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                    Greater Trilby News

Serving the Tri-Community Area

 Vol. 1, Issue 3 – June 2005

 


Children’s Safety Rally

by Richard Riley

 

Kathleen Fink had a concern.  She was worried about news articles about sexual offenders and abused children.  Her dream was to do something about it.  She did.  On Saturday, May 7th, GTCA sponsored its first annual Children’s Safety Rally with prominent speakers, exhibitors, memorials, food, training and record keeping.  Kathleen was the driving force and coordinator for all of this day’s events.

 

Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite was a featured speaker and Denny Mihalinec was ceremony coordinator.

 

The purpose of the event was to provide parents and children with information about safety.

The event also brought together members of the families of Zachary Barnhardt, Jennifer Odom, Amanda Brown and Tiffany Sessions.  In a somber memorial ceremony, family members placed name plaques on a magnolia tree that would be planted in the name of their children. 

Pastor Cassie Coleman and her Mt. Olive AME Church provided hot dogs, hamburgers, and fried fish lunches to all.  She donated the contributions of over a hundred dollars to the GTCA general fund.  Board Member Kim Rowe of Kim’s Play-a-Round was specifically commended for his production of major and minor signs that were used for publicity and directions. 

Members of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and Chris Mihalinec provided one of the key services of the day:  recording fingerprint and DNA samples of children for their parents.  Lake House Karate provided demonstrations of martial arts and gave children training in how to break a hold and escape from a possible abductor.

 

 

In a list compiled with Publicity Chair, Denny Mihalinec, the following people participated in the day-long event and were commended in the local newspapers and in individual letters:  Child Protection Education of America; Girls Scouts of the Suncoast Council; Dade City Garden Club; Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative; Albert Wooten's Well Drilling, Trilby; Pasco County Sheriff’s Office; Pasco Fire-Rescue; Office of Greenways and Trails; Mount Olive AME Church, Trilby; New Life Assembly, Trilby; Calvary Assembly Church of God, Dade City; Farmers Feed, Dade City; Simpson Farms, Trilby; D.M. Leathermaster; Office Depot, Tampa; Pasco Kids First; Lake House Karate; Pasco Regional Medical Center, Dade City; East Pasco Medical Center, Zephyrhills; Tadlock’s Auto Sales, Lacoochee; Kim’s Play-A-Round, Trilby; television stations 8 and 10; The Tampa Tribune; St. Petersburg Times; and the Pasco News.    

 

 

TCA Vice President Kathleen Fink speaks with one of the family members of the children memorialized at the Rally.

 

 

Jim Davis of the Office of Greenways and Trails provided bike helmets at no cost to young riders who needed them.

 


Page 2     Greater Trilby News      June 2005


 

A Board That Works for You

by Kathy Riley

 

            The Board of Directors of The Greater Trilby Community Association, Inc., is a group of your neighbors who are working hard to make the tri-community area a better place to live.  The board holds meetings open to the public on the Monday before the general meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the United Methodist Church.  Biographies of these citizens continue to appear in this newsletter.  If you have ideas for any of the committees listed or the association in general, contact President Herb Green at 352-583-5936 or Board Chairman Denny Mihalinec at 352-518-0980.

Board of Directors of GTCA

Denny Mihalinec, Board Chair

Herb Green, President

Kathleen Fink, Vice President and Secretary

Pauline J. Hunt, Treasurer

Pastor Juan M. Garay

Pastor Cassie Coleman

Kim Rowe

Eileen Lamb

Bernadine King

Pastor Dave Raley

Isa Blandford

 

Standing Committees of GTCA

Safety with subcommittees of Crime Watch and Security Patrol

Publications

Finance

Social Activities

Program

Property and Equipment

Community Growth and Development

Historical and Beautification

Education and Youth

 

Text Box: The Greater Trilby News
“Serving the Tri-Community Area”
Publisher
The Greater Trilby Community Association
Herb Green, President
daddyherb2@earthlink.net
352-583-5936
Editor
Kathryn Riley
kwr48@yahoo.com
352-583-4994
The Greater Trilby News is a monthly publication of The Greater Trilby Community Association, Inc., and serves the tri-community area consisting of Lacoochee, Trilacoochee, and Trilby.  This newsletter accepts articles concerning the association’s activities and articles of interest to the area.  Classified ads of 30 words or fewer are free.
Ads and articles must be submitted by the third Monday of the month.  Mail submissions to:  Kathy Riley, Editor, P.O. Box 6, Trilby, FL 33593 or e-mail them to kwr48@yahoo.com.

