Photo special to Alachua County Today

Two women eating watermelon at last year's festival. The event is one of the longest running festivals in the country.

 NEWBERRY – In 1946, the City of Newberry held a watermelon festival to celebrate the end of the Second World War and to embrace the country’s return to prosperity after the Great Depression. There was a plentiful harvest of crops, and the residents of the town thought it was a fitting way to celebrate. That tradition continues today.

“As far as we can tell, it’s one of the longest continual festivals in the country,” said Kathi Lee Thomas, who now serves as the president of the festival after being its secretary since 1993.

The event is ushered in with a parade, followed by an auction and watermelon eating contests.

Residents then go head-to-head, competing to see who has the biggest melon, and the Watermelon Queen is named.

The search for the queen begins weeks before the festival, with a pageant for prospective watermelon royalty. Newberry’s queen takes on the role of an agricultural advocate as she competes at the state level.

Meagan Morgan became Florida’s queen a few weeks ago.

Morgan, born and raised in Chiefland and studying dental hygiene at Santa Fe College, became involved with Newberry during a Teen Queen pageant in 2012.

Her connections helped her prepare for the state watermelon pageant. She will compete in the national campaign in March 2015, after she spends the year promoting Florida watermelon agriculture by attending conventions. She will even be going to markets to help folks pick out the ripest watermelons.

“It should have a mellow, yellow belly, no bruises or scratches,” Morgan said. “Since it’s 92 percent water, it should be pretty heavy.”

She has had a passion for agriculture, and this is her way of becoming involved with Florida’s watermelon industry, one of the top producers in the country.

Morgan works with Florida Watermelon Association and Florida growers as a spokesperson to promote the watermelon market sustained by local agriculture.

“Once watermelon season starts in April, we will go somewhere different every weekend,” she said.

“We even have a convention planned for Canada, which will be pretty exciting.”

Festival day is May 17, at Destiny Community Church off Highway 26 in Newberry. All the proceeds go to the Watermelon Festival of Newberry, Inc. Scholarship Fund. The Florida Watermelon Queen becomes part of a large public relations campaign to promote Florida agriculture once she receives her crown, going to local super markets like Publix and Hitchcock’s to hand out fresh slices of watermelon, as well as going on farm tours, taking pictures with local growers and visiting schools.                   

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CARL MCKINNEY/ Alachua County Today

 The Rev. George Trotman begins his speech at the MLK celebration. He read the famous "I Have a Dream" speech in its entirety.

 ALACHUA – A city gathered to celebrate one of the 20th Century’s most famous civil rights activists.

The City of Alachua held its celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. for the ninth year in a row on Monday, Jan. 20 at the Hathcock Community Center.

The ceremony started around 11 a.m., with Wilma Rogers, who helps run the Alachua Music and Arts Program, giving a speech on the changes King brought about.

“That change lives on inside each of you,” she said. Positive change is rewarded by God, she added.

After Mayor Gib Coerper acknowledged the veterans in the audience for their service, City Manager Traci Cain gave her interpretation of the celebration.

“What a beautiful day it is to come together as neighbors, friends and family,” she said.

Cain talked about the sacrifices King made for civil rights.

“He put his life on the line for what he believed,” she said. She spoke of the hope he had.

“Let’s continue to have hope.”

Rogers then brought the children of the Music and Arts Program on to the stage to sing “We Can Change the World,” composed by Wilma Rogers’ husband, Bill Rogers. Samantha Flores, one of the young singers, led the performance.

The group recently had a chance to visit Martin Luther King Jr.’s home in Alabama. They have also been invited to attend the Trumpet Awards in Atlanta, Ga. at the end of the month to represent Alachua. The show will be televised in 185 countries.

Joni Perkins, from the Music and Arts Program, recited the Maya Angelou poem “Still I Rise,” which challenges everyone to hold their head high and empower themselves and others.

Wilma Rogers took the stage again, this time to thank the parents for their support of the Music and Arts Program.

“We cannot do this without you,” she said.

The Rev. George Trotman then took the stage as the main speaker, talking about the lasting impact of Martin Luther King Jr.

“Truly, this is a good day,” he said. “We are blessed to be in a land where we can assemble together.”

If Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive, Trotman said, he would say all honor and praise should go to God, not himself.

“We thank God for Martin,” he said. “The one prevailing thought was his love for humanity.”

Trotman recited the entirety of King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

As Rogers closed the ceremony, she invited the audience to remember, celebrate and act. She challenged everyone to follow through on their dreams. She also asked people to share an appreciation for history with the youth, something she said many young people lack.

For the rest of the afternoon, residents ate barbecued meat, listened to musicians strum guitars and conversed with one another.

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Photo special to Alachua County Today

This microscope image shows the structure of the fertilizer made from recycled rubber.
ALACHUA – Dan just spent the entire day working on his lawn, laying fertilizer throughout his yard. Then just 15 minutes after he heads inside, the clouds open up and rain begins to pour down. Any chance of that fertilizer being effective would have been washed away, but a new product could change that.

The company is called Eigenchem, and they are working on a new recycled waste product that acts as an efficient fertilizer, as well as an asset to the ground, even after the nutrients are released.

Alexander Oliferenko is the president and chief science officer or EigenChem Technologies Inc., and he and the company have been working in the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator in Alachua for the past three years.

The idea was to set out and conduct research with recycling waste and find a way to reduce the harmful impacts it can have on the environment, Oliferenko said.

