Sober living facility seeks to expand at Ocala church
Neighbors express concerns to city officials about the Lake Weir Avenue location.
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
The owners of Compassion United Methodist Church have applied for a zoning change for the property that would allow Open Arms Village to expand its sober living program and utilize the church for a 16bed halfway house for women.
Neighbors of the 1712 SE Lake Weir Ave. property have expressed opposition to this proposal, as there are singlefamily neighborhoods to the east and west of the church, and it is near South Ocala Elementary, Eighth Street Elementary, Osceola Middle School, St. John Lutheran School and Blessed Trinity Catholic School.
The applicants hope to change the zoning from institutional to limited community business. The first public hearing before the Ocala City Council was held on Sept. 9, with the city council again discussing it on Oct. 1. A final public hearing will be held on Oct. 15, where the council will vote.
Open Arms Village has its main location at 1839 NE 8th Road in Ocala, which serves men in Marion County by extending time spent sober, improving psychiatric symptoms and reducing the likeliness of future costs to the hospitals and legal system, according to Open Arms.
“Compassion UMC is the future home of a holistic recovery program for women, which includes housing, therapy, resume preparation, job skill development, driver’s license and transportation assistance, education, family reunification, case management, and recovery services,” according to church officials.
The church used to be the Druid Hills United Methodist Church until its closure due to lack of membership. For many years, it was the site of one of the largest and most popular “pumpkin patch” locations in the region.
See Open, page A3
Zion’s Army works to help parents of Down syndrome babies
This year’s Zion’s Army Memorial Workout of the Day is set for Oct. 12 at Tier One Crossfit in Ocala as well as other locations around the world.
By Marian Rizzo Correspondent
Josh and Bobbi Sarmiento literally held their breath for four months while their newborn baby fought for his life. Born on June 15, 2021, Zion Joe Sarmiento was diagnosed with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect. Over the next four months, he endured five open heart surgeries, went into cardiac arrest, was placed on life support three times, and needed dialysis for kidney issues. After the fifth surgery, doctors said he would likely need open heart surgery but would not be ready until he was 3 years old. Despite their efforts to save Zion’s life, he passed away on Oct. 8, 2021.
The pastors of Ignite Ministries in Ocala, the Sarmientos had posted their son’s battle on Facebook and were surprised by the amazing response from complete strangers saying they would pray for Zion.
“We got testimonies from people about how Zion led them to the Lord,” Bobbi said. “I got a map and
School district takes final preparatory steps before construction on new SW Marion high school
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
As the beginning of construction on the new southwest Marion County high school is fast approaching, the school district and county needed to first address concerns between the school’s project location and the neighboring county project for a future Interstate 75 flyover.
At a technical working group meeting on Sept. 13, staff from Marion County Public Schools, Marion County, the city of Ocala, and other local municipalities met to discuss a number of items in accordance with their interlocal agreement—the most pressing being the High School CCC project that is scheduled to begin construction in November.
The county granted the school district a special use permit for the property, which required them to provide a comprehensive site plan to the county before construction begins. The school district is continuing to work with the county to ensure that all standards are met and the school can begin construction as planned, said MCPS Director of Operations Barbara Dobbins.
“The site plans were submitted to the county with the note that they limit the
review to the requirements as per Statues 1013.33 to the adequacy as it relates to environmental concerns, health, safety and welfare, and effects on adjacent property,” Dobbins said.
Certain standards and conditions of typical projects that the county would provide a special use permit for do not apply to the building of schools, as they would for a project like a strip mall, the district exemplified.
“Only the site plan was required for the cursory review, but we felt the entire civil set would give the county a better understanding of the entire scope,” said Dobbins.
Ahead of the submission of the site plan, the county expressed concerns that traffic from the school around drop-off and pickup times might back up the surrounding road of Marion Oaks Manor, which will provide access for the school, said Assistant County Administrator Tracy Straub.
“Westport High School is a great example, where the parents are stopping and dropping kids off on the side of the road, and they’re stopping and picking up kids on the side of the road. It happens,” said Straub.
The county is in the preliminary stages of a project to extend Marion Oaks Manor to create a flyover for Interstate 75. Marion Oaks Manor will be four-laned and will be extended east to a flyover over I-75 to allow
traffic to travel to the east side of the county. The project will span from Southwest 49th Avenue to County Road 475. The district set out an ambitious timeline with the high school project, with the goal of opening in August of 2025 for the beginning of the school year. The project faced delays after controversy over which construction firm should be awarded the $120 million dollar contract for the school.
In April, a district selection committee chose Wharton–Smith Inc. as the winning bidder for the project. In the days and weeks following, competing firm Ausley Construction and School Board member Sarah James were accused of tampering with the procurement process by violating the “cone of silence” policy and issuing threats to school district staff, another board member, and Superintendent Diane Gullett. An external investigation by the GrayRobinson law firm substantiated the allegations. The contract was eventually awarded to Wharton-Smith in July.
The county asked the school district at the technical working group meeting not to officially set a date for the school’s groundbreaking until the site plan was reviewed, so as to not violate the special use permit.
See Construction, page A3
Joshua and Bobbi Sarmiento, with their son, Josiah, 15, center, hold a photo of their late infant son, Zion Joe Sarmiento, who passed away on Oct. 8, 2021, as they pose for a photo at their Marion Oaks home on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024. See Zion’s, page A2
File photo: Compassion United Methodist Church, the old Druid Hills United Methodist Church, is shown on Southeast 17th Street in Ocala on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.
Zion’s Army
Continued from page A1 started charting where people were from. Then I got a globe. People in 48 countries were touched by his life and his story and what he was teaching us in the three or four months he was on this earth. I told my husband, ‘We have an army of people praying for him.’ So, we set up a website and called it Zion’s Army.”
On the one-year anniversary of Zion’s death the Sarmientos also organized a fundraiser called Zion’s Army Memorial Workout of the Day, bringing people together at gyms for a free fitness workout while raising awareness of Down syndrome and also generating donations so they could help other parents. The event caught on and went global.
This year, Zion’s Army Memorial Workout of the Day (WOD) is set for 9 a.m. Oct. 12 at Tier One CrossFit DBP (Driven By Purpose), 2500 NW 6th St., Suite 101, Ocala. In addition to working out together, participants will be able to light a candle in honor of a child who has died. Purchases of T-shirts and other donations will stay here in Ocala to help families in need, said Josh.
A self-proclaimed “CrossFit guy,” Josh found the perfect outlet for his grief when he organized the WOD events. He tied the workouts with specifics related to Zion’s battle.
“For 40 days he was in NICU, so we have 40 dumbbell snatches,” said Josh. “We have a 2021-meter row or run. That’s the year he was born. Each exercise and each round has a significant meaning. The beautiful thing about this workout is people do it all over the world at different CrossFit gyms. Some of them do it by Zoom. Some do the workout and put it on Facebook. People post their pictures doing a workout.”
October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month, named in the 1980s by the National Down Syndrome Society. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with Down syndrome are born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, which can result in various physical and mental problems. Besides some noticeable differences, such as almond-shaped eyes, a short neck, and small ears, hands, and feet, some Down syndrome babies, like Zion, also are born with congenital heart defects.
Bobbi knows what it’s like to face seemingly insurmountable challenges. Though she had one son named Josiah, she suffered through several miscarriages, and then was told she wouldn’t be able to have more children. She awoke one night singing Clint Brown’s “Zion is calling me to a higher place of praise.”
“The Lord spoke to my spirit and said, ‘I will give you a son and you’re
to call him Zion, and he will teach you about praise.’” Bobbi said. “Six weeks later, I found out I was pregnant.”
Though Josh is a licensed mental health counselor, he was not prepared to father a child with so many challenges.
“I’ll be honest, studying about this as a clinician, it still took me by surprise,” he said. “I heard about it and read about it, but when it hits home, it hits you differently. When you have to face it, you become personally involved. It took me by surprise, but it changed my life for the better. It gave me a better understanding of the Down syndrome world. It was a challenge and a journey we were willing to face, because we believe every baby is a gift from God.”
Because Zion’s Army has nonprofit 501(c)(3) status, the Sarmientos perform random acts of kindness. They purchase gifts for families of newborns, with a goal of 12 babies every month. And each year on Zion’s birthday they visit a local bakery and pay for a birthday cake that was ordered by the parents of other children. They leave a card and balloons to be delivered with each cake. Josiah Sarmiento, now 15, found an outlet
for his own grief by getting involved, particularly when the newborn babies have siblings.
In addition to the workouts and social media contacts, the Sarmientos have communicated with state officials, and they lobbied in Washington, D.C., with the National Down Syndrome Society in an effort to bring awareness, rally support, and help change laws related to discrimination against people with disabilities.
“I believe God has given us a purpose for our pain,” said Josh. “When it comes to grief, losing our son, we can relate. We understand the different emotions people go through. There’s unexpected news, crises, an accident, disease—we’re able to understand and create a safe place for them. I would love to in the future continue to be a resource that would promote Down syndrome and help the parents with life skills and social skills through the professional resources that we have. My goal is to one day have all the CrossFit gyms doing Zion’s workout. It will unite the people knowing it’s for a good cause.”
To learn more, visit zionsarmy.net
SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK CELEBRATES
The nonprofit Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida collects, stores and distributes donated food to more than 750 partners in Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties. Last year, the food bank distributed enough food for 78 million meals to partner programs such as food pantries, soup kitchens, women’s shelters, senior centers, day care centers and Kids Cafes.
Since March of 2023, nutrition education coordinators across the food bank’s seven-county service area have been teaching people to incorporate more nutritious foods into their diet, adopt an active lifestyle, prevent chronic illnesses, manage a healthy weight and improve their quality of life.
On Sept. 13, Second Harvest celebrated its 1,000th nutrition education class, which is available for various age groups, such as youth-teens, families with children, adults and seniors.
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From top: Photos of Zion Joe Sarmiento, who passed away on Oct. 8, 2021, are shown in the Sarmiento’s Marion Oaks home on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. Bobbi Sarmiento talks about some of the items set up for her late infant son, Zion Joe Sarmiento, in a room dedicated to him. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
Staff report
Abir Blaney, nutrition education coordinator, leads a class. [Photo courtesy Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida]
Construction of school Open Arms Village
Continued from page A1
Michael and Jill Beck of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Ocala, and their team, launched Compassion UMC at the location in 2023.
The applicants first asked the city for a building permit to make the necessary renovations to the church to convert a portion of it to a shelter, and Planning & Zoning staff instructed them to also submit an application to rezone the property to be in accordance with city ordinances.
Nearby residents have expressed written opposition to the location of the facility, citing concerns about the residential neighborhoods and schools surrounding the church.
“Although it is needed, this specific location isn’t the best choice. It would be within two miles of several schools. I have a child that attends St. John, and I find this concerning. I don’t think it is safe for the children and families, in the surrounding schools if this could happen,” wrote resident Jen Reese.
Resident Craig Turner expressed concern that the facility’s location would lower surrounding property values, saying that since the facility only needs 16 beds, then “perhaps the decision makers in favor can simply take them home and take care of them in their neighborhoods.”
“The corner is going through a transition with CVS closing. This will only bring lesser tenants to the CVS building and cause further long-term blight on the city. It will lead to problems and loss in property values to the owners surrounding the property,” wrote Turner. “Ironically, the proposal would allow a non-tax
paying entity to cause a reduction in property values for the tax paying property owners that surround the property. Only bureaucrats would pass along such an idea.”
Laura Duncan, the grandmother of students at St. John’s and Blessed Trinity, also wrote to city in dissent of the location.
