Local

 Tim Manning (Right) reently opened Shear Fusion hair salon on Alachua's Main Street.

ALACHUA - If you’re in Alachua and need a haircut, there’s a new salon creating a lot of buzz.

Owner Tim Manning opened Shear Fusion on Nov. 2. He said he decided to open the salon after finishing cosmetology school.

“I’ve always wanted to have my own business,” he said. “I’m really good at doing hair. It just seemed like the logical thing to do.”

He said he also wanted to save money and avoid a long commute. The salon is located on Alachua’s Main Street.

“It made more sense to open something on my own that’s literally right down the road from where I live,” he said.

Manning said he’s received positive feedback from customers so far.

Alachua resident Diana Felver said she first started visiting Shear Fusion after she found out her hairdresser was relocating. Although Felver said she hasn’t had her hair done at the salon yet, she’s bought hair products from the salon.

“The products we’re getting from them -- I’m like a walking advertisement,” she said. “Everyone’s asking, ‘What did you do to your hair?’”

She said her 19-year-old daughter, Jillian, visited the salon for a haircut and dye and loved it.

“She said it was the best haircut she ever had,” Felver said. “The color is really gorgeous.”

Felver said her daughter enjoyed the salon for the atmosphere as well.

“She said Tim was the most humorous hairdresser she’s ever been to. She said he made her laugh the entire time. It was a really fun experience for her, too.”

Manning said the salons prices are affordable with highlights priced at $65, hair color at $45, women’s haircuts at $25 and men’s haircuts at $10.

Local police officers, firefighters and EMTs receive half-priced haircuts at the salon. Manning said it’s done to show gratitude.

“They’re our local heroes,” he said.

City of Alachua employees receive a 10 percent discount on services at Shear Fusion.

“We want to do something in return for all the people who bolster us up,” he said.

Manning said he hopes to keep the salon on Main Street for a long time. He said he loves the camaraderie local business owners have.

“We’re gonna be here,” he said. “I absolutely love Alachua.”

Manning thinks a small-town salon might make customers feel more at home.

“You get to know the people and you get to know their stories,” he said. “Essentially, you end up with not just customers, but friends all over the place.”

#     #     #

Email: astewart@

alachuatoday.com

Christmas was merrier this year for some area youngsters thanks to the High Springs Police Department’s annual gift giveaway. Police Department officers and employees loaded up a truck with presents for an early Christmas delivery last Wednesday.

HIGH SPRINGS – With massive support from the High Springs community, clubs and businesses, as well as the High Springs Police Department, 20 children in High Springs will have a merrier Christmas this year. High Springs Police Department Dispatch Supervisor Stephanie Hall organized this year’s gift giveaway for children who may not have had gifts without the help of the police officers and staff. “This is an annual event for the department,” explained Hall.

The gift giveaway, which began about one week prior to Christmas, is intended for children from 10 months to 16 years old, who were identified by their school or church as being in need of some Christmas cheer. “One person, who was a victim of a crime, had three children. We included her children as well,” said Hall.

More gifts and large stockings full of candy and other treats were also distributed on Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 19, 2012, as uniformed police officers, Police Chief Steve Holley and Hall herself handed out beautifully wrapped packages to the children. Each family also received food items such as corn, green beans and stuffing to help round out their holiday meal.

“The Rotary Club went above and beyond as Heather Clarich obtained the donated use of the High Springs New Century Woman’s Club building, provided tons of Rotary Club volunteers and facilitated dinners for 35-40 people who met to wrap presents,” said Hall. The Rotary Club brought wrapping paper, tape and other items needed to wrap presents as well as three tables stacked with gifts.

“We had 15 people from our department, which included some family members, previous employees and one student doing ‘ride a longs’ with the department, and the Rotary Club fed us all as we wrapped presents,” said Hall.

High Springs Chamber of Commerce President Sandra Webb said she donated two big boxes of unused toys and candy canes received from Dollar Tree for the Chamber’s use in the Christmas parade as stocking stuffers for the kids. “We just didn’t use it all, so I thought it should go to others who could use it.”

The rest of the items were provided by “lots of citizens,” explained Hall, as well as from Camp Kulaqua, which donated 50 gifts, the Interact Club at Santa Fe High School, which donated toys, Eastern Star Santa Fe Chapter which donated 15 pairs of pajamas, cash and several toys, employees of the High Springs Police Department, who donated Christmas stockings, time and various other items, and cash donations from the High Springs Bridge Club, and Eric Shupe and Richard Piz of AllStar Tattoo who donated money to the department from the Halloween Tatoo Haunted Maze proceeds in October. “A very generous cash donation from High Springs Fence & Construction was also received,” said Hall. Also providing donated items were Dollar General and Family Dollar, with both companies contributing huge boxes of toys. Winn Dixie also made toy contributions and Pizza 2 Go made a financial contribution.

Two children’s gifts were donated from a detective from Gilchrist County who has a relative that works with the High Springs Police Department. Decorations and two small bags of canned goods will be passed out as well.

