Five area arts and culture organizations are scrambling to adapt after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed significant funding in the 2024-25 cycle.
By Susan Smiley-Height susan@magnoliamediaco.com
Among the many enjoyable pursuits in Ocala/Marion County are those that engage participants with organizations such as Arts in Health Ocala Metro, the CF Appleton Museum of Art, Marion Cultural Alliance, Ocala Civic Theatre and Ocala Symphony Orchestra.
These nonprofits offer a wide variety of programming to enhance the area’s quality of life by giving people opportunities to expand their horizons artistically and culturally. The museum, for example, is currently offering summer arts camps for youth ages 5 to 17 that will help them discover the works of renowned artists, experiment with different materials and try new techniques to create their own masterpieces. Arts in Health Ocala Metro is offering “Parlor Picnics” for more mature audiences on July 7 and Aug. 5, respectively, featuring the themes “Catharsis: Music as a Tool For Healing” and “Word Offering: A Foretaste of Seasons Reaching for Spring.”
The five agencies in this article rely on various forms of financial support, which may include private, corporate and governmental income. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently vetoed state arts funding to the tune of $26 million for the 2024-2025 cycle.
According to Jaye Baillie,
Hotel Marion façade restoration is underway
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
The historic Hotel Marion will soon be reflecting improvements to its façade. The restoration of the historic Hotel Marion began in the spring of 2022. The project to renovate the 1927 hotel is being co-managed by local business owner David Midgett and HDG Hotels.
The plan envisions 58 rooms and suites starting on the second floor and the old ballroom will be converted into a grand lobby with a central bar and they will hold multiple dining options.
John Donahue, with Donahue Architecture Inc., from Ocala, is the architect on the project. The Collage Companies out of Lake Mary oversaw the demolition and will manage the project’s construction.
A design firm headquartered in Miami, Lang & Schwander, is doing the interior
Construction to begin for new Aviation, Automotive/ Diesel Mechanics building at MTC
New facility to be complete by September 2025
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
Construction is ready to begin at Marion Technical College for its state-of-the art Aviation and Diesel Mechanic Program building, with an estimated completion in the fall 2025.
For the first time, the Florida Legislature approved a special appropriation of $5.57 million for Marion County last July to construct a building to house the aviation and auto mechanic program to boost trade-centered education.
With the new 15,000-squarefoot center, students will have the opportunity to study automotive general service, automotive collision refinishing, aviation powerplant and airframe mechanics, and diesel systems. The new facility will be on the grounds of the existing campus but stand as a separate building across the parking lot at 1014 SW Seventh Road in Ocala.
“The state needs aviation mechanics, and we definitely need diesel mechanics in this area. So, this was a no-brainer,” MTC Principal Gary Smallridge said.
The Marion County School Board approved the project at its June 25 meeting, with an estimated cost of nearly $4 million for the first phase of the project.
The project will be done in two phases with this first phase consisting of the construction of the metal buildings and complete infrastructure and build-out for the aviation program. The diesel and auto mechanic building interior buildout will come as a second phase, according to the school district.
“We’ve been waiting for this night for a long time at MTC. We’re here
“It was so great to receive the appropriation, and now let’s actually see the shovels in the ground and really make the building come to life. It’s going to be a wonderful opportunity for our community and for future students who will be there ...”
Combined photos: First: Davina and the Vagabonds perform during the kickoff of the Levitt AMP Concert Series on Webb Field at the Martin Luther King Recreation Complex in Ocala on Friday, April 22, 2022. The concert is hosted by the Marion Cultural Alliance in partnership with the City of Ocala. Second: A cast member does a flip during a dress rehearsal of Newsies at the Ocala Civic Theatre in Ocala on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. [Image created by Amy Crescenzo using photos by Bruce Ackerman]
Arts, page A6
See Diesel, page A2
Allison Campbell School Board Member
Diesel mechanics
Continued from page A1
to seek approval to move forward with the actual construction and real groundbreaking on the building that we’ve been talking about for over a year and a half,” Smallridge said at the meeting.
The appropriation from the Legislature was the first of its kind, and involved a number of school district staff working in Tallahassee to meet with legislators. The plan was proposed to Rep. Stan McClain and Sen. Keith Perry to sponsor the allocation for the new facility.
“This is the first appropriation request that Marion County has received from the state Legislature, so it is special, and it is a big deal,” Smallridge said.
The facility will serve about 100 students each year. It will house three classrooms, storage areas, work bays and restrooms. Any leftover money from the allocation will help with the facility’s startup costs, including equipment,
technology, furniture and tools.
“I’m just ecstatic, it’s time,” said School Board Member Allison Campbell. “We’ve been waiting.”
The work will be managed and performed by Tallen Builders LLC. The school district contracts with Tallen Builders annually as its construction manager.
“It was so great to receive
the appropriation, and now let’s actually see the shovels in the ground and really make the building come to life,” Campbell said. “It’s going to be a wonderful opportunity for our community and for future students who will be there and future employees who will be employed all throughout this community and beyond the state.”
“The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.”
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
Publisher Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
Bruce Ackerman Photography Editor bruce@ocalagazette.com
When we started four years ago, our goal was to keep our community connected but also deliver in-depth reporting that the other local news outlets didn’t have the guts to touch. We feel that is the type of information that keeps the power with the people so that they can hold the government accountable.
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Recently, in Chicago, a community trust was set up to support Chicago’s news ecosystem. The initiative, called “Press Forward Chicago” is Chicago’s local affiliate of the national Press Forward movement by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation is taking a leading role in raising unprecedented resources to revitalize local news. The goal was to create a fund with the support of civic-minded individuals, philanthropic leaders, and other foundations interested in fostering stronger, economically stable news organizations that can serve the information needs of their communities and that will inspire more residents to participate in civic life.
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We’d love to see our community do something similar, but until that supportive relief comes, we have to take measures to continue what we are doing.
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Jennifer Hunt Murty Publisher
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Rendering of the new Marion Technical College [Courtesy of Marion County Public Schools]
Continued from page A1 design for the building.
Midgett says the goal is to open in October 2025.
According to history provided by the City of Ocala, citizens of Ocala came together to finance the construction of the Marion Hotel in 1927.
The costs of the initial construction were covered by the sale of stock certificates sold by the Community Hotel Corporation, using the slogan “What Ocala Builds, Builds Ocala”, with all the capital raised in just six weeks. The seven-story Mediterranean Revival hotel was built to accommodate Ocala’s growing tourism and business travelers and remains one of Ocala’s tallest buildings.
Like many historic downtown buildings, the Marion Hotel suffered in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The
building was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and in 1985, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation granted a facade easement to protect the building and ensure it would be preserved and maintained for future generations.
In the 1990s, the building was converted to office condominiums as the Ocala National Bank building and renamed the Marion Sovereign Building in 2007. In 2022, Midgett bought all the units.
As previously reported, Midgett said the goal then was to fully restore the exterior to its original condition.
“All of that restoration will be to historic standards promulgated by the federal government, since the building is on the National Register,’’ he said, adding, “and we will want to qualify for federal historic tax credits.”
Photos By Bruce Ackerman Ocala Gazette
Jameson Deneus of Onesite Safety fastens an anchor for scaffolding inside a window ledge on the second floor of the historic Hotel Marion that is being renovated on North Magnolia Avenue in Ocala on Thursday, June 20, 2024.
A stairway is shown in the historic Hotel Marion.
Elevators are shown in the lobby.
An old painting of the Hotel Marion is shown in the lobby.
With the Marion County Judicial Center shown in the background, construction workers with BrandSafeway set up scaffolding just off the roof.
Project Mananger Barry Eady of The Collage Companies describes part of the restoration process on the roof.
Project Mananger Barry Eady of The Collage Companies describes part of the restoration process on the roof.
First-time candidate Steve Shives vies for District 27 Florida House seat
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
Political newcomer Steve Shives will face two opponents in the Aug. 20 Republican primary election, with the winner moving on to challenge Democrat Andy Ferrari in November for the Florida House District 27 seat.
The uncle of District 24 State Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, Shives seeks to hold office for the first time and said his lack of political experience would be a benefit to those he hopes to represent. He prides himself on being a “regular guy,” as touted on his campaign signs and T-shirts, rather than a career politician.
If elected, Shives said he “will wage war on the woke left extremism” by supporting Second Amendment rights, parental rights in families, supporting religious freedom, lowering inflation and insurance rates.
Shives, 58, grew up in Marion County and attended North Marion High School. From 1996 to 2007, he lived in South Carolina where he served as the pastor of Lighthouse Christian Ministries. Shives is now the owner of Runaway Mini-Campers in Summerfield, an endeavor founded in 2012 by him and his father-in-law Robert Lane.
What began as a backyard business started with $10,000 has grown into a multimilliondollar business, Shives said, as Runaway Campers was expanded into a network of camper dealers in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Arizona.
A businessman himself, Shives said protecting small-business owners is one of his biggest motivations for running for office.
“A big reason for me to run is to fight for the American dream, to keep our country free and to help legislation in regard to business regulations that helps small businesses across the state,” he said.
Shives also seeks to protect his constituents’ Second Amendment rights, promote gun safety and legal ownership.
“I don’t just like my guns, I love the freedom that we have to have as much firepower as we need to defend myself, my family and my friends against any enemy that poses a threat,” Shives said in a campaign video.
State House District 27 encompasses parts of Marion, Lake and Volusia counties. The seat has been occupied since 2016 by Republican Stan McClain, who has reached his term limit.
Shives is opposed by Richard Gentry and Beckie Sirolli in the GOP primary election. The winner will take on Ferrari and Libertarian Party candidate Dennis Simpson in the Nov. 5 general election.
Members of the Florida House of Representatives earn a starting salary
of $29,697 a year, with the potential for annual increases.
Shives’ nephew Chamberlin, who is running for reelection in the neighboring District 24, endorsed Shives on June 3, but the pair made no mention of the familial relationship.
“I would hope that it’s a plus,” Shives said. “We’re two separate people. We have completely different perspectives on a lot of things, so I think the two of us are probably going to bring a different balance to decision making.”
He likened the political and familial relationship to that of former State Rep. Charlie Stone and his wife, Michelle Stone, a Marion County commissioner, both of whom served in office at the same time. Unlike the Stones, however, Shives and Chamberlin would be serving in the same governmental body and voting on the same items.
“(Chamberlin’s) experiences and everything have been completely different from mine, as far as work-related backgrounds,” Shives said. “His perspective is going to be a little different in the way he sees things just because of a decade of different experiences.”
Shives’ campaign has been financially supported by the Friends of Ryan Chamberlin political action committee, in addition to Chamberlin’s relatives Eitan Chamberlin and Roxene Chamberlin.
He has also received donations from the FTBA Transportation PAC and the CAR PAC. The CAR PAC is a committee affiliated with the Florida Automobile Dealers Association.
Shives has reported over $150,000 in campaign contributions, $127,000 of which he put up himself. “The loans to my campaign account come directly from my own funds,” he said.
In May 2023, Shives loaned $52,000 to his campaign. In the October through December filing period, he loaned himself another $75,000.
In Shives’ financial disclosure form, he listed his net worth as over $11 million, with Runaway Campers valued at $8.1 million. In 2023, he made $72,000 in income from S&S Enterprises, the name in which he operates under for Runaway Campers, in addition to $14,582 from Charles Schwab Investments and $2,675 in interest from Wells Fargo Bank Savings.
