tracks the workout.

“If a doctor is concerned that a patient needs to exercise more, we can actually give the resident a printout of all of their workouts to show the doctor,” Taylor says.

Residents also wear a pendant that can alert caregivers on staff instantly, plus there are pull cords in every bedroom and bathroom. “Our staff is held accountable for how quickly they respond when they receive an alert,” says Lilly.

Anyone entering the building, whether they are family members, third party providers or doctors, is checked out by Accushield, a digital sign-in kiosk that verifies providers’ credentials, time spent in the building, and even criminal and health backgrounds.

Respite Care, Too Care technology. “QuietCare allows us to be proactive, instead of reactive,” says Taylor.

The technology uses motion and heat sensors, combined with software analytics, to learn the behaviors and patterns of residents. If something is out of character — such as a resident getting up more often at night, or maybe staying in the bathroom an unusually long time — the system alerts the care staff so they can check on them.

Every resident wears a radio-frequency ID wristband that provides access to their private suite. The wristbands also are used in the fitness center, where residents can use state-of-the-art equipment, designed especially for seniors, to alert the machines to the user’s preferences and goals. With no weights or chains to struggle with, this equipment minimizes falls and injuries, and the wristband

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For people who are providing care to loved ones at home and may need a break, The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve also offers respite care.

“If you’re taking care of a loved one and need time to go to a wedding or graduation or family vacation, we have one residence available in both assisted living and memory care for this purpose,” Lilly says. There is a minimum stay of seven days, where the person you care for will have access to all of the community’s amenities and activities. “It’s like your loved one gets a vacation, as well,” Lilly adds. “If you think, ‘I want to go away, but I can’t,’ we’ll help you make that happen.”

The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve is located at 18600 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. For info, call 375-9858, see the ad on pg. 38 or visit LegacyatHighwoodsPreserve.com. Walk-ins are welcome seven days a week, from 9 a.m.–5 p.m., but appointments are preferred for tours.

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For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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Let Marimark Mortgage Help You Find Financing For Your Dream Home

By Brad Stager

When Mary Catchur opened her Tampa Palms-based Marimark Mortgage business in 2006, the housing market in the Tampa Bay area was at a high point in terms of prices and sales. The ensuing decline in prices and sales that imploded the industry in 2008-10 resulted in new regulations requiring more scrutiny by lenders and disclosure to borrowers.

While some mortgage professionals may chafe at the increased oversight and additional rules, Catchur says embracing their intent — ensuring that homebuyers make informed decisions — provides a way to stand out among mortgage brokers.

“We all have the same products and very similar rates,” Catchur says. “What differentiates me and my business from other people in the industry is our level of service and our commitment to educating the homebuyer.”

Even with all of the new regulations intended to improve the level of service extended for homebuyers, Catchur encounters many who say they haven’t benefitted.

“I get people calling me all the time that have talked to three or four other lenders, and even at that point, they don’t have a clue whether they’ve been qualified for an FHA mortgage, whether it has mortgage insurance on it, or the fees associated with the rates,” she says. “That’s a real issue in the industry right now and that’s why we keep getting more and more compliance (rules) and guidelines. But, to

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me, all of those things that people fill out do nothing to take the place of what is really required, which is explaining to the borrower exactly what they’re doing, what product they’re applying for and what their alternatives are to that product.”

One way that Catchur responds to this problem is with digital media. She creates online videos, writes a blog and publishes a newsletter she circulates online to inform consumers about the mortgage marketplace, from the rules governing it to trends within the industry nationwide and in the Tampa Bay area. Her social media footprint covers everything from Facebook to Pinterest and it can all be accessed from her website, Marimark.com.

Topics that Catchur covers include so-called piggyback mortgages (using two loans to buy a home), the different factors influencing a loan interest rate and various types of mortgages and tax breaks associated with real estate transactions.

The internet also allows Catchur to conduct business with customers, both local and from around the world, who are looking to move to Florida or the other states in which she is licensed to do business, such as Virginia and her home state of Pennsylvania. She moved to Tampa from the Keystone State in 1979 to attend the University of South Florida (USF). She earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from USF. Catchur says her office in the Tampa Palms Professional Center, off Commerce

Park Blvd. (just north and west of the intersection of Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd. and Tampa Palms Blvd.), puts her at the center of many long-distance inquiries.

“I get a lot of people relocating here who find me online,” Mary Catchur of she says.

Marimark Mortgage Catchur adds that she works hard from the beginning of a client relationship so that in the end, everyone leaves the closing table happy. Just as she keeps her customers fully informed about their options, she expects the same level of disclosure in return.

“From day one, I take a very thorough application to determine what their exact needs are and what unusual circumstances they might have, such as an unusual employment situation or way of being paid,” says Catchur, who lives in New Tampa.

Getting The Financial Picture

She cites her 20-year background as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as

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providing the analytical tools needed to derive meaningful information from financial documents provided by her customers, many of whom collect their earnings in ways other than a weekly paycheck, such as entrepreneurs, freelance professionals and executives with compensation packages.

In an economy where many people are working as an independent contractor rather than as an employee, it is not an unusual situation. And, when you add in the regulatory oversight regarding things like financial gifts, the reporting task becomes even more complex, making financial knowledge and experience even more useful to successfully close a deal.

“You have to understand the whole picture before you decide which product to apply for,” says Catchur.

One case where Catchur’s expertise made it possible for a homebuyer to acquire a loan is that of Donnie Welsch, a subcontracted salesperson for a manufactured home company. He was looking forward to moving into a home in Wesley Chapel’s Lexington Oaks community with his wife and 18-month-old son, when the financing through a national bank fell through. He credits Catchur’s expertise for being able to get financing when the situation looked grim.

“Mary understood the guidelines and she was successful in getting it done through Freddie Mac (aka the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., a federal government-sponsored enterprise which purchases loans from vendors to replenish

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their supply of funds so that they can make more mortgage loans to other borrowers) because she understood the situation and how to present my file to the underwriters,” says Welsch. “Now, me and my family have the house that we were desiring. If someone is looking to get a loan closed I would definitely recommend her.”

According to Catchur, that closing will likely happen sooner rather than later.

“We close most our loans in 30 days or less,” she says.

During the time the loan is being processed, customers and other interested parties are kept informed with automated responses that are generated as the steps of the transaction are initiated and completed, such as when a home appraisal has been ordered.

“We keep everybody informed every step of the way,” Catchur says.

Catchur offers a complete line of financing options, such as conventional loans, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, loans through the Veterans Administration (VA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as “Jumbo” loans (a home loan of more than $424,100 for one unit). One new financial product Catchur says she is able to offer is a one-percent-down loan.

An emerging trend in the mortgage market is that many people who have a financial blemish such as a previous bankruptcy, foreclosure or short sale are interested in buying a home. Catchur says she’s willing to take a look at their situation.

“A lot of the waiting periods with those things are at a point where people

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can do things like buy a home,” she says.

Catchur, who is the treasurer for the Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals, says one reason she is successful is that she gets a lot of referrals and repeat customers. She credits that to applying something she learned while working in her father’s electrical company in Scranton, PA, to her own business.

“You treat people right and you educate them so they know what they’re doing,” she says.

Marimark Mortgage is located at 5327 Primrose Lake Cir. For more info, visit MarimarkMortgage.com, follow Mary on Twitter via @MarimarkM, view her Instagram account @marimarkm, or call 910-8020. Please also check out her ad on pg. 23 of this issue.

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SPOTLIGHT ON...Shuayb Dental New Tampa!

If you’ve been told you need a dental implant, the area’s best technology meets caring, experienced dentists at Shuayb Dental, which has two offices in Spring Hill, one in Brooksville and one in the Oak Ramble Plaza (same plaza as Acropolis Greek Taverna) on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., just south of Tampa Palms.

