Page 13 - 7-17-15 Friday's Edition

FLORIDA SENTINEL FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015
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Athlete Plans 1st Annual ‘Back To School’ Bash
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Friday, July 17th, the “First An- nual Ryan Davis Back to School Bash” will take place. It will take place at Winston Park, 7605 Destin Drive, Tampa, FL, 33619, from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Ryan Davis, who is currently a star defensive end with the Jack- sonville Jaguars, is partnering with the Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation Department.
The event is designed to provide school supplies for youngsters in the Clair Mel City and Palm River areas of Hillsborough County. Students from all grade levels can attend the event. Those in attendance will enjoy enter-
RYAN DAVIS
Defensive end, Jacksonville Jaguars
tainment, have food and fun. Supplies will be available for ap- proximately 500 students. The stu- dents will receive backpacks stuffed with school supplies, t-shirts, and
other gifts.
By bringing this opportunity to the
youth of Clair Mel City, Davis not only aims to provide a rewarding event for the children and communi- ties in which they live, but also to combat the growing issues of violence while promoting and encouraging success in school and the importance and spirit of education.
A Tampa native, Davis selected Winston Park because he learned valuable life lessons while growing up in the area.
A spokesman for Davis said, “Among those life lessons at the park were: ‘his first kiss, first fight, first touchdown, first dunk and first in- jury.’ It was his bloodshed and tears at Winston Park that helped fuel his pas- sion not just for football and basket- ball but for success in life. And it is
because of this that Ryan is excited to give back to the very same community that has helped him realize his dreams.
“It will be 4 hours of food, fun, and entertainment as Davis and his fam- ily, friends, and community enjoy the days of summer and the kick-off of the school year,” the spokesman said.
After graduating from Blake High School, Davis continued his educa- tion at Bethune Cookman University, where he earned his Bachelor’s De- gree.
Davis not only sacks NFL Quar- terbacks; he sacks success in life and he wants to pass along this knowledge and blueprint back to all the kids within the community that raised him and launched him on his mission.
Community Learning Center Finds Partner To Open Facility In East Tampa
Life Changing Community Learning Center and the Cypress Initiative have joined forces to open up a Learning Center in the Belmont Heights commu- nity. The center is in the East Side Pro- fessional Center at 4007 North 22nd Street, Suite H.
In 2011, under the leadership of Helen Neal-Ali, CEO, Life Changing Community Learning Center, started providing educational services to low in- come families such as: tutoring, parent- ing classes, domestic violence education, life skills, life coaching, and HIV/AIDS education.
“Because we were providing these services in some locations that were not accessible to many of our clients, we de- cided to open a location in the Belmont Heights area,” said Ms. Neal-Ali.
Due to the positive impact seen in the past few years, LCC Learning Center is happy to announce they are now able
From left to right: Ashley Hunt, Jorge Frank, Helen Neal-Ali, and Brooke Wheel- don-Reece.
in the community needing services or resources,” said Ms. Neal-Ali.
“In addition to educational services for students, we are partnering with the Cypress Initiative, under the leadership of Brooke Wheeldon-Reece, Execu- tive Director, to provide health relation- ship workshops, adult and youth support groups and personal coaching free to the community. In these support groups, we hope to come together as a community and stop some of the vio- lence among our children and adults. We hope that this center will be a place to start healing and forgiving so we can live in peace and harmony.”
On Saturday, July 25th, LCC Learn- ing Center will be hosting a grand open- ing and back to school bash to introduce themselves to the community. During the event, they will e donating school supplies to the first 100 students to ar- rive.
to provide these services within walking distance of their clients.
“It is our hope that in the 2015-2016
school year, each student needing help to stay on target with their school work can utilize our center, as well as adults
Dog Distracts Alligator To Prevent Attack On Woman
On Sunday, NaTausha Sabin- Lee was walking a black Labrador re- triever named Haze along the paths of Rowlett Park.
According to Sabin-Lee, Haze spotted a bird and chased it into the water. That’s when she noticed the dog’s leash was caught on something in the water, and waded in thigh deep in an effort to release it.
According to officials, after untan- gling the leash, Sabin-Lee said she saw an alligator gliding toward her on top of the water, and watched as the gator turned its attention from her to- ward Haze, grabbing the dog and dragging it underwater.
Sabin-Lee, 29, is a friend of the dog’s owner, Eve Morehead.
Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC), along with some trappers, looked for the alligator, but couldn’t identify it, and they also couldn’t find
any sign of Haze.
In 2008, a 7-1/2 foot alligator
killed a dog at the city’s Al Lopez Park along Himes Avenue. That gator was eventually killed.
Gary Morse, a spokesman for the FFWCC, said there are a lot of large gators in that area, and it’s unlikely they will be able to identify the spe- cific reptile that killed Haze. He also said it would be expensive for city of- ficials to put up signs warning of alli- gators in every park where they might live.
City of Tampa Parks and Recre- ation Coordinator, John Allen, said there are two signs posted at Rowlett Park warning residents about alliga- tors, and even with those, there can be risks.
“We also want to create aware- ness/information type signs to make sure people know what’s in the park.
“We’re also going to look at where
NATAUSHA SABIN-LEE
the signs are posted, and maybe relo- cate them.”
Allen said there are no plans to put up more signs, and the city’s other parks that have access to the river, like Temple Crest, have signs warning cit- izens about alligators and other crea- tures.
Morse said locally, a number of
pets have been lost to alligators.
“It’s a misperception that their numbers are growing. In Florida, gators are common in urban and rural
waterways.
“There is plenty of food for them to
eat along the river, and it’s rate for them to target humans. In some cases, gators have taken animals from their leash while they are with their own- ers.”
Morse said as far as the threat to people is concerned, it’s minimal, but the threat to pets is substantial.
“We don’t have a population esti- mate for the gators in incorporated areas.
“We don’t expect this attack to have any impact on people using city parks for whatever activities they have planned. They are not threats to peo- ple. Just use common sense when you know they are in water you’re close to or swimming in.”