“I do not think that the transitional recovery facility is a good idea in this neighborhood. With school children and homes all around this area, it is a terrible idea to put this in this area,” Duncan wrote. “There are already people wandering around the Churchill shopping center who approach people for money.”
The Open Arms facility would not provide medical care, but housing and support services similar to the options provided at the main facility.
“Through collaboration with other local agencies and ministries the program includes many vital services to our residents. Residents are carefully screened to determine their desire and their willingness to do what it takes to become self-sufficient. They receive case management and other supportive services to help them overcome the challenges that keep them homeless,” according to the Open Arms website.
Among Open Arms Village’s community partners is Zone Health and Fitness, the gym owned by Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano. On the board of directors is Kent Guinn, the city’s former mayor.
To learn more about the organization, go to openarmsvillageocala.org
MCFR CHIEF DETAILS AGENCY’S AID FOR FLORIDA, NORTH CAROLINA AFTER HURRICANE HELENE
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
Members of Marion County’s emergency communications team have been deployed to Asheville, North Carolina to provide aid in the wake of Hurricane Helene causing devastating impacts to the community.
On Sept. 29, the Marion County Public Safety Communications Telecommunicator Emergency Response Team (TERT) deployed six people to Asheville to work in the city’s 911 center, said Marion County Fire Chief James Banta.
The personnel join four telecommunicators from Ohio to conduct emergency call taking and dispatch for a 14-day deployment.
“As of Tuesday, they’re there operating, and it’s important to note that one of the Asheville Communication Center personnel is missing—one of their employees is still not accounted for,” Banta said to the Marion County Commission on Tuesday.
The agency also deployed members to take part in the Florida Incident Management Team Task Force 8, of which MCFR Deputy Chief Graff is the division supervisor.
Task Force 8 was deployed to Cecil Field in Jacksonville on Sept. 26 to assist the Florida National Guard in conducting helicopter search and rescue missions. The task force was sent to Steinhatchee, Keaton Beach and Deckle Beach in Taylor County the following day.
“During the storm, we had many calls (locally) for trees on houses
and things like that, although we didn’t have anybody trapped and we didn’t have any significant injuries throughout the storm,” Banta said.
“And we had a lot of requests for power outages and issues with power.”
Levy County expressed its gratitude to MCFR for assistance in an incident on Sept. 27, for transports made by Black Hawk helicopters provided by Graff through his position on the task force with the state, Banta said.
“They had one incident in the early morning hours of Friday morning where they had a report of 72 individuals that were cut off from the mainland, that were trapped and needed evacuation out,” Banta said. “They received three Black Hawk helicopters to evacuate those people out of their community.”
Task Force 8 has since returned home on Sept. 30, while Graff remains deployed.
Chaplain Joe LoCognada was also deployed to Tallahassee as a state chaplaincy coordinator with the Florida Firefighter Safety and Health Collaborative during the storm, Banta said.
Additionally, Fire Marshal Ken McCann and two of his staff are currently preparing to deploy to Pinellas County to support the conduction of building inspections in the wake of the storm.
“As we start moving into the recovery efforts, one of the things that they need to do is inspect buildings before they turn the power on, so they’re looking for a lot of inspectors with those qualifications to inspect buildings,” Banta said.
Continued from page A1
“We hear your quickness of wanting to get things done, but we can’t operate and accommodate that if you’re not helping us by giving us what’s necessary,” said Commission Chair Michelle Stone.
Straub said that ordinarily the county would review site plans much earlier for a project beginning construction so soon, but that her team supports the school
district’s timeline and doesn’t want to get in the way of it.
“We don’t want anybody pointing fingers at us as we’re pointing fingers back to each other. We don’t like that relationship. We want to get this done,” said Straub.
With the right-ofway for the Marion Oaks Manor project, the standard size for a four-lane road would be 120 feet. In preliminary designs, the county has discussed making the road 130 feet wide to allow there to be a turning lane to provide ease in accessing the high school, Straub said.
“What that 130 feet does for us, that allows us to give you all a turning lane that helps support getting people off of that four-lane major highway and getting into a nice turning movement that they can stack up and to get into the school. So that’s 130 feet impact on y’all,” Straub said.
File photo: Buildings are shown at the Compassion United Methodist Church on Southeast 17th Street in Ocala on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.
CF to host naming ceremony in memory of Ira Holmes
The beloved late professor started the international film series at the college more than 60 years ago.
By Susan Smiley-Height susan@magnoliamediaco.com
The College of Central Florida, in partnership with the city of Ocala, will host a special naming ceremony on Oct. 8 to dedicate a humanities and social sciences classroom in memory of Ira Holmes. The beloved professor passed away on June 9 at the age of 90.
Holmes joined the CF faculty in 1962. He started the Ira Holmes International Film Series more than 60 years ago to share his lifelong passion with the community. The newly named Ira Holmes Classroom will be the location for series film screenings, which are open to CF students and the community.
Holmes, known for his love of art, travel, lifelong learning and cultural studies, led more than two dozen study tours to Europe. He was one of the first members of the Ocala Historic Preservation Advisory Board, serving more than 40 years and assisting with numerous landmark projects including the Reilly Arts Center and Marion Theatre renovations. Just a few days before his passing, the city of Ocala was preparing a proclamation recognizing Holmes’ years of service, noted the CF press release.
The naming event will begin at 6 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Ocala Campus, Building 8, 3001 SW College Road, Ocala. CF President Jim Henningsen will deliver dedication remarks and Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano and Ocala City Manager Pete Lee will present the city of Ocala proclamation. At 6:30 p.m., Ira Holmes International Film Series director Wendy Adams will lead the sharing of memories and at 7 p.m. the 2024-2025 series will kick off with a screening of “The Seventh Seal.” The 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film was
selected by Holmes as “a message of hope for us all.”
Adams was a friend and neighbor of Holmes. She suggested the film series be named in his honor on the 60th anniversary.
“He had mixed feelings when I asked the college to name it after him because he’s a very humble man,” she noted. She referred to a podcast in which Holmes was given a chance to “brag about the film series and what he did with it, but instead he turns it around and talks about the whole goal of the community college system back in the ‘60s and this idealistic thing that local communities and working class people deserved to have a highquality higher education and he says the film series was an example of the success of that. He takes the attention away from himself and uses the platform to brag on the community college system.”
Adams said Holmes’ legacy also would be “all those students out there that he inspired through his long career at CF.”
“He was passionate about learning (through books, museums, travel, art, and movies) to be able to teach students in the CF classroom,” said Holmes’ daughter, Amanda ConchaHolmes. “He loved trains, travel and inspiring people to be the best they can be by reflecting on the humanities and the meaning of life. He taught generations of families in Ocala and would always have students come up to him to rave about how great of a professor he was, and often how he changed their lifepaths in such meaningful ways.”
To RSVP for the naming event go to cf.edu/ira
Two more public parking lots open in downtown Ocala
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
The city of Ocala has opened up two parking lots in downtown for public use, which will be free for the entire month of October.
Parking Lot 5 is located at the northeast corner of North Magnolia Avenue and Northeast First Street. Parking Lot 9 is located at the northeast corner of West Fort King Street and Southwest First Avenue. Both lots are now open for public use and are free until fees are introduced in November.
Parking Lot 5 will remain free for use. Parking Lot Nine will cost $0.75 per hour, starting Nov. 1.
The additional lots bring 106 new spots to downtown, bringing the total number of available public parking spots in the downtown area to 1,175.
The city of Ocala owns eight surface parking lots from Northeast Fifth Street to Southeast Fifth Street.
Lot 7, at Southwest Broadway Street and Southwest First Avenue, has 36 spots.
Lot 9, at West Fort King Street and Southwest Second Avenue, has
20 spots.
The Marion Theatre Lot, at 50 S Magnolia Ave., has 10 public spots and 10 theatre spots.
Lot 5, at North Magnolia Avenue and Northeast Second Street, has 86 spots.
Lot 6, at North Magnolia Avenue and Northwest Second Street, has 96 spots.
The City Hall Lot, at Southeast Watula Avenue and East Fort King Street, has 52 spots.
The Citizen Service Center Lot, at Southeast Watula Avenue and Southeast Third Street, has 84 spots.
Lot 14, at The Mount Moriah Baptist Church, has 37 spots.
Parking Garage One, at Southeast Broadway Street and Southeast Osceola Street, has 280 public spots.
There are 474 total spots for street parking, 207 of which are non-metered and 267 are metered.
“Revenue from parking fees directly supports the maintenance and enhancement of Ocala’s parking infrastructure, ensuring the system remains safe and accessible. These funds also contribute to improvements within the downtown area,” according to the city.
File photo: A parking meter is shown on the Ocala Downtown Square in Ocala on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021.
[Bruce Ackerman/ Ocala Gazette] 2021.
Ira Holmes at the Marion Theatre in 2021. [Courtesy of College of Central Florida]
PICKUP DRIVER FACES CHARGES
INCLUDING DUI MANSLAUGHTER
One woman died and three other occupants of SUV were injured in crash.
By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
A72-year-old Clermont woman was killed and three other occupants of an SUV traveling on U.S. Highway 441 in southeast Marion County on Friday night were injured when the SUV was struck from behind by a driver now charged with DUI Manslaughter, the Florida Highway Patrol reports.
According to an FHP press release, the SUV, which was being driven by a 53-year-old Ocala man, was headed north on U.S. Highway 441 near Southeast 92nd Loop around 7:40 p.m. when a pickup truck driven by a 54-year-old Ocala man approached the “slower moving (SUV) from the rear” and struck the SUV.
The driver of the SUV incurred minor injuries while a 60-year old female passenger and 76-year-old male passenger both suffered serious injuries. All occupants of the SUV were wearing seat belts, according to the FHP.
The FHP has identified the driver charged in the fatal crash as 54-yearold William Hibshman of Ocala.
The press release stated that Hibshman, who was wearing a seat belt and had minor injuries, was arrested on the DUI manslaughter charge, “among several other criminal charges, and booked into the Marion County jail.”
United Way of Marion County to host Oct. 15 training seminar
The event for nonprofits will help prepare them to participate in the Children’s Charity Classic in February of 2025.
By Susan Smiley-Height susan@magnoliamediaco.com
United Way of Marion County has announced a training seminar for local nonprofits serving children. The training session on Oct. 15 will educate nonprofit representatives about the Children’s Charity Classic event, which will be held Feb. 21, 2025, at the HITS Post Time Farm west of Ocala.
The seminar will provide essential information about applying for funding through the inaugural Children’s Charity Classic and will begin at 8:45 a.m. Oct. 15, in the Community Room at United Way, located at 1401 NE 2nd St., Ocala.
Two years ago, Niki Tripodi, United Way of Marion County’s vice president of resource development, saw an equestrian event that combined a love of horses and philanthropy. She said she knew immediately that this was something that needed to happen in Ocala, the Horse Capital of the World.
“I was convinced that many equestrians are dedicated and giving. My passion for children drove me to create the Children’s Charity Classic. This event unites the equestrian world with philanthropy in a fun, impactful event. It was meant to be,” said Tripodi.
“By participating in the Children’s Charity Classic, local nonprofits can gain valuable
funding and collaborate with the equine community to uplift the lives of children in Marion County,” she added.
During the Oct. 15 seminar, charities will learn about the application process.
“This seminar is an excellent opportunity for nonprofit organizations to learn about the Children’s Charity Classic. This event combines equestrian jumping with philanthropy to create a fun, impactful day for the community. Seminar attendees will gain insight into how they can participate and benefit from this unique event,” stated Beth Nelson, United Way’s vice president of community impact.
To be considered for funding through the challenge, interested nonprofits must meet the following criteria:
- Must be a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- Must have an up-to-date audit or filed 990 forms
- Must serve children in Marion County
- Must provide two impact reports detailing spending
- Must produce a 3-minute video
A committee will select the nonprofits that will compete at the February event.
