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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.
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 GTCADenny 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 GTCASafety 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 |
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!
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.
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.
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.”
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
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.
|
|||||||
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, |
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 |
|
|