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Dade City upbeat despite lean times

Leaders still struggled with the city's finances in 2005, yet hopes were buoyed by rising property values and development.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published December 28, 2005

An air of optimism seemed to settle over Dade City in 2005. A developer broke ground on the city's first full-service hotel. Redevelopment continued at the old beverage plant north of town. And the community rallied around the family of a sheriff's deputy injured while serving in Iraq.

Little changed, however, in the city's lean budget picture.

Leaders continued the struggle to climb out of a financial hole that has existed for years. The tax rate remained the highest of all Pasco municipalities, and City Manager Harold Sample warned that easier times still are a few years off.

But property values continued to climb and development promises became more concrete, with annexations of hundreds of acres surrounding the city, all targeted for homes and shopping centers.

Atlanta hotel developer Piyush Mulji forged ahead with a Hampton Inn hotel and conference center on U.S. 301 south of downtown. After a couple of initial delays, Mulji held a groundbreaking in August attended by numerous dignitaries. Construction has yet to begin.

Jim Guedry and his partners at the Dade City Business Center signed on more tenants in the redeveloped Pasco Beverage plant on U.S. 301. More than 150 people found work at the park's businesses, and in less than a year of ownership, 40 percent of its space has been leased.

In September, organizers held a $10-a-plate steak dinner to raise money to help Christina Cooley, whose husband, Josh, suffered grave wounds from a roadside bombing in July. He is a Pasco sheriff's deputy and Marine reservist. But no one imagined the response: About 1,650 people attended, donating more than $47,000.

Among the notable passings, Cliff Freeman, who owned the RadioShack for five decades, died of cancer in September at age 59. Known for his hard-working attitude, he made the little shop part of the downtown fabric.

Dollie Mae Craig, one the area's African-American pioneers, died in August. She was 92. In addition, longtime philanthropist Martha Blackburn Hardy died in May, and citrus baron Tom Ed Oakley died in January.

The deadliest fire in Dade City history, and one of the deadliest fires in Pasco's, took three lives on S Third Street in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.

Smoke inhalation killed Tricia Southern-Reedy, 30, and her 9-year-old son, Hunter, who died in his mother's arms, investigators said. Her husband, Mark Reedy, 20, left a trail of bloody footprints trying to get neighbors' help. He died a day later of severe burns on 90 percent of his body.

Hunter's sister, Hope, 11, survived because she spent the night with her great-grandmother. Authorities blamed the family's kerosene heater.

More than 200 well-wishers and three different families buried the victims together at Floral Memory Gardens. In March, Hunter's classmates at San Antonio Elementary planted a live oak tree in the third-grader's honor.

[Last modified December 28, 2005, 00:37:18]