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ALACHUA ‒ An Alachua woman is going to prison after throwing hot grease on a co-worker while working at Popeyes Restaurant in Alachua.

Alachua city police officers arrested 46-year-old Betty Terry in June after she used a frying utensil to fling hot grease at a fellow employee with whom she was arguing.

During their verbal argument, Terry said she was going to throw hot grease on the victim, another female employee. The store manager said he had attempted to stop her, but he backed away in fear of having hot grease thrown on him.

Terry then grabbed a tool from the fryer that had hot grease on it and she threw the grease at the victim. Witnesses said that Terry threw grease at the victim approximately three times. The regional manager told police that the grease is set at 330 degrees and burned the victim.

The victim had burn marks on her left side and left arm and there was damage to the business that had to be cleaned up, along with losses from having to close the business early. Terry reportedly fled before police arrived, but she was located on June 14.

Terry was charged with aggravated battery and sentenced to three years in prison and four more years of supervised probation.

Terry was previously arrested on Sept. 5, 2021, after allegedly threatening her nephew with a knife. The charges were later dropped on the same day her lawyer filed a motion requesting a reduction in her bond. She has served five state prison terms and was most recently released in 2019 after serving a seven-year sentence on a conviction for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

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GAINESVILLE ‒ The annual Friends of the Library Fall Book Sale is the largest book sale of its kind in Florida. This year the sale will take place from Saturday, Oct. 22 through Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the FOL Bookhouse located at 430 N. Main Street in Gainesville.

Patrons will be able to browse through more than 500,000 items for sale. Most of the items will range in price from $0.25 to $5. The Collectors Corner, which includes first edition books, signed works, and a large selection of Florida-related materials, will have some items priced well over $100. The Collectors Corner is only open the first four days of event. On the fifth and final day of the sale, all items will be 10 cents.

As is tradition, a bagpiper will play some traditional Scottish tunes Saturday morning to open the sale. Profits from the sale support the Alachua County Library District and community literacy projects throughout the county.

Don’t forget to bring bags or boxes to carry home purchased material. The FOL does provide boxes, but they run out quickly. The FOL asks that patrons do not bring shopping carts on the first day of the sale, because space is very limited. Special exceptions for individuals with wheelchairs will be made by FOL volunteers.

Cash, checks and credit cards are accepted for payment. In consideration of the volume of patrons on certain days of the sale and because of space constraints, FOL volunteers will limit the number of patrons allowed into the building at one time. Inside the building people are encouraged to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

Visit the FOL website for more details. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, contact P.J. with FOL at 352-375-1676 or find out more information at the website www.folacld.org.

2022 Fall Book Sale hours are:

• Saturday, Oct. 22, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Sunday, Oct. 23, 12-6 p.m.
• Monday, Oct. 24, 12-6 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 25, 12- 6 p.m. – All items in the general collection are half price.
• Wednesday, Oct. 26, 12-6 p.m. – All items are 10 cents.

The Spring Book Sale is scheduled for April 22-26, 2023.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Lucian Ryan Flaitz, 29, was arrested on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and charged with aggravated child abuse and possession of a controlled substance after allegedly preparing a burger with THC oil for a 15-year-old boy. The boy was later taken to the emergency room.

A High Springs Police Department officer reported that Flaitz is an employee at Bev’s Cafe in High Springs and was cleaning up after closing the restaurant on Oct. 7. He offered to make a hamburger for the boy. He then allegedly asked if the boy wanted Rick Simpson Oil on his burger. The boy allegedly responded that he did. Rick Simpson Oil is an oil with high THC potency, sold as a treatment for chronic pain and cancer.

Video surveillance reportedly showed Flaitz walking out to his car, then coming back into the restaurant and placing the oil on the victim’s burger. Flaitz then handed the boy the burger.

Shortly after eating the burger, the victim reportedly began to feel tired and went to bed. The next morning, the victim was reportedly found in bed face down by an officer, unable to walk and turning gray. He was taken to UF Health Shands for emergency treatment. According to the arrest report, tests revealed the boy had high levels of THC in his blood. He was released from the emergency room later that evening.

Post Miranda, Flaitz reportedly admitted putting the oil on the victim’s burger.

Flaitz has been charged with aggravated child abuse and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. Bail information is not currently available.

