Tampa Bay Informer - Community
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The 50th Bob Hope Chrysler Classic

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Clay WalkerClay Walker Joins Bo Jackson, Evan Longoria, Huey Lewis and Michael Bolton to play in the 50th Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Hosted by Arnold Palmer, January 19- 25, 2009.

Nashville, TN (January 13, 2009) – Country music superstar Clay Walker joins former Major League Baseball and National Football League standout Bo Jackson, Tampa Bay Rays third baseman and 2008 American League Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria, and famed musicians Huey Lewis and Michael Bolton who are among the initial celebrity athletes and entertainers joining golf legend Arnold Palmer for the 50th Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Hosted by Arnold Palmer, Jan. 19-25, 2009.

During his 15 year career, Walker has participated in dozens of golf tournaments with a charity element.

Other celebrity participants for the Classic, a desert tradition since 1960, include musicians Alice Cooper, Don Felder (formerly of the Eagles) and Josh Kelley, actors Kurt Russell, Chris O'Donnell, Thomas Gibson, Oliver Hudson and Jeffrey Donovan, actor/comedian Kevin Nealon, actor/game show host John O'Hurley, timeless New York Yankees baseball legend Yogi Berra, comedian Tom Dreesen, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and sportscaster Dan Fouts, Hall of Fame sportscaster Keith Jackson, television financial host Joe Kernen,  leveland Browns quarterback Derek Anderson, former Green Bay Packers wide receiver and NFL analyst Sterling Sharpe, and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

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Tampa Bay Black Heritage FestivalTampa, FL, January 13, 2009 – The 2009 Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival and State Farm Insurance are utilizing the Street Festival to highlight, and address, healthcare issues in the African American community and the need to emphasize healthy living and healthy lifestyles. The Mayor’s 2K Challenge, a 2K walk or run, will start at 9 AM Saturday, January 17 at Al Lopez Park located at 4810 N. Himes Avenue, Tampa, FL 33602. Registration will begin on site at 7:30 AM. The Mayor’s 2K Challenge is a free event, and everyone is invited to participate.

The Mayor’s 2K Challenge, a spin-off to the 2008 Festival’s partnership with State Farm Insurance and Dr. Ian Smith, founder of the 50 Million Pound Challenge, has previously drawn over 350 participants in a brisk, healthy walk. Having been recognized as a 2009 Top 20 Event by Southeast Tourism Society, the Festival’s remaining Saturday activities will provide a focus on health issues, will feature health screenings, and will also challenge participants to make healthy choices. In the absence of Mayor Iorio, walkers will be led by former County Commissioner and current City Council Chairperson Thomas Scott. In coordinated effort with Moffitt Cancer Center, a Health Village will be furnished to facilitate health screenings and the distribution of literature.

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Golf Outing - SuperBowl XLIII Weekend 1st Annual Golf Classic to Support NFL Alumni of Tampa Bay

Tampa, Florida January 11, 2008 — The Chad Larkins Golf Classic will be held in Valrico, Florida, on Thursday, January 29, 2009, at Buckhorn Springs Golf and Country Club with a 1 P.M. Shotgun Start.

A total of 35 foursomes will gather at Buckhorn Springs Golf and Country Club to enjoy an 18-hole Florida scramble tournament followed by an awards dinner where outstanding awards will be presented to tournament winners.

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Farmers Market Downtown ClearwaterCLEARWATER, FL  –  Beginning Wednesday, January 14, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Clearwater’s weekly Downtown Farmer’s Market will have a new home on the 500 block of Cleveland Street. The area will be closed to traffic, and  endors will set up booths along the renovated streetscape instead of the parking lot at City Hall, the market’s home for the past four years.

Downtown Development Board member Bob Fernandez, who oversees the market, is delighted about the move to the city’s main street. “I’ve visited markets all over the state and the most successful ones are those that are held in the street,” he said. “That gives us better exposure.” Now in its fourteenth season, the market was originally held in Station Square Park on Saturdays. Later switched to Wednesdays, the weekly event was a Station Square Park staple between November and April until construction of the Station Square Park Condominiums and the Cleveland Street Streetscape forced organizers to find temporary digs elsewhere.

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Florida Aviation Hall of Fame

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Kermit Weeks Selected for Leadership and Accomplishments in AviationFantasy of Flight Founder Inducted into Florida Aviation Hall of Fame

POLK CITY, FL (January 5, 2009) - Kermit Weeks, creator and founder of Central Florida's premier aviation attraction, Fantasy of Flight, and a championship aerobatics stunt pilot has been selected to join some  of the greatest pilots in Florida history as a member of Florida Aviation Hall of Fame. Weeks was inducted into the Florida Aviation Hall of Fame Thursday, Dec. 11 at the society's sixth annual induction ceremony, which was held at the Florida Air Museum on the Sun 'n Fun campus in Lakeland, Fla.