“There were too many donations to list them all,” said Hall, “but we used each and every donation to help make Christmas brighter for these children.”

#     #     #

Email Cwalker@

alachuatoday.com

HIGH SPRINGS – High Springs City Manager Edwin Booth is expected to request the City Commission to schedule a public hearing sometime between the Jan. 10 and Jan. 24 regular commission meetings to receive comments and input from citizens regarding their ideas for the use of the old school building.

“In the past,” said Booth, “the Civic Center has acted as the community center.” Suggesting that the refurbished school building might be more centrally located, Booth said he thought the various size rooms might be ideal for meetings and other community events. However, Booth is adamant that the Commission needs to hear how the citizens feel about the use of the building before any decision is made.

Booth said he also looked into the possibility of venting and installing a stove to accommodate cooking classes or other events where food might need to be prepared. “The cost is prohibitive,” he said. “It’s in the $100,000 range, which is way too much for the City to consider.”

Due to a lack of cooking facilities at the school, the elder program will most likely remain at the Civic Center.

#     #     #

Email Cwalker@

alachuatoday.com

By special request, Debbie Garcia-Bengochea and her husband, Jorge, will be taking their miniature therapy horses on the road to Newtown, Conn. to help the families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

HIGH SPRINGS – While church groups and canine therapy organizations are traveling to Newtown, Conn. on their own to offer assistance to the community coping with the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings, personal requests have been made directly from affected family members, public officials, municipal organizations and citizen groups to bring Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses to Newtown to work directly with those most directly affected by the massacre.

As one Newtown parent told Gentle Carousel, “We want our kids to dream of minis, instead of monsters.”

“How do you say no to that?” said Debbie Garcia-Bengochea who, with her husband Jorge, founded the all-volunteer nonprofit charity, located in High Springs and Alachua, in 2002. Presently, the organization has 32 tiny therapy horses, each one of which has two volunteers working with them. The therapy teams work with over 18,000 local adults and children each year in hospitals, hospice programs, assisted living programs, schools and libraries to bring their special love where it is needed most.

“Normally, we would be winding down somewhat after the holidays,” said Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, “but we were contacted by organizations and families in Newtown, so we’re preparing to go to Connecticut just after Christmas instead. It’s the kind of call you can’t say no to,” she said.

“We are scrambling to put money and everything else together,” she added. “Expenses have to be covered and arrangements have to be made. We’re not sure how we’re going to do it, but we could not turn down such earnest requests,” she said.

Families, organizations and first responders are “guiding us through,” explained Garcia-Bengochea. “Everyone is talking about it up there. I guess a lot of people are aware of our horses through Facebook,” she said. “They [people of Newtown] have been fundraising, setting up itineraries, scheduling private times with families, children and first responders and setting up other “pretty major things” that Garcia-Bengochea says she is not free to discuss at this time.

“I think the private things we will be doing with individuals will be the most helpful,” she said, but “Gentle Carousel Horses will be available to do whatever the community identifies as a need.”

Although the trip was not planned and the request only came in on Dec. 19, 2012, “just at a time when we were winding things down for the year,” some things seem to be falling into place so far. Several youngsters have been doing fundraising. A small school in Brazil put their money together and sent it to them to help defray costs. One child sent $1, explaining that it was her “hole” allowance. School children from Australia also sent a donation to help. “There has been an outreach from all over to help get us there,” said Garcia-Bengochea.

People are doing whatever they can to help. A group of volunteers from Maryland with a heated horse ambulance will be meeting Gentle Carousel in Newtown so the Florida horses will stay warm. A Newtown horse farm will have stalls and pastures for the horses to relax in after work. A horse transportation company is helping get the minis part way to Connecticut.

Magic, the most well-known of the Gentle Carousel Horses, was selected by AARP’s magazine as The Most Heroic Pet in America, and will be among the horses traveling to Connecticut. “Our horses have been featured in all kinds of magazines,” said Garcia-Bengochea. Magic was also selected by TIME Magazine / CNN as one of History’s Ten Most Heroic Animals (the only living animal on the list), as well as Reader’s Digest / Americantowns’ Power of One Hero (the only non-human Power of One Hero) and was one of Newsweek / The Daily Beast’s Ten Most Heroic Animals in America of 2010.

“Hugh Jackman even talked about our horses on Broadway,” said Garcia-Bengochea. “He was very gracious,” she said, and even invited her husband, Jorge, on stage to dance.

“Aladdin, our all white horse, will be going as well,” she said. Others are still being determined, but a total of four horses, including Magic and Aladdin, six volunteers plus Jorge and Debbie Garcia-Bengochea are expected to make the trip.

While the couple and their volunteers are clearly moved by the request, there are still a lot of details that need to be worked out. “We will be staying until well after school starts up again,” said Garcia-Bengochea. “We are usually running in the red,” she said. “We’re somewhat used to that. But this trip will be especially costly.”

The Gentle Carousel program is dependent on donations to help accomplish all the visits made by the organization each year and this visit is no exception. Although donations are coming in, more is needed.

