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Pasco County declares state of emergency
Pasco County has declared a state of emergency in preparation for Tropical Storm Fay. Residents in manufactured or mobile homes and those in low lying flood prone areas are instructed to take steps to secure their property and prepare to evacuate early Tuesday morning.
Currently, school has not been cancelled in Pasco County. A decision will be reached later this afternoon as to whether classes will be held tomorrow.
Several locations throughout the county will be providing sandbags to residents, including Zephyrhills Fire Station One located at 6907 Dairy Road in Zephyrhills. The Fire department will assist citizens needing sandbags to prevent flooding until at least 6 p.m.
POSTED AUGUST 18, 4:45 PM
City staff recommends
termination for police chief Barnes
According to a letter from City Manager Steve Spina, released Monday afternoon, the city’s staff will recommend that Police Chief Barnes be terminated from his position due to allegations that he fabricated time sheets for Sgt. Rob Perrault.
Perrault resigned Aug. 8 to take a job as a teacher. The investigation had no bearing on his decision to leave the Zephyrhills Police Department according to his resignation letter. Both Barnes and Perrault were placed on administrative leave earlier this month while the investigation was being conducted.
According to city documents, Barnes allegedly created several time sheets stating hours that Perrault had worked for the city. Those hours, however, showed several conflicts with hours that Perrault was actually teaching at Pasco Hernando Community College.
According to Zephyrhills’ director of administrative services, Katrina Bouthot, Perrault has collected over $2000 since 2006 for hours that he didn’t work for the city. Though it was found that Barnes received no monetary benefit from these incidents, the investigation determined that the police chief was responsible for fabricating the documents as well as covering up the alleged "double dipping."
According to Spina, however, these allegations were not the only factor in recommending Barnes for termination.
"Ongoing problems in the Police Department including low employee morale, employee turnover and general inability to provide effective leadership" all contributed to the decision, according to a city memo. A special meeting of the city council will be held at 12:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 19 to determine if Barnes should be terminated from his position. In the mean time, Barnes has been placed on unpaid administrative leave.
POSTED AUGUST 18, 4:55 p.m.
WAL-MART
The store was shut down for over an hour.
Zephyrhills Fire and Rescue crews responded to a possible gas leak about 1 p.m. on Saturday. Two engines were called to the scene as well as Pasco County Fire crews. Although crews could not confirm there was a leak, they took precautions and emptied the store of employees and customers until People’s Gas could come to the location and shut off the fuel...story
Chief Barnes ordered new vehicles without city approval
Delivery of a new SUV ordered by Zephyrhills Police Chief Russell Barnes was refused by the city last week, after the city staff found that it was purchased without the approval of city council.
In all, Barnes ordered three new Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars and one new Ford Expedition that was meant to serve as a K-9 unit. According to city documents, the police department budgeted $111,117 to lease the new vehicles, however, no purchase order was filed with the city and there was no resolution approved by the city council for the purchase...story
“This is fly!” That is the website that changed my sons perspective on this whole thing we do called fishing. About two years ago, Jake decided that he wanted to learn how to fly fish, so being a good dad, I fell for the bait. At least it wasn’t the newest most expensive game system, although it has not been cheap.
His first rod was an Albright we got from Mr. Swann in Dade City, he really got a feel for his new passion and I found my self getting drawn into this new obsession. Jake received some lessons from Mr. Swann in the afternoons and he showed improvement with his casting, but his back cast needed some work...story
Upon returning to Zephyrhills
There’s something especially strange about coming home after being away for quite some time. Certain things stick out, like weird unnecessary appendages and it takes a little time to readjust to the normal workings of everyday life. After spending nearly a month in the European Union, returning to The States, to Florida and to Zephyrhills is a little on the intimidating side. Largely, it was a relief to be back in one piece (minus a few pounds) and with enough food in the refrigerator and gas in my car to hold me over until my next paycheck...story