Odza Brings A Taste Of Italy To Anna
 
ANNA, TX – Tony Odza has been in the restaurant business for most of his young life. Along with his uncle and his cousin, he opened up his first restaurant in 1992. Now, after 16 years in the business and restaurants in four different locations, Tony has brought the Italian Villa to Anna.
 
"On my mom's side of the family they're all in the restaurant business whether it be in Chicago, New Jersey or New York," Tony said. "So I just grew up in the restaurant business working for my relatives."
 
When Tony helped open the first Italian Villa in Allen, he was still enrolled in high school. Then, after about a year and a half of business, Tony's uncle and cousin decided to move to east Texas and left him in charge of running the Villa.
 
"I had to drop out of college and run the family business," Tony said.
 
The Italian Villa expanded and would eventually open up locations in Wylie, Plano and Carrollton. Tony later sold those three restaurants because he said that the work "literally got too hectic."
 
 Tony never thought about coming to Anna to open up a restaurant. In fact, he didn't even know where Anna was until he drove through the town by mistake.
 
"I've had quite a few customers from Anna that drove to the Allen restaurant," Tony said. "They had been telling me about this town for years and years. And one day I stumbled upon it by accident and I really liked it. A few of my friends were having a party and I catered it. And as I was driving through [Anna] down 455, what I liked about it was that it reminded me of Allen in 1992."
 
"It was just a nice, small town. You've still got stuff in it but it's small enough that people know your name. When you go to the hardware store, you know them and they know you. Allen's not like that anymore."
 
The Anna location opened its doors on June 11 and Tony said that he has received a warm reception from the people in Anna as well as other neighboring towns.
 
"I've got customers from Anna, Melissa, Van Alstyne, and they kept telling me that this is a great area to have a restaurant. And I agree with them," Tony said. "I want to say thank you to the people of Anna, they are very nice people. I received a warm welcoming. I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to be part of this community."
 
"In the future, I'd really like to work with the schools and churches and youth sponsorships. I'm open to doing a lot of sponsorships."
 
 
The Italian Villa celebrated its opening in Anna last Monday with a ribbon cutting as it partnered itself with the Greater Anna Chamber Of Commerce. Tony has said that the Allen restaurant and the Anna restaurant are the only two he has left and he fully intends on keeping it that way.
 
"Those two restaurants are going to stay in the family," Tony said.

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Looking For The Right Auto Repair Shop?
 
MELISSA, TX – Everyone wants a mechanic that he or she can trust. A mechanic who is hardworking, fair and honest. For the residents in and surrounding Melissa, Aaron Towner is the mechanic for you.
 
Towner, who has lived in Anna for six years, attended aviation school but was always interested in automotive repair so he decided to switch majors a pursue a career in the automotive repair field.
 
"I started in automotive in 2001. I worked at several dealerships," said Towner who worked as a mechanic for Ford, Nissan, GMC (Cadillac) Saab, and Hummer. "Then, I spent a couple of years in independents and decided to open up my own shop."
 
In February, Towner opened the doors to The Pit Stop in Melissa. The Pit Stop offers such services as engine tuning, EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) service and repairs, ABS (Anti-lock Brake System) service and repairs, power window and door lock repairs, drivability diagnostics, clutch service, transmission service and repairs, engine service and repairs, brake service and repairs, cooling system (radiator) service, wheel alignments, steering and suspension service, electrical diagnosis, a registered state inspection facility, pre-purchase vehicle evaluations, and air conditioning service and repairs.
 
"The only thing we don't do is tires," Towner said.
 
The Pit Stop has a contract with the City of Melissa for repairing its police cruisers, and Aaron is hoping that other nearby cities will come to him for repairs as well.
 
"Business has been good here," Towner said. "Every week it gets better and better. We're continuously growing. I  was in independents for a couple of years and got to know all of the product lines so that's helped."
 
Towner acquired the land for The Pit Stop through a member of his church, First Baptist of Melissa.
 
"He owns some facilities and land and we talked about it for a couple of months and then put the deal together," Towner said. "Now I'm renting from him."
 
While there may be a number of automotive repair shops in the area, Towner said that The Pit Stop's customer service is what separates it from the rest.
 
"A lot of people look for a good, honest mechanic," Towner said. "They want somebody they can trust and get to know. It makes people feel more comfortable. And I think that they'll get that with me. I've got a huge client base with our church. I'm very easy to get along with and at the same time I can explain everything to where the customer can understand it."
 
The Pit Stop is conveniently located near the SH 121 and Hwy 5 in Melissa and is the best source for professional and reliable automotive repair services.

