Local

NEWBERRY ‒ The work of a local student is changing the lives of families more than 7,000 miles away.

Craig “Tre’” Smith, a sixth-grader at Oak View Middle School, recently raised more than $1,500 in two weeks for Ekisinga Ministries, an organization which strives to bring clean water to every person in Uganda.

Tre’ was inspired after a reading class led by his teacher, Lori Barber, in which she previewed the book “A Long Walk to Water.” The book is based on a true story in which a Sudanese ‘Lost Boy’ returns home and installs deep-water wells in remote villages in dire need of clean water. (Lost Boys are children who were orphaned or displaced by civil war in southern Sudan in the 1980s.)

That evening, Tre’ sat at the dinner table with his family and talked of his hope of helping African countries with their clean water supply.

Tre’s mom, Deanna Smith, saw how passionate Tre’ was about this opportunity and wanted to help.

“Tre' started talking to us about this and very passionately stated that we needed to go buy as many filtered straws as possible and send them to Africa,” Smith said. “My husband, Craig, and I dug a little deeper with him. He was heartbroken to know that children would drink dirty water because they were thirsty, then get sick. He wanted to buy all the filters and send a care package.”

After a night of discussion and research, Tre’ and his family thought it would be more fitting to find an organization on the ground in Africa to send money to so they could obtain more supplies for clean water.

Smith then reached out to the mother of one of Tre’s former classmates who is heavily involved with Uganda and Ugandans in need. From there, Smith was put in touch with Ekisinga Ministries, which provided details of how donations would be spent.

At $1,000, medi-drops are given to villagers who have to travel to obtain any water. In these, a silver ion bar is placed in buckets of water and in eight hours, the water becomes clean for drinking.

At $1,500, a water kiosk can be set up in the middle of a city or neighborhood. One side of the kiosk would have unfiltered water for laundry and bathing while the other side contains clean drinking water. A kiosk can fill a five-gallon jug in about a minute and helps around 300-350 people with sustainability for several years.

Following conversations with Ekisinga Ministries, Tre’ set a goal of raising $2,500 in hopes of helping 100 families.

One night after that conversation at the dinner table, Smith posted a flyer on social media looking for donations to Tre’s cause. Less than 72 hours later, the Smith family had already raised $1,000 and sent the funds to Ekisinga Ministries.

That money funded 40 medi-drops and canisters, which benefitted about 200 people in Uganda.

The other $1,500 donation will go toward a water kiosk for a neighborhood in Uganda.

As of Monday, less than two weeks from the start of Tre’s fundraiser, the Smiths have raised $1,615 of the $2,500 goal.

Barber, Tre’s reading teacher, was overwhelmed when she heard about the fundraiser.

“I was overwhelmed with love and happiness,” Barber said. “I am so proud of Tre’.”

As Tre’s fundraiser continues, Smith has been accepting donations via cash or Venmo.

Anyone who would like to donate directly to Tre’s cause can do so through Venmo to his mother’s account (@DeannaSmith4616). She has sent all cash and Venmo donations to Ekisinga Ministries.

People can also donate directly to Ekisinga Ministries and note “Tre’ Smith” in the comment section below the donation amount at Ekisinga’s donation page.

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NEWBERRY ‒ The City of Newberry is set to expand its footprint again. During the Sept. 13 City Commission meeting, Commissioners approved a series of ordinances that would annex more than 600 acres into the city limits of Newberry.

If approved again on second reading, scheduled for Sept. 27, 13 new parcels will be brought into the City.

Newberry Planner Wendy Kinser-Maxwell explained that the seven separate voluntary annexation requests were in different locations, each of which is “contiguous to the municipal boundaries of the city”. “The proposed annexations serve to strengthen continuity and improve overall compactness of the municipal boundary in the subject areas,” she said.

Each one of the petitions was heard in separate quasi-judicial public hearings.

The first, Ordinance 2021-38, was a petition by Morgan Lee Smith, Agent for RPM Auto, LLC, owner of approximately three acres of land located on the southwest corner of West Newberry Road and Southwest 225^th Street.

Ordinance 2021-39 was a petition by Robert F. Carter, Jr. and Barbara Carter, owners, to voluntarily annex approximately 5.06 acres. This property is located on the east side of Southwest 282^nd Street, approximately 1/2 mile south of Southwest 95^th Road.

Ordinance 2021-40 was a petition by Mark Halink, agent for Halink USA, Inc., owner, to annex two adjacent parcels together consisting of approximately 12.26 acres. These properties are located on the east side of Southwest 266^th Street, approximately .13 mile north of Southwest 15^th Avenue.

