— The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a death after apparent human remains were discovered behind a Little Caesars off State Road 52 Deputies responded to the area of Hudson Ridge Drive and La Madera Boulevard in Bayonet Point Officials say they have not yet identified the remains There is no immediate threat to public safety ABC Action News has a crew on scene and will update this story and on social media as more information becomes available and I feel like that's part of where the system failed" Henry Betsey Jr. is facing charges for marrying three Florida women in three different counties at the same time. Now saying the system that handles marriage licenses kept them in the dark Latest Pasco County News from ABC Action News Report a typo If you are the site owner (or you manage this site), please whitelist your IP or if you think this block is an error please open a support ticket and make sure to include the block details (displayed in the box below) so we can assist you in troubleshooting the issue 2025 at 10:08 am ET.css-79elbk{position:relative;}The Pasco Sheriff’s Office is investigating a death after human remains were found Monday behind a Little Caesars in Bayonet Point FL — Deputies are investigating after human remains were found Monday in Bayonet Point according to a Pasco Sheriff’s Office news release The remains were found behind a Little Caesars restaurant off State Road 52, in the area of Hudson Ridge Drive and La Madera Boulevard, ABC Action News reported Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. wrote a letter to a hospital CEO wanting to know about safety concerns alarming accusations of unsanitary and unsafe practices at HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital in Hudson Hospital staff allege the hospital is a ‘dangerous place to practice,’ and photos of the facilities show ‘leaks from the ceiling and sinks filled with blood,’” Rubio’s office noted Rubio and Bilirakis wrote a letter to the hospital’s CEO We write in response to troubling allegations of unsanitary and unsafe practices at HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital As Members of the Florida Congressional delegation our constituents’ well-being is of utmost importance to us we want to be assured that measures are being taken to address these concerns In a report released by NBC on February 15 four doctors employed at your hospital expressed that hospital administrators knew that staff saw the hospital as an “unsafe environment to perform surgery” and a “dangerous place to practice.” Though the administrator promised to address these issues staff claims they have not seen any significant changes Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) had also previously identified multiple deficiencies in patient safety practices at the facility over this time period AHCA conducted another onsite complaint investigation due to ongoing reports of poor quality of care and concerns regarding the physical environment of HCA’s facilities In its overall star rating systems for hospital quality the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) designated Bayonet Point as one star out of five your staff expressed that the quality of care at HCA has declined and a number of sentinel events have occurred since 2021 which is when the hospital began cutting staff and hiring contract workers While Bayonet Point recently celebrated its investment in 102 new beds photos of existing facilities show leaks from the ceiling As a hospital dedicated to “providing high-quality care to [your] community” these claims from your staff who practice and engage with patients every day are alarming How does HCA currently ensure health and safety standards are met for patients and staff What aspects of the hospital’s operations are prioritized when budgeting for a fiscal year How much of your hospital’s budget is devoted to patient safety What is the hospital’s current process for addressing concerns from staff What is the average time that it takes for concerns to be addressed What is being done to address the allegations of poor working conditions mentioned in the NBC report from February 15 What corrective actions have been taken to address AHCA’s previously identified deficiencies with patient safety including those who are hired by contractors are meeting the hospital’s health and safety standards How does HCA ensure that an appropriate provide to patient ratio is maintained What actions do you plan to take to increase the CMS Overall Star Ratings score of one-star As a leading healthcare provider in the community and a recipient of American taxpayer dollars it is critical that HCA Florida Bayonet Point prioritizes the health and safety of their patients and staff and is transparent about these standards with the public Thank you for your attention to this matter Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed James Uthmeier Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) co-introduced a bill with Sen (D – NH) to reduce America’s reliance on China.. UPDATE: Ashley Moody was officially sworn-in as a US Senator joining fellow Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott Marco Rubio is being interviewed today at a Senate Confirmation Hearing for his nomination as US Secretary of State We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful If you sign up to subscribe to Florida Daily’s