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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

Evan Maroon, 5, eating a Thanksgiving lunch with his mother, Blair Poole. The students helped out with preparation of the holiday meal.

ALACHUA – Turkey soaked in gravy, creamy white mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce made its presence in the classroom for parents and children at W.W. Irby Elementary School on Thursday, Nov. 21.

Thanksgiving came early to all of the kindergarteners sitting down to a traditional feast with their parents.

Having Thanksgiving dinner at W.W. Irby Elementary with the kindergarteners has become a tradition started by kindergarten teacher Kathryn Lehtola.

The meal wasn’t just any meal for the parents and students, but made with love from the students themselves, Lehtola said. Having spent half of the morning the day before, moving to different stations for each item for their meal, 5- and 6-year-old boys and girls worked to make the parent-child lunch possible.

“Your child has had their hands in, around and about everything you will eat,” Lehtola said.

However, before dinner, all of the kindergarten classes came together, dressed in Native American headbands and pilgrim costumes, to entertain the families with a couple of Thanksgiving-themed songs.

First the children started with the popular “Grinding the Maize,” then there was a song about Bert the Turkey and to conclude the morning’s music was a song about Thanksgiving, which was performed with laminated signs spelling the word “Thanksgiving,” all while Lehtola directed.

Valdenora Fortner, W.W. Irby Elementary principal, said that the tradition is one that promotes family time, which is important to parent-child bonding.

“The kids of course talk it up because they’ve been working on placemats, recipes and food,” Fortner said. “They’re very excited. They’ve even earned some of their feathers for their headbands.”

The preparation for the feast had some educational value, too.

Students learned measurements while cooking and listened to the history behind grinding maize, according to a letter that was sent out to parents announcing the annual Thanksgiving dinner.

While the children and parents sat and ate their homemade Thanksgiving meal, children dove into their mashed potatoes and turkey and parents chatted about the upcoming holidays.

Parents April and Alan Rice attended the Thanksgiving dinner with the school for their second year in a row. The parents looked forward to the dinner this year after experiencing it with their son for the first time last year and asked for the day off weeks in advance in order to attend.

“It’s a good idea because nowadays nobody cooks, so this is a good learning procedure for them at an early age,” said grandmother, Ella Voture.

The children’s experience with cooking and making the food proved was worth it, according to Jeremy Nipper, 5, who said that making the food that he was eating was a lot of fun.

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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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C.M. Walker/Alachua County Today

Sue Weller being sworn in for another term as a commissioner. Shortly after, she nominated Byran Williams as the next mayor.

HIGH SPRINGS – A motion by newly re-elected High Springs City Commissioner Sue Weller resulted in the unanimous approval of Commissioner Byran D. Williams as mayor of High Springs for the upcoming term.

Commissioner Scott Jamison had already nominated Weller for the position, which she has held for the past year. Weller nominated Williams to run against her.

Jamison then nominated Weller for vice-mayor, a position she won.

After seats were changed to reflect the new positions, Williams said he was surprised by the turn of events, but would gladly fulfill his duties as mayor.

Williams’ election as mayor seemed unanticipated by some in the audience who thought Weller would be a sure bet to continue as mayor for another year after having recently won re-election against challenger Bobby Summers for her seat on the commission.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Jamison said as he nominated Weller for mayor. Later, he said he thought things had been going well with Weller as mayor for the past year and did not see a reason to change. He said he ultimately voted for Williams because he thought he would also do well in the position.

“You’re mayor for a year and then someone else gets to be mayor,” Weller said in a later interview. “That has been the protocol in the past and it seems to work.”

“I nominated him for the position because I knew he would do well,” she said.

Williams is the most senior commissioner of the five currently serving on the High Springs City Commission. He served as mayor during 2005-2006, and as vice-mayor during 2008-2009 and 2010-2011. He has served on the commission off-and-on since 2003, according to city records.

Earlier in the evening, Weller was sworn in for another three-year term following her re-election to the commission against Summers on Tuesday, Nov. 5. She thanked the 710 people that voted and her supporters who helped to re-elect her and commented that she would like to see the city commission work as a group to help solve the challenges facing the city in the future.

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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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CARL MCKINNEY/Alachua County Today

Children sat on Santa's lap and brought him cookies to snack on.

HIGH SPRINGS – Lights, music and art brought an air of festivity to the town of High Springs last week.

The annual Christmas-tree lighting was held on Friday, Nov. 22 in High Springs.

The event, located near the railroad tracks, had Christmas music, lights and refreshments, started off at 6 p.m. and went until 7:30 p.m.

New mayor, Byran D. Williams, opened the lighting of the 8-foot tall Christmas tree with a short speech thanking the Chamber of Commerce.

When the lights went on, parents and children began to gravitate toward the food and drink stands, but some children were more interested in meeting Santa Claus.

“What did you bring me?” asked Lance Lounsbury, playing the part of Santa, as three children brought him cookies.  

One of the stands offering refreshments such as cookies, hot chocolate and pigs in a blanket was managed by the Coffee Clutch Cafe, who also participated in the Art Walk that was held at the same time.

Jesse Lounsbury, son of Lance, ran the table for the Coffee Clutch Cafe to help his mother, the owner of the cafe, Nancy Lounsbury.

“We got the opportunity to come out and have fun,” Jesse Lounsbury said.

Children also had an opportunity to make Christmas-tree decorations. The ornament station was laid out on the ground with paint, glue and glitter gave kids the chance to dig down deep and bring out their inner Picasso by decorating their own leaf ornaments.

The High springs Community School participated in the lighting. The school sat with their table on the back of the lot selling cookies, cupcakes and other baked goods to raise money for the school’s safety patrols.

One parent, Jackie Helton, brought her children for the first time to the event and said that the tree lighting was a great experience for her kids. She said she looks forward to coming back next year.

Volunteer DJ Michael Loveday said that the audience for this year’s lighting had grown significantly since last year.

“There are about 50 percent more people showing up,” Loveday said.

The event began to clear out around 6:30 p.m. when the art walk started, which had various businesses displaying photos, paintings and sculptures by local artists.

Each of the businesses hosting the walk offered food and wine to enjoy while browsing the art collections.

One artist, Linda Tiffany, brought out her photography from the Ponce de Leon exhibit. The retired art teacher said she used to be predominantly a painter, but since teaching children she has had to ease back into it.

“I’m finally getting back to some of my artwork again,” Tiffany said. “I’ve got some paintings going, but I didn’t have them done in time.”

Larry Behnke, a member of the Art Co-op and one of the artists on display during the art walk, said the event was great for both local artists and businesses because it gives people the opportunity to notice places that they wouldn’t usually see.

“The fun part is that there are 15 other artists around town, and in High Springs most of the businesses close at 5 p.m.,” Behnke said. “This allows them to stay open at night and people come downtown and say ‘oh I didn’t know this shop was here,’ and so this is getting the public out to see not only different artists, but different businesses in the town.”

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