Shives claims nearly $1.3 million in assets for eight parcels of land; $577,875 in assets in household, business, savings and checking accounts; over $301,876 in stock assets; and the $8.1 million-dollar business of Runaway Campers. He listed no financial liabilities.
Shives attributed the success of his business to his ability to contribute such a large amount of money to his run for the State House of Representatives. “I own a multimillion-dollar company,” he said, when asked how he acquired the funds.
While Shives has been working under the name of ‘Runaway’ since the business’ founding in 2012, the business has only officially been a corporation since January 2024. The company being made a corporation was timed strategically while Shives ran his campaign, to expand the leadership of the company in the event that he is elected to the Florida House.
“With running for office, we’ve actually worked over the last several years to transition things so that my grown children can run the business,” Shives said. “That’s not something that they can do with a sole proprietorship.”
Through Shives’ business, he employs 12 to 15 people depending on the season. He manages the budget of the company, which averages from $4 million to $5 million annually, he said.
The “Gazette” gave Shives an opportunity to offer context to his criminal record, as he was arrested for petty larceny in 2007 while living in South Carolina.
After his vehicle broke down in York County, South Carolina, Shives took parts from a nearby car and left a note for its owner with his phone number saying he would pay them back.
Former police lieutenant running for District 27 Florida House seat
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
Former police Lt. Beckie Sirolli will face two opponents in the Republican primary election in August in an attempt to win the District 27 seat of the Florida House of Representatives.
Sirolli describes herself as a Conservative Christian and grassroots Republican putting “America First.”
She is opposed by Richard Gentry and Steve Shives in the GOP primary. The winner will take on Democrat Andy Ferrari and Libertarian Party candidate Dennis Simpson in the Nov. 5 general election.
Sirolli is the only candidate for District 27 with experience in law enforcement, and worked for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Leesburg Police Department and Fruitland Park Police Department during her 19-year career.
In 2014, Sirolli became the first female to earn the ranking of lieutenant in the Fruitland Park Police Department.
our girls and boys, first, about responsibility and morality. Abortion is not birth control.”
Given her experience in law enforcement, Sirolli strongly opposes restrictions on firearms but believes the right steps must be taken to ensure that people who own guns are trained on how to use them and that they don’t fall into the wrong hands.
“I spent a big part of my adult life protecting and serving, and I’ve got so much left in me,” Sirolli said.
State House District 27 encompasses parts of Marion, Lake and Volusia counties. The seat has been held since 2016 by Republican Stan McClain, who has reached his term limit.
Members of the Florida House of Representatives earn a starting salary of $29,697 a year, with the potential for annual increases.
Sirolli is a graduate of Vanguard High School, attended the Florida Law Enforcement Academy at the College of Central Florida and earned an associate degree from Columbia College.
While with the Marion County Sherriff’s Office from 1996 to 2004, Sirolli said she worked in the medical division of the Marion County Jail, the juvenile division and the patrol division. She resigned from the department in 2004 shortly after then-Sheriff Ed Dean was reelected. She then served on patrol for the Leesburg Police Department from 2005 until 2009, and then served at the Fruitland Park Police Department until her 2015 retirement.
Law enforcement runs in the Sirolli family—her husband, Carmen Sirolli, is a former captain of the Ocala Police Department, who retired in 2019 after 30 years of service to the department. The pair have four children, three of whom are also in law enforcement. Their daughter works at a correctional facility in New York, one of their sons works as an OPD sergeant, and another works as a Sumter County Sheriff’s Office sergeant.
Sirolli has taken a grassroots approach to her campaign, spending the past few months going door to door to speak with voters and inform them of her campaign.
“I know it’s hard, I know it’s hot out. I know it takes a lot of time,but just meeting people and letting them know that I want to represent them is very important to me, because how can I represent people if I don’t know what their biggest issues are?” Sirolli said.
As a Christian, Sirolli says she’s pro-life, but believes that there may be an exception when a woman’s life is in danger and every other option to save the baby’s life has been exhausted.
“I’m more opposed to abortions as birth control, that they’re not seeing the sanctity of how precious life is, when nobody’s advocating for that unborn child,” she said. “We must teach
“I’m for fewer regulations,” she said. “Guns are dangerous in the wrong hands, but if we restrict guns from law abiding citizens, then they’re going to be sitting ducks for the criminals who are going to have guns no matter what.”
She added that she believes teachers should be armed and trained to use a firearm to defend against school shootings.
If elected, Sirolli intends to focus on campaign finance reform by mitigating the influence that special interest groups have on legislators.
“When you pour millions and millions and millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of the elected officials, very soon, laws can pass that would benefit those special interest groups like Florida Power & Light,” Sirolli said.
Because of this, Sirolli said she tried not to garner donations from special interest groups or political action committees but from her own funds and donations from family and friends.
She has raised $26,230 for her campaign, $6,000 of which came from self-funded loans and $7,985 of which came from inkind contributions. Sirolli said the money she has contributed from her own campaign came from savings and her and her husband’s retirement funds.
On her financial disclosure form, Sirolli’s net worth was listed as $918,833. In assets, Sirolli listed $614,567 in retirement funds from her husband, $9,712 in savings, and her Belleview home valued at just under $500,000. Her liabilities include a mortgage of $134,154 and auto loan of $6,150.
Thus far, Sirolli has been endorsed by the Lake County Election Integrity and Voter Protection Coalition, Lake 4 America, and Richard Mack, a former Graham County, Arizona sheriff and the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Police Officers Association.
Since her retirement from the Fruitland Park Police Department in 2015, Sirolli has owned a storefront in Belleview, volunteered with voting and elections, and was the caretaker for her mother for several years before she passed.
Through the hot months of summer until the August primary election, Sirolli said she intends to keep knocking on doors and meeting voters to share her story and garner support.
“It’s a teamwork thing,” she said. “It’s listening to the people and working with them, and then having a team in Tallahassee to be able to get things done.”
Republican Steve Shives is running for the District 27 seat of the Florida House of Representatives [Supplied]
Beckie Sirolli [Supplied]
Shives.
Gentry seeks District 27 seat in the Florida House
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
After 50 years of practicing law and lobbying throughout the state of Florida, Richard L. Gentry has now set his sights on the Florida House of Representatives District 27 seat. He will take on Steve Shives and Becky Sirolli in the Aug. 20 Republican primary election.
The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Andy Ferrari in the Nov. 5 general election. The District 27 seat is open because incumbent Republican Stan McClain is termed out of the State House and is now running for Marion County’s sole State Senate seat.
House District 27 encompasses parts of Lake, Marion, and Volusia counties. Gentry has been endorsed by all three sheriffs of those counties and each of the fire unions in those counties.
When Gentry began practicing law, he worked for the state of Florida as a staff attorney and a private law firm for approximately six years before going to work for the Florida Home Builders Association, where he would ultimately spend almost half his career either as legislative counsel or general counsel.
“That’s when I started getting into lobbying,” he explained.
During that time, there were legislative efforts to put guardrails on growth by requiring local governments to have their comprehensive land plans approved by the state. Gentry said he was instrumental in representing the FHBA builders when the Growth Management Act of 1985 was being shaped.
“The two leading groups that lobbied that issue, from the standpoint of business, were the Florida Chamber (of Commerce) and the Florida Home Builders (Association). We were the two big groups that were really on that,” he recalled.
“We knew it was going to pass, so what we were doing was trying to make it as palatable as possible. The (Florida) League of Cities was also involved heavily in it, and we were all worried about what it was going to do to our interests,” he said
Gentry said the Growth Management Act changed everything related to development.
“Until the Act was done away with, there was a bill nearly every year seeking to clean up what had been done with shortsightedness,” he said. “It was a huge, huge, huge switch for Florida. It turned everything up on its head. The idea of infrastructure and concurrency were big deals back then. They still are big deals.”
Gentry said the Act put too many fingers in the pie, granting rights to environmental groups including the Audubon Society and the 1000 Friends of Florida to oppose building permits.
“Concurrency is a two-edged sword,’’ he said. “If you had absolute concurrency, nothing would ever be built that didn’t already have infrastructure. What that really cuts out is your big building projects mostly done by multistate builders and developers.”
Gentry acknowledged there was a delayed response in local government and development settling on impact fees at permitting, absorbing the community roads after platting, lift stations for sewer, but reaping the benefit of a future tax base took time.
“Growth doesn’t initially pay for itself,’’ he said. “It amortizes out.”
Gentry explained a neighborhood may be approved for construction, and impact fees are paid as each house is permitted, but the necessary road infrastructure can’t be built until enough of those fees are collected.
The best thing local governments can do right now as it relates to concurrency, he said, is to make sure “infrastructure planning matches up with their future land use plan.”
“There’s nothing truer in the building and development world than if you build it, they will come. You know, roads, water and sewer are the biggest attractor of development that I know of,” he said.
Gentry told the “Gazette” he supported local governments controlling development decisions, and he worked hard to get them the funds they needed for infrastructure.
After working for the FHBA, Gentry
started his own private practice “doing legislative consulting in land use, local government, utilities, transportation and insurance fields” for 16 years. One of his clients for 16 years was Escambia County, and every year he was lobbying for that community to get money for water and sewer infrastructure and found that “often times, Legislatures want to see matching [local] dollars for it.”
In 2021, Gentry was appointed by the Florida Legislature to represent the public through the Office of the Public Counsel, where he supervised a team that included six lawyers and four accountants. At the time, Gentry was thinking of slowing down his lobbying practice and thought serving in this role would facilitate that. What he didn’t anticipate when he accepted the position was that Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy and Tampa Electric Co. (TECO) would all be asking for a rate hike at the same time.
Gentry described the legal efforts on the rate increase cases as “intense,” involving months of work all over the state seeking community feedback and taking depositions of the companies before the cases could be heard by the Public Service Commission.
In those cases, the Public Service Commission approved the rate hikes. Gentry attributed the approval to overwhelming public support for energy infrastructure that protected the environment—yet it came at a cost.
Gentry said the utilities were responding to federal regulations encouraging moving away from fossil fuels. “In Florida at that time, 80% of our total power generation was done with natural gas, which is considered a fossil fuel.”
Gentry told the “Gazette” that FPL’s rate increase totaled over $1 billion but was spread out over four years. The revenue generated through the first two years of that rate increase was to be used for hardening infrastructure, including power lines, “because they were getting killed every time a hurricane (came) through.”
Gentry left the Office of the Public Counsel after those cases were complete in 2022, retiring to his home in Astor on the St. Johns River. He and his wife built the home 12 years ago in sight of his halfbrother’s home across the river.
Gentry has also maintained a home in Tallahassee that he and his wife use when visiting their children and grandchildren who live in North Florida and Georgia.
According to campaign financial disclosures, his net worth as of June 3 was $4,299,073. Approximately $1 million of that net worth is wrapped up in three real estate properties. The rest is in stocks, savings, and mutual funds.
Gentry reports no liabilities of more than $1,000 and approximately $60,000 in income from Social Security, Florida Retirement System and collected rent on one of his properties.
Gentry reports $136,341 in campaign contributions. Notable contributions are reported from many organizations representing industry interests in utilities, building, and insurance around the state.
Gentry has been married to Carol Gentry for 18 years and has two children and two grandchildren.
On the topic of abortion, he told the “Gazette” his religious beliefs lead him toward pro-life policies that contain exceptions for life of the mother, rape or incest. He said he knew women who had abortions and who later regretted their decision.
“As a Christian, I just don’t believe in abortion,’’ he said. “My position now is, just say no.”