Ordinance 2021-41 was a petition by J. Keith Lerner, agent for Farm Gelt, owner, to annex approximately 254 acres and is located on the west side of U.S. 41 and the north side of Northwest 78^th Avenue.

Ordinance 2021-42 was a petition by Alvin D. and Suzanne M. Holder, owners, to annex two adjacent parcels totaling approximately 40 acres. These properties are located on the east side of Northwest 298^th Street (county line) and along Northwest 32^nd Avenue.

Ordinance 2021-43 was a petition by Brad Richardson, agent for the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the state of Florida, owners. This was the largest number of acres consisting of five adjacent parcels totaling approximately 256.25 acres. These parcels are located on the north side of West Newberry Road, approximately 1/2 mile east of Northwest 202^nd Street.

The last voluntary annexation request was included in Ordinance 2021-44. This is a petition by G. Leonard Emmel, agent for Emmel Family Partners Ltd., owners, to annex approximately 40.76 acres located approximately 3/4 mile north of West Newberry Road and approximately 3/4 mile west of Northwest 170^th Street.

Kinser-Maxwell said that letters notifying the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners and the Alachua County Growth Management Director had been sent on Aug. 19 with no response from either party.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ High Springs Police are searching for a man they believe broke into three locked and secured donation boxes at St. Madeleine Catholic Church, 17155 N.W. U.S. Highway 441, High Springs.

The High Springs Police Department (HSPD) responded to a theft/criminal mischief and petit theft report on Sunday, Sept. 12.

According to a HSPD report, at approximately 2 p.m. what is believed to be a 2002 silver/grey four-door Toyota Camry with dark tinted windows pulled into the sanctuary's parking lot. Moments later, a man is observed entering the sanctuary. The suspect is then observed breaking into three locked and secured donation boxes with a small pry bar tool, destroying all three boxes and stealing approximately $100.

The suspect is a male of possible middle eastern/Hispanic/Italian ethnicity, believed to be 45 to 55 years old. He was dressed in a green short-sleeved tee-shirt with horizontal stripes, navy blue pants and dark-colored shoes. He appears to be approximately five-feet, six inches to five-feet eight inches tall and weighs about 200-220 lbs. He has black hair that is starting to grey with slight balding on top, thick black eyebrows, black mustache, average medium build, with an olive-colored skin complexion.

“We are hoping a member of the public can identify this man,” said High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard. “We have received some tips and our investigators are currently running them down to try to identify the suspect,” he said.

Anyone with information or possible identification of the suspect is asked to call the High Springs Police Department via the Combined Communications Center at 352-955-1818.

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ALACHUA ‒ The City of Alachua Police Department (APD) arrested 37-year-old Matthew Eugene Houston of Jacksonville on Thursday, Sept. 9, as he attempted to obtain fake prescriptions.

The fraudulent prescriptions were faxed to the Alachua Publix Pharmacy the previous day with a provider’s name listed, who was confirmed not to work at UF Health Shands.

The prescriptions listed the patient as Steven Daniels of Alachua and included a date of birth, telephone number and address for the alleged patient. The prescriptions were for a codeine-based cough medicine and an antibiotic.

Houston is being charged with fraud and forgery and is being held in the Alachua County Jail under $60,000 bond. He also faces a charge for using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ City of High Springs residents can expect to pay more in taxes in the coming year. On Sept. 20, the High Springs City Commission set the Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget at $23,387,923. The Commission also approved increasing to 5.99 mills, which is 8.875 percent increase from the current rolled-back rate of 5.5017 mills.

Bailey Estates Zoning Postponed

In other city business, a rezoning that has been tabled several times was tabled yet again – this time to Nov. 18. A zoning change request from J.H. Londono to rezone approximately 89.69 acres east of Bailey Estates from R-1A to R-3 has been fraught with issues surrounding the developer’s agreement with the city.

Initially, this request was heard and approved by the Planning and Zoning Board on Sept. 22, 2020. It was then presented at the Oct. 8 City Commission meeting at which time it was not adopted as the Commission requested the developer present an amended plan.

The ordinance was read and adopted at the Nov. 24, 2020 meeting, but it was continued at the Dec. 10 meeting and several times thereafter. Continuances have been given to finalize a development agreement with the applicant. “To date, there has not been much progress on the development agreement,” said City Manager Ashley Stathatos.

The stalemate stems from the developer’s proposal that all lots be 6,000 square feet minimum. A City staff analysis of all the lots in Bailey Phase I found that the majority of the lots are in the 8,000 – 9,000 sf range. The City will not agree to a development agreement with all the lots starting at a 6,000 sf minimum. The developer did not want to go up in lot size, therefore, “there was no further progress on the development agreement,” Stathatos said. She added that the development agreement continues to be “incompatible with surrounding land uses.”

