INDEXChurch 5A

Classifieds 9B

Clubs/Parks 5B

Crime Reports 10B

Commentary 11A

Community Calendar 2A

Legals 10B

Sports 1B, 2B, 3B, 6B, 7B & 9B

T.V. Guide 11B

Crossword Puzzle 10A

Weather 3A

Zephyrhills News

SPORTSThe Zephyrhills

High football team gets in the win column by

knocking Wesley Chapel from the unbeaten

ranks. John Long beats Stewart in middle school football. The

Bulldogs start strong in girls golf with a 6-0

run. Sprint Cup season winds

down for David Reutimann.

PAGE 1B

COMMENTARYColumnist Dave

Walters touts the benefits of National Night

Out in downtown Zephyrhills.

Student columnist

Haley Freeland is eagerly

anticipating the first edition

of the school newspaper..

PAGE 11A

Thursday, September 29, 2011 100th Year - No. 1 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

21st annual golf outing held at Links of Lake Bernadette

When it comes to raising funds for local students of all ages, participants make every swing count in the Kiwanis Club Golf Tour-nament at the Links of Lake Bernadette.

The 21st annual fundraiser, which generates money for high school scholar-ships and other youth programs at the mid-dle school and elementary school levels in Zephyrhills, took place Sept. 23 with a shot-gun start for the four-person scramble at 1 p.m. The tourney raised about $2,500.

Ò ItÕ s basically our scholarship fund,Ó said Martha Vaguener, the clubÕ s president. Ò I think it went pretty well. The rain held off. We were very lucky on that.Ó

Added organizer and past president Jerry Struckhoff, Ò ItÕ s a lot of fun; good ca-maraderie. We were constantly praying that it would not rain. It sprinkled for about fi ve minutes.Ó

The tourney took place at the Links of Lake Bernadette for the third consecutive year. Previously, the annual fundraiser had been held at Scotland Yards and Silverado.

The top score went to the K&K Glass team that fi nished 17-under par. That four-some consisted of Dan Knowlton, Jeff Liv-engood, Don Allen and Brian Higgins. The runner-up team of Patti Electric included Tyler Ruchti, Graham Taylor, David Patti and Wayne Thomas.

Ò It was for a good cause,Ó said Knowl-ton, who golfed in the Kiwanis tourney for the fi rst time.

Added Livengood, Ò Kiwanis does great things for the community; always rais-ing money for good causes.Ó

Students benefi t from Kiwanis tourney

Council adopts $47.5million budget

Tax rate remains the same and revenues will

be down

With no objections Monday night, the Zephyrhills City Council happily passed a $47.5 million budget while maintaining the millage rate at 5.9999 mills.

In order to keep the millage rate the same as last year and taking a two percent reduction in tax revenue, cuts were made to the budget including the elimination of positions and other department cutbacks.

The budget passed through two public hearings with no public back-lash.

Ò For all the time IÕ ve been on council, it always has gone smooth-ly and I credit that to the staff and the city manager,Ó said councilman Lance Smith. Ò They have worked it through.

Ò We always holler gloom and doom, which is nice actually. Effec-tively we lowered the budget and the tax rate. ItÕ s great. ItÕ s nice that it goes through this smoothly.Ó

City Manager James Drumm, who was hired right in the midst of the budget process, hit the ground running. It wasnÕ t easy.

Drumm replaced city manager, Dr. Steve Spina and the two worked the budget process together, but Drumm was left to fi nish the job.

Ò It did go pretty smooth,Ó Drumm said. Ò There were a lot of hard decisions to make. I think listen-ing to what individual council mem-bers thought as priorities and sitting down with the departments was the key. Some of them offered up some things to temporarily cut back.

Ò I think we came up with a pretty good budget. WeÕ re not using savings to operate. Savings are for one-time purchases and emergencies. WeÕ re in a good spot fi nancially. We consoli-dated several things, but I donÕ t think we lost any effectiveness in the fi eld.”

Drumm had plenty of research to do to get the budget balanced while keeping taxes low and maintaining services.

Ò I really had to spend a lot of time talking with people and looking into past budgets,Ó Drumm added. Ò I had to do a lot of homework to get caught up to speed. I knew I could do it in the time frame, but I knew it would take a lot of homework to see

BY DAVE WALTERSNews Reporter

The Zephyrhills News haschronicled a century of local news

and events

On the heels of the cityÕ s year-long centenni-al celebration comes another milestone of historical proportions. Oct. 5, 1911 marked the debut of The Zephyrhills NewsÕ predecessor Ñ The Zephyrhills Col-onist.

