Ocala Gazette | January 21 - January 27, 2022 by Magnolia Media Company

Camilla Show JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 3

Page B7

Miracle Dog

City policy, hard lessons A review of court records, city shade minutes reflect mismanagement of litigation after passing unconstitutional policy that left the taxpayer and Ocala’s most vulnerable paying the price. By James Blevins and Jennifer Hunt Murty Ocala Gazette

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Athena, 5, runs and plays at the Red Fern Pet Lodge on Northeast 22nd Avenue in Ocala on Dec. 27, 2021.

Athena the pit bull continues to recover after surviving near-fatal car accident one year ago By James Blevins james@ocalagazette.com

ast January, Kayla Hall was well on her way from Ocala to New Port Richey when she received a distressed phone call from her son Landon, then 11 years old. Landon was walking to his bus stop when he saw a crumpled form of black and white lying still in a culvert. At first, he thought it was a raccoon—until the animal turned and looked right at him. Turns out, that black and white form was a female pit bull named Athena that had been hit by vehicle and left to die with critical injuries. “I was freaking out at first because she was still alive. And it was cold out,”

said Landon, now 12, who immediately called his mom for help. Now, nearly a year after that January 29, 2021 accident, Athena has miraculously recovered from her injuries, thanks in large part to the Hall family, a bevy of veterinarians, and the kindness of dozens and dozens of strangers.

The Phone Call

Hall said the phone call from Landon that morning was one she won’t soon forget. “He called so upset; he was crying,” said Hall, director of marketing for an Orlando-based medical laboratory. “You could tell on the phone that his whole day was ruined.” Hall’s motherly instincts kicked in and she quickly turned around and

headed for the scene. “She was there before anybody else,” said Landon. A mother of four—besides Landon, there’s Dylan, 11; Braelyn, 7; and Dawson, 18 months, Hall, and her husband Jeffrey, also had four dogs and two cats and weren’t looking to own anymore. “When I got there, Athena just looked over at me,” said Hall. “And you could tell, it was on her face, ‘Please help me.’ “I walked right up to her, and I’ll be damned if her tail was not wagging,” she added. Animal Control arrived on scene moments after Hall and discovered Athena was chipped and her owner

The City of Ocala has weathered a few highprofile court cases over the years that have left many wondering—how did we get here? Two cases surrounding the city’s code of ordinances for open lodging and panhandling ended, opening to the public what are commonly referred to as “shade minutes.” Shade minutes are from meetings publicly noticed, but where only the attorney, city council members and the city manager can attend to discuss litigation with a court reporter taking minutes of every word said during the meeting. After any litigation ends, the minutes become available as a public record. The Mayor does not attend these meetings, as under the city’s charter, it’s ultimately up to the council to make these decisions. The two cases, although seemingly related by the Plaintiffs and attorneys involved, had significantly different patterns. See Failed, page A7

See Pouch, page A2

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Farmland Preservation Area policy amendment gets MCBOCC approval, heads to Tally By Matthew Cretul matthew@ocalagazette.com

he Marion County Board of County Commissioners (MCBOCC) voted at their Jan. 18 regular meeting to approve additions to the text of Policy 3.3.1 of Marion County’s Land Development Code related to Elements of Rural Character in the Farmland Preservation Area (FPA).

The text amendments look to strengthen preservation language by limiting future zoning and building permits within the FPA. Sara Fennessy the executive director of Horse Farms Forever (HFF), a group dedicated to maintaining the character and culture of the county’s horse farms, and the group that brought the amendments to the MCBOCC, said a planned ATV track spurred the changes. “It was brought to our

attention in 2020 when there was a proposed project in the Farmland Preservation Area,” she said. “It was pointed out to us by Growth Services that the Comprehensive Plan was really lacking those teeth and the language within it for them to be able to make a decision to approve or deny the track.” The proposed text focuses on any future development of the land, and reads: “The County shall preserve

and protect rural and equestrian/ agricultural character within the Rural Lands, specifically the Farmland Preservation Area, by requiring that all appropriate future development activities within this Area preserve, support, and enhance the fundamental elements of rural character that all Zoning Changes and Special Use Permits and within the Farmland Preservation Area be consistent with and preserve, protect,

support, and enhance the rural, equestrian, and farmland character of the Farmland Preservation Area.” The language goes on to describe “fundamental elements of rural character” in five distinct ways—scenic views, open space protection, rural lighting, transportation and infrastructure, each containing future building and See Farmland, page A2

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Maricamp Road............................ A2 Church Rebuild............................. A4 State News.................................... A10 Christmas Bird Count................. B4 Calendar......................................... B6

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Pooch Prevails; finds fur-ever home the price for Athena’s total care, including recovery and rehab, had risen to $12,000. Hall shared receipts for Athena’s care as well as her progress on Facebook on a near-daily basis. “It was a lot of money, really fast,” she said. “I thought it was important to show all the invoices or visits and keep donors up-to-date on everything.”

The Surgeries

Athena had her first of two surgeries Feb. 3 at BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital in Clearwater. It took five hours to complete. “The doctors told me that if it were any other dog, they would tell me to maybe consider euthanasia,” said Hall. “But they just knew this dog had something extra.” Athena had her second surgery on her injured back leg on Feb. 4 and had to wear several apparatuses on her legs to stave off infection and allow them both to heal.

Home

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Kayla Hall, center, and her children, Landon Wiley, 12, left, and Braelyn Hall, 7, right, pose with Athena, 5, at the Red Fern Pet Lodge on Northeast 22nd Avenue in Ocala on Dec. 27, 2021.

Continued from page A1 lived just two doors down. Hall left a note on their gate and took the injured dog to Belleview Animal Hospital where vets discovered the accident had shattered Athena’s right shoulder as well as her right back leg. Soon after, the owner called and told the vet to euthanize Athena. “I looked at Landon and his eyes started filling up. He was like ‘No, mama, no.’ And I was like, ‘Oh God, here we go.’ I did not want that to happen,” said Hall, who called the owners and convinced them to relinquish all rights to Athena.

