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HAWTHORNE ‒ Hawthorne Branch Librarian Guylene Resue was honored by the Alachua County Library District Foundation by presenting her with the 15^th Annual Guy Hudspeth Award. Resue was touted as having made her branch library an integral part of the community over her 20-year tenure.

The foundation added Resue’s name to Katherine’s Tree, a 10-foot glass etching of the Tree of Knowledge standing in the Gainesville Headquarters Library, 401 E. University Avenue. Each leaf represents a $2,000 gift to the foundation’s endowment fund, which supports library services and facilities. Nine honorees and donors also joined Resue on the tree this year. 

Sponsored by the Kosman Foundation, the Guy Hudspeth Award honors an outstanding Library District employee annually. The award is named after retired librarian Guy Hudspeth.

“Receiving the Guy Hudspeth Award from the Alachua County Library District Foundation and the Kosman Foundation is a true honor,” Resue said. “I have truly enjoyed serving my greater Hawthorne community these 20 years.”

In her two decades serving as a librarian at the Hawthorne Library Branch, Resue has overseen the popular annual art show, fostered partnerships with the Hawthorne Area Historical Society and spearheaded the branch’s participation in community festivals and holiday parades. When Georgia-Pacific closed its Hawthorne plant, Resue partnered with local employment agencies and was ready to help the laid-off workers learn to use computers to access services and apply for jobs.

“(Her work) truly made a difference in the lives of the individuals and the community as a whole,” the award selection committee wrote.

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NEWBERRY ‒ Incumbent Newberry City Commissioner Monty Farnsworth held onto his Commission Group III seat by a narrow margin in the April 12 three-way municipal election. With 258 votes, Farnsworth narrowly beat out Mark Allen’s 255 votes. Walt Boyer came in a distant third with 91 votes.

Newberry City Clerk’s Office reported voter turnout at 11 percent of the registered Newberry voters, or 604 ballots cast out of 5,477 registered voters. Tuesday night results are considered “unofficial” until the results are certified on Monday, April 25, at the official swearing in ceremony.

Commission Group I incumbent Ricky Coleman and Commission Group II incumbent Mark Clark were unopposed and retain their seats on the Commission.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ This weekend, April 23- 24, High Springs celebrates its beginnings as a rough and tumble railroad and mining town with gunfight reenactments and a Heritage Village that beckons back to the town’s early days.

The High Springs Chamber of Commerce will present the traditional 45th Annual High Springs Pioneer Days. This two-day festival focuses on the life and times in the 1880s to early 1900s. Over the years the event has expanded to a much bigger festival with food vendors, music, historical displays, petting zoo and arts and crafts featuring 110 vendors.

“We are very excited about this year’s event. We have twice the number of vendors as previous years and a lot of activities,” said Chamber of Commerce President Sharon Decker. “The event was canceled due to Covid the past two years, so it’s great to see it come back so strong.”

The two-day event will feature numerous activities besides the art and craft vendors. The High Springs Historical Society and Museum will feature a large display of miniature model trains and a continuing show dedicated to the railroading history of High Springs. The show is designed for children of all ages; for modelers, collectors and enthusiasts, and for the simply curious. Each show features tables of trains, scale models and collectibles as well as the museum's other displays on the history of High Springs. The display will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Keeping with the historical theme there will also be reenactors portraying lifestyles and occupations at the Heritage Village located adjacent to the museum. One of the big attractions at all the Pioneer Days has been the western cowboy gunfight between lawmen and bank robbers with shows throughout the day on both Saturday and Sunday

Musical entertainment will be provided by The Shepherd Family Band on Saturday from 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. The Shepherd Family Band plays bluegrass, gospel, old-time, and traditional country music. Other bands including Snaky Woods and Whistler's Bluegrass, which will be performing Saturday and Sunday.

As in the past, there will be bounce houses, a petting zoo and pony rides for the children and a number of food vendors to offer a variety of meals and deserts. An added attraction this year will be a group of Border Collie dogs playing soccer.

The weekend starts on Saturday from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. and concludes Sunday from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m. The action takes place in downtown High Springs near the sink hole, museum and police station.

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HIGH SPRINGS – Cory Emerson Howell, 33, of Lake City, was arrested Thursday, April 7 and charged with aggravated battery, battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and two counts of criminal mischief.

The first victim told High Springs Police Department (HSPD) officers that she had picked Howell up in Alachua after his car broke down. They began to argue, and she made him get out of her car in High Springs. As he was getting out of her car, Howell allegedly hit her in the nose with a flashlight and then kicked the side of her car, leaving a dent.

Howell then reportedly went to the front porch of a nearby residence while running away from other people who told officers they were trying to stop him because he had hit the woman. While he was running away from them, he threw a pipe at their car and broke a headlight. The High Springs Police officer caught up with Howell on the porch of a High Springs residence.

Dispatch advised the HSPD officer that Howell, who has 11 felony convictions, might be armed, so he asked him to put his hands on the patrol vehicle and began patting him down. The officer’s arrest report indicated that, “The defendant became aggressive and began to resist when I grabbed a piece of plastic out of his left back pocket.”

The officer said Howell spun around and hit the officer in the eye. At that point, officers took Howell to the ground. As they attempted to secure him in handcuffs, he allegedly continued to resist and again hit the officer. He was finally secured and placed in the back of a patrol vehicle.