e-mail newsletter you will provide us your e-mail address and name and we will never obtain any of your contact information that you don’t voluntarily provide HOW WE USE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS IF YOU VOLUNTARILY PROVIDE IT TO US: If you voluntarily provide us with your name and email address we will use it to send you one email update per weekday Your email address will not be given to any third parties You will have the option to unsubscribe to our E-mail update at anytime by clicking an unsubscribe link that will be provided in each E-Mail we send Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences HCA Healthcare West Florida Division went through a comprehensive search process before picking the person to succeed retiring HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital CEO Bob Meade. Meade, who is retiring Nov. 8, said that search led the largest private hospital company in the U.S. to his favorite choice – Joe Rudisill, who had served as CEO of HCA Florida Englewood Hospital since September 2023. whose 41 years of service with HCA Healthcare also included serving as CEO of the hospital in Englewood contacted Rudisill to advise him of his pending retirement “If I had to pick someone for the role it would definitely be Joe,” Meade said during a Monday interview that included Rudisill The two men had a professional connection dating back six years to when Rudisill moved from Chief Operating Officer to interim Chief Executive Officer at HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital in Hudson (I) think the world of Bob,” said Rudisill who went from Bayonet Point to work for almost four years as COO Mission Hospital an 853-bed hospital that HCA purchased in 2018 Rudisill left Mission to become CEO in Englewood “Bob reached out to me knowing that he was retiring and knowing the special place that Doctors is – more complex services a very busy surgical hospital,” Rudisill said “As much as I enjoyed my time in Englewood the opportunity at Doctors Hospital did present a new challenge for me in my career.” Almost two decades at Doctors HospitalMeade admitted he moved around a bit in his first few years but when he arrived at Doctors Hospital in 2005 “I’d always had my eye on this place and Sarasota’s a great place to live And when I got here and was introduced to people I just felt this was where I wanted to spend my career,” said Meade “It’s like a family here at Doctors and the quality is amazing “Over the years I looked at potentially moving on but decided I don’t know why I would want to do that because I really loved being here,” he added Meade focused on fostering a culture of excellence at Doctors which achieved  a variety of accolades including earning a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 5-star designation; a listing in the Fortune/IBM Watson Healthcare 100 Top Hospitals in the US; 19 Leapfrog “A” Safety ratings and being named as one of  Becker’s Healthcare 100 Places to Work in Healthcare The hospital also opened a graduate medical education program in Internal Medicine and a free-standing emergency room in Lakewood Ranch The hospital recently broke ground on another free-standing emergency room near Venice the hospital has developed a comprehensive robotics and surgery program expanded the number of operating rooms and the ER and added cardiac catheterization and a mental health program The biggest challenge Meade faced came in early 2020 when Doctors Hospital treated the first confirmed COVID-19 patient in Florida “We had the very first COVID patient in the state of Florida which I'm very proud of our staff for figuring out how to work through that and taking care of people,” he added “We’re excited about what the future holds in that market,” said Rudisill who declined to elaborate on other facilities the Nashville Tennessee-based healthcare corporation may have planned for its 30-acre Wellen Park campus Doctors Hospital is building its free-standing ER on less than 1.4 acres “We’ve obviously seen a big need on both side of Venice,” Rudisill said ”With CHS closing the hospital on the island there’s been a big need for emergency services in  the Venice community and the Nokomis community to get to an ER in a timely manner.” Rudisill said his goal at Doctors Hospital is to follow the same trajectory mapped out by Meade not just on this hospital but on this community  for the last 19 years has been second to none,” Rudisill said — A man was shot and killed by deputies during an incident in Pasco County Sunday night The Pasco County Sheriff's Office said deputies were attempting to locate the man for multiple felony warrants near Princeton Drive and Bayonet Point they found him at his home and attempted to make contact but after 30 minutes of de-escalation techniques The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting PCSO said the deputies who fired the rounds have been placed on paid administrative This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital is under new leadership CEO Regina Temple is stepping down after 4 years as leader of the Hudson hospital, HCA Healthcare officials said Tuesday. Sally Seymour, CEO of HCA Florida St. Petersburg Hospital since 2022, will take over as interim CEO at Bayonet Point, the company said. The switch was first reported by NBC news who has 20 years experience in health care previously served as chief operating