Anyone wishing to donate directly to Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses for the trip to Newtown, Conn. may do so through their donation link at www.facebook.com/TherapyHorses or their website at www.Horse-Therapy.org.

#     #     #

Email Cwalker@

alachuatoday.com

HAWTHORNE – The Hawthorne Area Historical Society will be hosting their second Annual Hawthorne Heritage Day on Saturday, Jan. 19. The event will be a include antique cars, old-time family activities including candle dipping, rope and corn husk doll making. Great “local” barbeque by Pop Herring and music for singing and dancing will also help celebrate Hawthorne’s history. Special guest Sharon Ferraro of the Old House Network will talk about “Preservation – Opportunity from our Past for our Future at 2 p.m.

Hawthorne Heritage Day will be held at the Hawthorne Museum and Cultural Center located at 7225 S.E. 221 Street in Hawthorne from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. For further information call 352-318-1265 or 352-494-3790.

GAINESVILLE – It may be welcome news for many that the Alachua County Tax Collector will soon be taking over driver license services in the area. Tax Collector Von Fraser recently announced the plans in advance of the staged takeover, which is slated to begin in late January.

Driver license services in Alachua County are currently handled by the Florida Department of Highway Safety Motor Vehicles (DHSMV).

The migration of services comes following a bill passed in the 2011 Florida legislative session in which lawmakers mandated local tax collectors take over the driver license and identification card services no later than June 30, 2015. Tax collectors in several surrounding counties have been handling driver license services, and they’re among more than 50 tax collector offices statewide that are doing the same, according to John Power, Chief Deputy Tax Collector for Alachua County.

Tax Collector Von Fraser said the State has been talking to his office about assuming the driver license services for about a decade, but he has been reluctant to take it on until now. Both Fraser and Power said they want to get ahead of the curve by transitioning well before the state mandated deadline.

Driver license services, currently administered by the DHSMV, has been a source of frustration for many in Alachua County who find wait times, multiple trips and an under-sized facility to be cumbersome and inefficient.

Power said he is hoping the change of service will ease those frustrations and lead to more efficient services.

Fraser agrees saying, “We always emphasize to our employees how important customer service is, because that’s what our office is all about.”

Perhaps more to the point of alleviating frustrations with driver license services will be the multiple locations provided by the tax collector. With just one location at 5830 NW 34th Street in Gainesville, the DHSMV office is often packed with local residents looking to take driving tests and renew their licenses.

Meanwhile, the Tax Collector has three locations, one in downtown Gainesville, another across from the current DHSMV office on NW 34th Street and a third in Butler Plaza on Archer Road in Gainesville.

“Our goal is that the service is improved, and we’re really expecting to change the delivery of service so that they can get in and out quicker,” said Power, adding, “We hope that bringing these services on will help in making us a one-stop shop for many governmental services including hunting and fishing licenses, driver’s licenses, property taxes, motor vehicle tags and more.”

During the first stage of the service migration, the downtown office will begin offering the driver license services. The DHSMV will cease operations at its driver license office on March 8 while the Tax Collector plans to launch those same services at its NW 34th Street location on Monday, March 11. By early May 2013, Power said driver license services should be offered at the Butler Plaza site as well.

The Alachua County Tax Collector’s office will absorb the 11 employees currently working for the DHSMV driver license bureau in Gainesville.

“We not only want those employees, but we really do need their expertise and knowledge as we embark on this transition,” said Power.

He also noted that while his office will assume responsibility for the DHSMV 34^th Street location, it doesn’t have a specific use for the building itself. However, the outdoor driving course used to test potential drivers, will still be used for those purposes. Other driver license services, like written, hearing and vision tests will be available at all three Tax Collector locations.

“We want to provide the best service possible to all of our customers and we will be certain to notify anyone needing to take a driving test on the outdoor road course that those will be done at that same location and by appointment,” Power said.”

As for how the costs to take over the services are to be covered, the Florida legislator passed another measure in 2011 requiring that tax collectors assess a $6.25 fee on all driver licenses and identification cards it issues. But, it seems those fees may not cover the cost of offering the services.

Power said the Tax Collector currently engages in about 150,000 transactions annually. With the addition of the driver license services, he expects an additional 50,000 transaction annually. He also estimates that providing the driver license service will cost about $400,000 annually, while the $6.25 per transaction fee would only bring in about $315,000 for the same time period. Still, Power said he believes legislators have taken other actions to shore up the funding in the coming years.

Logistically, Power said the Tax Collector has been planning for this transition for a long time. Office staff is being trained and cross trained to handle the new services, including becoming acquainted with documentation requirements and security issues related to driver licenses and identification cards.

“For several months, our staff has been going through training to accommodate this change and we hope it will be a smooth one for everyone involved.”

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Fraser, “We'll be able to help people out at three locations now instead of just one. It’s a big win for the public. I'm ready to go.”

#     #     #

Email editor@

alachuatoday.com