GAINSWave Therapy in Palm Harbor, FL

Taking care of your home can be scary! Tackle those household demons with professional help this fall.

The arrival of fall not only marks a change in season, but also reminds us of spine-chilling spider webs, ghoulish decor, and the thrill of Halloween. While many of us like our homes to be festively scary this time of year, we certainly don’t want it to give our neighbors the creeps year-round. Fortunately, Thumbtack, a home services app used by millions, has Palm Harbor residents covered.

Burst water pipes, the dryer that shakes, and creaks in the floorboards are household woes that can turn up the scary factor in your home. But with a reliable partner like Thumbtack, these house horrors can be handled — no exorcist required!

Thumbtack connects homeowners with local professionals who can fix malfunctioning appliances, tame unruly landscaping, and repair structural troubles that haunt your everyday life. Whether you're looking for a one-time home improvement project or regular lawn maintenance services, Thumbtack makes it simple to search for and hire a professional who caters to your specific needs.

The Palm Harbor community has plenty of pros ready to handle the horror and help with:

You can contact pros and request free cost estimates, allowing you to compare prices and choose the professional that best fits your budget. You can also read reviews, view how many times a business has been hired by others, and identify how long a business has been open.

Find out what's happening in Palm Harborwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Remember: It may be Halloween, but that doesn’t mean your home has to be scary! With regular, proactive maintenance, Thumbtack can help you continuously care for your home so it’s in perfect shape all year long.

Caring for your home can be scary! Find and hire top-rated Palm Harbor area pros to tackle even the most haunting of home projects.

Play/Pause

Mute/Unmute

Embed video

Playback Speed

Video Quality

Embed video

Copy the code below to embed the video.

<div _="@=1498,dis=none"><div _="@=1499,dis=none"></div></div> Copy

Playback Speed

2

1.75

1.50

1.25

Normal

0.50

Video Quality

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Picture in Picture Cast Fullscreen

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Cast Fullscreen

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — This year, America will turn 247. The Nation declared independence from Great Britain on July 4th, 1776. Now, imagine being alive for nearly half of that time and being able to recall major milestones in history. 140 years separate a Palm Harbor woman from that day in history!

“My name is Lorraine King. I just turned 107 years old," she said as she smiled at the camera.

These days, needlepoint occupies King's time. She's quite the creator—that may be one secret to her longevity.

“This is my therapy. What would I do? Sit here and die," she said. "As long as I’m creating something, I have to live to finish it.”

She also has a few ounces of a very specific wine each night: “Cherry Kijafa," she said with conviction. She’s been drinking it for at least 50 years.

When you sit down with King, the stories seem endless. But, if you asked the doctor who delivered her in July of 1917, his optimism for King’s survival was pretty grim.

“The doctor said don’t bother to name her. She won’t live two days because she has a murmur," she said. "I still have a murmur every time the doctor checks it. So you can live with a murmur.”

You can climb mountains too—she’s ventured five in her lifetime. She once got lost on Mount Washington when she was in high school and trekked through the night only to come out the other side in a different city.

“Oh, it was terrible," she recalled.

In 1940, she and her husband took a trip to Washington D.C., and while sightseeing, they took an underground train to the capitol building.

They paid a visit to the New Hampshire office, where she’s from, and got free tickets to the White House. The next day, “I get to the White House, I open the door, there’s no guards, no policemen, no gate, it’s all open!”

King said she never did get a glance of the president at the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, but then again, she doesn’t recall seeing anyone.

“Well, it was very neat, but I didn’t see anybody!" she laughed.

A few years later, King would become one of the first Americans to own a television.

“It was in a frame, and it was round, and there was a lot of snow, and it wasn’t always clear," she said.

She’s upgraded over the years—a flat-screen TV now sits in the back room of her house. She doesn't have a cell phone, though. She had one for a short while but said she never used it and prefers the landline. Maybe she’s on to something.

One thing’s for sure, King is up by 6 a.m. and in bed by 8 p.m., meaning that routine is part of her incredible life. So, what does she think about being alive nearly half as long as America?

“I think that’s amazing," she laughed.

We do too, Mrs. King. Happy birthday!

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Report a typo

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A church in Palm Harbor is adding a brand-new pipe organ to its house of worship.

What You Need To Know

St. Alfred's Episcopal Church spent over a year raising funds for the musical instrument that will eventually cover some walls of the main sanctuary.

It was a moment Kevin Johnson, the church’s choir director, has waited for 22 years: a semi-truck pulling onto church property carrying pieces of the organ.

“It's wonderful,” Johnson said.

For the past two decades, Johnson has been dreaming of the day that his parish would be able to fill its sanctuary with the melodic tones of a pipe organ.

“There’s nothing that can imitate it, first of all," Johnson said. "It’s just a wonderful, unique sound.”

He has dedicated his life to the instrument, first learning how to play it in high school and further studying it in college.

“It’s the instrument I chose to study and to dedicate my life to so that’s what I think makes it most exciting,” Johnson said.

And the organ is not cheap.

“It’s over a million dollars,” Johnson said.

But in just one and a half years, the church, which averages about 80 to 100 people a service, raised $1.2 million.

“It’s just an incredible sense of thanksgiving,” Johnson said.

On Sunday morning, he and other members of the church celebrated with words of prayer and, of course, music.

