Plant City resident turning 100
In a few days, Rachel O. Coleman Sullivan and her family will celebrate a big milestone in her life: making it to age 100.
She was born Oct. 26, 1920 in Okeechobee and had seven siblings. Sullivan lived through the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane that killed an estimated 2,500 people and the family relocated to Plant City in the 1930s. Sullivan lived here until she married H. Glinis Ethington, whose job as a morse code radio telegrapher with the Merchant Marines took them to Fort Lauderdale and Slidell, Louisiana. The couple moved back to Plant City in 1982 after they retired. Ethington passed away win 1997 and Sullivan married William H. Sullivan several years later. He passed away in 2018.
Sullivan has a daughter (Clarice Henderson), two grandchildren (Felicia Cumbess and Maurice Huskins), three great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren. Henderson said her mother credits “her Christian faith and clean living” for her long and happy life.
HCSO launches package theft prevention program
The police are normally busy looking for package thieves during the lead-up to the holiday season. This year, they’re preventing package theft.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced “Operation Pinch-A-Grinch” on Monday as a way to give residents a more secure option for package delivery: shipping items directly to HCSO to hang onto for safekeeping. Citing both an increase in online shopping due to COVID-19 and last year’s package theft statistics — HCSO said 274 reports of package theft led to more than $76,000 in losses during the 2019 holiday season — Sheriff Chad Chronister said there’s a clear need for the operation.
“Operation Pinch-A-Grinch is simple,” Chronister said. “When checking out online, just enter your name and our district address for delivery.”
If you live in Hillsborough County and have a valid, government-issued photo ID plus your package tracking number(s), you can have packages weighing less than 50 pounds delivered to HCSO’s District 3 Office, located at 7202 Gunn Highway in Tampa, or the District 5 Office at 10128 Windhorst Road in Tampa. Deputies will accept the deliveries and keep them safe until you can get to either office to pick them up.
Operation Pinch-A-Grinch starts Nov. 9 and ends Dec. 21. Package distribution will happen from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
“I am very excited to launch Operation Pinch-A-Grinch, and I hope that by working together and encouraging members of our community to take advantage of this new program, we will keep the Grinch from stealing Christmas here in Hillsborough County,” Chronister said.
Visit teamhcso.com/PinchAGrinch for more information.
County health department offers Halloween safety tips
If trick-or-treating is allowed in your community next Saturday, the Hillsborough County Health Department released some tips on Monday to help residents have a safe and happy Halloween.
The department offered the following suggestions:
- Plan costumes that are bright and reflective. Consider adding reflective tape or striping to costumes and trick-or-treat bags for greater visibility.
- Make sure that shoes fit well and that costumes are short enough to prevent tripping, entanglement or contact with flame.
- Look for “flame resistant” on the costume labels. Wigs and accessories should also clearly indicate this.
- Avoid any sharp or long swords, canes, or sticks as a costume accessory. Your child can easily be hurt by these accessories if he or she stumbles or trips.
- Do not use decorative contact lenses without an eye examination and a prescription from an eye care professional. While the packaging on decorative lenses will often make claims such as “one size fits all” or “no need to see an eye specialist,” obtaining decorative contact lenses without a prescription is both dangerous and illegal. This can cause pain, inflammation and serious eye disorders and infections, which may lead to permanent vision loss.
For those unable to go trick-or-treating, the department said there are still plenty of activities families can do to enjoy the holiday:
- Carving or decorating pumpkins with family members and displaying them.
- Children can draw a face with markers and parents can do the cutting. Consider using a flashlight or glow stick instead of a candle to light your pumpkin. If you do use a candle, a votive candle is safest. Do not place candle-lit pumpkins on a porch or any path where visitors may pass close by.
- Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations.
- Visiting pumpkin patches or orchards where people use hand sanitizer before touching pumpkins or picking apples.
- Attend a small, outdoor and open-air costume parade or have a virtual costume contest
If you plan to stay home this year and hand out goodies to neighborhood children:
- Remove tripping hazards to keep your home safe for trick-or-treaters. Keep the porch and front yard clear of anything a child could trip over such as garden hoses, toys, bikes and lawn decorations.
- Check outdoor lights and replace burned-out bulbs.
- Sweep wet leaves from sidewalks and steps.
- Provide grab-and-go goodie bags instead of individual pieces of candy. If you are preparing goodie bags, wash your hands: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after preparing the bags.
Parents are encouraged to give children a good meal prior to parties and trick-or-treating to prevent overindulgence on candy. Keep an eye on what your child has in their mouth while trick or treating.
Additional resources for a safe and healthy Halloween can be found on the websites for the American Academy of Pediatrics: healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/all-around/Pages/Halloween-Safety-Tips.aspx: and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html.