“The plan was to liquefy rubber, and we actually discovered, quite accidentally, a very good nitrogen fertilizer,” Oliferenko said. “Our product is approximately 60 percent fertilizer and 40 percent rubber, after the reaction.”

It looks similar to rubber, but has a very different composition to it. It appears to have little holes or pores, and is much softer as well.

The patented product is called NTireForm, which, when broken down stands for nitrogen, tire and formula. It also can be read like entire-form, for a complete formula, Oliferenko said.

It works just like any other fertilizer, until it reacts with water. Standard fertilizers are almost completely washed away when it rains, but NTireForm absorbs the water, swells up and releases the fertilizer over time. It takes roughly two to three months for the process to completely release all the nutrients, Oliferenko said.

“After the nutrients have been dispersed into the ground, the left-over agent is incredibly absorbent,” Oliferenko said. “It is very sponge-like, and can hold almost eight times its own volume in water.”

The company began working on the product several years ago. Six months ago, it received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to test their idea and work on a proof-of-concept. Oliferenko turned in his last report for the grant two weeks ago.

“We had a good proof-of-concept and produced eight batches of material,” Oliferenko said. “We also managed to add potassium to our product, making it an even greater fertilizer than before.”

Now, the project is set to enter phase two. They have applied for another grant, this one for $750,000. For the next two years, EigenChem is going to be working alongside Jason Kruse in the Environment and Horticulture Department at the University of Florida to conduct field trials.

The main facet of phase two is going to be in commercialization and customer identification, Oliferenko said.

“I think the best application for our product in the field trials will be in turf-grass management,” Oliferenko said. “It could be golf courses or sports fields. But, it will also be an excellent product for landscaping and other lawn maintenance.”

EigenChem is a notably successful business out of the Sid Martin Biotech Incubator, said Patti Breedlove, the director of the incubator. The average stay for a company in the program is five years, but it can be more or less.

“A company must apply for admission, and not all are accepted,” Breedlove said. “Each year, they are reviewed to see if they will be renewed for another year, and graduation is customized for each company.”

The incubator provides business guidance, introduces companies to investors and helps with networking the young companies as well, Breedlove said.

The program lowers barriers to entering the market by giving access to affordable lab space and offering leadership throughout, said Nathalie McCrate, a public relations intern for the incubator.

“Any early-stage bioscience company has to overcome daunting challenges, and Sid Martin helps the likes of EigenChem translate scientific discoveries from the lab bench to the marketplace,” McCrate said.

“It truly is a great facility,”Oliferenko said. “We started with just two of us and an idea, and now we have two full-time and two part-time workers on the project.”

Oliferenko started three years ago with a problem he hoped to solve.

“It is always tempting to work on turning waste into a valued product,” he said. “We took that desire and turned it into a great opportunity.”

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CARL MCKINNEY/ Alachua County Today

Mulvey show off his dog, Rudy. Mulvey will use Rudy as a demonstration of the kind of guard dogs he is training.

NEWBERRY – A 3-year-old Doberman has captivated Neil Mulvey’s life for the past four weeks.

A new year means a new addition to his business, the Personal Security Institute, located near Newberry.

Mulvey has spent over two decades in law enforcement and security defense instructing.

After spending time working for the North Miami Police Department and as a defense tactics and hand-to-hand instructor in South Florida, he decided to move the franchise to Alachua in 1988.

Established in Newberry, beginning as the Alachua Karate Center, Mulvey’s Personal Security Institute has resided there ever since.

Since then, he has expanded this business into firearms and concealed weapons training.

Now, an idea for a new service has been incorporated into Mulvey’s business.

The expansion starts with Rudy, the 3-year-old Doberman at his feet.

“People are in a period of feeling insecurity, and home invasions are on the rise,” he said.

Because of this insecurity, Mulvey decided to train dogs in his business, a skill he learned in his career in law enforcement.

In the training of what he calls a “dual personality home protection dog,” Rudy is the first dog to test the waters of the market, who he thinks should be ready and prepared to face home intruders.

“An immediate psychological and physical deterrence from strangers is a biting dog in the house,” Mulvey said.

Rudy will be taught to protect the house from strangers and bite on command.

Mulvey talked about the work he has done on Rudy so far.

“Well, actually, he is working on me,” he said, laughing.

The selection for a dual personality home protection dog is not simple, Mulvey said.

“Some will wash out, and some will make it,” he said. The dogs must have the correct disposition for them to socialize properly, and need a certain degree of intelligence.

“They can’t be a terror,” he said. These dogs, like Rudy, must have an aggressive nature that can be controllable in the home.

“Dogs that aren’t a ninja 100 percent of the time,” Mulvey said.

The hounds will be selected from the breed of shepherds, Dobermans, and Rottweiler’s. The training will take about four to six months.

Rudy’s training started with basic obedience, and then advanced obedience. He will move on to protecting enclosed spaces, protecting the house and then learn attacks.

“You tell him to sick the intruder and he’ll do it,” he said.

Before a dog goes with the owner, there is a transitional period in which the owner and the new, already-trained companion must get accustomed to each other.

“The dogs must be taught how to channel their aggression to certain parameters,” Mulvey said. By getting to know each other, the owner of the dog will be able to call him off a bite.

“Rudy will be my dog,” Mulvey said. He will use him as a demonstration.

Mulvey’s goal is to create interest in an added level of security, as well as a companion.

“That’s Rudy’s job,” he said.

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