United Way of Marion County works to create a thriving community where adults and children achieve their full potential with access to a solid education, good health, safe neighborhoods, and jobs that pay a living wage, Nelson shared.
The organization focuses on three core areas: Education, financial stability and the health of Marion County residents
“We work collaboratively with our community partners and other nonprofits to create a positive and sustainable impact in our community. We strategically invest in effective programs and services that solve complex issues, bettering the community for all,” Nelson shared via email.
Nelson said the agency is committed to creating a positive and sustainable impact in the community.
“We strategically invest in effective programs and services that address complex issues, ultimately benefiting everyone in the area. The Children’s Charity Classic exemplifies these goals by providing crucial funding to nonprofits focused on improving the lives of children,” Nelson wrote.
“We aim to award over $150,000 to the participating charities through sponsorships, during-the-event donation opportunities, and peer-to-peer fundraising, enabling them to continue their impactful work within the community. We believe this initiative will significantly enhance our efforts to support children and families in need. This will be a legacy event for our community,” she added.
For additional information or questions regarding the seminar, email Nelson at bnelson@uwmc.org
MARION COUNTY CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS AND SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICIALS TO GET RAISES
The Children’s Charity Classic event on Feb. 21, 2025, at the HITS Post Time Farm west of Ocala, will combine equestrian jumping with philanthropy to create a fun, impactful day for the community. [Photo
courtesy HITS Horse Shows Ocala]
Serving their community
Five members of a local Iron Legion gym pitched in to help with post-hurricane cleanup at home in West Ocala.
By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
Five Good Samaritans from a local gym worked for several hours on Saturday, Sept. 28, with axes and chainsaws to deal with the massive portion of an oak tree that fell Thursday night and narrowly missed hitting a senior couple’s house in West Ocala.
“I can’t believe it. This is a blessing,” said Ozell DeBose, 67, who lives with his wife, Susie DeBose, in the house located in the 1700 block of West Silver Springs Boulevard.
The tree section crashed down as the effects of Hurricane Helene rolled through Ocala. Susie DeBose, 80, said she was “scared” and “on her knees” praying to the Lord to spare their home.
“This is marvelous. (God) sent somebody to help,” she
said Saturday.
The volunteer group of a trainer and four members of the Iron Legion Strength + Combat gym worked in sweltering heat to chop and saw the oak tree section into manageable pieces and gather the wood and debris for later pickup.
The section of the tree that fell measured at least 40 inches in diameter and was perhaps 40 feet long. The tree section came within about five feet of the DeBose’s house and damaged the bed cover of a pickup truck parked adjacent to the residence.
The DeBose’s were in the process of seeking an agency or program that might help them with the removal of the tree downed by the storm when Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano, who had learned about the couples’ plight, also looked for available programs and then reached out to private
citizen E.J. Nieves, a local artist who trains at the Iron Legion gym. Without hesitation, a group connected to the gym formed, with personal trainer and coach, Sean Fullwood, 36, taking a lead role in handling the chainsaw work.
Fullwood described Iron Legion training programs as functional and directed toward making trainees “capable” to help people and the community.
“We’re not bodybuilders,” he said.
Isabelle Reynolds, a manager with the gym who checked in at the work site on Saturday, said Fullwood meets with his trainees at 7 a.m. for their workouts.
“The whole point of Iron Legion training is to do other things to help the community and your family,” she said.
Nieves, 40, said Iron Legion training prepares trainees to be “ready for emergencies” and to function in “real world situations.”
Chris Guthrie, 35, an Iron Legion trainee and single dad of three girls, who works with Culligan Water, credited the training as a help for him after having two back surgeries. Guthrie said he was happy to reach out and help the DeBose’s.
“Whatever we can do to help,” Guthrie said.
Randall Lacasse, 39, an Iron Legion trainee and landscaper, was accompanied to the work site by his son, Kai, 10.
Gwen Kluepfel, a trainee at Iron Legion and trainer at Gold’s Gym was also one of the work crew.
Donnovan Busby, who operates Donnovan’s Barbershop on the opposite side of the oak tree from the DeBose’s home, was thankful the volunteer crew came to help with the tree removal.
Meanwhile, Susie DeBose said her father, Andrew Pritchard, built the house with lumber he hauled to the site himself and that she was born in the house. She displayed a dated photo of her father and mother, Clara Pritchard. DeBose attended what was then Hampton Community College in Ocala and graduated in 1965 with an AA degree in sociology.
“The community came out to help,” she said of the act of kindness by the volunteers.
To learn more about the volunteer group, go to ironlegionsc.com
Remaining parts of a large oak tree section can be seen with the DeBose home in the background on Sept. 28, 2024, as volunteers connected with Iron Legion Strength + Combat spent hours chopping up and preparing debris for disposal. [Andy Fillmore]
Sean Fullwood, a coach and personal trainer with Iron Legion Strength + Combat, works on Sept. 28, 2024, to cut up a large section of oak tree that nearly struck a home on West Silver Springs Boulevard during the effects of Hurricane Helene. [Andy Fillmore]
Susie DeBose stands outside her house on West Silver Springs Boulevard on Sept. 28, 2024. The house was nearly struck by a portion of a large oak tree that came down during Hurricane Helene. DeBose was born in the house, which was built by her father. [Andy Fillmore]
From left, Sean Fullwood, coach and personal trainer with Iron Legion Strength + Combat, poses with gym trainees E.J. Nieves, Chris Guthrie and Randall Lacasse (kneeling). The volunteers removed a massive portion of an oak tree on Sept. 28, 2024, that fell during Hurricane Helene and nearly struck the home of Susie and Ozell DeBose. [Andy Fillmore]
Members of the Iron Legion Strength + Combat help remove part of a large section of oak tree that fell on the home of Susie and Ozell DeBose during Hurricane Helene. [Andy Fillmore]
State Homeless, ‘Margaritaville’ laws to take effect
By Jim Turner Florida News Service
Nearly three dozen new state laws will take effect Oct. 1, including a contentious measure that will limit where homeless people can sleep.
Other measures include creating a license plate for Parrot Heads living the life of the late singer Jimmy Buffett and requirements about flood disclosures for home buyers.
In all, 34 laws that passed during the 2024 legislative session will take effect, with the homeless changes (HB 1365) drawing the most attention.
“Florida has chosen to reject comfortable inaction and tackle this problem head on,” House bill sponsor Sam Garrison, R-Fleming Island, said in June after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an Oregon city’s ordinance cracking down on public camping.
The new Florida law bars local governments from allowing people to sleep at places such as public buildings and in public rights of way. Local governments would be allowed to designate areas for homeless people to sleep.
Another part of the measure will give legal standing to residents and business owners to file civil lawsuits against local governments that allow sleeping or camping on public property. That part of the law will take effect Jan. 1. Communities have scrambled in recent months to try to comply with the law. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said he hoped Gov. Ron DeSantis would delay enforcement.
“We’re doing our best to try to address it. We’ve staffed our police department, our civilian homeless outreach program, we’ve doubled it this past year, because we feel it’s a priority,” Trantalis said during a Sept. 1 meeting. “But the mandate from the state is an onerous burden.”
Miami-Dade County has considered “tiny houses,” managed by a homeless agency, the Homeless Trust, as emergency accommodations to limit the impact of the changes on jails.
Jacksonville rolled out a $13.6 million plan to address the law that included a point person in the mayor’s office to address homeless issues, expanded outreach teams and an increase in beds at shelters.
“It’s not just about keeping people off the streets. It’s about making sure they can become viable members of our society,” Mayor Donna Deegan said in July.
Most bills passed during this year’s legislative session took effect July 1, including the budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Here are some of the other measures that will take effect Oct. 1:
--- HB 403: Creates several potential new license plates, including a “Margaritaville” plate—in honor of Buffett—to benefit the SFC Charitable Foundation, Inc. Other potential new plates include Universal Orlando Resort;” “Support General Aviation;” “Recycle Florida;” “Boating Capital of the World;” and “The Villages: May All Your Dreams Come True.”
--- HB 549: Makes it a third-degree felony to be part of a group of five or more people who overwhelm a merchant to conduct retail theft.
--- SB 718: Makes it a seconddegree felony for people who possess fentanyl or similar drugs that result in first responders suffering overdoses or serious injuries.
--- SB 758: Makes changes to laws about using tracking devices, with exemptions provided under certain circumstances for law-enforcement officers, parents of minors, caregivers of seniors and vehicle owners.
--- SB 764: Requires medical facilities and rape crisis centers to transfer sexual-assault evidence kits to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement within 30 days.
— SB 1036: Increases criminal penalties for immigrants who are arrested for felonies after illegally reentering the U.S. following deportation for earlier crimes.
--- HB 1049: Requires disclosing information to home buyers such as whether the properties have had flood damage and notification that homeowners’ insurance policies don’t include coverage for flood damage.
--- HB 1235: Makes a series of changes related to sexual offenders and sexual predators, including changing requirements about reporting to authorities at least 48 hours before moving to another state.
--- HB 1389: Makes changes related to digital voyeurism, including increasing criminal penalties if offenders are age 19 or older and are family members or hold positions of authority over victims.
--- SB 1628: Includes requiring local governments to complete business impact statements before adopting comprehensive plan amendments and land development regulations.
COURT TO CONSIDER DRAG SHOW LAW
By Florida News Service
Afederal appeals court next week will hear arguments about a 2023 Florida law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments Oct. 9 in Jacksonville.
The state last year appealed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell that blocked enforcement of the law.
Presnell said the law, which was challenged by Hamburger Mary’s, an Orlando restaurant and bar, violated First Amendment rights.
Presnell ruled that the law is not “sufficiently narrowly tailored” to meet First Amendment standards and issued a preliminary injunction against it.
The law, dubbed by sponsors as the “Protection of Children Act,” would prevent venues from admitting children to adult live performances.
It defines adult live performances as “any show, exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience, which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or specific sexual activities, … lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”
IN THE CIRCUIT
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. The personal representative has no duty to discover whether any property held at the time of the decedent's death by the decedent or the decedent's surviving spouse is
to which the Florida Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act as described in ss. 732.216-732.228, Florida Statutes, applies, or may apply, unless a written demand is made by a creditor as specified under s. 732.2211, Florida Statutes. 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 September 27, 2024. Attorney for Personal Representative:
COLLEEN M. DURIS, B.C.S. Florida Bar Number: 975140
500 NE 8th Avenue
Ocala, FL 34470
Telephone: (352) 732-7020
Fax: (352) 867-5111
E-Mail: service@ocalaelderlaw.com
E-Mail: angie@ocalaelderlaw.com
Personal Representative Richard Chen 5610 SW 87 Lane Ocala, Florida 34476
IN THE PROBATE COURT
FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF HORRY
CASE NO 2024-GC-26-00040
Ashley Bines, Petitioner Vs Shariyah Lisbon, Gloria Lisbon
SUMMONS & PETITION APPOINTMENT OF CONSERVATOR
To: Gloria Lisbon
You are hereby summoned and required
To answer this Petition, a copy of which
Is hereby served upon you, and to serve a Copy of your answer to the said Petition on the attorney for the Petitioner At 1121 Third Avenue, Conway, South Carolina, 29526 and file an Original with the Horry County Probate Court, PO Box 288, Conway, SC 29528, Within thirty (30) days after the service Thereof, exclusive of the day of such Service; and if you fail to do so, the Petitioner will apply to the court For the relief demanded in the Petition.