The Colonist, which started as a vehicle for lo-cal real estate investors to advertise land for sale, became The Zephyrhills News in 1925. In all, there have been 12 different owners in the weekly news-paperÕ s 100 years.

Since its inception, the local publication has chronicled the history of this east Pasco community and will continue to do so for many years Ñ prefer-ably centuries Ñ to come.

Dave Walters, a Zephyrhills News reporter and former editor (1995-99), takes a great deal of pride

Weekly newspaper is 100 and counting …

�100 YEARS: See Page 6A

BY STEVE LEENews Reporter

$10 million incentivepackage brings in

Raymond James andhundreds of jobs

The business landscape in Pas-co County is changing and Wiregrass Ranch will soon be the latest area to benefi t. Having already lured a fi -nancial services company to central Pasco, county offi cials and commu-nity leaders have given their approv-al for another.

Thanks to a $10 million incen-tive package, Raymond James Fi-nancial is expected to build a facility and hire more than 700 employees in Wiregrass Ranch. The Pasco County Commission unanimously approved the incentives to lure the second fi -nancial services fi rm here within the past three years at its Sept. 20 meet-ing in New Port Richey.

Ò It really is a big deal,Ó county commissioner Pat Mulieri said. Ò No. 1, theyÕ re in the (State Road) 54 cor-ridor and we have a good infrastruc-ture É and they felt they could work with us.Ó

Actually, the buildings would be near State Roads 54 and 56. The ex-pansion of the fi nancial services fi rm comes on the heels of a new Wire-grass Ranch campus for Pasco-Her-nando Community College and the Wesley Chapel Medical Center being built just north of the Hillsborough County line off Bruce B. Downs Bou-levard.

State Representative Will Weath-erford (R-Wesley Chapel) grew up in central Pasco and graduated from Land OÕ Lakes High. Like many longtime residents he has witnessed tremendous growth and is encour-aged that yet another business wants to be a part of this area on the out-skirts of Tampa.

Ò The Raymond James opportu-nity is a real game-changer for Pas-co County,Ó Weatherford said. Ò This deal brings tangible benefi ts for the immediate future through an infu-sion of high wage direct and indirect jobs. Equally important is what this deal means for the future of Pasco.Ó

Raymond James joins T. Rowe Price with big plans in central Pasco. Thanks to more than $14 million in state and local incentives approved in 2008, T. Rowe Price plans to pro-vide more than 1,500 jobs at a new facility in Odessa near the Suncoast Parkway and State Road 54.

Commissioners lure fi nancial fi rm to Wiregrass Ranch

�RAYMOND JAMES: See Page 11A

BY STEVE LEENews Reporter

�KIWANIS: See Page 9AAbove: Kiwanis Club members Ray Vaguener and Tracy Mahon take a golf cart to pick up sponsoship signs along the Links of Lake Bernadette course. STEVE LEE

CRUISIN’ ON SATURDAY

NIGHTThe monthly

Saturday Night Cruise in downtown Zephyrhills

weathers the storm.

PAGE 8A

SHERIFF TOUTS GOLF

CLASSICThe 7th Annual Pasco Sheriff Õ s Golf Classic is

scheduled Nov. 7 at Lake Jovita.

PAGE 1OB

CUPCAKE WARS

Florida Hospital Zephyrhills staff and physicians held a cupcake competition to

raise funds for the American Heart

Association.PAGE 4B

�COUNCIL: See Page 2A

BY STEVE LEENews Reporter

Above: The Zephyrhills Colonist became the city’s first newspaper in 1911. The weekly publication, which has since moved twice -- though not far -- was renamed The Zephyrhills News in 1925. Initially founded as a vehicle for local real estate investors to advertise land for sale, The Zephyrhills News has been a source for local news and events for 100 years.

Right: In a classic photo of yesteryear meets today, a Model-T automobile is parked in front of The Zephyrhills News in its current state. There have been 12 owners in the history of the weekly newspaper. Danny and Jan Linville have been local owners since 2009.

FILE PHOTOS

Thursday, September 29, 2011 | Zephyrhills News6 A

in helping the city record history through the annals of the long-time local newspaper.