The Campaign

Hall then took Athena to UF Shands Hospital in Gainesville where vets advised

amputating her back leg. When Hall said no, the vets then advised her to euthanize the dog, which they had also discovered was pregnant and heartworm positive. “I remember sitting outside in my car and I just started crying,” said Hall. “I remember asking myself, ‘Am I doing the right thing for her? Am I being selfish?’” Hall then decided to start a fundraiser on Facebook (Athena’s Fight for Life) to help pay the $8,000 in estimated costs for treating the dog, including surgeries, medications and rehabilitation. Within the first three days, more than 80 people had donated funds to help pay for Athena’s care. By the end of the campaign on Feb. 26, more than 70 other donations had been made and Hall had raised more than $15,000. At this point,

FDOT reduces speed limit change on Maricamp increase pedestrian safety, especially adding the sidewalks for the high school.” A recent traffic study to support nearby development identified “98 crashes reported within 500 feet of the signalized intersection of SR 464 and Southeast 24th Street between the years of 2016 and 2020. “Over 50% of those crashes were rear end collisions, and approximately 33% were categorized as unknown or other,” the BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette study continued. “All crashes categorized Motorists drive on Southeast Maricamp Road in Ocala on as unknown crash type (24) occurred in April 6, 2021. 2016 and 2017.” By James Blevins FDOT Public Information Director james@ocalagazette.com Jessica Ottaviano said via email on Jan. 7 that safety was at the forefront of the n a letter dated November 23, 2021, the decision to reduce the speed limit along SR Florida Department of Transportation 464 from east of S.E. 25th Avenue to west (FDOT) informed the City of Ocala and of S.E. 38th Street. Marion County that the speed limit from “The adjustment was made following East of Southeast 25th Ave. to SR 35 (SR recommendations by FDOT engineers and 464) would be changed from 55 mph to 50 an analysis of traffic data from the field,” mph. she said. “This section of SR 464 now The regulations become effective upon has a speed limit similar to the adjacent placement of the implementing traffic segments of SR 464. By reducing the speed control devices, according to the letter, but limit from 55 mph to 50 mph, motorists no sooner than 14 days from the date of will now experience a better, controlled the letter. transition between these sections, The letter written by James Stroz, enhancing safety in the area.” Jr., District Traffic Operations Engineer, Ottaviano further stated that “FDOT District Five, and addressed to Division is always looking for opportunities to Head for the City Darren Park and Marion enhance mobility and safety along its County Administrator Mounir Bouyounes roadways, whether it’s results of frequent said the reduction in speed “evolved from facility evaluations or following an incident recommendations determined from an or even a concern requested by someone in approved engineering study and report,” the community. Results from these reviews the letter continued. and requests may vary in size and the The city council had previously effort to implement the recommendations.” instructed city staff to contact FDOT with While the speed limit adjustment traffic concerns on Maricamp. was recommended following a facility Ty Chigizola, Director of Growth evaluation and could be implemented by a Management for the City of Ocala says maintenance work order, Ottaviano added, this change was the result of those recommendations may require a largecommunications. He wrote in an email, scale effort to implement the improvements “We are working with FDOT on the such as through an upcoming or altogether proposed resurfacing project on Maricamp new construction project. (they are reducing the speed on that one For more information about the segment, adding sidewalks from SE 36th construction projects in Marion County, Ave to Baseline, adding bike lanes and searchable by roadway and different maybe adding landscaping in the median phases of construction, please visit the from the church to the city limits) Goals: FDOT’s Central Florida project website at slow the speed, reduce accidents and cflroads.com/projects/County/Marion.

and Eros—maintaining the Ancient Greek theme started with their mother. All three of Athena’s puppies were adopted. Overall, Athena is recovering nicely, said Hall, but will likely suffer from chronic arthritis in both of her injured legs for the rest of her life. She also wears a pink scar on her back—the original place of impact—where fur will no longer grow. “It is unbelievable on so many different levels,” said Hall of Athena’s unlikely survival. “I get emails and people like to see her photo updates. A lot of people have taken an interest in her and it would be silly not to continue to update her Facebook page.” These days, Athena is happy, healthy and home. When Hall is driving, the mischievous pit bull insists she sit in the front seat whenever she’s in the car, looking out at the road in front of her. “Athena, essentially, is a lover; she seems to be so appreciative of what we were able to do,” Hall said. “She is so attached to our children; she could go into any one of their rooms and just want to lay and snuggle with them. “I just can’t help but think that she was destined for us,” she added.

Athena came home to Hall and her family on Feb. 6 and was standing again by Feb. 10—only 13 days after being hit by a car and left for dead. Twenty-five days after the accident, her harness was removed and Athena began walking unaided. She successfully gave birth to two puppies at home March 19, but when complications set in, Athena had to have an emergency C-Section. Only one of the three remaining puppies to be birthed survived. Hall created another fundraiser the next day, asking for $2,500 for the emergency procedure. She ultimately raised $2,430. Hall named the three surviving puppies Persephone, Aurora Braelyn Hall cuddles with Athena.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Farmland Preservation

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Sara Fennessy, the Horse Farms Forever director of community affairs, speaks during the Horse Farms Forever Conservation Summit at Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club in Ocala on Nov. 19, 2020.

Continued from page A1 zoning restrictions in their respective areas. Busy Shires, the HFF director of Conservation Strategies, said the new wording is designed to strengthen language within the Land Development Code and ensure future permits or projects comply with the added elements. “What it does is it ties back to the Comprehensive Plan to require that special use permits and zoning changes are also in compliance with the Farmland Preservation Area. So, it just tightens up the criteria,” she said. While the MCBOCC approved the text amendments, according to Shires, the process still has a few more steps before the new wording can be formally added to the Land Development Code. “So, it goes to Tallahassee to be reviewed by the Department of Economic Opportunity,” she said. “And then there’s also any review agencies such as the

Department of Environmental Protection or the Department of Transportation, whatever is necessary. After that review, then it comes back to the County Commission for the adoption hearing.” Fennessy says HFF is blessed to have the support of not only the MCBOCC, but the county as a whole as they work to preserve what makes Marion County special. “And we’re very fortunate that… our elected officials and the community as a whole really recognizes we have one-fourth of the county designated as the Farmland Preservation Area,” she said. “It has some of the rarest soils in the world and it needs to be protected. So as we’re continuing to grow, we’re very fortunate that we have so much public support from the community as a whole, and from developers as well, who recognize how important the area is.” Should the amendment receive approval from Tallahassee, it will next appear on the March 15 MCBOCC regular meeting agenda for adoption.