Gentry said he supports Second Amendment rights to carry a gun but thinks there should be restrictions on where you can take them, for example, to schools.
“I have a concealed carry permit; I had to go through training and learn the rules,’’ he said. “I think that training has served me well.” Gentry noted he sees the logic of restricting people who are guilty of criminal activity from owning a firearm.
Marion County to consider ordinance for protections for “health freedom”
Offers protection against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, masks
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
Marion County is seeking to enact protections against discrimination based on healthcare mandates such as COVID-19 vaccines and face masks.
The ordinance will be known as the Marion County Health Freedom Bill of Rights. A public hearing will take place on July 16 to consider the ordinance.
If passed, “Marion County will not require any person to provide any documentation certifying vaccination with any vaccine, post-infection recovery from COVID-19, or require a COVID-19 test to gain access to, entry upon, or obtain service from the Marion County operations, or as a condition of contracting, hiring, of continued employment,” according to the proposed ordinance.
The move is being made to comply with state law, after the May 2023 passing of Senate Bill
252, which prohibits discrimination based on healthcare choices and the enforcement of international health organization guidelines. It was codified into the Florida Patient’s Bill of Rights.
“Marion County shall complement the enforcement of Florida Statutes…by establishing a designated staff contact under the assistant county administrator for administration, who shall receive complaints from Marion County residents regarding alleged violations of those statutes and forward those complaints with supporting documentation to the State of Florida Department of Legal Affairs,” according to the proposed ordinance.
The public hearing to consider the ordinance will take place at 10 a.m. or soon after on July 16, during the Marion County Commission meeting. Meetings are held in the McPherson Governmental Campus Auditorium, at 601 SE 25th Ave., Ocala. Citizens may attend and provide feedback or opinion on the ordinance.
File photo: A member of the Region 3 Incident Management Team draws the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management COVID-19 drive-thru vaccination site at the Florida Agriculture Center and Horse Park south of Ocala on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.
Richard L. Gentry [Supplied]
Arts funding
Continued from page A1
executive director of the alliance, “This unexpected cut has left organizations scrambling to find alternative funding sources. Five arts organizations in Marion County alone are facing a combined loss of $209,244, a significant reduction from their original funding requests of $445,200. This cut comes on the heels of an already reduced budget from Senate and House negotiators, who had slashed the funds recommended by the Florida Division of Arts and Culture by 47%. As a result of the veto, zero support will be received locally and to 620 other arts organizations throughout Florida.”
And, Baillie adds, “It’s important to note that while the direct impact to the organizations is a reduction of $209,244 in grant funding, we are a part of a sector that generates billions of dollars for Florida in economic activity, millions in local and state revenue, job support and creation, and is a major draw for tourists. The latest American for the Arts AEPVI Study revealed that our local creative industry generated $53.2 million in economic activity, supported 800 jobs providing $21.2 million in personal income to residents, and generated $7.8 million in local, state, and federal governments.”
We did a Q&A with each organization and asked them to help us understand how this will impact them and local audiences, and to speak about the future.
ARTS IN HEALTH OCALA METRO, Patricia Tomlinson, Executive Director, aihocala.org
How much did your organization request in the 2024-25 cycle?
$12,700
How will you work to offset/make up this loss of revenue?
We have upcoming fundraisers and our Give4Marion campaign planned in addition to other grants we’ve applied for.
How does your organization impact the local community?
In a little over a year of programming, AIHOM has served over 3,800 people in the Ocala/Marion County community who have reported increases in their quality of life, confidence, and physical and social engagement due to our arts workshops.
How can people help your organization during this challenging time?
The community can best support us by attending our fundraisers, giving individually, and donating generously to AIHOM during Give4Marion on Sept. 17 and 18.
What are your long-range plans for sustaining your organization/programming?
Arts in Health Ocala Metro’s long-range plan is to secure local business partnerships, corporate sponsorship, and foundational support to continue our mission in Ocala/Marion County.
CF APPLETON MUSEUM OF ART, Jason Steuber, Director; Victoria Billig, Assistant Director; appletonmuseum.org
How much did your organization request in the 2024-25 cycle?
$150,000 (standard amount set for Level 3 museums as prescribed by the State)
How will you work to offset/make up this loss of revenue?
Funds awarded by the Florida Division of Arts & Culture typically supplement the museum’s marketing efforts, as well as special public programming. Through strategic and focused advertising, the museum can better reach expanded audiences across the College of Central Florida’s tri-county service area of Marion, Citrus and Levy counties, and beyond. These efforts create a greater awareness of exhibitions, events and programming, as well as increase general attendance and museum membership. With no General Program Support grant funds for the 2024-2025 funding year, the museum will rely more heavily upon: free or lowcost resources to share information with members and the public; an increased presence at community events to conduct important person-to-person marketing; partnerships with tri-county organizations; and sponsorships from tri-county individuals, organizations and businesses.
How does your organization impact the local community?
With a collection of more than 24,000 works, the Appleton is a key part of the region’s cultural picture, and the only art museum in the tri-county service area of Marion, Citrus and Levy counties. The museum is a resource for culture and arts education through exhibitions, educational programs and studio art classes. Annually, about 50,000 visitors from the community (and all over the world) come to the museum. Since opening the doors in 1987, we have welcomed over 1.3 million visitors. Off-site, the museum serves 30,000 people of all ages each year through a robust schedule of outreach programs. As a department and campus of the College of Central Florida, the museum is a learning space for students in higher education with ongoing collaborations with CF faculty and students. The museum provides a professional and stimulating setting for interns from schools near and far, across a variety of degree programs, like business, public safety, and art history. The museum supports local businesses and organizations throughout the community by partnering on special events and member incentives. How can people help your organization during this challenging time?
The best way for individuals and businesses to support the Appleton Museum of Art is to visit the museum,
and bring friends, family and colleagues. Take in the exhibitions, visit the Artspace, and shop in the Appleton Store. Sharing your passion for the arts will help cultivate future members and supporters of the museum and the overall cultural picture in our region. For those who are members, renewing your membership is a great way to support the museum. For those who aren’t members yet, the museum has a lot to offer and there are a variety of membership levels to fit any household. If you can’t join, enjoy the museum on a free-admission day. Your visit counts! Our admission numbers directly reflect the community’s support. What are your long-range plans for sustaining your organization/programming?
The Appleton is fortunate in that operations and programming are sustainable through the College of Central Florida, revenue streams such as admissions, rentals, memberships, cash donations, etc. and endowments managed by the College of Central Florida Foundation. Competitive grant awards are unpredictable and change every year—something the museum does keep in mind when planning the budget and scheduling programs. With that being said, the community’s continued support of the museum, through attendance, memberships, class enrollments, event participation and even social media interactions, is critical to our success.
MARION CULTURAL ALLIANCE, Jaye Baillie, Executive Director, mcaocala.org
How much did your organization request in the 2024-25 cycle?
$11,000
How will you work to offset/make up this loss of revenue?
As a designated local arts agency for the city of Ocala and Marion County, we realize this is an unexpected and significant financial decrease in the budgets of the Ocala Civic Theatre, Ocala Symphony Orchestra, Appleton Museum of Art, and Arts in Health Ocala Metro. MCA hosted a meeting of the art leaders of these organizations on June 28 to discuss strategies to fill the funding gap, to engage our local policy makers, and to work with the Florida Arts Alliance to ensure that funding for the arts is restored in the 2025 session for 2025-2026 grants.
As for MCA, we will continue to connect its mission, to champion arts, artists, and arts organizations; to convene people to appreciate art, learn about art, and build support for art, and to create a thriving arts presence in Ocala/Marion County, with potential donors, businesses, and individuals to help offset our funding gap.
How does your organization impact the local community?
In more than two decades of serving as our community’s arts alliance, MCA has become a leader in growing the Ocala Metro’s reputation as a vibrant arts community and is recognized as helping to grow and support the arts and cultural sector. As a local arts agency, MCA promotes, supports, and develops the arts to ensure a vital presence for the arts in the Ocala Metro, specifically:
* Is a funder for artists and arts organizations. Since its inception, nearly $2.5 million has been awarded in grants, scholarships, artists’ stipends, art sale commissions and more
* Provides workshops, programs, and learning opportunities for artists and public
* Provides technical support to local arts organizations, cultural organizations, and artists
* Advocates for support of the arts including funding opportunities locally and at the state level
* Hosts and maintains the online community cultural engagement platform-The Ocala Metro Art Scene
* Partners with the city of Ocala to host the Levitt AMP Ocala Music Series (now in its eight year, and the first one funded in the state)
* Works with the city in the implementation of the 10 Year Arts & Cultural Plan, including coordinating partners for place-making redevelopment opportunities using best practices
* A key role for MCA is to serve as the chief arts advocate for our community. MCA was a major funder for the city of Ocala’s first arts 10-year master plan, and an active participant in the Americans for the Arts Economic Prosperity V and VI, and convenes art leaders to discuss issues and opportunities, presents ‘state of the arts’ annual updates, and seeks state and federal funding opportunities for arts organizations and artists.
How can people help your organization during this challenging time?
We are asking the community to learn more about the impact of funding cuts and to seek ways to support the affected organizations through donations, season subscriptions, memberships, planned gifts, corporate sponsorships, the annual Give4Marion Campaign, volunteering, and by attending the organizations’ events. As for MCA, we have opportunities for volunteers, arts patrons, and business pARTners. MCA has recently launched a tiered based membership program that is equity based, meaning a donor or member can choose their level of support based on their ability to give. Giving at a higher level helps MCA provide a lower entry membership fee to those who need it. Our desire is to not have any barriers to participation in our growing arts community. No matter the tier selected, everyone receives the same benefits.
What are your long-range plans for sustaining your organization/programming?
Recognizing the economic impact on our county, the organizations impacted by the governor’s veto will
begin discussions with our local policy makers to help ensure the arts thrive and continue to contribute to our local economy and add to our quality of life and sense of place. Additionally, the impact of arts education cannot be understated. Looking at our peer counties throughout the state, there are many examples of support for the arts received through tourism dollars and other sources.
How much did your organization request in the 2024-25 cycle?
$107,500
How will you work to offset/make up this loss of revenue?
We will work to increase revenue and appeal to donors. I would also love to hear from the city/county, local organizations like the CEP (Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership) and Ocala/Marion County Visitor and Convention Bureau regarding how they can help by better promoting the arts as a critical economic driver and employers in our region—we are businesses; we employ people. It is incumbent on our leadership to clearly communicate not merely the need for the arts, but the value they add to our region’s economy, as well as how they fill gaps in our education system, which also lacks adequate arts funding.
How does your organization impact the local community?
We provide jobs for 21 people. We provide year-round education to children, adults and life-long learners. We create opportunities for volunteers to earn community service hours and to learn and interact with their fellow citizens. We provide scholarships. And we provide a place for the community to come together and to be entertained; start conversations and build relationships. We are a source of civic pride. I think the community understands our value, given our 74-year history. In a county with more than 400,000 citizens and a network of cultural institutions that together serve well over half of those citizens, annually, my concern is whether our leaders are really listening, not only to us, but to the taxpayers we are proud and grateful to serve.
How can people help your organization during this challenging time?
We need more dollars. We welcome more volunteers. And we need qualified board members who are passionate about the value of our institution and the need for the arts in our community.
What are your long-range plans for sustaining your organization/programming?
Diversification. On every level. We are seeing more people return and more new faces than ever at our auditions, in our classes and attending our shows. We are bringing more variety to our programming. And, more than ever, we are working to partner with our fellow community leaders to feed and grow our cultural landscape. I am so proud be a part of a community that boasts excellent leadership in the arts.