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ALACHUA ‒ Police officers from both the Alachua and High Springs Police departments converged at the Alachua McDonalds restaurant on Oct. 5. The early morning gathering wasn’t the result of a disturbance, no crime had been committed, and they weren't serving up tickets. They were there to celebrate the annual event known as Coffee with a Cop.

The event is part of a nationwide program that helps police officers interact with the citizens they protect and build better communications with the community. Typical encounters between the police and citizens happen when they are called for assistance or pulled over by a patrol officer. These interactions are often stressful and confrontational, which puts the officers in a situation where he or she is seen as an authority figure, and not as a fellow human being. The idea behind the program is to allow an environment where the public and the police officers can interact over a cup of coffee on a personal level and where the public can ask any questions they may have about the department or policies.

The program was started in 2011 in Hawthorne, California, by the local police department. At the time they were trying to restructure their department to a more community-oriented model where the officers worked within the community, so there was a familiarity between officers and the people they protected. As they considered ways of building community trust, it was suggested that maybe a simple idea like sitting down at a local coffee house could allow officers to interact in a more casual way with the citizens It could also have the benefit of putting a human face on the person behind the badge.

Several years ago, the Alachua McDonalds learned about the program and approached the Alachua Police Department to see if they would be interested in partnering and hosting Coffee with a Cop. The event has happened every year since, except when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the event was canceled in 2020 and 2021.

The Alachua Police Department revived the annual get together this year. Officers, including High Springs Chief Antione Sheppard, chatted with customers, discussing current issues and learning about each other.

“COVID has disrupted many events, including this one, but we want to bring it back,” said Sheppard. “Positive interaction with our community is important and we want to keep people aware that the police force is there for them.”

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ A hot button issue that has come before the High Springs City Commission on numerous occasions was addressed again during the Oct. 13 meeting, which turned into a back and forth between two city commissioners and the City Attorney. Ordinance 2022-13, which would implement an ordinance governing murals in High Springs, was heard by the Commission on first reading.

The ordinance had been heard by the Planning and Zoning Board at their last meeting and was transmitted with their recommendation for Commission approval.

However, on Oct. 13, City Commissioner Linda Jones was troubled to find that a few changes had been made by the City Attorney to clarify the section on Definitions. In addition, she pointed out an editing error relating to the removal of the term “content neutral” from the ordinance.

City Attorney Scott Walker acknowledged the editing error, saying that the way the ordinance read it was unclear what “content neutral” was referring to. Walker said to avoid confusion, he removed the terminology. As far as the definitions were concerned, he said he sought to clarify the definitions.

Walker acknowledged that the changes were made after the Planning and Zoning Board’s review.

Commissioner Katherine Weitz pushed back against the ordinance by taking issue with the omission of terminology, which earlier had been voted on and approved by the Commission to be included in the ordinance, had not been included. Weitz’s claim related to the requirement that one mural permit at a time be applied for, voted on and completed prior to the City accepting another mural permit.

Walker responded that the addition of a limitation of one application at a time would have no rational basis and therefore would be challenged as restrictive. He used the analogy that the City does not restrict building permits to one permit application at a time and cannot support using that terminology in reference to mural applications.

Jones moved and Weitz seconded a motion to add the terminology back into the ordinance and send it back to the Planning and Zoning Board for their review a second time. The motion failed 2 - 3 with Mayor Byran Williams, Vice-Chair Gloria James and Commissioner Ross Ambrose casting the dissenting votes.

Commissioner Ambrose made a motion to send the ordinance back to the Planning and Zoning Board with the changes the City Attorney had made after the Board’s earlier review and recommendation to the Commission. The motion passed unanimously.

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ALACHUA ‒ One person has been sent to Shands Hospital for trauma treatment after an early Wednesday morning accident in Alachua.

At 5:20 a.m., crews from Alachua County Fire Rescue were dispatched to a report of a vehicle accident with entrapment at A-1 Towing located at 14515 Peggy Road in Alachua.

Crews arrived on scene to find a single vehicle that had gone through the chain link fence and came to rest on its side, inside of the A-1 Towing property. The severely damaged vehicle was entwined in the severed fencing and lodged between stored vehicles at the tow yard.

Alachua Police report that they had just clocked the vehicle driving at a very high rate of speed. Crews stabilized the vehicle and cut the roof removing the driver. The driver was the only person in the vehicle and was transported to Shands as a trauma alert.

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