Weeks was one of just three men inducted into the prestigious society this year, one of whom was honored posthumously. A pilot and aircraft designer, Weeks has placed among the top three aerobatics champions in the world five times and has won more than 20 medals in World Aerobatics  Championships.

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American ForestsTextbooks for Trees: "Less Waste, Healthier Forests"

Washington, DC. January 6, 2009 – American Forests is delighted to announce that our 2008 partnership with Chegg.com planted hundreds of acres of trees in deforested areas across the nation. These trees provide many benefits, such as cleaner air and water, habitat for wildlife, and more carbon dioxide sequestered by forests. This unique partnership proves that books and trees can have a positive relationship!

Chegg.com provides a service that allows students to rent, buy, or sell textbooks online. Students reuse textbooks, which means less waste and significantly smaller textbook bills for all those penny-pinched students. Last year, Chegg.com took its efforts a step further by vowing to plant a tree for every textbook that a student buys, sells, or rents through their site. Chegg.com plants these trees through American Forests, the organizations at the forefront of ecosystem restoration through the planting of native trees. 

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Creating a Better Clearwater

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Members of the Create Clearwater Group. Photo by Joyce WhiteCreating a Better Clearwater - Local Group Builds Community Spirit

Clearwater FL, January 2, 2009 - A new organization called Create Clearwater was formed to help build stronger community resources and higher quality of life in the area. In the span of a few short weeks, the group produced a number of educational programs, implemented a project to start a community garden in Clearwater, they are putting together a “Shop Local and Shop Green” guide for Clearwater (www. ClearwaterGreenGuide. com) and greater Tampa Bay, and started planting a demonstration “food forest.” This food forest comprises a mixture of fruit trees, bushes, vines, vegetables and herbs that can provide both a concentrated food supply and natural beauty for the yard, while only requiring in a small space to do so.

Create Clearwater is focused on creating local, organic food supplies, revitalizing neighborhoods, environmental issues, and building a strong local economy – as well as other quality of life issues.

“We don’t see a contradiction between a strong local economy and protecting the environment,” says Cory Brennan, a natural systems designer and founder of Create Clearwater. “In fact, when you design correctly, protecting the environment should create more abundance for everybody, not less. That is the beauty of this program:

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Clearwater Mayor Hibbard Proclaims Human Rights Week Featured

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Mayor Hibbard and Council Congratulate Members of Poets and Youth for Human Rights. Photo by David ZiffHibbard Proclaims Human Rights Week

Clearwater FL, December 10, 2008 - It was a chilly day for the gold coast of Florida; nevertheless, there was a lot of warmth at the Pangea Café in downtown Clearwater. It seems there is another holiday to be celebrated in addition to the traditional ones. December is Human Rights Month for the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the 60th Anniversary of this auspicious event was about to be honored by Poets and Youth for Human Rights.

On December 10th, 1948 led by the courageous Eleanor Roosevelt, the nations of the world united with the conviction to guarantee 30 rights to mankind. Clearwater was celebrating in its own way as it had for the past few years with poetry and a special reading of the Declaration. Adding to the honor of the occasion was a proclamation from Mayor Frank Hibbard declaring Human Rights Week and the inaugural presentation of the Clearwater Humanitarian Awards.

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NEW YORK, Dec. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Coca-Cola Company's iconic red billboard in New York City's Times Square is going "green" in time for New York's famous New Year's celebration. Coca-Cola is leading a unanimous eco-friendly shift to wind power among 30 billboards that tower over the world's most recognizable intersection.

Coca-Cola was the first company to select clean, renewable wind power to light up their billboard located at 47th and Broadway. After Coca-Cola made their commitment, all of the neighboring billboards on three buildings around Times Square joined the movement through an electric supply agreement with ConEdison Solutions and the building management company.

Collectively, the group's volunteer move will prevent the release of 1,866 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. On its own, Coca-Cola's pioneering move to 100 percent wind power for its billboard will have the equivalent effect of removing 75 passenger automobiles from the road for one year or converting 38 households to wind power for one year. The "greening" of the Coca-Cola billboard is also equivalent to reducing 376 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually or planting 471.5 acres of trees.

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THE ULTIMATE TAILGATE PAWTY

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humane_society_of_pinellas.jpgClearwater FL  December 17th, 2008 - The Humane Society OF Pinellas Is excited about our upcoming, unique event that has been added to our schedule! Mark your calendars now so that you don’t miss out on this spectacular event taking place at Coachman Park, Downtown Clearwater on Saturday, January 31, 2009 from 10am-4pm. 

