Ty'Neka Addison: 1,000-POINT CLUB

by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer
FPC’s Ty’Neka Addison has helped turn around the Lady Bulldogs in four years, and she’s not finished yet.

After the Flagler Palm Coast Lady Bulldogs basketball team lost in the regional quarterfinals last season to Orange Park, Ty’Neka Addison — a junior then — got right to work.

She continued her daily routine of picking up a basketball and heading to the park to play pick-up games. She shot hoops and reflected on the loss. She realized that she might have been able to push herself, and her team, harder.

Turning things around

Addison first picked up a basketball at the age of 4. She shot hoops with her uncle as often as she could while she lived in Palatka.

In high school, she moved from Palatka to Palm Coast and attended FPC. She was picked for the varsity team as a freshman and started. Though the team went under .500 for the season, things started to look up. Javier Bevacqua taking over the program as head coach in Addison’s sophomore year.

As a freshman, Addison scored 286 points. As a sophomore, it was 408 points. Last season, as a junior, she scored 485 points, averaging 19 points per game, seven rebounds, five assists per game and five steals per game. Through 10 games this season (the Bulldogs are 8-2), Addison is averaging about 19 points per game and, over her career, has averaged 26 points against non-district opponents.

And to put her scoring into perspective, Bevacqua said Addison has racked up 1,384 points in her career, and she will likely surpass the 1,500-point milestone before the end of her senior season.

Scorer and leader

As the point guard, Addison likes being the leader on the court. Despite her calm demeanor, she’s a vocal leader in the locker room and on the hardwood.

“I like (playing point guard) because not only do you help yourself, but you can help others,” she said. “I’m always trying to make something happen. Always being a playmaker.”

Bevacqua said Addison is always calm.

“You’ll never see her nervous … and that helps to settle her teammates and the coaches,” he said.

Last month, Addison got her chance to have revenge against Orange Park. Addison led the Bulldogs to a 63-57 victory Dec. 16, and stayed in line with her season averages, scoring 28 points, grabbing seven rebounds, five assists and five steals.

“I stepped in and did what I had to do,” Addison said after the game. “I just reminded everyone about last year, and I said we’re not losing tonight, and I stuck to my words.”

And come districts, Addison won’t make the same mistake she did last year. She hopes to push herself and her team all the way to the district championship and further. Addison also knows she has to push herself outside of basketball, in her studies, so she can play at the highest collegiate level.

‘She’ll blow by you at will’

Back at the park, Addison still laces up her shoes and plays pick-up games. And she knows that when she goes there, she will be playing mostly against men.

“My uncle always told me to play with guys because they will make me better,” Addison recalls.

In a good way, Bevacqua said Addison plays “like a guy.”

“What separates Ty’Neka from other plays is the fact that she’s the total package,” Bevacqua said. “She has speed, athleticism and she can shoot the ball. If you stay off of her, she’ll nail a jump shot. If you stay on her, she’ll blow right by you at will.”

Lending a Hose

by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer

Margaret Combs, CEO of MH Operations LLC, has started five other businesses, but she said this one isn’t a mom-and-pop business. 

Of all the businesses in Palm Coast, MH Operations LLC may have the biggest impact in 2011 for one reason: jobs.

CEO Margaret Combs said the garden-hose-manufacturing company, located at the Flagler County Airport, will employ 83 people during the first year of manufacturing, which is set to begin in late winter or early spring.

Combs added that the company will employ at least 143 persons over a three-year span in Flagler County.

“We have been impressed with the quality of applicants that we have had,” Combs said, stating that there have been at least a 100 applications submitted. “Frankly, we could fill every one of the jobs right now with a highly qualified person that we have an application from.”

The path to Palm Coast began about five years ago, when Gary Ragner and his partner, Robert deRochemont, were working on creating a vacuum hose that would automatically extend out and then be sucked back in by the pressure. But Ragner realized that if he reversed it all, he’d have a garden hose.

The hose is unique because of how it expands and contracts. The 10-foot-long MicroHose will be able to expand up to 50 feet long, which the company believes makes it more efficient and user-friendly.

Ragner obtained patents for the hose. Meanwhile, deRochemont, on recommendations from a loan officer at a bank, got in touch with Combs, who was consulting with SCORE, a small business mentoring and training program.

“I’ve managed startup companies before,” said Combs, “but this was the first one that I had seen where I’m saying, ‘There’s something really good here.’ Most of them are impossible, but this was clearly remarkable.”

Combs said starting up MicroHose is much different from any of the other five companies she’s started.