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

“The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) Publisher Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@magnoliamediaco.com Bruce Ackerman, Photography Editor bruce@ocalagazette.com James Blevins, Reporter james@ocalagazette.com Matthew Cretul, Senior Reporter matthew@ocalagazette.com Sadie Fitzpatrick, Columnist sadie@ocalagazette.com Susan Smiley-Height, Editor susan@magnoliamediaco.com Amy Harbert, Graphic Designer amy@magnoliamediaco.com Lisa Maliff, Graphic Designer lisa.maliff@magnoliamediaco.com Joel Bronson, Reporter joel@ocalagazette.com Kristine Nolan, Editor kristine@magnoliamediaco.com

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City Council chips in $8 million to stabilize electric rates for OE customers By James Blevins james@ocalagazette.com

cala City Council voted unanimously on Jan. 4 to stabilize electric rates for Ocala Electric Utilities (OE) customers by applying $8 million from the city’s Rate Stabilization Reserve (RSR) to combat rising fuel costs. Had council not made this decision, OE customers would have been facing an estimated “$14 or 12% increase to the average 1,000 kWh residential customer,” according to city staff analysis provided to the council. The RSR fund is used to: a) stabilize rates for customers due to fuel cost volatility; b) address local economic conditions; and c) for other lawful purposes, per city records. Councilmember James Hilty, District 5, explained that Ocala received the money in the RSR fund when the city’s former electricity partner, Duke Energy in Crystal River, closed down in 2013. “They shut it down and decommissioned the plant, and there was a settlement amount…let’s say $27 million or something like that…all that money went into the Rate Stabilization Reserve,” Hilty explained. “And the reason it went into [the RSR] is that we were no longer able to receive the power from that plant, but we still had customers that needed power.” Essentially, the settlement money from the nuclear plant closure went into the city’s RSR as a rainy-day fund. “The money went into that fund to help for situations like this,” continued Hilty. “So therefore, when fuel costs rise, unlike the individual that has to pay at the pump, we don’t have to pass that [raise in rate] on to the consumer right away—in hopes that maybe

it’ll go down.” If the RSR can handle the rise in fuel prices without passing it on to the consumers, then the funds served their purpose, Hilty added. After losing its previous partner in power, Ocala joined the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), which enables municipal electric utilities to work together for mutual advantage on joint projects, such as power supply resources, fuel supplies and transmission facilities, according to city documents. FMPA currently supplies all the power needs for 15 municipal utilities, including OE, through a contractual arrangement. FMPA indicates that the Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) rate will increase from $0.014 to $0.028 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) effective Feb. 1. The PCA rate is the mechanism by which the positive and negative fluctuations in the cost of power is passed through to the customer, according to city documents. Power costs and sales are reviewed monthly to project over or under collections for the year. Ocala is unique from most municipalities in that the city has its own electric company. The city government has the ability to step in and keep electric rates stable when necessary. While the PCA can be adjusted as often as monthly, the recent practice by the city has been to make minimal adjustments in order to maintain stable rates to customers. The last increase to the PCA rate went into effect on August 1, 2017. Since July 2018, the PCA rate has experienced numerous reductions. The last reduction went into effect on October 1, 2019, and has maintained

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Jay Musleh of the Ocala City Council speaks during the city council meeting at Ocala City Hall on Jan. 4.

current levels with the exception of a two-month moratorium in fiscal year 2020 due to the pandemic and declining economic conditions, according to the city. Councilmember Jay Musleh, District 3, said that the city attempts to adjust the monthly electric rate because, due to rising fuel costs, it can be quite volatile from time to time. “We have been lucky up until a year ago,” said Musleh. “That was a pretty stable market for a number of years, probably 10 years or so. But rates became unstable. This is the first time that I’ve been on council that we’ve used [the RSR] to this extent to keep from passing [higher rates] on to our rate-paying customers. But there’s only so long you can do that, and we’ve had to bite the bullet and raise the rate. Just simple math.” Typically, the major factors contributing to fuel costs are natural gas prices and weather, according to city documents. Today, there are other economic factors driving

market fuel costs and creating volatile rates. While fuel costs have steadily increased, the PCA rate has remained at the current level by utilizing the rate stabilization reserves. Different than Duke Energy or some other private company, Musleh said, the City of Ocala having its own electric company allows the city to use its own profits to benefit its citizens, mentioning that all councilmembers live in the city as well and are affected by rising rates. “A private company is going to use its profits to pay its shareholders. We’re using our profits to benefit our citizens,” said Musleh. “The benefit is twofold: Number one, it produces something like the reserve fund, which keeps our overall taxes down…which is not really part of the [RSR] but that’s one of the benefits of the City of Ocala having an electric subsidiary to hold prices low. “And number two,” he continued, “it helps us provide the level of service that we think our citizens want and deserve.”

City workshop on city attorney services next Tuesday By Jennifer Hunt Murty

ollowing an announcement by the firm of Gilligan, Gooding, Batsel, Anderson & Phelan, PA that some of the city attorneys were splitting off and would be discontinuing their services to the city at the end of their contract in October 2022, the city council set a workshop to explore new options for legal services. The workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall and is open to the public. The firm represented the city for approximately 30 years. The current contract started Oct. 2020 runs for two years as prescribed by the city’s charter. According to the city charter, the city attorneys appointed through this contract play a pivotal role in the operation of the city as “chief legal advisor to the council, the manager, and all city departments, offices, and agencies.” In this role, the city charter says the city attorneys must approve every contract the city enters for “form and legality.” The charter states that the city attorney’s review “shall be for the benefit of the city only and not any other person or entity. No contract shall be voided or is voidable because of a deficient form and legality review.” The city charter also holds that the city attorneys “shall represent the city in all legal proceedings and shall perform any other duties prescribed by this charter or by ordinance,” with the option of “retaining additional counsel in specific actions or proceedings in its discretion.” Previously it was reported that the firm inserted a conflict-of-interest clause that

was not in prior contracts. The conflict-of-interest clause said, in short, that the city attorney had advised the city, and the city is aware that the firm also represents “private persons and entities” that include “developers or contractors” who “have relationships with, or seek approvals from, [the] city.” The city attorneys did not discuss the clause with the council, or the city manager when the contract was entered. The clause only became realized and discussed openly during public meetings recently. For instance, at the recent Jan. 18 city council meeting, Jimmy Gooding, in his capacity as city attorney disclosed to the council that the applicant bringing a request to annex into the city was a developer, John Rudnianyn, that Gooding also represented in matters outside the city. However, Gooding told the council that regarding the application before the council that night Fred Roberts was representing Gooding’s client. Roberts assured the council that Gooding had nothing to do with the transaction and that the developer had waived the conflict of interest so that Gooding could represent the city. Council member Kristen Dreyer asked if the city also needed to waive the conflict of interest. Gooding answered, “No. You don’t. Because it is clearly understood that there is no conflict of interest because I’m not representing him on anything that deals with the city. We put that in all our agreements with the clients. If you all would like to have to do that each time. I’m happy for you to do that. But it’s not a requirement. There is no direct conflict of interest on that land use matter because

