Deanna Franklin, aide to County Commissioner Al Higginbotham, confirmed Baier’s statement, calling them “big-picture talks,” but added that nothing firm had come as a result of them.
Taylor Clifton, spokeswoman for the mall, said she is not aware of any plans to expand the mall outside of the mall’s current $60-million renovation. The current renovation is expected to be completed in March.
According to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser’s office, the mall’s parent company, Westfield Group, owns several tracts of land at the mall site under the name Brandon Shopping Center Partners Ltd.
Only one parcel has remained undeveloped, at the southeast corner of the mall, often used for outdoor attractions such as RV and automobile sales. It also was the host site for the October traveling Vietnam Wall replica.
A second piece of land along the west side of the mall is used for the center’s latest renovation.
Meanwhile, the shopping center, 459 Brandon TownCenter Blvd., announced last week its latest round of retailers and restaurants who will call the mall home when construction is completed. At this point, all interior renovations to the food court have been completed and a new mall feature, the Westfield Family Lounge, is open.
The most recent roster of new mall tenants include: The Cheesecake Factory; Teavana teas and serving products; Sephora, a beauty retailer; Swarovski, crystal gifts and jewelry; Fossil, a watch retailer; Solstice Sunglass Boutique; Esmer Fashion Jewelry & Accessories; Quiksilver, a surf-inspired clothing and accessories retailer; Cache, sportswear and dresses; Swim ‘N Sport; The Walking Company; and Clark’s, footwear retailer.
The Westfield Family Lounge is in the food court and features three private nursing stations, five diaper-changing stations, a diaper machine, microwave, child-sized restroom and a large, carpeted play area.
Additionally, some established retailers will relocate and will open early this year, including Panera Bread Bakery & Café, Bakers Shoes, Bebe and Icing by Claire’s.
A new 45,000-square-foot Dick’s Sporting Goods will anchor the mall’s new shopping wing on the west side of the building.
When construction is complete in March, the mall will feature 1.1 million square feet of shopping and eating space.

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To prepare for the renovations, about 70 church parishioners showed up the day after Christmas to strip the church of its furnishings, including 121 pews. All but 17 of the pews were sold to other smaller churches and missions. The sale raised $4,000, which was donated to La Victoria, Nativity’s mission in the Dominican Republic.
“Wow!” said the Rev. Arthur J. Proulx, recalling his observations of the post-Christmas work day. “I simply can’t express myself in another way. I am totally in awe and filled with gratitude to the over 70 parishioners who showed up on the day after Christmas to help move the pews, furniture, artwork, decorations, etc., from the church in preparation for the renovation. The hard work was done with enthusiasm and love, typical of the spirit of Nativity.”
That spirit, too, is a reflection of the greater Brandon community, said Tina Sullivan, a member of the renovation committee and Nativity’s stewardship and development director.
“We have a large community, but it’s more of a generational family community like Brandon is,” Sullivan said of Nativity. “And close, very close knit. It’s not like a sea of unfamiliar faces. It is people you see every week and you get to know them, or you know them from the community.”
In Brandon, like at Nativity, Sullivan added, “everybody pulls together.”
Also like Brandon, Nativity has continued to grow.
“We’re growing, just as the community is growing,” said Sullivan, who noted that Nativity’s membership has topped 5,000 families, amounting to some 15,000 people. Nativity Catholic School, which also uses the church, social hall and chapel, enrolls some 770 students in kindergarten through grade eight.
“The biggest reason that the renovations needed to happen is that things were wearing out because of the constant use,” Sullivan said. “Our church is utilized tremendously.”
That usage includes six regular Masses weekly: Saturday at 4 p.m.; Sunday morning at 7, 8:30 and 10:30; and a Sunday afternoon Mass at 12:15 offered in Spanish. In addition, there is a contemporary Mass for teens and their families Sunday night at 6.
During the renovations, Masses will take place in either the social hall or the chapel. The chapel seats 300 worshippers. The social hall, when configured for Mass, seats 1,200.
Before renovations, the church sat 1,081 parishioners. With the renovations, the pews will hold 100 additional people, but the more open layout will allow for a greater number of seats to be added when necessary, Sullivan said.
The $1.4-million renovation project includes updated lighting and sound equipment, as well as new flooring and pews.
“We didn’t have a separate campaign for this,” Sullivan said. “We are financing the project through the stewardship of our parishioners on a weekly basis. We explained to people that’s part of being a stewardship parish. Everyone is contributing to this work through their weekly offertory.”
Donations, too, are coming in and a $1 million loan was secured from the Diocese of St. Petersburg, “which we will repay based on the offertory and donations,” Sullivan said.
Plans are to reopen the renovated church on March 31, the Saturday before Palm Sunday.
“We’re planning for Bishop Robert N. Lynch to celebrate Mass and to rededicate the church,” Sullivan said.

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It’s true. I absolutely do hold a genuinely cheerful outlook. Only it’s not Pollyanna, it’s real. Hopeful, yes, but still 100 percent authentic. I think it’s because I see clearly, and for me clarity has always led to hope.
“You’re in the wrong profession if you want to be upbeat,” one reader wrote recently. “Other columnists don’t sugarcoat life. They tell it like it is.”
Well, that’s OK I guess … if you believe that truth is always cynical and life remains at best a bitter disappointment. In that case, you can listen to people whine about the unfairness, the injustice, and the disillusionment and the diatribe will always tend to ring true.
But I’ve got to tell you I’m in the business of truth, and people who define their interaction with the world exclusively in terms of skepticism and suspicion are missing it by a mile. I don’t need to make stuff up because, as Dustin Hoffman (Capt. Hook) said in “Peter Pan,” “Why lie? The truth is so much more interesting.”
Just the other week my adult Sunday school class discussed the critical role truth must play if we ever want to know real peace.
“Unless we’re prepared to deal with the truth,” I said, “genuine peace is never going to be an option.”
We’d been talking about relationships, but the conversation applies equally well to institutions, communities and nations. In fact, the entire planet.
One participant took issue with the fundamental premise.
“You can’t just go blurting out the truth,” she said. “What if I looked at my neighbor and said, ‘Sorry to have to say this, but you’re ugly! You need to know the truth about how ugly you are.’”
Point taken. But labeling someone as unattractive has nothing to do with truth.
Truth is as much revealed as it is observed. And truth is a much deeper reality than the gathering of mere facts. Indeed, even information we refer to as “self-evident fact” more often than not turns out to be subject to broad interpretation.
How about the following “fact”: Derek Maul is 50 years old. Yes, there is evidence to support that statement. But when I filled out the detailed questionnaire at realage.com the number representing my age came back as 42. It has a lot to do with regular exercise, diet, lifestyle, family history and the fact that I don’t smoke. All that plus the real kicker: my children don’t live at home much any more so my wife, Rebekah, and I will continue getting younger over the next decade!
So which number represents truth: 50 or 42?
How about this one: Derek Maul is rich. Talk to the good folk over at my credit union and they may take issue with that statement. Run the numbers past most residents of planet Earth and they would amend the word to “wealthy.” From my point of view we are blessed beyond measure and very little of that equation has anything to do with dollars and cents.
“Well, you’re sheltered,” my critics have insisted. “Get back to us about your positive viewpoint after you’ve earned the right to talk about pain.”
I hate to disappoint, but I didn’t get to be 50 without experiencing my share of anguish and grief.
“If you say there’s hope then you’ve never really experienced the dark night of the soul,” my friend Sloan challenged one day.
“I have, and there is,” I replied in all honesty.
“Then you’re a liar,” he replied, without hostility.
“I’m telling you the truth,” I persisted, and went on to explain where I was coming from.
“I’ll grant you’re an eloquent liar, but I still don’t believe you,” Sloan said, unwilling to yield the point.
“Sloan,” I said, reading a desperate resonance of despair that may well have qualified my friend for his own newspaper column in some circles, “there’s nothing in all of creation that has the authority to separate us from the power of genuine love.”
There were tears in his eyes. “Well, I’ll admit you’re a beautiful liar,” he whispered. And then he walked away.

