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| Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:15 PM PDT Published: June 30, 2010 PLANT CITY - When Bruton Memorial Library commemorates its 50th anniversary later this year, it will honor what started as a small room in a termite-infested building and became a 20,000-square-foot facility. The library has established itself as a popular place that offers an array of programs and services beyond books. "If you're in here between 5 and 7 o' clock, you're probably having a hard time finding a place to sit. Study room is usually booked up. Conference rooms are taken," said Anne Haywood, director of Bruton Memorial and its 12-member staff. "I look up during the day and say to myself, where did all of these people come from?" A recent city survey shows that 98 percent of the library's patrons consider it an important part of the community, said Haywood, the library director for almost 19 years. Last week, it wasn't hard to find people who said they love Bruton Memorial. Elizabeth Zarycki is homeschooling her children, David, 4, Natalie, 6, and Eric, 8, "so we're here a lot" for the books and children's programs. Greg Curtis and Jan Jones enjoy bringing their 7-year-old granddaughter, Ali Devan. They started visiting the library with her, and Curtis said the programs give children "an excellent jump start." The library is celebrating its golden anniversary with a year full of special programs, including many for the summer. A celebration to commemorate the landmark date will be held later in the year at the library, named in honor of major contributors, Judge James D. Bruton Jr. and his wife Quintilla Geer. The facility today, with a dedicated children's section, magazine section and free programs for people of all ages, would have astounded Plant City Woman's Club members when they ran the city's first library from 1927 to 1959. The volunteer group collected books that people donated and found a home for them on a few shelves in its club room. For a fee, patrons could use the small space to read or check out literature. "It wasn't necessarily a collection designed for children, or a collection of fun stuff to read for adults. It was all just hodgepodge," Haywood said. "Seventy-five percent of all public libraries were founded by women's clubs - outgrowth from projects like what happened here." Today, the library, supported by an $882,000 annual budget, is open to the public, offering free Internet, book checkouts, study space and conference rooms. Before the library came under municipal control in 1960, the city contributed only $25 a month, starting in 1940, according to accounts in "Plant City: Its Origin and History," written by Quintilla Geer Bruton and D.E. Bailey Jr. Then-club president Noel Moody had requested the money for a part-time clerk. But everything changed for Plant City and its library after one poll in 1959 - one that sparked a continual improvement in the quality of services available to the people of Plant City. The club wanted a municipal library, particularly Quintilla Geer Bruton. The building, which was located on Wheeler Street, was ravaged by termites, and the city wouldn't extend any further financial help to the liking of the Woman's Club. So she spearheaded a movement for a free, public library. The city commission responded, calling an election to levy a tax to support a library. Nearly 75 percent of the citizens of Plant City voted to let the city tax them for a public library - 551 in favor, 190 against. Following the polls during a Feb. 17, 1959 public hearing, Plant City commissioners - Paul Tindle, A.R. Ward, William Vernon and Otis Andrews - voted in favor of levying a tax to support what they called the "library fund," according to city records. "I thought that was very interesting when the commission announced that the people voted to have themselves taxed. It kind of surprised me that they would do that," said William Midyette, a local dentist and former library board member who was present during the 1959 hearing. "It's quite progressive." A year later, a small library with a reading room sat at the corner of McLendon and Wheeler streets. It still resides there today. Now that 50 years have passed since the city took control, the library board has yet to decide how it will commemorate the anniversary. They will know by fall. As more people use the library, some think it will need to expand again. The city has drawn up tentative plans to double the library's size, although there's no timetable. "People need to know we're a valuable resource that needs continued support. There are places in Florida where libraries are going away," Haywood said. The longest serving employee is Children's Librarian Carol Lane, who has been there 35 years. She and her library assistant, Debbie Clark, stage children's games and reading times, such as a recent event that drew more than 50 youngsters. She credits Bruton Memorial's success to the fact that books remain popular, even in the Internet age. "It's not all about computers. People like to read. It's not gotten old." TELEPHONE NUMBER: (813) 757-9215 ON THE WEB: www.plantcitygov.com HOURS: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday EXPANSION PLANS: A 2006 report by Harvard Jolly Architects explored ways to double the size of the library to 40,000 square feet. The report suggests the most cost-effective approach is to acquire the three lots to the north of the library, reconfiguring recreational uses at Courier Field to accommodate the joint parking needs of the library and a redesigned park. Another option was to build an entirely new structure. The expansion plans have no timetable. HOW IT GOT ITS NAME: The library was named in honor of Circuit Judge James D. Bruton Jr. and his wife, Quintilla Geer Bruton, who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars. Quintilla, who died in 1989, was instrumental in the drive for the city to take over the library. Her husband, who died six years later, also gave $1 million in land to the University of Florida's law school. Reporter Dave Nicholson contributed to this article. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |||
| Slain Tampa police officer David Curtis recalled as devoted family man and crimefighter Posted: 29 Jun 2010 07:48 PM PDT | By Lane DeGregory and Marlene Sokol, Times Staff Writers
