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ALACHUA – Alachua-based biotech company Nanotherapeutics, Inc. has secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense that could be worth about $360 million.

The company was awarded a $135,834,018 cost-plus-fixed-fee incrementally-funded contract by the U.S. Army to develop and manufacture drugs and vaccines to combat bioterrorism. If all options are exercised, the total award over 10 years could reach $360 million.

Expected uses of the drugs and vaccines include treating military populations against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks and outbreaks of naturally occurring emerging and genetically engineered infectious diseases.

The development and production of these drugs and vaccines will be done locally in Alachua. A large development and manufacturing facility will be built in Alachua, with an estimated completion date of March 19, 2015, said Patti Breedlove, associate director of the University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator.

“It’s wonderful news for the whole community here,” Breedlove said. “It will put a spotlight on Alachua.”

Nanotherapeutics officials could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The company, located at 13859 Progress Boulevard in Alachua’s Progress Corporate Park, currently produces new drugs and makes existing drugs stronger through nanometer-scale particle technology.

Nanotherapeutics was founded by James Talton in 2000 under the name Nanocoat Technologies. It was renamed Nanotherapeutics in 2002.

Nanotherapeutics was a resident company in UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator for almost nine years. The company was admitted to the incubator on Jan. 3, 2000. It graduated from the program on July 30, 2008, relocating to a new building in Progress Corporate Park, which fronts U.S. Highway 441 and borders San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park.

Additional information is expected to be released by federal officials in the future.

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While typical Easter egg hunts feature colorful eggs hidden in the grass by the lovable Easter Bunny, Saturday’s egg hunt in Alachua featured a high flying Easter Bunny delivering eggs by helicopter. Buzzing the Christ Central Alachua property off U.S. Highway 441, the famed bunny made four aerial deliveries for children of different age groups.

HIGH SPRINGS – The High Springs City Commission is expected to restore monthly salaries for commissioners and the mayor at the Thursday, March 28, 2013 commission meeting. Resolution 2013-D, which would have made restoration of their salaries retroactive to the beginning of the 2012-2013 fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2012, failed to pass during the March 14 commission meeting.

While commissioners were in favor of restoring the salaries, some expressed displeasure at making the retroactive date the beginning of the fiscal year. Mayor Sue Weller and Commissioners Bob Barnas and Linda Gestrin defeated the resolution with a 3-2 vote and instead directed City Attorney Scott Walker to present another resolution at the March 28 meeting in which the retroactive date is set at March 1, 2013.

City Attorney Walker modified the wording as directed and it will now appear on the March 28 agenda as Resolution 2013-E.

Commissioners have been receiving $100 less in salary each month since October. If Resolution 2013-E is approved as anticipated, each commissioner will return to their previous salary amounts.

This fiscal year, commissioners have each been receiving $400 monthly and the mayor has been receiving $450 monthly. Adoption of the resolution would return those monthly salaries to $500 for commissioners and $550 for the mayor.

Salaries for hourly employees, which had been reduced at the beginning of the fiscal year by 6.07 percent, were reinstated earlier this year and made retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year.

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Alachua based AxoGen specializes in products for peripheral nerve damage repair. Edward Bonfiglio received an implant of AxoGen’s Avance® Nerve Graft in 2009 following an injury to his sciatic nerve after coming under fire while serving as a Navy Corpsman in Afghanistan in 2009.

ALACHUA – An Alachua-based company is helping wounded warriors to feel again.

Bioscience company AxoGen develops and markets a full suite of surgical products for surgeons and hospitals to help patients with nerve injuries.

The company, located at 13859 Progress Blvd., specializes in products for peripheral nerve damage.

Peripheral nerves carry signals to and from the brain to allow a person to feel sensations or move muscles. When a peripheral nerve is damaged the signal transfer is reduced or completely stopped.

Peripheral nerves can be injured in many ways including traumatic injuries such as kitchen knife lacerations, falling through plate glass, car accidents and major military injuries. Peripheral nerves can also be damaged by nerve compression like in carpal tunnel syndrome.

