High hopes for poor area

From a distance, it's a 90-acre potential industrial site in a nearly barren northeast corner of Pasco County. Up close, says Ronnie Deese of Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, "It's like stepping into a Third World country."

Deese has been an unofficial tour guide for the Lacoochee community for almost a year, taking elected officials, their staff members, and other movers and shakers into the area.

He is leading the latest effort to improve the poorest sector of the county where, according to the 2000 census, just over half of the residents live below the poverty line.

This Vietnam War veteran, now WREC's chief financial officer, said it's like entering another culture.

"You have three classes of people up there. The school is the melting pot, and they have an outstanding principal, Karen Marler," Deese said.

Marler, principal of Lacoochee Elementary School, has accompanied Deese on his excursions into the community, showing him some of the houses there.

"Some of them have dirt floors. They build fires on dirt floors," Deese said.

Deese said the principal "changed the atmosphere" at the school by changing its physical plant. "It looked like a prison. Fences topped with barbed wire and that institutional green paint."

Deese hopes he can make an impact on the surroundings. The biggest change, he said, would be jobs. The Pasco Board of County Commissioners recently committed to an industrial park in the area and will soon review a master plan for the area.

Officials from the state, county, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gathered recently to look at the plan and discuss funding it.

Deese also has tapped CSX Corp., as it has a rail spur with access to 50 acres in the industrial park. "We need to locate that magic business that would fit the skill level of the area," he said.

Deese's involvement with Lacoochee began when Billy Brown, the general manager and CEO of the Dade City-based WREC, came to him.

"He said, 'We've taken this over. Nobody is helping those people. See what you can do,'" Deese explained.

"That area used to be pretty important. They shipped cypress trees from all over the state there for cutting," he said. Lacoochee's other claim to fame is that it is the hometown of former major league pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant.

Deese saw an area with no water, no sewer and a lot of crime. The member-owned cooperative rebuilt the community's entire electrical infrastructure but couldn't afford to install municipal water and sewer services or improve the roads, Deese said.

Those services will have to come from government, and County Commissioner Ted Schrader is leading that charge. Schrader said he hopes the successful redevelopment of Tommytown, scheduled for completion in 2010, will give the county confidence.

Tommytown is a community between Dade City and Lacoochee known for its poverty.

Schrader said the county used Community Development Block Grant money to pave roads in Tommytown and to help its low-income residents pay for the road assessments. Money was available to improve residences, and older homes that were in disrepair were torn down.

"We looked to do the same in Lacoochee and had to come up with a plan. Withlacoochee River Electric was the impetus to make that happen," Schrader said. "It's good to see the private sector willing to take that on."

Schrader said he has already seen commitment on the part of the residents. "I had lunch with the sheriff last week, and he and I are both amazed at the enthusiasm of the community."

Pasco Sheriff Bob White said the Community Watch Program in the area is one of the strongest in the county. "The neighbors and residents are doing a lot on their own," he said.

Along with the infrastructure improvements, Schrader said the county hopes to find an employer to locate in the new industrial park. An investor has already purchased some parcels with that goal in mind.

Schrader said the plan includes some retail development in Trilby to give residents an alternative to driving the eight miles south to Dade City to shop.

"It's a big goal but, back to Tommytown, they thought it was a massive undertaking then," he said.

Deese is undeterred by the size of the task.

"The last time I went up there and did a tour with a representative from Sen. (Bill) Nelson's office," he said, referring to the Florida Democrat, "we saw three or four young males at the side of the road. As we drove by, one of them called out, 'You all better get outta here and not come back.' It was the best thing that could have happened.

"We're going to improve the area so those kids can walk to school and see something better than drugs and crime and unemployment," Deese said.