S.T.E.P.S.

by Isa Blandford

 

School Tools that Empower and Promote Success is a community-wide effort of social service agencies, non-profits, local service groups and the private sector to provide needy children in the East Pasco County Florida community a clear path to start school on time and prepared.

Oftentimes children cannot start school on time because they do not have their school physicals or their shot records completed. They often lack the necessary tools that teachers require in the classroom and because they are embarrassed they do not start school on time. This collaborative will change the dynamic for hundreds of children in our community.

For the past three years, the Pasco County Housing Authority ~ Lacoochee Family Neighborhood Centers, in partnership with the Salvation Army, the Premier Community HealthCare Group (formerly Health Resource Alliance of Pasco, Inc.) and many other agencies, have hosted a Back to School & Health Information Fair. Through this event we have served over 400 children each year. We have given them a starter kit of grade-appropriate school supplies. The staff of Premier Community HealthCare Group has done close to twenty-five school health screenings. Service agencies, law enforcement and the HMOs have attended and provided information and entertainment to the children and families.

Though this event has been a total success, we always receive requests of children outside of our area that are in need of school supplies. The funding for this event has come through Promoting Safe and Stable Families; however, due to budget cuts, we are not able to provide this service this year.

We are here to gather our collective resources to do fundraising so that we not only serve the small Tri-Community area but East Pasco as a whole.  We will use the Toys-For-Tots model: what is collected in a community is distributed in that community. I know it is an ambitious endeavor to host four separate events in four separate locations but it is DOABLE!

I am looking forward to working with each and every one of you to make this event a success. Thank you for your participation and willingness to work for the betterment of the future of East Pasco County Florida!


Page 3        Greater Trilby News           June 2005


President’s Corner

by Herb Green

 

The "Children’s Safety Rally" held on Saturday, May 7th, was a real boost for our communities; however, we should have more people participating in these events, and the meetings and programs of the GTCA.  Denny Mihalinec, the GTCA Program Chairman, has put on some terrific programs and has some future programs in place that should interest everyone in our tri-community area.

Please support your Greater Trilby Community Association by attending our meetings.  They are held the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Community Building across from the Post Office at 7:00 p.m.  The meetings usually last one hour, but not over one hour, fifteen minutes.

If you have a subject you would like to have addressed, contact Denny Mihalinec at 352-518-0980 or me at 352-583-5936.  This is YOUR association and it needs the support of all residents in this area and other interested persons.

 

Bios:          Kim Rowe, Board member

I am 50 years old and a single parent.  I have two adopted bi-racial girls, ages 10 and 13, and a son in the Navy who is 27 years old.  I have an associate degree in photo-multimedia and medical photography with an extensive background in art.

I came to Trilby in 1986 and bought the site of my present business in 1991.  Back then, it was Shirley’s Florist Shop and I ran it as a floral business until 2001.  At about that time, I opened up the paintball field, and I added the putt-putt golf, laser tag and bike rental in 2004.  I am keeping my prices as low as I can because I think it is important for individuals, families and church youth groups in this area to have a place they can come to celebrate birthdays, throw bachelor parties, hold company outings or just have a good time, and not spend too much money.  I am hoping to become a non-profit organization sometime in the future.  When I get the necessary grants, I will offer many of my services for free.  Right now, I am doing t-shirt silk screening and odd jobs to make ends meet while my business becomes established.

I like to have fun no matter what I am doing.  In fact, that’s why I named my business “Kim’s Play-A-Round.”  If you want to know more about my business or schedule an outing, call me at 352-583-3444 or visit my websites: www.hosersandsniper.com or www.kimsplay-a-round.com.

 

Bios:          Eileen Lamb, Board member

I am a 39-year-old senior citizen who has lived in Trilby since 1944 when my family bought the property where I presently live.  I have been a widow since 1992 and have one living son.  I have worked in every aspect of the restaurant business, worked in sales and owned a doll house and miniature business for 13 years.  I retired officially in 1999, but, after that, I worked part-time for Racetrac until this year.

Now my time is my own and I love that.  I volunteer for Meals on Wheels, the Trilby Crime Watch, and the Senior Center.  In my spare time I love cooking, reading, traveling, talk radio and working in my yard, which I call “the jungle.”