Dr. Mohammad Shuayb, D.M.D. (Doctor of Medical Dentistry), first opened his practice in 2000 in Hernando County, and it was only five years later that his brothers and fellow D.M.D.s — Dr. Omar and Dr. Mujib (L.-r.): Drs. Mujib, Mohammad & Omar Shuayb.

Shuayb — each opened their own Lasers are a big part of many of the dental offices within a few miles of their dental services at every Shuayb Dental office. brother.

All three Shuaybs also earned Bachelor’s The doctors utilize lasers for everything from treating periodontal (gum) disease to drilling degrees from the University of South Florida and filling. For gum treatments, the laser in Tampa and their D.M.D. degrees from replaces the usual scalpel and sutures, which the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental reduces bleeding, minimizes swelling and Medicine at Boston University. recovery times and Dr. Mohammad says that With the three brothers at the forefront in some cases, there’s even been regeneration of the business, Shuayb Dental is obviously a family-oriented practice, but with technology of healthy bone around the teeth.

The CEREC system helps the Shuaybs to rival and even surpass what you get with place crowns with laser precision in a little the big corporate dental groups. more than an hour.

If you need dental implants, you won’t The office also offers dentures, bridges, find a better place to make and fit your imtooth extractions and non-surgical root plants than at Shuayb Dental. canals, as well as Invisalign orthodontics.

Whether you visit the New Tampa Shuayb Dental has three offices, one office or any of the Hernando locations, the in Brooksville, two in Spring Hill and Drs. Shuayb utilize a high-end CEREC 3D the New Tampa office, located at 14954 Omni-Cam scanner and CEREC software, Bruce B. Downs Blvd., just south of as well as the highest-quality Straumann imTampa Palms. For office hours and more plants, and Dr. Mohammad says he believes information, please visit ShuaybDental. the BBD location is the only one in the New com or call 632-9200.

Tampa area to use both.

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Nearly 500 New Tampa Students To Lose ‘Courtesy Busing’ Next School Year

By Celeste McLaughlin In December, the Hillsborough County School Board voted to end what they call “courtesy busing” for middle and high school students who live within two miles of their respective schools.

In New Tampa, this will affect nearly 500 students, mostly at Louis Benito Middle School and Paul R. Wharton High School, where more than 400 students will no longer have bus transportation provided (see chart). At other New Tampa schools combined, including Freedom High, Liberty Middle, and Tuner/Bartels K-8, another 50 students are affected.

According to records made available by the School Board, Benito currently provides bus transportation to 629 of the 1,058 students who attend school there.

Of those students, 265 will not have bus transportation starting with the 2017-18 school year, because they live within two miles of the school.

“Courtesy busing was not supposed to be a permanent thing,” explains school district spokesperson Tanya Arja. “It was designed for temporary uses, such as road hazards during construction, and there should have been a process to remove it when those factors were gone.”

She explains that the majority of students throughout Hillsborough County are responsible for their own transportation to and from school, saying that of 214,000 students countywide, only 90,000 are bused.

Arja also says the decision was made in December to give parents plenty of time to plan for next school year, such as by arrang-

34

ing carpools or their work schedules.

For some local parents, the decision is upsetting. Lisa Evison, who lives in Cross Creek, is trying to rally parents to object to the decision, as other communities — such as Lutz and FishHawk Ranch in south Hillsborough County — have done.

Evison says with the never ending traffic, potential child predators and other dangers, she doesn’t feel that it’s safe for her seventh grade son, Alex, to walk to Benito from her neighborhood in Cross Creek, nearly two miles away. “The Tampa Bay area as a whole has a horrendous — and deserved — reputation for pedestrian fatalities,” she says. “How many kids have to die walking to school before we say it’s enough?”

Statistics compiled by the Tampa Bay Times show that in 2016, there were 39 pedestrian fatalities in Hillsborough County, and another 12 bicycle fatalities. This is down from a record year in 2015, where there were a combined 59 fatalities.

In 2012, Evison says she was riding a bike in front of Benito and a car made a right turn on red and hit her.

“I’m an adult, I have a light on my bike, and he drove over me and didn’t see me. People are distracted, in a rush, and not paying attention. I see it all the time! I don’t know why I would expose my children to that — never mind the long walk with his 22-pound backpack.”

The principals at both Benito and Wharton say it remains to be seen exactly what the impact on schools will be.

“We already have families who have busing available to them who don’t take advantage of it because they would rather

drop their kid off at 7:00 than have them catch the bus at 6:30,” says Wharton principal Brad Woods. He says he’s in close contact with the county transportation department to closely monitor the construction on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., as the road is being expanded from four to six lanes.

“If Bruce B. Downs meets the state statutes for hazardous road conditions, they would have to put the transportation back,” he says.

Meanwhile, Benito principal John Sanders says the school is preparing for an increase in the number of students walking and biking to school.

“My primary concern is the intersection of Kinnan St. and Cross Creek Blvd.,” says Sanders. “We’ll do everything we can to make that intersection safer for our families. We’ve requested a crossing guard, we will ask our school resource officer to be at that intersection and we will educate our kids to cross the road safely.”

Affected students recently received a letter from the school board explaining the cuts and providing a “Parent/Guardian Hazardous Walking Concern Review Request” for any parent who feels that the walking path for their child is unsafe.

Arja says community meetings will be planned to help connect parents to resources for carpooling and safe walking and biking, including HART, TBARTA, Safe Routes to School, and St. Joseph’s Hospital. Woods says one such meeting is

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expected to be held at Wharton, but no date had been set at our press time.

Evison also has a child at Hunter’s Green Elementary and is concerned about the future, as the School Board is expected to cut courtesy busing to elementary schools for the following school year, 2018-19.

Evison says parents who want to ask the Board to reconsider their decision should join a Facebook group started by FishHawk-area parents called “Safe Bus For Us.” Evison was part of a group of parents who attended the last school board meeting to express their concerns about ending the program.

Additional information from Hillsborough County Public Schools can be found online at SDHC.k12.fl.us/ doc/1787/courtesybusinformation.

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Freedom’s Megan Clark To Play Her College Basketball At Tennessee Tech! going to be even greater.”

Clark went from averaging 7.3 points per game as a freshman, to 9.7 as a sophomore, 14.7 as a junior and as of the Leto game, she’s averaging 23.6 points per game, thirdbest in Class 8A, this season.

“I’d say that in a span of four years, Megan has probably improved more than any other kid I’ve coached,” Pacholke says.

Story & photos by Andy Warrener

Basketball is always on the mind of Freedom High guard Megan Clark. It occupies her thoughts, her dreams, virtually every hour of her life, awake or asleep. She’s just as intense in a hard-fought, cross-town rivalry game against Wharton as she is in a 78-0 blowout of Leto (see story, next page).

“She never takes a play off, she will not take a play off,” Patriots head coach Laurie Pacholke says. “She goes 32 minutes, all out. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.

She’s put herself in shape to go all out for 32 minutes.”

The level of dedication Clark exhibits is uncommon.

“People don’t realize that those are the little things that will help you be successful at the next level,” Pacholke says.

Clark’s level of dedication can be chalked up as obsession.

She wakes up before dawn, most days of the week, to hit the New Tampa YMCA for a 5 a.m. shoot around and practice session. She is almost always the first player to arrive at team practice, and the last to leave.

“She bought the WNBA TV package with her own money, if that doesn’t tell you something,” Pacholke says. “She just has a love for the game. I’ve seen that growth in her (more than in any other player) over the years.”

It wasn’t always that way for Clark.

