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Brooksville FL News

Oct 10, 2019

Former Fire Chief In Point Pleasant Boro, Business Owner Dies - Point Pleasant, NJ Patch

Ernest Roy Lauer, of Homosassa, Fla., 81, passed away after a brief illness on Sept. 21 in Brooksville, Fla, according to his obituary. He was born in Hackensack on Feb. 9, 1938, and raised in Point Pleasant, where he resided for 35 years. He was the co-owner/operator of Lauer Brothers Plumbing and Heating in Point Pleasant. Lauer was a life member of the New Jersey State Firemen's Association and was the first ever cadet at Fire Company No. 2 in Point Pleasant when it was founded in 1955, according to his obituary. He was just a year too young to be an official charter member, but he was very involved in the station's founding, his obituary said. He became chief of the department in 1971. He was an avid outdoorsman and purchased the family's vacation home on the Eastern Shore of Virginia before eventually moving there in 1980. After retiring to Florida in 1990, Lauer worked as a park ranger at Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, according to his obituary. He owned several antique cars, most recently a Model T and a Model A. He was a member of the Citrus A's Model A Ford Car Club, Ye Olde Model A Club, and the T...

Dec 22, 2016

Moton Elementary students learn about holiday traditions around the world

BROOKSVILLE — The dreidel spun around and around on the blue tray, finally falling on its side. The child who set it in motion either won or lost gelt or gold in the pot. The "gold" was play coins, and the Dreidel Game was played to familiarize Moton Elementary School students with a holiday tradition in Israel. Related News/Archive Israel, sponsored by the fifth-graders, was not the only country into which the children and their families gained a little insight. The event was called Christmas Around the World and was coordinated by Title I facilitator Colleen Maine. "In the past, Moton has always done a winter wonderland, but this year we decided to put a different spin on it," Maine said. Grade levels from kindergarten through fifth focused on different countries and prepared activities for the rest of the children and their families. Kindergarten took on the Netherlands and provided pictures of wooden shoes on heavy paper for children to color, cut out and glue together. Kinder... (Tampabay.com)

Sep 14, 2016

Restoring native plants to the Maine landscape

McCargo spoke from her home in Portland, where she and her family relocated after 18 years in Brooksville. Portland makes life easier for her traveling husband.Also, though, after an eight-month stint in Barcelona a few years ago, McCargo felt called to help enlighten urbanites about issues related to nature.Are you an apartment dweller? Grow a perennial in a pot or a window box. Every little bit helps, she said.Are you anxious about planting from seed? Then buy native perennials from a nursery. Just make sure they’ve been nursery-propagated — not cultivars.“Of our 1,400 Maine native plants, a quarter of them are listed as rare or endangered,” said McCargo. “Mostly plants are dwindling because humans are taking up more space — that really is what it boils down to.”Planting natives by seed is crucial because those plants are best for promoting genetic diversity.“It’s the best bet for the future and it’s how wild plants have survived the millennia,” McCargo said.A note about insects: leave them alone.“All of our plants have unique relationships with other things,” McCargo said. “All birds need insects to feed their young. All of our native plants have these unique insects that live in them. Probably you can blame horticulture for people thinking that insects are bad for plants.”Milkweed’s canoe-shaped green pods turn from pale green to yellow and split along one edge. Pick the pods and put them in a paper bag to dry.PHOTO COURTESY WILD SEED PROJECT“All the native species are pollinator species,” McCargo said. “Most use an insect to cross-pollinate the flower. That web of life is very interwoven.”Among the pollinators are honey and bumblebees, pollen wasps, ants, bees and hoverflies, butterflies and moths.If you’re planting perennials purchased at a nursery, ask whether the plants were propagated in the nursery.“A lot of the natives they offer are cultivars, which are cloned natives,” McCargo sai... (The Ellsworth American)