“They are all totally different except for one thing: You have to be prepared for a surprise every day,” Combs said. “Just about the time you have your hands totally on everything and nothing else needs to be done, something else will pop up and go, ‘What about me?’”

Combs compared cooking with starting a business.

“It’s like a giant recipe, and if you leave out one ingredient, it doesn’t work,” Combs said.  She added, “I feel like the cook in the apron, covered in flour, and I’m stirring and stirring.”

She’s hopeful that the company will not only add jobs in Flagler County, but make an impact beyond.

“The traditional garden hose is something people have to have, but nobody likes them,” she said. “We’re going to change all of that.”

Residents: Let us vote

by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer

Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon says the proposed $10 million City Hall makes long-term financial sense.

The residents who attended the Thursday, Nov. 4, presentation revealing the city’s plans to build a new City Hall agree: Let’s take a vote. But as it stands right now, the decision whether to build the proposed $10 million structure is in the City Council’s hands.

When the city of Palm Coast incorporated 10 years ago, its city offices were located at the Palm Coast Community Center. It has moved four times since, and is currently entering the final year of a three-year lease at the City Marketplace, formerly City Walk.

The Palm Coast City Council wants a permanent home. City Manager Jim Landon delivered the second of four town hall meetings Nov. 4 to explain the proposal.

Creative accounting could support funds

“We’ve been nomads when it comes to city offices,” Landon told the crowd of nearly 200 residents last week.

The proposed 40,000-square-foot building would be located in Town Center, with an estimated cost of $10 million, or as Landon pointed out, $250 per square foot. The two-story building would house all of the city’s current needs, and would have room for expansion, according to Landon.

At the meeting, he pointed out that the funding wouldn’t come from taxpayer dollars, though that statement drew groans from the energetic crowd, comprising mostly Tea Party members.

Because all of this money must be spent, Landon and city staff have devised the plan to fund the new building through dollars the city already has. The funding breakdown: building department fund for $1 million (10%), utility funds for $1.2 million (12%), capital projects fund for $2 million (20%) and the State Road 100 Community Redevelopment Area for $5.8 million (58%).

Landon said it will be more beneficial to the city long-term to own rather than rent. The city is currently paying $240,000 annually for its lease at City Marketplace.

Landon explained that it makes sense for the city to proceed with building the City Hall now because construction costs are down. The project also would create temporary construction jobs—all without raising taxes.

In 2005, 82% said ‘no’

In 2005, the city proposed a 70,000-square-foot City Hall building with an estimated cost of $22 million. Approximately 82% of the voters opposed it.

Tom Lawrence, chairman of the local Tea Party movement, said five years ago, the City Council reached out to voters for permission.

“After you go out to the public with these four meetings, will you then go out with a referendum to build or not to build?” Lawrence asked Landon.

“In Florida and in Palm Coast, (the charter) states that if you borrow money long-term and you use property taxes to pay it back, you have to get voter approval,” Landon replied. “The state and city law say that if you don’t borrow money long-term and don’t use property taxes, then your elected officials make the decisions.”

One resident shouted out: “Then they will be elected temporarily!”

But the plan is devised so it doesn’t issue debt. Without debt, taxes won’t be affected, and therefore it’s the City Council’s decision.

CREDIT: Andrew O'Brien

The crowd of nearly 200 residents at the Nov. 4 town hall meeting expressed 

displeasure with not having a vote in regard to the proposed Palm Coast

City Hall.

Mayor Jon Netts is in support of the City Hall plans.

“If I were confident that everybody would sit down and look at the long-term vision and analyze this — sure, why not put it on a referendum,” he said. “This is the same old story. You elect people to make the best judgments they can on behalf of their entire constituency.”

County Commissioner and former City Council member Alan Peterson was also in attendance, and though he agreed the city needs a new City Hall, he said it should be a referendum item because the residents deserve a vote.

The next town hall meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15, in the Buddy Taylor Middle School cafeteria.

PERSONAL VS. POLITICAL

After the meeting, Landon noted that even though state statute says the decision to build City Hall belongs to the City Council, many residents now feel that, because they were allowed to vote in 2005 and this time they won’t have a vote, the city is eliminating them from the process unfairly.

Because of that reality, Landon sees building the City Hall as politically risky, regardless of dollars and cents.

“From a business standpoint, there’s no question it makes sense for the community and the organization,” he said. “It’s a quandary: Do I do the easy political, emotional thing, or do I move forward and continue to recommend what makes good business sense?”

At the meeting, Landon said he has often reflected on the question “Why now?”