Council President, Ire Bethea

I’m not representing Mr. John Rudnianyn in that. “By the way, this conversation is extremely important for me,” Gooding continued. “I was not wild about the publicity on the issue because we have always been extremely conscientious about avoiding conflicts with the city. And we’ve gone out of our way to try and avoid them. I’ve always said I’m happy to keep doing this job or not doing this job—at you all’s discretion. It just got to the point where more and more that we were having to sacrifice our private clients’ interests to the fact that they can’t get lawyers in the city.” In further response to Dreyer’s question, Gooding reiterated that it wasn’t something the council needed to vote on, however, he said, “If anytime you all have any concern about anything that I did or my partners have done, and the possibility of any conflict, I would welcome you all to ask me about it and, for God’s sakes, please, get a different lawyer to represent you in the matter. “Because I do not like to be in a situation that makes the city have any question about whether it is getting good legal advice or not,” Gooding said in closing.

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Historic church receives permit to rebuild By Matthew Cretul matthew@ocalagazette.com

he Marion County Board of County Commissioners (MCBOCC) approved a special use permit (SUP) at their Jan. 18 regular meeting that will allow Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church to rebuild the sanctuary that was lost in a fire. The church, built on a 21-acre property at 8750 W. Hwy 326, was burned in a 2016 fire and later was demolished. As a result, the congregation was forced to hold openair services until October of last year when they then transitioned to holding virtual services. The Rev. Jason Sims said the SUP will allow the church to once again hold services on the grounds, something the congregation is excited about. “I think the people will be happy, and having the people start out being on the grounds just gets them mentally prepared when the building comes,” he said. He said getting the predominantly African-American congregation, which pre-COVID numbered somewhere between 80 to 100 members, back on the grounds is step one; step two is getting the new buildings built. Initially, the church was to be rebuilt on its existing site, where it was founded more than 140 years ago, on the southern portion of their property adjacent to a cemetery and zoned A-1 (General Agriculture). A plan was approved in 2018 to

redevelop the church in its prior location under historic recognition of the original church parcel. The approved plan would not have necessitated a SUP. But, according to Rachel Drayton, the chair of the church’s building committee, who spoke at the MCBOCC meeting, they noticed drainage issues around the initially selected site causing them to look elsewhere on their property for a suitable location. They found an appropriate location on the northern portion of the property, however, it was outside of the initially approved area, thus requiring the church to apply for the SUP. Sims said the process of applying for the permit was smooth and the county was helpful along the way. “Code Enforcement has been great with making sure we have the right contacts and get the right information,” he said before the meeting. The location of the church falls within the Farmland Preservation Area (FPA), an area created by the MCBOCC in 2005, and which is designed to protect the area’s natural resources and scenic landscapes. At the same meeting, the MCBOCC approved additions to language designed to strengthen the preservation efforts and control additional growth in the area. Busy Shires, the director of conservation strategies for Horse Farms Forever (HFF), a group dedicated to preserving the land within the FPA and which proposed the additional language, said HFF is supportive of the church’s

2022 MARION COUNTY CITIZENS ACADEMY

esidents are invited to sign up for the 2022 Marion County Citizens Academy, a 12 week program that gives a free, behind-the-scenes look into county government programs and services provides participants with knowledge, understanding, and hands-on experiences that touches upon every facet of county government. County Commission Chairman Carl Zalak, III describes the program as “an opportunity to hear from directly from elected officials, county leadership, and the staff that help Marion County government provide residents and visitors with a great place to live, work, and play.” Some of the county departments highlighted during this annual program include the Dunnellon Airport, Fire Rescue, 911 Management, Animal Services, Veterans Services,

Facilities Management, Utilities, Fleet Management. Participants must be residents of Marion County and at least 18 years of age. A minimum of nine sessions is required for successful completed of this program. Space is limited and will be reserved on a first come, first served basis. Bobbi Perez, Director of Public Relations, indicated, “This is a unique opportunity for our residents to gain first-hand knowledge of their local government operates. County government touches us all, and this program provides a chance to ask questions and experience what goes on everyday within our organization.” Registry is open until Jan. 31, with sessions beginning March 10. Sign up online at marionfl.org/citizensacademy or by contacting county administration at 352-438-2300.

Photo of the church that burned down [Source: Facebook]

rebuild. “I actually reviewed the application and it’s rebuilding a church that burned down and that’s in their rights to be able to rebuild the church,” she said. The MCBOCC approval is contingent on the new building being less than 11,200 square feet and notes that no other structures can be built on the premises, excluding a storage shed and single-family residence which will serve as a parsonage. Additional conditions include a 100’ “no-disturb” buffer of vegetation along the west boundary of the southern portion of the property and paved access to West Highway 326. Sims reiterated his enthusiasm for

being able to once again hold services on their grounds for the congrgration. “I can get them to gather before there is a building. So when the building comes, they’ll already be here. So that’s a blessing,” he said. Sims also said he appreciates any support the community would like to show as they plan for their new sanctuary. “You know, we’re definitely open for donations towards the new building. Always.” According to Sims, financial gifts may be given at: https://tithe.ly/ give?c=2079483. By PayPal at paypal.me/ bethlehemmbc, or by mail at 8750 West Highway 326 Ocala, FL 34482.

“WORKS” BY MARY FEY EXHIBIT OPENING By Ocala Gazette Staff

he opening of Mary Fey’s art exhibit “Works” will be this Friday, Jan. 21, at 8 a.m. at the Recreation and Parks Administration building, 828 N.E. Eighth Ave. Due to ongoing COVID-19 health and safety concerns, there will be no opening reception. The exhibit will be on display from Jan. 21 through to Thursday, March 24. Open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the exhibit is free and open to the public. Fey is no novice to the world of art and creating, according to City of Ocala’s Jan. 19 press release. In her early years, Fey worked in charcoal, crayon on muslin

and paper mâché. In the last decade, most of Fey’s work has consisted of painting on canvas in oil, acrylic and watercolor. In this exhibit, Fey enjoys the happiness that simple paint, brush and canvas can bring, according to the release. For more information, please contact the City of Ocala Cultural Arts and Sciences Division by phone at (352) 6298447, email artinfo@ocalafl.org or visit www.ocalafl.org/artincityspaces.