The City of Clearwater & The Wag Mag present - THE ULTIMATE TAILGATE PAWTY - To benefit the Humane Society of Pinellas

Football fever will be in the air, as Raymond James Stadium in Tampa is the sight of the season ending Big Game.  So we have decided to have a little tailgating fun of our own, for our own furry, fuzzy and feathered friends.

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Clearwater High School Exchange Program

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City of ClearwaterHigh School Students Sought for Nagano, Japan Exchange Program

CLEARWATER, FL December 26, 2008  –  The City of Clearwater is now accepting applications from students in grades nine through 12 interested in traveling abroad as part of an exchange program with Clearwater’s sister city, Nagano, Japan.

This year, four students will be accepted into the program who will travel to Nagano for two weeks during summer 2009. Participants will be immersed in the country’s language and culture as they stay with local families. In addition, they will visit and give presentations to junior and senior high schools in the Nagano area, and get involved in educational exchanges.

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Larry King Talk Show Host and Founder of The Larry King Cardiac FoundationHillel School of Tampa Event to Feature Veteran Talk Show Host Larry King Larry King selected as guest speaker to raise money for the school and its effort to save a life in Tampa.

Tampa, FL December 19, 2008 -  Saving a Heart a Day is the goal of The Larry King Cardiac Foundation so Larry King, the well-known talk show host and founder of the Foundation, has agreed to be the guest speaker at an elegant brunch in Tampa to complete a year long fundraising effort that benefits the Hillel School of Tampa and its goal to help save a life in Tampa,  the school announced today.  

"Hillel School of Tampa is proud to bring Larry King to Tampa for this once-in-a-lifetime event," says Lynn Chernin, co-chair of the event called "From the Heart with Larry King" set for February 22nd.  "This is an event not just for Hillel School of Tampa parents and friends.  It's for anyone in the community who wants to hear Larry King in person and help the school as well as it's effort to help others.

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3 Ivy And Santa At Gulfside Regional Hospice Holiday PartyNEW PORT RICHEY FL,  December 17, 2008  – There was an early Santa Claus sighting at Gulfside Regional Hospice during its annual Mending Hearts holiday party for children who have lost a loved one on Dec. 15 at the hospice’s main office in New Port Richey.

Forty-seven children attended the party. The children filled out a wish list and then their names were placed on a tree and selected by Gulfside staff and friends of the hospice, who bought the gifts. Local businesses including WDUV 105.5 FM, Macy’s at Gulfview Square Mall, Taylor Freezer and Ultimate Vending also provided gifts for the children. The Mike Alstott Family Foundation also gave $5,000 worth of toys, which filled over-sized stockings that each child took home with them to open later.

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AMI Associated Marine InstitutesTAMPA, FL December 15, 2008 – Students from Tampa Marine Institute (TMI), a program under Associated Marine Institutes (AMI), are gearing up for their winter graduation.  The program helps troubled youth get back on the right track through experiential learning. 

The commencement ceremony is on Friday, December 19, 2008 at 2:00 pm, 1730 Maritime Blvd, Tampa, FL. 33605.  Special guest speaker, County Commissioner Kevin Beckner will address the graduating youth on taking this beginning to the next level and striving for their best.  The kids will share their experiences and personal growth with their own commencement speech.

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Ask a Librarian sponsors YouTube contest for high schoolers

TAMPA, FL December 12, 2008  — With winter break quickly approaching, parents might be wondering how to keep their aspiring young directors occupied. Mom and Dad, tell your high school students about The Second Annual Director’s Chair, a contest in which Florida students submit commercials to promote Ask a Librarian. Ask a Librarian is a free online service that allows the public to chat with a librarian for help with homework or general questions.

Floridians in ninth through 12th grade are invited to submit to YouTube a 30-second video promoting Ask a Librarian by Jan. 17, 2009, for the chance to win a digital video camera, a digital camera or an iPod Shuffle with an iTunes gift card.

“We hope students will put the finishing touches on their videos during their holiday vacation,” said Diana Sachs-Silveira, virtual reference manager of Ask a Librarian. “We know how creative teens can be, especially after seeing last year’s entries, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with this year.”

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Sandpearl Clearwater Beach FL SANDPEARL RESORT AND CARETTA ON THE GULF EACH EARN 2009 AAA FOUR DIAMOND AWARD DESIGNATIONS

CLEARWATER BEACH, FL November 24, 2008 – The Sandpearl Resort and its signature restaurant Caretta on the Gulf have each been awarded the prestigious AAA Four Diamond Rating for the year 2009. Lodgings at this level offer an extensive array of amenities combined with a high degree of hospitality, service, and attention to detail. Restaurants at this level offer a distinctive fine-dining experience marked by high-quality ingredients, creative presentation, and attentive service. The Sandpearl Resort and Caretta on the Gulf opened in August 2007 and this is their first year to be named a AAA Four Diamond Award® winners.

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