AxoGen’s products can be found in trauma centers, hospitals, military facilities and surgical centers throughout the United States and Canada. It is currently expanding its prominence in the European market.

The company had a humble beginning.

It was founded in Gainesville in 2002 by Jamie Grooms and John Engels. They started the company in a room next to the garage of Grooms’ house, working to develop patents and prove the science.

Since then, the company has grown to three product brands – Avance® Nerve Graft, AxoGuard® Nerve Connector and AxoGuard® Nerve Protector – with over 50 full-time employees. The company is publicly traded on the OTCBB exchange and has reported revenue of $5.6 million through Q3 2012.

“AxoGen has developed a strong team of employees fully committed to making a difference in the lives of people with peripheral nerve repair injuries,” said CEO Karen Zaderej. “We come to work each day believing in what we do and doing our very best for the doctors who use our products to help their patients.”

The company relocated to Progress Corporate Park in 2007.

The University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator was an ideal environment for an early stage company, Zaderej said.

“We found the well-designed lab space, access to shared equipment and proximity to a community of similarly situated companies to be very attractive for AxoGen,” Zaderej said.

AxoGen is involved with the “Thank a Wounded Warrior” program, which provides signed thank you cards for injured U.S. military personnel being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

It also supports entities such as the American Society of Surgery of the Hand with educational grants.

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HIGH SPRINGS – A proposed resolution guiding elected official civility culminated in a heated confrontation between two High Springs city commissioners and the tabling of the resolution to a later commission meeting.

At the March 14, 2013 High Springs City Commission meeting City Attorney Scott Walker presented Resolution 2013-C for consideration, which was designed to establish a code of conduct and ethics for the mayor, commissioners and other charter officers. Walker prepared the resolution following comments previously expressed by Vice-Mayor Scott Jamison and High Springs resident Suzie Ann Clark regarding the lack of civility on the part of one commissioner toward members of the public and fellow commissioners in his blog.

Walker said he researched what some other cities included in their civility resolutions, reviewed the City of High Springs Employee Handbook to see what was expected of the City’s employees and also incorporated language from Jamison’s earlier comments to create the resolution.

In presenting the resolution, Walker said there had been some controversy in the past and the resolution came out of a desire to help with this issue. He further emphasized that more and more cities are now crafting civility expectations into formal statements for their elected officials.

Commissioner Bob Barnas said the resolution was “one-sided” and a violation of his right to free speech. He further expressed displeasure that City Attorney Walker took it upon himself, without the consent of the entire commission, to create the resolution because of one commissioner’s comments.

Commissioner Linda Gestrin agreed that the resolution was an attack on free speech, adding it was a form of bullying.

Walker disagreed, stating he did not feel it was a violation. “The intent was to head off divisiveness,” he said.

Jamison said he believed that public officials are held to a higher standard and should at least “adhere to the same level of civility that we hold our employees to.”

Jamison added, “When someone enters into public office, it is a 24-hour a day position.” Stating he was in favor of the resolution, Jamison said, “The resolution does not deny anyone the right to voice their opinion,” but it should be expressed civilly. “It isn’t too much to ask for the commissioners to be just as respectful of the citizens as the citizens are expected to be to the commissioners.”

Mayor Sue Weller commented that the Commission is the “face of the City and we have an obligation to present ourselves in a manner becoming the position.” She requested the resolution be tabled to allow commissioners time to review it and take a further look at it at the next meeting.

Commissioner Byran Williams moved to table the resolution and Mayor Weller passed the gavel to Vice-Mayor Jamison and seconded the motion.

Following several minutes of citizen comments, pro and con, and a suggestion that the resolution be incorporated into an existing document, Comissioners Barnas and Williams got into a heated discussion.

Barnas claimed he knew which way the vote would go. He read the third principal of a local citizens’ group, Concerned Citizens for a Better High Springs, which was written in November 2012. He said that Mayor Weller, Vice-Mayor Jamison and Commissioner Williams’ names appear on the list and they “seem to be the new majority.” Barnas further said they are going to vote on a resolution that was put forth months ago, where meetings were held to talk about civility and code of conduct.