In sixth grade, while at Liberty Middle School, she decided to try out for every sport she could, just to get an idea of what she liked. She played youth soccer but stepped up to track, volleyball, soccer and

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Playing At The Next Level

Freedom senior Megan Clark scores two of her game-high 26 in the Patriots’ 79-0 win over Leto.

basketball that year. “I was bad, awful at basketball in middle school,” Clark said. “I just really liked playing it and thought I’d get better at it.”

And yes, she did.

Clark made the Freedom varsity team her freshman year, a significant feat considering the Patriots the year before made the State semifinals.

Pacholke remembers Clark coming to a game with her father and the post-game discussion revolved around how Clark might see the floor by her junior year.

Clark sped up her coach’s timetable. If

she wasn’t at the YMCA in the morning, she was draining buckets at the local outdoor court in Tampa Palms’ Compton Park neighborhood.

When she stayed until the lights went out, she’d come home and shoot at the hoop in her driveway. She not only made the varsity team her freshman year, she scored 18 points in the third game that season.

“She’s a student of the game,” Pacholke says. “She has passion, athletic ability and that really sets her up. I knew then (after the 18-point game) that in her four years at Freedom, her growth was

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The hard work and dedication have paid off. Clark went to a summer camp at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. There, she said that she had one of the best camps of her life and that she loved the facility, the players and the coaches.

She came away from that 2016 camp with her heart set on where she wanted to continue her career. The call came a week later. Clarke was taking a walk in her neighborhood when the phone rang. She recognized the number — because she had saved it in her cell phone— it was Tennessee Tech head coach Kim Rosamond.

“I knew it was Coach Rosamond,” Clark says. “She told me pretty quickly in

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78-0? Really?

Freedom girls basketball coach Laurie Pacholke found herself in an unusual position during a game on Jan. 17 against Leto.

She was rooting for the Falcons to score a basket. Any basket.

Alas, it did not happen.

Final score: Freedom 78, Leto 0.

That is not a typo.

“I felt bad,’’ said Pacholke, who has coached in her fair share of routs in her eight years at Freedom, but last week’s shutout was a first.

“We were saying ‘Please shot go in, please shot go in, please shot go in’ in the fourth quarter,’’ Pacholke said. “We wanted them to get on the board. We definitely weren’t playing for a shutout.”

Pacholke said she was able, however, to use the game as a teaching moment for her players, who she felt had given up late in their previous game, a loss to Plant.

Leto may not have scored, but they kept coming.

the conversation that they wanted to offer me a scholarship and I (verbally) committed right there.”

Clark signed her letter of intent this past November and entered into a final phase of her prep career, one that few high school athletes get to enjoy.

“Those few months after a player has signed are really the first time in their lives they are playing for fun,” Pacholke says.

“When you find the right place (to go to college), you’re going to know, and I don’t think Megan could have found a better fit than Tennessee Tech.”

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“They had fight in them,’’ Pacholke said. “I think a lot of times that gets lost, but those kids, they never gave up.”

Leto has had a rough time of it against New Tampa teams. The Falcons previous worst loss was a 50-1 defeat against Wharton on Jan. 4.

“It’s such a tough situation,’’ Pacholke said. “Do you just stop playing? Do you not play? I look at it from my perspective, and I’m a very competitive person, so if I’m in that kind of situation, I’d be insulted if the other team just stopped playing.”

In retrospect, Pacholke says she wishes she had called up some junior varsity players for the game, but didn’t think of it.

But, she says she played her starters as little as she could with her small roster, and the team did not press or run the ball up the floor on every possession.

And, while it was the first time one of her teams ever shut out an opponent, she says she hopes it is the last.

Rosamond and Clark should develop nicely together. The current season is Rosamond’s first as head coach of the Division I program, which competes in the Ohio Valley Conference and is 6-12 overall. Clark is Rosamond’s first recruit.

With Clark’s team-first mentality and dogged determination, the future is bright for both athlete and program.

“If she (Clark) improved that much over the four years here at Freedom, I can only imagine how much she’ll improve over four years with a collegiate program,” Pacholke says.

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Kazaam! The Pic (Below Left) Of Zammy The Sheepadoodle Went Viral!

By Celeste McLaughlin

On the social media site reddit, there’s a “subreddit” called “aww” — as in, “things that make you go AWW!— like puppies, bunnies, babies, and so on…” And on that subreddit, you’ll find a picture of one local pup, named Zammy, hanging out at the Shops at Wiregrass mall. His photo, titled “Girls loving this huge fluffy sheepadoodle,” has gotten more than a million views and 11,000 “up-votes” on the site.

A “sheepadoodle” is a fairly new breed that is a mix between an Old English sheepdog and an extra large standard poodle.

Zammy is just a year old and already weighs 100 pounds.

His owner is Todd Pitner, a resident of K-Bar Ranch off of Morris Bridge Rd. in New Tampa, where he lives with his wife, Yana, and youngest daughter Vlada, who is 13. His other three daughters are adults who live on their own.

Todd says that Zammy is so “visually unique” that he tends to attract a lot of attention. He says he often takes Zammy for walks around the Shops at Wiregrass.

“Everyone goes nuts over him, wanting to pet him,” says Todd. “It takes me a couple of hours to do a loop around Wiregrass.”

During a walk over the Thanksgiving weekend, he snapped the photo that would soon go viral. Two girls at one of the outdoor dining areas asked to pet Zammy.

Todd snapped the photo, posted it to his Instagram account, and it took off. “The photo is just pure joy,” Todd says.

While Zammy had about 600 followers before his photo hit reddit, he now has

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In fact, it was because of one of his daughters that Todd has Zammy today. He first came across a sheepadoodle while walking through Manhattan on a trip with his daughter, Alix.

He saw someone walking a sheepadoodle and was fascinated.

“I asked for breeder information and contacted her,” says Todd.

“Turns out that Zammy is that dog’s brother, from the same parents.”

Todd says Zammy was born on Dec. 17, 2015, and delivered from that breeder This pic of Zammy went viral after it was posted on reddit, and Todd Pitner in California on (top right) says it has been viewed more than a million times.

Valentine’s Day. “It seemed more than 12,500. “It went from 600 to like every day he grew a pound,” he says.

1,000 overnight, then 2,000 in a week, Todd wanted a new dog in his family then 9,000.” because, at the time, his beloved German Todd says he set up the Instagram shepherd, Rio, was aging and in fact, has account @ZammyPup because all of his recently passed away. So, Zammy’s family daughters use Instagram, so he thought now includes a new German shepherd it would be a fun and interactive way to puppy, Zeus, and a 12-year-old schnauzer share pictures. named Jocko.

@NTWCNews

Zammy is actually short for “Kazaam,” a nod to Todd’s college years, when he performed as a magician, and eventually nicknamed his older girls “Abby Cadabra” and “Alix Kazaam.” Since it was on the trip with Alix that he was introduced to the sheepadoodle breed, it was her nickname that ended up inspiring the memorable dog’s equally memorable name.

When asked if he considers himself something of an ambassador for sheepadoodles, Todd denies he’s trying to make any kind of statement.

“I love the breed,” he says. “Zammy’s just a really special dog, with a special personality, and he brings joy to people.”

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

39

Gary’s 2016 Dining Favorites — A Year Of Delicious Changes!

I still love compiling my own dining survey a month after we announce the winners of our annual Reader Dining Survey & Contest, only in part because I so often disagree with the winning eateries chosen by our readers. I also get a lot of great feedback from putting my favorites in the paper every year and it seems that in

today’s social media-hungry world, people still love lists.

I also get to vary my categories slightly from yours every year and this year is no exception, as I gave the readers 18 categories in which to vote but have whittled myself down to only fourteen.

Even so, there are so many ice

New Tampa

Gary’s Top 25 Favorites!

cream and frozen yogurt places in our area these days that I also decided to separate those places from my favorite bakeries in our area by giving each their own category.