LAW OFFICES L. MORGAN MARTIN, P.A. Mary Ashley Martin, Esq. 1121 Third Avenue Conway, SC 29526 Telephone: 843-248-3177
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION IN RE: Estate of Franklin Howard Holley, Deceased. File No. 24CP002151AX NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of Franklin Howard Holley a/k/a Frank Holley, deceased, whose date of death was March 25, 2024, is pending in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 110 NW 1st Ave #1, Ocala, FL 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. The personal representative has no duty to discover whether any property held at the time of the decedent's death by the decedent or the decedent's surviving spouse is property to which the Florida Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act as described in ss. 732.216-732.228, Florida Statutes, applies, or may apply, unless a written demand is made by a creditor as specified under s. 732.2211, Florida Statutes. 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 the first publication of this notice is September 27, 2024.
Attorney for Personal Representative: Monique Lavender Greenberg, Esq. Florida Bar Number: 83834 Lavender Greenberg PLLC 2525 Ponce de Leon Blvd Suite 300 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Telephone: (786) 832-4694 Fax: (786) 249-7096 E-Mail: monique@lglawmiami.com
Notice is hereby given that the School Board of Marion County, Florida, will meet on October 17, 2024, at 7:30 a.m., at the School Board Administration Office, 1614 E. Ft. King Street, Ocala, Florida, 34471. An agenda will be published seven days prior to the meeting. The agenda may be obtained at the Administration Office between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The agenda is also available from a link on the District’s website: www.marion. k12.fl.us.
Persons wishing to address the Board should register with the Chairman prior to 7:40 a.m.
Any person deciding to appeal any decision made by the Board at the meeting will need a record of the proceedings and, for such purpose, may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence on which the appeal is to be based.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION IN RE: ESTATE OF RODGER EARL HANLON File No. 2024-CP-2301
Deceased.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The administration of the estate of RODGER EARL HANLON, deceased, whose date of death was August 28, 2024, is pending in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 110 NW First Avenue, Ocala, Florida 34475. 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.
The personal representative has no duty to discover whether any property held at the time of the decedent's death by the decedent or the decedent's surviving spouse is property to which the Florida Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act as described in ss. 732.216-732.228, Florida Statutes, applies, or may apply, unless a written demand is made by a creditor as specified under s. 732.2211, Florida Statutes.
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 September 27, 2024.
Attorney for Personal Representative: COLLEEN M. DURIS
Florida Bar Number: 975140 500 NE 8th Avenue Ocala, FL 34470 Telephone: (352) 732-7020
Fax: (352) 867-5111
E-Mail: service@ocalaelderlaw.com
E-Mail: angie@ocalaelderlaw.com
Personal Representative: Sue Hanlon 205 East Jean Street Tampa, Florida 33604
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA.
IN RE: THE ESTATE OF JAMES G. MAREAN, Deceased. CASE NO: 2024-CP-2184
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The name of the decedent, the designation of the court in which the administration of this estate is pending, and the file number are indicated above. The address of the court is 110 N.W. 1st Avenue, Ocala, FL 34475. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative’s attorney are indicated below.
If you have been served with a copy of this notice and you have any claim or demand against the decedent’s estate, even if that claim is unmatured, contingent or unliquidated, you must file your claim with the court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF A DATE THAT IS 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER YOU RECEIVE A COPY OF THIS NOTICE.
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 the court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT SO FILED WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. EVEN IF A CLAIM IS NOT BARRED BY THE LIMITATIONS DESCRIBED ABOVE, ALL CLAIMS WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN FILED WILL BE BARRED TWO YEARS AFTER DECEDENT’S DEATH.
The date of death of the decedent is: April 21, 2024. The date of first publication of this Notice is September 27, 2024.
Attorney for Personal Representative: JOSHUA L. MOSES Richard & Moses, LLC Florida Bar No. 119304 808 E Fort King Street Ocala, FL 34471 (352) 369-1300 Primary Email: Josh@RMProbate.com
Personal Representative: LEO W. SMITH, JR. 3445 SE 45th Street Ocala, FL 34480
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA, FIFTH CIRCUIT, PROBATE DIVISION IN RE: ESTATE OF Ardyce Marie Blades a/k/a Ardyce M. Blades, Deceased. UCN: 422024CP002066CPAXMX/REF# 42-2024-CP-002066 NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The administration of the estate of Ardyce Marie Blades a/k/a Ardyce M. Blades, deceased, whose date of death was February 21, 2024; UCN:422024CP002066CPAXMX REF#: 42-2024-CP-00206616 is pending in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida, Probate Division; the address of which is 110 NW 1st Avenue, Suite 301, Ocala, Florida 34475 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 has been served must file their claims with this court WITHIN THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE 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 SO FILED WILL BE FOREVER BARRED.
NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIOD 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 October 4, 2024. Attorney for Personal Representative: s/ Deborah A. Bushnell, Esq. Email address: debbie@dbushnell.net 204 Scotland Street Dunedin, Florida 34698 Telephone: (727) 733-9064 FBN: 304441/SPN NO. 117974 Personal Representative: s/ Darren Blades 13137 215th Avenue Big Rapids, MI 49037
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION IN RE: ESTATE OF File No. 2024-CP-2325
JOSEPH PATRICK MICILCAVAGE
Deceased.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The administration of the estate of JOSEPH PATRICK MICILCAVAGE, deceased, whose date of death was July 8, 2024, is pending in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 110 NW First Avenue, Ocala, Florida 34475. 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.
The personal representative has no duty to discover whether any property held at the time of the decedent's death by the decedent or the decedent's surviving spouse is property to which the Florida Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act as described in ss. 732.216-732.228, Florida Statutes, applies, or may apply, unless a written demand is made by a creditor as specified under s. 732.2211, Florida Statutes. 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 September 27 2024.
Attorney for Personal Representative: COLLEEN M. DURIS, B.C.S. Florida Bar Number: 975140 500 NE 8th Avenue
Ocala, FL 34470
Telephone: (352) 732-7020
Fax: (352) 867-5111
E-Mail: service@ocalaelderlaw.com
angie@ocalaelderlaw.com
Personal Representative: JOLENE C. MICILCAVAGE 5253 NW 76th Court Ocala, Florida 34482
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA. IN RE: THE ESTATE OF GLENNA L. STRUTHERS, Deceased. CASE NO: 2024-CP-2274 NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The name of the decedent, the designation of the court in which the administration of this estate is pending, and the file number are indicated above. The address of the court is 110 N.W. 1st Avenue, Ocala, FL 34475. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative’s attorney are indicated below. If you have been served with a copy of this notice and you have any claim or demand against the decedent’s estate, even if that claim is unmatured, contingent or unliquidated, you must file your claim with the court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF A DATE THAT IS 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER YOU RECEIVE A COPY OF THIS NOTICE.
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 the court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT SO FILED WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. EVEN IF A CLAIM IS NOT BARRED BY THE LIMITATIONS DESCRIBED ABOVE, ALL CLAIMS WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN FILED WILL BE BARRED TWO YEARS AFTER DECEDENT’S DEATH.
The date of death of the decedent is: July 22, 2024. The date of first publication of this Notice is September 27, 2024.
Attorney for Personal Representative: JOSHUA L. MOSES Richard & Moses, LLC Florida Bar No. 119304 808 E Fort King Street Ocala, FL 34471 (352) 369-1300
Primary Email: Josh@RMProbate.com
Personal Representative: DEBORAH KOLODY 38049 Journey Lane Lady Lake, FL 32159
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION CASE NUMBER: 24CP002296AX IN RE THE ESTATE OF: KENNETH BRANDENBURG, DECEASED.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The administration of the estate of Kenneth Brandenburg, deceased, whose date of death was July 9, 2024, is pending in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is PO Box 1030, Ocala, Florida 34478. 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. The personal representative has no duty to discover whether any property held at the time of the decedent's death by the decedent or the decedent's surviving spouse is property to which the Florida Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act as described in ss. 732.216-732.228, Florida Statutes, applies, or may apply, unless a written demand is made by a creditor as specified under s. 732.2211, Florida Statutes.
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: October 4, 2024
Attorney for Personal Representative: /s/ Johnnie B. Byrd, Jr. Johnnie B. Byrd, Jr. FBN 227269 206 N COLLINS ST, Plant City, FL Telephone: (813) 759-1224 Fax: (813) 759-1101 E-Mail: johnnie@byrd-barnhill.com
NOTICE OF A SCHOOL BOARD ADMINISTRATIVE BRIEFING AND WORK SESSION
Notice is hereby given that the School Board of Marion County, Florida, will meet in a work session on October 17, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. The meeting will be held at the MTI Auditorium, 1614 E. Ft. King Street, Ocala, Florida, 34471. An agenda will be published seven days prior to the meeting and may be obtained at the Administration Office between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The agenda is also available from a link on the District’s website: www. marionschools.net.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The Ocala City Council has introduced the following
Any person who decides to appeal any decision of the Ocala City Council with respect to any matter considered at this meeting will
ORDINANCE 2025-1
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING MAP OF THE CITY OF OCALA, FLORIDA, CHANGING FROM INSTITUTIONAL, INST TO LIMITED COMMUNITY BUSINESS, B-2A FOR CERTAIN PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1712 SE LAKE WEIR AVENUE (PARCEL NUMBER 2920010-008), APPROXIMATELY 4.63 ACRES (CASE NO. ZON24-45752); 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 2025-2
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING MAP OF THE CITY OF OCALA, FLORIDA, CHANGING FROM M-1, LIGHT INDUSTRIAL, TO M-2, MEDIUM INDUSTRIAL, FOR A PORTION OF THE PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE 2600 BLOCK OF NE 36TH AVENUE (PARCEL 24241-010-00), APPROXIMATELY 8.85 ACRES (CASE NO. ZON24-45799); 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.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA
IN RE: THE ESTATE OF PROBATE DIVISION CLARENCE R. MITCHELL, a/k/a, Case No.: 2204CP-2205 CLARENCE RAY MITCHELL, deceased. / NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of CLARENCE R. MITCHELL, a/k/a CLARENCE RAY MITCHELL, deceased, whose date of death was May 25, 2024, is pending in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 110 NW 1 st Ave., Room 202,
Public Notice
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA
IN RE: ESTATE OF JOSEPH THOMAS HILL, JR.
Deceased.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
PROBATE DIVISION File No. 24-CP002430
The administration of the estate of Joseph Thomas Hill, Jr., deceased, whose date of death was August 10, 2024, is pending in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is Florida. 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 October 4, 2024.
1200 Riverplace Boulevard, Suite 800 Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Telephone: (904) 807-2103
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA
STEPHEN M. CHANCAS AND BARBARA J. CHANCAS, HIS WIFE,
PLAINTIFF,
VS.
CARPET CENTER OF OCALA, INC., A DISSOLVED FLORIDA CORPORATION, DEFENDANT. / CASE NO.: 24CA1776
NOTICE OF ACTION
TO: CARPET CENTER OF OCALA, INC., A DISSOLVED FLORIDA CORPORATION, YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to quiet the title to the Plaintiffs’ real property lying in Marion County, Florida: Lots 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and the north 19 feet of Lot 27, Block 6, MEADOWVIEW ADDITION, less the south 8 feet of Lot 24, all of Lots 25 and 26 and the north 19 feet of Lot 27, Block 6, MEADOWVIEW ADDITION, as per plat thereof in Plat Book “B”, Page 233 of the Public Records of Marion County, Florida, together with that part of Pine Street (a forty (40) foot right-of-way) lying West of said lots and East of State Road 500-25 (Pine Street Highway, a 100 foot right-of-way). and identified by the Marion County Property Appraiser as Parcel No. 28574-006-19, has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jeffrey R. Dollinger, Esquire, the Plaintiff’s attorney, whose address is 4923 NW 43rd Street, Gainesville, Florida 32606, within 30 days after the first publication of this Notice, and file the original with the Clerk of this Court either before service on the Plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter, otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint.