We have also implemented new technologies that allow us to save money while increasing the production value of our shows. We are streamlining our operations and making our spaces more appealing and more functional to welcome the communities and local businesses and organizations who need space.
How much did your organization request in the 2024-25 cycle?
We were eligible to receive up to $150,000 if the Division of Arts and Culture’s total request would have been funded. The legislature has cut funding for the general support grants the last two years, and this year recommended it be funded at 47.7%. If the governor would not have vetoed their recommendation, we would have received $71,642.
How will you work to offset/make up this loss of revenue?
The veto occurred just days before our board was set to approve the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget. We are now actively looking at ways we can offset this loss of revenue and adjust for the coming year. As with most performing arts organizations, ticket sales provide only a fraction of the funding required for operations. With operating costs increasing during this period of inflation, we will be reevaluating our pricing structure to ensure we remain competitively priced while not compromising the accessibility of our venues. The variety of local, accessible programming as well as the scholarships we provide to students looking to pursue their love of music will not be possible without additional philanthropic support in the year ahead.
How does your organization impact the local community?
The Ocala Symphony Orchestra operates the Reilly Arts Center, the Marion Theatre and the Community Music Conservatory. We also impact our community economically by employing more than 30 full and part time staff members in operations, production, artistic, education, and administrative positions as well as contracting with more than 100 musicians and independent artists each year from our community and beyond. We book more than 150 room nights each season for musicians and artists and a significant portion of our nearly 70,000 annual guests report patronizing local restaurants, lodging, and entertainment options before and after our events.
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We not only provide quality, local entertainment opportunities but we teach and inspire the next generation of musicians through our music school, community outreach activities, and summer camps. Our venues and professional staff also help host a variety of corporate, government, youth, nonprofit and community events, providing an important community asset to Marion County. How can people help your organization during this challenging time?
Already, we are indebted to the generosity of our donors, corporate sponsors, and loyal patrons who have allowed the Ocala Symphony Orchestra to serve the community for nearly 50 years. To ask more of
our community at this time is a challenge we didn’t anticipate facing. We are encouraging our supporters to give a gift if they can, become a subscriber of the Ocala Symphony, support the Reilly as a patron, and help advocate for the arts at the local and state level. What are your long-range plans for sustaining your organization/programming?
We will need to increase our outreach efforts to attract private donations, corporate sponsorships, and grants. A sustainable nonprofit organization must be supported through a variety of funding vehicles. The loss of this important grant will also limit just how much we can respond to community needs or expand our programming to serve new audiences. We can learn
Building bridges
A new
program
a lot from how other communities support arts and culture organizations. We have been actively reaching out to other performing arts centers across the state to learn more about their local grants programs and what our community can learn from those models.
To learn more about the 2024-25 state budget approvals and vetoes, go to flgov.com/2024/06/12/governor-rondesantis-signs-fiscal-year-2024-2025-focuson-floridas-future-budget
aims to connect youth with the military personnel, monuments and
historical
By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
The first ever Kids Day was held June 29 at the OcalaMarion County Veterans Memorial Park. Although hot temperatures and unsettled weather damped attendance, nine volunteers readied games and made notes to prepare for the next session. Volunteers also manned the 2,700-square-foot exhibit center located in a building adjacent to the park.
The Ocala Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Ocala Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution have partnered with Jeffrey Askew, director of Marion County Veteran Services and overseer of the park, to provide the program for youth, which combines activities such as corn hole playing with tours of the
artifacts connected to the veterans’ memorial park in Ocala.
park monuments and the adjacent Veterans Exhibit Center, where guides cover artifacts from America’s military dating back to World War I.
DAR volunteer Robbyn Mast feels the program is timely.
“We need (youth programs) more than ever now,” Mast said. She feels the country may be losing a “whole generation” as far as learning the history of America and its meaning.
Stephanie Price, a DAR volunteer, said programs like Kids Day are a “great way to get children involved and learn history.”
Kathy Hines, also a DAR volunteer, said the program additionally honors veterans.
The Kids Day program, which is open to the public, is aimed at teaching youth American history and instilling a “deeper appreciation for the sacrifices” made by military veterans,
Shives
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When the owner reached out to Shives and asked for $400 for the parts, Shives refused and was arrested on a charge of petty larceny, according to the York County Sherriff’s Office incident report. Shives was sentenced to 30 days in jail and paid $465 in fines, according to the York County 16th Judicial Circuit Public Index.
according to Renee Coventry, regent of the Ocala Chapter of the DAR.
A centerpiece of the program is the “OcalaMarion County Veterans Memorial Park Activity Book,” which has activities for youth ages 2 to 18 based on the park and exhibit center.
A scavenger hunt trivia game in the book includes numerous questions based on monuments seen in the park, such as the dates of Desert Shield/Desert Storm and exhibits in the center like questions about World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and 9/11 to the present and the symbolic POW table.
The book also explains a veteran is “someone who serves their nation through military service” and when a service member “makes the ultimate sacrifice” and gives their life for the country, their family is considered a Gold Star Family.
The activity book was printed in a DAR project with a $2,500 budget and 500 books were published, Coventry stated. About 25 books were distributed to home schooled children.
The books are available through the park office and are part of the Kids Day program and events like a Boston Tea Party gathering last fall, which involved about 30 youth.
Coventry’s sons, Samuel, 18, and Joshua, 21, were on hand for the program. Samuel is the CAR president and Joshua is the organization’s historian.
DAR member Emily Rassam and her husband Abe Rassam brought their children Richard,11 months, Audrey, 2, and Henry, 3, to enjoy the Kids Day activities.
“(Our children) are very excited about a playground planned for the park (and want to) get their friends
and play,” Emily Rassam said.
The six-plus acre Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park offers 5,000 memorial bricks, 200 benches and the Court of Flags, Logan Catalanotto’s Eagle Scout project, with a flag flying for each of the 50 states.
Holly Denton, a DAR volunteer, said she had left the area for a time and was “impressed” by enhancements to the park.
The park’s Medal of Honor Plaza includes a monument to Marion County resident Hammett Bowen who gave his life to protect his comrades from an incoming hand grenade during the Vietnam War.
A monument sponsored by AMVETS Fort McCoy Post 19 honors service members from Marion County who died since January 2001: Chad W. Lake, Robert
Blair, Daniel A. Suplee, William Crow Jr., Jason Koutroubas, Patrick Malone, Gary Gooch Jr., Markie T. Sims, Roberto Skelt and Jalisha V. Tucker.
Askew said the Kids Day program is an example of “accessibility” to the park.
Meanwhile, the park support organization, Friends of Marion County’s Veterans Park Foundation, continues programs to preserve the park, add monuments and educate visitors.
FMCVPF Chairman Ron Oppinger said the foundation recently provided an educational tour of the park for about 25 youth being mentored by the local outreach, Kut Different.
To learn more about the park, go to marionfl.org and marionvetpark.com
“It was more of a misunderstanding than anything. The person chose to take it to court, and it was all resolved,” he said.
“It was a disagreement between the two of us and he blew it out of proportion.”
During the course of his campaign, Shives said he has traveled across Marion, Lake and Volusia counties developing relationships with voters and local officials.
In addition to the endorsement from Chamberlin, Shives has received
endorsements from Lake County Commissioner Josh Blake, Debary City Councilmember William Sell, and Volusia County School Board candidate Kim Short. He has also been endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida, Bikers for Trump and Conservative Watch USA.
“Now, more than ever, we must join together as a state and nation to fight for our conservative values and the re-
election of President Donald Trump,” said Shives on Facebook when announcing the endorsement from Bikers for Trump.
Shives said he is traveling around the district introducing himself to voters.
“I’m telling (the voters) I’m just a regular guy,” Shives said. “I’m not going to Tallahassee to do favors for my friends. I’m going to Tallahassee to represent the common people of Florida.”
Renee Coventry, regent of the Ocala Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, displays a dog tag on June 29, 2024, at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park that can be earned by youth in programs offered by the DAR in partnership with the park. [Andy Fillmore]
An activity book published by the Ocala chapter of the DAR is used in youth programs provided in partnership with the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park. [Andy Fillmore]
OCALA POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES PROMOTIONS
Ocala Police Department
Chief Mike Balken has announced several promotions within the agency.
• Casey Eades has been promoted from lieutenant to captain. She has been serving OPD since 2007.
• Charles Hunt has been promoted from sergeant to lieutenant. He has been serving OPD since 2010.
Mary Williams has been promoted from detective to sergeant. She has been serving OPD since 2003.
• David Moorehead has been promoted from corporal to sergeant. He has been serving OPD since 2013.
• Ryan Park has been promoted from detective to sergeant. He has been serving OPD since 2019.
STATE REP. MCCLAIN RECOGNIZED FOR SERVICE
Florida State Representative Stan McClain was presented with the legislative excellence award on June 26. The award was bestowed by the Florida Association of Counties at its 2024 annual conference and educational exhibition.
McClain, the representative for District 27 of the Florida House of Representatives, has served in the role since his election in 2016. Stan is nearing the end of his final term in office. District 27 encompasses parts of Marion, Lake and Volusia Counties.
COUNTY DEPARTMENT EARNS AWARD FOR BEST PRACTICES
The Marion County Community Services Department was honored with an award for best practices for the Beacon Point Project in partnership with the Marion County Hospital District.
The award was bestowed by the Florida Association of Counties at its 2024 annual conference and educational exhibition.
“This great project has helped to provide comprehensive behavior and substance abuse treatment resources to our community,” according to Marion County.
State
DESANTIS NET WORTH TOPS $1.77M
By Florida News Service
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ net worth increased by more than 50 percent last year as he embarked on a presidential run and boosted his bank account with book sales.
DeSantis had a net worth of $1,773,157 as of Dec. 31, up from $1,174,331 a year earlier, according to a financial-disclosure report posted Friday on the Florida Commission on Ethics website. DeSantis’ finances have received a jolt from his 2023 book, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.”
DeSantis received $625,500 in 2023 from HarperCollins Publishers LLC, which paid him $1.25 million in 2022. He also received $160,000 in 2023 from Premiere Collectibles Books, which offers signed copies of the book for $35 or in a “deluxe collector set” for $50. The book debuted as a best seller on The New York Times and Amazon lists when released in February 2023. State
elected officials each year are required to file financial-disclosure forms by July 1 that list income, assets and liabilities. Generally, the forms show financial information from the end of the previous year. Before the book deal, DeSantis posted a net worth of $318,986 in 2021. In addition to income from the book, DeSantis’ new report shows increases in checking and savings accounts. At the end of 2023, DeSantis had $351,078 in USAA checking and savings accounts; nearly $1.26 million in a savings account with Interactive Brokers; $95,592 in a thrift savings plan, a type of retirement savings and investment plan; and $84,196 in the Florida Retirement System.
A year earlier, he listed $1.046 million in USAA accounts, $91,719 in the thrift savings plan and $54,720 in the Florida Retirement System.
As he and his family live in the governor’s mansion, DeSantis did not report real-estate holdings in 2023.
FLORIDA GAS PRICES TICK UP
By Florida News Service
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Florida increased 2 cents during the past week, as demand is expected to pick up for the Independence Day holiday period. The
$3.49 a gallon. “Although we have
seen some price swings in recent weeks, it’s not likely significant enough to impact people’s travel plans,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said in a prepared statement. “Oil prices have flattened out, which should limit any significant jumps at the pump in the coming days.”
