SEBRING — The purchase of the old Tampa Electric Co. power plant property is apparently off. "At this point," said Assistant City Manager Scott Noethlich, "nothing is happening." The city was interested in buying the Dinner Lake lot where the stream-driven plant sat until TRC America Inc. tore it down. More than a decade ago, said Andy Albritton, a mechanic there, the steam plant supplied power to the city. TRC America, which buys and demolishes power plants to sell the parts, finished removing the Dinner Lake plant in April. "It fits between the solid waste office and the city's fuel depot," Noethlich said. If the city ever wanted to expand either facility, the lot could have been useful. ...more

June 14, 2008

Spirit Of Christmas Lives On Monday evening, after enjoying a thoroughly entertaining Las Vegas-type variety show by Tony Orlando & Company (including the real Santa Claus) at the Show Palace Dinner Theater in Hudson, I met Betty Batzlaff from Zephyrhills. She was a very pretty lady, attractively dressed, with a delightfully charming personality who lit up the room with her smile and her eyes. I noticed she was almost the last person to leave the theater and offered my assistance with getting up and out of her chair. She graciously accepted and informed me that she was waiting patiently with the hope to meet Tony Orlando. She wanted to tell him all of the happiness he had brought into her life throughout the years with his music and variety shows; and, yes, she had seen his show in Las Vegas years before. ...more

December 30, 2007