Derek Maul is a writer who lives in Valrico. You can reach him at .

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And traffic is likely to intensify thanks to a $50-million expansion under construction that will bring another 150,000 square feet of merchants to the regional mall. The shopping center already attracts more than 10 million shoppers annually.
But it’s not just the mall that’s feeling the heat; it’s also the slew of retailers that encircle the mall. One of Helmer’s jobs as the area’s community resource officer assigned by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is to find ways to keep traffic flowing smoothly.
One suggestion merchants have discussed is to build a cut-through between the Tia’s Tex-Mex and Smokey Bones restaurants, which will help relieve traffic to and from Barnes & Noble Booksellers and Romano’s Macaroni Grill. The cut-through, Helmer said, “would enable traffic to flow from Toys ‘R’ Us to Romano’s without coming out on the main road,” Brandon Town Center Drive, which provides access from State Road 60 into the mall to the south and into the Regency Square shopping center to the north.
But that suggestion will have to wait. Tia’s has closed and a new tenant has yet to be announced.
The real solution, said Helmer, is for the county to find a way to complete the final link of Gornto Lake Road.
The road now runs from Bloomingdale Avenue north, crossing Causeway Boulevard into the mall property, providing another north-south corridor through Brandon designed to alleviate gridlock.
However, the road stops just short of its full intent by dead-ending between Brandon TownCenter Boulevard and BuddyFreddy’s before connecting to State Road 60. The reason is because Hillsboro Memorial Gardens cemetery and wetlands stand in the way.
Last year county commissioners agreed to revive a stalled 2003 study into alternative routes to connect that final link. The $1.5 million study is being financed with impact fees from the Lake Brandon development. The county is now negotiating with the mall owners, the owners of Parkview Oaks, a mixed use project off Brandon TownCenter Boulevard and another property near Interstate 75 and State Road 60 zoned for a hotel to see how they can negotiate a road through without disturbing the cemetery or wetlands.
Bob Gordon, director of public works for the county, expects it will be two years before a plan is in place and construction can begin. Estimates on constructing the final link are more than $14 million.
Helmer and mall merchants hope to get an update on the project as well as ideas to relieve traffic around the mall when the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce hosts a transportation forum Jan. 30 at noon at the Brandon Elks Lodge, 800 Centennial Lodge Drive.
On tap is a panel discussion with regional transportation experts on roadway projects and regional initiatives that impact the greater Brandon area, including the Gornto Lake Road extension.
Helmer noted one problem with mall traffic is that people use the mall to cut-through from Lumsden Road/Causeway Boulevard to State Road 60 and the Interstate-75 interchange.
“The mall is most congested on the east side,” Helmer said. “If we get the Gornto Lake Road extension and add it on as another entrance and exit to the mall, we may be able to decrease congestion on that (east) side. And I honestly think that most of the congestion on the east side comes from cut-through traffic.”
He added that attempts to control traffic by changing traffic-light cycles often make things worse elsewhere.
“All you’re doing is bottle-necking the traffic somewhere else,” Helmer said. “At some point you can only fit only so many vehicles in an area and we’ve reached that capacity. I’m a firm believer that if you put in all the roads, entrances and cut-throughs, we’re still going to come at some point where traffic is at a standstill.”

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Seldom does any country enter a war with a perfect strategy in which to win it. Almost always, shortcomings are found that require a new approach. A victorious nation modifies what needs to be modified, and they go on.
That’s what we’ve done in almost every war since the American Revolution. It did not happen in the first Iraq war in 1991 because it was over so quickly, but it’s what we must do now in the second Iraq war. No one ever said things would go perfectly this time. Unlike football, no one knows for sure when a war will end. But we do know that if we don’t play to win, we are sure we lose.
We cannot afford for Iraq to become a base of operations for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups regardless of the drivel to the contrary seen in the New York Times or on CNN. And that is what we face by withdrawing troops and expecting the Iraqi army to take over by the end of the year.
Strategically, the prospect of democratizing the Middle East remains the only plausible long-term alternative to radical Islam. No matter how complex, altering the political traditions in that region remains a necessity. No other option can bring us long-term success. Iraq is where the process begins.
For that to happen, the Iraqi people need to be protected from insurgents and sectarian death squads, or a political solution cannot be achieved. If the U.S. and Iraqi army do not provide them security, the Iraqi people will search for security wherever they can find it.
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia has become a menace to stability because of the Sunni insurgent attacks on innocent Shiites. Shia death-squads have filled a void left by a government too ineffectual to provide security to its people from the insurgents.
To stabilize the country, deal with the militias, and deal a decisive blow against the insurgency, rather than reducing American forces in Iraq, we probably need more troops.
Moreover, our troops need more open Rules of Engagement to do their job effectively. This is war, and they are soldiers, not police officers. The U.S. and Iraqi governments must expect civilian casualties and collateral damage. It’s unavoidable. The irony in this matter is that most Iraqi people would welcome the increased security.
We also need to prevent Iran and Syria from meddling in Iraq. Once we deploy troops on the Iran-Iraq border, Iraqi Shiites will more aggressively search out Iranian agents in the slum neighborhoods of Baghdad. When we show resolve that we are not going to run away, Iraq’s leaders will be more confident about their position, and hence govern better as well.
Iraqi forces must own this war, and in the end, win it. Insurgents number at most 10,000. They should be no match over time for a growing army numbering more than 129,000 trained Iraqi soldiers. When the Iraqi people see their army engaging and winning against the terrorists, their perception will change and the war will turn in our favor.
If Iraqis do not establish a viable government that effectively deals with security, the situation will worsen no matter what we do. In the end, a new coalition will need to be formed by moderate Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.
Such a government nearly came about following the last Iraqi election. With al-Sadr gone, moderation may be possible again. A new government could be formed that may actually preside over the national interest.
At home, the negativism of the Democrats and their media allies regarding this war has been deplorable, if not treasonous. We are in this mess largely because their self-serving statements have encouraged our enemies. With their taking control of Congress, we cannot afford to ignore these statements and their corrosive effects any longer. They must be called out on any statement that undercuts our national security.
Recently, Sen. Joe Lieberman rightly noted, “In Iraq today we have a responsibility to do what is strategically and morally right for our nation over the long term—not what appears easier in the short term.” In other words, we need to continue to advance freedom and moderation in the Middle East, and not run away.
Americans will support a winning strategy. But advisers to the president also have been failing him by taking half steps in this war. We have never had enough troops on the ground. We should applaud, however, his resolve to withstand the demands of a growing number of hand-wringers who are only looking for an easy way out. Only President Bush can make the changes necessary to turn this struggle around. It is his job to lay out the plan.
The only substitute for the defeatism of the Left is a renewed determination to win by the rest of us. That, admittedly, is a tall order. But we can only win this war by a public that demands victory from the naysayers. And that, my friends, is our job. Making our voices heard is critical for all who are concerned about winning this necessary war.

