Girl, 11, says man in white van tried to lure her inside
WESLEY CHAPEL - Pasco sheriff's deputies are investigating a suspicious incident involving an 11-year-old girl. The girl, a Dr. John Long Middle School student, reported Tuesday that a black man driving a white van tried to get her to climb into his vehicle after she got off the bus at her bus stop. The girl refused and ran to her home in Meadow Pointe, where the man went up to the home and knocked on the window before leaving in his vehicle, deputies said. The incident was reported at 2:43 p.m. Another student at John Long Middle, a 12-year-old boy, reported last week that he was approached by a white man wearing a ski mask who jumped out of a white van driven by a black man. Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to call the Pasco County Sheriff's Office toll-free at 1-800-854-2862.
School employees approve new contract with pay raise
LAND O'LAKES - United School Employees of Pasco officially ratified its new contract with the Pasco County School Board on Monday. Under the agreement, Pasco's starting-level teacher salaries for a new teacher with a bachelor's degree rise $2,200 to $35,300. A recent teacher pay raise in Hillsborough schools brought starting salaries there to $35,012. Also this month, the Pinellas School Board approved an agreement making that district's teachers the best-paid in the Tampa Bay area, with starting-level teachers making $36,000. Pasco salary increases will be retroactive to July, the beginning of the fiscal year. More than 6,600 teachers and school-related personnel voted on the contract, according to the union. Ninety-seven percent of the teachers and 99 percent of school-related personnel voted in favor of the tentative agreements, the union said. Employees had three weeks from the date the tentative contract agreements were reached in late July to review the settlement summaries and salary schedules.
Put on sunscreen for nude Cancer Society fundraiser
LAND O'LAKES - Registration is under way for the American Cancer Society's first Nude Relay For Life fundraiser, which will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Caliente nudist resort. The event will include a short relay, a reception, fundraising activities and a luminaria ceremony. Registration will begin at 6 p.m. Admission is free for Caliente members and cancer survivors who register with the American Cancer Society. For others, admission is a $10 donation to the organization. Call ACS community representative Nicole Hahn at (813) 949-0291, ext. 103, or Brenna Barry with Caliente at (813) 996-3700, ext. 271 .
CORRECTION
The New Port Richey Police Department charged a man with aggravated battery early Monday after one of his roommates accused him of stabbing him with a broken beer bottle. An article Tuesday gave the wrong law enforcement agency.