WEST OCALA WELLNESS COMMUNITY GARDEN REPLANT DAYS 2022 SCHEDULE By Ocala Gazette Staff

he City of Ocala, in partnership with the Florida Department of Health in Marion County and Feed the Need Garden, Inc., will host five replant days at the West Ocala Wellness Community Garden (WOWCG) located at 2200 W. HWY 40, between S.W. 21st and S.W. 23rd Avenue. Replant days will begin at 8:30 a.m. • Saturday, January 22—cool season vegetables • Saturday, March 26—warm season vegetables • Saturday, May 28—warm season vegetables and solarizing garden beds

• Saturday, August 27—warm season vegetables • Saturday, October 22—cool season vegetables Community members are encouraged to attend and replant their crops for the upcoming season or start a new garden plot. Plots are available for $10 per year. The goal of the WOWCG is to educate and provide an opportunity for citizens to plant, cultivate and harvest vegetables for their families. For more information, or to reserve a plot, please contact the City of Ocala Recreation and Parks Department at (352) 368-5540 or visit www.ocalafl.org/garden.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Bill MacDonald strings up twine for sweet peas he was planting in his section of the garden during the winter planting event at the West Ocala Wellness Community Garden on West Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala on Jan. 30, 2021.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

From left: Lillian Johns, 9, Vivian Vivi, 6, Patrick Spencer, 10, and Cora Spencer, 10, shovel compost soil into a wheelbarrow on Jan. 30, 2021.

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

A gift for the givers

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

People representing non-profits pose for a group photo as the City of Ocala distributes ARPA funding to non-profits through the Community Foundation For Ocala/Marion County at Citizens’ Circle in Ocala on Jan. 14.

By Matthew Cretul matthew@ocalagazette.com

epresentatives from over 30 Ocala-based nonprofit organizations were on hand at Citizen’s Circle in downtown Ocala Friday morning as the City of Ocala and the Community Foundation of Ocala/ Marion County awarded over $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act relief funds. As representatives from the nonprofits looked on, Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn, City Manager Sandra Wilson, and Community Foundation Executive Director Lauren DeIorio offered their thanks to the groups for their service to the citizens of Ocala before handing out checks to each of the organizations. “I appreciate [the City Council] in thinking about the nonprofits in our community, and carving out some of the American Rescue Plan funds to support them,” Wilson said during her remarks. DeIorio applauded the council’s foresight in allocating the funds for nonprofits. “They [the Ocala City Council] made the decision early on knowing that their city nonprofits were going to be struggling, that they wanted to put some money aside for those that are still trying to ride out the wave of the pandemic,” she said. “So today is the fruits of labor for the committee that scrutinized [the applications]. It was three long days of all-day meetings deciding how they were going to award [the funds],” DeIorio said. Guinn highlighted the giving and caring nature of Ocalans when others are in need. “I mean, we always talk about, you know, how compassionate we are. You know, whenever there’s a need, we always come out and, you know, take care of those that are in need,” Guinn said after the event. A recent report issued by the Community Foundation of Ocala/Marion County highlighted the struggles local nonprofits faced as they navigated the uncertainty surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The report, titled A Year-End Assessment of COVID & the Nonprofit Sector in Marion County, Florida, details how the 1,300+ nonprofits in Marion County fared during 2021. According to the report, “Regional

nonprofits lost $9.6M in revenue, while at the same time needed over $13.2M to help cover payroll, operating expenses, mortgage/rent, infrastructure, and expanded services.” The report also states that “Not only did local nonprofits see a reduction in their revenue, but of those surveyed for the report, 60% experienced an increase in demand for services due to the pandemic’s impact on the local community while over 50% lost monthly or quarterly recurring donations in 2021.” As such, the survey concluded that “The Ocala/Marion County nonprofit sector was negatively impacted in 2021 by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.” Ann Burnett, the executive director of FreeD.O.M. Clinic USA, which offers free dental, optical, and medical care to local residents who have little to no insurance, said they definitely felt the effects of COVID. She says the uncertainty around COVID, especially for organizations operating in the healthcare space, was tough to navigate. “As long as you have human contact, the risk of exposure is high. Clearly, in the medical field, it’s even higher because of the face-to-face encounter, especially with dentistry in their mouths.” Burnett went on to say that like many other nonprofits, they were forced to halt some programs because of the unknowns associated with the virus. “We stopped services, dental services from I want to say January or February through August [of 2020] because nobody knew what to do about the mouth. And so, we followed the guidelines of the American Dental Association and local dentists who also closed their offices too., But medical [services] continued [during that timeframe], and eye care resumed after three months of closing,” she said. Once they were able to restart services, Burnett says the need for their services had grown exponentially. “We were inundated,” she said. “And we still had to navigate the entire COVID scenario, because we still weren’t sure how to keep ourselves safe or volunteers safe as well as the patients. But we figured it out. It’s a process.” DeIorio said the Community Foundation took applications for the

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn, left, and Ocala City Manager Sandra Wilson, right, give money to Anne Kessler, second from left, and John Robles, third from left, both of the Special Olympics.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Ashley Wheeler-Gerds, the director of strategic engagement for the Community Foundation of Ocala/Marion County, left, signs in Jessica Blagdon of The Pearl Project, right

ARPA funding, which brought over $2 million in requests for the $558,000 they were allotted. While it was a difficult process, she says at the end of the day they made tough but correct choices. “I think the committee made the right decisions. They looked at all the applications they saw the need. And said ‘let’s figure out how we can make sure everybody in need gets something so they can keep thriving or moving forward’”, she said. Guinn praised the Community Foundation and said the difficult choices in awarding funds for community organizations were previously made by the city council directly. So when the Community Foundation came along, we said ‘here, here’s, here’s money, you figure it out.’ So, [a] huge burden off of council like City Manager Wilson said, off their plate to figure out where the money goes and what’s the appropriate amount. So, we’re thankful for, for the [Community] foundation,” Guinn said after the event. Ercia Martinez is the founder and director of Generation Path for Success, a local nonprofit offering educational and fitness programs in Ocala. She says her organization has a range of programs designed for toddlers to adults, and they will soon be adding ones aimed at seniors. While the Community Foundation’s report noted that nearly half of the nonprofits surveyed were forced to decrease or close at least one program or service in 2021, Path for Success was one of the few nonprofits that expanded their program offerings, and Martinez says the added APRA funds are a definite boost. “This, this has been amazing,” Martinez said. “During the pandemic, we started the literacy picnic…and it was a hit. So to find out that they’re giving dollars to assist the nonprofits is amazing because we’re going to be able to produce even more than what we did before this was given.” She said the funds will help them expand to a larger section of the city and reach as many people as they can. Burnett agreed, saying the money comes at a crucial time as the added need for their services hasn’t slowed down. “Free services are always in demand because individuals tend not to have insurance for especially dental and