Jeff Lukens lives in Valrico and can be contacted through his Web site: http://www.jefflukens.com.

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“I’m in the area that’s being changed, but I’m going to get a special assignment to Durant,” said Mulrennan eighth-grader Lauren Shanks. “I moved here in second grade and it’s where everybody wants to be. It’s the school we all heard about growing up and that’s where I want to be.”
But special assignments will be at a minimum and reserved for hardship cases, said Barbara Franques, area director for Plant City and some Brandon area schools. She said the school district will review those requests on a case- by-case basis
Both Durant and Mulrennan are seriously crowded, even with a new classroom wing expected to open at Durant in August and a new wing expected to open at Mulrennan a year later. Exacerbating the need for classroom space in high-growth areas are the mandates of the Florida Class Size Reduction Amendment approved by voters in 2002.
That measure calls for reducing core high school classes to 25 students by 2010 and to 22 students per class in grades fourth through eighth.
School Board member Jack Lamb gave Mulrennan principal Tim Ducker high marks for posting a large, colorful sign of the boundary changes in the school’s main office.
That came in handy last week when a student entered Ducker’s office to complain about the boundary changes.
“The kids don’t know where they live in the scheme of things,” Ducker said. “He came into my office so upset, his best friend with him. He said he had been going to school with his best friend forever and didn’t want to (leave him behind). I said, ‘Son, you live right next door to him and you’re not going anywhere.’”
But the boundary changes will affect Mulrennan eighth-grader Evan Minuto.
“I think it’s okay,” he said. “Because of the population at Durant the school’s too crowded, so it will be nice to go to Brandon. And I have a friend who goes to Brandon and we’ll be going to school together on the same bus.”
As for Ducker, he said he feels for the kids who don’t want to change schools, but that he is confident they will be okay.
“They’re such great kids and I think they’ll enjoy themselves at Mann,” Ducker said. “It’s an excellent school, an ‘A’ school and they have an excellent principal.”
The kids affected by the change should not take it personal, he added.
“My heart goes out to them, but it’s just an issue where we’re overcrowded,” Ducker said. “We don’t really have any choice in it.”

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Requirements for membership into this circle are few. While most of the players share a Native American heritage, the only true requirement is playing a Native American flute, whose manner of crafting has not changed through the centuries.
Native flutes have more than a few differences from their modern counterparts. Native flutes are composed of two grooved wooden halves. They may be cedar, pine, mahogany, walnut or any variety of woods. The grooves are carved and then the two halves are glued together. Often, they were created by the very artists who are playing them.
Circle meetings are held monthly at the Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City. They are a time for sharing experiences, musical updates, historical musical information, and, of course, playing. Young musicians like 8-year-old Keira Denehy, benefit from the circles because of their exposure to veteran musicians who are more than willing to help guide them. Then again, veteran musicians draw off the energy of each other, exploring the variances of their craft with others of national and international renown.
At the January circle, Silver Hawk showed slides of one of the oldest known flutes still in existence, a goose head flute thought to be more than 150 years old. Dating the flute is difficult because the ancient tribes kept no records. The age of the instrument, as well as the name of its tribal creator, are based on design elements, as well as stories that may have been handed down through generations of story telling.
Traditionally, these pieces of musical magic had many jobs. The flutes were used as love medicines and around campfires in lodges to bring peace to the end of a long day. They were often coupled with drums, whistles and rattles, as well as dancing and singing.
The circle is home to more than just musicians. The circle is home to truly gifted artists. They are artists in a way few metal flutists or visual artists may ever be able to understand. For most artists do not make their own instruments. And many of these artists, calling on their Native American heritage, believe they come from the Creator’s earth and, in turn, create their own praise to their beliefs and those that have gone before them. To them, the circle of joy continues into infinity.
Call the Bruton Memorial Library- 757-9215 or Silver Hawk at 763-2118 for circle dates and times.