Please also remember that I didn’t include on this list any of the places that closed during 2016 — Zaytoun Mediterranean Grill, Takara Sushi

& Sake and others, as well as places that didn’t open until after January 1, 2017, such as the new Paramount Lebanese Kitchen (see Nibbles & Bytes item on page 50).

Send me your feedback on my 2016 faves by visiting NTNeighborhoodNews.com or emailing Gary@ NTNeighborhoodNews.com — GN

4

Stonewood Grill & Tavern

5

Sukhothai

6

Koizi Endless Hibachi Grill

Ever since local proprietor Dave Rathbun added outstanding lunch to Stonewood’s already great selection of steaks, fresh fish and other popular American/continental options, I’ve moved Stonewood up to my top 4 in New Tampa.

When you combine an elegant restaurant with the only below-floor seating in New Tampa with top-notch Thai cuisine and always-fresh sushi, you’re always going to finish high on my list of favorites, as Sukhothai has every year since it opened.

1

Cafe Olé Authentic Spanish Cuisine

2

Ciccio Cali

3

Acropolis Greek Tavern

At only $17.95 per person for dinner and $10.95 for lunch, Koizi is still the best value in town for endless sushi and hibachi fare. Plus, Koizi also has great prices for beer, wine and sake, too.

7

Café Olé continues to reign as my first choice in New Tampa for authentic Spanish Ginza Endless Sushi & Hibachi cuisine, plus always-fresh fish (you still can’t find a better buy than Café Olé’s flounder or grouper lunch special) with amazing sauces. And, with continental cuisine specials like the delicious lamb ravioli pictured above, plus great steaks, chicken dishes My favorite new restaurant that opened in New Tampa in 2016, Ginza finishes and even crusty, freshly baked bread served with every meal, there really is no place in slightly below Koizi among the “endless” sushi and hibachi places in our area, despite reducing its “endless” dinner price per person from $24.95 to $21.95 per person.

New Tampa that compares to Café Olé.

With the best tuna and chicken bowls in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area, plus crispy pizzas, excellent lunch, brunch, catering, beer and wine and weekend entertainment, I’m a huge fan of Ciccio Cali in Tampa Palms.

I’m not going to say I love all of the new items on Acropolis’ always-expanding menu, but from the excellent Athenian fish and grilled lamb chops to the full gamut of Mediterranean appetizers and full liquor bar, I’m still loving Acropolis on BBD.

40

8

Thai Ruby

9

Oakley’s Grill

In addition to being one of New Tampa’s most elegant restaurants for a date night, Thai Ruby also has my favorite crispy duck in our area, plus delicious Thai fried rice, really good fresh fish specials and beer and wine.

The best burger place in my survey since 2011, Oakley’s also has perfect fries, plus my favorite roast beef au jus sandwich in New Tampa, and keeps adding new menu items, like great ribs.

For more info, see the ad on pg. 42!

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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10

Fushia Asian Bistro

19

Peabody’s Billiards & Games

11

Kobe Japanese Steak House

20

Las Palmas Cuban Café

12

Vuelo Mexican Grill

21

Minerva Indian Restaurant

13

Woodfired Pizza

22

Tarek’s Café

14

Petra Mediterranean Express

23

Cappy’s Pizza

15

Liang’s Bistro Asian Cuisine

24 Saffron

16

The Little Greek

25

17

Sushi Café

18

Full Circle Pizza

Fushia in Tampa Palms has been at or near my top-10 favorites in New Tampa for years and, with the addition of an authentic Chinese hot pot buffet (see story on pg.

46 and the ad on pg. 42), continues to look for new ways to attract new customers.

There’s finally a restaurant with staying power in front of the Pebble Creek Collection, as the local Kobe mini-chain continues to flourish, with quality hibachi fare and very good sushi, plus a full liquor bar.

From its 10-oz. NY strip special on Friday nights for only $12.9, to the crispiest fries in town, plus NY-style pizza and great burgers and sandwiches, Peabody’s in Tampa Palms continues to rank among my favorite eateries in New Tampa.

I still love the merluza (white fish) a la Rusa the most, but Las Palmas in Pebble Creek continues to serve authentic Cuban cuisine favorites like the palomilla steak, roast mojo pork, masitas (pork chunks) and vaca frita (crispy beef).

Despite the fact that Señor T’s opened and closed in less than a year in the same Another excellent newcomer for our area in the New Tampa Center plaza. People location, I think the new Vuelo may take flight in our area with its free chips and salsa rave about the butter chicken, but you should also try Minerva’s take on Chinesebar, a very good asada filet mignon platter and a great tequila selection. style fried rice and its reasonable lunch buffet. See ad on page 47.

I still rave about the cracker-thin-crusted pizzas with amazing toppings, unique salads and new entrées, plus craft beers & great, reasonably priced wines by the glass at Woodfired in the Palms Collection on E. Bearss Ave., which has added an excellent endless lunch buffet for only $9.99 per person.

Although it still is anything but fancy, I’m still a regular visitor to Petra off BBD in Highwoods Preserve, because I love the beef shawarma served over the homemade salads, as well as the lamb and chicken gyros and more.

Liang’s on BBD is still my first choice for NY-style egg rolls and BBQ spare ribs in New Tampa, plus great sautéed green beans (order ‘em spicy) and even great fresh fish and variety of fried rice options, plus beer and wine.

I really enjoy the gyros, Greek salads with a real Greek-style dressing and lamb, beef & chicken skewers at the Little Greek in the New Tampa Center plaza, which also always has a variety of great desserts. Always packed for lunch, it’s also a great value for dinner.

I still wish Cappy’s in City Plaza at Tampa Palms would add some more menu items, but both the NY- and Chicago-style pizzas are made with quality ingredients and I do love the salads, too.

Indian Cuisine

New Tampa’s favorite Indian restaurant, which got a huge bump-up in popularity when the Bollywood awards were held in Tampa a couple of years ago, has my favorite sizzling lamb chops, amazing vegetarian dishes and a delicious lunch buffet.

Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant

The food isn’t upscale, but neither are the prices at Vallarta’s. The Tampa Palms location is probably the local mini-chain’s nicest, but I also enjoy the fajitas and other steak entrées and the full liquor bar.

Gary’s Next 25 New Tampa Favorites (in alphabetical, not numerical, order)

A consistently great choice for fresh and creative sushi (including a huge selection of specialty rolls), Sushi Café (next to Panera on BBD) also has very good hibachi fare, although it isn’t prepared tableside.

Try the chicken or steak teriyaki and beer and wine are available.

I’m never going to like thin or thick-crust, Chicago-style pizza as much as I do my native New York pizza, but Full Circle Pin Pebble Creek has very good chicken and eggplant parmigiana dinners and tasty sandwiches and I love the red sauce.

Neighborhood News

And still another newcomer cracks my top 25, as Tarek’s in Tampa Palms combines great cheeseburgers, sandwiches and daily specials, plus some really tasty baked goods, in a casual, comfortable location.

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Cantina Capri Pizza Casa Ramos Cross Creek Deli Five Guys Burgers/Fries Glory Days Grill Hawkeye’s NYS Pizza Ho King Hoosiers Grill

Hunter’s Green CC Jersey Mike’s Subs Lanna Thai Mr. Dunderbak’s Mulligan’s Irish Pub Olive Garden Panera Bread Pita’s Republic PJ Dolan’s Irish Pub

Ruby Tuesday Season’s Fresh Café Sushi Avenue Tampa Palms Golf & CC Taste of NY Pizza Thai Orchid Top Thai

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

41

Wesley Chapel

Gary’s Top 25 Favorites!

1

Dempsey’s Steakhouse @ Saddlebrook

2

Bonefish Grill

3

Little Italy’s Family Restaurant

I still think the pricy Dempsey’s Steakhouse may have the best cowboy ribeye in the entire Tampa Bay area, as well as the best tableside Caesar salad, still-swimming fresh fish and among the best service you’ll find anywhere.