officer at HCA Florida Trinity and HCA Florida Fawcett hospitals prior to her promotion to CEO The change comes after a troubled 2023 at Bayonet Point In March, congressional lawmakers Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Gus Bilirakis wrote to Temple demanding to know what the company was doing to fix problems there. The letter cited an NBC news report that found doctors and other medical staff at the Hudson facility had reported safety concerns to management for more than a year Those problems included cockroaches in operating rooms inadequate monitoring of intensive care patients and people waking up during surgery The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in April also placed the hospital’s internal medicine residency program on probation. The agency declined to provide information on the reason for the decision. We are working diligently to resolve the issues, which are not related to patient care, and help ensure our internal medicine residents continue to have a good educational experience,” said Bayonet Point spokesperon Jennifer Brake in an email. A publicly traded company, HCA is the nation’s largest health system with about 180 hospitals including more than 40 in Florida. In 2021, it reported earning $58.7 billion in revenue with profits of about $7 billion. Regina Temple is leaving her position as CEO at HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital. [ HCA West Florida ]Temple, a board-certified hospital administrator with more than 27 years experience, joined Bayonet Point in 2019 from San Antonio, Texas, where she held executive leadership roles with the Baptist Health System, including president of Mission Trail Baptist Hospital. Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter You’re all signed up!Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started. She will continue to be a HCA employee serving in an advisory capacity, said spokesperson Deb McKell. “We are grateful for her dedicated service to our hospital including her leadership in expanding and renovating our emergency department, the opening of a new inpatient rehabilitation program, construction of a new patient tower and a multi-year patient room modernization project that is now underway,” she said.” Christopher O’Donnell is the health and medicine reporter. He can be reached at codonnell@tampabay.com. when a computer screen alerted a hospital technician that one of the 50 patients she was remotely monitoring had a potentially fatal change of heart rhythm Her screen also showed one of the wires attached to the patient had fallen off medical protocol required a code blue be called in case the patient needed resuscitation The patient had been admitted to HCA Florida Bayonet Point in Pasco County after a positive COVID-19 test, according to a state review of the hospital conducted in September The hospital’s computer listed the patient as being on floor 2 West A call to the emergency department to find him wasn’t answered “I didn’t know where the patient was; I knew he needed help,” the technician told state investigators “It didn’t seem reasonable to call a code blue to an empty room.” a nurse who went to administer medication found the man lying “across” his bed A state review of the hospital found that the patient’s room number was incorrectly logged into the hospital’s computer system by a registrar It also highlighted multiple safety concerns at the Hudson hospital including some that contributed to the death of the patient and left others at risk The hospital did not have enough medical staff on its surgical intensive care and progressive care units meaning nurses were assigned too many patients the review by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration concluded also failed to conduct appropriate remote monitoring of patients’ vital signs Those shortcomings were considered Class 1 violations The designation typically requires hospitals take corrective action within 24 hours HCA spokesperson Debra McKell said in a statement emailed to the Tampa Bay Times that the hospital chain has in recent months overhauled the leadership at Bayonet Point. The company in August named Sally Seymour as the new CEO and has also appointed a new chief medical officer and chief nursing officer. Sally Seymour, CEO of HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital. The new leadership team is working with the state agency and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to ensure that corrective action plans in place to address staffing and quality concerns are followed, according to the statement. “As the only trauma center in the area and provider of high-level services, including comprehensive stroke, cardiac and inpatient rehabilitation, we will continue our focus on providing the community we serve with quality health care services,” McKell said. The state report found that two of three hospital units reviewed were sometimes understaffed The hospital’s surgical intensive care unit is required to have one registered nurse for every two patients with assistance from a charge nurse who should not be assigned any patients But staffing schedules showed that the charge nurse was frequently assigned patients while some nurses were assigned as many as four patients There was a similar issue on night shifts in the progressive care unit where staffing levels provided by the unit’s manager understated how