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL

Mike Matteo, author, screenwriter, teacher and unabashed film junkie, is returning to teach his eight-week film course starting Jan. 11 at the Life Enrichment Center in Forest Hills.
The course, entitled Film Festival, features a series of popular movies and documentaries from different eras, with discussions to be held during and after viewing.
“We’ll talk about how they were made, who made them and why they were made,” said Matteo, who selects the films from his personal collection, which numbers, he estimates, between 2,000 and 3,000. The course aims to break films down into their genres and address their motifs, styles, social issues and historical contexts.
Matteo taught world history and economics at Gaither High School, Ben Hill Middle School, and in private schools before leaving teaching to open up M & P Costumes in Tampa. While that location has now closed, he is in the process of selling the costume store’s location in New Port Richey in order to devote himself to his writing, which he’s been doing for 20 years now.
Matteo’s plays have been produced in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. His origins are in New York, where he minored in theater at Brooklyn College while majoring in economics. These days he prefers to stay close to his home in Tampa.
“That’s what’s great about writing – I can stay home and work,” he said.
However, Matteo may travel to Germany in the near future to work on a screenplay. He’s also co-written two books, as well as authored and self-published a third, entitled “How to Survive the Public School System.”
For Film Festival, he sees it as his role to illustrate points on the movies and to lead discussions. The course breaks films down into genres, with each week devoted to a different one. Week one will feature musicals like “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Rent.” The second week will be reserved for horror and science fiction films. Week three covers movies with social themes, followed in week four by the classics, comedies in week five, and parodies, remakes and sequels in week six.
“What was so scary in the movies of the 1950’s wouldn’t work now,” said Matteo. “People were focused on the Cold War then. “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was about Communism if you take a look at it.”
Matteo uses the course to stress the significant changes in how films are made now versus decades past, and how our reactions to movies alter with our own historical perspectives.
“I’ll compare ‘Young Frankenstein’ to the original ‘Frankenstein’ movies, for instance, and trace the references,” he said.
When asked what kinds of filmmaking techniques his course will explore, he recalled “there’s a wonderful scene in ‘Immortal Beloved’ when they try to show what was on Beethoven’s mind when he wrote the Ninth Symphony. Now, there’s no way to know what was in his mind; it was up to the director.”
He also recalled how, in a recent course, he showed “Judgment at Nuremberg” and a woman exclaimed to the class that she had last seen the film when she was a young child.
He stresses there are no tests. This is for fun, enjoyment and enrichment.
“We will talk about politics, or what’s funny. I encourage people to tell me what’s on their minds,” he said. “The essence of filmmaking is to connect to an audience, and the films we watch all connect to people in a universal way. We will talk about that.”
Matteo makes no secret how much teaching these classes and re-watching the great films helps him as a writer.
“When I look at older movies, they tell me how it was good then, but also how it was different,” he said.
Matteo laments what he calls MTV-influenced changes in movies over the years, away from dialogue and open space.
“Now the cuts are every three seconds. If the scene goes for 30 seconds, the audience fidgets.”
He admits he had to change his writing style to better fit today’s audiences.
“When you write, you’ve got to give people what they’re used to,” he said.
He doesn’t mind this, but, in fact, sees evolution as integral to the life of a writer.
“If it doesn’t get produced and seen, there’s no point in writing it,” he said.
In Matteo’s home, film quotes and photographs line the walls, featuring many giants of cinema.
“If you surround yourself with great thoughts and great ideas, it inspires you,” he said.
He’s currently working on a new screenplay called “51 steps,” about a man serving time on death row. Matteo admits to an attraction to controversial subjects. The film “Descansos,” for which he co-wrote the script, deals with a man guilty of a past hit-and-run who goes around town ripping down roadside memorials wherever he finds them. The film was shot in the area and features performances by actors Charles Durning and Gary Busey. He was on set for the first couple of days shooting, but like any screenwriter, had to let the project go.
He’s now adapting his play, “Who Took the Last Ketchup?” into a screenplay for actor/comedian Jackie Mason.
Matteo also teaches a screenwriting course at the University of South Florida as part of its Continuing Education program. That course begins on Feb. 14.
Carrollwood’s Life Enrichment Center is the only private, nonprofit community-based center for adults in the Tampa Bay area, and one of few of its kind nationwide. It provides dozens of classes each year for active adults, typically 40 and older. Courses this year include contemporary dance, art, digital photography, creative writing, computers and Spanish. There are also non-academic fitness courses available, such as Tai Chi and low impact exercise. The classes run weekdays, evenings, and some weekends.
Ronna Metcalf has been executive director for the Life Enrichment Center for the past seven years.
“I’m always looking for new classes and new teachers,” she said. The 26-year-old center does a lot with a limited budget. Its funding comes mostly from individuals, small grants and fundraising efforts.
“None of us does it for the money because the money isn’t there,” she said.
Metcalf takes pride in the center as a model for adult education across the country. She stresses that these courses are not just for the elderly or retired.
“We are really targeting the baby boomer population, and our program is reaching out to them,” she said. “Mike approached me about a year ago and said he was interested in teaching a class.”
According to Metcalf, most of the program’s teachers are retired educators or active professionals looking to give back to the community.
“Mike is a wonderful teacher,” she said. “I feel fortunate to have him at the center.”
Matteo believes what they do at the Life Enrichment Center is vital.
“It’s a great place to teach,” he said, “and I love to give something back to the community.”
The prices for Film Festival run $10 per class, or $70 for the full eight-week course. All classes at the Life Enrichment Center can be paid for on a class-by-class basis, or up-front for the entire course.
The Life Enrichment Center is at 9704 N. Boulevard in Tampa. To register for classes, call 932-0241 or visit http://www.lifeenrichmenttampa.org.

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It’s not only part of her heritage; it defines who Bracha Buford of Valrico is today.
It was 1948 and her parents were among the Jewish minority living in Morocco who’d heard rumors that the new Jewish state of Israel was about to be created.
But the Moroccan government wouldn’t allow them to leave and the British government wouldn’t permit them entry into Israel so immigrants began making their way underground.
“It was all by faith,” said Buford. “They had no idea what to expect, what they would encounter. They just knew they had to go there.”
Her parents fled from Morocco with Buford’s two oldest sisters and made their way to Crete where they were hidden on a cargo boat. Their only sustenance was a cup of water and two dates each day. Once they arrived in Israel, her father secured his family in a home that had been abandoned by Muslims and went off to fight for the underground.
Nearly 50 years later, said Buford, Israel is continuing its fight for survival and she feels its her mission to do what she can to not only educate America about her country’s needs but to do her part to help her homeland.
With that in mind, Buford and her husband, Michael, founded the nonprofit For Zion’s Sake Ministries last year. The name is based on Isaiah 62: “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.”
Working through a 20-year-old organization called Christian Friends of Israel, members calling themselves the Israel Mercy Builders have made several trips to Israel carrying food vouchers, handmade quilts and supplies and have performed various aid projects including rebuilding the homes of residents devastated by Hezbollah bombings.
“We just want to let the people know we care about them and support them. God’s foreign policy is to support Israel and it should be our foreign policy, too,” said Buford “We don’t always have a set itinerary. We just let the Lord lead us. When you allow God to lead you, it’s awesome; it’s an adventure.”
Buford’s team, which just returned from a trip in November, has helped refurbish a dilapidated child-care center, fixed up the home of an Ethiopian widow with eight children including 4-month-old twins, and brought gifts for and helped care for 185 youngsters at children’s home. Their next trip is planned for June 2-16.
“It’s incredible to see the tears in the people’s eyes when they realize we came all that way just to stand with them,” she said. “They hug us and thank us.”
In addition, Buford and longtime friend Sandy Farmer co-teach classes about Israel and the Old Testament at Bell Shoals Baptist Church.
The two women met in 1999 when Buford served as a liaison on a tour group to Israel that Farmer went on. Although Buford was born and raised in Israel, she came to America at the age of 19 when she married.
“I’m trained to teach the Bible,” said Farmer, “but there’s no comparison to actually walking through Jerusalem, actually seeing the places you read about. The trip really opened my eyes.”
It had a similar effect on Buford.
“I grew up in a Jewish home,” she said, “but I didn’t know that Jesus was Jewish. I had no reason to visit the places like Gethsemane where Christians came. But once I recognized Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, these places became very important to me and I realized why so many people visited them.”
Nevertheless, Buford said she was disturbed by the enormous numbers of people who make pilgrimages to Israel every year without really understanding the country and its people today.
“They don’t touch the people, really get to know them and understand what they’re facing,” she said. “That’s where my heart is. How can so many Christians go to Israel without helping the people who live there? My hope is to bridge the gap that produces the frustrations between Christians and Jews and help Christians better understand the Jewish roots of their faith.”
By understanding those roots, added Buford, people will have a better grasp of the turmoil that’s currently taking place in the Mideast.
“Everything is lining up just as the prophets in the Bible wrote,” she said. “If you understand what’s happening, you won’t fear it.”
Around 20 to 25 members of For Zion’s Sake also attend pro-Israel rallies in the Tampa Bay area on a regular basis and meet each Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. on the steps of Bell Shoals Baptist to pray for Israel.
“We can’t keep silent,” said Buford. “You need to speak up for the Jewish people. You need to break down the walls of separatism and bless and comfort Israel in practical ways.”
“I feel privileged to be a part of this,” said Farmer. “Being in the middle of God’s purpose is the best place to be. It’s way bigger and way better than anything you can imagine.”
Farmer and Buford will resume their classes on Discovering the Jewish Roots of Your Faith Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. starting Jan. 10 at Bell Shoals Baptist.
Information: 413-4776 or .