Even though I always try to promote mom-and-pop restaurants over national chains, I can’t get enough of Bonefish’s tuna sashimi or the fact that you can not only get grouper or mahi, but also fresh pompano, amberjack, cobia, sea bass and more.

6

Tropics at Saddlebrook Resort

7

GrillSmith

8

The Hungry Greek

9

Capital Tacos

Even though it’s only open for breakfast and lunch, the Tropics still has a fantastic breakfast buffet, as well as delicious fresh fish, great burgers (love the turkey burger!), wraps and flatbreads.

Grillsmith is another local mini-chain that continues to add new menu items (especially for lunch) and improve existing ones. It would finish a little higher on my list if it had a bigger selection of steaks, but the quality is always excellent.

The best value for your money in Greek/Mediterranean cuisine in Wesley Chapel, I love the gyro platters, the Greek salads and many of the home-baked desserts at this local hot spot situated across BBD Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel.

My favorite homemade pasta in our area, even though it’s actually located in Lutz, Little Italy’s has my favorite red sauce, great linguine with clams and the best meatball parmigiana sub around. ‘Nuff said!

I couldn’t help but notice that Capital Tacos recently (finally) added a sign in front of its location on S.R. 56, but the food quality is always top-notch and the service is spot-on. The fajita salads are still my favorites, but there’s usually great specials, too.

I appreciate the fact that this Shops at Wiregrass staple has both NY-style and woodfired thin crust pizza, but 900° Woodfired also has the best pasta in Wesley Chapel, just a notch behind Little Italy’s. The pesto Genovese is ‘da bomb.

With all of the chains now located in or adjacent to Wesley Chapel, a few are bound to find their way to my top-25, and Outback’s ongoing efforts to keep the prices for good steaks, lamb chops and appetizers affordable helps this location make my top 10.

4

900° Woodfired Pizza

5

Yamato Japanese Restaurant

The only true hibachi grill in Wesley Chapel is surprisingly affordable, considering its Shops at Wiregrass location, and serves quality tableside hibachi fare=, as well as very good sushi, with a full liquor bar.

42

10

Outback Steakhouse

11

Hibachi Express

While no one is going to confuse Hibachi Express’ steaks with Dempsey’s, you can’t beat the value for your money at this popular Village Market lunch spot. The sushi is also less expensive than at most other local places.

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12

Arroy Thai

After taking over for the Fine Thai Express on S.R. 54, Arroy Thai is my highestfinishing newcomer in Wesley Chapel, with the best garlic and black pepper sauce of any Thai place in the area, great crispy duck and affordable lunch specials.

13

La Prima Pizza

O’Brien’s Irsh Pub

It might finish even higher if the menu were a little more diversified, but O’Brien’s has great burgers, wings and the Murphy’s chicken sandwich and crispy tater tots are winners. The almost nightly entertainment and great drink prices are just bonuses.

15

Longhorn Steakhouse

Texas Roadhouse

17

Cantina Laredo

I can do without the hourly country line dancing, but Texas Roadhouse on S.R. 56 still has some of the best steaks and sides in our area.

I’m not a guacamole enthusiast, but it’s hard to resist when made tableside. I also love Cantina’s new bone-in ribeye and fresh fish specials, as well as the gorgeous bar.

Neighborhood News

19

OTB Delight Café

Wolf’s Den 20 Still my favorite breakfast place (amazing hash browns) in Wesley Chapel, I also

enjoy the sandwiches and burgers at Wolf’s Den.

Kwan Ming Bistro 21 The menu has definitely been upgraded at Kwan Ming Bistro on S.R. 56 since it first

opened a couple of years ago. My favorite dish is the house special fried rice.

Cody’s Original Roadhouse 22 Obviously, I’m a steak lover and while Cody’s steaks are a notch below Longhorn

and Texas Roadhouse, they’re also less expensive, and I like the unlimited salad bowl.

My favorite of the new restaurants that opened near the Tampa Premium Outlets in 2016, Longhorn’s bone-in ribeye and other well-seasoned steaks are well worth their price tag. I like the full premium liquor bar and fair drink prices a lot, too.

16

specialties, like veal parmigiana and pasta with Paesana sauce (broccoli, garlic and oil).

I keep asking for OTB to expand its menu a little, but not only does it have great breakfast, but also tasty salads, wraps and rice bowls/

Although we have a few very good pizza paces in Wesley Chapel, La Prima, in the SuperTarget-anchored Northwood Plaza, is still my favorite New York-style ‘za in either of our distribution areas which also has quality Italian specialties.

14

PizzaMania 18 PizzaMania doesn’t have my favorite pizza in WC, but I’ve always enjoyed the Italian

@NTWCNews

Bonsai Sushi 23 This favorite in the Shoppes at New Tampa plaza on BBD still has perhaps the best

sushi and non-hibachi grill Japanese fare in Wesley Chapel.

24

Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant

Just like its New Tampa counterpart, the Vallarta’s in the Wesley Chapel Village Market offers great value for your money and a full liquor bar.

Union 72 BBQ 25 Just opening in late 2016, this newcomer is more than just your typical BBQ joint,

although the ribs, brisket and house-made sides are excellent. See story on pg. 48!

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

43

Gary’s Favorite

Gary’s Favorite

Gary’s Favorite

Restaurants in NT & WC

Places in NT & WC

Places in NT & WC

Chinese

1

Fushia Asian Bistro

If you haven’t tried Fushia lately, you owe it to yourself to try it, after you read my story on page 46 of this issue.

Liang’s Bistro Kwan Ming Bistro Hot Wok 88 Ho King Gonna China Gonna China China Wok (WC Village Mkt) Ho Wok China Wok (County Line Rd.)

2

3

4 5

6 7

8 9

10

Gary’s Favorite

Japanese & Sushi

Restaurants in NT & WC

1

Yamato Japanese Restaurant

The sushi isn’t the best in our area, but Yamato has very fair prices for very good food in this most competitive category.

2

3

4 5

6 7

8 9

10

Kobe Steakhouse Koizi Endless Hibachi Ginza Sukhothai Hibachi Express Sushi Café Fong’s Sushi Bonsai Sushi Sushi Avenue

Gary’s Favorite

Thai

Restaurants in NT & WC

1

Sukhothai

If it had more Japanese entrées, Sukhothai could win that category, too. Sukhothai and Thai Ruby have long been 1-2 in my survey.

Steak

Pizza

1

La Prima Pizza

Great NY style pizza will always be my favorite and La Prima is still #1, despite lots of competition in both of our markets.

2

3

4 5

6 7

8 9

10 11 12

13

14 15

NY NY Pizza 900° Woodfired Taste of NY Peabody’s PizzaMania Amici Woodfired (Bearss Ave.) Capri Pizza Little Italy’s Full Circle Cappy’s Ciccio Cali Westshore Woody’s

Gary’s Favorite

1 2

3

4 5

6 7

8 9

10

1

Acropolis

Fresh fish, delicious lamb chops and a full liquor bar keep Acropolis at the top of my list year after year in this growing category.

2 3 4 5

The Hungry Greek Petra Mediterranean Little Greek Chick & Peas Grill

Gary’s Favorite

1 2

3

4 5

6 7

8 9

10

Latin & Mexican

Restaurants in NT & WC

1

Café Olé

Authentic Spanish tapas and entrées and the best fresh fish in New Tampa put the everexpanding Café Olé at the top of my list.

Dempsey’s is not only the best in our distribution areas, it’s among the best in the entire Tampa Bay area. Just say “cowboy ribeye!”