“I will tell you that if I was talking from my own personal interest … I hope we don’t do this,” he said. “If you were talking about what’s good for Jim Landon and his family — it would be go home and quit talking about this. However, that’s not why I’m being paid those high dollars.”

CHANGE OF HEART

Ted St. Pierre, a Palm Coast resident and Tea Party member, was vehemently opposed to the proposed City Hall building when he attended the Nov. 4 town hall meeting. When he left later that night, it was a different story.

St. Pierre said he didn’t want it and the city didn’t need it. But, after the meeting, he got to thinking.

“Now’s the time to build because prices are just right,” he said.

The next day, St. Pierre called City Manager Jim Landon and said that residents are wary about promises made by city government.

St. Pierre suggested that a citizen oversight committee be established to oversee the construction of the building step-by-step to ensure promises are kept.

The group wouldn’t be appointed by the City Council, but would be volunteers. Landon and Mayor Jon Netts have asked St. Pierre to champion the committee.

The presentation also made St. Pierre realize something else. An outspoken critic of Landon and his salary, St. Pierre now said he’s worth every penny.

“I thought (Landon) was overpaid, but that man is working for his money,” St. Pierre said. 

JOURNEY MAN

by Andrew O’Brien | Staff Writer

Matanzas QB Tim Morley moved nearly 2,500 miles across the country to pursue his dream of playing college football.

It was a mid-April day at Madison High School, in Rexburg, Idaho. Tim Morley, a freshman at the time, was practicing his hand-offs with his 4x100-meter relay team. Parker, one of the sprinters, wasn’t in his place. Morley looked around for his best friend, and then saw him walking out of the gym.

“He had this terrible look about him,” Morley remembers.

Parker then told Morley, his best friend since third grade, that he and his father were relocating to a nearby high school. It was saddening news, but it also changed everything for Morley on the football field.

2,100 yards passing

Parker was the coach’s son, and Morley knew that no matter what he did, it was going to be tough to become the starter.

Morley realized, however, that he was being given an opportunity to prove himself now that his best friend was skipping town.

“I always say the Lord will provide the way, but I have to do the work,” Morley said.

Finally, the door opened when Morley was a junior. He led his team to a 5-4 finish that year, throwing for more than 2,100 yards and 20 passing touchdowns. Nine out of 10 plays was a passing play.

Following his junior season, Morley faced a quandary. He was in his comfort zone in Rexburg. He had a lot of friends there and he was about to rule the school as a senior. But Morley knew if he wanted to get the looks from college scouts, he needed a bigger stage.

“My dad and I started talking, and despite the enormous success I had my junior year, I was having a hard time getting looks with colleges,” Morley said.

2,500 miles later …

His parents, Thomas and Valerie, were considering retirement and took a trip to Palm Coast to meet with Matanzas Pirates coach Keith Lagocki. Thomas always told his son that if he wanted to play in college, he would have to make sacrifices.

“Valerie and I were planning coming to Florida, but we probably pushed it a year or two before we had planned,” Thomas said. “We felt like Timmy had this opportunity and Florida provided some things that Idaho didn’t.”

Morley’s sister, Beth, who is a currently a sophomore at MHS, also made a sacrifice to relocate. Beth was an avid ballroom dancer in Idaho, something that she hasn’t been able to get back into since moving to the East Coast. Morley said he often reminds himself of the sacrifice his sister made for him.

In January 2010, Morley and his family made the move.

“It was the single most difficult decision of my life,” Morley said Tuesday. “I was taking a step in the dark because I knew nothing about this place. I went in completely blind to everything.”

Breaking records

Though this season hasn’t gone the way Morley envisioned as far as wins and losses, it has still been successful. His former high school only won one game this year, while Matanzas has won three, including the preseason game.

He has also shattered several Matanzas football records. Heading into the Pirates’ final game against Fernandina Beach Friday, Nov. 12, he has accumulated more than 1,200 yards, thrown for eight TDs, and has rushed for six, which are all Pirates’ records at QB. Lagocki said he will own every QB record after this season.

“He’s fought hard,” Thomas said of his youngest son. “He’s given it all from day one. He comes out hard each week, and I think he’s grown up a lot. I think he’s matured in many ways, and sometimes that comes with losses.”

Morley said his improved running game makes him a marketable dual-threat for college programs. The 6-foot, 170-pound gunslinger prides his arm accuracy, but also enjoys showing off his 4.55-second 40-yard speed.

Lagocki said Morley’s work ethic and coachability will help him reach the next level.

“He just has unlimited potential for success because he’s such a sponge and he just wants to learn,” he said.