DATED on this 24th day of September, 2024. Gregory C. Harrell Clerk of the Circuit Court by: N. Bill Deputy Clerk
Marion Soil and Water
Meetings: General Business, 9 AM, 2710 E Silver Springs Blvd, Ocala Board will attend the Springs Forever Summit, 1701 SW 60th Ave, Ocala, on 11/14. Resident who wishes to receive notices by mail or email please contact us at 352.438.2475 for the agenda and/or accommodations. www.marionswcdfl.gov
Court weighs teacher pronoun restrictions
By Dara Kam Florida News Service
Afederal appellate-court panel heard arguments Tuesday in a challenge to a Florida law requiring educators to use pronouns that align with their sex assigned at birth, in a case that has drawn national attention from the Biden administration, teachers unions and LGBTQ advocates.
Lawyers for the state went to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction that blocked enforcement of the 2023 law against transgender Hillsborough County teacher Katie Wood.
The lawsuit alleges the law violates teachers’ First Amendment rights and runs afoul of a federal civil-rights law.
Attorneys for the state argued in court documents that the Legislature has discretion to “promote the state’s pedagogical goals” and “vindicate parental rights.”
Addressing a three-judge panel during a hearing Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala., Brian Weir, an attorney for the state, said the case “raises the question of whether governments can rule teacher speech conveyed directly to their students in the classroom.”
Judge Adalberto Jordan grilled Weir on the issue, posing a set of hypothetical situations exploring how much leeway the government would have over what teachers want to call themselves.
As an example, Jordan floated the possibility that the “state of Florida decides that socialism is good and that they want to protect socialism against all attacks … so they require all teachers to refer to themselves as ‘comrade.’” He asked Weir if that would amount to a First Amendment violation.
“I don’t think so,” Weir, an attorney with the Consovoy McCarthy PLLC firm, answered, adding that school boards can require teachers to use “Mr.” or “Mrs.” instead of their first names.
Jordan then asked if the state could prohibit married teachers from using their maiden names.
“The First Amendment does not distinguish between those hypotheticals,” the state’s lawyer said.
The judge continued to grill Weir on the issue.
“Is it your position that when it comes to the classroom, the state can dictate exactly how a teacher is to refer to himself or herself, vis-a-vis students?” Jordan asked at one point.
“I think everyone agrees that a school board or a state can require teachers to go by ‘Mr.’ and ‘Mrs.’ instead of their first name in the first place. And so if that is true, and that is pursuant to a teacher’s duties—what a teacher is called by students in that context—this case is just a short putt from there,” Weir said.
But Jordan interrupted him.
“No, it’s not. That’s a long drive. The First Amendment … is full of doctrine and cubby holes and all sorts of stuff. And you can’t go from requiring a teacher from referring to himself or herself as ‘Mr.’ or ‘Ms.’ or ‘Mrs.’ as opposed to a first-name basis, to everything else. It’s a starting point, but it’s not a justification under the First Amendment,” the judge said.
Jordan also asked if the restriction applies to non-instructional workers, such as janitors. Weir said it does when they are interacting with students.
“What a crazy world,” the judge said.
Judges Kevin Newsom and Andrew Brasher
peppered Weir and Samuel Boyd, who represents Wood, with questions.
Brasher asked if pronouns written on whiteboards, included in a class syllabus or provided verbally to students constituted government speech.
“Can you just address that?” Brasher asked Boyd. “That seems pursuant to a teacher’s official responsibilities.”
Wood wants to be able to tell her students what she wants to be called when they ask her about it, Boyd said.
“And if a student uses the wrong pronoun, which, in her experience, has been unintentional, generally, she’d just say, ‘I actually go by she/ her, but that’s fine.’ And so I think that’s the same way as if a teacher was called by the wrong name, then the teacher would have the ability to correct it without their name becoming government speech,” Boyd said.
The pronoun restriction was part of a series of controversial measures that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have approved in recent years that focus on transgender people. For example, they have sought to prevent trans minors from receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria.
The appeals-court case centers on part of the 2023 law that says a school employee “may not provide to a student his or her preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex.” The state defines sex as what was assigned at birth. Educators who violate the law can be fired.
The state has paid the Virginia-based Consovoy McCarthy firm more than $676,000 to represent the State Board of Education and other Florida education officials in the lawsuit and approved a $1 million contract with the firm on Sept. 6.
In a June brief filed at the appeals court, lawyers for the state said public-school systems have the authority to regulate speech of employees.
“The law doesn’t prohibit teachers from advocating publicly their views on usage of preferred titles and pronouns generally,” the brief said. “Nor does it prohibit teachers from providing their preferred titles or pronouns to other employees in school or from providing them to anyone outside school. But even if the law affected more than a teacher’s personal speech at work, the state’s interests in furthering its educational policies and preventing disruption outweigh the narrow subset of speech that the law regulates.”
Walker’s April ruling rejected the state’s arguments that the pronoun restriction was a “pedagogical” decision and, as a result, protected from First Amendment scrutiny.
“Given the personal, self-identifying speech at issue in this case, and the broad application of this restriction to every employee or contractor in the public K-12 context regardless of whether they are responsible for teaching students, this court concludes that the restriction itself is not simply a ‘pedagogical’ or ‘curricular’ choice,” the judge’s order said.
Attorneys in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a friend-of-the-court brief in June arguing that the restrictions violate what is known as Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 because they discriminate based on sex.
The “mandatory nature” of the title and pronoun policies and the “consequences for non-compliance make clear” that the policies are a term or condition of employment, the Biden administration brief said.
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Home & Garden
Real estate inventory goes up; home sale prices move downward in Florida and Ocala area
Staff Report
The Florida Realtors agents’ association released its August 2024 market report, showing that statewide, the median singlefamily home sale price in Florida was reduced to $411,638, a 0.8% year over year decrease, and substantially lower than July’s reported $417,000 median price. Townhouses and condo median sales price decreased to $310,000, a 4.3% decrease from August 2023.
The Ocala/Marion County’s August median sale price reported for single-family homes was $290,000, reduced 3.9% from last year. Ocala/Marion County reported 799 closings of single-family homes in August, a decrease of 3.9% from August 2023.
Brad O’Connor, senior economist for the Florida Realtors, a statewide agents’ reporting and professional trade association, said inventory levels have shifted.
“Year to date through the end of August, closed sales of single-family homes are down 1.7%. New listings of single-family homes in August were up by over 2% compared to a year ago, which is the smallest year over year increase we’ve seen for new listings of single family homes so far this year. Overall, for the year, we are still up by nearly 14% in this category, but we should probably expect a smaller year over year increases for the remainder of the year.”
Single-Family Market Sector
O’Connor also said about sales prices, “The August median sale price for closed single family home sales in Florida was down year over year for the first time in a while. This decline was less than 1%, however, and is not altogether surprising given that inventory has seen fairly significant rises over the past year. Despite showing signs that it is leveling off more recently, the nearly $412,000 median sale price for single family homes is still significantly above pre-pandemic levels.”
Statewide, single family home sales in August were down 1.1% compared to a year ago, with 22,675 total sales reported. The active listing inventory for single-family homes is at 95,658 an increase of 49.5% over last August.
The association reported the supply of single-family existing homes statewide increased to a 4.5-months’ supply, a 50% increase from last August.
“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 increased by 12.3% with a total of 5,880 throughout Florida, which accounted for 25.9% of all sales, just over one-quarter 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.”
Townhomes/Condos Market Sector
Locally, the market area of Ocala/Marion County townhouses and condos median sales prices came in at $220,000, an increase of 4.8% from August 2023. A total of 50 closed sales were reported.
Statewide, townhouses and condos median price was $310,000, a decrease of 4.3% from last August. The active inventory is 58,915, a 74.7% increase from August 2023. Overall, this segment of the real estate market is moving toward more activity.
“Over in the townhouse and condo property type category,” said O’Connor, “August was a little bit more turbulent. Closed sales in this category were down by nearly 15% year over year, which is the third year over year decline we’ve seen this year for townhouses and condos, trailing only the nearly 17% decline in March, and the more than 20% decline in June.”
Existing townhouse and condo properties statewide were at a 7.1-months’ supply, an increase of 89.5% over August of 2023.
For townhomes and condos, the number of cash sales statewide was 6,620 a decrease of 22.8% from August 2023. Those sales represented just over 45% of the market.
Recent real estate closings
‘Traditional’ Jewish American foods keep changing, with cookbooks playing an influential role in how Jews mark Rosh Hashana
By Deborah Dash Moore
Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of History and Professor of Judaic Studies, University of Michigan
The end of August inaugurated the Hebrew month of Elul, when Jews all over the world start getting ready for the High Holidays: the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashana followed 10 days later by the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
Rabbis are polishing their sermons for one of the few times they can be confident of a large congregation ready to hear what they have to say. Cantors, who lead congregants in worship, are practicing the special nusach, melodies used during the High Holidays for prayers. Choir leaders meet with their group members to rehearse hymns and other songs. And those who cook are thinking about the meals they will serve.
Although Yom Kippur is a day of fasting, it is preceded by a large dinner and concludes with a meal to break the fast. Rosh Hashana, by contrast, summons up many meals. A large, multicourse feast opens the first evening, to be followed by another full dinner midday on the first day of the holiday and then a third substantial meal for the second day of the holiday. These feasts traditionally include fish, soup, meat, vegetables, fruit, bread, wine and, of course, a sweet dessert.
The wish for a sweet year gets expressed in food. Honey is a key ingredient. So are apples, since they are plentiful in this season.
As a historian of American Jews, I have been fascinated by the changing character of what are considered “Jewish” foods as expressed in cookbooks. These recipes have shaped the foods that American Jews have eaten, guiding what scholars call “vernacular religion,” or religion as it is lived.
Jewish American cookbooks across the 20th century have influenced the shifting tastes of American Jews’ vernacular religion, even as they have often reflected those tastes.
How kosher food changed in America Judaism possesses an elaborate system that determines what food observant Jews can eat and which ones can be eaten together. Following these guidelines is called “keeping kosher”: either something
is kosher and can be eaten or it is not.
In the United States, the growth of industrial food production for profit stimulated a wide array of products that could receive a symbol that labeled them as kosher. These range from the Orthodox Union’s OU symbol to a simple K to symbols that have a male rabbi’s name attached to them indicating his approval of the product. These multiple branding systems mean that Jews encounter a supermarket of Jewish choices, allowing each individual to decide just what products to buy.
Some people buy only products labeled “glatt kosher,” a reference that originally referred to meat and the inspection of an animal’s lungs. In the U.S., Jews expanded the definition to emphasize a stringency that labeled only some foods sufficiently kosher to be eaten. Other people adopt a wide range of individual options.
Some reflect the prosperity of American Jews, such as having two sets of dishes, silverware and pots—one for meat and the other for dairy. Other variations register Jewish desires to enjoy “eating out” and tasting tref, or nonkosher, combinations.
Still other versions of kosher stem from industrial food production and the development of labels that allow each consumer to decide just which ones they will follow. The result leads to a kind of personalized form of kosher practice, one potentially with almost infinite variety.
As literary scholar Josh Lambert observed in his essay “One Man’s Kosher is Another Man’s Treif,” “my parents have never tasted swordfish, but adore caviar. In other words, they—like many people— have a kashrut [kosher] standard that makes sense to nobody but themselves.”