Café Olé Stonewood Longhorn Steakhouse Outback Steakhouse Texas Roadhouse Bonefish Grill GrillSmith Kobe Steakhouse Cody’s Roadhouse

Gary’s Favorite

Burger

Greek & Middle Eastern Restaurants in NT & WC

Dempsey’s Steak House

Places in NT & WC

Oakley’s Grill

3

1

4 5

6 7

8 9

10 11 12

13

14 15

Chain

8

Bonefish Grill

Great drink prices, proximity to my office, karaoke & live entertainment make O’Brien’s my favorite hangout bar.

3

1

Gary’s Favorite

O’Brien’s Irish Pub

2

Sonny’s BBQ Peabody’s OTB Café Five Guys Burger 21 O’Brien’s Irish Pub Hunter’s Green CC Grillsmith Mulligan’s

2

3

4 5

6 7

9

10

The Brass Tap Peabody’s Bonefish Grill Stonewood Mulligan’s Longhorn Steakhouse Cheddars Scratch Kitchen Acropolis Grillsmith Hunter’s Green CC Ker’s Wing House Mr. Dunderbak’s PJ Dolan’s Joe Whiskey’s

Gary’s Favorite

Ice Cream/FroYo Places in NT & WC

Bruster’s Real Ice Cream

Still #1 for its creaminess and variety of peanut butter and banana flavors. Try Bruster’s unique ice ceam pies. You’ll thank me.

Coldstone Creamery Culver’s Twistee Treat Baskin Robbins Dairy Queen Happy Cow La Berry Frogury Wawa

Gary’s Favorite

I can’t get enough of the tuna sashimi (best sauce ever!) or the fresh fish at Bonefish, which also has Outback-quality steaks.

2 Stonewood Vuelo Mexican Grill 2 Thai Ruby 3 Longhorn Steakhouse Capital Tacos 4 3 Arroy Thai 4 Outback Steakhouse Cantina Laredo 5 4 Lanna Thai 5 Grillsmith Las Palmas 6 Vallarta’s (Tampa Palms 5 Minerva Indian Rest.

6 Texas Roadhouse 7 Casa Ramos 6 Thai Orchid 7 Five Guys 8 Vallarta’s (WC Village Mkt) 7 Saffron Indian Cuisine 8 Jersey Mike’s Subs 9 Latin Twist Café 8 Top Thai 9 Cheddars For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017• NTNeighborhoodNews.com Neighborhood News 44 9 10 Cantina Tabla Indian Food (CC Blvd.)

10 Kobe Steakhouse 2

Barsin&NT Taverns & WC

Still the best flame-grilled burger in either of our distribution areas, Oakley’s also has outstanding fries and sandwiches.

Restaurants in NT & WC

1

Gary’s Favorite

1 2

Bakeries

in NT & WC

7 Layers Bakery

From authentic New York-style, handpiped cannolis to great cupcakes, cakes, Napoleons and eclairs make 7 Layers #1.

Stonemill Artisan Sugar Darlings 4 Buttermilk Provisions 5 @NTWCNews Le Macaron 3

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45

Fushia Asian Bistro Adds An Authentic Chinese ‘Hot Pot’ Buffet

DID YOU

By Gary Nager

love The Melting Pot the first time you ever ate there? For some people, dipping cubes of bread into boiling hot cheese or meats into equally hot oil is just a little too adventurous, while others love it so much they choose to enjoy it for Valentine’s Day or another big night out.

Invoking that same spirit of adventure is Fushia Asian Bistro, located in the Shoppes of Amberly plaza in Tampa Palms (next to Crunch Fitness). Fushia owners Sharon and Chef Charlie Wang say that theirs is the first Asian restaurant in the Tampa Bay area to offer an authentic Chinese hot pot buffet and they have spared no expense to bring it to you, hoping to capture a new audience for my favorite Chinese restaurant in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel (see pgs 40-44).

In the newer side of Fushia, where the restaurant also offers its private karaoke suites for 6-20 people, there are now multiple tables where each seat has its own stovetop burner. Each person at your table will have their own stainless steel pot which they will fill with one of about ten different kinds of broth — from Japanese-style miso to Thai curry to spicy red (oil) broth and literally any other “stock” you can imagine.

Then, you visit large refrigerated cabinets which offer a variety of flash-frozen meats — lamb, pork, beef, chicken, etc., as well as beef stomach and other choices less commonly known by the average American diner at the place.

For those who aren’t allergic to shellfish (like I am), there also is a huge selection of not only white meat fish, but also raw shrimp, clams, squid, crab claw meat and others, as well as a variety of dumplings, wontons, ramen noodles and a huge selection of veggies.

Each person at your table selects his or her own selection of these items to place into their own hot pot. Most of the items take only a few seconds to cook, while the dumplings and noodles take a few minutes.

While your hot pot is simmering, there is an ever-changing variety of appetizers for you to enjoy. On our most recent visit, for example, there was a spicy cucumber salad, spicy chicken chunks, Korean-style kimchi vegetables (also spicy), and others. You also can choose from a dozen different sauces, some spicy, some sweet and mild.

Once your ingredients have been simmered in your hot pot, you pull them out

46

using a ladle that is provided to each person with a hot pot. The food comes out piping hot and most of the fat on the meats are rendered into the pot.

“It’s a really healthy, lower-calorie way to eat,” Sharon says. “Hot pot buffets are very big in major cities like New York and even Miami. We think people here will love it, too, if they give it a try.”

Although I really enjoyed the hot pot buffet, there is an element of chance involved — you have to figure out which broth to start with because different broths definitely bring out different tastes. I really liked the so-called “fatty lamb” and “fatty pork” the most, but I preferred them in the butter broth rather than any of the spicy broths. The fish filets also cooked up fluffy and white and were particularly good with a mix of peanut sauce and Thai chili sauce.

Young people, especially college students like my WCNT-tv production assistant Gavin Olsen, really seemed to enjoy the hot pot buffet the most. Staff writer Celeste McLaughlin and billing manager Stephanie Smith (bottom right photo) also really enjoyed the adventure of the hot pot, although Celeste said she probably wouldn’t being her younger children to try it because of the heat, although I do see kids enjoying the hibachi tables at Japanese steakhouses, which also can burn them.

Your hot pot buffet also comes with unlimited desserts (including delicious ice cream) and soft drinks, all for $25.99 per person — and yes that price is the same, whether you enjoy the hot put for lunch or dinner. The good news is that with the coupon in the Fushia ad on page 42, up to eight people in your party can each receive $2 off that cost, although the coupon can not be used on Friday or Saturday. Even so, my employees all agreed that it was well worth the cost.

Old Favorites, Too!

Of course, there were no hot pot buffets when I learned to love New York-style Chinese food during my youth growing up in Long Island. For me, Chinese food is still about great egg rolls, fried rice and spicy beef and pork dishes with traditional Chinese vegetables.

My favorite traditional dishes at Fushia are the Yan Jian pork, which is made spicy by being sautéed with jalapeño peppers. It’s amazing with Fushia’s Yong Chow fried rice, which is a savory combination fried rice with pork, beef, chicken and shrimp (I order it without the shrimp), plus some

At Fushia Asian Bistro in Tampa Palms, you can enjoy an authentic Chinese Hot Pot buffet by picking your own meats, shellfish, veggies and sauces and have fun cooking them right at your table!

For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 25, Issue 3 • January 27, 2017 • NTNeighborhoodNews.com

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Yan Jian Pork

Mongolian Chicken & Egg Roll

Yong Chow Fried Rice

Beef With Chinese Broccoli

onions, egg and veggies. Yum. I also love Fushia’s beef with Chinese broccoli, which is like broccoli stalks with spinach leaves instead of florets, as well as the true New York-style egg rolls, spring rolls and pan-fried dumplings.

