WESLEY CHAPEL
Volume 18 Issue 26
Inside: Our Last-Minute Holiday Gift Guide! See pages 31-32!
NEWS
December 18, 2010
The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving Wesley Chapel & New Tampa Since 1993! THE INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWS MAGAZINES DIRECTLY MAILED TO: WESLEY CHAPEL: Aberdeen • Belle Chase • Brookside • Chapel Pines • Country Walk • Lexington Oaks • Meadow Pointe • New River • Northwood • Pinewalk • Pine Ridge • Saddlebrook • Saddleridge Estates • Saddlewood • Seven Oaks • Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • West Meadows
Santa Claus, Tree Lighting Highlight Chamber’s Holiday Festival By Michael Smith A lot of people complain about how commercialized the Christmas season has become, but it was the promise of a good, old-fashioned, family-style holiday event that drew hundreds of local residents to the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce’s fourth annual Holiday Festival at The Grove shopping plaza on December 4. “It was a fabulous event,” one Chamber representative said. “The wind died down and it wasn’t as cold as everybody thought it was going to be.” This was the second time that the Festival was held at the plaza, after the inaugural celebration was staged at the Wesley Chapel Community Park in 2007. As always, the main highlights of the event were the arrival of Santa Claus (not in a sleigh drawn by eight tiny reindeer, but in a ladder truck from Pasco County Fire Rescue with sirens blaring), and the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas tree in the center of the
Santa Claus poses with one of his young friends at the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce’s fourth annual Holiday Festival. plaza that capped off the evening. In between, there were plenty of fun things to do for all ages. Kids had a great time building and decorating real gingerbread houses and Christmas
cookies, having photos taken with Santa (or The Grinch, who also was in attendance), getting their faces painted or playing a variety of carnival-style games hosted by local businesses. Meanwhile,
the grown-ups enjoyed singing and music presented by a host of local school and church groups and other performers, and perhaps the longest line of all was for the free cotton candy handed out by one of the local vendors. Another highlight of the evening was the first annual Pet Costume Parade, hosted by Fido’s Funland pet sitting service. Dozens of dogs of all sizes, decked out in their holiday finery, had a barking good time as they competed for prizes from the panel of judges, which included Pasco County commissioner Pat Mulieri, Wesley Chapel Honorary Mayor Debbie Yoerg and LeAnn Bridenstine, owner of Noah’s Mobile Veterinary Clinic. The top prize was won by Jack, a goldendoodle owned by Melissa Best, who won a variety of gift certificates and other prizes from Fido’s Funland and other local petoriented businesses. See “Festival” on page 23.
Natural Gas Pipeline Being Extended Through Our Area
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
Local Pharmacies Targeted By Thieves, WCH Student Named Volunteer Of The Year & Much More!
Our Exclusive Holiday Gift Guide, Announcing The Winners Of Our Dining Survey & Contest & More!!
See pages 3-24!
See pages 25-36!
See “Pipeline” on page 6.
ECRWSS
NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION UPDATES
tions along the route and the construction of other associated facilities. It’s all designed to increase the capacity of FGT’s system in Florida by 820,000 million British thermal units (MMBtus) per day. As part of the FERC approval process, FGT was required to show that it had customers for the gas, which comes from suppliers in the Gulf Coast areas of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and from offshore wells. The FERC documents show that the primary customer
Postal Customer
Also Inside This Issue!
in Florida, about 85 percent of which is used in the generation of electricity. According to a company statement, natural gas demand in Florida is expected to grow to more than 1 billion cubic feet/day by 2015. Prior to construction, the project was evaluated and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which weighs the “evidence of public benefits to be achieved against the residual adverse effects” of such projects before authorizing them, according to an order written by an FERC panel in November 2009. In addition to the new pipeline, which FGT officials say will be mostly installed within rights-of-way already owned by the company, the project includes boosting the pressure under which the gas is moved, building and upgrading metering and regulating sta-
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 2801
Residents living or driving in the area of County Line Rd. may be wondering what is the reason for all of the large pipes that are in the process of being installed alongside the roadway, but they are only a small part of a 483mile, $2.4-billion pipeline extension project that will transport natural gas
from Alabama to South Florida. The project, officially known as the Phase VIII Expansion Project, is being conducted by the Florida Gas Transmission Co. (FGT), which owns and operates approximately 5,000 miles of underground pipeline between south Texas and Miami. Company officials say the project is necessary to meet the growing need for natural gas
Dated Material Please Rush!
By Michael Smith
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 18, Issue 26 • December 18, 2010 • www.WCNeighborhoodNews.com
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