Heading for Ivy?

And so, with the season winding down, Morley has his sights set on fulfilling his life dream: playing Division 1 college football.

Though he’d love to play for some big-name schools like Utah, Oregon and Oregon State, Morley realizes going to an Ivy League school would be a solid audible.

He’s been heavily recruited by the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school in Division 1-AA. The Quakers are reigning champions of their conference, and are in first place this season at 5-0, and 7-1 overall.

Morley realizes if he plays in college at all, it’s a prestigious accomplishment. “I’m in the top 3% of high school players in the country,” he said.

And though Morley sports a 3.6 GPA, he knows that going to an Ivy League school will take a lot of work with the playbook and the textbooks.

Morley said freshmen are required to spend three hours locked in a room with tutors to get their studying done.

In college, Morley plans to major in pre-med with a biology degree. He hopes to become an orthopedic surgeon.

“I want to be the guy who athletes see to be put back on the field,” Morley said.

Wherever football takes him, he’s sure to enjoy the journey.

TWO COOL

Two Matanzas High School twins with some autistic traits got to shine the brightest on senior night Friday, Oct. 29.

by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer

When they were 6 years old, identical twins Vito and Thomas Quadara, who are physically disabled with developmental delays and some autistic traits, had one wish for Christmas: They wanted football gear.

That wish came true Christmas morning when their parents, Vito Sr. and Barbara, got them the whole shebang. Jerseys, helmets, pants, pads. They had it all.

“They love football,” Barbara said.

They love it so much, in fact, that on Christmas night, they went to bed fully decked in their football attire.

That unforgettable Christmas was the beginning of a future filled with pigskins and the gridiron.

Football is all about hard-hitting. It’s about athleticism. Speed, too. But it’s also about being a team. For Vito and Thomas, they got to experience being a part of a football family firsthand.  

From summer camp to kick-off coverage

Vito and Thomas were obsessed with football since they were students at Indian Trails Middle School.

Pirates coach Keith Lagocki held an annual summer football camp. Barbara confronted Lagocki about getting Vito and Thomas involved, but she was a bit hesitant because of their disabilities.

“It was only for three days out of the week,” Barbara said. “I started by standing on the side, watching. But by the second year, I was just dropping them off.”

The relationship between Lagocki and the Quadara’s continued through high school, and Vito and Thomas wanted to stay involved.

Lagocki always made a point to include them. Through the first three years, the twins helped the team by doing anything and attending occasional away games.

By senior year, they were a part of the team completely, getting their jerseys on Thursdays and attending all home and away games.

Lagocki said it was a natural progression to allow Vito and Thomas to be a part of the football program at Matanzas. He confronted Barbara a year ago and mentioned his plan about having them appear in their senior game against Sandalwood High School.

Then, on Thursday, Oct. 28, Barbara picked up her twins from practice. When they got in the car, they told her they would be playing Friday.

“They were walking on cloud nine,” Barbara recalls. “I don’t know who was more excited: them or me and my husband. … My husband was speechless and he never thought he’d get to see the boys in football gear.”

On Friday, Oct. 29, Vito and Thomas appeared in kick-off coverage during the first quarter of the Pirates game against Sandalwood.

“I was a little nervous, but I’m glad I got do it,” Vito said after the game.

Added his brother, Thomas: “I got to run out on the field when they called my number and my mom was happy for me.”

Said Lagocki, “They’ve been the biggest fans of Matanzas football since I’ve been here. What we did (Friday night) allowed all the coaches and players to thank (Vito and Thomas) for being so supportive and being such big fans.”

One play will last forever

Barbara said thanks to Lagocki, the entire team has made her twins just two other players on the team, something for which she will always be grateful.

“Coach Lagocki has taught his football team how to be around disabled people — how to treat them and how to respect them,” Barbara said. “My sons are able to walk through school and feel comfortable being a part of the football team.”

Barbara recorded the play, and it’s already a family classic.

“This was an opportunity of a lifetime that I’ve captured forever. Those five minutes of fame for them. We have a tape, which will last a lifetime.”

In fact, it’s reminiscent of sleeping in football gear on Christmas night. Barbara said Vito hasn’t stopped watching the videotape of his memorable night.

Galtronics to launch pilot program

After months of delays in product design and construction, Galtronics Telemetry Inc. will launch its pilot program in November.

by Andrew O’Brien | Staff Writer

Galtronics Telemetry Inc. has begun production on its smart-grid energy device, symHome Energy Management System. In early November, the company will start a 100-home pilot program to test its new device, but it hasn’t been an easy road to reach this point.