Williams challenged Barnas’s allegation, asking how someone can say how he is going to vote. Williams said that he, like the other commissioners, had just been given the resolution that night and had not had a chance to review it yet.

“If truth be known, I was going to vote against it,” Williams said. “This is the kind of stuff that tears this city apart.” He added that assuming how a commissioner will vote is “disrespectful,” and asked, “When are we going to grow up?” He suggested it was time that the citizens and commissioners came together to do what was best for the City.

At that point, Williams called the question and the proposed civility resolution was tabled with a 4-1 vote with Jamison casting the no vote.

It is expected that matter will be discussed again at the March 28, 2013 commission meeting.

Carson Willis shows her steer at the Alachua Youth Fair Livestock Sale and Auction.

GAINESVILLE – After a year of working with his steer, Briar Mitchell got 16-month-old Ace to stop head-butting him.

Nine-year-old Briar, member of the Archer Trailblazers, was able to control his steer at his first Alachua County Youth Fair Livestock Sale and receive $4.50 per pound. Ace was the second best steer at the sale.

Briar was one of the hundreds of kids who were selling their market animals at the charity sale held by the Alachua County Youth Fair and Livestock Show Association on Tuesday.

Chenoa Dixon, fair board president, said this annual auction is a way for kids to raise money for their hard work. Children who participate range from ages 5 to 18 years old.

The animals brought to the auction are market and breeding animals such as steers, hogs, goats and rabbits.

“All the market animals get sent off to be harvested and breeding animals continue to be raised,” Dixon said.

After 35 years, the auction continues to bring the community together.

“Exhibitors work on this program all year and come and show off their skills,” Dixon said.

Those skills include how the kids raised their animals so they can behave and remain calm in front of a big group of people, she said. They also show what they have learned and market their animals by recruiting sponsors, family, friends and different companies to come out to the auction to support them.

This year, there were more than 300 exhibitors and more than 500 animals. Of those 500, 126 were market animals, which were all sold. Market animals included hogs, goats and steers, Dixon said.

The grand champion market animals were a 1,135 lbs. steer that was sold for $6 per pound, a 100 lbs. goat sold for $10 per pound and a 279 lbs. pig sold for $4 per pound.

Whitney Jerkins, member of the Santa Fe FFA, had the highest bid of $12 for her 210 lbs hog.

The average sale per pound for the animals is $3 to $5 but it depends on the type of animal, Dixon said.

Although the attendance for each auction seems to be a large group, Dixon said it’s always the same companies and exhibitors and she said it would be great if more people participated.

“The fair really depends on the community and their support,” she said.

Three large companies that regularly attend the event are Santa Fe Ford and Power Sports, Florida Farm Bureau General Insurance and Rays Metal Works, Inc., said Cindy Sanders, extension director.

Some of the other buyers that attend the event are returning exhibitors. Since kids are allowed to sell their animals from age 5 until their last year of high school, former sellers support the current participants by bidding.

Richard Feagle, Archer Automotive and Tire owner, used to bring his two sons for about eight years when they were young to show their own hogs and steers. During Tuesday’s auction, Feagle was in the audience as a buyer. He has been a buyer for eight years and purchases hogs and steers. This year he bought five hogs.

Jason Breeden is also a former exhibitor when he was a child, and now his kids participate in the sale.

His kids, Garison Breeden, 11, and Kayley Breeden, 13, both sold steers this year.

Jason Breeden said this event helps the children learn about responsibility, among other things.

“It’s a good learning experience for the kids,” he said.

A returning participant, who has been involved in the auction before, said this was her last year. Tori Banner, 17, from Micanopy Friendship 4-H Club, sold her steer for $2 per pound.

Banner said she started showing animals when she was 10 years old. The first animal she showed was a goat.

“This is my last year,” she said. “I’m excited and it mean I’m going to miss it but I’m excited to move on. It’s bittersweet.”

Some of the kids not only take away money from the event but life lessons through the work they have done all year with their animals.

Fifteen-year-old Wyatt O’Grady, also from the Micanopy Friendship 4-H Club, said he learned to treat animals with respect.

“It teaches you disciple and makes you a better person,” he said.

O’Grady sold a market goat for $3.25 per pound.

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