A record 60 million Americans are expected to hit the road for the holiday period.
Floridians are expected to account for nearly 4.5 million of those traveling more than 50 miles, up from 4.2 million a year earlier. Florida’s pump prices had been decreasing since Memorial Day but have increased over the past two weeks.
Chief Mike Balken and Captain Casey Eades. [Ocala Police Department]
File photo
Panel moves forward on Black History Museum
By Jim Turner Florida News Serrvice
Facing a Monday deadline, members of a state task force Friday voted to submit a report to the governor and the Legislature that outlines suggestions on how to build, market, operate and eventually make self-sufficient a Black history museum proposed for St. Johns County.
“We’re just simply turning the report over to the Florida Legislature to take the next steps of action,” said Tony Lee, a member of the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force and the state university system’s interim assistant vice chancellor of public affairs.
The task force voted 6-1 to move forward with the report, with Chairwoman Geraldine Thompson, an Orange County Democrat who chairs the panel, dissenting. Lawmakers set up the task force in 2023, and the museum does not have funding.
The report calls for a study of the St. Johns County site. But Thompson unsuccessfully sought to get the Department of State to conduct a broader feasibility study that also would have looked at potential sites in Eatonville and Opa-locka.
“It’s something that, you know, I’ve been advocating for since the task force was convened and we began our work,” Thompson said. “Without a feasibility study, we’re really operating in the dark. We’re just kind of supposing and hoping that this is going to be successful without any concrete data.”
But other members of the task force contended the idea was an attempt to negate a vote last month to put the museum in St. Johns County. A proposal from Eatonville in Central Florida ranked second, followed by Opa-locka in Miami-Dade County.
Backers of placing the museum in Central Florida haven’t given up on reversing the site decision.
Rep. Bruce Antone, an Orlando
Democrat who was a sponsor of the 2023 museum legislation, urged against approving a task-force report and letting the legislative process start over in 2025.
“The task force did not do what it was supposed to do as required by the legislation,” Antone told the panel on Friday.
Antone said Thursday a new task force needs to be put in place that does not include political appointees and can provide insight into history that needs to be displayed.
Antone also criticized the site selection process, which ended up pitting the St. Augustine area in St. Johns County against a Black community in Central Florida.
The community that houses the museum is expected to provide matching funds for the construction and operations.
In brief comments to the task force, St. Johns County Administrator Joy Andrews disputed wetlands and environmental concerns that critics have raised about the proposed 17.5 acre site, which is owned by the Florida Memorial University Foundation. Andrews also said a recent change in leadership at the foundation isn’t expected to impact its commitment to the St. Johns site.
Questions were raised last month about rankings given by Rep. Kiyan Michael, a Jacksonville Republican and task force member. Michael gave the St. Augustine-area location a perfect score and Eatonville its lowest marks. Michael said she did not “act deliberately” to affect the scoring.
The proposed site is expected to handle a 100,000 square-foot facility or larger. At $1,000 a square foot, such a facility would require at least $100 million to build and maintain, according to an estimate.
The museum complex would include such things as meeting rooms, banquet facilities and a performingarts theater available for private events.
DESANTIS SIGNS FINANCE LOAN CHANGES
By Florida News Service
After vetoing a similar measure last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that could lead to borrowers paying higher interest rates on consumer-finance loans.
The bill (HB 1347) was one of five that DeSantis signed Friday as he wraps up work on bills passed during the 2024 legislative session.
Under current law, consumerfinance loan companies can charge 30 percent annual interest on the first $3,000 of principal amounts; 24 percent on amounts between $3,000 and $4,000; and 18 percent on amounts between $4,000 and $25,000.
Under the bill, they will be able to charge annual interest rates up
Buffett to be remembered on Florida Roads
By Jim Turner Florida News Serrvice
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed bills that will honor the late singer Jimmy Buffett, designating Florida A1A as “Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway” and creating a “Margaritaville” specialty license plate.
The highway bill (HB 91), which lawmakers passed unanimously during the legislative session that ended in March, will attach Buffett’s name to A1A from Key West to the Georgia border.
“With this road naming, we are paying tribute to Jimmy not only as a musical icon, but also a fierce protector of Florida’s natural treasures and our precious manatees,” Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Davie Democrat who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said in a statement.
The other bill (HB 403) will make changes to the state’s specialty licenseplate program and create a series of potential new plates, including one displaying the name of the Buffett song “Margaritaville.”
Buffett died Sept. 1 at age 76 of a type of skin cancer.
Born in Mississippi, his brand became synonymous with the Florida Keys.
In his 1994 song “Everybody’s Got a Cousin in Miami,” Buffett waxed “I am umbilically connected to the temperate zone/It brought me life, it brought me love/I never have outgrown.”
Twenty years earlier, he released an album called “A1A,” which featured several nautical-themed songs, including a concert favorite, “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”
Proceeds from the sale of the
“Margaritaville” license plate are slated to benefit the SFC Charitable Foundation, also known as Singing for Change, which Buffett founded.
“Margaritaville” was Buffett’s highest charting solo single from his 1977 album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.”
The state tourism-market agency Visit Florida promotes online Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant in Key West, saying “once only a state of mind is now a state of being.”
Buffett is already associated with the state’s Save the Manatee license plate, which is the seventh most-popular specialty plate. It benefits the Save the Manatee Club, which Buffett helped establish in the 1980s with the late Gov. Bob Graham.
As with most specialty plates, the Margaritaville plate must reach 3,000 pre-sales before it can go into production and must maintain that number year after year.
Other new plates that will be offered for pre-sale are Clearwater Marine Aquarium; general aviation; The Villages; Cure Diabetes; Recycle Florida; Boating Capital of the World; Project Addiction: Reversing the Stigma; and Service Organizations.
The bill, which will take effect Oct. 1, also will change the designs of several plates already on the road and exempt Florida college license plates from the 3,000 minimum-sale requirement. The bill also will allow the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to reauthorize discontinued collegiate license plates.
The state’s specialty tag program offers 113 different designs, with another 30 in pre-sale.
to 36 percent on the first $10,000 of principal amounts; 30 percent on amounts between $10,000 and $20,000; and 24 percent on amounts between $20,000 and $25,000.
DeSantis last year vetoed a bill that would have set an across-the-board maximum annual 36 percent rate.
The House voted 104-10 to pass this year’s version, while the Senate narrowly passed it in a 21-18 vote.
Supporters said the changes would help attract more consumerfinance lenders to the state, giving an alternative to borrowers who might otherwise have to turn to online lenders at higher interest rates.
But opponents said the higher maximum rates in the bill could hurt borrowers.
By Peter Bloedel
File photo: Sen. Geraldine Thompson chairs the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force but dissented Friday. [Colin Hackley]
Seeing your baby for the first time will be an experience you’ll never forget. That’s why, in addition to the extra monitoring and attention we offer in our Level II NICU and the elevated level of prenatal and postnatal care we provide through our McKenzie Kearney Gray Maternal Fetal Medicine program, we add thoughtful, memorable touches with The Birth Day Experience.®
At AdventHealth Ocala, the only hospital in Marion County that delivers babies, our physicians and birth care advocates provide the care you and your baby need – so you can cherish every moment of your baby’s one-and-only real birth day.
Home & Garden
Home sale prices show slight drop in Florida and Ocala area
Staff Report
The Florida Realtors agents’ association released its May 2024 market report, showing that statewide, the median single-family home sale price dropped slightly to $426,581, a 1.6% year over year increase, and townhouses and condo median sales price also decreased slightly to $330,000, a 1.5% year over year increase.
Ocala/Marion County’s May median sale price reported for single-family homes was $289,900, a drop of 1.7% from last year. Ocala/Marion County saw 927 closings of single-family homes in May, an increase of 9.5% from May 2023.
Single-family market sector
Brad O’Connor, senior economist for the Florida Realtors, a statewide agents’ reporting and professional trade association, said, “Sales of single-family homes fell by less than 1% in May compared to the previous year, while townhouse and condo sales dropped by more than 8.5%. Year-over-year growth in home prices was as weak as it’s been in several months. The median sale price for single-family homes in Florida was around $426,000, slightly over a 1.5% increase from May of last year. For townhouses and condos, the median sale price rose by 1.5% to $330,000.”
The statewide active listing inventory for single-family homes is just over 94,216, an increase of 60.5% over last May.
Overall, inventory levels are rising, O’Connor explained.
“While sales growth remains stagnant, with new listings still climbing compared to a year ago, inventory levels are still rising at the statewide level. That said, we are seeing a decent amount of variation at the county level—and even within several counties, when we drill down to the zip code level. Some parts of the state, like most of South Florida, still have inventory levels below what was typical from, say, 2014 through 2019, leading up to the pandemic. Other areas of the state—particularly suburban and exurban areas on the fringes of other large metros like Tampa-St. Pete, Orlando, and Jacksonville—are seeing inventory levels above pre-pandemic levels. Nothing quite like we saw in 2008 or 2009, mind you, but still notable. These are the areas where we might expect price growth to be slowing down the most in the coming months.”
The association reported the supply of single-family existing homes statewide increased to a 4.4-months’ supply.
“Months’ supply inventory is a useful indicator of market conditions,” the report stated. “The benchmark for a balanced market (favoring neither buyer nor seller) is 5.5 months of inventory. Anything higher is traditionally a buyers’ market, and anything lower is a sellers’ market.”
Statewide, the number of cash sales for single-family homes decreased slightly by -0.4% with a total of 7,483 throughout Florida, which accounted for 28.5% of all sales, less than one-third of the overall market.
“Cash sales can be a useful indicator,” the report stated, “of the extent to which investors are participating in the market. Investors are far more likely to have the funds to purchase a home available up front, whereas the typical homebuyer requires a mortgage or some other form of financing.”
O’Connor said further, “New listings of single-family home listings were up by over 15% in May, which was the lowest year-overyear increase we’ve reported this year outside of the less-than-8% increase in March. For townhouses and condos, new listings grew by nearly 14% year-over-year in May—also the second-lowest increase reported for this property type category in 2024.”
Townhomes/condos
market sector
Locally, the market area of Ocala/Marion County townhouses and condos median sales prices came in at $225,000, an increase of 9.8% over May 2023. A total of 61 closed sales were reported.
Statewide, townhouses and condos active inventory is 61,767, a 91.3% increase from May 2023. Overall, the market is moving toward more activity.
Existing townhouse and condo properties statewide were at a 7.2-months’ supply, an increase of 100% from May of 2023.
For townhomes and condos, the number of cash sales statewide was 5,266 a decrease of 12.3% from May 2023. Those sales represented just over 50% of the market.
SE Ocala 60’s ranch style home
510 SE 17th Pl, Ocala
Seller represented by:
Steph Burns with Professional Realty of Ocala
Buyer represented by:
Anthony Davis with LPT Realty LLC
$408,000
Two story townhome in NE Ocala
2701 NE 10th St Apt 405, Ocala Seller
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The Ocala City Council has introduced the following ordinance(s) and will consider its adoption at the regular meeting to be held on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.
Any person who decides to appeal any decision of the Ocala City Council with respect to any matter considered at this meeting will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purposes, may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made. If reasonable accommodations are needed for you to participate in this meeting, please call 48 hours in advance so arrangements can be made through the City Clerk’s office at 352-629-8266.