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“I drove by very fast and she said, ‘Where is it?’” recalled Creager, who used to grow plants as a hobby. “My heart sank and I turned around and when she saw it she was speechless.”
That was back in the days when a motorist could drive very fast on Bloomingdale Avenue, near the corner of Bell Shoals Road. The year was 1977 and there wasn’t much there. But there was, as Creager put it, a chopped-up concrete structure in need of desperate repair.
That was the building Roz, pregnant with her son Matt, and her husband Mark, bought for what would be their home and eventually become the Green Boutique, 1014 Bloomingdale Avenue.
Fast forward to 2006 and the Green Boutique, specializing in gifts, home décor, some apparel and even fashion jewelry, has moved into a 36,000 square-foot shopping center back behind the property. Green Boutique, which closed its nursery operation about 15 years ago, also carries Brighton collectibles and the Vera Bradley line.
The old property consisted of two buildings, with a combined space of 2,600 square feet. Now, there is one storefront, comprising 5,000 square feet, in the Plaza Bella shopping center.
The Creagers have become developers with the opening of Plaza Bella, which recently opened and is almost fully leased. Retailers include Salon Essence; the Vino 100 wine store; and Orange, a home décor and gift shop specializing in gifts more contemporary than Green Boutique and with a very unique flair, Roz Creager said.
Also open or coming to the two-story complex, which includes room for offices on the second floor, are the Plant Beach tanning salon; Bella Granite and Stone, which specializes in custom stone and granite installation and cabinetry; and a Joffrey’s Coffee & Ice Cream Café. A Tussie & Mussie’s tea room, Creager said, will feature “everything homemade.”
Open in an outparcel are Peacock’s Plume, a day-care facility specializing in infants and young children, and coming is a Bank of Hillsboro branch. Soon to be built, once the old Green Boutique buildings are torn down, is a 7,000 square-foot building for a café and additional retail.
“It feels great, we’re a little dazed,” at the opening of Plaza Bella, Roz Creager said. “By February everybody should be open.”
The Green Boutique moved in Thanksgiving Day.
“We were here very late and we had a lot of help from family, friends and staff, who also are friends,” Creager said. “Even some of our sales reps helped.”
Looking back, Creager said she never could have envisioned what her dream to open a nursery would turn into. Even her father, Dick Cimino, for whom the elementary school in Bloomingdale is named, was a bit skeptical when he first saw the original building.
“I think he would be bursting with pride and blasting it all over Brandon, that we’re open,” Creager said.
Mark Creager in the mid- to-late ‘80s quit his job to concentrate on the budding business. He had been a member of the pipe fitters union.
As the Creagers prepared for the demolishment of the original Green Boutique buildings, Roz Creager said it will be an emotional time.
“I don’t think I want to be here when they knock it down,” she said. “I wanted to move, we were looking forward to the next step, but it’s still going to be emotional.”
For information about Plaza Bella leasing, call Mark Creager at 685-3106.

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However, Arlene Waldron said she still has to pinch herself sometimes to make sure it’s real.
That’s how she felt Thursday night as the Greater Brandon Community Foundation she and Nymark helped found distributed thousands of dollars to Brandon area charities for the second year.
The funds represented the proceeds from the annual Greater Brandon Charity Golf Classic, which is now being planned for the third year. This year’s event is scheduled for Feb. 8-12 at River Hills Country Club.
Bright House Networks once again has signed on as the presenting sponsor and Carlos Tosca is returning for the second year as the celebrity host of the classic’s Tournament of Champions, a by-invitation tournament featuring the winners of charity golf tournaments held in Brandon throughout the year. Also joining the sponsorship team is Catch 47 and Tampa Bay Sports Television.
A Valrico resident and Arizona Diamondbacks third-base coach, Tosca was raised in Brandon. He and his wife, Gerry’s, 2-year-old son, C.J., died of cancer in 1986 and a portion of the proceeds from the golf classic are earmarked for the fight against pediatric cancer in C.J.’s memory.
At a reception to thank the sponsors Nov. 15 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the Toscas presented a $10,000 check to the foundation.
“Our son was a fighter. We’d like to continue the fight for him,” said Tosca. “We’ve been able to raise this money to continue the fight in finding a cure and present this check to you in the name of our son, C.J.”
Tosca said there are still openings in this year’s Tournament of Champions. The cost is $150 per player.
The classic also features a Pro-Am Golf Tournament that attracts more than 30 celebrity golfers including Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lightning and Devil Rays players who are paired with teams of four golfers. At $5,000 per team, the field is limited to 96 golfers.
Nine charities walked away with checks Thursday night at the reception hosted by Dallas Owens of Mojitos Grill in Winthrop Town Centre. Among them were Eva Ruiz, president of the Brandon Junior Woman’s Club; Melissa Rios, area director of Brandon Young Life; Bob Sharpe, director of Cookson Hills Family Ministries of Florida; Cynthia and Leroy Pinckney of Cynthia Pinckney Ministries; Dusty D’Amatangelo, president of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon; Pat LeJeune, executive director of the Nativity Outreach Food Pantry and Food Bank; Gail McDonald, Resurrection parish nurse Gail McDonald and the Hillsborough Crisis Center.
To be eligible, the nonprofit must be based in Brandon and supply a copy of its 501c3 tax-exempt paperwork and any printed materials about the charity. Applications are available online at http://www.brandonbusiness.com/foundation/ and may be mailed to the foundation at P.O. Box 3197, Brandon 33509. Grant applications also are available online.
In addition, foundation board members Mary and John Boor, along with Bill Hartgrove of Dignity Memorial Funeral Home, presented Dave Braun of the Haley House with a check for $5,000 for that charity through donations from the Dignity Vietnam Moving Wall on display at Westfield Brandon in October. The Haley House provides assistance to the families of service men and women who must travel to the Tampa Bay area to be with loved ones being treated here.
Hartgrove said he was overwhelmed by the response he received from the foundation and Brandon as a whole when he asked for help in bringing the replica of the Vietnam memorial to Brandon.
“In the 37 years I’ve worked for this company, I’ve never seen a community pull together like this one,” he said. “We asked and you gave.”
He had high praise for the Boors, the Nam Knights motorcycle corps, which escorted and erected the moving wall in record time, and Boy Scout Troop 110 and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 787, which provided round-the-clock security.
In addition, last month the foundation held its inaugural Evening of Hope to raise funds for Brandon families affected by cancer. As part of that effort, the foundation is putting together a database of “foundation angels,” people who are willing to donate time or services to help cancer patients or their families during difficult times. The foundation is looking for people willing to donate lawn services, massage, meals, baby-sitting services, etc…
“We need good medical advice, financial assistance, kind employers, prayers and the support of people around us,” said prostate cancer survivor and director of counseling services at Bell Shoals Baptist Church Paul Weiseman, speaking at the Evening of Hope. “It’s the little things that count—an unexpected meal, help with a doctor’s appointment. God says if you help another person, you’re helping Him.”
“We believe this community can meet any need,” said Nymark. “We want to know if someone in our community is hurting and if there’s any way possible, we want to help them.”
For more information, visit http://www.brandonfoundation.com or call 661-8683.

