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Woman business owner receives honor

BRANDON - Betsy Hicka received the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce's 2004 Minority & Women-owned Business of the Year award Tuesday at the chamber's 2004 Diversity Awareness Luncheon.

Hicka, owner of Almost Home Pet Resort Inc. in Valrico, was among more than 130 people who attended the ceremony Tuesday at the Crosstown Community Church on Causeway Boulevard.

"It's very exciting," said Hicka, who has owned the deluxe pet resort since 1992. "When they did call me and tell me I was one of the finalists, I was very pleased and surprised."

Other finalists were Jackie Garvin, owner of Lloyd Staffing in the Sabal Park area, and Marie Gilmore, owner and operator of the Osprey Observer in Brandon.

The event's keynote speaker was Tye Maner, president of Tye Maner & Associates Inc., a consulting and training firm in Riverview.

Hillsborough County is trying a new tactic to get residents of south central Hillsborough County to adhere to once-a-week watering restrictions.

The Water Department has teamed with the county's communications department to erect about 100 roadside signs at major intersections between about Seffner and Ruskin informing residents when they can water their lawns.

Confused when to sprinkle? the signs read. It goes on to list permitted watering days: Addresses ending in 0 or 1 are to water on Mondays; those ending in 2 or 3 on Tuesdays; those ending in 4 or 5 on Wednesdays; those ending in 6 or 7 on Thursdays; and those ending in 8 or 9 and those with mixed addresses or no addresses are to water on Fridays. The restrictions are scheduled to end in May.

Water and communications officials hope the signs, which went up last week, will encourage more people to follow the restrictions.

"We've already seen an upsurge of phone calls and people contacting us to make certain of where they live in regards to the south central service area," said Norm Davis, the county's water conservation coordinator.

SUN CITY CENTER - No one can claim the asking price was too high.

After months on the market, no takers have emerged for two free houses in Sun City Center. The community association purchased the homes on Cherry Hills Drive for $87,000 each earlier this year, because they needed the land to make way for a new road into a parking lot.

Rather than tearing them down, the community association offered to give away the two-bedroom homes at 1004 and 1006 Cherry Hills Drive to anyone who would pay to move them. Sixty-four individuals expressed interest in the offer.

The community association's prefered recipient, the Mary and Martha House in Ruskin, wanted the homes to help women dealing with homelessness and domestic violence. But the group could not afford to move the homes. The non-profit's initial estimates placed the moving costs at $44,000 per home to transport the buildings about 10 miles.

One by one, other interested parties also pulled out.

"Maybe the land wasn't there for them to put the houses," said Walt Cawein, president of the community association, noting that no specific reasons were reported.

Without a taker, he said the community association is planning to demolish the homes in about two weeks to move forward with necessary development in Sun City Center.

BRANDON - Goodwill Industries-Suncoast is collecting food, water and supplies for victims of Hurricane Jeanne in west central Florida until the end of October.

Goodwill has been collecting donations for area victims of hurricanes Charley and Frances; that collection period was extended to Oct. 31 by Jeanne.

Items needed include non-perishable food, bottled water and personal care items, such as shampoo, toothpaste and diapers. Collection trucks will deliver the goods to a state emergency warehouse, where they will be distributed to needy victims by charitable groups such as the Salvation Army and United Way.

Donations can be made to any Goodwill store or donation trailer in the following counties: Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, Pasco, Highlands, Hernando, Citrus, Sumter and Levy.

Locally, that includes Goodwill stores at 1106 E Brandon Blvd. in Brandon; 2803 James L. Redman Parkway in Plant City; 3050 College Ave. in Ruskin; and 4102 Hillsborough Ave. in Tampa. Donation trailers are located at the Wal-Mart at 949 E Bloomingdale Ave. in Brandon; in the Riverview Oaks shopping center at 9624 S U.S. 301 in Riverview; and at the Apollo Beach Plaza shopping center at 6412 S U.S. 41.

For more information, call Goodwill at 1-888-279-1988 or visit www.goodwill-suncoast.org