many patients nurses were assigned the state review spotlighted a patient who was transferred to a ward at 3:17 p.m for monitoring but wasn’t connected to equipment recording vital signs until 10 p.m. The overhaul of the hospital’s leadership was made after a spate of other issues emerged In March, congressional lawmakers Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Gus Bilirakis wrote to the hospital’s former CEO, Regina Temple, demanding to know what the company was doing to address safety concerns reported by doctors and other medical staffers to NBC News. Those included cockroaches in operating rooms One month earlier, a National Labor Relations Board investigation found that the hospital interrogated employees about their union activity, threatened them with termination or other reprisals and created the impression that workers discussing unionization were under surveillance. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in April placed the hospital’s internal medicine residency program on probation. The agency declined to provide information on the reason for the decision. The Times shared a copy of the state’s review of the hospital with Bilirakis. In an emailed statement, he said he welcomes the appointment of new leadership but wants to hear from them what actions have been taken to prevent future problems. “These newest allegations that hospital deficiencies contributed to a patient death are obviously concerning,” Bilirakis said. “Patients deserve confidence that they will receive the best possible care when seeking medical treatment and this hospital should work diligently to re-establish that trust.” 2023A Pasco County hospital engaged in anti-union activity against its workers Officials at HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital interrogated employees about their union activity threatened them with termination or other reprisals and created the impression that workers discussing unionization were under surveillance according to an investigation by the National Labor Relations Board The independent federal agency safeguards employees’ rights to organize and protects private sector workers from unfair labor practices Workers at the Hudson hospital were also prohibited from communicating with other employees about unions The hospital agreed to resolve the allegations through a settlement with the federal agency It requires the hospital to post notices on bulletin boards for at least 60 days stating workers have the right to unionize and that hospital management will not threaten or carry out surveillance on employees HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest hospital operators, runs about 50 hospitals in Florida and more than 180 nationwide. It reported revenue of $60 billion in 2022. “HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital respects the rights of our caregivers and, while we reject any allegation of wrongdoing, we agreed to post the flyer informing our colleagues of their rights,” the hospital said in a statement. “Over the next three months I received multiple calls and was called in for two meetings to discuss my presentation,” the worker reported. “I was told physician unionization was illegal ... questioned about union activity, and received indirect threats for discussing unionization.” The whistleblower’s identity is redacted in documents released by the agency. The settlement agreement also requires HCA to provide the employee a neutral reference letter that lists only job title and dates of employment. The National Labor Relations Act gives any worker the right to unionize for the purposes of collective bargaining. However, many physicians work as independent contractors through their own companies and may run afoul of anti-trust laws if they band together to bargain. the National Labor Relations Board has recognized the right of physicians to join independent practice associations affiliated with unions such as the Federation of Physicians and Dentists Only about 7% of physicians were represented by a union in 2019, according to data from the American Medical Association. Christopher O'DonnellHealth and Medicine Reporter Deputies were called about 9:15 p.m. to a report of a shooting on Laredo Drive. When they arrived, they found that a man had been shot during an argument with another man. The man who was shot later died. Sheriff’s officials described the case as “an isolated incident amongst known parties.” Social media posts on the incident indicate it occurred near a Twistee Treat ice cream stand, near the intersection at Zimmerman Road. Photos from the area also show crime scene tape outside a nearby Regions Bank branch. No other information was immediately released. Dan Sullivan is a criminal justice reporter. Reach him at dsullivan@tampabay.com. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Four physicians at an HCA Healthcare hospital in Florida allege that patient care has suffered as a result of cost-cutting measures by the nation's largest hospital group, an NBC News investigation has uncovered The doctors – three of whom requested anonymity in fear of retaliation by HCA – shared their experiences at HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital with NBC News reporter Cynthia McFadden All four doctors said the quality of care at the Tampa-area facility has declined significantly since 2021 when HCA cut staff and began hiring contract workers a neurosurgeon and the hospital's chief of staff at the time said there were 18 "near misses" in the operating room when the wrong side of a patient was prepared for surgery – anesthetizing a left hip that should have been the right Recent photographs provided to NBC News by doctors show ceiling leaks in a recovery room wires dangling from a hole in a wall and cockroaches in the operating room The chief executive officer at the hospital declined an interview request by NBC News but a spokeswoman for the hospital group said in a statement that "we are continually looking for ways to improve patient safety and quality of care." including reports by both federal and state regulators to ensure best practices for quality care are in place," the statement continued "HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital is appropriately staffed to ensure the safe care of our patients." "Worst-case scenario," hospital CEO Shayne George said after the evacuation was completed Thursday. "When you're in the dark and you don't have any power for any system." It was a complicated operation that took six hours, the hospital's entire staff plus dozens of firefighters from three counties. It also required more than 70 ambulances and three ambulance buses — summoned from as far away as Orlando. The hospital, located at 14000 Fivay Road, won't readmit patients until Monday at the earliest. Bringing them back, though, won't be nearly as hard as it was getting them out. The ordeal started when lightning struck the hospital's roof about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, George said, while the storm that would become Hurricane Hermine was lashing the region. The strike started a fire along the roofline that damaged the electrical system, killing the power. When the emergency backup generators came on, electricity flowed through the damaged wiring, the CEO said, causing a "safety issue." The staff had to turn off the backup power and call for help. The challenge they faced: evacuate every patient, including those in the intensive care unit, in the dark, without elevators, while a tropical storm approached. The first to go were the patients in critical condition and those in intensive care. Life-support equipment has its own backup battery power, but they last a limited time. "That's why we made the call (to evacuate)," George said, "because we weren't sure how soon we'd get the power back." Patients were evacuated based on the severity of their condition — the worst went first. The elevators were out of service, so crews had to strap patients to stretchers and carry them down from the upper floors. Once on the ground floor, patients were shuttled into ambulances. Pasco County Fire Rescue sent out a statewide request for aid. Ambulances came from as far as 100 miles away from agencies in Orange County, said Pasco County spokesman Doug Tobin. Cecile Hundley was in the cardiac surgical unit at Bayonet Point on Wednesday night. She was scheduled to undergo a heart catheterization, in which doctors thread a camera into the heart through an artery in the leg, at 7 p.m. Instead, the lights went out about an hour before her procedure. She saw people using flashlights in the hallway. "It was kind of dramatic," Hundley, 81, said. Since she was in a first-floor room, workers were able to wheel her straight to an ambulance. She was one of 49 patients taken to Oak Hill Hospital in Brooksville, about 17 miles north, where she plans to undergo the procedure today. Medical Center of Trinity, about 13 miles south, received 31 patients. Northside Hospital and Memorial Hospital of Tampa each took in 26 patients. The rest were split among Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in nearby New Port Richey, St. Petersburg General Hospital and Brandon Regional Hospital. No one was injured in the fire, and no patients were hurt during the evacuation. "I never saw any type of frantic, chaotic behavior," Hundley said from her bed at Oak Hill. "It just seemed so well organized. It was as though they planned it." Health Corporation of America, which owns the hospital, was able to get a 2,000-kilowatt generator to the hospital about an hour after it lost power. That was enough to turn some lights back on, but not enough to restore power to the whole complex. Many details of the evacuation have yet to be worked out, however, such as who will foot the bill for all those ambulances. It was unknown if patients would be on the hook for expenses related to the evacuation, such as being treated at different hospitals. "We'll definitely pay our share, of course, to all those EMS providers that helped out through that process," George said. Full power was restored to the hospital Thursday thanks to hospital engineers and Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative electricians. But state law prohibits the hospital from taking in patients without backup power, and George said getting that back online won't be done until Monday. Meanwhile, workers spent Thursday cleaning the hospital while a lone ambulance was parked outside the emergency room, ready to rush any patients who show up at Bayonet Point to another hospital. George said that during the evacuation, the hospital sent its staff and medical records along with the patients taken to other hospitals. Surgeries were cancelled until further notice. Contact Josh Solomon at (813) 909-4613 or jsolomon@tampabay.com. Follow @josh_solomon15. Josh SolomonFormer Times Reporter UPDATE: Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point says they believe an overnight fire that forced patients out of their facility was caused by a lightning strike The lightning caused a power outage and disabled the safe switch for their back up generator The generator was destroyed but the fire was put out quickly.  