The Commission voted to table the item once again to Nov. 18, with plans for the full Commission and the City’s planning consultant to be present.

Traffic Signal Operations

In other City business, Commissioners deferred a decision on an interlocal agreement for maintenance and operations of traffic signal and school beacons to allow time to research other options.

In the past, the City of Gainesville has been contracted to perform these services for the City, but has recently done away with the discount they provided to High Springs for their services. City Clerk Jenny Parham said it would now cost the City approximately $700 over the amount that the Florida Department of Transportation pays the City to maintain those services.

Presentations to Commission

In other business, Newberry Opioid Task Force Chairperson Joy Glanzer and other task force members encouraged High Springs to use $10,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to help pay for a radKIDS program to help teach young kids how to deal with drugs.

The City of Newberry has set aside $15,000 for the program and would like to see each of the communities set aside some funds to help pay for training radKIDS instructors and other related program items. Commissioneers will consider the request when they discuss Rescue Plan funds.

Elder Adam Joy requested the use of one room in the old school building behind City Hall for the Head Start Program. He said he has a grant and the kids, but just needs a location. Commissioners were reluctant to allow the use of the building for a nine-month period of time and denied the request. Joy said he would contact the City of Alachua to see if they might have a location that could be used for the program.

Sharon Yeago, secretary for The Heart of High Springs, introduced the organization to the Commission and explained the group’s purpose. The organization is working on the Gateway Sign Project with a goal of installing new welcome signs at entrances to the city. “The existing entrance signs were installed more than 10 years ago,” Yeago said, “and they are in need of being replaced and upgraded.”

The Heart of High Springs has designed new welcome signs, which will be paid for by private funding. Six locations have been identified for their installation. Yeago said the group is asking the City to partner with them to maintain the signs after installation. The City will be drafting an agreement that would form a partnership between the organization, the City and the property owners at the sign locations.

The next High Springs City Commission meeting is scheduled for Oct. 14.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ North Florida now has five monoclonal antibody treatment centers, with High Springs opening a site on Aug. 24. at the Fellowship Church of High Springs. Monoclonal antibodies help the immune system recognize and respond more effectively to the COVID-19 virus. Vaccines are still the most effective preventative of infection or severity of symptoms, with over one billion people worldwide vaccinated.

Almost 40 percent of the U.S. population remains unvaccinated. While the vaccines are not 100 percent effective and there have been a few cases of severe reaction or death, these account for less than .001 percent of those who have received the vaccine. Safety concerns, misinformation, political bias, debates about free choice or lack of availability account for the numbers of unvaccinated.

The monoclonal treatment is not a replacement for the vaccine and only works to lessen the severity of those already diagnosed with COVID and showing mild symptoms. Governor Ron DeSantis has promoted this treatment as another tool to lessen severity of the Delta variant, and in August he ordered the rollout of 25 treatment sites including five in North Florida.

Monoclonal antibody treatment prevents serious illness and death among high-risk people such as the elderly, individuals who are overweight, diabetic or have compromised heart, lungs, kidneys or immune systems. The treatment is most effective when given early and the sooner it is given the better the results.

Those already hospitalized with COVID-19 issues are unable to receive the monoclonal antibody treatment because the effects are unknown. Clinical trials are currently underway to determine the safety of monoclonal antibodies in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The treatment consists of two injections in the stomach area and one in each arm or an intravenous feed.

The High Springs site, located in the church’s gymnasium, accommodates up to 300 patients. The Fellowship Church location currently sees roughly 150 to 200 patients each day, according to Paul Myers, Director of the Florida Department of Health in Alachua County. The church previously served as a COVID-19 vaccine location earlier in the year. Myers plans to keep the Alachua County site open as long as people need it.

According to Myers, the treatment is a free and painless option and is available to all eligible people, regardless of vaccination status, but should be administered as soon as possible after receiving a positive COVID test to be the most effective. The treatment only works for people already diagnosed with the virus and does not replace the vaccine as a method of preventing the virus.

Patients can receive this treatment without a prescription or referral if administered by an eligible health care provider. Such referrals are not required at any of the State of Florida monoclonal antibody treatment sites to treat non-hospitalized patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of clinical progression due to underlying conditions. Fellowship Church of High Springs is located at 16916 N.W. U.S. Highway 441. Although patients do not need an appointment for the treatment, appointments and additional information is available by calling 850-344-9637 or by visiting the patients portal at floridahealth.gov.

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