eye care,” she said. “But we have great community partners and lots of volunteers. However, the ARPA funding is making a significant difference as well, because demand has certainly increased.” Burnett says the funds will go to help with staffing needs so they can continue to offer service to as many people as possible. “We’re a volunteer-based organization. But in certain cases, we have to hire someone even part-time just so that we have consistent help, and so this is really what that was needed for,” Burnett said. While DeIorio is excited the Community Foundation was able to help local organizations in fulfilling their missions, she said there is still quite a bit of work to be done to get over the COVID hump. “The nonprofit sector in Marion County is going to have a long road ahead still,” she said. I know there are many out there that will say ‘well, you know, our economy is thriving’. While yes, I agree in some areas, it is. For the nonprofit sector though, they’re going to have some issues moving forward. And the Community Foundation just needs to be ready to assist them, however we can.” For her part, Martinez remains optimistic. “I’m hoping to see everybody’s amazingness throughout the season to come.”

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Lauren DeIorio, the executive director of the Community Foundation For Ocala/Marion County holds a box filled with envelopes for non-profits.

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Marion COVID cases continue to rise, SCHOOLS SEE ANOTHER INCREASE IN NUMBERS

By Matthew Cretul matthew@ocalagazette.com

The state’s overall vaccination rates also fell from the three previous reports, as the state recorded administering 333,477 doses of the vaccine last week, compared with the 349,354 doses two weeks ago and 389,342 doses three weeks ago. This brings the total state population of those ages 5 and up to 72%, up a percentage point from the previous report. Specific to children ages 5-11, the state reported administering 21,382 doses of the vaccine last week, bringing the total number of children vaccinated to 303,387. The total population of children ages 5-11 in the state is just under 1.7 million, and figures released by the state showed 18% of them are now vaccinated against COVID-19.

For reference, HHS reported on Dec. 28 that 78% of inpatient beds were filled, with 2% of those being COVID patients, and 84% of ICU beds were filled, but only 4% were COVID patients. In Ocala, COVID Test FL is offering testing at the Ocala First Baptist Church located at 2801 S.E. Maricamp Road. COVID Test Express is offering testing in the Villages at 11714 N.E. 62nd Terrace. Both locations are open Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

MARION COUNTY UPDATE COVID cases in Marion County continue their upward trend as the county registered 5,536 new cases during the week of Jan. 7-Jan. 13, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Health (FLDOH) Friday evening. In the previous report, the county reported recording 3,130 cases two weeks ago, and 1,543 cases for the week of Dec. 24-31. Along with the increasing overall number of cases, the county’s positivity rate rose significantly. The positivity rate climbed from 17.4% to 31.3%, and as with the total number of cases and positivity rate, the cases per 100,000 grew as well, from 840.3 to 1,486.3. As expected, local hospitalizations have begun to rise with the number of new cases over the past few weeks. In Health and Human Services (HHS) hospitalization numbers last updated Jan. 7, county hospitals reported 83% of inpatient beds filled, with 4% of those being COVID patients. Additionally, 84% of ICU beds were filled, with 6% being COVID patients.

STATE UPDATE Not only did new COVID cases continue to rise in Marion County, but they also rose across the state as a whole, although the increase was not as pronounced as it had been in previous reports. Florida recorded 430,297 new cases for the week of Jan. 7-13, compared with 396,353 new cases of COVID during the week of Dec. 31-Jan. 06, and 297,888 cases during the week of Dec. 24-30. Along with the increase in cases, the state’s cases per 100,000 average rose from 1,358.1 to 1,958.1. While the number of cases and cases per 100,000 increased, the new case positivity fell. According to the FLDOH weekly report, the state’s new case positivity is 29.3%, down from 31.3%.

Marion County Public Schools (MCPS) reported 870 confirmed cases for the week of Jan . 8-13, with 698 students and 172 employees confirmed COVID-19 positive by the Florida Department of Health in Marion County. Additionally, MCPS reported 2,090 students and 129 employees were quarantined due to direct contact with someone testing positive for COVID-19 during that span. In the preceding report for the

AA I S E D C O L • R D L LY G R ALSO S FCEA Pasture Raised | Human

ely

one & Ant

consider having students wear face coverings. According to FLDOH guidance, the county must be below 99.9 cases per 100,000 (currently at 1,486.3) and the new case positivity must remain below 10% (currently at 31.3%) for two weeks in order for coverings not to be required.

Jan. 13:

New reported Covid-19 cases per week

5,536 6,000 5,500

Jan. 7 - Jan. 13

5,000 4,500

MCPS UPDATE

D E F S S G R A LLY RAISED | Horm Treated

week of Jan. 1-7, MCPS reported 512 confirmed cases, with 356 students and 156 employees testing positive for the virus. Further, 638 students and 88 employees were quarantined as a result of direct exposure. COVID numbers continue to remain above the threshold set by FLDOH for MCPS to

Aug. 26:

3,228

Source: Marion County Health Department

3,500

4,000 3,500

3,000

2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 26 2 AUG.

9 16 23 SEPTEMBER

14 21 28 OCTOBER

11 18 25 NOVEMBER

9 16 23 DECEMBER

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Failed city policy Continued from page A1

Open lodging aka the “homeless case”

The “homeless case,” filed in federal court in September of 2019, centered around an open lodging ordinance that allowed police to arrest those sleeping outside who admitted to being homeless. Under the ordinance, the city made 406 convictions against homeless people. Those convictions resulted in 264 people spending 5,393 days in jail at a cost of roughly $360,000, according to the lawsuit. Each homeless person housed at Marion County jail under the ordinance was fined. One such example was Robert Leach, 67, who spent 278 days in jail between September 2015 and December 2020, incurring $12,000 in fines and fees after nine convictions under Ocala’s open lodging ordinance. In February of 2021, almost a year and a half after the case was filed, U.S. District Judge James Moody ruled that arresting homeless people who don’t have access to shelters is cruel and unusual punishment violating the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. There was no trial. The federal judge made a summary judgment ruling. Summary judgements are a mechanism the courts can use when the law and facts are such that a trial is not necessary. According to records supplied pursuant to a public records request, the first shade meeting on the case between the city’s attorney Patrick Gilligan of Gilligan, Gooding, Batsel, Anderson & Phelan, P.A. and city council would not take place until April 2, 2021, more than a year and a half after the filing and months after losing the case. Other than making the council aware a suit had been filed, the Gazette could find no prior city council meeting minutes where the case was significantly discussed between the city and the council preceding the judge’s ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. Four of the five council members on the council relayed having no knowledge of how the case was handled prior to the federal ruling. Former council member Matthew Wardell offered that the Mayor managed the litigation with Gilligan since it had to do with arresting people. The Mayor told the Gazette that he did not manage the suit but declined to give any other information, writing by text message, “I’m not interested however, in participating in this story.” The Gazette also reached out to Patrick Gilligan with an interview request, but he did not respond to inquiries. By the time the city attorney met with the council for the April 2021 shade meeting, more than $250,000 in attorneys’ fees had been paid to the city attorney firm, and more than $700,000 in fees

