One of the largest crowds in recent club history attended the NPRC gathering last night at Leo’s, a meeting which saw the first effort in our monthly drive to broaden our appeal to young professional people in North County through a sponsored networking session. For this first event, Realtor and TV personality Quyen Trujillo hosted an hour of pleasant meeting and greeting in the large back room of the restaurant. Following that, the general meeting took place, and the featured speaker was Tim Bryce, who made it very clear that the Democrats are scared about the success of Republicans and our president and will leave no stone un-hurled in their fight to regain control of American politics. Two new members joined, and the membership team, caught a bit by surprise by the turnout and the energy, ran out of applications.

We’ll do even better next time.

Bring your Kentucky Derby Day Reservations and Give Them to Ron Ogden

Tim Bryce, our long time club colleague and former webmaster, promises “fire and brimstone” Thursday night when the North Pinellas Republican Club meets at Leo’s Italian Grille on US19.

Bryce, a well-known radio commentator who recently has been a columnist for HuffPost, will speak on “This is War,” his ideas about how we Republicans have to gear up for a highly-competitive 2018 election cycle.

Meanwhile, popular Oldsmar realtor and TV personality Quyen Le Trujillo is hosting the first of the club’s new pre-meeting social engagement hours, beginning at 5:30 at the same location.

The club urges members to arrive for the 5:30 social hour and then take part in the regular meeting to hear Tim Bryce. The regular meeting starts at 6:30.

Lee Hooper (L) and Sue Berfield were among the North Pinellas Republican Club members who attended Saturday night’s Lincoln Day Dinner. Around the club table, clockwise from front were Helena Nunn, Larry and Kim Marlin, Ron Ogden, Pam McAloon, Oldsmar Vice Mayor Dan and Paula Saracki, club president Ron Walker and Bill and Linda Wade. Others were Kim Berfield and Rachelle and Ellsworth Warmouth.

–Photos by Pam Hinds

See the Book Club page for an update about the NPRC Book Club May meeting and a list of books available for participants.

Pinellas: Citizens invited to help shape Plan Pinellas

Open houses and survey will gather feedback about the county’s Guiding Principles

• Plan Pinellas open houses to be held throughout the county, along with online survey
• The process will address changing conditions and needs in the county
• Planning Department overseeing multi-year project to revise the county’s Comprehensive Plan

Residents are invited to provide input as Pinellas County revises its Comprehensive Plan. Citizens can learn about the new Plan Pinellas guiding principles and offer their feedback through an online survey and a series of open houses.

The first of three open houses will be held at the St. Petersburg College Tarpon Springs Campus, 600 E Klosterman Road, on Thursday, April 26, 2018 between 6:30 and 9 p.m. Families are welcome to attend.

In addition to the open houses, residents are asked to participate in an online survey to express their thoughts about the county’s future.

The Plan Pinellas update process will address the changing conditions and needs in the county, with a resulting format that is user-friendly, not only for county departments but for the public at-large. The introductory “Vision Element” of the Comprehensive Plan will define the county’s future and describe the guiding principles that will focus the plan’s policies moving forward.

For more information about this project, visit https://planpinellas.org/.