October 2019

TALLAHASSEE --- Family man. Business man. Policy leader.

Those are the words Sen. Wilton Simpson’s website uses to describe the lawmaker, who on Tuesday will be tapped by his colleagues as the Senate’s next president.

The 53-year-old Trilby Republican was elected to the Senate in 2012 and served as majority leader in 2016 and 2017.

Simpson, a Florida native who has two adult children and two grandchildren, is a Pasco County general contractor who owns an egg farm as well as an environmental remediation company that’s one of the largest in the southeastern U.S.

Article and Photography by ALICE MARY HERDEN

“When it rains, it pours, when it pours, you score,” Fox Chapel’s eighth-grader Mike Lee said. 

Even though the Tigers never scored a touchdown, they kept the Eagles from crossing over into their endzone beyond half-time, ending the game at 14-0 on Oct. 8, 2019.

“I was proud of Fox Chapel because, in the past, we would score forty-some points,” coach Genard Hudson said. “They showed a lot of improvement and gave us a challenge.”

Local musician, Lenny Nicotri, has had a long career in music and a few ups and downs in his life. Now, he is happily retired from the demanding and hectic life he led for seventeen years. But he didn’t give up music entirely. Lenny plays guitar and sings with a local band called Alabama Rain that is made up of two other musicians – Michael Morelli on drums and Chris VonBartheld who plays keyboard and also sings. 

Since 1984, The Flower Shop in Spring Hill has been supplying our community with blooms, floral arrangements and a lot more. 

“I’m incredibly proud that The Flower Shop is celebrating 35 years in business this month,” said owner Albert Tavolaro. “I’m so fortunate to be able to share this accomplishment with family, staff, friends and customers,” he said.

To mark the occasion, The Flower Shop is offering 35 percent off everything in the shop during the weekend of October 19, 2019.

Lawns in Florida enter a period of dormancy during the winter months, regulated by the number of daylight hours and temperature.  As the days grow shorter and temperatures go down, turf requires less fertilizer. This really holds true for any plants in your yard - as growth slows the plant’s need for water and fertilizer decreases. Any fertilizer applied during this period of dormancy or reduced growth tends to either leach through our sandy soils or run off into nearby waterways. 

His father committed suicide using a hunting rifle, when he was just 12 years old.

He had a life-changing decision to make after his father’s tragic death; which was undoubtedly an unfair situation for a boy his age.  

The life-changing decision: What does he do with his life?

Born in Missouri, Sean Dietrich moved to Florida at the age of 14. It was two years after his father’s suicide.

Since then, he has called Florida his home; only to figure out his soul belonged in the Deep South.

Occasionally we didn’t get TV Guide.  I don’t know if it’s because we couldn’t afford it that week or if Mom or Dad just didn’t get to the store on time.  Later, when I was old enough to go to the store by myself, I discovered that the guide always sold out real quick.  There were some Saturdays when I was able to snatch up the last copy, and others when the rack was bare.  When that happened, we’d have to get a newspaper.  But now and then we didn’t even have that.

Among the Hernando County School Board (School Board) workshop agenda items for Oct. 8th
was the discussion of Safe School options.  The options presented at Tuesday’s Board workshop included continuing the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) school resource officer (SRO) contract, forming a school district run police force, employing guardians and employing a security firm. The end goal of any option selected is to ensure the safety of the students and the security of the campus. 

At the regular meeting on October 8, 2019, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) agreed to vote on the Hernando County School District’s (HCSD) request to increase their impact fee funding at a future joint meeting.  For reasons that were not clear at the Tuesday meeting, the agenda and public advertisement showed the topic as an update, and therefore not subject to a resolution.  The board concurred to defer the vote to the joint meeting, with a date to be determined.