INDEXChurch 5A

Classifieds 9B

Clubs/Parks 5B

Crime Reports 10B

Commentary 11A

Community Calendar 2A

Legals 10B

Sports 1B, 6B, 7B, 8B & 9B

T.V. Guide 11B

Crossword Puzzle 9A

Weather 3A

Zephyrhills News

SPORTSThe Pasco PiratesÕ

quest for a state championship falls one game shy of a title game after a

triple-overtime state semifinal loss to a team in FloridaÕ s panhandle. Reutimann

Charity Golf Tournament is SilveradoÕ s

signature event. Stewart and Centennial clash in a

middle school girls basketball

matinee.PAGE 1B

Thursday, December 15, 2011 100th Year - No. 12 Y O U R H O M E T O W N N E W S PA P E R S I N C E 1 9 11 50¢

ONLY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN ZEPHYRHILLS, “CITY OF PURE WATER”

I’m For A Friendlier Florida

Charity auction, golf tournament and race brings community together

for a cause

Although David ReutimannÕ s NASCAR future is uncertain, community organizations that provide for others in Zephyrhills and central Florida will have a bright 2012.

The David Reutimann Foundation raised $62,000 through a charity auction, golf tournament and race to be distributed to primary charities Camp Boggy Creek in Orlando and All ChildrenÕ s Hospital of St. Peters-burg along with several local charities in Zephyrhills.

Reutimann was released from Michael Waltrip Racing after the 2011 season and is in search for a ride for the 2012 season, but that setback hasnÕ t stopped him from continuing his efforts with his foundation to help local charitable organizations.

This was the seventh year for the event which has been held at Silverado Golf and Country Club.

Reutimann Foundation raises $62,000

Warm hearts of Betmar Acres residents help West Zephyrhills

Elementary students

A longstanding tradition of seasonal giving took place Dec. 6 at Betmar Acres. For residents of that community and 60 West Zephyrhills Elementary students, the December get-together was mutually benefi cial.

Under the direction of school mu-sic teachers Jessica Van Dyke and Rebec-ca Hines, students from the fourth and fi fth grades sang Christmas carols dur-ing coffee hour at the main clubhouse. Afterward, they lined up to receive hats and mittens, along with gift bags of fruit, crackers and candy donated by several Betmar Acres residents.

Ò ItÕ s fabulous. You couldnÕ t ask for a fi ner group of people to help with these chil-dren,Ó said Becky Bishop, parent involve-ment coordinator at West Zephyrhills.

Mutual benefi ts for retirees, students

�BETMAR: See Page 6A

�REUTIMANN CHARITY: See Page 7A

Members of David Reutimann’s NASCAR team made a surprise appearance at the David Reutimann Charity Auction Friday night and presented him with a hood signed by the team.

DAVE WALTERS

BY DAVE WALTERSNews Reporter

Local schoolchildren sing Christmas songs for residents of Betmar Acres as part of a longstanding winter tradition. STEVE LEE

BY STEVE LEENews Reporter

COMMENTARYColumnist Steve Lee commends Dade City and

Zephyrhills for supporting PascoÕ s playoff

run. Student columnist

Rachel Wise tells of changing Christmas wish

lists.PAGE 11A

SCOUT HELPS CHURCH

Zephyrhills church reaps

benefits of local scoutÕ s community

efforts.

PAGE 4A

City to improve airport

Ailing runway could seeimprovements to support more traffi c

In an effort to increase safety on a run-way that has seen better days, Zephyrhills City Council made a move Monday to formally des-ignate that runway as the primary for which air traffi c uses to help get funding to repair it.

The city was presented three options from its Airport Consulting Engineer AVCON to pick one of the two runways as the primary and the city chose to go with the fi rst option which would designate runway 04-22 as the primary

allowing the city to be eligible for Federal Avia-tion Administration and Florida Department of Transportation funds to rehabilitate it.

City manager James Drumm told council that it is imperative that the city move forward in order to start securing funding.

Airport manager Nate Coleman reported that runway 04-22 is currently used by 90 per-cent of the airport traffi c, while runway 18-36 services just skydive planes and recreational gliders.

Ò Runway 04-22 is in need of desper-ate repair right now,Ó Coleman told members of council. Ò ItÕ s possible weÕ re at the point of structural failure, which indicates that in time, the runway could face closure.

BY DAVE WALTERSNews Reporter

�COUNCIL: See Page 2A

COLORING CONTEST

Hey kids, do your best in

the Christmas Coloring Contest

for a chance to receive a prize.

PAGE 8A

PEARL HARBOR REMEMBRANCE

Veterans from Pearl Harbor

are remembered and honored

through exhibits at the Zephyrhills Military History

Museum.PAGE 10A

Jonathan Winn of the Zephyrhills Utilities Department is presented his Water Plant Operator certification from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection by Mayor Cliff McDuffie and Utilities Director Dave Henderson. DAVE WALTERS

ZHS studentsmourn classmate

Popular student-athlete Brandon Carvalho

perished in car crash

Students and faculty at Zephyrhills High School are saddened this week by the death of Brandon Carvalho, a popular senior basketball player.

