Dean’s Ride, Bike with the Mayor delayed again
The Plant City Parks and Recreation Department announced Tuesday the eighth annual Dean’s Ride and fourth annual Bike with the Mayor events are no longer going to be held in June.
The annual bicycle rides, which now always happen in the same starting point at the same time, were scheduled for the morning of June 13 but have now been moved to the morning of Sept. 12.
National Peach Truck tour features Plant City stop in June
Did you miss the nationally-famous Peach Truck visit last June? If so, circle June 11 on your calendar.
The Peach Truck, which transports fresh Georgia peaches all over the east and southeast in an annual tour, will be back in Plant City for one day only next month and anyone interested in picking up a box of their big, delicious peaches can sign up now for online orders.
“As an essential produce business, The Peach Truck is committed to keeping customers and team members safe,” the Peach Truck team said in a press release. “The new online ordering system not only keeps safety top-of-mind, but allows for a seamless pick-up process, too. Customers simply reserve their box of peaches online five days prior to their city’s stop, and receive a confirmation email with a specific pickup time. Then, customers arrive at their designated time and show their confirmation to receive peaches through a contactless pickup. In addition to operating under social distancing requirements, all Peach Truck team members will undergo daily temperature checks, wear masks and gloves and will only accept credit or debit card payments to avoid hand-to-hand contact.”
Peaches are available in 25-pound half-bushel boxes for $43 each. Pecans by the 10-ounce bag go for for $10 and copies of The Peach Truck Cookbook sell for $20. Home delivery options are available through the Peach Truck’s subscription service or single-order system.
Visit find.thepeachtruck.com to learn more now and to sign up for truck tour orders later.
YMCA hosting blood drive today
If you want to help turn Florida’s blood shortage around, you can do so today at the Plant City Family YMCA.
All of the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA locations are linking up with OneBlood for a blood drive from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and are accepting walk-up donors, though the Y expects walk-up spots to fill “very fast.”
Everyone who gives blood at the Plant City Family YMCA, 1507 YMCA Place, will get a free OneBlood t-shirt and a free wellness checkup for blood pressure, pulse, temperature, iron count and cholesterol. For more information, visit oneblood.org/ymca or call 1.888.9.DONATE (1.888.936.6283).
State Attorney asks Netflix viewers for help
After the Netflix documentary series “Tiger King” enthralled the nation this year and sparked a greater interest in true crime stories, Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren hopes viewers will be inspired to lend law enforcement a helping hand.
Warren announced last week the launch of InnocenceFilesTampa.com following the launch of Netflix’s new case review series “The Innocence Files,” which sheds light on The Innocence Project’s work fighting wrongful convictions.
“If someone is watching Netflix and thinks, ‘This happened to a person I know in Hillsborough County — I believe they were wrongly convicted, and their case should be reviewed,’ we want to make sure they know how to contact us,” Warren said in a press release. “This new website, InnocenceFilesTampa.com, gives them a clear way to request to have an attorney review their case and ensure justice was done properly.”
The county’s Conviction Review Unit was created by Warren in November 2018 and has since reviewed 177 cases. According to Warren’s office, every completed case review thus far has confirmed the original conviction was correct.
“The public should feel confident because we have a mechanism in place to review questionable convictions,” Warren said. “We are committed to continuing to review these cases going forward. Any wrongful conviction undermines our entire justice system and threatens public safety. Remember, if an innocent person is behind bars, that means the guilty person is still out there.”
Jameson family donates photos to Plant City Photo Archive and History Center
Local photographer Ken Jameson’s work now has a new home at the Plant City Photo Archives and History Center.
Jameson’s son, Michael, donated his late father’s entire collection to the history center last week. That included 31 boxes containing roughly 31,000 photos as well as negatives, prints and other photographic materials that date as far back as the 1980s.
A Lithia native and Pinecrest High School graduate, Jameson’s interest in photography grew after a stint as a high school reporter and photographer for the Tampa Times. He practiced the craft until his retirement in 2016 and, according to the Photo Archives, “pioneered” videotaping weddings with his son.
Jameson was a veteran of the United States Army and also worked as a technician for General Telephone Company.