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FREE • FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015
AG LIFE
Colson Acres home tops February sales.
See our list of winners from the Strawberry Festival livestock shows.
NEW COACH
PAGE 10
PAGE 8
PAGE 14
REAL ESTATE
Plant City High School names its new football coach.
governance by Catherine Sinclair | Staff Writer
HOMETOWN HERO by Catherine Sinclair | Staff Writer
OUR TOWN
Herr names city engineer Michael Schenk’s report date is March 16. The hiring process for an assistant engineer is ongoing.
+ Get your strawberries Wish Farms will be holding its annual Charity Strawberry U-Pick from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at Wish Farms, 37381 State Road 62, Duette. Proceeds will go to the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, an organization that provides quality child care and early education for children of migrant farm workers and rural, lowincome families throughout Florida. The cost is $5 per box, which includes the donation and crate cost. Food banks may pick for free if containers are supplied. Documentation is required. Organic strawberries are not available. The u-pick event is for conventional strawberries only. For more information and a map to the farm visit WishFarms.com/upick.
City Manager Mike Herr announced Monday, March 9, that Michael Schenk has been chosen as the new permanent city engineer, following former city engineer Brett Gocka’s termination in December. “Mr. Schenk has both public and private sector experience,” Herr said. “He has a lot of experience doing engineering work with utilities, and also the review and development of site plans.” Herr said it is also valuable that Schenk owned an engi-
neering firm, M.A. Schenk and Associates Inc., for about 10 years. Schenk is currently the director of utility engineering for JSK Consulting, where he has been employed since April 2014. Schenk holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from University of Central Florida. He is registered as a professional engineer in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, and he is a certified
SEE ENGINEER / PAGE 4
MAKING HISTORY by Catherine Sinclair | Staff Writer
101-year-old rides in Strawberry Festival Parade for first time Daryl Sturgis has lived in Plant City since 1935 and has made many memories at the festival. Courtesy photo
Clayton Browder’s mother, Lisa, and the rest of his family like to celebrate his visits home in big ways.
+ Play opens at PCE Plant City Entertainment and The Frenzie Life Theatre are presenting “Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical” in March. Opening weekend runs March 13 to 15 at Plant City Entertainment, 101 N. Thomas St. The play will be shown March 19 to 21, as well. All showtimes start at 8 p.m. except for March 19, which is a matinee beginning at 2 p.m. This amusing musical comedy pokes fun at the curiosities and inevitability of middle age. The hilarious songs cover reading glasses, going bald, acid reflux, mood swings, double chins, prostate exams and hot flashes. Purchase tickets at Hardee’s Fashions, 1501 N. Wheeler St., or at the door. PCEShows.com.
, 3&
This week’s winner is
Caroline Pacheco See his photo on PAGE 15.
Destined for Duty With Clayton Browder’s family history, it’s no surprise that he joined the U.S. Army almost immediately after graduating from Plant City High School.
An army life always seemed to run through Clayton Browder’s veins. In Veterans’ Memorial Park in Plant City, six bricks bear the names of his father, mother, uncle and other relatives who served in the military. And recently, his mother, Lisa Browder, proud-
ly purchased a seventh brick with Clayton’s name on it. “All my family had done it, so I figured I might as well do it also,” Clayton said. “It makes my family proud.” Browder is about halfway through his five years of active duty service in the U.S. Army,
and last week, he returned to U.S. soil after two years in Germany.
Starting Out
Browder graduated from Plant City High School in 2012,
SEE HERO / PAGE 4
HOMETOWN HEROES EDITOR’S NOTE: Hometown Heroes is a recurring feature in the Plant City Times & Observer in which we profile veterans from Plant City. If you have a loved one currently serving or who has served in the past, please contact Managing Editor Amber Jurgensen by email at ajurgensen@ plantcityobserver.com or by phone at (813) 704-6850.
Hundreds of Plant City residents marched, danced or rode in this year’s Florida Strawberry Festival Parade. But tucked in the back of First Baptist Church of Midway’s float was Daryl Sturgis, a woman with a unique claim among parade participants: She is 101 years old. “It was fun, and it was tiresome. I had a good time,” Sturgis said. Sturgis moved from Georgia to Winter Garden in 1925, when she was about 12. She remembers working in the orange packing facilities, always dressed as a proper lady. “Three-inch heels, I packed oranges all day in,” she said. In 1935, Sturgis’ family relocated to Plant City. She worked in the strawberry fields, as well as at Hooker’s Department Store, the Plant Hotel and some other businesses that have been well known throughout the ages. Sturgis has had quite a few
Courtesy photo
Daryl Sturgis rode in the parade next to her friend Christine Holzhauer.
memorable moments at the festival in her lifetime. She doesn’t remember her very first time at the Strawberry Festival, but she knows she went back when it was held at the site that is now
SEE STURGIS / PAGE 4
love in the air by Justin Kline | Staff Writer
Couple gets engaged at concert Trace Woolverton wasn’t expecting boyfriend Willie Hunt to propose, but that’s exactly what he did on the last day of the Florida Strawberry Festival. On Sunday, March 8, Trace Woolverton thought that she and boyfriend Willie Hunt would leave the Reba McEntire concert with nothing but good memories. In the end, she did get them — and also a ring. Hunt, working with opening act Caroline Kole, proposed
to Woolverton in front of tens of thousands of people at the Florida Strawberry Festival’s Wish Farms Soundstage. She was shocked, and nearly overwhelmed, but quick to say, ‘Yes.’ “I had no idea this was gonna happen, and I’m glad it happened, and I could not have
shared it with better people, a beautiful young lady (Caroline Kole) and her boss now, Reba,” Woolverton said. For Hunt, this was a project three months in the making. When he learned that Wool-
SEE ENGAGED / PAGE 4
Justin Kline
Trace Woolverton was overcome with emotion when Willie Hunt asked her to marry him.
INDEX Calendar.......................2
Vol. 2, No. 33 | One section Crossword...................17
Obituaries...................13
Sports.........................14
Weather ......................17
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