had been racked up with the Plaintiffs’ attorney. Attorneys’ fees were the main topic of the shade meeting because the city was liable for the Plaintiff ’s attorneys fees as they were the prevailing party in the litigation. “So, you’re probably stunned by that number,” Gilligan said at the April shade meeting. “I don’t think they’re going to get anywhere near that number. We think their fee claim is incredibly excessive.” In the meeting transcription, Gilligan expounded on the amount of depositions scheduled by the Plaintiffs as being the prime reason their attorney fees were so high. Gilligan showed a screen capture taken during a deposition via Zoom illustrating to the council how many attorneys and support staff attended for the Plaintiff. “If you count, I think there’s 11 folks attending the deposition,” he said. “I could have taken the same picture at every single deposition. And they took depositions like no case I’ve ever been involved in before. They took Chief Graham’s deposition twice, for a total of, probably, a whole day—both times,” Gilligan added. “We lost,” said Gilligan, referring to the McArdle case. “We lost because there’s a case called the City of Boise case, and it went up on appeal in the Ninth Circuit.” Essentially, the City of Boise case ruled that it’s cruel and unusual punishment to arrest people that are sleeping outside where they have nowhere else to go. Unless there’s available shelter space, you can’t arrest them. Gilligan previously told the Gazette that he had gambled on the Supreme Court hearing the case and overturning it. In the shade minutes, Gilligan explained to the council that when the Supreme Court denied hearing the City of Boise case, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in the case became the default law of the land. Court records reflect that the Supreme Court denied hearing the City of Boise case on December 16, 2019, just two months after the suit was filed against the city. Gilligan gives no explanation in the shade minutes as to why the litigation continued for another year and a half after the Supreme Court denied hearing the City of Boise case. During the shade meeting, Gilligan downplayed the city’s harsh policies and even the homeless problem to the council. “Our city is pretty progressive in terms of our treatment of the homeless,” said Gilligan on April 2. “But the dirty little secret about dealing with the homeless is that if you provide services, you get more homeless people because they all have cellphones. They all talk, and so they, naturally, migrate to those cities that have the best services.”

Gilligan went on to say that the homeless are not “unsheltered.” “Most of them are all in tents, and pretty nice tents,” he said. “Now, I’m not trying to make out like they’ve got a home or anything, but they’re given tents, primarily by the Methodist church up here on Fort King. They’ll give them a clean set of clothes once a week. They’ll give them these tents that will sleep four or five people.” Gilligan contested that many higher courts don’t understand the homeless crisis in America. “A lot of people are not really homeless because they’ve got nowhere to go,” he challenged. “They’re homeless by choice.” Ultimately, the city paid attorney’s fees and costs for both sides, and the Plaintiffs who were part of the suit were made whole with their fines. The city changed the ordinance slightly to follow the federal court’s ruling. The problem that remains is that the federal order provided no other relief to the homeless population who still owed fines following their arrests under the faulty ordinance. Lead attorney for the Plaintiffs, Chelsea Dunn spoke to the court’s decision not to certify the lawsuit as a class action, “Ultimately, I think we helped everyone in our purported class suit…because once the court’s order came down, the city stopped enforcing that ordinance because there wasn’t available shelter for all those individuals who were being arrested.” Since the court did not agree to certify the class action suit the other homeless people arrested under the faulty ordinance would need to file additional suits to obtain relief. Dunn said that she and Southern Legal Counsel haven’t forgotten about the many homeless in Ocala, who, upon being

arrested before the previous ordinance on open lodging still owe large amounts of money in court fees. Dunn estimated the court costs owed by homeless individuals convicted of open lodging were approximately $301,067. The cost of incarcerating these individuals at the Marion County Jail was approximately $364,782. Though it is possible that some individuals paid their fees off, she added. “It is something we’re still interested in,” said Dunn. “We would like to help people who are affected. We just haven’t moved forward yet on actually trying to remedy those issues. But certainly, it’s an issue we are fully aware of.”

Panhandling

In the shade minutes from a July 30, 2021 meeting held in another case challenging the constitutionality of the city’s panhandling ordinance, Gilligan described the city’s panhandling ordinance “aggressive” and “unconstitutional.” “This is a factually straightforward case,” said Gilligan later in the same meeting. “We have an ordinance. We’re enforcing it. They say it’s unconstitutional.” Council member Jay Musleh asked Gilligan if Mayor Guinn could stand up at a future council meeting and “charge at windmills,” claiming the council had “no spine” and veto the ordinance rescinding the previous ordinances. Gilligan said the mayor could. “It’s an ordinance, open to repeal,” he said. “I can’t say without talking to him, but I haven’t sat down and shown him what we’re up against.” The panhandling suit was filed on April 19, 2021, and settled very quickly compared to the open lodging case.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Photograph of city council during the time of the shade meetings took place. Jay Musleh, Brent Malever, Ire Bethea, Matthew Wardell, and Justin Grabelle. Since this photo, three out of five council members have been replaced.