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But it didn’t take the youngsters at the orphanage in the Dominican Republic long to figure out how to operate the electronic devices.
Within minutes after opening their Christmas gifts from the missionary team hailing from the First United Methodist Church of Brandon, the kids had donned their headphones and were nodding in time to Spanish music CDs.
“They thought those headsets were the best things they’d ever seen,” said missionary team member Tina Brock Fallen. “It was something else to watch them; they were so excited.”
Fallen said the children’s excitement is palpable the moment they spot the missionaries’ bus heading up the mountain toward the orphanage, which houses both children without parents as well as children whose parents are simply too poor to care for them.
“As soon as they see the bus, the kids start running up the mountain, waving and screaming,” said Fallen. “As soon as you get off the bus, you’re up to your elbows in snotty-nosed kids hugging you. It’s just powerful. I don’t know a better way to describe it.”
Fallen knows most of the 200 children living in five orphanages by name. An advanced registered nurse practitioner specializing in gynecology and obstetrics, Fallen spends about six weeks a year in the Dominican Republic bringing supplies to, and performing various service projects at, the orphanages. When she isn’t in the Dominican Republic, she keeps tabs on three former orphans she is putting through colleges in Santa Domingo and San Pedro.
Fellow First United Methodist Church member Frankie Cross introduced Fallen, a lifelong Brandon resident and church member since 1964, to the missionary work in the Dominican Republic sponsored by Homeless Orphan Outreach International several years ago. 
“I fell in love with the work,” she said. “God just put this burning passion in me to help these people.”
Nevertheless, she said she was a bit taken aback by the primitive conditions upon her first visit.
“There is no power and no hot water,” she said. “The children carry water from the lake so we can take a shower when we’re there. The kids eat a mush made out of cornmeal, water and sugar for breakfast. I always ask my crew to eat this the first day because I want them to understand the lifestyle, especially the teens that come along. It’s a real eye-opener.”
However, bit by bit, the mission team has been able to bring about improvements.
“When we started 17 years ago, we never believed we’d make the changes we’ve made,” she said. “It’s been a slow process because we’re fighting culture. It’s a proud society where children are encouraged to stay and take care of the younger children instead of going on and getting an education. We don’t want to just bring them food and then have nothing to show for it when it’s gone. We want to help them to be self-sufficient so they won’t need us anymore. They should not still be drinking water that gives you e-coli. They shouldn’t have to drives miles and miles for basic medical care.”
Fallen believes all that she’s done in her life has equipped her for her missionary work.
Fallen began running track while at Brandon High School, but switched to marathons when she graduated in 1975 and became a stay-at-home mom. She ran her first marathon at age 16 and continued running in events such as the Gasparilla marathon every year since. She recently completed the Disney Triathlon in Orlando, helping to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
However, it wasn’t until her son, Jeff, and daughter, Kristy, were grown and she had divorced that Fallen decided to embark on a career of her own. At the age of 38, she went back to school to become a nurse.
“I think I always knew I was supposed to take care of people,” she said. “When my children left home, I cried every day. It was really tough on me not having anyone to take care of. Nursing just seemed natural.”
She went on to get her master’s and doctorate degrees in nursing with the encouragement of her second husband, Chip, who she met three years ago. In addition to becoming a nurse practitioner, she is a forensic sexual assault investigator and is trained to perform ultrasonography.
While she was a member of the Leadership Brandon Class of 2006, a leadership training program sponsored by the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, Fallen was invited to join the Brandon Rotary ’86 Club.
“I walked into my first meeting and the speaker was talking about the Dominican Republic,” Fallen said. “I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, ‘If this isn’t a God thing, I don’t know what is.’”
Fallen was surprised to learn that Rotary International has ongoing mission projects in the Dominican Republic, including drilling wells to provide untainted drinking water for residents, and that Rotary ’86 has been involved in several efforts to collect needed supplies.
Her church and new club were able to collaborate for the first time on the mission trip this month in which the church takes holiday gifts to the children.
“The Rotary donated enough money to buy 150 CD players,” she said. The team of 21, including 10 members age 16 to young adults, also brought along yo-yos, dolls and other items for the children.
Fallen had also hoped to rent a home where the young men attending college with the help of the missionaries could live with a house mother, so they wouldn’t have to work while they study. Fallen is in the process of establishing a nonprofit foundation to fund college for the orphans since tuition costs only $1,000 a year in the Dominican Republic. She hopes to get Brandon businesses, clubs, churches and other organizations to sponsor a student through her foundation.
However, her plans for this trip were put on hold when a child at the orphanage sustained a severe head injury and she helped take him to the nearest clinic for care.
“I wouldn’t even call it a clinic,” she said. “The staff isn’t even trained in the use of IVs. The IVs are in glass bottles and they’re hooked to the wall. They don’t have any portable IVs. It was mind-boggling,” she said. “They don’t even have gurneys with wheels.”
She said she was appalled when the staff told her the boy would have to be driven several blocks away to a radiology facility.
“He shouldn’t have been moved,” she said. “It was too dangerous.”
As a result, Fallen is now focusing on putting together a mission team, including medical and pharmacy professionals, to return to the Dominican Republic to tour the area’s medical facilities and assess what’s needs there are. Upon their return, she would see what could get donated from the Brandon area.
Fallen said a fellow Rotarian has agreed to ship the donated supplies and several Rotary members have expressed an interest in participating.
Anyone interested in helping or becoming a part

