Visit us on the Internet at www.FortMeadeLeader.com

The

Fort Meade’s Hometown News

Fort Meade LeaderVolume 91 Number 14 USPS NO 907-620 Fort Meade, Polk County Florida 33841 Copyright 2014 Sun Coast Media Group, Inc.

After detecting a lump within her breast and undergoing

several mammograms and biopsies, Stacey Mosley

was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010.

She underwent 18 chemotherapy treatments and 35

radiation treatments to eliminate her tumor. The process was painful and humil-iating, but she endured it, and ultimately triumphed.

She recalls receiving her first chemother-apy treatment on a Friday. The following Monday, she awoke to find that all of her hair had fallen onto her pillow.

Her baldness hardly shamed her, as it was but one necessary step toward winning her fight against cancer.

Three years later, she shared her story be-fore an open crowd and how her experience

had made her stronger than she was before.“All you can say is that it was God that got

me through and it was God that brought me here today,” she said.

Her speech opened the Fort Meade and Frostproof Relay for Life, an annual fund-raiser held nationwide to raise money for cancer awareness and research.

This year welcomed the return of the event to the Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School football field, from which

Relay reinforces cancer is no gameMixed results for combined Fort Meade and Frostproof events

By JAMES COULTERfortmeadeleader@

heartlandnewspapers.com

Air Spradlin

PHOTO BY CHARLES BAKER

Fort Meade catcher Brian Spradlin goes airborn during this play against All Saints last Friday. Despite Spradlin’s best efforts, he was unable to stop Patrick Fox from scoring, but the Miners had the last laugh with a last-at-bat win. More coverage on page 14.

Three local high school graduates with inspiring stories, including two Fort Meade di-ploma holders, will help current students at the school end this week on a high note.

The school is hosting a special “Learn, Think and Achieve” as-sembly at 1 p.m. Friday, featuring Elida Beneitez, Altrichia Cook and Dustin Woods.

Benitez is a Cardiothoracic ICU registered nurse at Shands

UF in Gainesville, where she pro-vides immediate post-operative care for patients who undergo heart and lung surgeries. She is a 2004 graduate of Fort Meade Senior and a 2008 graduate of The University of Florida.

Her most influential man, her father, told her growing up, “If you put passion, focus, and joy into everything you do, in the end, you learn how to love life and the outcome always benefits

you.”Cook, a Bartow graduate, is a

swimsuit fashion designer and has gained popularity in the fashion industry. In fact, suits from her firm, Allusions by A. Lekay Swimsuit Designs, were showcased at the illustrious New York Fashion Week.

When Ms. Cook was 17, she found out she was pregnant and is the mother of 8-year-old Anthony. Despite the life changes

that brought, she graduated from Florida Southern College, then went on to obtain a mas-ter’s degree from Florida A&M University.

Her dad, who is her best friend, always says, “It takes perseverance to get you there, but it takes character to keep you there.”

Her hope is that she can show

High schoolers to end week on motivational high

Fort Meade’s future is going to get a close look Saturday when a number of local leaders gather at Mosaic’s Streamsong Resort.

The gathering is being dubbed as an “eco-nomic summit” designed to take a look at where the city is heading.

Florida Public Utilities, which late last year closed on the purchase of the city’s gas utility

system, pledged $20,000 a year for the next five years to be used toward economic de-velopment opportunities in the city, and to help host and sponsor an economic summit to help identify issues and needs to help Fort Meade grow.

The meeting is expected to start around 8:30 a.m. and run until the early afternoon, and is expected to include local elected and city

City economic development summit Saturday

By BRIAN ACKLEYbackley@heartlandnewspapers

Fort Meade’s expensive electricity is getting a little more expensive.

The city is raising its so-called “power cost adjustment” from 3.5 to 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour on its bills, according to City Manager Fred Hilliard.

The move did not require approval of the city commission, but commissioners who were briefed on the matter during a special meeting March 11 agreed with the increase, he said.

The power cost adjustment is essentially the customer charge the city levies to operate its own municipal system.

In a February survey of 33 Florida municipal-ities that operate their own electric system, Fort Meade had the fifth most expensive total rate, at $136.36. Neighbors to the north, however, in Bartow, actually were second on the list, paying $140.50 per 1,000 kilowatt hours. Key West is the highest at $144.66.

The municipal average is $121.32 according

City increases electric surchargeBy BRIAN ACKLEY

backley@heartlandnewspapers.com

DUSTIN WOODS MOTIVATE | 12

PHOTO BY JAMES COULTER

Stacey Mosley shares her story about overcoming breast cancer in 2010. RELAY | 12

SUMMIT | 12

ELECTRIC | 12

Jonathan Camp enjoys success on college diamond

Page 20

SANTA FE SLUGGER SAY WHAT?Study tries to figure out what your dog is thinking

Page 35

75¢

WednesdayApril 9, 2014

Homeland will celebrate Saturday with festival Page 6

GOOD OL’ DAYS

Local historic church comes to life once a year

Page 2

CAN WE GET AN AMEN?