HILLSBOROUGH

Published: May 9, 2008

New Tampa Rec Center To Open Saturday

NEW TAMPA - Youngsters likely will flip over this new place.

Mayor Pam Iorio will cut the ribbon at 9 a.m. Saturday for the New Tampa Recreation Center. She might feel like doing cartwheels, but the main entertainment will be provided by gymnasts, including Tampa native Maalika Moore-Thomas, co-captain of her Ohio State University gymnastics team.

At 19,568 square feet, the facility at 17302 Commerce Park Blvd. provides breathing room for the city's popular gymnastics program. The gym has two regulation-size tumbling mats, a dozen balance beams, three vaulting stations and four sets of uneven parallel bars. There's also a high bar and rings for the boys, a climbing wall for preschoolers and a separate room for meetings and dance classes.

Although the center will offer competitive team gymnastics, it also was designed to appeal to tumblers as young as 3. The little ones even have a special sliding entrance to the gym.

The New Tampa center has been approved to hold its first sanctioned gymnastics meet in the fall.

Laura Kinsler

USF Botanical Gardens Plans Orchid & Rose Fantasy Event

TAMPA - Visitors to the eighth annual Orchid & Rose Fantasy this weekend at USF Botanical Gardens can learn about the plants and, on Sunday, treat moms to jazz and lunch.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

On Saturday, a 10 a.m. workshop will be devoted to orchids and at 11 a.m. there will be a rose workshop by Rose Society representative Gretchen Warren. There also will be select vendors selling orchid plants on Saturday. The garden will sell unique orchids from its collection and rose bushes will be for sale in the plant shop. Though the event is free and open to the public, a $5 donation is suggested for each workshop.

On Sunday, free orchid plants will be given to the first 100 mothers and there will be a Jazz in the Garden performance starting at 11 a.m., for a special Mother's Day luncheon.

The luncheon and a rose workshop at 11 a.m. cost $15. Box lunches must be ordered in advance. The cost for the box lunch only is $10. Free parking is available across the street from the gardens, at 12210 USF Pine Drive.

For information, call (813) 974-2329 or visit www.cas.usf.edu/garden.

A staff report

Super Bowl Official To Talk With Ybor City Chamber

TAMPA - Reid Sigmon, executive director of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee, will speak to the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

Planning is beginning on how Super Bowl visitors will use the historic district's attractions in the days surrounding the Feb. 1 showcase.

The chamber plans to preview "A Taste of Ybor," a 20-minute video sponsored in part by Visit Florida and the Hillsborough Tourist Development Council.

"The title sounds like it's about restaurants, and we do have plenty," chamber President Tom Keating said. "But it also takes a viewer to cigar-making places and social clubs."

The chamber luncheon is at 11:45 a.m. at the Columbia Restaurant, 2117 E. Seventh Ave. Tickets are $20 for members and $22 for guests. For reservations, call Anna Ramos at (813) 248-3712, Ext. 22.

Janis D. Froelich

12-Year-Old BMX Rider Heads To World Stage

LUTZ - Tyler Heinrichs began riding on BMX tracks at age 5. Competitive racing followed six years later, and now he has earned a spot on the national team.

The 12-year-old will compete in Olympic qualifiers in China this month, as one of 60 representing the United States at the 2008 BMX World Championships.

In less than two years, Tyler has ascended the rungs of the rookie, novice and expert classes in the National Bicycle League.

In March, at the United States of America Cycling Federation qualifier in Desoto, Texas, he finished seventh out of 142 riders in his class.

The top 16 from that competition were named to Team USA. From that group the U.S. Olympic BMX Team will be chosen.

BMX, or bicycle motocross, features timed races around a dirt track. The sport makes its debut as a medal sport in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but Tyler cannot make the Olympic team because of his age.

Stephen Hammill

Plant City Workers Rescue Family Treasures From Trash

PLANT CITY - Distinguishing between trash and treasure is sometimes touchy, but city employees recently dug through a truckload of garbage to recover cherished family photographs.

The dirty detail was launched after a very upset woman called the Plant City sanitation division to say a box of heirloom photos accidentally placed curbside with the garbage had been trucked away.

Division employee Kent Weitz immediately summoned the truck crew to the transfer station, where the search began. The crew, transfer station employees, Weitz and the woman dug through the unloaded garbage, recovering a majority of the "priceless treasures," including photos dating to the 1850s.

"This is definitely above and beyond the call of duty, and it reflects the character and down-home spirit of our employees," City Manager David Sollenberger said. Though upset by the ordeal, the woman was grateful for employees' efforts, he added.

George Wilkens

PASCO

Cutbacks May Affect County's Juvenile Center

NEW PORT RICHEY - Pasco County's Juvenile Assessment Center in Land O' Lakes processes young offenders instead of mixing them with adults at the county's jails. But for how long?

Sheriff's office leaders are asking that question after the Legislature's latest round of state spending cuts.

"We don't know how that's going to fall out yet," Sheriff Bob White told the Pasco County Public Safety Coordinating Council recently.

Without the assessment center, a deputy essentially would have to "baby-sit" a minor who has been arrested, White said.

"It's not a good use of resources," he said.

Carl Orth