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The 20^th annual Farm Toy Show and Antique Tractor Parade will take place at the school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be hosted by the Newberry Lions Club and the North Florida Antique Tractor Club.

Dealers will display and sell both toys and collector’s items. The annual tractor parade put on by the North Florida Antique Tractor Club will take place in the afternoon.

According Lions Club member Mindie Fortson, there will also be a slow tractor race, a blindfold tractor race, a concession stand and a baked goods table.

Admission to the show is $3 for adults and $1 for students. Children who are pre-school age can get in free.

The proceeds from the event will be used by the Newberry Lions Club to fund their sight conservation projects.

The Newberry Lions Club is one of more than 50,000 Lions Clubs in 205 countries working to eradicate preventable blindness.

Newberry City officials cut the ribbon to commission the photovoltaic system on the roof of the Easton-Newberry Sports Complex Monday. Left to Right: Solar Source Vice President Rick Gilbert, City Utility Director Blaine Suggs, City Planner and Grant Writer Wendy V. Kinser, City Manager Keith Ashby and Mayor Bill Conrad.

NEWBERRY – The sweltering Florida sun beat down on the roof of the Easton-Newberry Sports Complex Monday afternoon. Though the bright, hot sunshine might be cause of lament in the middle of January, on this day it was a source of celebration and hope for the City of Newberry.

The city hosted a “Green Celebration” to commission the solar photovoltaic system on the roof of the sports complex. The celebration included two public workshops about solar energy and a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Bill Conrad and City Manager Keith Ashby.

Conrad told attendants at the event that future plans for the complex involve turning it into a hurricane shelter. With more advancements, the solar energy the complex produces could be used in emergencies when power is out.

The mayor also noted that the system would save the city about $16,000 a year.

The solar photovoltaic system converts light energy from the sun to electricity.

According to Blaine Suggs, the city’s utility director, construction for the $51,347 system began in October of last year. It will provide about five percent of the electrical needs of the 19,000-square-foot building.

Wendy V. Kinser, the city’s planner and grant coordinator, said the system should pay for itself in about three and a half years. The 42 solar modules will produce about 15,000 kilowatts of energy a year.

The system was funded by a grant from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, a federal program founded in 2007 to reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions.

Newberry was one of four cities out of 34 applicants to receive the grant.

“I was just thrilled that the City of Newberry got a grant,” Teresa Vickers, a 31-year-old Newberry resident said.

This excitement about solar energy is exactly what Kinser hopes to encourage in other environmentally friendly projects.

Kinser said she is trying to find ways to spark interest in solar energy with other citizens in Newberry. Part of this outreach program involves teaching local students about the benefits of solar energy.

Residents can also see first-hand what the system is doing on monitors in the lobby of the Easton-Newberry Sports Complex and at the City of Newberry City Hall.

At approximately 12:34 p.m., shortly after the ribbon was cut, the monitor at the complex showed that the system avoided 1,438.86 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Solar Source, the contractor for the system, also provided two full scholarships to the City of Newberry to train local residents in solar panel installation and maintenance.

The Largo-based contractor has built solar systems as large as soccer fields and is one of the largest solar contractors in the state, according to Solar Source Vice President Rick Gilbert.

The company also facilitated two public workshops during the day to educate attendants about the benefits of solar power.

“There’s a lot of energy out there, we just gotta figure out how to use it,” Solar Source presenter Jeremiah Rohr said.

HIGH SPRINGS - Commissioner Eric May has submitted his resignation to the High Springs Commssion in a letter slated to be opened by City Clerk Jenny Parham on Tuesday, Jan. 31. 

In an email to the media, May gave additional details about his decision to step down from the commission, writing, "I as a commisioner was being denied the avenues to obtain pertinent information all the while my phone rang off the hook with more bad news on the other end.

"Often it was a concerned citizenw who witnessed such cronyism as a commissioner's political supporter being preferred for a job or another discouraged from applying.  Other times it was a city employee speaking confidentially of the unethical or questionally-legal behaviors the city manager and her cronies were performing at city hall," he wrote in the email.

Read May's entire resignation letter here.
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ALACHUA – The City of Alachua Commission has announced its upcoming election to fill commission terms that are expiring this year.

According to the City Charter, the election falls on the second Tuesday in April, which this year will be on April 10. If needed, a runoff election date is scheduled for Tuesday, May 1.

Seats 4 and 5, currently filled by Orien Hills and Gary Hardacre, respectively, are up for election. Both seats are for a three-year term.  After five consecutive terms, Commissioner Hills has said he will retire from his Seat 4 position. Commissioner Hardacre will run for his second term.

The qualifying period opens at noon on Thursday, Feb. 16 and closes at noon on Thursday, Feb. 23. The qualifying fee is set at $25, and the election assessment fee is set by State Statue at $165.

The Hal Brady Recreation Complex, Plantation Oaks at Turkey Creek and the Cleather Hancock, Sr. Community Center will serve as the polling stations for the April 10 election.

The driver was alone in her car at the signal when an unknown person tried to gain entry to the car through the passenger side rear door.

The would be carjacker was described as a younger black male, skinny build, wearing a dark colored hoodie style sweatshirt and jeans.

When the driver began honking her horn repeatedly, the man fled the area on foot, Alachua Police Department (APD) reports state.

He was unable to get into the car because all of the doors were locked, officers say.

The woman reportedly drove home after the incident to tell her husband what occurred.  The woman’s husband contacted APD.

Police say there were no suspects as of Wednesday.  They ask anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has additional information to call the Alachua Police Department at 386-462-1396.

John Horvath of the engineering firm Jones Edmunds and Associates, Inc. presented information about the expansion to the Newberry City Commission Monday evening.

Horvath said that Newberry is expected to exceed the two existing plants’ current capacity of 350,000 gallons per day by 2015. Adding an additional treatment plant may increase the capacity by 210,000 gallons per day, a 60 percent increase, he said.

One of the current treatment plants is 35 years old and has had three major failures in the past two years, Horvath added.

Funding for the expansion would likely come from an appropriation from the state legislature and possibly through a State Revolving Fund loan.