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'Riders Clinch Texas League South Division Title
 
FRISCO, TX – The Frisco RoughRiders dominated the Corpus Christi Hooks 15-0 last Thursday night en route to their 40th victory of the season, which resulted in the clinching of the Texas League South Division Title.
The Riders have won two consecutive first half titles and three overall since their debut in Double-A baseball in 2003.
Frisco pitcher Michael Ballard (5-3) completed the shut out versus Corpus Christi. Ballard pitched for seven innings while striking out five batters and surrendering just four hits. The Riders recorded 18 hits in the victory and finished the game with a total of zero errors.
In Thursday's game one of a four game series, the Riders score runs in each of the first four frames of the game. The first runs of the game came courtesy of Steve Murphy, whose two run triple gave Frisco a 2-0 lead.
Then, Craig Gentry drove in Elvis Andrus inning to increase the lead to 4-0.
Casey Benjamin (three hits) and Corey Ragsdale each recorded RBI hits in the third inning. That was followed by Ben Harrison's (3-for-5, RBI, three scored runs) RBI double, which increased the Riders advantage to 8-0.
            Things didn't get much easier for the Hooks as the Riders added insult to injury by scoring seven more runs in the seventh inning to extend their lead to a final score of 15-0.
In game two of the series, the Riders beat the Hooks once again this time by a score of 8-7. Then on Saturday, Frisco won its third consecutive game with a 4-2 victory over the Hooks at Dr Pepper Ballpark. The Riders fell short of sweeping the Hooks as they dropped the final game of the series 11-3.
The Riders will begin the Texas League playoffs on Sept. 3 with a best-of-five series versus the team with the second best overall record at season's end.
Tuesday night on the road, the Riders lost their second straight game after falling to the Midland Rockhounds 6-5.
Harrison hit his 13th homerun of the season in the loss. He was also 3-for-4 with an RBI, and a run scored.

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Melissa Football Preview Series: Wide Receivers
 
MELISSA, TX – When the Melissa Cardinals varsity football team takes the field next season, senior quarterback Zach Williams will be passing the ball to a group of fresh faces at the wide receiver position.
 
"We lost all four of our starting receivers to graduation so we have new receivers coming in," Melissa head coach Ronny Williams said.
 
In the 2008 season, the Cards will have the replace all-state receiver Ryan Morgan. As well as Charlie Cottrell, who was the Cards' inside receiver, punter and defensive back. Williams described Cottrell, who made the all-district team on offense, defense, and special teams, as 'Mr. Everything'. Another playmaker from last seasons' outstanding receiver core was Gaston Ammons, who while playing with a bad arm, was able to catch three touchdown passes against De Kalb.
 
But those players have come and gone and the Cards must now turn their attention to the future. Here a few players that Williams and his coaching staff are looking at to have breakout seasons this fall at the receiver position.
 
"At receiver we've got senior Alonzo W.," Williams said. "He also played a lot of cornerback last year. He's going to play some receiver for us this year."
 
Other key receivers for the Cards will be senior James Cervantes and Brody Russell.
 
"[Russell] is a big tall boy," Williams said. "He was on the varsity last year."
 
Melissa will also rely on Aaron Bush, who is the No. 2 quarterback behind Z. Williams, to make plays at the receiver position.
 
Travis Ball, who played on the junior varsity team last year, has also impressed the Melissa coaching staff and will see time at receiver.
 
"John Young will also play some inside receiver for us when he's not at running back," Williams said. "He's a touchdown maker. He's got a lot of talent."
 
"Then we have a couple more boys who are coming off the JV that we'll have to wait and see."
 
Williams said that the Cards plan on playing with at least eight receivers and that there are plenty of spots open for competition come August.
 
Next week, The Melissa News will take a look at the Melissa defensive line as we explore the Cardinals defensive attack for the 2008 season.  
 
POSITION PREVIEW FEATURES SCHEDULE
 June 27- Defensive Line
July 4- Defensive Backs
July 11 - Linebackers
July 18 - Special Teams

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Cards Qualify For State 7-on-7 Tournament
 
MELISSA, TX - For the second consecutive year, the Melissa Cardinals 7-on-7 football team has qualified for the state tournament. The Cards will be making the trip to College Station in July in hopes of returning home with a state title.
 
"The boys have done excellent," Melissa 7-on-7 coach Keith Self said. "They were playing some big schools down in Keller and they competed well with those boys."
 
Just like in 2007, the Cardinals qualified for the state tournament at the Wichita Falls tournament. Melissa punched its ticket to the title game by defeating Aubrey, Archer City, and Wichita Falls Hershey. In the championship game, the Cards beat Paradise to win the whole tournament and qualify for state.
 
"We have an excellent group of boys," Self said. "They're well disciplined and they work together. And they're doing a really good job."
 
With last year's outstanding receiver core lost to graduation, the Cards receivers really needed to step up their game in order to be successful in the pass-oriented 7-on-7 games. Self said that the Cards new receivers had no problem stepping up to the plate.
 
"We had guys that stepped up and took their place," Self said. "Everybody has kids graduate. These boys are stepping up and taking over and doing an excellent job with it."
 
The Cards have already begun regular season play, which includes games against much larger schools such as McKinney North, Boyd, Wylie, Plano and Princeton. Melissa's 7-on-7 team plays its regular season games ever Tuesday night.
 
"They've done really well competing with those bigger schools," Self said.
 
"For a little bitty school, they're showing the world who they are."
 
DIVISION II  (1A-3A)
 
Thursday, July 10th
Registration is from 10:00 am to Noon
Pool play begins at 1:00 p.m.
Four teams in each pool.
All teams will play three games on Friday - 1, 2, and 3 pm.
All teams will be playing at the same time.
All teams will advance to the Championship round.
There is no Consolation bracket.
The first round of the single elimination Championship bracket is 5 pm Thursday.
All teams will play 4 games Thursday.
 
Friday, July 11th
Championship rounds continue - beginning at 9:00 a.m.
The Championship Game will be played at Kyle Field.

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