ORDINANCE 2024-43 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF OCALA, FLORIDA, CONCERNING
OUTDOOR STORAGE WITHIN THE M-1, LIGHT INDUSTRIAL ZONING DISTRICT; AMENDING SECTION 122-761 TO CLARIFY THE INTENT AND PURPOSE OF THE M-1, LIGHT INDUSTRIAL, ZONING DISTRICT; AMENDING SUBSECTION 122-763(3) TO SPECIFY DESIGN STANDARDS FOR OUTDOOR STORAGE AS AN ACCESSORY USE; REPEALING SECTION 122-767 TO REMOVE THE REQUIREMENT FOR A PUBLIC HEARING FOR ADDITIONAL OUTDOOR STORAGE AS AN ACCESSORY USE AND PLACING THE SECTION NUMBER IN RESERVE STATUS; AMENDING SECTION 122-1220 TO REMOVE REFERENCES TO REPEALED SECTION; PROVIDING DIRECTION TO STAFF; REPEALING INCONSISTENT AND/OR CONFLICTING PROVISIONS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY OF ORDINANCE PROVISIONS; PROVIDING FOR MODIFICATIONS ARISING FROM CONSIDERATION AT A PUBLIC HEARING; PROVIDING DIRECTION TO THE CODIFIER; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ORDINANCE 2024-44
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING MAP OF THE CITY OF OCALA, FLORIDA, CHANGING FROM M-1, LIGHT INDUSTRIAL, TO B-2, COMMUNITY BUSINESS, FOR THE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT 1703 AND 1713 NE 8TH ROAD (PARCELS 26020-000-00 AND 26018-000-00), APPROXIMATELY 0.93 ACRES (CASE NO. ZON24-45638); PROVIDING DIRECTION TO STAFF; REPEALING INCONSISTENT AND/ OR CONFLICTING PROVISIONS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY OF ORDINANCE PROVISIONS; PROVIDING FOR MODIFICATIONS ARISING FROM CONSIDERATIONS AT A PUBLIC HEARING; PROVIDING DIRECTION TO THE CODIFIER; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ORDINANCE 2024-45 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING MAP OF THE CITY OF OCALA, FLORIDA, CHANGING FROM M-1, LIGHT INDUSTRIAL, TO M-2, MEDIUM INDUSTRIAL, FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1123
22ND
(PARCEL 25260-000-00), APPROXIMATELY 12.85 ACRES (ZON2445671); PROVIDING DIRECTION TO STAFF; REPEALING INCONSISTENT AND/OR CONFLICTING PROVISIONS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY OF ORDINANCE PROVISIONS; PROVIDING
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH
JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION File No. 2024-CP- 1158 IN RE: ESTATE OF HANS PAUL DRUSKAT Deceased. NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of HANS PAUL DRUSKAT, deceased, whose date of death was March 6, 2024, is pending in the Circuit Court for MARION County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 110 N.W. 1st Avenue, #1, Ocala, Florida 34471. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative's attorney are set forth below. All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent's estate on whom a copy of this notice is required to be served must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE TIME OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent's estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT'S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is June 28, 2024.
Personal Representative: MARK DRUSKAT
Attorney for Personal Representative: SHANTA MATTHEWS, Attorney Florida Bar Number: 69935 814 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Suite D OCALA, FL 34470 Telephone: (352) 421-8722 Fax: (352) 306-3759 E-Mail: shanta@smatthewslaw.com Secondary: lori@smatthewslaw.com
1372 IN RE: ESTATE OF AMY JEAN KURVERS Deceased. NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The administration of the estate of AMY JEAN KURVERS, deceased, whose date of death was May 16, 2023, is pending in the Circuit Court for MARION County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 110 N.W. 1st Avenue, #1, Ocala, Florida 34471. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative's attorney are set forth below. All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent's estate on whom a copy of this notice is required to be served must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE TIME OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent's estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT'S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is June 28 2024.
Personal Representative: CLAYTON BADER Attorney for Personal Representative: SHANTA MATTHEWS, Attorney Florida Bar Number: 69935 814 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Suite D OCALA, FL 34470 Telephone: (352) 421-8722 Fax: (352) 306-3759
E-Mail: shanta@smatthewslaw.com
Secondary: lori@smatthewslaw.com
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION IN RE: ESTATE OF JOHN N. CORNETT, Deceased.
FILE NO.: 2024-CP-1605
NOTICE TO CREDITORS (Summary Administration) The administration of the estate of JOHN N. CORNETT, deceased, whose date of death was May 1, 2024; is pending in the Circuit Court of Marion County, Florida, Probate Division; File Number 2024-CP1605; the address of which is 110 N.W. 1st Avenue, Ocala, Florida 34475. An Order of Summary Administration was entered on June 25, 2024, and the name and address of the person assigned control of the asset is RACHEL CORNETT , 5005 N.W. 11th Place, Gainesville, Florida 32605, the surviving daughter of the decedent, and her attorney is R. William Futch, R. William Futch, P.A., 2201 S.E. 30th Avenue, Suite 202, Ocala, Florida 34471. The total value of the nonexempt assets of the estate is less than $5,000.00. All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate, including unmatured, contingent or unliquidated claims, on whom a copy of this notice is served must file their claims with this Court WITHIN THE LATER OF THREE MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR THIRTY DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons who have claims or demands against the decedent’s estate, including unmatured, contingent or unliquidated claims, must file their claims with this court, WITHIN THREE (3) MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT SO FILED WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT’S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. THE DATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE IS JULY 5, 2024. Attorneys for Petitioner:
Gardening by the book(s)
Now is a good time to take a break from the heat and
By Belea T. Keeney belea@magnoliamediaco.com
It’s just so hot! That means it’s a good time to take a load off and put your feet up for a bit with a gardening book in hand—in a cool place. You’ll get inspired and energized with “The Zen of Florida Gardening” by Lucy Tobias (a longtime Ocalan now relocated to the Gulf Coast) and “Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida” by Ginny Stibolt and Melissa Markham, who are also based in Florida.
Tobias’ book is filled with stories of people, places and projects for the garden. First, she showcases cool plant people including Marc C. Minno, who wrote one of the bibles of butterfly gardening, “Florida Butterfly Gardening: A Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying and Enjoying Butterflies.” Minno started his fascination with butterflies in childhood. Another local plant person she profiles is former Florida Gov. Buddy MacKay.
When he retired and the family moved from “town” here in Ocala to a lake house in Ocklawaha in 1989, MacKay carefully dug up all the azaleas and camellias in his garden and took them along. Tobias also highlights gardening places, with more than 30 listings, and her reviews of Florida botanical gardens, butterfly gardens, specialty nurseries and more. One of my own hidden gem favorites is included in the book—the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens and Nursery in Spring Hill. Few folks know about this little jewel just off U.S. 19. It’s set on 3.5 acres and boasts a variety of gardens, like the Asian garden, a butterfly garden, a secret garden and a charming pond and waterfall with a running train track around it.
The projects section of the book offers inspiring ideas as well, including a profile of a renowned homeowner in The Villages who planted his entire yard with Floridafriendly plants and inspired neighbors to do the same. Tobias is also enthused about rain barrels, helping birds and bees with housing, and loves labyrinths. The book
A SINGLE BATTER GOES
get inspired with these great reads.
ends with a great resource list of apps, websites and online sites about gardening.
Another inspiring read is the recently released, “Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida.” Authors Stibolt and Markham point out that the state has seven hardiness zones and that “Most vegetable gardening books (organic or not) are of little use in Florida because the rules are different here, and furthermore, the rules in Pensacola are different from those in Miami.”
A 110+ page chapter is devoted to Florida’s vegetables and they offer alphabetical listings with great details about regions where the plant does best and ratings of easy, moderate, difficult or not recommended. For example, garlic is rated as easy in north Florida, but moderately difficult in central and south Florida. Celery is rated as difficult throughout the state because of the shortness of our winters.
The authors also emphasize having a holistic attitude about your ecosystem and the role all types of gardening play in supporting insects, butterflies, crawlies and birds. They advise, “It’s best to work with the natural checks and balances of predatory and prey organisms, especially if you’re using organic methods.” They loathe the idea of monoculture lawns filled with pesticides and bug zappers that kill necessary insects.
A helpful appendix offers a month-by-month calendar to help you plan your tasks, plantings and harvests for the year.
Consider taking a break this month and hit the pages instead of the dirt. “The Zen of Florida Gardening” is available from Sea Aster Press, P.O. Box 15881, Sarasota, FL, 34237, $19.95. Her website is lucytobias.com/ “Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida” is available from University Press of Florida, bookstores and online sources, $29.95. The website is upf.com
The book has terrific full-color photos.
A native Floridian and lifelong gardener, Belea writes a column in each month’s edition of the Gazette’s sister publication, “Ocala Style” magazine. Send gardening questions to her at belea@magnoliamediaco.com
INTO THE OVEN BUT COMES OUT AS A TWOFER: A SOUFFLE-LIKE CAKE RESTING ON TOP OF A SILKY LEMON PUDDING
By Andrea Geary America’s Test Kitchen
The long-standing popularity of this dessert dates to the 1860s, when the advent of egg beaters with rotating parts made whipping the egg whites for the batter easier. For bold citrus flavor, we steeped a generous 2 tablespoons of zest in the milk and cream for the batter to extract both its water- and fat-soluble compounds. Baking the pudding cakes in a bath filled with cold water, versus the hot water typically added to the pan, ensured that the bottom pudding layer, which sets faster than the top, didn’t curdle while the cake baked through. The lemony, airy, cozy results are sublime.
Small-Batch Lemon Pudding Cakes Serves 3
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest plus 1/4 cup juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg, separated, plus 1 large white
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (optional)
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Bring milk and cream to simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove saucepan from heat, whisk in lemon zest, cover saucepan, and let stand for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, fold a dish towel in half and place in the bottom of a 13-by 9-inch baking pan. Place three 6-ounce ramekins on top of the towel and set aside the pan.
2. Whisk 6 tablespoons sugar, flour, the baking powder and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Strain milk mixture through fine-mesh strainer into bowl with sugar mixture, pressing on lemon zest to extract liquid; discard lemon zest. Add egg yolk, vanilla and lemon juice; whisk until combined. (Batter will have the consistency of milk.)
3. Using a hand mixer, whip egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high and whip whites to soft, billowy mounds, about 1 minute. Gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and whip until glossy, soft peaks form, about 1 minute.
4. Whisk one-quarter of whites into batter to lighten. Gently whisk in remaining whites until no clumps or streaks remain. Ladle batter into ramekins (ramekins should be nearly full). Pour enough cold water into the pan to come one-third of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until cake is set and pale golden brown and pudding layer registers 172 to 175 degrees at the center, 35 to 40 minutes.
5. Remove pan from oven and let ramekins stand in water bath for 10 minutes. Transfer ramekins to a wire rack and let cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if using, and serve.
(For 25 years, home cooks have relied on America’s Test Kitchen for rigorously tested recipes developed by professional test cooks and vetted by 60,000 at-home recipe testers. The family of brands—which includes Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country—offers reliable recipes for cooks of all skill levels. See more online at www.americastestkitchen.com/TCA.)
Part of this sweet treat’s appeal is its seemingly magical transformation during baking. [TNS]
Three new extinct walnut species discovered in high Arctic mummified forest
By Jerald Pinson Florida Museum of Natural History
In a new study, scientists describe three new, but longextinct, walnut species on an island above the Arctic Circle. The fossils were discovered further north than any known walnut species, living or extinct, and represent some of the oldestknown records of this group.