 

Police Academy

Is Not Like the Movie

by Kathy Riley

 

When Herb Green, Director of the association’s Security Patrol and Crime Watch Committee, suggested that the members of the committee take the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office’s Citizen Police Academy, I rolled my eyes and thought, “OK, I’ll go but I bet it will be boring.”  Now that I have taken the course, I can happily report that it is fun, interesting and definitely NOT boring.

For six weeks, two nights a week, I went to the Land O’Lakes Detention Center where I was introduced to various departments of the sheriff’s office and learned about some of the latest trends and procedures in law enforcement.  During the uniform operations presentation, we watched “live” as actual, real-time requests for assistance were posted on a screen similar to the one in each patrol car while the lieutenant explained how calls to the sheriff’s office were recorded and dispatched.  I was amazed to watch the list of unanswered calls expand and contract while we listened.  The instructor for the K-9 Unit took us outside and we saw one dog find drugs hidden on a vehicle in the parking lot and watched other dogs proudly show off their obedience skills.  The SWAT instructor kept me on the edge of my seat as he described a dangerous situation his team had experienced while serving a search warrant.  I also learned about the patience and finesse required to negotiate in a hostage situation, and I even dusted a card for my own fingerprints.

The most important thing I learned was that we can be proud of the Pasco Sheriff’s Office and its personnel.  The people who were instructors during the academy impressed me as talented and intelligent individuals who really are dedicated to keeping the rest of us in this county as safe as possible.

If you think you might be interested in attending the Citizen Police Academy, call the Training Unit at 1-800-854-2862, ext. 6287.  The academy runs two nights a week from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for six weeks.  There is no cost, but seating is limited.

If you are still unsure if you’d like to participate, perhaps this will convince you.  There is a break half way through each session for which the inmates prepare refreshments.  You can have all the coffee, juice and freshly baked cookies you can eat in the 15-minute break.  Those cookies are some of the best, melt-in-your-mouth treats I’ve had in a long time!


Page 4                  Greater Trilby News                  June 2005

 


Local Area Churches


Lacoochee

 

Trilacoochee

 

Trilby

 

Oak Ridge Missionary Baptist Church

Kersey Road

Lacoochee, FL

New Hope Baptist Church

21431 US Hwy 301

Trilacoochee, FL  583-2002

First Mt. Pleasant MB Church

20643 Robbins Road

Trilby, FL  583-0019

First Baptist Church of Lacoochee

21012 Bower Road

Lacoochee, FL

Trilacoochee Church of Christ

20300 US Hwy 301 North

Trilacoochee, FL  583-2842

Mt. Olive AME Church

20451 Randleman Road

Trilby, FL   583-3722

Mount Moriah Baptist Church

20641 Bower Road

Lacoochee, FL  583-4538

New Life Assembly of God

38012 Trilby Road

Trilacoochee, FL  583-3307

Trilby United Methodist Church

37504 Trilby Road

Trilby, FL  583-2577

Lacoochee Church of God (Heart Center)

21245 Sanderson Road

Lacoochee, FL  583-3354

 

Trilby Baptist Church

37255 Trilby Road

Trilby, FL  583-2281

Glorious Church of God in Christ

20714 Center Street

Lacoochee, FL  583-2700

 

 

New Bethel AME Church

20653 Floyd Road

Lacoochee, FL  583-2500

 

 

This is a first try at listing the active churches in our area.  Please e-mail (kwr48@yahoo.com) or call me (583-4994) if you find any errors or if I have missed any churches.  Thank you.

 

 

 

June 2005 Community Events 

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

 

CC = Community Center

TMC = Trilby Methodist Church

 

1

Painting class, 10 am at CC

2

3

Line dancing,
10 am at CC

4

5

6

Pioneer Doll Club at CC

 

Crime Watch, 7:30 pm at TMC

 

Elaine’s Cloggers, 6:30 pm at CC

7

8

Painting class

 

9

10

Line dancing

11

12

13

Elaine’s Cloggers

 

GTCA board meeting, 7 pm at TMC

14

15

Painting class

 

16

GTCA general meeting, 7 – 8 pm at CC

17

Line dancing

18

19

20

Elaine’s Cloggers

21

22

Painting class

23

24

Line dancing

25

26

27

Elaine’s Cloggers

28

29

Painting class

30

 

 

 

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