YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
A PARTNERSHIP WITH
EXCLUSIVE SPORTS
IN THIS ISSUE
Cats Everywhere moves to new Plant City facility.
Cork Elementary’s Riley Durant pitching Buttorff named state staff adjusts to fair’s youngest volunteer. life after Danish. SEE PAGE 8 PAGE 13
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OUR TOWN + Don’t forget to spring forward Daylight saving time begins this Sunday, March 9, so remember to set your clocks one hour ahead before you go to bed on Saturday night. Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March. It lasts until the first Sunday in November.
+ Dignitaries enjoy festival
FREE • THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014
head of the class by Amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor
Plant City High student earns district’s top GPA Dhara Patel’s grade point average is so high that the computer system couldn’t register it properly. One day, Plant City High School senior Dhara Patel was No. 1 in her class. The next day, she was last. PCHS College and Career Counselor Sherrie Mueller pulled up Patel’s grades in the system two weeks ago to discover Patel had dropped in rank to
No. 409 out of 409 students. It was a shock. And also impossible. But Mueller had an idea about what happened to the academic powerhouse’s grade-point average. Patel’s GPA was sitting at a 10.031. As a two-digit number, it was so high that
the computer system couldn’t recognize it and defaulted to a .031. Mueller had known Patel had a 9.9 before grades rolled in at the closing of last semester in January. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen when Patel’s grades factored in to bump her up the scale. So, Mueller brought it up at a district meeting. “I don’t think anyone believed that I
Amber Jurgensen
Dhara Patel plans to attend the University of Florida in the fall.
had a student with a 10.0,” Mueller said. Sure enough, after the grades rolled in Patel’s GPA had crashed the system.
SEE PATEL / PAGE 4
DEVELOPMENT
A roundtable meeting hosted by U.S. Rep Dennis Ross, Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham and Plant City Mayor Mary Mathis brought international dignitaries to Plant City for the Florida Strawberry Festival Parade Day March 3. Dignitaries from Estonia, Germany, Peru, India and Barbados enjoyed a meet-and-great and luncheon, before viewing the Grand Parade in the afternoon. Attendees include Juan Carlos Schambaher Ibarra, honorary consul of Peru; Norma Brenne Henning, honorary consul of Germany; Dr. Lisa Mets, honorary consul of Estonia; Henderson Griffith, president of the Barbados Association of Tampa Bay; Tyrone Small, second vice president of the Barbados Association of Tampa Bay; and Jürgen Borsch, consul general of Germany.
by Michael Eng | Editor
As always, pig racing was one of the most popular attractions.
The Red Hatters loved Dennis Lee’s performance.
SWEETNESS
Walden Lake leaders prep for golf course discussion WLCA directors called an emergency meeting after Visions Golf filed a rezone request with Plant City.
FOLLOWS
Less than two weeks after Visions Golf LLC filed a rezone request to redevelop Walden Lake Golf & Country Club and its two golf courses, Walden Lake Community Association leaders called an emergency meeting to mobilize for discussion and, possibly, for battle. Before a standing room-only crowd of residents March 3, the WLCA voted unanimously to contact its attorney, Steven Mezer, of Bush Ross, and advise him the board would like to take a position regarding the redevelopment. The
SEE WLCA / PAGE 4
real estate by Michael Eng | Editor
Sale pending on Sweetbay distribution facility in P.C.
+ Eagles enjoy bicycle rodeo Walden Lake Elementary students enjoyed a bike rodeo Feb. 20 and 21. St. Joseph’s Hospital staff came to the school and presented the rodeo. Fourth- and fifth-graders went through a course on bikes and scooters to practice hand signals.
, 3&
This week’s winner is
Linda Wheelock See her photo on PAGE 17.
Krewe of Carnival won second in this year’s Grand Parade. Floating: The Baby Contest featured elaborate costumes.
C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. held a local job fair recently and listed open positions at the Plant City facility on its website.
2014 FLORIDA STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL by the Times & Observer Staff Oh yes, it is Florida Strawberry Festival time! Serving up “Florida’s Best Family Recipe,” the festival opened with a plethora of events, concerts and activities Feb. 27. So far, out-of-towners and Plant City natives alike have enjoyed everything from eating contests and headline entertainment to parade floats and, of course, plenty of delicious strawberries. The festivities continue through March 9.
MORE PHOTOS ON PAGES 6 AND 7
Larry Henderson demonstrated wood-whittling at Pioneer Village.
INDEX Calendar.......................2
After 10 months of uncertainty, it appears the Plant City distribution center owned by Sweetbay Supermarkets NOW is close to having a HIRING new owner. To view the C&S Wholesale job listings, Grocers Inc., the visit C&S Keene, N.H.-based Wholesale company that proGrocers’ webvides procurement, site, cswg. warehouse and com, and transportation serselect “Jobs.” vices for Bi-Lo Holdings, currently has 29 jobs listed for the Plant City distribution center on its website. Furthermore, a distribution center employee, who
SEE SWEETBAY / PAGE 4 Vol. 1, No. 32 | One section
Crossword...................17
Obituaries...................10
Sports.........................13
Weather ......................17
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