Cookbooks and changing tastes
This diversity leaves American Jews, especially women who still do most of the food preparation in Jewish homes, with a complex conundrum. Which foods should they cook? How should they cook this food? Should they turn to recipes handed down by mothers and grandmothers? Or should they try something new and different?
The conundrum is not new. Jews initially came to the United States as immigrants. Many left behind their parents and grandparents. Most possessed a limited knowledge of food preparation. Into this gap stepped women
who wrote cookbooks.
Although the earliest Jewish cookbooks date to 1815 in Europe, the first American Jewish cookbook did not appear until 1871. Esther Levy’s “Jewish Cookery Book on Principles of Economy Adapted for Jewish Housekeepers” was published in Philadelphia.
Aunt Babette’s 1889 “Cookbook” soon eclipsed Esther Levy’s. Bertha F. Kramer, who wrote the “Aunt Babette’s Cookbook,” included American foods alongside Jewish ones, promoting integration of two types of foods.
Soon competition flourished as other publishers and writers saw the potential market with increasing numbers of Jewish immigrants arriving on American shores.
These Jewish cookbooks, written in Yiddish and German as well as English, guided women in how to prepare traditional Jewish foods even as they also promoted American food, such as apple pie. In a sense, they stepped into the breach within families caused by immigration, teaching their readers what to do and how to do it. Many also included explanations of the kosher system as well as holiday menus.
Even after Jewish families became intergenerational, and children often had access to traditional Jewish recipes through their grandparents, the popularity of Jewish cookbooks did not diminish. As Joan Nathan wrote in her 2004 “Jewish Holiday Cookbook,” “Like many Jews in America, I have become passionately involved in discovering my roots.” And that passion has led her, as a food writer, to seek “to discover the origin” of Jewish dishes and their ingredients along with the recipe.
Bagels and Jewish history
The ongoing interest in Jewish food as expressed in diverse cookbooks prompted Nurith Gertz, an Israeli scholar of Jewish culture, and me to include excerpts—both recipes and the stories often told that accompanied them—from Jewish cookbooks in an anthology for The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization.
We recognized the recipes and the stories told around them as forms of vernacular Judaism—what Jews, especially American Jews, turned to when they wanted to cook Jewish food. Jewish foods as presented in recipes formed part
of Jewish culture just as much as poetry and sermons, paintings and memoirs.
One of the recipes we decided to include was one for baking bagels by Matthew Goodman in “Jewish Food: The World at Table.” The round roll with a hole in it arrived in America with Jewish immigrants. Over the course of the 20th century, the hole grew ever smaller and the bagel ever more plump. But the bagel makers’ union kept a pretty tight lock on the two-step process of making bagels— first boiling, then baking—until frozen bagels were introduced.
After frozen bagels came all sorts of other innovations, like blueberry bagels, not to mention bagels that were only baked and so not particularly chewy. As it turns out, Jews began to celebrate bagels as a distinctively “Jewish food” as they became more popular: Bagels were leaving the Jewish fold and starting to be seen as an American food, with no particular associations with Jews.
Although bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon are still popular among American Jews to break the fast at the end of Yom Kippur, many Americans put all kinds of foods on bagels, including lots of nonkosher combinations.
Jewish food on the move
Only some of what American Jews ate for Rosh Hashana a century ago, or even 50 years ago, endures today.
Chicken soup and gefilte fish, which came to the United States with Russian Jews as foods associated with the Friday evening meal at the beginning of the Sabbath, are still part of the Jewish American palate. But brisket and even turkey have retreated before preferences for tastes such as Moroccan or Persian chicken dishes or vegetarian stews drawn from less familiar Jewish cultures.
I particularly miss a sweet dessert called taiglach. The small cubes of baked dough drenched in spiced honey, decorated with nuts and shaped into balls appeared on our table only during the High Holidays. Everyone pulled pieces to eat and licked their fingers. Neither my mother nor my grandmothers nor I ever made it—although my more adventurous sister did. We bought it from Jewish bakeries. But those bakeries are long gone.
The memory remains, as does the wish for a sweet new year that can be tasted.
Yom Kippur: A time for feasting as well as fasting
By Ted Merwin Part-Time Associate Professor of Religion, Dickinson College
It was the bag of Fritos that gave me away. As a secular Jewish kid whose family did not belong to a synagogue, I did not think twice about riding my bike to the convenience store around the corner during the afternoon of Yom Kippur.
I knew that it was a solemn holiday when observant Jews do not eat or drink. But my public school was closed for the holiday, and there was little to do.
As luck would have it, as I came back around the corner, I nearly ran over a schoolmate who was walking on the sidewalk. I lived in a predominantly Jewish suburb of New York and was conscious that although I wasn’t fasting, he almost certainly was. The bag of corn chips that I was carrying betrayed me as a traitor to my faith.
Years later, as a scholar and author of “Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli,” I came to understand why the Jewish practice of abstaining from food on Yom Kippur is so out of step with the rest of Jewish tradition.
In both its religious and cultural guises, Judaism has always revolved around food.
Eating as a pleasure of life
In ancient times, Jewish priests known as “cohanim” sacrificed bulls, rams and lambs on the altar inside the courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem, symbolically sharing a banquet with God.
After the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 and Jews were dispersed throughout the Mediterranean basin, food remained a Jewish preoccupation. Because the kosher laws restricted what Jews could put in their mouths, much of every day was spent figuring out what and how to eat.
In 20th-century America, the Jewish delicatessen, with its fatty, garlicky fare, became on par with the synagogue as a communal gathering place.
The worldly emphasis of Judaism has, since ancient times, recognized eating as an essential pleasure of life. A passage in the Jerusalem Talmud states that Jews will be called to account in the afterlife if they have not taken advantage of opportunities to eat well.
Food, according to historian Hasia Diner, “gave meaning to Jewish life.” As the old joke goes, most Jewish holidays can be summed up by a simple formula, “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat!”
Yom Kippur as a holiday of inversion But not the Day of Atonement, which is a ritual rehearsal of one’s own death through refusing the demands of the body.
In Hebrew, Yom Kippur is connected linguistically to Purim, the springtime holiday of masks and merrymaking. But one could well ask: How is the most mournful day of the Jewish year comparable to the most raucous and ribald one?
On Purim, Jews drink alcohol, don disguises and feast on pastries. The element of masquerade, it has been said, makes it the one day of the year when Jews pretend to be other than Jewish. Not eating on Yom Kippur similarly inverts the normal pattern of Jewish life. It is by abstaining from eating that Jews connect both to God and to their fellow Jews.
A symbol of rebellion?
For secular Jews, there is no better way to rebel against religious Judaism than to dine publicly on Yom Kippur.
In 1888, a group of anarchist Jews in London rented a hall in the city’s East End, where most of the Jews lived, and organized a Yom Kippur Ball with “antireligious
lectures, music and refreshments.”
Over the next couple of decades, similar celebrations sprouted up in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Montreal, often triggering protests. Indeed, when Herrick Brothers Restaurant on the Lower East Side of New York decided to remain open on Yom Kippur in 1898, they unwittingly exposed their clientele to violence. Patrons were physically attacked by other Jews on their way to synagogue.
For starving victims of the Nazis, every day was Yom Kippur.
In a famous passage in Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s nonfiction masterpiece, “Night,” the author, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, recalls deliberately eating on Yom Kippur as a “symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him,” for His silence and inaction in the face of the Nazi genocide.
“Deep inside me,” he writes, “I felt a great void opening”—not only a physical one, but a spiritual one as well.
A new tradition
Nowadays, most Jews who do not fast on Yom Kippur are simply not part of a community of Jews who participate in synagogue life. Conversely, many non-Jews who are domestic partners of Jews do fast on Yom Kippur.
But whether or not one fasts on Yom Kippur, the tradition has developed over just the last few decades, according to scholar Nora Rubel, of a lavish, festive meal at the conclusion of the fast.
For many Jews, as historian Jenna Weissman Joselit has noted, the break-fast meal is the most important aspect of Yom Kippur, in ways that outshine the religious elements of the day.
Breaking the fast in pop culture
In American popular culture, Jewish
characters are often shown breaking the fast—while it is still daylight—with flagrantly non-kosher foods.
In Woody Allen’s 1987 film comedy, “Radio Days,” set in Brooklyn during the Great Depression, a Jewish family is so infuriated that their Communist Jewish next-door neighbor (played by Larry David) is eating and playing music on Yom Kippur that they fantasize about burning down his house. But then the uncle (played by Josh Mostel) goes next door and ends up not only eating pork chops and clams, but being indoctrinated with Marxist ideology to boot.
In a 2015 episode of “Broad City,” Abbi and Ilana down bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, while in the inaugural episode of the Canadian Internet series “YidLife Crisis,” which debuted in 2014, Yom Kippur finds Chaimie and Leizer in a restaurant consuming poutine—french fries with cheese curds and gravy.
The break-fast meal
In real life, the menu for the break-fast meal typically mirrors that of a Sunday brunch: bagels, cream cheese, smoked fish, noodle kugel (casserole), and rugelach (jam-filled pastries).
However, it may also include dishes from the host’s ethnic Jewish origins. Eastern European Jews traditionally dine on kreplach—dumplings stuffed with calves’ brains or chicken livers, Iraqi Jews drink sweetened almond milk flavored with cardamom and Moroccan Jews enjoy harira—lamb, legume and lemon soup—a dish that was borrowed from Muslim neighbors who were breaking the fast of Ramadan.
Whatever is on the menu, Jews eat with a vengeance to conclude the holiday, restoring them to the fullness of not just their stomachs but of their very Jewish identities.
Fall in bloom
Tips and tricks for transitioning into a winter garden.
By Virginia McLoughlin Camellia Circle, Pioneer Garden Club
Central Florida’s subtropical climate, characterized by mild winters and hot humid summers, creates an ideal environment for fall gardening. The cooler weather allows gardeners to get out and work longer in their gardens. It also reduces stress on the plants and minimizes pest activity. It provides an ideal environment for new vibrant plants to grow.
flowers and bushes. First let’s remove any weeds that have popped up during the summer. This is the best time to do this while they’re still vulnerable. Try to avoid pesticides and instead wet the ground with water but do not soak it, then use a hand weeder to pop out roots.
Now that we have cut down or removed our summer plants we can start to amend our soil.
Since you may still have summer annuals in bloom, you may find it hard to get started, so here are some gardening tips for getting a successful start on your colorful fall garden.
Once your garden is cleaned out, you can start planting as the weather begins to cool down in early fall. You can plant up to six weeks before the first frost. By planting now, your plants have the necessary time to establish a healthy root system. You can do this by cutting any summer perennial blooms and removing any annual blooms that are past their prime but try to leave some stems and seed pods for winter wildlife and winter interest. This will leave room for the abundance of perennials and any annuals you want to plant.
Now we must dig up any tender bulbs to store over the winter and divide perennials. Keep in mind that there are some perennials that don’t like to be divided or moved inside for the fall. An example of these are warm weather grasses and woody shrubs. Late winter is when you can dig up or move shrubs just before the sap rises. An example of perennials that don’t like to be moved are phlox, bee balm and yarrow, but they are fully hardy and can be trimmed back to a few inches of the ground. If you still have plants in nursery pots, get them in the ground before winter. They will be happier in the ground where they will be protected better than in thin plastic pots.
Now we can prepare our soil for the new crop of
After the long spring and summer growing period, the soil should loosen to the depth of 6 to 8 inches to promote root growth and drainage. Aerate compacted areas to ensure air and water penetration.
