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CARL MCKINNEY/Alachua County Today

Mike Peterson, former footbal player for the Indianapolis Colts, the Jacksonville Jaquars and the Atlanta Falcons hands a Thanksgiving meal to Keesha Tigers. Every year, the Mike Peterson Foundation gives meals to needy families for Thanksgiving. This year, around 100 meals were given out on the Tuesday before the holiday at Hitchcock's in Alachua.

HIGH SPRINGS – Business and residential property owners in High Springs can expect to see an improvement in their property insurance rates in the near future, as the city’s insurance classification rating took a leap forward this year.

An inspection of the High Springs Fire Department and city utilities was performed in August by Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), located in Jacksonville. ISO is the group which assesses the city’s fire department and its ability to fight a fire. They also assess the city’s ability to provide enough water and water pressure with which to fight fires. Their rating determines how insurance companies decide how much each property owner pays each year for coverage.

“Businesses will see an improvement in rates and homeowners are likely to see a rate improvement as well,” said Bruce Gillingham, High Springs fire chief.

A lower score translates into a lower risk for insurance companies. High Springs was upgraded to a four on the scale, down from six. Only 57 fire departments in the country have the highest possible rating, a one.

The inspectors provide the city with a preliminary idea of where things stand following their inspection. They then forward the supporting documentation to Versk, their parent company in New Jersey.

“They are the ones who plug all the rating numbers into a system to determine each city’s rating,” Gillingham said.

There are three main areas evaluated by the inspector. The criteria are how well the fire department receives and dispatches fire alarms, how it maintains its equipment and records and access to a water supply for fighting fires.

Few fire departments in the nation score a four on the scale.

“There are only 5,019 class four departments in the country, and we are one of them,” he said.

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CARL MCKINNEY/Alachua County Today

Stephanie Peek and Rebekah Murrey stand in front of the prize kayak. She donated it to the Irish Water Dogs to be used for the Warriors program.

HIGH SPRINGS – Stephanie Peek won big, but she gave it away to help local veterans.

The High Springs group Irish Water Dogs was invited to participate in the Second Annual Toy Soldier Run on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Ginnie Springs. The event was mainly to raise money to buy toys for underprivileged children, but the Irish Water Dogs were there holding a raffle to raise money for their program for veterans in the area.

Sue Weller, former mayor of High Springs, called out the winners at the event. The Irish Water Dogs was one of three nonprofit groups invited by the North Florida Presidents Council of Motorcycle Clubs and Organizations, a sponsor for the event.  

The Irish Water Dogs Warriors program takes former service members on excursions into nature, particularly kayaking and canoeing trips.

“It’s peaceful for them,” said Peek, who is one of two owners of the True Blue Cafe in High Springs. The trips help veterans with psychological and physical damage from their service, she said.

Peek won an $800 kayak in the raffle, but donated it back to the Irish Water Dogs to be used for the Warriors program.

“We only have so many kayaks,” said Karen McInerney, community outreach director for the Irish Water Dogs Warriors. When a large group of veterans go out, sometimes the organization has to pay several hundred dollars to rent extra kayaks.

David Marquis also came out a winner in the raffle, securing a new Tactical Solutions custom rifle, with a green barrel and the Irish Water Dogs logo.

Local gun shop owner Scott Allison donated the use of his firearm license, since firearms can only be delivered to a license-holder.

“Without Scott, we wouldn’t have had a raffle,” McInerney said.

All proceeds of the raffle went to support the Warriors program.

Peek entered the raffle with her business partner and friend Rebekah Murrey, both supporters of the Warriors program, they said.

Irish Water Dogs founder David McDaid started the organization about seven years ago as a commercial venture, but decided to use his network to help veterans. He started the nonprofit Warriors division in Jacksonville, which soon expanded to Tampa, Miami, South Carolina, Virginia and Idaho. There are now 16 chapters spread across nine states. Each month, around 1,100 to 1,200 veterans go on the nature activities nationwide.

Former military members suffering from PTSD, for example, can benefit from the therapeutic nature of the trips, he said.

“Being on the water is incredibly healing,” McDaid said in an earlier interview. “I’ve seen miracle transformations with this program.”

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NEWBERRY – A festival is coming to town, and Santa and Mrs. Claus will be the guests of honor.

The Seventh Annual Newberry Festival of Lights will be on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The festival itself will run from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Children will have the opportunity to bring their parents to downtown Newberry to meet Santa at the William Barry, Jr. City Park.

Bouncy houses will be among the featured attractions for children this year. Craft vendors selling a wide assortment of handmade gift items will be on hand for visitors who want to get some holiday shopping out of the way.

Wooden furniture, jewelry and jams will be for sale, in addition to snacks and meals.

