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Hamilton Spectator
09-05-2025
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
Time capsule buried 25-years ago unearthed containing St. John the Evangelist student letters
With the year 2000 being a millennium year, and as part of Woodslee's St. John the Evangelist Parish's 125th anniversary, the students at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Elementary School were encouraged to write a letter to their future selves. Those words were sealed in a time capsule – buried beneath a large boulder for the past quarter-of-a-century. Recently, that time capsule was unearthed, and its contents – including the letters – were rediscovered on Sunday, when the time capsule was opened. The letters and the rest of the time capsule contents – including school memorabilia, a year book, history of the church, photos, and church bulletin will be viewable during St. John Parish's upcoming 150th anniversary celebration. In 2000, Donna Murawski was the Chairperson of St. John the Evangelist School Parent Advisory Council. She recalled the excitement the students had in writing the letters, which was to note where they hoped to be in 25-years. 'These letters would be put into a time capsule to be opened in 2025. So, here we are. The rock has been moved, and the time capsule pulled out of the vault,' Murawski said, ready to explore the contents tucked-away for a quarter-of-a-century. Unearthing the time capsule was not a small endeavour, she added, noting the church had to rely on a neighbour with a backhoe to help remove the large rock. She was happy to announce on Sunday the time capsule 'had survived beautifully with no damage.' In addition to writing the letters, the students also signed the time capsule, with most of the signatures still legible. Throughout the years, Murawski said the past students have mentioned the letters, and excitement is buzzing as the parish's 150th anniversary nears. Unearthing the time capsule was an especially emotional moment for Murawski, not only as an individual who organized the initiative 25-years ago, but because three of her children were students of the school then. One of her children passed away March 13, and she was looking forward to seeing that letter. He would have been there to eagerly take part in the celebration. Seeing the content of the time capsule was 'just amazing,' Murawski said. 'It is an exciting time.' Students will be able to pick-up the letters they wrote to themselves after the 1pm mass on Sunday, June 22. Those unable to attend, but would like their letter, can email to make arrangements. She will try to mail the letters to the past students who want them. The 150th anniversary of St. John the Evangelist Parish will take place June 18-22. June 18 will be Youth Day, with a school mass, free luncheon for the students, and an afternoon of games and activities. June 21 will be the Golden Years Day, which will offer a luncheon at noon for parishioners 75-years-of-age and older and those who have been married for 50-years or more, followed by games and fellowship. Holy Hour will take place at 4:30pm. The big celebratory 150th event will be Sunday, June 22. Mass will be at 1pm with Bishop Fabbro, food, refreshment, games, historical displays, and family photo opportunities in the hall. Everyone is welcome to join in. Information from St. John the Evangelist Church notes in 1875 parishioners met in a barn-type building on what is now Oriole Park Drive. In the late 1800s, a more formal wooden structure was constructed on the site of the current church and parking lot. The current building was opened in 1900.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What's contaminating Tampa Bay's fish? These scientists are angling for answers
IN A BOAT OFF APOLLO BEACH — A slow morning on the water erupted into a frenzy when line began whizzing out of Steve Murawski's fishing rod. 'I'm on!' Murawksi yelled, scattering the boat's crew into action. A tan fish launched from the glassy, shallow water tucked in this hidden pocket of Tampa Bay mangrove forest. It was exactly the type of fish Murawski's team of scientists came here to find: Centropomus undecimalis, the common snook. This one was a beauty. At 22 inches and with a jet-black line running horizontally across its body, Murawski proudly called his catch a 'double bagger' — it would take two bags to store on ice. The snook was the 681st fish caught by the Tampa Bay Surveillance Project, a sweeping research initiative that aims to study contaminants found in the bay's most coveted fish species: spotted seatrout, redfish, sheepshead and snook. Fish No. 682 came minutes later, also a snook, in an equally riveting fight. A handful of the region's top recreational fishing charter captains have partnered with scientists from the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg for the five-year, $3.4-million study to catch and sample the popular species along the shores of the estuary's 400 square miles. Researchers are focusing on the inshore fish most commonly caught for food, Murawksi said, which is why studying their chemistry is so crucial. After scientists reel in a catch, they bring them ashore to test the fish in the university's lab for a cocktail of contaminants, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, a durable group of slow-to-break-down 'forever chemicals' and more. 