The medical center says they safely evacuated their patients with the help of 70 ambulances 10 Sheriff's Office unites and Pasco Emergency Management The medical center is not taking patients at this time and they have canceled all surgeries scheduled for Thursday.  PREVIOUS STORY: Every patient was evacuated from Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Pasco County after an electrical fire There were 209 patients moved to other hospitals in the Tampa Bay area; crews carried them from their rooms down the steps and into ambulances Fire rescue and hospital officials decided to evacuate the hospital because their back-up power was not working "They have to have the ability to have backup power and it's really because … some of the patients are so critical they're on ventilators They have special pumps going and when that power kicks out the ventilators have battery backups but they may last an hour or two once that power goes away there's no more ventilator working," Andrew Fossa Personnel Chief and Public Information Officer for Pasco County Fire Crews from various counties helped transfer patients thanks to a statewide mutual aid request Fossa said their investigation is over and now state officials will continue to look into why this happened The generator automatically comes on and there is an electrical switch that realizes the regular utility power is not on and it's supposed to click over the generator kept trying to push it over and it didn't do it I don't know if the switch was stuck or what happened but it caused it to short out," Fossa said said they tested their generators and they system a week ago and everything worked fine but this was a transfer switch that did not activate in order to preserve life safety issues they had to shut down the generators 'cause they were sure if that was going to create any other problems," Shayne George said Shayne George said they will begin the process of transferring patients back to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point once everything has been restored Florida is leading the nation in COVID-19 hospitalizations and the impact is hitting Tampa Bay hospitals from ambulance wait times to overflow emergency rooms RELATED: Pasco Fire Chief urges residents to only call 911 during 'true emergency' Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point opened a tent outside of their emergency room due to the influx of patients seeking care for COVID-19 symptoms Bayonet Point Communication Director Rick McNamara tells ABC Action News that they were already short beds before the pandemic now the problem is exasperated with the COVID-19 Delta surge The hospital also started construction to double their ER from 19 beds to nearly 40 before the pandemic hit RELATED: Polk Fire Chief asks for limited use of 911, says system is under strain HCA's Oak Hill Hospital also set up a tent outside to keep up with the influx of patients Oak Hill Communications Director Katie Stacy told ABC Action News in an email we have expanded our treatment capacity by adding care space outside of the ER for as long as necessary." Compared to the first outbreak of COVID-19 Delta patients are more likely to be admitted to the ICU and need ventilators RELATED: BayCare reaches 'grim' milestone in COVID-19 hospitalizations; cases 10x higher since start of July "We are also ensuring we have the supplies necessary to care for those patients The staffing shortages nationwide are a challenge for us as well We are thankful for our team who has taken advantage of the incentives available to them to cover shifts." More than 90% of those admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. if you are eligible for the vaccine and have not yet done so HCA hospitals stress that their ER's are safe and ask anyone in need of emergency care to seek help 2016 at 2:29 pm ET.css-79elbk{position:relative;}NEW PORT RICHEY FL — Incoming sixth-graders at Bayonet Point STEM Middle Magnet School will get the chance to check out their newly renovated campus before the first bell rings on the 2016-17 school year The school has announced its second annual Grade 6 Academy Summer Orientation is set for Wednesday program at the 11125 Little Road school is designed to give new students and parents a chance to become acclimated before classes start “Students will separate into small groups for mini lessons about dress code and electronic policies,” the school district said in an email to media “They will also meet the guidance team while engaging in school spirit activities.” As students participate in breakout sessions parents will learn about transitioning from elementary to middle school kids will get their course schedules and have a chance to meet their teachers and visit their new classrooms Bayonet Point was remodeled over the summer so sixth-graders will also get a sneak peek The first day of school for Pasco County kids is Monday Photo of the renovation in progress courtesy of Pasco County Schools 2024 at 8:00 am