Local charities the winner at Gibsonton Showmen`s Circus

PRST STD
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RUSKIN, FLORIDA 33570
PERMIT NO. 8
16, 2014 • VOLUME
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What’s happening
at your local library?
Visit www.hcplc.org
to find your branch
along wth schedules.
See page 8.
Revolution Ice Cream Company is truly
revolutionary for more reasons than one
■■ By PENNY FLETCHER
[email protected]
Getting fired was the best thing
that could have happened to Bill
Workman last year. Up until then,
he had been working all day at
a job he was no longer happy
with, and staying up all night
developing new flavors of ice
cream that friends and neighbors
said were out of this world …
flavors like chocolate habañero
and curried coconut. He also
makes flavors that include other
foods, like banana pudding and
bacon.
Yes, bacon. It’s called Porky’s
Delight Bacon Brittle.
Bill happens to have very
eclectic tastes, both in the flavors
he creates and the ambiance of
his store.
This, however, is partially due
to his wife Leslee, who comes
from the fourth generation of a
Tampa family, many of whom
have been what Bill describes as
“very artsy.”
Walking into the store is like
walking into another world.
Set back in a plaza at 220 W.
Brandon Blvd. (SR 60) between
Kings and Parsons Avenues, you
wouldn’t think he’d have much
of a clientele. But the place stays
XX Continued on page 13
penny fletcher photo
Revolution Ice Cream Company owner and flavor mixer Bill Workman, left, serves a customer one of his unique ice cream combinations.
Warren Resen has
been on the road
again. This time visiting
historic San Francisco
and the Presidio. See
page 5.
Take The Current with you!
www.riverviewcurrent.com
New and expanding
South County businesses
will soon get tax breaks
■■ By PENNY FLETCHER
[email protected]
Businesses in three areas of
South County will find themselves in a better tax position by
the end of this month.
County Commissioners voted
in December to ask the State of
Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity Office to add
portions of Gibsonton, Riverview
and Palm River to the list of
State Enterprise Zones, and the
State has already told the county
to expect approval by the end of
the month.
This means that new or expanding businesses in those areas
will be eligible for State tax credits in hopes of boosting the local
economies.
The areas were chosen because
they meet the state’s “misery index” statistics, with poverty rates
of more than 20 percent, and
have more than 30 percent of the
employees from those businesses
living within that area as well.
To be considered, the area must
also have an unemployment rate
of more than 8.9 percent and be
in what the state calls “general
distress.”
General distress, according to
Lynn Schultz, business consultant for the county’s Economic
Development Department,
means that the area includes
problems like poor drainage,
high crime, abandoned buildings,
and deteriorated roads.
At this time, Hillsborough
County has only 3.1 miles of Enterprise Zones, which were created to increase business, which
then improves the economy
within the depressed areas. This
figure does not include the City
of Tampa, which is counted
separately.
Once approved by the State,
XX Continued on page 2
Local charities the winner at
Gibsonton Showmen’s Circus
■■ By Kevin Brady
[email protected]
Lamount “The Human Volcano” was among 14 performers who volunteered their time for the show.
Seated just a few feet from the
fire-breathing “Human Volcano”
and acrobats who seemed to defy
gravity at times, children cheered,
gasped and laughed in equal measure, but local charities were the
real winners at the International
Showmen’s Association Charity
Circus.
Now in its 30th year, the charity
circus, staged at the association’s
Gibsonton headquarters, drew
around 2,000 visitors for three
Jan. 11 shows staged under an intimate big top, where even those
in the back row could see the
sweat beads on the juggler’s forehead as he balanced atop a ladder
while tossing clubs in the air.
“It’s always something we
have done as our way of giving
back to the community,” said Lee
XX Continued on page 19
Kevin Brady Photos
Hundreds packed under the big top for the charity circus show in
Gibsonton.