We then need to put down a 1-inch layer of organic matter, compost or well-rotted manure, to improve soil structure and fertility. Apply a 1-inch layer of mulch to retain moisture, regulate soil temperature and suppress weeds. Central Florida soil is usually sandy and getting it tested at one of the universities or county extensions is the best way to find out what your soil needs for the proper PH.
throughout the season. Your flowers will depend on you to plant them where they will get the sun they need. Plants that produce a bloom generally need four to six hours of continuous sun. Some flowering plants called mixed light can survive in shade or sun and will use less sun.
If you are planting in shade, check the label to make sure your plants are shade plants and where to plant them. There are four levels of shade, dappled shade, partial shade, full shade and deep shade. Understanding these shade conditions will determine which plants will thrive. Most shade plants do not have blooms, they have colorful leaves or berries.
Care will vary throughout the fall growing season. Depending on the plants you choose, always check the labels to see how much sun they will need. Keep these tips in mind when tending your flowers
Next, we need to fertilize our gardens. This is usually done in late October or early November; the type of fertilizer depends on what you plant. Generally, a balanced 10-1010- fertilizer is suitable for many varieties. Natural options would be compost, fish emulsion or bone meal. Fertilizing should be done at planting and then monthly. You need to check your gardens often for pests and diseases. While pests usually decrease in fall, there are some that still pose a threat. Common fall pests include aphids, cabbage worms and slugs. Planting marigolds or nasturtiums in your garden can help attract beneficial insects. The use of neem oil, insecticidal soap or beneficial insects like ladybugs are all natural remedies. Supply water when needed.
Fall weather can be cool and rainy, but that doesn’t mean new plants should not be ignored particularly if the weather has been dry or windy. All plants should be watered thoroughly after planting and continue to water until the ground freezes. If you water your plants before a frost, the moist soil will hold heat better than dry soil. Now that you have prepared your garden and planted all your plants, you can enjoy a fall in bloom. You still must keep a constant watch over it. I hope these tips will help you to have a healthy and colorful garden clear through to winter. Happy gardening.
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What families need to know about how to safely store firearms at home
By Kerri Raissian, Associate Professor of Public Policy, University of Connecticut and Jennifer Necci Dineen, Associate Director of the ARMS Center for Gun Injury Prevention, University of Connecticut
For the past few years, guns have been identified as the leading cause of death for children in the United States.
There were 2,571 children age 1 to 17 who died in shootings in the U.S. in 2021, 68% more than the 1,531 that occurred in 2000.
To help reduce the number of firearm-related deaths and injuries among children, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in January 2024 called upon school and district administrators to talk with parents and guardians about safe firearm storage practices.
As experts on the safe storage of firearms—and as leaders of the University of Connecticut’s ARMS Center for Gun Injury Prevention—we often get questions about the best ways to keep guns out of the hands of children. We offer the following tips:
1. Safely store all of your firearms
Nearly half of the households in the U.S. have at least one firearm, but only about 40% of
firearm owners store all of their guns when not in use, according to data in a survey we recently fielded. Unsecured firearms have been linked to suicides, domestic homicides and accidental shootings. They also heighten the risk of unauthorized use, which includes theft.
2. Don’t assume you can hide your guns Kids generally know the hiding spots for the things their parents or caretakers do not want them to find, such as holiday gifts or Halloween candy. The same is true with firearms.
In 40% of gun-owning households with children, adults said their children did not know where firearms were stored, a 2017 study found. However, many of the children reported knowing and being able to access the firearms.
Researchers estimate that 75% of children who live in homes with guns know where they are stored.
Adults may think they can instruct children to leave firearms alone, but the 2017 study also found that 22% of parents wrongly believed that their children had never handled their gun.
3. Store ammunition separately
Research shows that locking ammunition separately from
firearms further reduces the risk of firearm injuries in homes with children and teenagers.
While storing an unreadied weapon locked away may feel counterintuitive to those who own guns for personal protection, research shows that keeping firearms locked or unloaded, or both, can also reduce risk of injury.
4. Learn to talk about firearm safety
While some families may not have firearms in their home, eventually children go to other homes and, as they get older, go unsupervised.
Keeping children safe from gun violence requires normalizing conversations on firearm storage, even for people in households where no gun is present.
Approximately 45% of all unintentional shooting deaths of children under 17 occurred outside of their own homes. When children visit friends, we believe it’s important for their parents to know if guns are present in the home they are visiting and, if present, whether those firearms are being safely stored.
For more information about how to discuss firearm safety, parents can visit websites such as BeSMART, End Family Fire and Secure Storage of Lethal Means.
5. Know the law
Twenty-seven states have some version of secure storage laws.
Based on our calculations using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states with child access prevention laws—known as CAP laws—have a gun death rate that is 65% lower than states that do not have CAP laws (12.33 vs. 20.38 per 100,000). Of course, states with and without CAP laws have many differences; therefore, the lower rates cannot be attributed to CAP laws alone. However, the presence of CAP laws is protective and reduces gun death.
In the absence of a federal secure storage law, the legal requirements around firearm storage and preventing unauthorized children from accessing weapons vary by state or municipality.
For example, Connecticut requires firearms be in a locked device when not in use.
Iowa prohibits the storing or leaving a loaded firearm around children 14 and younger if it is not secured by a trigger lock or a securely locked container or some other secure location.
Further, while Michigan only recently added a safe storage law, Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a boy who committed a mass school shooting with his parents’ unsecured firearm, was recently convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the case. Her husband’s trial in the matter began on
March 5, 2024.
6. Invest in a quality safe and/or locking device
There are various levels of locked gun storage, including trigger locks, metal cable locks, locked gun cases and gun safes. While storing a firearm and the ammunition in a locked combination or biometric device is safest, all of these methods can reduce the risk of gun injury and death. These locking devices can be purchased online, through some gun sellers or at sporting goods stores.
A biometric safe for a handgun is about US$65, a gun lock runs $55 to $75 dollars, and combination safes for long guns range widely from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.
Family-school-community partnerships allow America’s children to grow and thrive. By asking schools to share resources for secure firearm storage and communicate evidence-based safety practices, the Department of Education is helping schools address the leading cause of death among American children.
But families have to do their part, too. It begins by normalizing firearm safety conversations and storing firearms properly to keep children safe.
Greg
Meet Greg, the 3-year-old dog with ears so big, he might just pick up satellite signals! This cute, quirky guy is ready to listen to all of the things you want to talk about after a long day.
Maple
Meet Maple, a sweet 3-year-old who may be a little shy at first, but with
Visit these new home models
CALESA TOWNSHIP
Currant Model - 6404 SW 78th Court Ocala, FL 34474
1,879 a/c sq. ft. single family home starting at $327,990
featuring 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, great room, ex room, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Garnet Model - 6416 SW 78th Court Ocala, FL 34474
1,921 a/c sq. ft. single family home starting at $333,990 featuring 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, great room, breakfast area, laundry suite, and patio.
Sable Model - 6428 SW 78th Court Ocala, FL 34474
2,420 a/c sq. ft. single family home starting at $358,990 featuring 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, great room, living room, game room, breakfast area, laundry suite, patio.
Gardenia Model - 6440 SW 78th Court Ocala, FL 34474
2,671 a/c sq. ft. single family home starting at $411,990 featuring 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 car tandem garage, great room, dining room, nest, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Larkspur Model - 6464 SW 78th Court Ocala, FL 34474
3,089 a/c sq. ft. single family home starting at $431,990 featuring 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 car tandem garage, great room, dining room, ex room, nest, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Marigold Model - 6476 SW 78th Court Ocala, FL 34474
3,374 a/c sq. ft. single family home starting at $448,990 featuring 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3 car tandem garage, great room, dining room, nest, loft, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Sable (Inventory Home Available Now!) - 5724 SW 77th Avenue Road
2,420 a/c sq. ft. single family home priced at $396,835 featuring 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, great room, ex room, game room, breakfast area, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
LENNAR
Grand Park North - 352-663-8353
Medallion Model - 19384 SW 77th Loop, Dunnellon, FL 34432
2,657 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $401,999, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 car garage
2,503 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $396,990 featuring 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 car garage, quartz countertops, enclosed ex den, and covered lanai.
Medina Model - 8322 SW 46th Ave, Ocala, FL 34476
2,230 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $369,990 featuring 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 car garage, quartz countertops, enclosed ex den and covered lanai.
Pioneer Ranch
Astoria Model - 6866 SW 90TH LOOP, Ocala, FL 34476
2,223 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $374,990 featuring 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 3 car garage, quartz countertops, enclosed ex den, and covered lanai.
Heston Model - 6862 SW 90TH LOOP, Ocala, FL 34476
1,850 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $329,990 featuring 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances and covered lanai.
Daylen Model - 6858 SW 90TH LOOP, Ocala, FL 34476
1,580 a/c Sq. Ff. Single family home starting at $297,990 featuring 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, and covered lanai.
ON TOP OF THE WORLD
Weybourne Landing Model Center
Classic Series
Sun ower Model - 8891 SW 75th Loop, Ocala, FL 34481
1,967 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $334,990 featuring 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, great room, breakfast nook, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Wisteria Model - 8895 SW 75th Loop, Ocala, FL 34481
2,126 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $342,990 featuring 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, great room, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Longleaf Ridge Model Center
Premier Series
Beaumont Model - 10458 SW 96th Loop, Ocala, FL 34481
2,202 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $394,490 featuring 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage with workshop space, great room, breakfast area, ex room, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Magnolia Model - 10446 SW 96th Loop, Ocala, FL 34481
2,493 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $413,490 featuring 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage with golf cart space, great room, breakfast area, ex room, den, laundry suite, and covered lanai.
Ashford Model Center
Estate Series
Arlington Model - 9584 SW 82nd Street Road, Ocala, FL 34481
2,211 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $455,490, featuring 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 car garage, great room, breakfast area, workshop space, laundry suite, and a covered lanai.
Northampton Model - 9572 SW 82nd Street Road, Ocala, FL 34481
2,678 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $463,490, featuring 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3 car garage, great room, breakfast area, library, ex room, laundry suite, and a covered lanai.
Aberdeen Model - 9564 SW 82nd Street Road, Ocala, FL 34481
2,907 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $491,490 featuring 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 car garage, great room, 2nd master suite, breakfast area, ex room, laundry suite, and a covered lanai.
Move-in Ready Home
Willem - 10557 SW 98th Lane, Ocala, FL, 34481
2,536 a/c sq. ft., single-family home starting at $477,000 featuring 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 car garage with storage space great room, covered courtyard, ex room, laundry suite, and a covered lanai.
DEL WEBB
Stone Creek Stardom Model - 9296 SW 60th Lane Road, Ocala, FL 34481
2,269 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $397,990 featuring 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 3 car garage, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances and enclosed ex den.
Stellar Model - 9312 SW 60th Lane Road, Ocala, FL 34481
2,483 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $412,990 featuring 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 car garage, enclosed ex den, stainless steel appliances and covered lanai.
Prestige Model - 9294 SW 60th Lane Road, Ocala, FL 34481
2,080 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $355,590 featuring 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2 car garage, Owner’s walk-in closet, quartz countertops and covered lanai.
Mainstay Model - 9290 SW 60th Lane Road, Ocala, FL 34481
1,948 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $349,990 featuring 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, luxury vinyl plank ooring, stainless steel appliances, and extended covered lanai.
Compass Model - 9291 SW 60th Lane Road, Ocala, FL 34481
1,471 a/c Sq. Ft. Single family home starting at $289,990 featuring 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, and covered lanai.
Reddick
McIntosh
Dunnellon
Ocala
Belleview
LOCAL CALENDAR LISTINGS
government
OCTOBER 7-11
Marion County Clerk of Court and Comptroller’s Office Marriage License & Passport Day
Room 126, 19 N Pine Ave., Ocala
7am to 7pm
On-site services will be available to process new U.S. passport applications only and passport photography services for existing and new passports. Marriage license services and ceremonies will also be available. Appointments can be made online at bit.ly/3PwfGLk For more information, visit marioncountyclerk.org or call (352) 671-5588.