Today, the Canadian island of Axel Heiberg is a frozen desert devoid of nearly all life. But 45 million years ago, it supported a lush rainforest on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Since then, the forest has been buried first beneath layers of sediment, then accumulated ice, leaving it frozen in time.
“When you walk into the site, the first thing you notice are these big stumps, a meter or more in diameter, and they’re still rooted in the soil that they grew in. It’s completely out of place. The closest living trees are 3,000 kilometers away,” said study coauthor James Basinger, professor emeritus of geological sciences at the University of Saskatchewan.
The stumps are so conspicuous, they can be spotted from the air.
In 1985, staff from the Geological Survey of Canada discovered the Axel Heiberg fossil forest while conducting a survey of the area from a helicopter. A year later, paleobotanists returned to the site and found fossils unlike anything they’d seen before.
“There aren’t really that many places around where you can go to see fossils that are preserved that well,” said Steven Manchester, lead author of the study and curator of paleobotany at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.
In most cases, fossilization is characterized by organic matter being replaced with minerals over time. In other cases, organic matter is heated and compressed into coal or burned in forest fires and preserved as charcoal. But this isn’t the case with the Axel Heiberg fossils. The wood, leaves, cones, nuts and fruit are seemingly unchanged. This unique form of preservation is referred to as mummification, and it only takes place under a very specific and rare set of circumstances.
“Things can be broken down by bacteria and fungi, they can be rumbled along in a riverbed and destroyed; there are lots of ways of losing the material before it becomes fossilized,” Basinger said. But the ancient forests on Axel Heiberg were buried rapidly under swamp and lake sediments. As the global climate cooled, these processes were slowed.
Basinger was among the first researchers to study the forest. The Arctic’s barren surfaces and strong winds made it remarkably easy to collect specimens.
“You can see a few fossils on the surface and pick what you can. But you go back next year, when there’s been a little erosion, and there’s a few more on the surface. Over a number of years, you can actually get a large collection,” he said.
The walnuts had been eroded from the soil and were sitting on the surface. “In one case, the walnuts are concentrated at one spot, possibly cached there by animals,” Basinger said. Some of the fossil nuts also have gnawed holes, indicating they were a food source for local animals.
Over a period of 15 years, Basinger and his colleagues retrieved over 1,000 nut and seed fossils and returned with them to Saskatchewan to be studied.
Visualizing a globally warm planet
If you looked back 45 million years ago to the middle Eocene, the Earth’s poles would be unrecognizable. At the time, Antarctica and the Arctic Circle
were warm and blanketed with forests, in stark contrast to the freezing deserts that we associate with the region today. Due to their high latitude, polar regions had relatively short growing seasons, but they made up for it with exceptionally long summer days, receiving up to twenty hours of sunlight. Inversely, the winters were characterized by near-total darkness, yet temperatures seldom reached freezing.
Paleontology and geology records indicate there was more CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere at the time, which resulted in temperatures that were much higher than they are now.
This global greenhouse, in turn, created warm ocean circulations that kept the Arctic Ocean free of ice.
“The far north supported redwood-style forests,” Basinger said. There were cypress swamps and upland forests, where statuesque trees grew up to 40 meters in height. The canopy included dozens of trees, such as redwoods, cedars, hickories, pines, spruces, hemlocks, larches, birches, ginkgos and, of course, walnuts.
What we can learn from the Axel Heiberg walnuts
As an expert in the evolutionary history of the walnut family, Manchester helped bring the decades-long project to completion. He performed CT scans on walnuts from the island and described three previously unknown species.
“The CT scans allow us to show details of the internal structure of these nuts that were once really hard to get,” Manchester said. Before CT scanners, traditional methods for studying fossils involved tediously dissecting and slicing the specimens in various orientations, destroying them in the process.
After scanning several of the most completely preserved fossils, Manchester compared them to walnuts from both modern and extinct walnut species. National repositories, like iDigBio, allow researchers to easily locate museum specimens stored anywhere in the United States. The fossils didn’t match anything that had yet been discovered and were thus found to represent three new species in the genus Juglans.
Based solely on genetic data from living species, researchers once thought the walnut family originated somewhere in Asia. More recently, however, fossil data indicates they instead first appeared in the warm, moist environments of North America or Europe. As the family diversified, some species adapted to cooler conditions, which allowed them to extend their range into higher latitudes.
The fossils from this study add a clearer picture of how walnuts evolved during periods of intensely shifting climates and where our modern species came from.
Robin Wilson of the University of Saskatchewan and Yusheng (Chris) Liu of Indiana University Indianapolis are also co-authors of the study.
Funding for the study was provided in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and East Tennessee State University.
To learn more, go to floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science
The fossilized tree stumps of Axel Heiberg Island were still standing after being frozen beneath the ice for millions of years. [Courtesy of James Basinger]
Temperatures were extraordinarily high during the Eocene epoch. [Image by Glen Fergus, CC BY-SA]
Manchester analyzed the internal structures of the fossils. [Florida Museum photo by Jeff Gage]
The walnuts were brittle and broke in half easily. [Courtesy of James Basinger]
Most of the walnut fossils were less than 3 cm in length. [Courtesy of James Basinger]
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Could solar and batteries power your home when the electricity grid goes out?
By: Will Gorman, Graduate Student Researcher in Electricity Markets and Policy, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory; Bentham Paulos, Affiliate, Electricity Markets & Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Galen Barbose, Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
In areas where storms or extreme heat and cold have knocked out the power for days at a time, people are starting to ask whether investing in rooftop solar and battery storage systems can keep the lights on and the air conditioner running when the power grid can’t.
When the grid goes down, most solar systems that lack a battery will also shut down. But with batteries, a home can disconnect from the grid. Each day, the sun powers the home and charges up the batteries, which provide power through the night.
Our team at Berkeley Lab explored what it would take for homes and commercial buildings to ride out long power outages, of three days or more, with solar and batteries.
How much can solar + storage do?
For a 2022 report, we modeled a generic power outage for every county in the U.S., testing whether a rooftop solar system combined with a 10- or 30-kilowatt-hour battery could power critical loads, like refrigeration, lighting, internet service and well pumps; if it could go further and also power heating and air conditioning; or if it could even power a whole home.
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To put that into perspective, the most popular battery on the market, the Tesla Powerwall, has just over 13 kWh of storage.
In general, we found that even a modest system of solar plus one battery can power critical loads in a home for days at a time, practically anywhere in the country.
But our maps show that providing backup for cooling and heat can be a challenge, though not an insurmountable one. Homes in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest often have power-hogging electric resistance heaters, exceeding the capability of solar and storage during winter outages. Homes with efficient heat pumps performed better. Summer air conditioning load can be heavy in the Southwest, making it harder to meet all cooling needs with solar and storage in a summer blackout.
Larger solar and battery systems can help, but meeting demand during outages still depends on the weather, how energy efficient the home is and other factors. For example, simple thermostat adjustments during power outages reduce heating and cooling needs and allow solar with storage to maintain backup power over longer periods.
Maps show most parts of the country can run on solar plus storage for ‘critical’ uses. Still, a large percentage can run air and heat, but few can support an entire home.
Where solar and storage with a 10kWh battery can supply backup power, in various scenarios. Berkeley Lab, CC BY The ability to power commercial
buildings varies widely, depending on the building type. Schools and big-box retail stores, with sufficient roof space for solar relative to building power demand, fare much better than multistory, energyintensive buildings like hospitals.
How solar would have handled 10 past disasters
We also looked at 10 real-world outage events from 2017 to 2020, including hurricanes, wildfires and storms, and modeled building performance for specific locations and real weather patterns during and after the outages.
We found that in seven of the outages, most homes would have been able to maintain critical loads plus heating and cooling using solar with 30 kWh of storage, or just over two Powerwalls.
But the weather around the outage can have a big impact, especially for hurricanes. After Hurricane Florence knocked out power in North Carolina in 2018, cloudy skies hung around for three days, dimming or even stopping solar panels’ output.
Hurricane Harvey, on the other hand, slammed the Texas coast in August 2017 but moved on to cause widespread damage elsewhere in Texas. The skies over Corpus Christi cleared even as it took a week or more to get power restored. Solar and storage would have been a big help in that case, providing virtually all power needs for a typical single-family home, once the skies cleared.
Line charts show power potential from storage and demand during two major storms. They start low as the storm hits but then improve quickly.
How a typical home would have done with solar and 30 kWh of storage after hurricanes Florence and Harvey. The light blue line shows the short periods of ‘unserved load,’ or shortfalls in meeting
power demand, right after the storms. The state of charge shows batteries were able stretch solar power through the night. Berkeley Labs, CC BY
Similarly, we found solar can do well in less cloudy events, like wildfire prevention shutoffs in California, or after the 2020 derecho windstorm in Iowa.
The heat source in a home is also a key factor. In a five-to-10-day outage following an ice storm in Oklahoma in 2020, we found that solar plus a 30-kWh battery could have supplied nearly all the critical power and heat needed for homes with natural gas heaters or heat pumps. But homes with electric resistance heating would have fallen short.
In Texas, over half of homes are heated with electricity, primarily resistance heaters. Energy Star-rated heat pumps—which provide both heating and cooling—use half as much electricity per unit of heat output as electric resistance heaters and are also more efficient at cooling than the average new air conditioner. Converting older resistance heaters to new heat pumps can not only save money and reduce peak demand but also increase resilience during outages.
New forms of backup
Setting up solar and storage to provide backup power in a home or building takes extra work and it costs more—just one Powerwall can run from US$12,000 to $16,500 for a full system installation, before incentives and taxes. That’s as much as a fair-sized solar system. Nevertheless, a growing number of homeowners are installing both.
Over 90% of new solar installations in Hawaii in 2021 were paired with batteries after a regulation change. Now these distributed power plants are helping power the grid as coal plants are retired.
California has over 1.5 million rooftop solar systems. A growing number of customers are retrofitting batteries on their systems, or adding new solar plus storage, in part because utilities have resorted to “public safety power shutoffs” to lower the risk of wildfires sparked by power lines during dry, windy days.
An electric truck parked in a garage, plugged in, while people remove storm debris from a yard Electric trucks and cars have much more battery storage than a Powerwall and hold potential as future home batteries as well. Ford
And new forms of backup power are emerging, especially from electric cars. Ford is partnering with SunRun to combine its F150 Lightning electric pickup truck with solar and a two-way charger that can use the truck’s battery to power a house. The standard version of the truck comes with a 98-kWh battery, the equivalent of more than seven Tesla Powerwall stationary batteries.
Critical power for critical services
A fire station in Puerto Rico offers a glimpse of what solar and storage can do. After Hurricane Maria cut power for months in 2017, over 40,000 solar systems were installed on the island, often paired with battery storage. One of those is at the fire station in the town of Guánica, which had been unable to receive emergency calls in previous outages.
When Hurricane Fiona’s wind and flooding again knocked out power to most of Puerto Rico in September 2022, the fire station was still operating.
“The solar system is working beautifully!” Sgt. Luis Saez told Canary Media the day after Fiona knocked out power. “We did not lose power all throughout the hurricane.”
Bird of the week
Green heron
By Michael Warren
One color you seldom see on a Green Heron is green. There’s a chestnut neck and breast, yellow legs (orange during breeding season), blackish crown and blue-gray wings. But in just the right light, they show off a hint of green on their back and outer wings. This one was photographed at Tuscawilla Park.