ET.css-79elbk{position:relative;}A 14-year-old student was arrested for making threats against Bayonet Point Middle School in New Port Richey FL — A 14-year-old was arrested for making threats against Bayonet Point Middle School the Pasco Sheriff’s Office wrote Thursday in a Facebook post The student was charged with making written threats to kill and misuse of a two-way communication device The agency investigates all threats and reminds citizens to report suspicious activity Parents and guardians should speak with students about the consequences of making threats At 2:30 Monday afternoon, students and faculty members streamed out of their classrooms and onto the athletic fields at Bayonet Point Middle School. The attraction: the solar eclipse. That this was something special was not lost on students like Kevin Esquivel and Andy Shaw, who donned filtered glasses and craned their necks upward as the cloudy sky turned a dusk-like hue. "Its a really rare opportunity, a great experience," said Kevin, 12. "I'm surprised it's so small." "It's pretty cool," said Andy, 11. "This is actually my first eclipse. The next eclipse won't be for at least 30 years." The viewing came during a short time frame in the minutes before dismissal Monday. But faculty and administrators had been preparing for this since June. At Bayonet Point Middle, one of two STEM/LATIC (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics/Learner Active Technology Infused Classroom) schools in Pasco County, the teachable moment was expanded into the days before. Safety was a top priority, said principal Shelley Carrino, noting that the school had purchased 1,000 pairs of approved eyeglasses, figuring that about 850 would be doled out to students, faculty, bus drivers and parents who might want to stop in and take a peek. Teachers planned interdisciplinary lessons across all subjects, utilizing a variety of technology so students could learn the how, what, where and why of the eclipse. Some students took part in interactive lessons to simulate the phases of the moon and the eclipse, using light and styrofoam balls in science classes. Others created their own informational safety brochures. Language arts lessons focused on the myths and mythology related to the sun and the eclipse. Students in math classes compared the sizes of different stars, using equations. "It's been pretty cool. You can't get a better teaching experience than this," said civics teacher David Suraci, who touched on the uncanny ability of the ancient Mayans to predict eclipses, while taking students on a virtual tour in his classroom of the Mayan ruins in Mexico. And while technology might be all the rage, School Board member Cynthia Armstrong came out to show the kids how it was done old-school, bringing a pinhole camera she made herself. "It's just wonderful," Armstrong said. "(The eclipse) just really fits into the curriculum of a STEM school." "It's pretty awesome," said technology teacher Kate D'Avanzo, recalling how she watched a partial solar eclipse in her younger years. "We built pinhole viewers back then. We didn't have the fancy glasses." Along with the glasses, students were able to take turns peering through a telescope equipped with a solar filter, brought by seventh-grade science teacher Joseph Marshall. "This is great because it happens so rarely," Marshall said as students made their way to the school bus loop. "The next time this happens, these kids will be in their 40s." Contact Michele Miller at mmiller@tampabay.com. Follow @MicheleMiller52. Michele MillerFormer Times staffer 2019BAYONET POINT -- A park and a field could be joining the woods in northwest Pasco The owners of undeveloped land near HCA-Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point are proposing to build Beacon Park and Emerald Field as new residential neighborhoods abutting the existing Beacon Woods East development Preliminary plans filed with Pasco County call for up to 483 single-family homes and duplex units on 155 acres straddling both sides of Hudson Avenue The portion to the north is called Beacon Park and the neighborhood on the south is labeled Emerald Field "I don't think selling them (new homes) will be a problem,'' said Greg Armstrong of Coldwell Banker F Much of Pasco County's new home construction has been in the new developments east of Trinity along the State Road 54 corridor and SR 56 in Wesley Chapel Beacon Park and Emerald Field would become the second significant tract near U.S Lennar is building up to 425 homes on a former citrus grove at Madison Street and SR 54 south of New Port Richey. The so-called in-fill development is considered key to help spur investment in west Pasco's U.S. 19 corridor, the focus of Pasco County's 50-year redevelopment plan known as The Harbors market area. Alma Investments of Jacksonville acquired the Bayonet Point land a year ago for nearly $3.8 million. Daniel Blanchard, CEO of Ewing Real Estate LLC in Jacksonville, the developer, along with engineers from the Avid Group and land-use attorney Shelly May Johnson, were scheduled to meet with members of the county planning staff last week to discuss the project. Within the proposal, the developers are seeking to change the zoning of a vacant 5-acre parcel from commercial to residential use. Part of the property's appeal is its proximity to the HCA hospital. "It's one of the few remaining sites in that area,'' Blanchard