PLANT CITY TIMES &
Observer
Hitting the recruiting trail. SEE PAGE 12.
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 4, NO. 47
FREE
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FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2017
DART EXPANDS Economic development continues on County Line Road with business expansions and new construction. SEE PAGE 6 YOUR TOWN
DURANT
Courtesy photo
Push-ups during the Murph Challenge
Doing it all for our Murphy
Photos by Observer Staff
Elizabeth Cook, Kamilah Cruz and Natalia Cuebas
CLASS OF 2017 Seniors from all four area schools have recieved their diplomas and said goodbye to high school. SEE PAGE 8
PLANT CITY
SIMMONS
STRAWBERRY CREST
For the fourth year in a row, CrossFit Plant City and 20 participants took part in the annual Murph Challenge on Memorial Day. The Murph commemorates one of the favorite workouts of Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, 29, a Navy SEAL who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Murphy called the workout “Body Armor” and, since his death, it has become known as the Murph. CrossFitters around the country participate in the event every Memorial Day to honor Murphy’s memory. The Murph is a timed CrossFit “hero” workout consisting of a one-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and another one-mile run. Some participants do the challenge with a 20-pound weight vest to simulate body armor.
We’ll see you at the Crossroads Uncle Mike’s Smokehouse Grill ended its Plant City tenure with a farewell party May 26. According to a Facebook post from owner Simone Karakash Tolley, Crossroads Seafood and Steakhouse, a new steak and seafood restaurant, will be taking over the space previously occupied by Uncle Mike’s. Tolley said she plans to focus on a catering company and event hall following the closure. “We have been doing great with UM Catering and Blake Hall and want to focus on that and spend some time with my 3 year old baby,” she said in the Facebook post. Owners of Uncle Mike’s said they will have nothing to do with the new restaurant, but a hiring manager for Crossroads referred any inquiries into the new restaurant back to them.
Olivia Kathlyn Mitchell and Teagan Kylee Wright.
Dillon Patrick
Joshua Delgado and Brianna Doane
Bruton Library Summer programs look to ‘Build a Better World’ The library hopes its summer youth program will engage children all summer long. DANIEL FIGUEROA IV STAFF WRITER
Daniel Figueroa IV
Lindley Redmon, 4, and his mother, Sara Kocab-Redmon, select books at Bruton Memorial Library.
It’s called the ‘summer slide,’ when children’s reading and math skills dip in the summer months. It’s a common, well-documented condition that the librarians at Bruton Memorial Library hope their summer youth program can combat. This year’s program centers around the Collaborative Summer Library Program’s ‘Build a Better World’
theme. It beings with a kick-off event June 3rd featuring JiggleMan, a popular children’s performer who performs around Florida and has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. Throughout the summer, Bruton will offer reading programs, live performances and hands-on activities. “We want to bring that experience of growing up in a library to a generation of kids growing up in a whole new world,” Youth Services Librarian John
Russell said. We want to bring it back and find new ways to engage and build a better world together. With the summer slide, kids may fall behind on reading throughout the summer if they don’t have incentives and access. The library provides both of those.” Incentives, Russell said, include the programs and prizes the library offers. Thanks to local sponsors, the library is holding a raffle for items ranging from gift cards to a Kindle Fire tablet. The more they read, the more tickets they can acquire and the better their chances of winning will be. Access comes in the form of the SEE LIBRARY PAGE 6