OCTOBER 7, 14, 21, 28
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. See marion.fl.legistar.com/calendar.aspx for agenda and minutes.
OCTOBER 15
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
OCTOBER 15
Ocala City Council
Ocala City Hall, 110 SE Watula Ave., Ocala
4pm
The council meets each first and third Tuesday of the month. Ocala government agendas and minutes are available at ocala.legistar.com/calendar.aspx
OCTOBER 15
Belleview City Commission
Belleview City Hall, 5343 SE Abshier Blvd., Belleview
6pm
Meets the first and third Tuesday of the month; agendas, minutes and video available at belleviewfl.org/200/agendas-minutes
OCTOBER 16
Dunnellon City Council
Dunnellon City Hall, 20750 S. River Road, Dunnellon 5:30 to 7:30pm Agendas, minutes and video are available at dunnellon.org/government/agendas-minutes
community
OCTOBER 5
Wear Your Wings 5K College of Central Florida, 3001 SW College Road, Ocala Registration at 7am This 5K run and walk benefits the Marion County Children’s Alliance. The first 250 participants to finish will receive a medal. Registration and packet pickup will begin at 7 am, with the race scheduled to begin at 8 am. Visit bit.ly/WearYourWings2024 to sign up.
OCTOBER 5
Gentiva Ocala Metro India Fest
Ocala Citizens’ Circle, 151 SE Osceola Ave., Ocala
11:30am to 6pm
This is a free community-wide cross-cultural experience of India, brought to you by the Strategic Community Alliance, featuring a cultural celebration in Downtown Ocala, including a flash-dance mob at the downtown square, trivia competitions, a fashion show, Indian food and beverages, art on display, and activities for kids. This event is free to attend. Visit the website at scacommunities.org
OCTOBER 21
Night Of Hope: Honoring the Victims and Survivors of Domestic Violence College of Central Florida, 3001 SW College Road, Ocala 5:30 to 8pm Rescheduled due to Hurricane Helene. This event features keynote speaker Michael Neely, the senior pastor at New Millennium Community Church, an advocate for abuse victims, and even a survivor of domestic violence himself. Neely is the author of the book “Black Eyes and Sweet Talk: A Biblical Perspective on Domestic Violence,” which discusses coping techniques for victims based on scripture, from the perspective of a real survivor. Visit bit.ly/og-event-nightof-hope to learn more.
OCTOBER 30
College of Central Florida Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Anniversary Event College of Central Florida Dassance Fine Arts Center, 3001 SW College Rd., Ocala 6 to 8pm Join the team at CF as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of the school’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program. Guest Carolyn Jones, an award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker, will lead a presentation titled “The American Nurse: Moving the Needle on the Most Important Issues of Our Time,” expanding on the concepts discussed in her film “The American Nurse.” Guests can RSVP at cf.edu/nurse
OCTOBER 5
Free First Saturday featuring Art in Spain exhibit
Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala
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10 am to 5 pm Entry will be free for all, with a special presentation taking a look at the history and evolution of art from Spain. Led by local neurologist and art enthusiast Dr. Jose Gaudier, it will begin at 11 am in the main auditorium. No reservation is required to attend. Learn more at appletonmuseum.org
7:30pm “Lot o’ Shakespeare” is a one-man show written by and starring Tim Mooney, the creator of the “Breakneck Shakespeare” series of plays, which are designed to “crack the code” on Shakespeare and make the work more accessible for modern audiences. Mooney tours the nation performing as part of his company The Timothy Mooney Repertory Theatre. This show will be on stage at OCT for one night only. Tickets can be purchased at ocalacivictheatre.com/event/lot-oshakespeare
OCTOBER 22
CF Ira Holmes Film Series Presents “Psycho” Appleton Museum of Art and Marion Theatre
2pm at Appleton, 7:30pm at Marion Theatre
The first film in the 2024-25 series is the Alfred Hitchcock classic horror film “Psycho.” Starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh, the 1960 film remains as haunting as it was when it was first reached theaters, and to this day is a standard for the horror and thriller genres. This event will be presented by Matthew Wardell, conductor of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra, who will talk about the film’s musical score, and the collaborations between Hitchcock and his composer Bernard Herrmann. Films at the Appleton are free to all museum and film series members; nonmembers pay museum admission. Only the 7:30 p.m. screening will include the film talk, and admission is free. Learn more at cf.edu/filmseries
MONTH OF OCTOBER
“Equine Impressions” Exhibit
College of Central Florida, 3001 SW College Road, Ocala
“Equine Impressions” has opened in the College of Central Florida’s Webber Gallery. Curated by 24 Hands Printmaking Collective, prints of all kinds will be on display highlighting the natural splendor of the equine world. An opening reception will take place from 5:30 to 8:30pm. Oct. 4. To learn more, go to cf.edu
things to do arts
OCTOBER 11-13
27th Annual Jeeptober Fest
Florida Horse Park, 11851 SW 16th Ave., Ocala Starts at 8am
This annual get together is one of the largest Jeep-only meets anywhere in the United States. Each day features a full itinerary of special events, from guided tours of the Ocala National Forest to off-roading, along with block parties and vendors. $70 for pre-registration and $80 for day-of. Admission for spectators is $10 per carload, cash only, and a portion of the admission proceeds will be donated to local charities. Visit ocalajeepclub.com/jeeptoberfest for more information.
OCTOBER 12
Denim & Pearls Gala
Immaculate Heart of Mary Social Hall, 10670 SE Maricamp Road, Ocala
7 p.m.
The Eta Tau Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., will host an evening of food, dancing and fellowship to support scholarships for senior girls graduating high school and various community programs. The evening will include dinner, live music, a DJ, a silent auction and door prizes. Tickets are $75 per person, available by calling event co-chair Wantanisha Morant at (352) 208-8514.
OCTOBER 12
“Aliens Are Among Us and They’re Hilarious” Hypnotist Show
Marion Theatre, 50 S Magnolia Ave., Ocala
7:30 to 9pm
Hypnotist Flip Orley brings his unique act of comedy and hypnosis, featuring audience members being convinced of extreme and wild illusions. Flip’s background comes from studying clinical psychology at the University of Arizona, where he learned the practical and medical benefits of hypnotizing patients. Since then, he’s developed into one of the nation’s top hypnotist performers. For more information and for tickets, go to reillyartscenter.com/events/aliens-are-among-us-and-theyre-hilarious
OCTOBER 17
Fairways, Flamingos & Fun
Stone Creek Golf Club, 11851 SW 16th Ave., Ocala
Check-in at 11am; tee time 12:30pm
Stone Creek Golf Club will host a charity invitational tournament for women golfers benefitting the Susan G. Koman Foundation for breast cancer research. Teams of four compete in a best ball style tournament, wearing pink “flamingo” color golf attire to represent the fight against breast cancer. Teams of four or single players can register. A silent auction, door prizes and other on the course events will raise money to support this cause. To register, go to s5.goeshow.com/dps/FFF2024/index.cfm
OCTOBER 17
Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters
Reilly Arts Center, 500 NE 9th St., Ocala
7:30 to 9pm
Actor and musician Billy Bob Thornton has been performing with long-time friend and collaborator J.D. Andrew as part of The Boxmasters since 2007. Their latest release “Love & Hate In Desperate Places” dropped on Aug. 30 and now the band kicks off a nationwide tour, which includes a stop in Ocala. The band plays a mix of rock and blues, drawing inspiration from the classic folk-rock sound of the 60s. For more information and for tickets, visit bit.ly/billy-bob-thornton
OCTOBER 26
Fall Maker’s Market Cedar Street Boutique, 11875 Cedar St., Dunnellon 9am to 4pm
Sponsored by Grumbles House Antiques and Garden Shop, come see and purchase handmade crafts and other works of art by local artisans, in the lawn of the Cedar Street Boutique store located in downtown Dunnellon. Visit their website at grumbleshouseantiques.com
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 same row, column or square.
By Michael Warren
Team members as they appear from left to right: David Hooper, Lisa Miller, Kathryn Thomas, Joe Vorwerk, Nick Blaser, Tom Ingram, Nataya Foerster, Patty Ingram, Josh Radeker
Sports
Trinity knocks off Forest Celtics earn season sweep of Wildcats.
By Mark Pinson Special to the Ocala Gazette
After winning the Marion County public school volleyball championship last week, Forest High School faced a big challenge in the Oct. 1 night match against perennial state powerhouse Trinity Catholic High School.
The match was competitive, especially the first set, before Trinity Catholic utilized its height advantage and depth to ease past Forest by scores of 25-21, 25-14 and 25-10. The win improved the Class 2A Celtics to 14-3 on the season.
“I thought we played hard and competed at a high level,” said Trinity Catholic coach Jeff Reavis. “We respect the team across the net and there was no letdown. I think our first contact has come a long way since the start of the season. We played good defense and are hard to defend with our athleticism and size.”
The defeat dropped the Class 7A Wildcats’ record to 9-11 overall.
“We were competitive in the
first set but made some late errors and from there Trinity Catholic just put the foot on the pedal,” said Forest coach Jimmy Collins. “They are really good on the front row, and we were overmatched and got outplayed the last two sets. You get better by playing better teams and that’s the bottom line. We did win the county championship and that was goal number one this season.”
The first set was close throughout as Forest gave a spirited effort against the taller Trinity Catholic front line. The Wildcats were paced at the net by sophomore Lexie Quash and juniors Ava Robinson and Kyndall Seek.
Trinity Catholic took a 21-18 lead in the first set and Forest called a time out to try and break the Celtics momentum. But three Wildcat miscues and a spike that sailed long gave the set to Trinity Catholic.
The second set was tied at 8 before the Celtics began to pull away as sophomores Addyson Avery and Ashlyn Hallick and junior outside hitter Maddie
Hewitson found the range with powerful kill shots. The lead expanded to 17-11 before the Wildcats called a time out. Forest committed several errors and sophomore outside hitter Emily Reed drilled a pair of spikes as the Celtics cruised to the win.
Forest seemed a little demoralized and Trinity Catholic took full advantage in the final set as sophomore Maggie O’Farrell had a pair of blocks and a wicked cross-court spike to spark the Celtics to a 12-3 lead. The Wildcats kept fighting as Seek had a pair of kills and Robinson added one of her own to close within 17-6.
The Celtics, who defeated the Wildcats earlier on the season, finished off the set and match with a flourish as Hallick nailed a couple of spikes and junior Hannah Williams had a block to seal the victory.
Forest hosts Santa Fe on Oct. 8 while Trinity Catholic will take on Winter Park in a home match. Both teams will begin play in their district tournaments in two weeks.
On View Now
“Striking Poses” features a selection of portrait photography from the permanent collection that highlights both the individuality of the subjects and the unique artistic perspectives of renowned photographers, including Anne Noggle, Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Mary Ellen Mark and more.
Clockwise from left: Trinity Catholic’s Maddie Hewitson (21) and Addyson Avery (6) jump to block a spike from Forest’s Kyndall Seek (6) during a volleyball match at Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. Trinity Catholic’s Isabella Rodriguez (4) digs the ball. Trinity Catholic’s Maggie O’Farrell (3) blocks a spike from Forest’s Kyndall Seek (6). Forest’s Ava Robinson (10) spikes the ball past Trinity Catholic’s Ashlyn Hallick (22).
Photos by Bruce Ackerman Ocala Gazette
MONEY TEASE INDICT PROPER
ANSWERS FOR PAGE B7
Everyone was ready. The baptism ceremony was going to start -“RITE” ON TIME