The female victim was located a short time later. The report stated, “She had injuries consistent with being struck in the face with a blunt object to the nose.”

Howell is being held on $145,000 bond.

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ALACHUA ‒ Tuesday night Ed Potts beat out Gregory Pelham for seat 2 in the City of Alachua Commission race. Potts received 715 votes representing 53 percent of the 1,340 votes cast while Pelham received 625 votes representing 47 percent of the vote. With three precincts open for voting, the race was tight up until the Turkey Creek precinct was counted.

The election vote count was scheduled to start at 8 p.m. at City Hall, but was delayed for 35 minutes until election staff at the Cleather Hathcock, Sr. Community Center delivered the ballots from that precinct. Once those ballots arrived, the Hathcock Center was the first precinct counted, giving Pelham a large lead of 243 votes to 40 votes for Potts.

Legacy Park precinct was tallied next, adding 176 votes for Pelham and 243 votes for Potts, which still gave Pelham a commanding lead of 419 to 283.The last voting precinct to be counted was Turkey Creek, and that changed everything. Pelham received 85 votes while Potts received 409 votes to make the total 504 for Pelham and 692 for Potts.

Absentee—or mail-in ballots— were counted next. Interim City Manager Mike DaRoza explained the process saying that those ballots were not yet counted but were about to be inspected and hand counted in front of the audience.

Three city staff sitting at a table in view of the audience opened each of the 142 mail-in ballots with one staff opening the ballot envelope and handing it to the next person who removed it from the sleeve and handed it to a third person to lay the ballot on the table face down. They proceeded to count the votes with Pelham receiving 119 votes and Potts receiving 23 votes.

All mail-in ballots were displayed on the table for the panel to review as well as the candidates and public. However, it didn’t matter in the end, since even if all the mail-in ballots had been for Pelham, there were not enough to overcome Potts' lead.

The panel approved the final vote tally in favor of Ed Potts, 715-625. Potts will be sworn into office during the regular City Commission meeting on April 25 at 6 p.m. and take his seat on the Commission.

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ALACHUA ‒ At the April 11 Alachua City Commission meeting, the Commission approved return of a $4,104 surety to Duration Builders, Inc. for the construction of sidewalks at Heritage Oaks Phase II. On May 17, 2018 the City Commission accepted the Heritage Oaks Phase II water system, wastewater system, electric system, roadways, and stormwater conveyance system. The City did not accept the sidewalks, which were to be completed during the construction of homes and proposed for acceptance at a later date, which triggered the surety requirement. As the sidewalks have been completed, these funds are being returned to Duration Builders, Inc.

It’s cleanup time in Alachua as the City Commission has proclaimed Saturday, May 14 as the Great American Cleanup Day. The Great American Cleanup is the country’s largest community improvement program in more than 20,000 communities each spring. The program is designed to end littering, improve recycling and beautify the community. This year, volunteers will gather at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall to kick off the project. Each volunteer will be provided with trash bags, safety vests, gloves, maps and instructions for the cleanup. This Saturday’s beautification activities include cleaning up Main Street, planting trees on Peggy Road to strengthen the community's green infrastructure, cleaning up Criswell Park and Hipp Way and the Swick House.

Alachua’s Legacy Park Summer Program, which runs from June 21 to July 30, is actively enrolling youth from ages 5 to 15. To fund the program, the Commission approved amending the Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget for acceptance of unanticipated revenue from the Children's Trust Grant Special Revenue Fund for children’s programs. The Children’s Trust of Alachua County (CTAC) will provide $66,665 for summer programs at Legacy Park. Additional funding of $20,000 is projected to be received from non-CTAC funded enrollment fees for a total of $86,665 to be added to the budget

In other business, students from the Bhaktivedanta Academy have their artwork featured on display in City Hall as part of the Art in City Hall program. Mayor Gib Coerper and the school’s Leela Sikdar presented certificates to the 20 students participating in the art display. After the certificates were presented, the entire City Commission gathered with the students for a group photograph.

The Florida League of Cities recently recognized Coerper with a 2022 Home Rule Hero Award. Home Rule is the ability for a city to address local problems with local solutions with minimal state interference. The Home Rule Hero Award recognizes the efforts of individuals, both elected and non-elected who reach out to members of the legislature to give a local perspective on issues.

“I am greatly humbled to be selected for this honor,” Coerper said. “I’ve always felt the government closest to its community should be the one making decisions based on the best interests of that community.”

The Commission has proclaimed the week of April 10 - 16 as “National Public Safety Telecommunications Week” in Alachua. Each year, the second week in the month of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators. The City of Alachua Police Department telecommunications section is staffed by seven full-time employees, including a communications supervisor and six communications operators. As the public's first line of contact with the department, they are responsible for handling all incoming emergency calls for service to the department, including 911 transfers from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office; dispatching and monitoring of radio traffic for all officers responding to calls for service, as well as walk-ins at the station.

In other police related news, the Alachua Police Department is partnering with the Alachua County Child Abuse Prevention Taskforce to bring child abuse awareness to Alachua. The National Child Abuse Prevention month campaign, which occurs in April, is an initiative to protect Florida's children from physical and mental abuse.

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