I also really enjoy Fushia’s Mongolianstyle chicken, the crispy Beijing (Peking) duck and so many other dishes on Fushia’s extensive menu. If you want the hot pot buffet but your significant other isn’t that adventurous, you can both get what you

want and enjoy a great Chinese meal.

And yes, you can even get a private karaoke suite for your party (at no additional charge) and entertain each other after dinner while you enjoy a glass of plum wine, hot or cold sake or a delicious Tsingtao or Kirin (or domestic) beer.

Fushia Asian Bistro is located at 15315 Amberly Dr. and is open every day for lunch and dinner except Monday. For more information, call 9036705 and tell Sharon we sent you!

Neighborhood News

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47

Union 72 BBQ Is So Much More Than Just Another BBQ Place!

The Conquistador Sandwich

St. Louis Ribs

OK, SO I

By Gary Nager

freely admit that while I love cooking on a grill, I’m not the biggest fan of smoked barbecue food, especially at most places. One advantage (or disadvantage?) for me as I’ve aged is that my stomach just can’t handle most BBQ sauces.

But, the casual, new Union 72 BBQ in the Shops at Wiregrass mall is not your usual BBQ place. Yes, there’s a slew of smoked meats from which to choose — and there are some unique options among those that I am excited to tell you about — but it’s quite honestly mainly the non-BBQ-style offerings at Union 72 that really do it for me, even though, at one time, I consumed full racks of ribs in one sitting. I still love ribs, but these days, I usually just stick to enjoying one or two of someone else’s ribs (at the most) before I give up.

Well, Union 72 co-owners Jeff Martin and Bharat Chhabria and pitmaster Geoff Zukosky definitely have my attention. One bite of graphic designer Blake Beatty’s Union 72 St. Louis-style ribs and I was hooked.

The ribs are prepared with Union 72’s own house-made dry rub, marinated overnight and

48

slow-smoked to perfection. They’re served wet or dry, so I was glad that Blake ordered his dry (the marinade creates a glaze that gives these fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs a nice crispy edge), even though the photo above (provided by Union 72), are shown wet. I’m also partial to Union 72’s Texas-style beef brisket and I enjoyed tastes of the pulled pork and even the country-style sausage.

As I said before, however, I am even more impressed by Union 72’s non-smoked items, like the southern fried hot chicken tenders, which are buttermilk-battered and rubbed with Union 72’s chef-created “Fire” rub. If you like the Nashville hot chicken at that fast food chicken joint, I’m betting you’ll love these super-crispy-outside, tender-andjuicy-inside beauties even more.

I also absolutely loved the Conquistador sandwich, which is still smoked pulled pork, but Spanish-spiced (like at a great Cuban place), topped with a green chimichurri sauce, caramelized onions and topped with a perfect sunny-side-up egg that absolutely oozes into every bite, all on a tasty brioche bun.

Other chef-created Union 72 favorites at our office include the tacos — available with brisket, pork or your choice of smoked meat — the dry-rub (think spicy blackened) hot wings, the pulled chicken salad and the mari-

nated, slow-smoked half chicken.

There are a couple of Asian-influenced sandwiches at Union 72 I’m planning to try on my next couple of visits — the Vietnamese-style Banh mi sandwich (photo, right), which puts slices of that slow-smoked brisket on a baguette, topped with pickled vegetables, cucumbers, bean sprouts and spicy aioli; and the Far East sandwich, which is slow-smoked, chopped pork topped with kimchi, drizzled with Union 72’s house-made Sticky Asian barbecue sauce, and finished with fresh cilantro, scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Some of these sandwiches are served with your choice of a side and so far, I’m pretty much loving all of ‘em. The corn on the cob, collared greens, fries, house-made slaw, smoked bacon mac & cheese and the smoked, loaded baked potato all get high marks from me. I’m not a big fried okra fan, but lots of Union 72 regulars seem to love it, too. I’ve only sampled three or four of the six house-made sauces to date, but my favorites are the white BBQ and Sticky Asian.

Speaking of folks who already visit Union 72, which has been open about two months

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Southern Fried Hot Chicken

at our press time, 900º Woodfired Pizza (also located in the mall) owner Steve Falabella and Little Italy’s (on S.R. 54 in Lutz) owners Carl and Jessica Meyers rave about the place, as did everyone in my office who got to try it the day I wrote this article. .

The Brass Tap Connection

Martin is probably familiar to a lot of you, as he opened the first Brass Tap (in the space adjacent to what is now Union 72) in the mall more than eight years ago. Today, Martin and a variety of partners and some franchisees now have 39 Brass Taps in more than a dozen states. The Wiregrass location which previously had only served dozens of beers from around the world and a variety of wines, recently added full liquor, which

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Far East Sandwich

Texas-Style Brisket has only brought in more people to an already popular watering hole and night spot.

Chhabria met Martin when he bought a franchise and the two shared a love for great barbecue and wanted to be able to offer good prices for their “flavors of the world.” Martin even says that Union 72 is now adding a variety of small, shareable appetizer platters — like unique nachos and more — to better serve his thirsty (and often hungry) customers at the Brass Tap. Speaking of beverages, I love the local Cigar City craft lager on draft (served in mason jars) and house merlot and

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Pork Tacos

Smoked Hot Wings chardonnay also are available.

And, by the time you read this, you’ll be able to check out Union 72’s expanding catering menu, which you should consider if you want everyone to rave about the food at your “Big Game” party. Union 72 will even provide employees to work your party, to make sure everything is perfect. And, based on my experience so far, it will be!

Union 72 BBQ (2000 Piazza Ave., Suite 150) is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. every day & until 10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. For info, call 575-9999, visit Union72.com or see on pg.

45. Please tell Jeff & crew we sent you!

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49

The Latest & Greatest News About Dining, Shopping, Retail & More In New Tampa & Wesley Chapel!

The Frost Family Opens Its 5th Local McDonald’s!

If you’re a fan of McDonald’s, you’re probably a fan of the Frost family. Patriarch Jack Frost (third from left in photo above) got tired of the frost nipping at his nose in his home state of Wisconsin (where he opened his first McDonald’s), and relocated his family to our area more than 30 years ago, opening the first of five local Mickey

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D’s in 1985 on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel.

Today, Frost and his sons John (left in photo) and Chris (far right) and daughter Jen own a total of eight McDonald’s restaurants, including all five of the locations in our distribution areas (two in New Tampa and now three in the Wesley Chapel area).

The most recent opening happened just a couple of weeks ago, as the 6,300-sq.ft. (about as large as the location on S.R. 54, which is the second largest in Florida) McDonald’s on S.R. 56, between the new Longhorn Steakhouse and BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse (in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets), has opened.

Equipped with a large “play place” for the kids and with more sit-down space than most McD’s, Chris Frost says that the new location focuses on customer service, and after watching the pre-opening training of the location’s employees, I can assure you that you will be greeted by lots of smiles and “let me get that for you right away” attitudes.

McDonald’s will hold its official Grand Opening and Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Ribbon Cutting on Saturday, January 28, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at 2609 Creek Grass Way, Lutz. Ronald McDonald himself will be on hand and there will be great food specials like 20 chicken McNuggets

for just $5. For more information, visit McDonalds.com.

Paramount Lebanese Kitchen Opens In The Walk!

One thing I can say with certainty is that the new Paramount Lebanese Kitchen (18089 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy.) in The Walk at Highwoods Preserve plaza off BBD will surely make my list of favorite restaurants in New Tampa next year.

Paramount, a Canada-based chain with 40 locations north of the U.S., plus four in Or-

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lando, was opened here by Gus Kalati and his family late in December (too late to make it to my survey this year; see pages 40-44), but after an admittedly rough start, the kitchen is very much ready to show off the best beef shawarma I’ve had in our area, plus delicious salads and baked goods, all with a distinctly Middle Eastern flair.

