By Kate Barker

Lifestyle Family Fitness club sales manager Will Pickett and membership consultant and kick boxing instructor Joe Bragg are at the gym’s preview center in the Royal Oaks shopping center.

Local fitness buffs will be pleased to hear that there soon will be a new gym in Bloomingdale. Lifestyle Family Fitness plans to open a state-of-the-art 30,000 sq. ft. facility by fall 2006 in the space vacated by Winn-Dixie in the Royal Oaks shopping center.

According to Lifestyle manager Daphyne Guthrie, the multi-million dollar facility will include the latest in strength and cardiovascular training equipment, as well as a group fitness area that will feature a $30,000 suspended wood deck floor system.

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By Sharon Still

Just in time for the holidays, Learning Express recently opened at 3454 Lithia Pinecrest Rd. in the Steinmart-anchored Lithia Crossing shopping center. Learning Express offers a unique selection of toys for kids of all ages, including developmental toys for infants and toddlers, arts and crafts, dolls, games and more.

Previously from the Boston area, Learning Express franchise owners Jim and Julie Mizouni say they chose to start the business because, in Boston, the local Learning Express store was a popular destination spot for their children and for the other families in their community.

"I have been a retail executive for a number of national chains and I decided I wanted to run a business my whole family could be involved in," says Jim.

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By Lynn Parejko

Retired Hillsborough County school superintendent Earl Lennard will soon have a school named in his honor. Earl J. Lennard High School, under construction in Ruskin, has been named after the honored school superintendent, a man with strong ties to the Ruskin community.

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Lennard High is expected to enroll about 940 students with its projected opening in August 2005, with most students transferring from severely overcrowded East Bay High School.

County Books Lithia Pinecrest Meeting
By Kate Barker

Hillsborough County is listening to residents' complaints about the traffic on Lithia Pinecrest Rd. The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) recently approved $2.5 million in funding for a study into widening the busy road and plans are underway to improve the intersection with Lumsden Rd.

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On Saturday, December 3, residents driving along Lithia Pinecrest may have been stuck in traffic for some time as sheriff’s deputies rerouted traffic after a worker digging the reclaimed water line along Lithia Pinecrest hit a water main causing a collapse in the roadway. The roadway was repaired by late Sunday and the water line construction continues but is said to be ahead of schedule.