---

But it didn’t take the youngsters at the orphanage in the Dominican Republic long to figure out how to operate the electronic devices.
Within minutes after opening their Christmas gifts from the missionary team hailing from the First United Methodist Church of Brandon, the kids had donned their headphones and were nodding in time to Spanish music CDs.
“They thought those headsets were the best things they’d ever seen,” said missionary team member Tina Brock Fallen. “It was something else to watch them; they were so excited.”
Fallen said the children’s excitement is palpable the moment they spot the missionaries’ bus heading up the mountain toward the orphanage, which houses both children without parents as well as children whose parents are simply too poor to care for them.
“As soon as they see the bus, the kids start running up the mountain, waving and screaming,” said Fallen. “As soon as you get off the bus, you’re up to your elbows in snotty-nosed kids hugging you. It’s just powerful. I don’t know a better way to describe it.”
Fallen knows most of the 200 children living in five orphanages by name. An advanced registered nurse practitioner specializing in gynecology and obstetrics, Fallen spends about six weeks a year in the Dominican Republic bringing supplies to, and performing various service projects at, the orphanages. When she isn’t in the Dominican Republic, she keeps tabs on three former orphans she is putting through colleges in Santa Domingo and San Pedro.
Fellow First United Methodist Church member Frankie Cross introduced Fallen, a lifelong Brandon resident and church member since 1964, to the missionary work in the Dominican Republic sponsored by Homeless Orphan Outreach International several years ago. 
“I fell in love with the work,” she said. “God just put this burning passion in me to help these people.”
Nevertheless, she said she was a bit taken aback by the primitive conditions upon her first visit.
“There is no power and no hot water,” she said. “The children carry water from the lake so we can take a shower when we’re there. The kids eat a mush made out of cornmeal, water and sugar for breakfast. I always ask my crew to eat this the first day because I want them to understand the lifestyle, especially the teens that come along. It’s a real eye-opener.”
However, bit by bit, the mission team has been able to bring about improvements.
“When we started 17 years ago, we never believed we’d make the changes we’ve made,” she said. “It’s been a slow process because we’re fighting culture. It’s a proud society where children are encouraged to stay and take care of the younger children instead of going on and getting an education. We don’t want to just bring them food and then have nothing to show for it when it’s gone. We want to help them to be self-sufficient so they won’t need us anymore. They should not still be drinking water that gives you e-coli. They shouldn’t have to drives miles and miles for basic medical care.”
Fallen believes all that she’s done in her life has equipped her for her missionary work.
Fallen began running track while at Brandon High School, but switched to marathons when she graduated in 1975 and became a stay-at-home mom. She ran her first marathon at age 16 and continued running in events such as the Gasparilla marathon every year since. She recently completed the Disney Triathlon in Orlando, helping to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
However, it wasn’t until her son, Jeff, and daughter, Kristy, were grown and she had divorced that Fallen decided to embark on a career of her own. At the age of 38, she went back to school to become a nurse.
“I think I always knew I was supposed to take care of people,” she said. “When my children left home, I cried every day. It was really tough on me not having anyone to take care of. Nursing just seemed natural.”
She went on to get her master’s and doctorate degrees in nursing with the encouragement of her second husband, Chip, who she met three years ago. In addition to becoming a nurse practitioner, she is a forensic sexual assault investigator and is trained to perform ultrasonography.
While she was a member of the Leadership Brandon Class of 2006, a leadership training program sponsored by the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, Fallen was invited to join the Brandon Rotary ’86 Club.
“I walked into my first meeting and the speaker was talking about the Dominican Republic,” Fallen said. “I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, ‘If this isn’t a God thing, I don’t know what is.’”
Fallen was surprised to learn that Rotary International has ongoing mission projects in the Dominican Republic, including drilling wells to provide untainted drinking water for residents, and that Rotary ’86 has been involved in several efforts to collect needed supplies.
Her church and new club were able to collaborate for the first time on the mission trip this month in which the church takes holiday gifts to the children.
“The Rotary donated enough money to buy 150 CD players,” she said. The team of 21, including 10 members age 16 to young adults, also brought along yo-yos, dolls and other items for the children.
Fallen had also hoped to rent a home where the young men attending college with the help of the missionaries could live with a house mother, so they wouldn’t have to work while they study. Fallen is in the process of establishing a nonprofit foundation to fund college for the orphans since tuition costs only $1,000 a year in the Dominican Republic. She hopes to get Brandon businesses, clubs, churches and other organizations to sponsor a student through her foundation.
However, her plans for this trip were put on hold when a child at the orphanage sustained a severe head injury and she helped take him to the nearest clinic for care.
“I wouldn’t even call it a clinic,” she said. “The staff isn’t even trained in the use of IVs. The IVs are in glass bottles and they’re hooked to the wall. They don’t have any portable IVs. It was mind-boggling,” she said. “They don’t even have gurneys with wheels.”
She said she was appalled when the staff told her the boy would have to be driven several blocks away to a radiology facility.
“He shouldn’t have been moved,” she said. “It was too dangerous.”
As a result, Fallen is now focusing on putting together a mission team, including medical and pharmacy professionals, to return to the Dominican Republic to tour the area’s medical facilities and assess what’s needs there are. Upon their return, she would see what could get donated from the Brandon area.
Fallen said a fellow Rotarian has agreed to ship the donated supplies and several Rotary members have expressed an interest in participating.
Anyone interested in helping or becoming a part of the mission team can contact Fallen at 610-TINA.

