June 2010
By MELODY JAMESONmj@observernews.net SUN CITY CENTER – Like many residents coming here from other parts, a Canadian-grown home builder transplanted to Florida decades ago is poised to become the retirement…
By MITCH TRAPHAGEN mitch@observernews.net Most parents are reluctant to hand over the car keys to their 16-year-old children. A few parents, however, are somehow able to hand over a…
By MITCH TRAPHAGENmitch@observernews.net Mitch Traphagen Photo For the second time, the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners denied an application to build eight homes on a narrow spit of land along…
Mitch Traphagen Photos Volunteers and riders from Sammy Rides, a project dedicated to the memory of a nine-year-old victim of pediatric cancer, take a test ride from Simmons Park in…
By MELODY JAMESONmj@observernews.net APOLLO BEACH – They arrive in swim suits, clutching water bottles and lunch bags, their safety gear slung over shoulders. They range in age from…
By MELODY JAMESONmj@observernews.net RUSKIN – Aiming to bridge language barriers and embrace cultural differences, the Ruskin-SouthShore Chamber of Commerce here is instituting programs spotlighting Spanish-speakers and Latino-owned businesses. “There…
By MELODY JAMESONmj@observernews.net South County artistry – on paper, on stage, in vocal form and expressed instrumentally – will be on parade this weekend in two novel events. One opens…
By MELODY JAMESONmj@observernews.net… Gulf Oil Efforts Effective immediately, the Ruskin / SouthShore Chamber of Commerce is collecting items useful in cleansing and saving coastal birds which become contaminated…
{igallery 6} By MITCH TRAPHAGEN mitch@observernews.netRIVERVIEW — A bumper sticker tacked onto a filing cabinet discretely tucked away in Mike Parson’s office reads, “Tattoos: Not just for sailors anymore.” Actually,…