Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The American Cancer Society's 2013 Relay For Life season in Eastern Hillsborough County started strong with events at Riverview and Newsome high schools. Events are coming at Armwood, Bloomingdale, Brandon and Plant City high schools.
Successful events at Newsome and Riverview high schools marked the opening round of the American Cancer Society's 2013 Relay For Life season in Eastern Hillsborough County, with close to $190,000 raised at these two Relays alone, according to the latest online account. Additional Relays for Eastern Hillsborough County are scheduled in the weeks ahead for Armwood, Bloomingdale, Brandon and Plant City high schools. Collectively, as of 5 a.m. March 23, the six sites in Eastern Hillsborough County had reported 249 teams, 3,634 participants and $274,045.14 raised. (See chart below.) That represents a $17,400 increase since the last Patch posting, March 23. In reading the chart below, keep in mind that final tallies for Relay events don't come…
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The accident, just east of Bloomingdale Avenue and Bell Shoals Road, involved two Hillsborough school buses traveling about 10 mph, according to a sheriff’s office crash investigator. Minor injuries reportedly sent 11 students to Brandon Regional Hospital
Photos from the scene show Bloomingdale High School students being evaluated and transported to Brandon Regional Hospital. Two school buses pulled off Bell Shoals Road after a rear-end accident. Injuries reportedly were minor.
Updated 2:37 p.m. The accident involving two school buses transporting students home from an early-release testing day at Bloomingdale High School were involved in a rear-end accident "within 50 feet east" of the Bell Shoals Road and Bloomingdale Avenue traffic light, according to a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office investigator at the scene. "They were not even traveling 10 miles per hour, if that," when the accident occurred, shortly after noon Wednesday, Jan. 16, according to Paul Dozier, the accident investigator. Reportedly, the bus drivers were traveling westbound on Bloomingdale Avenue when the second bus driver checked her left-side mirror. "When she looked up, the first bus was stopped," Dozier said, calling the incident a …
Sunday, January 6, 2013
A Celebration of Life service for Zachary Douglas McCarthy has been set for 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6, at Bells Shoals Baptist in Brandon. The 16-year-old Bloomingdale High student died Jan. 2 after losing control of his car on Natures Way.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Zachary McCarthy, a student at Bloomingdale High, who studied voice at Music Showcase in Brandon, died Jan. 2 after an accident at Natures Way and Golf Meadow Boulevard in Valrico. He is being remembered by a broad section of the community.
A Celebration of Life Service has been scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 6, for 16-year-old Zachary Douglas McCarthy, who died Jan. 2 after losing control of his car near the intersection of Natures Way and Golf Meadow Boulevard. The 6 p.m. service is set for the chapel at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, at 2101 Bell Shoals Road. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the Bloomingdale High School Music Department, according to McCarthy's online obituary at Southern Funeral Care. McCarthy, who lived in the Bloomingdale area of Valrico, was a student at Bloomingdale High, where he was active in the band, chorus and Ambassadors show choir, and a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Riverview. He is surived …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Jim Delaney is the West Central Florida recruiting director for RecruitLook, a national company that helps student athletes get college scholarships.
The rising costs of college combined with the fierce competition for scholarship dollars is leaving some student athletes out in the cold when it comes to higher education. However, longtime Valrico resident Jim Delaney is helping student athletes achieve their dream of playing college sports. Delaney is the West Central Florida recruiting director for RecruitLook, a national company that focuses on helping student athletes obtain college scholarships. Delaney, who played baseball at Bloomingdale High School (he graduated in 1990) and now coaches at the Bloomingdale Little League, said it's become his passion to help talented high school student athletes move on to the college level. "It’s all about helping the kids," said Delaney. "Today…
Saturday, September 29, 2012
James Pepe spent his entire career, 28 years, bouncing from school to school in Hillsborough County.
Appearing in court yesterday before Hillsborough Circuit Judge Walter Heinrich, wearing the signature red Hillsborough County jail uniform with the word "Inmate" splashed across the chest, James J. Pepe hardly looked like a man you'd trust to teach your child. Looking bedraggled and disoriented, Pepe resembled someone you'd go out of your way to avoid if you encountered him on the streets. The Bloomingdale High School teacher silently faced Heinrich while the defense and prosecution debated whether he should receive bail, the prosecution arguing that Pepe is "a danger to society." In the end, Heinrich opted to hold Pepe in jail one more night to allow both sides to prepare their arguments for and against bond for the man charged Sept. 27 …
Friday, September 28, 2012
Bloomingdale High School teacher James Pepe was arrested Sept. 27 for attempting to hire an undercover detective to kill fellow teacher Robert Meredith.
It just didn’t sound like the same teacher Jessica Kramer had for history at Durant High School in the spring of 2007. “I was shocked,” said Kramer upon hearing that Bloomingdale High School teacher James Jules Pepe, 55, of 1850 Providence Lakes Blvd., Brandon, had been arrested for solicitation to commit first-degree murder. “It’s very odd," said Kramer. "I can’t imagine Dr. Pepe doing anything like that. He was always nice and approachable. He was a good teacher. I really enjoyed his class.” Parents of Bloomingdale High School students learned of the teacher’s arrest Thursday, Sept. 27 when they received a recorded phone message from Principal Mark West. “Mr. West just left a message telling us a teacher had been arrested for a very …
Thursday, September 27, 2012
James Jules Pepe, a teacher at Bloomingdale High School and a resident of Providence Lakes in Brandon, was arrested at the school today, facing a charge of solicitation to commit murder, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
A Brandon man and Hillsborough County School District teacher was arrested at Bloomingdale High School today, Sept. 27, facing a charge of solicitation to commit murder. James Jules Pepe, 55, of 1850 Providence Lakes Blvd., No. 907, was arrested at 1700 Bloomingdale Ave., according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office's jail report. Receive updates to this story and other breaking news in your inbox or smartphone by signing up for our Bloomindale Patch newsletter here and our Brandon Patch newsletter here Bloomingdale parents received an automated voicemail message alerting them to the arrest of the teacher and that the incident did not involve the students, according to a mother of a student who contacted Brandon Patch to report …
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Chuck Baird is planning to spend a year in isolation on a remote island in Alaska.
A former Brandon resident is heading off to the wilderness. Chuck Baird is planning to spend a year alone on a remote island in Alaska, TBO.com reports. It's just the latest adventure for Baird, a member of Bloomingdale High's Class of 1990 who has lived in Anchorage for five years. "In high school, I used to run cross country and ultra-marathons, and that was really the part of pushing myself to the limit," Baird, 40, told TBO. "I ran a 50K and tried to run 50 miles but never made that. That was really the genesis of my thrill-seeking." Or, as his mother, Jeanne Baird, who still lives in Brandon, simply told TBO: "He likes adventure." CNN and other national media outlets are covering Baird's journey into isolation. He also plans to …
Mark Vargo
11:35 am on Friday, January 4, 2013
Message can be left for the family at SouthernFuneralCare,com. more ›