Last April, the pilot program was estimated to include about 500 homes. Graydon Parsons, president of Galtronics Telemetry Inc., said that because of the economy, the program was scaled back.

“We’ve been optimizing the system to make sure we can have the  costs as low as possible and comply with all the requirements,” Parsons said.

The product will likely go live to the public beginning in January 2011 and will cost $399.

Are jobs on the horizon?

Galtronics Telemetry was lured to Palm Coast through business and ‘green’ incentives after the company predicted it would create 40 jobs in three years.

“The city of Palm Coast laid out an attractive incentive plan and their initiatives in being a ‘green’ city lines up well with what we are doing, “ Galtronics Telemetry Vice President Sean Lafferty said.

Though the company currently employs seven people, Lafferty expects that by the end of 2011, it will employ at least 25.

“We’ve been in the research-and-development phase,” Lafferty said. “When the product goes to the market, that’s when the employment ramp begins.”

Still, Galtronics Telemetry has done as much local business as possible, he said, including buy custom-designed rubber pieces from a company in Bunnell.

Small device could yield large savings

Photo credit: Andrew O'Brien

The delays have been caused in part by multiple design changes, which then caused more delays as the company waited for approval from Underwriters Laboratories Inc., the public safety company that oversees product certifications and solutions.

Lafferty and Parsons hope to sell around 30,000 devices in 2011. Beyond that, Lafferty said, they hope to sell around 10,000 per month in 2012.

Mary Rodgers' neighborhood

The Matanzas Pirates placed fifth in the regional tournament as a team.

by Andrew O’Brien | Staff Writer

Mary Rodgers reached into her Nike golf bag — cluttered with Florida Gators head covers — and unsheathed her seven iron. She was on the par-three eighth hole at Grand Haven Golf Course Monday, Oct. 18, vying to repeat as the girls district 10-1A champion. She reared back and launched the ball high above the water toward the island green.

But a gust of wind churned up and caught the ball, flinging it into the water. No big deal, Rodgers thought. She took her drop and tried again.

Splash.

“I was so angry,” Rodgers recalled a week later. She took a deep breath, however, and finished the hole with a quadruple bogey.

“They shuttle you to the next hole, but I told them I wanted to walk,” she said. “Actually, you could say I stomped to the ninth.”

Rodgers went on to par the ninth hole and birdie the 10^th. Her 77 was low enough to win the district championship and help lead the Pirates to its second-consecutive team title.

From homemade to MVP

Rodgers grew up with golf.

At 4 years old, she dragged around a set of homemade clubs. At 11, she played in her first nine-hole tournament, which she won after shooting a 39.

For the next two years, she played the nine-hole format (the same format featured in high school until the district, region and state tournaments). She started playing in 18-hole tournaments at age 13.

Rodgers estimates she has won about 35 tournaments, and that includes the Palm Coast City Championships earlier this year. She won the Juinor 14-and-over title, shooting a 74. She also had the lowest round of any female golfer in the field.

Rodgers exudes leadership, too. She’s been the Pirates MVP three seasons in a row, and her game has inspired her teammates.

“As our team captain this year, Mary really helped raise the level of play among her teammates,” said coach Louise Wolfe. “I think that the way she approached her teammates and exemplified the desire to succeed extrinsically motivated the other players to step up their game as well.”

Over the summer, Rodgers worked incessantly on her downfall: her short game.
“I was used to three-putting every green,” she said. “I was scared for a three-foot par putt.”

But she’s greatly improved that facet of her game, which was evident when she sunk a 30-foot putt to save par on the 17^th hole in the district tournament. Now, the short game is one of her favorite parts, she said, but she still loves pulling out her driver and letting it rip. She averages about 250 yards off the tee.

And her hard training is paying off on the score card. Over the summer, she shot a 68 en route to winning the 18-hole Volusia/Flagler Junior Golf Association tournament. In the last match of the high school season, Rodgers shot a 32 — still tied for a two-county best for boys and girls golfers — on nine holes against Pedro Menendez, at St. Augustine Shores.

“The holes were as big as trash cans and everything was dropping  that day,” she said.

Coincidentally, Rodgers’ lone hole-in-one also came at St. Augustine Shores, when she was 13.

Regional disappointment

After missing the state cut by two strokes each of her first two seasons, Rodgers fell short again Tuesday, Oct. 26, after shooting an 82 in the regional tournament.

But fellow golfers beware: Rodgers doesn’t graduate until 2012.

Contact Andrew O’Brien at andrew@palmcoastobserver.com.