The bright young student with an outgoing nature was involved in a head-on collision Monday night on U.S. 98 as he drove to Polk County to see his mother shortly after basketball practice. Carvalho was 17.

According to a Polk Coun-ty SheriffÕ s report, CarvalhoÕ s Saturn swerved into oncom-ing traffi c and collided with a Hyundai driven by Lauren Hindman. The 21-year-old from Howey in the Hills sur-vived and was treated at Lake-land Regional Medical Center.

Ò ItÕ s a tough day,Ó prin-cipal Steve Van Gorden said Tuesday as news spread throughout the high school. Ò A lot of people are upset, a lot of people are grieving. He was a great kid; a very positive young man.Ó

Ò ItÕ s a somber day at Zephyrhills High School,Ó

said assistant principal An-dressa Williams, who worked with Carvalho in student ser-vices. Ò He was just a friendly young man. He loved to run errands for us.Ó

Senior guidance counsel-or Julie Moore, who worked closely with Carvalho, along with his relatives, teachers Tammy and Troy Hostetler, were not in school Tuesday.

The basketball team, which was scheduled to play at Pasco Tuesday night, was in no condition to play, said coach Dustin Rowe. All ZHS athletic events were cancelled that evening.

Students, faculty pay respects to Zephyrhills High senior.

BY STEVE LEENews Reporter

�STUDENT: See Page 11A

Zephyrhills News | Thursday, December 15, 2011 11 A

As the holiday season rolls around, one takes time to refl ect on his or her personal traditions and celebrations for this joyous time of year.

Many children prepare the entire year for the arrival of a jolly, bearded man in red who will bring them presents and goodies if each child was good enough the whole year to earn them. Most kids like these dream of endless moun-tains of candy and toys as their gifts on the fateful Dec. 25 morning.

As youth age, however, the desired contents of their packages change as well.

Learning how to ride a bike can be a treasured mem-ory for children and it can of-ten spark the desire for a shiny, new bike to ride for hours as a Christmas gift.

Ò As a kid, all I wanted was a bicycle because I loved riding and working with them,” Zephyrhills High se-nior Caleb Connelly recalled. “Now, I want money because I can spend it on whatever I want.”

Though his concrete gift may have changed, Connelly still values his gifts but he also appreciates the freedom he has to create his own memories.

With age, many teenag-ers’ desires take on a more sen-timental temperament.

“As a kid, I always want-ed just the new thing that was out that year; whether it was a game, a toy, or the money to buy the new thing myself,” ZHS senior Ryan Abernathy said. “This year, the thing I want the most for Christmas is some free time to hang with my best friend.”

As life progresses, teen-agers and young adults like Abernathy grow to appreciate the little things and little bits of time they have with loved ones.

Junior Colleen Henry-Lawrence hopes for a more ac-ademic gift this year.

“With the exception of a

puppy because I was death-ly afraid of dogs, I wanted the usual toys and gifts when I was younger,” she comment-ed. “Now, I don’t really want anything for Christmas, be-cause I feel like I have every-thing I need. If anything, I want a good grade in calculus for Christmas.”

After fi ve months of high-er mathematical work with a calculator and pencil in hand, a meritorious grade defi nitely proves to be a valid present for any upper level overachiever.

Like Lawrence, many oth-er young adults chose to seek out more conservative gifts as they enter adulthood. Senior Kassey Raulerson said, “As a kid, I wanted Barbies and books, but now, I want mon-ey so I can save up from col-lege and all the expenses I will have in the future.”

When I was younger, I re-member making borderline gluttonous lists of toys, movies and other presents to ask Santa Clause for each year. Now as I get older, I fi nd it increasingly more diffi cult to think of gifts to ask for because I appreciate them much more.

It’s hard as a child to tru-ly understand the thought, monetary backings and prep-aration that go into the aver-age Christmas celebration. Like many of my peers, I fi nd myself hoping for less trivial possessions and more of the simple, little things I took for granted as a kid.

Now, the main thing I want for my holiday celebra-tion is time. I hope to spend some peaceful time with my friends and family and revel in the temporary lack of major academic commitments.

From just my limited 17 years of winter seasons, I have come to appreciate the charity of this time of year and I en-courage others to take the time to acknowledge it as well.

No matter how one’s cel-ebrations and religious tradi-tion vary, try and set aside a few moments to sit back and appreciate the blessings of the season as the year comes to a close. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a glimpse of that early morn-ing excitement from your youth once again.