Gus and his family (photo, left) hosted a WCCC ribbon cutting on Jan. 19, with great fresh, delicious and healthy food giveaways. Paramount is offering a Grand Opening special of buy one bowl or sandwich, get a second one free, “because no one should eat alone,” Gus says with a smile.

Also cutting a ribbon (left photo on next page) with the WCCC on Jan. 19 was the new Chase Bank branch on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel (in front of Walmart).

For more info, visit ParamountFineFoodsUSA.com, call 252-9370 or see the ad on page 46 of this issue.

Cabana Spas Opens On SR 56!

If you’re looking for new ways to relax and feel healthier, the new Cabana Spas, in the former Planet Beach location at 27607 S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel is the place for you.

With unique individual treatment rooms that include a Fitbomb infrared sauna

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you can actually work out in (photo above, center), a tooth whitening treatment area, hydration station, oxygen bar and so much more, Cabana Spas is owned by Glen and Jill Harrod, the same people who own the South Beach Tanning Company franchise in the SuperTarget-anchored Northwood Plaza on BBD at County Line Rd. in Wesley Chapel, but Cabana is definitely not a tanning salon.

“We didn’t want to compete with ourselves by opening another tanning location,” Glen says. “We want to offer unique treatments you won’t find anywhere else.”

The Harrods and their staff unveiled Cabana Spa to the members of the WCCC at a ribbon-cutting/Grand Opening event on Jan. 20, the day we went to press with this issue, although the Grand Opening celebration continues through Wednesday, February 15.

For more information, visit CabanaS“Nobody in the area offers Working Cow pas.com or call 991-4433. ice cream and most ice cream places don’t do toppings like yogurt places do,” says Urvesh.

La’ Berry Yogurt Cafe Adds “We focus on less fattening food items for our customers who are health-conscious, but still Working Cow Ice Cream! want great taste.”

If you’ve never tried the La’ Berry For info and some great coupon ofFrozen Yogurt & Ice Cream Café at 20304 fers, see pg. 45 of this issue, call 345-8537 Trout Creek Dr. off BBD (in the same plaza or visit LaBerryFrozenYogurt.com. as Burger 21), the good news is that this frozen yogurt café (which also has great Fat Rabbit & Precinct Pizza sandwiches and other food items) is adding Also Opening Soon! homemade Working Cow ice cream. The During a recent visit to the City Plaza ice cream Grand Opening for new La’ Berry at Tampa Palms shopping center, I noticed owners Urvesh and Trina Patel (photo above a new sign in a window between Vallarta’s right) will be Saturday, February 4, 11 Mexican Restaurant and the Gold Crown a.m.-10 p.m. Come check out not only the Hallmark store in the plaza saying that The 16 flavors of new ice cream, but also the 80 available toppings for it, as well as La’ Berry’s Fat Rabbit Pub is coming soon.

The Fat Rabbit, which has its menu healthy panini, wrap and other sandwiches.

displayed in the window, appears to be something of a British-style pub, with burgers, wings and sandwiches, plus unique items like grouper nuggets, meatballs and fried wontons.

The website FatRabbitPub.com doesn’t currently have info as to when the eatery is opening, but we’ll keep you posted.

Seemingly closer to opening is the second location of the law enforcement-themed Precinct Pizza, which should open fairly soon (although we had no hard opening date at our press time) in the space previously occupied by Zaytoun Mediterranean Grill.

For more info, visit PrecinctPizza. com or the existing location at 615 Channelside Dr. in Tampa. — GN

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New Tampa & Wesley Chapel

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53

DICK’s Tournament Of Champions — Another Weekend Of Satisfied Customers

By John C. Cotey Even though it was a lacrosse tournament, Eric Marsh was dropping back to throw a pass. He looked downfield, and let a deep ball fly from his fingertips. At the end of his high, sailing pass, at least a dozen teenagers in lacrosse uniforms fought to catch the ball.

For Marsh, the coach of the Team Sconnie lacrosse squad that competed at the 11th annual DICK’s Tournament of Champions (ToC) at the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd., it was the perfect warm-up in some of the most perfect weather he and his Wisconsin-based team had seen in weeks.

“We come here for the competition, but the weather is a big draw,’’ Marsh said.

“Who wouldn’t love this? We left 20 degrees and snow.”

Team Sconnie wasn’t the only team to escape colder temperatures the weekend of Dec. 29-31 for a shot at a national title and some time in the sun. The tournament hosted 53 teams, including two from Ontario, Canada, and others from winter wonderlands like New York, Michigan, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

In all, 16 states were represented at the event, the same amount as last year.

However, the number of teams was significantly less than last year’s total of 73, and marked the second consecutive year the tournament was played with 20 fewer teams than the year before.

But, that didn’t seem to concern Josh Gross, the vice-president of Colorado-based National Development Program (NDP) Lacrosse, which puts on the event.

“The numbers are down a little, but the good news is, in calls with teams in November and December, there are teams that are

54

already planning their vacations and their lacrosse trip down here for next year,’’ Gross said. “So, that gives me great hope and promise that next year’s tournament will get back to the numbers we are looking for and provide more exposure for the teams.”

Teams earn bids at regional qualifying tournaments to compete in the five DICK’s ToC divisions — Elite, Rising Stars and 15-, 13- and 11-Under.

One of those qualifiers, the Derek Pieper Memorial Cup, is held in Wesley Chapel.

Gross didn’t say what an ideal number was for the event, which started in 2006 and has been held in Wesley Chapel every year since 2008. In the past, the DICK’s ToC has drawn as many as 115 teams.

“More teams mean more challenges for the players, and it also means more revenue, more ‘heads in beds’ and more tourism dollars,’’ Gross said. “What I want is for the teams to have a great experience when they come down here. I want them to see good and unique competition. When there’s 10 teams in a division and they are all from different states, that’s exciting for a player. But, I don’t know if there’s necessarily a sweet spot for the number of teams.”

Getting teams here over the holidays is a tougher chore than it has been in year’s past, as well. Airfare travel is always pricier in December — Gross said more teams drove to the event this year than in years past — and teams have to deal with players going on family vacations this time of year, sometimes making it hard to bring their full teams.

The smaller field did allow the tournament to be held entirely at the Wesley Chapel District Park, which created a better atmosphere, Gross said. In years past, some of the matches had to be played at nearby Wesley Chapel High.

And, the competition was again stellar. A number of New Tampa players competed, but not all for the same team, and the local program from the Wesley Chapel Athletic Association (WCAA), the Pasco Lions, had a surprising performance in the Rising Stars division.

“I thought we did really well,’’ said the team’s coach, T.J. FitzSimons. “We didn’t expect to be in the thick of it, but we did expect to be competitive.”

Getting Better By Playing Better Teams

For FitzSimons, whose father Tom is the president of the WCAA and a longtime proponent of lacrosse who helps organize the yearly DICK’s ToC event, said the tougher competition only helps programs like his.

“It’s nice to get a chance to see where the country stands,’’ T.J. FitzSimons said .

“It gives the guys a lot of confidence to see that they can play with anybody.”

Marsh agreed. His program is based in Appleton, WI, and lacrosse is still a relatively new sport to the area. This was his third trip to the DICK’s ToC, and he took a new

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set of players to get the experience and to face the best teams they could find.

“That’s why we traveled so far,’’ said Marsh, whose team finished the week with a 3-4 record. “It’s the only reason you really do something like this. We can compete with most of the teams, but most of these teams are just so much deeper.”

This was the first year of a new two-year contract signed in June between Pasco County and NDP. The event, which the county says has an estimated annual economic impact of $3 million, has been Pasco tourism’s anchor sporting event for the last decade. Pasco County also contributed $90,000 to help cover the costs of the event.

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