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.

back to stories

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.

back to stories

One Giant Leap For Anna Fire-Rescue
 
ANNA, TX – The Anna Fire-Rescue took a big step forward recently as it announced that it is improving from Basic Life Support (BLS) to Advanced Life Support (ALS).
 
"We applied to get our certification to do a higher level of care," Fire Chief Larry Bridges said. "We will now have the capability to provide advanced airways. We will also have the capability to act with a higher level of care than what we were without Advanced Life Support."
 
"Basically, we're taking the next step and we're now carrying more equipment."
 
Bridges said that the process of achieving ALS certification has been about a three or four month project.
 
"One of our other members Dave Snell started this project and it's taken a while to put all of this together," Bridges said. There's a substantial amount of increase in equipment like medical supplies, airways, and monitors."
 
With its new Advanced Life Support, the Anna Fire-Rescue will become one of the first volunteer fire departments in the county to obtain ALS certification under the direction of AMR. The city of Blue Ridge is currently running ALS, however, it is under the direction of a different medical director.
 
"It's going to save lives and tissue in this area because there's only so many ambulances for the area," Deputy Fire Marshall Sally Donlevy said. "So if the ambulance gets a call and they're tied up, we get another call and our rescue vehicle is going to go out and do the paramedic level life support. In other words, we're not going to transport people, we're going to maintain them.
 
"If they're having a heart attack, we're going to give them oxygen if they need it, we're going to give them fluid if they need it, and we're going to give them certain medications if they need it. We're going to sustain them and stop the damage. If you're having a heart attack, as minutes go by tissue dies. So the sooner we get someone there to help you we're going to stop that damage. If you have a stroke, we're going to stop that damage. If you're bleeding, we're going to stop the bleeding."
 
Over the past two years, Anna Fire-Rescue has picked up seven certified paramedics and has two more in school.
 
"You can't just be a paramedic and go out and do paramedic skills," Donlevy said. "You've got to have a medical director, you've got to have policy and procedures, you've got to have the equipment, and it's got to be approved by the state. And that's what we're doing. It's not only about having certifications, but now we can put them to good use under the guidance of the state."
 
Anna Fire-Rescue is a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters. Currently, the department is composed of three paid members who work from 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday and 20 volunteers who are on call 24 hours each day. Last year, the Anna Fire-Rescue's volunteers put in over 10,000 hours of service.
 
The Greater Anna Chamber of Commerce will host a fundraiser on July 4 from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Main Street. The event will include a dunking booth, tethered hot air balloon rides, a calk walk, battle of the bands, barbecue, shaved ice and more.
 
"We're trying to raise money for the fire department and the police department," GACC President Stacy Driskell said.
 
Anna Fire-Rescue is located at 305 S. Powell Pkwy, Anna, TX 75409

back to stories

Angel Wings Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

ANNA, TX – After growing up in her mother's restaurant in Mississippi, Angela Clark decided to open up her own restaurant, Angel Wings, which celebrated its one-year anniversary on June 14.

Clark, who has lived in Anna for five years, said that the opening of her restaurant was a 10-year process. After attending Jackson State University, Clark moved to Dallas in 1998 to work for MCI. Then, she worked for T-Mobile for five years and with Nortel until 2007 before opening up Angel Wings.

Clark said that business has been good over the past year.

"We did well in our first year," Clark said. "Everybody is pretty much happy with the place. They're pretty happy with the food and the service from what I'm hearing. We didn't please everybody when we first opened. We made a few mistakes and it was just trial and error trying to get those things fixed. And when we got that done, we kind of mellowed out with a customer base that was pleased both ways. We were a new business so we had some hurdles to get over before we could say 'OK, we got this down'. Trying to stay consistent is the main thing now."

Most of the customers who order from Angel Wings are either from Melissa, Van Alstyne or Anna. But some even come from as far as McKinney to give Clark's wings a try, which some of her customers have said are even better than Wing Stop.

"I've also had people come from Westminister and Celina," Clark said. "We have people come in and say 'Oh, we heard about [Angel Wings] and we heard you were good and wanted to try it out'."

Clark, who designed the interior of Angel Wings herself, is the restaurant's only worker during the day, but she has more employees who come in to help with the evening shift.

One of the things that makes Angel Wings unique is that Clark is continually trying to add new items to the menu and coming up with different blends and sauces for her wings.

"I grew up around food," Clark said. "I put the wings together and try new sauces and try it out on friends before actually putting it on the menu. The one special thing that we offer is the Sweat Heat. That's our special house sauce that we came up with."

This month, Angel Wings will introduce New Orleans-style catfish to its menu. Clark said that she received positive feedback from her customers that tested the catfish and therefore it will now be a regular dish at Angel Wings.

"Also, we'll be having a new sauce coming this month, which will be Spicy Lemon Pepper. Another special thing that we have is loaded fries. You can get loaded fries wherever, however, people like ours because we use fresh bacon bits and cheese," Clark said.

"I like to come up with new things to see if its something that appeals to people. I'm always trying something new. There are some things that I try on customers that don't go over too well and don't make it to the menu. Then, there are other things that people really like. But I'll try it on several different people before I put it on the menu."

On June 27, Angel Wings will officially celebrate its one-year anniversary.

"We're focusing more on customer appreciation for the anniversary because without our customers we wouldn't be here," Clark said. "We really want to thank and appreciate our customers for supporting us. Also, that day every 15th customer will be getting his or her food paid for with a maximum of $15. Also, we'll be giving samples of selected new menu items."

back to stories

'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.

back to stories