'Tampa Bay is one of the fishing hotspots of western Florida and the Gulf, so if there are any threats to consuming these fish, it's important for us to know about them,' said Murawski, a professor of oceanography at the College of Marine Science and the project's principal investigator. 'The animals that we're catching are top predators,' Murawski said. 'But the ultimate top predator is people. Are these chemicals being transferred at higher and higher levels of concentration? We think that's true.' Not only are researchers testing fish for pollutants, they also want to learn whether the people who fish in Tampa Bay for food are more at risk of contamination. A three-year, $750,000 survey of people in the region who fish for food should shed light on seafood-eating habits and help scientists come up with risk assessments for safer consumption, according to the project. Matt Santiago, 41, has been fishing in the bay since he could walk, and he regularly eats the fish he catches. That's why the professional charter captain of more than 17 years happily agreed to help the university's researchers determine what's fouling fish. 'Our industry is heavily dependent on the sustainability of our natural resources. We need to take good care of our water,' Santiago said. 'The more information that we can gather about these chemicals, the better. It's a really important thing.' Plus, the project's results could help local governments pinpoint where the bay's pollution is coming from. For instance, if a redfish caught in northern Tampa Bay has more pharmaceuticals, like opioids, in its system than a redfish caught in the bay's southern end, that could signal there is a wastewater pollution problem in the northern bay. It's difficult for treatment plants to filter out trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, so when humans urinate chemicals from the pills they ingest, that can ultimately end up in the bay. Or perhaps a sheepshead, with its iconic black-and-white bars, is caught near a part of the estuary with a heavy agriculture footprint. The presence of pesticides in that fish could tell officials that more needs to be done to control rainfall runoff from area farms. 'This is not just a bellwether, it's the largest open-water estuary in Florida,' Murawksi said. 'We ought to understand this pretty well... If we can help identify the source of some of these pollutants, it helps.' The project is building on recent studies that have showed 'potentially problematic' levels of pollution in Tampa Bay's water, sediment and fish. The project should inspire other scientists looking to pinpoint pollutants in other large waterbodies, according to Murawski. The team should begin seeing results over the next year. With the project now in its second year, students in Murawski's lab have boated into the bay each week searching for fish. Tampa Bay has a broad mix of industries near its shores, from ports and cities to phosphate plants and agriculture, Murawski said. So to make sure scientists are capturing possible pollutants on a wide scale, they've divided the bay geographically into six segments. The team's goal is to catch 10 animals of all the desired species in each segment every season — or 960 fish each year, according to the project. Spending so much time on the water, there's no shortage of fish tales among the team: Alexandra Lee, a masters student studying marine preservation and conservation, said there was one day last year when the team caught nearly 30 fish over a few hours. Last week, researchers reeled in their biggest catch yet: a snook measuring an impressive 32 inches. The heaviest fish so far? A hunker of a redfish caught Aug. 12 last year weighing more than 12½ pounds. 'When I joined this project, I knew I'd be working on contaminants in fish, but being in the field this much has been a pleasant surprise,' Lee said. 'Not every researcher can be in the field all the time, and our project is so encompassing that we can be.' With one or even two fishing trips a week, Lee estimates she's been out on the water at least 30 times since research began last year. She's fished all over Tampa Bay, from the bluish green waters on the east side of secluded Egmont Key to Manbirtee Key, a 60-acre dredge island near Port Manatee where ships barrel by in the channel. The team has even been granted permission to study fish near MacDill Air Force Base, an area closed off to anglers. The fish population there is an interesting case study in what the fishery looked like decades ago, with little human interaction, according to researchers. On the recent outing into Hillsborough Bay, the team caught three trout and three snook. The morning after, students in Murawski's lab convened in the university's marine science lab to dissect the fish and collect samples. Kylee Rullo, a masters student in Murawski's lab, held up a stony piece of white bone pulled from a dissected snook. Scientists call this an otolith, or the fish's ear bone. You can learn a lot from an otolith, Rullo explained: Like counting rings in a tree, you can determine a fish's age and growth rate. A few rooms down the hall, scientists use a row of humming, expensive devises like a mass spectrometer to sort ultra-small particles and help paint a clearer picture of the chemical makeup in each fish species. 'What do these contaminants mean for our environment? What do they mean for people who are eating fish — and how does that influence their health and their decision-making?" Lee said. 'We just really want to educate people.'