Jul 27, 2016

Planting a wild seed: Group works to sow native plants throughout Maine

Native plants are so dynamic,” McCargo said. “Even just adding one native plant to your landscape, you get so much nature with it.” At her house in Brooksville on June 17, McCargo pointed out the many native Maine plants she uses to produce garden beds full of interesting colors and textures. “A lot of our garden plants aren’t great pollinators,” she explained, referring to the greenhouse-raised flowers typically seen in Maine gardens — the showy hydrangea and bright rhododendrons, the tall day lilies and countless colors of roses. Instead of using these flowers, McCargo fills her gardens with native Maine plants, such as jewelweed and marsh marigold, American honeysuckle and wood aster, eastern shooting star and red columbine. Instead of growing a patch of asparagus, she grows a patch of ostrich ferns, commonly known by Maine residents as edible and tasty fiddleheads. “Native plants are all pollinator plants,” she said. “Even the trees — even the grass is. They all support other creatures.” Early in the season, several of the woodland plants in her garden were already in full bloom. Big blue irises stretched the petals wide, displaying a wash of yellow, purple and indigo. And Turk’s-cap lilies bent their orange heads in the sun, their spotted petals curled back, tempting bees and butterflies. “Plants are the base level of the ecosystem, the first autotrophic producer,” McCargo said. “You don’t have the plants, you don’t have the insects. You don’t have the insects, you don’t have the birds and everything else.” A former head plant propagator for the New England Wild Flower Society, McCargo describes herself as an educator with 30 years of experience in plant propagation, landscaping and conservation. Splitting her time between her home in Portland and her house in Brooksville, she now is devoting most of her time to the Wild Seed Project. On the organization’s official website, wildseedproject.net, she writes articles about specific gardening topics. And with the help of volunteers, she ethically collects seeds to sell through the website. Running year-round, the seed sale is replenished each November, when McCargo adds the year’s seed crop. At that time, her product list includes about 60 species of plants native to Maine. “Man... (Bangor Daily News)

May 18, 2016

A sunflower maze, a 'Moonshiners' meet and greet and other Things to Do on the North Suncoast

Original Lipizzan Stallions of Austria will be at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Hernando County Fairgrounds, 6436 Broad St., Brooksville. The rare breed was developed by the Hapsburg monarchy of Spain and Austria during the Renaissance. Tickets are $12 for ages 13 and up or $10 for ages 6 to 12 in advance and $15 for ages 13 and up or $12 for ages 6 to 12 at the gate. Admission is free for children under 6. Proceeds will benefit the Pony Express 4-H Club. For information, call (352) 754-4489. A-maze-ing: Visitors will be challenged to find their way out of a sunflower maze from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through May 29 and on Memorial Day, May 30, at Sweetfields Farm, 17250 Benes Roush Road, Masaryktown. The maze is made out of the flowers that grew from 375,000 sunflower seeds. Admission is $9.50 plus tax for ages 12 and older and $5 plus tax for ages 3 to 11. For information, call (352) 279-0977 or visit sweetfieldsfarm.com. Other fun Paddles and poker: The Bayou Poker Paddle, a benefit event for Raffle Rescue, a pet rescue charity, will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Miller's Bayou at Gill Dawg, 5419 Treadway Drive, Port Richey. To get the best poker hand and collect tokens for a chance to win prizes, race non-motorized watercraft (such as kayaks, canoes and paddle boards) to large inflatable check points on the bayou. For information, visit bayoubattlefl.com. Meet a 'Moonshiner': Meet Tim Smith of Climax Moonshine from the TV show Moonshiners between 4 and 7 p.m. May 13 at B-21 Fine Wine and Spirits, 43380 U.S. 19, Tarpon Springs. A limited supply of Climax Moonshine will be available for purchase, which Tim Smith can autograph. Arrive early to ensure availability and a spot in line. Admission is free to the event, which will include tastings for attendees who are age 21 and older. For information, call (727) 937-5049. Mini models: The Suncoast Center for Fine Scale Modeling in the West Pasco Industrial Park, 2645 Success Drive, Odessa, showcases mini model trains from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the third Saturday of each month through May. The museum features four scratch-built operating train layouts, military models, turn-of-the-century buildings and several doll house exhibits. Admission is $7 for adults and children 12 and under are free. For information, call (352) 585-2662 or visit fine­scalemodeling.org. (Tampabay.com)

Apr 22, 2016

Driver reaching for cigarette hits Hernando County family, killing 3-year-old

BROOKSVILLE — Lacey Thomas and her three children — ages 6, 3 and 1 — set out Friday on a usual walk down the tree-lined country road outside their home. Related News/Archive It was right around 5 p.m., and the family wasn't far from their Neff Lake Road house when William Cameron Perkins, 26, drove north up the street in a four-door 2002 Jaguar. He dropped a cigarette while behind the wheel and became distracted, troopers said. Perkins lost control of the car and struck Thomas and two of the children, who were walking south on the northbound side of the road. Ava Thomas, 3, died of her injuries, and her 1-year-old brother, Spencer, was fighting for his life Saturday night at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa. State troopers said Perkins was driving with a suspended license. Ava, Spencer and Lacey Thomas, 24, were all rushed to the hospital after the crash. Tana, 6, was unscathed. Rick Thomas, the children's father, wasn't with the family when the crash occurred. TV reports Friday ni... (Tampabay.com)