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Schools may offer Mandarin Chinese

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 13, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY

Aiming to get students ready for a global future, Pasco school officials are looking at offering a new language - Mandarin Chinese.

Nothing keeps students from communicating internationally because, says Jeff Morgenstein, Pasco's supervisor of curriculum and instructional services for English to speakers of other languages and world languages, "the barriers aren't there. Technology has flattened them."

The Pasco school system already offers American Sign Language, Spanish, French and German.

While Morgenstein hopes to add Mandarin Chinese as a class eventually, it could be introduced this year as a club instead of a class. 

SEFFNER

32 cats taken from home are euthanized

Thirty-two cats rescued from the care of a disheveled elderly woman Monday were euthanized today, according to Hillsborough County Animal Services.

"We tried everything, every bit to save even one, " said department director Bill Armstrong.

Staff veterinarian Isabelle Roese said the cats, most of them stained with urine and feces, were riddled with contagious diseases that presented a threat to the other 700 animals at the facility.

Twenty dogs also were seized from the custody of 82-year-old Myrtle Stewart. Two were euthanized today, and officials are monitoring two more for bad temperament, Roese said.

EAST LAKE

Golf course neighbors oppose flood remedy

Homeowners near the Tarpon Woods Golf Course agree that flooding is a big problem, but they're leery of the solution Pinellas County officials have proposed.

Now the county's idea of buying the Tarpon Woods Golf Course and using it to hold stormwater runoff has neighbors organizing against the plan.

The community's fears began last month after Pinellas County commissioners approved applying for a state grant that would generate almost $2-million toward the purchase.

[Last modified June 13, 2007, 01:11:54]