Ò I consider the paper more of a written history of the com-munity every week,Ó said Walters, a longtime Zephyrhills resi-dent. Ò ItÕ s like a written archive of everything that goes on in the community and it kind of has been for the last 100 years. ItÕ s like

a written history book being written ev-ery week.Ó

That local history is a primary rea-son for the newspaperÕ s survival, espe-cially in the high-tech information age and related explosion of social media. Regardless of such innovations, city clerk Linda Boan said she has been and always will be an avid reader of The Zephyrhills News because of the local coverage that

has yet to be duplicated.Ò I think itÕ s awesome that

a small-town publication has been able to survive in this community,Ó she said. Ò With all the online applications that people have (at their disposal) you just donÕ t have that local touch.Ó

Local ownership also has factored into the newspaperÕ s longevity. While The Zephyrhills News has been owned by large and small corporations at vari-ous times, it is currently owned by lifelong city resident Danny Linville and his wife, Jan.

Ò I think itÕ s good for some-one to own The Zephyrhills News thatÕ s part of Zephyrhills. If it wasnÕ t me, we need to have someone local,Ó said Linville, whose family owned the Zeph-yr Egg Company for the better part of fi ve decades.

Clereen Brunty, who along with Madonna Wise, chroni-cled the cityÕ s history with col-umns during last yearÕ s cen-tennial, echoed the sentiments of many when she lauded the Linvilles for purchasing the pa-per in 2009.

Ò We knew that when the Linvilles took it over that it was kind of going back to the way it was,Ó said Brunty, who was born and raised in Zephyrhills.

Steve Spina, a reporter/editor for The Zephyrhills News from 1978 to 1987, said the paper has re-turned to its roots after a period of being owned by larger cor-porations.

Ò I think it is today more like it was before,Ó Spina said, not-ing that out-of-town ownership has had a tendency to focus more on advertising than covering the community.

Ò What drives what,Ó Spina wondered aloud.Spina, who also had a 15-year run as city manager before

retiring this year, now teaches local government courses at the University of Tampa and University of South FloridaÕ s campus in St. Petersburg. While at the newspaper, Spina relished time spent working with the late Bernie Wickstrom, the most beloved editor/owner in the newspaperÕ s history.

Ò (Wickstrom) just knew what a community paper was,Ó Spina said. Ò He loved the community paper and he loved the community. I think that was refl ected in how he covered it.”

Added Brunty, a 1973 Zephyrhills High graduate, Ò (Wick-strom) was involved in everything. He wanted to make sure the community year-round was noticed.Ó

Linville called Wickstrom Ò the voiceÓ of the community, noting the former newspaper manÕ s community activities, civ-ic-mindedness and fairness. The bandstand at Zephyr Park is named in WickstromÕ s honor.

Ò I think he would say that our paper was very similar to his paper,Ó Linville said. Ò WeÕ re just a ramped-up version of his pa-per.Ó

Like most journalists who start out or spend time at a week-ly newspaper, the aspiration usually is to get some experience before moving onto a daily publication. Spina was no different initially, but somewhere along the line he changed his mind.

Ò That never happened, because I just got caught up in the community aspect,Ó he said. Ò The social and community aspect is what made the weekly so different from the daily newspa-pers.Ó

Like many local residents, Brunty reserves a special place in her heart for The Zephyrhills News.

Ò I do hope they can keep that paper going forever,Ó she said.

�100 YEARS: From Page 1A

clerk Linda Boan said she has been and always will be an avid because of the local coverage that

clerk Linda Boan said she has been and always will be an avid because of the local coverage that

clerk Linda Boan said she has been and always will be an avid Steve Spina, a reporter/editor for

Above, left and below: Shown here are various mastheads for The Zephyrhills News over the years.

Left: Check out the times and shows for the Joy-Lan Drive-In from an advertisement in 1952.

Right: A subscription ad for The Zephyrhills News touts the local publication, which in 1952 cost $2.50 per year in-state, $3 annually out-of-state.

Far right: Pasco Motors touted the merits of a Pontiac in this 1952 ad.

Left: In Steve Lee’s first go-round with The Zephyrhills News he was a sports editor who wrote a column, Steve On Sports.

Golf TournamentSupports ZHS Athletics & ZHS Bulldogs Booster Club

Scotland YardsOctober 15th, 2011Check in: 7:00amTime: 8:30am Shotgun StartCost: $65 per person ($260 per team) Includes lunch and Polo ShirtFormat: 4 person scramble

This event will support Zephyrhills High School Athletics and theZephyrhills Bulldogs Booster Club.

Any questions call Bruce Cimorelli (813) 794-6225 or Kevin Bahr (813) 714-3557

ZEPHYRHILLS HIGH SCHOOL