Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online

Geoff Fox:

Since 2002, Geoff Fox has written about the offbeat and dynamic personalities that make Pasco County unique. He is now revisiting them, meeting new characters and sharing more stories. Email

Pasco Links:

Latest blog posts:

Most Recent Entries

Monthly Archives

Local News | Photos

A Massive Beehive, Free Sushi And A Eulogy For Uncle Keith

Posted May 28, 2009 by Geoff Fox

Updated May 28, 2009 at 05:14 PM

Please excuse the delay in updates, but time in Everyday Peopleville has been moving in Super Slo-Mo recently.
It’s not that there hasn’t been anything to report, it’s just that the staff here at Everyday People has been moved to a new office with a padlocked refrigerator(?) while being simultaneously stricken by an unholy, turmoil-induced fatigue.

Thus, we are tardy in marveling at the massive beehive recently destroyed at the Circle BB Ranch in Odessa, and the precision with which the mammoth, mushroom-shaped hive was demolished by bee battler Jonathan Simkins of All Florida Bee Removal. The roughly 12-foot-long yellow jacket nest, which hummed like a small generator, was discovered by Shannon Behnke, whose family owns the 535-acre ranch, and his girlfriend, Theresa Gray. On Tuesday, Behnke and Gray donned white suits, mesh helmets and veiled masks, and helped Simkins spray the nest with a soapy solution that killed the yellow jackets on contact. In the massacre, Behnke got stung through the helmet by one yellow jacket, but even as the bump raised on his scalp, he expressed gratitude to Simkins and excitement over the experience. “Now I can continue having fun with my hunting and camping, and we can let the cows back in this field,” he said.

A week earlier, we were dispatched to Wiregrass High School, where students got to eat free sushi for lunch one day. Provided by Schwan’s Food Service, the company with the yellow trucks, the sushi was touted as a healthy alternative to the typical school cafeteria fare. We’re sure it is. It probably shouldn’t have been surprising that many of the kids who attend Wiregrass, located near Meadow Pointe and The Shops at Wiregrass, were already well-versed in the way of sushi and could favorably compare Schwan’s offerings with the rice-wrapped fish found at local eateries and grocery stores. “It was really good. I was surprised,” said Monica Narin, 16, a junior. “I thought it would be generic-tasting, but it wasn’t.” Yeah, the fried burritos and “pizza” – washed down with chocolate or vanilla milkshakes – at our high school didn’t taste generic, either. Meanwhile, it seems as if perpetual character Mark “Tiger” Edmonds has been busy staying retired.

Pasco County’s answer to Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and George Carlin, the former English professor at Saint Leo University fishes, plays Scrabble, listens to outlaw country music, smokes, spends time with Juanita the Tall Girl, feeds his dogs, horse and mule, continues writing his “Curmudgeon Chronicles,” smokes, plays Scrabble, recalls tales from his childhood in Flint, Mich., where he recently traveled to bury his beloved uncle Keith, rides his BMW motorcycle, smokes, drinks coffee from a seemingly bottomless Thermos, awaits the publication of his next compilation of highway stories, stays in touch with old pals Bosco and Captain Zero, and smokes. And when one goes out, he lights another. However, losing his uncle, after his father Gail’s death last year, left Edmonds in somewhat of a funk. “He was my big brother, uncle and an extra dad,” Edmonds said. “All my life, I had my grandpa, dad and uncle Keith keeping my [butt] in line.” The most vicious fight he ever saw, Edmonds said, was between his father and uncle. “Dad’s face was busted open like you wouldn’t believe, and uncle Keith couldn’t straighten up for a couple days after that,” he said. “They went to a movie after they washed the blood off.”