---

take the youngsters at the orphanage in the Dominican Republic long to figure out how to operate the electronic devices.
Within minutes after opening their Christmas gifts from the missionary team hailing from the First United Methodist Church of Brandon, the kids had donned their headphones and were nodding in time to Spanish music CDs.
“They thought those headsets were the best things they’d ever seen,” said missionary team member Tina Brock Fallen. “It was something else to watch them; they were so excited.”
Fallen said the children’s excitement is palpable the moment they spot the missionaries’ bus heading up the mountain toward the orphanage, which houses both children without parents as well as children whose parents are simply too poor to care for them.
“As soon as they see the bus, the kids start running up the mountain, waving and screaming,” said Fallen. “As soon as you get off the bus, you’re up to your elbows in snotty-nosed kids hugging you. It’s just powerful. I don’t know a better way to describe it.”
Fallen knows most of the 200 children living in five orphanages by name. An advanced registered nurse practitioner specializing in gynecology and obstetrics, Fallen spends about six weeks a year in the Dominican Republic bringing supplies to, and performing various service projects at, the orphanages. When she isn’t in the Dominican Republic, she keeps tabs on three former orphans she is putting through colleges in Santa Domingo and San Pedro.
Fellow First United Methodist Church member Frankie Cross introduced Fallen, a lifelong Brandon resident and church member since 1964, to the missionary work in the Dominican Republic sponsored by Homeless Orphan Outreach International several years ago. 
“I fell in love with the work,” she said. “God just put this burning passion in me to help these people.”
Nevertheless, she said she was a bit taken aback by the primitive conditions upon her first visit.
“There is no power and no hot water,” she said. “The children carry water from the lake so we can take a shower when we’re there. The kids eat a mush made out of cornmeal, water and sugar for breakfast. I always ask my crew to eat this the first day because I want them to understand the lifestyle, especially the teens that come along. It’s a real eye-opener.”
However, bit by bit, the mission team has been able to bring about improvements.
“When we started 17 years ago, we never believed we’d make the changes we’ve made,” she said. “It’s been a slow process because we’re fighting culture. It’s a proud society where children are encouraged to stay and take care of the younger children instead of going on and getting an education. We don’t want to just bring them food and then have nothing to show for it when it’s gone. We want to help them to be self-sufficient so they won’t need us anymore. They should not still be drinking water that gives you e-coli. They shouldn’t have to drives miles and miles for basic medical care.”
Fallen believes all that she’s done in her life has equipped her for her missionary work.
Fallen began running track while at Brandon High School, but switched to marathons when she graduated in 1975 and became a stay-at-home mom. She ran her first marathon at age 16 and continued running in events such as the Gasparilla marathon every year since. She recently completed the Disney Triathlon in Orlando, helping to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
However, it wasn’t until her son, Jeff, and daughter, Kristy, were grown and she had divorced that Fallen decided to embark on a career of her own. At the age of 38, she went back to school to become a nurse.
“I think I always knew I was supposed to take care of people,” she said. “When my children left home, I cried every day. It was really tough on me not having anyone to take care of. Nursing just seemed natural.”
She went on to get her master’s and doctorate degrees in nursing with the encouragement of her second husband, Chip, who she met three years ago. In addition to becoming a nurse practitioner, she is a forensic sexual assault investigator and is trained to perform ultrasonography.
While she was a member of the Leadership Brandon Class of 2006, a leadership training program sponsored by the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, Fallen was invited to join the Brandon Rotary ’86 Club.
“I walked into my first meeting and the speaker was talking about the Dominican Republic,” Fallen said. “I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, ‘If this isn’t a God thing, I don’t know what is.’”
Fallen was surprised to learn that Rotary International has ongoing mission projects in the Dominican Republic, including drilling wells to provide untainted drinking water for residents, and that Rotary ’86 has been involved in several efforts to collect needed supplies.
Her church and new club were able to collaborate for the first time on the mission trip this month in which the church takes holiday gifts to the children.
“The Rotary donated enough money to buy 150 CD players,” she said. The team of 21, including 10 members age 16 to young adults, also brought along yo-yos, dolls and other items for the children.
Fallen had also hoped to rent a home where the young men attending college with the help of the missionaries could live with a house mother, so they wouldn’t have to work while they study. Fallen is in the process of establishing a nonprofit foundation to fund college for the orphans since tuition costs only $1,000 a year in the Dominican Republic. She hopes to get Brandon businesses, clubs, churches and other organizations to sponsor a student through her foundation.
However, her plans for this trip were put on hold when a child at the orphanage sustained a severe head injury and she helped take him to the nearest clinic for care.
“I wouldn’t even call it a clinic,” she said. “The staff isn’t even trained in the use of IVs. The IVs are in glass bottles and they’re hooked to the wall. They don’t have any portable IVs. It was mind-boggling,” she said. “They don’t even have gurneys with wheels.”
She said she was appalled when the staff told her the boy would have to be driven several blocks away to a radiology facility.
“He shouldn’t have been moved,” she said. “It was too dangerous.”
As a result, Fallen is now focusing on putting together a mission team, including medical and pharmacy professionals, to return to the Dominican Republic to tour the area’s medical facilities and assess what’s needs there are. Upon their return, she would see what could get donated from the Brandon area.
Fallen said a fellow Rotarian has agreed to ship the donated supplies and several Rotary members have expressed an interest in participating.
Anyone interested in helping or becoming a part of the mission team can contact Fallen at 610-TINA.

---

Most of the third-graders attending last week’s funeral never heard of “Knucksie,” Houston Astros President Tal Smith’s nickname for major-league pitcher Joe Niekro.
And they might not have realized that the rather prominent diamond ring Joe wore represented the fact that he pitched in a World Series.
To them, he was just classmate J.J.’s dad, a big guy with a booming voice, a ready smile and a quick joke. Maybe he liked baseball a little more than some dads. But aren’t lots of dads sports fanatics?
“Hey, mom,” my son informed me one day after school. “Did you know that J.J.’s dad is on a baseball card?”
As I glanced over at the students dressed in matching red St. Stephen Catholic School uniform shirts seated amidst a church filled with current and former major league ball players, coaches and managers, I saluted the Rev. Mike Jurran for focusing on the man, not the career in his eulogy as so much of the national media had done since Joe’s sudden death Oct. 27.
Joe’s older brother, Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro, 67, agreed when we had a chance to speak after the funeral.
“Baseball was his career, not his life,” said Phil.
It could have been any one of us carrying in a bag of groceries or performing some other routine task when a brain aneurysm struck us down. But somehow it seemed even more unfathomable that it was Joe, this vibrant, larger-than-life character who was the center of attention the moment he walked into the room. He enjoyed telling stories, entertaining people with jokes, being the life of the party. As Phil put it: “He enjoyed life.”
And he was especially relishing his retirement years. He and his wife, Debra, would take daily walks around their neighborhood in Walden Lake. He coached J.J.’s baseball team at St. Stephen Catholic School. He kept a close watch on his 27-year-old son Lance’s career as a first baseman with the San Francisco Giants. Whenever Phil visited from Georgia, they’d golf and fish for snook. And Joe was being fitted for a tuxedo so he could walk his daughter, Natalie, down the aisle in December.
His faith played a prominent role in his life, something that brought a great deal of peace to Debra, now left to raise their 8-year-old son alone. Fingering Joe’s giant wedding band she now wears on a chain around her neck, she said she knows she’ll be with him again someday. She’s also comforted knowing that Joe was an organ donor and his gift helped save the lives of others.
With tears in his eyes, Phil said he was always proud of his brother.
“I could tell you a million stories,” he said. “He was such a great guy.”
He recalled the first time they pitched in the major leagues against one another. Phil was with the Atlanta Braves and Joe with the Chicago Cubs. Their father, Phil Sr., flew in for the game and was seated directly behind the umpire. “I think he had a couple of cigars in both hands and he had his eyes glued to the mound,” said Phil.
The Braves won the game. When Phil and Joe called home to tell their mother, Henrietta, she said that’s the way it should be, the older brother should win the first game. “But you let your little brother win next time,” she told Phil.
“I could just see me explaining to the ball club how I have to let my brother win the next game,” Phil said, chuckling. Mom got her way, however. The two brothers pitched against one another nine times in their careers. Joe won five games, Phil four. Coincidentally, the only homerun Joe got during his career was off one of his brother’s pitches.
“I never lived that down,” said Phil.
But I doubt if Joe would consider the baseball stats on ESPN’s Web site his greatest accomplishment. As I hugged Debra and ruffled J.J.’s hair when they walked into church on Sunday, relieved to see them back into their routine, I’d be willing to bet that Joe would say his children are his true legacy.
In the final moments of life, it’s the people you love who matter the most.
“I don’t know how I’ll walk down the aisle without my dad there,” Natalie said.
My heart ached for her, knowing how much Joe looked forward to that day, how he would have cherished that memory.
“Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind. He’ll be there,” I replied.

D’Ann White is editor of The Brandon News.

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