Gainesville band Late Night Delivery will be on hand to provide musical entertainment.

At 4 p.m., Sidney Lanier Center’s Drum Kit and Percussion Ensemble, directed by Dr. Don DeVito, will perform. The special-needs musical group is fresh from a performance in Carnegie Hall and routinely uses Skype to learn and perform music with people from other parts of the world.

Seasonal music, carnival foods and unique holiday gifts and crafts are all part of the festival experience, produced each year by the Newberry Main Street Organization. The event, which is co-sponsored by the City of Newberry, Visit Gainesville, the Newberry Tourism Center, Newberry’s Backyard Bar-B-Q and the Firehouse Gallery, attracts arts and crafts vendors from Florida and Georgia and visitors from the surrounding cities to Newberry.

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ALACHUA – A foreign trade zone has been established at Progress Park and other surrounding business complexes.

The foreign trade zone would allow cheaper tariffs for businesses in the Progress Park area that ship goods outside of the country. While some companies in the Progress Park area are taking advantage of the opportunity, not all have joined in, mainly due to the lack of foreign trade that exists for some companies, said Sid Martin Incubator director, Patti Breedlove.

The Jacksonville Port Authority, most commonly known as Jaxport, is in charge of the areas in which the foreign trade zone exists. Typically, foreign trade zones are near port of entries, which is a major reason why certain areas in Alachua have been given the option to participate in it.

Nanosonic Products is one of the companies looking to benefit from the foreign trade zone. The company, which specializes in producing and shipping the chemical cyclodextrin to other countries like Asia and Europe, would only have to pay one tariff as opposed to two or three, said Jeff Tate, the president and director of Nanosonic.

“It allows us to operate with more efficiency with a lower tariff burden and that makes us more competitive worldwide,” Tate said.

Tate traveled to Jaxport to discuss the limitations of the foreign trade zone and the qualifications. Currently, Nanosonic is not participating in it, but is looking to fill out the required paper work to begin the process of joining the foreign trade zone, he said.

Assistant vice president and branch manager at PNC Bank in Alachua, Connie Rollburg, also made a trip to Jaxport to discuss the foreign trade zone, but was unavailable to comment.

With the recent growth in RTI Biologics and Banyon Biomarker's recent Department of Defense grant, Alachua has become a target on the map for a city that deals in innovation, Tate said. With those innovations in mind, the foreign trade zone is another asset that Alachua will soon be known for.

“The foreign trade zone really is icing on the cake,” Tate said.

With only so many areas that can be deemed a foreign trade zone by the Jaxport board, he said that the areas in which the foreign trade zone were placed were strategically planned to incorporate as many companies as possible.

With the growth of Progress Park and the addition of the foreign trade zone, the City of Alachua is working to take a step forward as a city known for its support of technological growth and advancement, Tate said.

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ALACHUA – For the past four years, Alachua has hosted the Babe Ruth Softball World Series, and that will not change for next year. However, one thing will be different for the athletes coming to town.

Not only will the city play host to the softball world series, but it will also see baseball players from around the country come to participate in their own tournament. They are called the Cal Ripken Major 60 World Series and the Babe Ruth Softball World Series, and they will both be in town at the same time, for the first time.

“The tournaments are set to take place at the beginning of August 2014, but we are still in the planning stage,” said Hal Brady, recreation director for the City of Alachua.

“We’ve had the softball tournament for the past few years, but the last time we got the guys was in 1992,” Brady said. “The guys program really wanted the opportunity to host, so I’m glad we got it.”

The host teams will be the Santa Fe baseball and softball programs, with the rest of the field filling in from around the country. The boys have divisions ranging from 4-year-olds to 18-year-olds, while the girls contest will be for ages 12 and under.

The Santa Fe softball team hosted the 2010, 2012 and 2013 tournaments.

About 24 teams are projected to participate in the girls’ softball tournament, and about 10 teams will show up for the boys’ baseball tournament, Brady said.

The boys will arrive in town on Aug. 5, and the girls will come a day later.

Each team in Florida uses the same procedures as other states, with the teams competing in districts to move on to represent a state. The state champions from the Southeast region will play against each other.  

The Babe Ruth World Series League has always been a huge reason why Alachua is a host each year, and continues to be a factor in getting both tournaments, he said. It costs around $45,000 for each tournament as a host, but the league foots the bill for bringing in the teams and putting them in area hotels.

There are still regular meetings taking place to plan the twin tournaments. There was a meeting Dec. 2 for the committee to make decisions regarding all aspects, but one thing is certain, Brady said. Alachua is excited.

“Cost is one challenge to get around,” he said. “And it will be interesting to figure out, but it also allows the city to bring in much-needed tourism business, which is just great.”

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