SIDEWALK SURVEY

“I have a fake tree. I just don’t really care for the real ones.”— Tammy Beinhauer, Wesley

Chapel resident

“I prefer a fake tree. It is easier to put up.” — Brandon Jones,

San Antonio resident

“A real tree. I like the smell.”— Eric Malta, Saint Leo

University student

“We always have this 10-foot (artificial) tree we put up. We’ve

had it for 10 years.”— Rachel Huhn, Tampa resident

“I have an artificial tree. (A real one) just got to be too much of a hassle with the needles and

everything.” — Ken Schmucker, Zephyrhills seasonal resident

“Fake, because of fire safety, it’s a heck of a lot easier and think green.” — T.J. Greene, San

Antonio resident

Bitter rivals, for sure, but Pasco and Zephyrhills were united on the high school foot-ball front when it came to this season’s playoffs.

Such was the case last Friday when East Pasco fans from neighboring cities car-avanned to the Tallahassee area to see the Pirates play in the state semifi nals. Hun-dreds fi lled the visitors’ stands at J.D. Jones Stadium for a 41-38 triple-overtime thriller that, unfortunately, resulted in a loss to Crawfordville Wakulla.

Pasco’s season for the ages not only drew folks from neighboring communities on road trips to Citra North Mari-on (for a region semifi nal) and Wakulla, a rural panhandle town just south of Tallahassee, but to Dade City home games as well. Following Pasco’s re-gion fi nal win over Tampa Je-suit, several fans exiting W.F. Edwards Stadium chanted, “Bulldogs! Bulldogs!”

Busloads and carloads made their way to the rural panhandle town for Friday night’s state semifi nal with many staying overnight.

Stewart Middle School principal Jackson “Buff” Johnson combined the foot-ball game with a visit to his son, a Florida State student. Tony Lister, a Pasco assistant coach and former San Antonio Councilman, took his father.

Then there were Pasco as-sistant Ricky Giles, a former Zephyrhills football standout, along with radio announcers John Edwards and Tim Cart-er, to name a few. Edwards, whose son J.D. plays for the Pirates, is a physical education teacher at Woodland Elemen-tary. Carter, a physical educa-tion teacher at West Zephy-rhills Elementary, coaches bas-ketball at Centennial Middle

and graduated from Zephy-rhills.

Another indicator of showing support for an area team after a person’s favorite has been eliminated is Greg First, the longtime public ad-dress announcer for Zephy-rhills home games at Bulldog Stadium who went to Pasco’s playoff games.

And in the stands throughout the postseason were folks like Steve Glav-ich, who manages Neukom’s Groves in Zephyrhills and coached several of the current Pasco players as they came up through the ranks of Dade City’s Pasco Police Athletic League program.

As for the players on the fi eld, there have been numer-ous athletes over the years that have worn the uniforms of both the Pirates and Bull-dogs during their high school careers. Few, however, have been more recognizable than the Guy brothers.

Tyler and Jacob, who both played quarterback, started their prep careers as Bulldogs. Tyler went on to Freedom and this season was a tight end for the University of South Flori-da while Jacob, a senior, has been a two-year starter for the Pirates. And both came up in Dade City’s PPAL program.

Enough name-dropping — you get the picture.

Commentary

Christmaschanges through

the ages

SCHOOL DAZE By Rachel Jervis Wise, Student Columnist

BY STEVE LEE

There was a noticeable decrease in the purchase of real Christmas trees over the past few years, in large part due to tough economic times. This De-cember, however, sales have reportedly been bet-ter. Do you put up a real tree or an artifi cial one

for Christmas?

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East Pasco united forPirates’ playoff run

“He is a good basket-ball player, but a great per-son,” Rowe said of Carvalho, who also played junior varsity football for the Bulldogs. “To lose somebody out of our bas-ketball community, it hurts. It hurts bad.

“We spent a lot of time (Tuesday) as a group. We did everything, from a lot of cry-ing to a lot of storytelling. There were a lot of good mem-ories.”

School resource offi cer Jeff Hupp, who said he re-ceived a call Monday at 8:42 p.m. from the Polk County Sheriff’s Offi ce about a Zeph-yrhills High student being involved in a fatal accident, knew Carvalho for the past two years and said he liked to help others.

“He was trying to get kids going down the wrong road steered in the right direc-

tion,” Hupp recalled.“He was a gentle giant,”

Rowe said of the 6-foot-4 post player who was in his fi rst year on the basketball team. “He cared about people. He would go out of his way to try to make your day better.”

Ironically, the coach said Carvalho had his best day of practice Monday after school.

“He just put it all togeth-er with everything we’ve been teaching him,” Rowe said.

A crisis team consist-ing of a dozen psychologists and counselors showed up on campus Tuesday with school district spokesperson Sum-mer Romagnoli anticipating reductions in the number of team members as the week progressed.

“It’s to help (students) work through their feelings,” she said, adding that the crisis team “stays as long as they’re needed.”

�STUDENT: From Page 1A

Pasco football announcers John Edwards and Tim Carter teach physical education in Zephyrhills.