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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 15, 2008

Plant City Native Wins Journalism Award

Plant City native Anne Hull, a Washington Post reporter who helped expose mistreatment of wounded war veterans, is this year's recipient of the Lovejoy Award.

The award conferred Sept. 28 at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, is named for alumnus Elijah Parish Lovejoy, an abolitionist newspaperman killed in Alton, Ill., in 1837 while defending his press from a pro-slavery mob.

A five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Hull was part of the three-member team that won the prestigious Pulitzer this year for meritorious public service for a series on the mistreatment of war veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Hull also covered the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina and has written on race, immigration, class and the war in Iraq.

Of special local interest, she authored "The Strawberry Girls," an article about the Florida Strawberry Festival queen and her court published in the August issue of The New Yorker magazine. Her research was done at the Plant City Photo Archives downtown, as well as throughout the community.

The Lovejoy Award selection committee chair, former Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski, called Hull "an extraordinary journalist, one of the finest of her generation."

Hull was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and is a two-time recipient of the Newspaper Editors' Distinguished Writing Award. She was a 2007 recipient of the Batten Medal for coverage of the Iraqi war and its impacts on American soldiers and their families.

The descendant of Donald and Emma Hull, early settlers in the Hopewell community, she is the niece of Donna Hull Jones of Plant City.

Hull worked for the St. Petersburg Times for 15 years and was the paper's national correspondent from 1995 to 2000. At The Washington Post, she is a national staff reporter.

George Wilkens

Hoedown To Benefit Historical Building

Fried fish and entertainment will be featured at an annual fundraiser Oct. 25 for the Plant City Cornerstone Center.

Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children for the Old Time Country Fish Fry & Hoedown at the Bar M Ranch.

Entertainment will be from 7 to 9 p.m., and dinner will be served from 5 to 8 p.m.

Guests should bring lawn chairs.

Cornerstone Center, at 315 N. Collins St., was home to First Baptist Church of Plant City from the 1920s until the church moved in 1994. The building is now a community center, and supporters are working to restore it

The ranch is at 1710 Joe McIntosh Road, off State Road 39, also known as Paul Buchman Highway.

For information, call Cornerstone at (813) 754-9526 or Violete Massey at (813) 752-2659.

Dave Nicholson

Church Celebrates The Fall Season

Temperatures are starting to drop, acorns are starting to fall, and Halloween is just around the corner.

Fall is in the air and the members at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, 2104 Mud Lake Road, are getting a jump on the celebration.

Pastor Russell Martin and members of his church have put together another big event for the annual Fall Festival, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

This year's festival includes a covered eating area where hot dogs, hamburgers and drinks can be enjoyed out of the sun or weather. There will be a variety of vendors and a baked food sale.

Church member and festival director Don Diltz has an expansive design for the festival grounds adjacent to the church off Alexander Street.

"We will have flea markets, jewelry vendors, Christmas decorations on sale, and an arts and craft exhibit on the property," Diltz said.

Blessings Unlimited will sell religious articles, he said, and a representative for Mary Kay Cosmetics will be there. Sam's Club also will be represented.

Plant City police will demonstrate gun safety and offer child identification techniques. A silent auction will be held featuring gift baskets, tickets and coupons from local businesses and other valuable items.

For the children, Diltz said, there will be two inflatable rides, including a slide and fun house. A church cookbook and fresh herbs will be available.

The festival theme is "Our Health - God's Healing," Martin said.

Plant City Fire Rescue paramedics will show techniques used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and a handheld defibrillator device. A bloodmobile will operate on the church property and offer donors free coupons for food and drink.

Family counseling information will also be available.

About 3 p.m., Martin said there will be a church service.

The church will donate part of the profits from the festival to a fund for local needy medical patients.

George H. Newman

He's Really For McCain

Mayor Rick Lott, asked this month at a club meeting about which candidate he favors in November, quipped, "I support Ronald Reagan."

It may have seemed that Lott was being evasive. But he later said he was trying to interject some humor into the Oct. 2 meeting of the Plant City Downtown Luncheon Club.

Lott is solidly a John McCain man.

"I endorsed McCain" more than a year ago, Lott told a reporter the following day.

His endorsement wasn't widely reported in the media.

Lott said he likes McCain because he is a proven leader.

Dave Nicholson

AT&T Expands Area Coverage

The nation's largest wireless provider recently activated a new cell site in the Plant City area.

The site, located near railroad tracks on Turkey Creek Road, will improve AT&T's coverage south of State Road 60 along Turkey Creek Road, County Road 39 and in the surrounding areas, including Medard Park and Durant High School.

The new equipment was placed on a monopole, about 160 feet tall.

Other carriers already had equipment on the site, a spokeswoman said.

The new Plant City cell site is one of dozens being added throughout the state this year as part of AT&T's four-year planned expenditure of nearly $1 billion in its Florida wireless network.

"Our ongoing investment in Florida continues to increase coverage, ensure high levels of reliability and offer advanced services for our customers," said Marshall Criser III, president of AT&T Florida.

Dave Nicholson

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