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EAST COUNTY
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football
East County youth make a splash at local YMCA. PAGE 19A
OUR TOWN
FREE • Thursday, AUGUST 30, 2012
preview 2012
IN THIS ISSUE
SPORTS
ODA welcomes new volleyball coach. PAGE 13A
finances By Pam Eubanks | Managing Editor
Ranch CDDs adopt budgets beauty and the feet
LWR Development Districts 1, 2, 4 and 5 see assessment increases for FY2013 budgets due to spike in irrigation costs.
+ Arborist completes 585-mile bike ride Local arborist and Summerfield resident Tammy Kovar successfully completed a 585-mile bicycle ride through Oregon to raise funds for tree research. Kovar participated Aug. 5 through Aug. 11 in the Tour des Trees, hosted by the Tree Research & Education Endowment Fund, an organization committed to support sustainable communities and environmental stewardship by funding research, scholarships and education programs pertaining to the fields of arboriculture and urban forestry. “It was a life experience,” she said. “I checked off one of my bucket-list items.”
LAKEWOOD RANCH — Residents in the Lakewood Ranch community will see slight increases to their community development district assessments for the 2013 fiscal year, due primarily to increases in costs for irrigation water. Town Hall Financial Director Steve Zielinski said Lakewood Ranch Community Development Districts 1, 2 and 4 would have seen decreases in
assessments, if irrigation provider Braden River Utilities had not planned significant rate increases. Only CDD 5 would have seen increases, regardless. “Everybody was responsible, prudent, fair,” Town Hall Financial Director Steve Zielinski said. “It was a difficult task, especially after we found out about the BRU increase. Most of the districts looked like they were going to come in below
prior years. We went over each of these budgets with a finetooth comb.” Zielinski said despite reductions in many operating expenses, levels of service are being maintained and even improved. In Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 1, supervisors adopted a $1,685,000
SEE BUDGET / PAGE 9A
FY2012 Budget as amended 02/16/2012 FY2013 Adopted Budget
$300,000
$300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 CDD 1
CDD 2
CDD 4
CDD 5
Source: LAKEWOODRANCHGOV.ORG
people pleaser
By Pam Eubanks | Managing Editor
Cover Girl Heritage Harbour resident Michelle Mohr made the cover of People after she lost 100 pounds through diet and exercise modifications. HERITAGE HARBOUR — You may have seen Michelle Mohr running around her neighborhood in Heritage Harbour or hitting the cardio equipment at LA Fitness in the East County. But, if you walked past any newsstands recently, you may have seen her there, as well. Not only was Mohr, 27, featured in a special weight-loss article in People magazine, but she also made the publication’s cover — right next to a picture of award-winning actress Jennifer Aniston. “It was weird for me looking over and seeing it (on the magazine racks),” says Mohr, laughing. “They didn’t even tell me I was on the cover. When I saw it on the newsstand, I was in pure shock, disbelief.” Once a size 18, Mohr has slimmed her 5-foot, 4-inch frame to a size zero, shedding 100 pounds through diet and exercise. Now, eating healthily and in proper proportions is second nature to Mohr, who went from eating boxes of Rice-a-
+ Sing, sing, sing! The Braden River High School Choir, with director Kerrie Couchois, has been invited by the Distinguished Concerts International-New York to participate in a performance of John Rutter’s “The Requiem” during the DCINY concert series Memorial Day weekend in New York. The concert will be held May 27, at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. Braden River’s choir will join with other choristers to form the Distinguished Concerts Singers International.
+ Students host state FCCLA leaders East County students recently played host to the summer council meeting of the Florida Association of Family Career and Community Leaders. State officers, district advisers and state directors attended the conference, which served as a planning session for the upcoming year. Lakewood Ranch High’s Micaela Figueroa, Briana Nelson-Canty and Miranda Lim are state officers this year.
Budgeted irrigation water costs
SEE MOHR / PAGE 9A
Fitness Fanatic
Michelle Mohr jokingly calls LA Fitness her “home away from home.” She’s there, usually, five days a week. “Working out is a priority,” she says. “I sometimes turn down other things (to do it). My family and friends have come to understand (it’s that important to me).” At the gym, Mohr spends about 10 minutes warming up, 30 minutes working out with weights and another 30 minutes doing cardiovascular exercise.
INDEX Calendar...............12 Classifieds ...........26
Cops Corner..........11 Crossword.............25
Opinion...................8 Real Estate...........22
Sports...................13 Weather................25
Vol. 13, No. 34 | Two sections YourObserver.com