TAMPA — Dave Curtis was reserved and quiet, friends said. He was always upbeat, telling his kids to look on the bright side. No one ever saw him get angry. So a few years ago, when Curtis told his family he wanted to be a police officer, his cousin couldn't imagine him doing the sometimes confrontational work of a cop. "I couldn't believe it. He's the friendliest guy you'll ever meet. He's got no temper, no beef with anybody," Chris Clark, 36, said Tuesday. "I told him, 'Man, you never even got in a fight.' "But he just wanted to chase down the bad guys." Curtis, 31, was killed about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday while working the overnight shift for the Tampa Police Department. He had pulled over a red Camry without a visible tag when he learned the passenger was wanted for a bad check. The passenger, Dontae Morris, is accused of shooting Curtis and another Tampa police officer, Jeffrey Kocab. Kocab was pronounced dead at Tampa General Hospital. Curtis, who had been a Tampa officer for more than three years, died hours later. He left a wife and four sons, ages 8 months to 9 years, and five dogs he loved to take swimming. "He was just this big, husky guy who loved Alabama football and his family more than anything," said his father-in-law, Chris Bowers, who lived next door. "When he wasn't working, he was always taking his boys fishing and four-wheeling, exploring the woods. He wanted to build a tiki hut with them, but I guess he'll never get to do that now." "All of his boys looked exactly like him," said neighbor Nick Ward, 13. Curtis and his twin sister, Autumn, grew up in a rural part of Mobile, Ala. Their parents divorced when they were in elementary school, Clark said, and they lived mostly with their dad, who drove trucks. Curtis always wanted to play football, and he won a scholarship to be an offensive lineman at Mobile Christian School in his senior year in high school. "He was a teddy bear," said Lorie Minor, who taught Curtis in 12th grade psychology. "He was friends with the most popular kids and he was friends with the least popular kids." An average student, she said. "A real gentleman. He was always the first one to open a door for you." At Harding University in Searcy, Ark., Curtis played football for a year. He transferred to Faulkner University, then to the University of South Alabama, where he got a job in a college bar as a bouncer. The bar was next to a restaurant, where he met a waitress his age named Kelly. "He never dated much," Clark said. "She was his first love." Though Curtis was brought up Baptist, they married at her parents' Catholic church. "He didn't want a bachelor party," said Clark. "He was never much for drinking or smoking or partying." Curtis worked at a grocery store, a hardware store, a department store. Detailed BMWs at a car wash, waited tables, became a personal trainer at a gym. "I have learned something special at every job," he wrote in 2002, when he applied to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. "I learned to calm everyone down first, not beat everyone up. I survived three Mardi Gras with no incidents." Howard Lindsey, 43, worked with Curtis as a Hillsborough County detention deputy. Curtis mostly worked intake, Lindsey said, taking fingerprints and booking photos. "He was always respectful to everyone, even the inmates," Lindsey said. But he didn't like being stuck in the jail, Lindsey said. He longed to be out patrolling the streets. In the fall of 2006, he was hired by the Tampa Police Department. "I always looked forward to working with him," said officer Jeremy Larson. "He always told these great stories about things he did with his boys." On the job, he worked the Super Bowl in 2009, helped with an FBI sting on juvenile prostitutes and recovered $15,000 in stolen jewelry. He was once named officer of the month for District Two for investigating a complex case of child neglect. In 2009, he was commended for performing CPR on an infant who had stopped breathing. In April, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to serve as an honor guard at the National Law Enforcement Memorial Service, where he went to honor fallen fellow officer Cpl. Mike Roberts, who was killed in August 2009. The blemish in his file? He didn't enjoy paperwork. A supervisor helped him improve his writing for reports. Last year, Curtis moved his family an hour north of Tampa, to the little town of Webster, in Sumter County, where his wife's parents own a 500-acre ranch. He wanted the boys to grow up with land, cows, horses, donkeys, pigs and chickens. And they needed room for their dogs — labs and a Chihuahua named Bama. Curtis and his wife moved into an older home on the property, next door to Kelly's parents, and she started homeschooling their three oldest sons: Austin, 9; Sean, 6 and Tyler, 5. The couple had just baptized their baby, 8-month-old Hunter, at St. Anne's Catholic Church. Most days, neighbors said, they would see Curtis outside roughhousing with his boys, taking them bass fishing on his pontoon boat on one of the nearby lakes, driving them around on golf carts and four-wheelers. "He set up this game camera in the woods so the boys could watch deer and other animals at night," said his father-in-law. "He wasn't much for hunting. But he loved watching wildlife." Monday afternoon, Bowers waved goodbye to his son-in-law about 3:30 p.m. as Curtis left for work. Curtis drove to a friend's house in Dade City, where he picked up his patrol car, then reported to the Tampa Police Department. He worked out in the gym before his shift began. "He'd tell me about running down all these suspects, chasing down burglars on foot and stuff," said his cousin, Clark. "And I'd always tell him, 'You better be careful. You'll end up in the news one day.'?" But Curtis never worried, Clark said. "He just loved feeling like he was doing something important." Times researcher John Martin and staff writer Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report. Lane DeGregory can be reached at degregory@sptimes.com and (727) 893-8825. David Curtis Age: 31 Grew up in Mobile, Ala., with twin sister Autumn. Lived in: Webster Family: He and his wife, Kelly, had four children, Austin, 9; Sean, 6; Tyler, 5; and Hunter, 8 months. College: Played football at Harding University in Searcy, Ark.; transferred to Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala., then to the University of South Alabama in Mobile. . Professional: Worked as Hillsborough County detention deputy; hired by Tampa Police Department in fall 2006. 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