Sudoku is played on a grid of 9 x 9 spaces. Within the rows and columns are 9 “squares” (made up of 3 x 3 spaces). Each row, column and square (9 spaces each) needs to be filled out with the numbers 1-9, without repeating any numbers within the
or square.
Green heron [MichaelWarren.com]
government
JULY 8, 15, 22
Marion County Development Review
Office of County Engineer, 412 SE 25th Ave., Building 1, Ocala
9am
The committee reviews and votes on waiver requests to the Land Development Code, major site plans and subdivision plans. The committee meets weekly on Mondays. See marion.fl.legistar.com/calendar.aspx for agenda and minutes.
JULY 8
Ocala Planning & Zoning Commission
Ocala City Hall, 110 SE Watula Ave., Ocala
5:30pm Typically meets on the second Monday of the month, with agendas are usually posted the Thursday prior. Agendas, minutes, and video available from ocala.legistar.com/calendar.aspx
JULY 10
Dunnellon City Council Meeting
Dunnellon City Hall, 20750 River, Dunnellon
5:30pm
Meets the second Wednesday of the month; Dunnellon agendas, minutes, and video available at dunnellon.org/89/agendas-minutes
JULY 16
Marion County Board of County Commissioners
McPherson Governmental Campus Auditorium, 601 SE 25th Ave., Ocala 9am
The commission meets in the morning of the first and third Tuesday of the month. Agendas, minutes and video are available at marionfl.legistar.com/calendar.aspx.
JULY 16
Ocala City Council
Ocala City Hall, 110 SE Watula Ave., Ocala
4pm The council meets in the afternoon each first and third Tuesday of the month. Ocala government agendas and minutes are available at ocala.legistar.com/calendar.aspx.
JULY 16
Belleview City Commission
Belleview City Hall, 5343 SE Abshier Blvd, Belleview 6pm Meets in the evening on the first and third Tuesday of the month; Belleview agendas, minutes and video available at belleviewfl.org/200/agendas-minutes.
community
JULY 13
Chef’s 100 Food Pantry Benefit and Bake Sale
Forest United Methodist Church, 17635 E State Road 40, Silver Springs
11am to 3pm
Support the church and Project Hope with this benefit and bake sale. Tickets are on sale to enjoy a dinner of Polynesian pork with pineapple red pepper fried rice, with a drink included. Guests can opt to instead donate their entrée value to Project Hope to help women and children experiencing homelessness. Baked goods will be available for purchase on-site, with proceeds going to support the church’s food pantry. Go to square.link/u/wbg5m0pp for tickets and more information.
JULY 27-28
Hot Dogs A-Jumping
Ocala Dog Ranch, 440 SW 110th Ave, Ocala 11am to 3pm
This tournament is an officially sanctioned event by International Dog Sports. Dogs compete in a series of dock jumping events measuring agility, distance, and catching ability. Day-of event signups will be available. Go to bit.ly/4bn2q4t to learn more.
AUGUST 3
4th Annual Chad Smith Benefit Xtreme Rodeo Florida Horse Park, 11008 S. Highway 475, Ocala 12 to 7pm The event will include some of the best riders and wranglers from all over the world, of all ages, as well as majestic bulls from multiple southeastern stock contractors. It will include live music, a cornhole tournament, food and a full bar for guests 21 and older. Tickets start at $15 for presale. Call (352) 857-6716 or visit bit.ly/XtremeRodeo2024 for tickets.
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arts
JULY 6
Free First Saturday Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala
10am to 5pm
Admission is free to all guests on the first Saturday of each month. Screenings of the documentary film “Audubon” will be at 11am and 2pm. The Donut Express and Grilled Cheese Emporium food trucks will be on site until 3pm. Learn more at appletonmuseum.org
JULY 9 & JULY 23
Museum & Me Pre-K Program
Appleton Museum of Art, 4337 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala
10:30 to 11:30am Bring your toddler to the museum and introduce them to the wonderful world of art. This onehour class begins with story time in the lobby and then branches out into the galleries, wrapping up with an opportunity for kids to create their own works of art. Registration is now open. Visit appletonmuseum.org/education to learn more.
JULY 13
“En Pointe: Expressions of Dance in Art” Exhibit Reception
Appleton Museum of Art, 4337 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala
5:30 to 7:30pm
Appleton members are invited to attend a special reception event to celebrate the opening of a new art exhibit, “En Pointe: Expressions of Dance in Art,” which features more than 60 pieces and will be on display from June 29-Oct. 6. Visit appletonmuseum.org for more information.
THROUGH AUGUST 2
2024 Summer Art Camp
Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala
Times may vary
Half day camps are available throughout the summer for aspiring young artists ages 5 to 17. Professional artists and educators will introduce kids to unique styles and techniques, art history, and the collections of works on display at the Appleton. Supplies and materials are included. Visit appletonmuseum.org/2024-summer-art-camp for more.
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2
Free Museum Entry for Veterans
Appleton Museum of Art, 4337 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala
All day—register for time slot online
As part of the Blue Star Museums initiative, free entry into the museum is available to all U.S. military active-duty and veterans, as well as up to five members of their family. Find details at appletonmuseum.org
education
THROUGH AUGUST 2
The Morris Center Summer Brain Camp 3019 SW 27th Ave Suite 202, Ocala Times may vary
This summer program is designed to help children who struggle with learning disabilities, such as slow reading, dyslexia, ADHD/ADD, and more. Pricing begins at $200 per week for half-day sessions and $250 per week for full-day sessions. For more information, visit bit.ly/3VgMnhy or call (352) 332-2629.
JULY 29-AUGUST 2/AUGUST 5-9
Brick City Odyssey Summer Camp Ocala Civic Theatre, 4337 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala 7:30am to 6pm Hosted by Marion County Parks & Recreation, this camp is called a “modern twist on traditional fun” for children of all ages. The last two weeks of the camp will feature field days, trips to Easy Street, indoor skydiving at SkyZone and other activities for kids and teens. Visit bit.ly/3yO7iRB to learn more.
things to do
JULY 14
Classic Albums Live: Wish You Were Here
Reilly Arts Center, 1750 NW 80th Ave., Ocala
5pm to 7pm
Fans of classic rock will have the chance to see the Pink Floyd album “Wish You Were Here” performed live in concert. Visit reillyartscenter.com/events/classic-albums-live-pink-floyd-wish-you-were-here for tickets and more information.
JULY 19
Taylor Shines—The Laser Spectacular
Reilly Arts Center, 500 NE 9th St., Ocala
Two shows—beginning at 5 pm & 8pm
This laser light show will feature DJ Tiff and DJ JC playing the best of Taylor Swift. Swifties and non-Swifites alike can jam out at this two-hour special presentation of music and the visual portion will feature video projection and 3-D special effects. Tickets can be purchased in-person, at reillyartscenter.com, or by contacting the Reilly Arts Center box office at (352) 351-1606. Box office hours are 10am-2pm, Tuesday through Friday.
THROUGH AUGUST 2
Summer Kids Film Series
Marion Theatre, 500 NE 9th St., Ocala
Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at various times
Tickets are only $5 for children and adults. Children 12 and under will receive a free summer snack pack with their ticket, which includes small popcorn, gummy snacks and a Capri Sun. Film showings will be 10am, 11am, 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm. Titles include “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, “Moana, Kung Fu Panda” and “Rio,” as well as others. Visit reillyartscenter.com/summer-kids-film-series to see the full list of upcoming movies and dates and times.
Ferns and flowers bribe helpful ant defenders with nectar, but ferns developed this ability much later—our study shows why
By Jacob S. Suissa Assistant Professor of Plant Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee
Look closely at a plant in your local park, your garden or even your kitchen, and you’re likely to see some damage. Whether a caterpillar has chewed away part of a leaf or a mealybug is sucking on sap, animals are constantly feeding on plants.
Of course, herbivory, or plant predation, is not ideal for a plant’s survival. So plants have evolved many different defense mechanisms to inhibit this threat, including physical and chemical weapons. For example, cactuses arm their bodies with skin-piercing spines. Herbs such as mint, lavender and rosemary produce volatile scent compounds that can help deter herbivores.
Other plants resort to bribing personal bodyguards by secreting thick, sweet nectar.
Nectar is most commonly associated with flowers, where it is used to entice bees, birds or butterflies to move pollen from one flower to another. But other plants produce different types of nectar glands called extrafloral nectaries. Plants produce these glands to bribe ants with a sweet reward; in return, ants will defend the plant from insect herbivores.
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I study plant evolutionary biology, and recently worked with fern biologist FayWei Li at the Boyce Thompson Institute and Cornell University ant biologist Corrie Moreau to examine the evolution of antbribing defense mechanisms in plants.
We found something striking: nearly 130 million years ago, during the Cretaceous geologic period, ferns and flowering plants independently evolved ant-bribing nectar glands at roughly the same time. We figured this out by using complex algorithms to estimate the
evolutionary origin and history of ferns, flowering plants and ants.
This timing is quite interesting because it was very early in flowering plant evolutionary history, but quite late in fern evolutionary history. Our work demonstrated that old dogs can learn some new tricks—and, even more importantly, how it happened in ferns.
Meeting above the ground
Plants are the primary producers of nearly all of the food supply on Earth, so virtually all living creatures rely on them for survival. For this reason, herbivory is part of life. But it also creates serious costs for many industries, from house plants to agricultural crops. Major pest outbreaks can even threaten global food security.
For all of these reasons, understanding how plants defend themselves against predators is a critical challenge.
The evolution of ant-mediated defense strategies inexorably linked two lineages across the kingdom of life. It meant that ants and plants would eventually evolve together—a process called coevolution. As one species changes, the other may change in response, and these changes can even become encoded in their genes.
Flowering plants originated in the Cretaceous period, around 150 million years ago, and our analyses demonstrated that they formed tight associations with ants early on. These flowering plants and their ant partners seemingly evolved together over time.
But ferns didn’t. While they had the potential to develop nectaries at the same time as flowering plants, they didn’t start to evolve nectaries at fast rates until they learned to live among the trees.
Ferns originally were terrestrial plants, but after flowering plants evolved into large trees, ferns jumped onto their branches as epiphytes—plants that grow on other plants, often with no attachment to the ground.
A drop of moisture on a fern leaf where
it joins the stem
Drynaria pilosa, commonly known as basket fern, secretes nectar. Jacob Suissa, CC BY-ND
Ferns can also climb up trees, as ivy does, or create their own trunks in the case of tree ferns. This also helped ferns get into the canopy.
The fact that ferns didn’t start producing nectar for ants until they moved up into trees confused me as a fern biologist. That was, until my coauthor Corrie Moreau pointed out that most ants lived in treetops.
This made perfect sense. As ferns became canopy dwellers, they began to grow closer to ants that were already associated with nectary-bearing trees. Comingling with these ants, ferns eventually tapped into the established mutually beneficial relationship between the ants and flowering plants.
The evolution and ecology of fern-ant
relationships
While our study discovered new aspects of ant-mediated plant defense, it left many questions unanswered. For instance, are some ants specializing on ferns, or are they generalists that can feed on nectar from a wider range of plants? How, exactly, did plants originally develop the physical capacity to produce extra-floral nectar? Are the genes that encode for nectary development the same between ferns and flowering plants? Is the chemistry of fern and flowering plant nectar the same? Our study lays the foundation for further research into the evolution and ecology of these nectaries. This is important foundational science. It’s also conceivable that research in this area could contribute to breeding programs that promote nectary-mediated ant defense, reducing the need for pesticides to protect plants from predators.