“Pretty emotional," Johnson said after watching the morning’s ceremony welcoming the organ to the sanctuary.

Because when you’ve been praying for this day to come for more than 20 years, the choir director can’t help but feel emotional.

“Gratitude,” said Johnson. “Extreme gratitude to God.”

The road to filling the church with that beautiful music will take some time.

Pieces have been delivered to the church, but it will take several weeks to install the 2,019 pipes and two additional weeks to tune the organ before they can celebrate its complete installment at the end of July.

And after 22 years, Johnson said he doesn’t mind waiting a few more weeks to play the instrument in the church that he calls home.

During the construction, Johnson said the synagogue next door has offered its building for the church to hold some of its services while the organ is installed.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — If you have an old roof or too many claims, you might expect to get dropped by your insurance company. But a Tampa Bay area woman says she did everything right and her coverage was still canceled.

Jane Pictor still doesn’t understand why she’s received a cancellation letter, and turned to 8 On Your Side Investigator Mahsa Saeidi for help.

The thing is, the cancellation was not about Pictor, but it could leave her without coverage right in the middle of hurricane season.

Pictor lives in a modest community in Palm Harbor with homes dating back several decades. However, some things, like Pictor’s roof, are brand new. She just shelled out nearly $15,000 for it, out of pocket. She also paid for a wind mitigation and a 4-point inspection.

“Trees were trimmed prior to the roof being put on,” she said.

Pictor told 8 On Your Side she’s been in Florida for 20 years and has never had a claim.

“I’m feeling…being taken advantage of,” she said. “I’ve done everything that I know I can do… I’m still getting dropped.”

Pictor’s policy is with Heritage Insurance, one of the top providers in Florida, which insures e 166,847 homes in in the state, according to state data.

But soon, they’ll insure one less. Jane’s coverage ends Oct. 6, according to a non-renewal notice.

But it’s not her fault. The reason is “Other – agent no longer represents Heritage Insurance,” the notice said.

Jane said she wants to stay with Heritage and tried to get another agent.

“And he called back and he said no they won’t allow it,” Pictor recalled. “It’s their policy.”

“It’s always going to be based on what today’s underwriting rules are,” Ronald Assise, a longtime insurance broker in Florida explained. “It’s always going to be based on what today’s underwriting rules are.”

Assise says agents may get dropped if they have too many customers with claims. Once that happens, folks like Pictor could be out of luck.

“You may have qualified in the past but under the new underwriting rules you might not qualify now?” said Mahsa, asking for clarification.

“Right based on the age of your home, the age of your roof,” said Mr. Assise.

Pictor said she doesn’t want to be forced into getting state-backed Citizens Property Insurance. She likes Heritage and she wants to stay put.

“I’m a widower trying to keep the budget in line,” she said. “Have excellent credit and being denied insurance, house insurance, which I have to have in Florida with hurricanes.”

8 On Your Side reached out to multiple people at Heritage. Then, a short time ago, Jane called with the good news. She said Heritage just offered to renew her policy in a one-time exception.

Some industry experts say the agent plays an important role in this situation since they own the policy and it’s up to them to call other insurance companies and make sure the customer isn’t forced into Citizens.

If you have a tip for Mahsa, email MSaeidi@WFLA.com

On April 13, at around 7:30 p.m., teams got a hit on the sonar. Helphrey's car was located in a 10 feet deep retention pond just a few miles from his home. Crews said all signs point to a tragic accident. Dive teams dove into the water and confirmed that the license plate matched Helphrey's Mitsubishi. The sheriff's office was also present during the process. (Sunshine State Sonar)

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (CBS12) — Almost 17 years later, the car belonging to a missing man from Palm Harbor was recovered from a pond only a few miles from his home.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said on May 22, 2006, 34-year-old Robert Helphrey was finishing up his shift as a manager at the Thirsty Marlin seafood restaurant. After he closed the restaurant at 12:30 a.m., he joined his friends at Peggy O'Neill's Irish Pub and Eatery in Palm Harbor. At around 1:30 a.m., he left the pub and drove away in his blue/gray Mitsubishi Outlander hatchback with Florida license plates numbered G83NYD, that was the last time anyone saw Helphrey.

A friend of Helphrey's said he spoke to him at 2 a.m. since they were supposed to meet up. However, Helphrey never met him that night. The sheriff's office said Helphrey never arrived at his own apartment on U. S. 19 in Palm Harbor and has never been heard from again and his car was never found.

See also: Over 500K gallons of fuel to be deployed to gas stations in South FL to combat shortage

However, in June 2021, the Sunshine State Sonar and Recon Recover Dive Team teamed up with PCSO Cold Case Detective, Ron Chalmers to assist in the search efforts to find Helphrey. Over the next year and a half, teams sonar searched over 150 bodies of water in search of Helphrey. The search radius included areas of Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

In April 2023, a breakthrough was made.

On April 13, at around 7:30 p.m., teams got a hit on the sonar. Helphrey's car was located in a 10 feet deep retention pond just a few miles from his home. Crews said all signs point to a tragic accident. Dive teams dove into the water and confirmed that the license plate matched Helphrey's Mitsubishi. The sheriff's office was also present during the process.

Investigators say remains were found inside the car, but they are waiting for a positive ID.