said in an interview. "I think the time is ripe for it to be developed. It's a great site.'' The developers have not picked a home builder, Blanchard said, but "we're that comfortable with the site that we're moving forward with development prior to naming a builder, and we're patient enough to find the right one.'' If all goes according to plan, the developers hope to break ground on the neighborhood infrastructure sometime this year and have homes built by fall 2020, he said. This isn't the first time the vacant property has been targeted for development. More than 25 years ago, a California trust acquired the land from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and a Miami real estate broker promised $100 million worth of investment to be completed by 1997. That was slow to happen, and by 1998, the county commission stopped future approvals on the undeveloped land because the developer hadn't complied with state paperwork requirements and missed a government-approved deadline to finish the project. That trust sold the land to national home builder DR Horton Inc. for $5.7 million in 2005, near the height of the real estate boom of the last decade. Three years later, however, DR Horton sold the property to a Dallas-based limited partnership which held the land for a decade before selling in February 2018 to Alma Investments. The vacant land is part of one of the more notorious episodes in local development lore. Pasco County approved Beacon Woods East in 1982 as a 4,000-home, 1,261-acre project. Its builder, Clyde B. Hoeldtke Jr., boasted of building 13,000 homes in a 30-year career. However, his company, Beacon Homes, ran into financial difficulties and collapsed in 1992 amid allegations from stiffed customers that Hoeldtke had committed fraud. Hoeldtke landed under house arrest in his million-dollar mansion in Colorado four years later after pleading no contest to 23 counts of misapplication of construction funds. He was ordered to repay more than $150,000 in restitution to customers. A judge also found Hoeldtke in contempt for withholding information on required financial affidavits and sentenced him to six months in the Pasco County Detention Center in Land O' Lakes. Hoeldtke's lender took over the land, but the bank failed, and the property ended up under the control of the FDIC. Contact C.T. Bowen at ctbowen@tampabay.com or (813) 435-7306. Follow @CTBowen2. C.T. BowenHillsborough County Reporter Instead, the sun rose to a much more peaceful scene than that of last Wednesday night, when a lightning strike and fire forced the evacuation of all 209 patients. The hospital opened its doors at 7 a.m. Administration told staffers to come in for their regular shifts and they began accepting patients. The first patient walked in shortly after opening to undergo scheduled lab work, hospital officials said. It was unclear how many of the patients who were evacuated would return. "All's well," said hospital chief executive Shayne George. "Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point is very happy and glad to be open for business and taking care of the community." The hospital, at 14000 Fivay Road, had to remain closed following the fire until state inspectors could check the complex's backup power system. The inspectors cleared the hospital to open on Monday evening. Many of the patients who were evacuated were discharged from the hospitals that took them in, said Bayonet Point marketing director Kurt Conover, and some were staying in those hospitals for the remainder of their care. Patients will not be liable for the cost of their evacuation or transfer back to Bayonet Point, hospital officials said. The patients who returned did so in private ambulances, not county or municipal vehicles. And amid much less chaos than when they left. More than 70 ambulances lined up to haul patients away during following the fire, working late into the night. On Tuesday, ambulances dropped patients off intermittently under sunny skies. One of the returners on Tuesday was Tom Rabuano, 65. He was admitted into Bayonet Point Aug. 30 after a car jumped a curb on Spring Hill Drive and hit him while he was walking, he said. Rabuano underwent surgery to repair his shattered legs that day. He was evacuated to Oak Hill Hospital in Brooksville the next night. Without elevators, the patients on the upper floors, like Rabuano, had to be carried down the stairs. "It was something else going down the stairs getting around on a hardboard," he said from his bed inside the surgical intensive care unit. The ordeal started when lightning struck the hospital's roof about 6:15 p.m. last Wednesday while the storm that would become Hurricane Hermine was lashing the region, George said last week. The strike started a fire along the roof line that damaged the electrical system, killing the power at the hospital. When the emergency backup generators came on, electricity flowed through the damaged wiring, George said, causing a "safety issue." The staff had to turn off the backup power and call for help. The staff, with the help of dozens of firefighters and the dozens of ambulances from multiple counties, moved every patient to nearby hospitals in about six hours, mostly in the dark. Rabuano of Spring Hill said he's more comfortable being back at Bayonet Point, but the move didn't bother him. "Extraordinary times, everybody's got to do extraordinary things," he said.