COMMENTARY

Lessons gleaned Commentary by the Ocala Gazette Editorial Board

e are unsure who should take blame for the protracted litigation in the open lodging case that cost the taxpayers quite a bit in attorneys’ fees and left the homeless burdened with fines they probably can’t pay. Maybe there is shared blame. Blame for the city attorney, who failed to advise the city council that case law was not in their favor early on. Blame for the city, who failed to manage the city attorney and demand updates on a regular basis. There seemed to be confusion over whether or not the Mayor managed the litigation as well, since it involved “arresting people,” leaving us to wonder who was making

decisions throughout the process. The shade meetings, granted under Sunshine Law for the city to discuss pending legal matters with its attorney, were meant to only be a temporary pass on public transparency. Transcriptions of these meetings are vital to giving the public a way to hold those in power accountable for the decisions that impact them. Perhaps the most disconcerting element reflected in the shade minutes was the city attorney’s dismissal of the value of the lawsuits to fix the failed policy. Gilligan said the litigation brought in both cases was an effort to bring about social change, using legal fees as a “cudgel.” He also referred to the prevailing party’s legal fees as a “jihad” against the city. “If you want societal change,” said Gilligan, “the place

you go do it is you talk to your local councilman, your county commissioners, your state legislators or your congressman. You don’t mount these type of lawsuits, try to run up the fees as much as possible.” These cases—open lodging and panhandling both— represent only two recent examples of city policy being challenged as unconstitutional in the courts. Many people, including the prior city manager, spoke at city council meetings and workshops about finding a better solution. Yet, it took a lawsuit to bring the social change necessary. Let’s not let these failed ordinances pass us without asking the council to take greater care in their policy decisions—particularly when it comes to the most vulnerable portion of our community.

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Briefs PUPPY LOVE MCAS OFFERS #BETTYWHITECHALLENGE ADOPTION SPECIAL

Betty White at the Old Navy Nationwide Search for a New Canine Mascot at Franklin Canyon Park on April 29, 2006 in Beverly Hills, CA. [File Photo]

By James Blevins james@ocalagazette.com

arion County Animal Services (MCAS) announced on Wednesday, Jan. 12 that it had been inspired to join the “Betty White Challenge” in honor of the late TV icon who was “a wonderful advocate for animals and their well-being” during her life, according to a press release. Running through to Jan. 31, anyone interested in adopting a pet can come down to MCAS and adopt by donating, according to the release, “what you can” for adoption fees, which cover the cost of up-to-date vaccinations, spay/neuter surgeries, a county pet license and microchip insertion. Adoption funds will go directly to the improvement, well being, and quality of life for animals at the no-kill Marion County Animal Center. If adoption is not an option, donations are being accepted, in person or online at

MarionFl.org/Animal, or by mail at 5701 S.E. 66th St., Ocala, FL. 34480. Director of Animal Services Jim Sweet said the month-long adoption campaign hopes to honor Betty White’s love for animals and pets of all types. “We appreciate her never-ending kindness and the impact she made during her life,” said Sweet. “Her legacy is something that we want to honor, and not just once. We’re considering honoring Betty White every January with this campaign. We think it’s a great way to honor a great lady with a wonderful legacy.” Betty White, who passed away on Dec. 31 at the age of 99, was a friend to countless animals throughout her legendary life, according to “The New York Post,” and her legacy is living on through a new challenge sweeping social media this month, asking fans to donate to animal rescues or shelters in her name. Wendy Hillyard, Animal Services program specialist, said, “Since the start of the #BettyWhiteChallenge, we’ve seen more interest in ways to help our shelter, including donations, adoptions and those interested in volunteering. Betty White was clearly an inspiration to those who believe in helping pets, which is a gift to those of us working in the animal welfare field.” Since beginning the challenge, the county shelter has seen 83 adoptions with over $2,000 in donations toward the cause, according to a Jan. 18 MCAS press release. On Jan. 13, Humane Society of Marion County (HSMC) announced that it would also be participating in the social media campaign. Kristen Tanner, social media and volunteer coordinator for HSMC, said the non-profit’s adoption fees will remain the same, but people can still donate towards the amount of an adoption for an animal, or they can donate to a specific cause at the shelter that speaks to them. “We’re super excited. It’s a great way to memorialize Betty White and kind of process that grief of her passing,” said Tanner, adding, “When you’re 99 and someone says that you passed away too soon—that speaks volumes of the kind of person she was and the life that she lived.”

HOUSE PANEL TO TAKE UP ABORTION LIMIT By Florida News Service

n what likely will be one of the mostcontroversial issues of the 2022 legislative session, a House panel next week will take up a bill that would prevent doctors from performing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee is slated to consider the measure (HB 5), filed by Rep. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, during a meeting Wednesday. It will be the first hearing for the bill, which is similar to a Mississippi abortion restriction that is before the U.S. Supreme Court. Grall and Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, filed the proposal in the House and Senate

(SB 146) this week. The Supreme Court heard arguments Dec. 1 on the Mississippi law, spurring widespread opinions that the court’s conservative majority will uphold the law — or possibly go further in striking down the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling. The Florida bills would include exceptions to the 15-week limit to protect the lives of pregnant women or to “avert a serious risk of imminent substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.” Also, they would include an exception for fetuses that have not reached viability and have fatal abnormalities. The bills do not include an exception for rape or incest.

DISTRICT’S HÁLPATA TASTANAKI PRESERVE CLOSED FOR FERAL HOG HUNTS

Wild pig family wandering in a park in Florida [File Photo]

he Southwest Florida Water Management District’s (District) Hálpata Tastanaki Preserve in Marion County will be temporarily closed to the public for feral hog hunts to be conducted on Jan. 25 through Jan. 27. Only permitted hunters will be allowed on the property during these dates, according to the District press release. All 25 permits for these hunts have been sold. This activity is one of a series of feral hog hunts being held on District lands to control the damage being caused to the natural habitats. The District only allows hogs to be controlled through hunts when the damage they cause exceeds unacceptable levels, and damage is occurring more frequently and

ORANGE JUICE SALES REMAIN STEADY

ales of Florida orange juice have remained relatively stable as the world moves into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. But a drop in production, combined with continuing inflation, might be catching up to the industry. “We currently know that the demand for Florida fruit remains strong, but that demand is going to require support,” Marisa Zansler, director of economic and market research for the Florida Department of Citrus, said Wednesday. The support might require tapping existing inventories and drawing on imports to fulfill the market demand, Zansler said. Members of the Florida Citrus Commission were advised

Wednesday that the price of orange juice is up 8.2 percent from a pre-pandemic 2019 level and could increase by 5.7 percent from current shelf prices. So far, most shopping for orange juice hasn’t been affected. Zansler said “health and wellness” was a driving force during the summer as reports spread about the delta variant of the coronavirus. In updating a forecast for the current growing season, the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week estimated Florida orange production would be 5.3 percent below an initial forecast from October and 15.7 percent lower than the yield from the 2020-2021 season.

Join the ARGUMENTS SLATED ON SOCIAL MEDIA LAW By Florida News Service

federal appeals court is slated to hear arguments in late April in a battle about a Florida law that would put restrictions on companies such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a notice this week that said arguments will be heard during the week of April 25, though the notice did not specify an exact date. The state took the case to the Atlantabased appeals court after U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in June issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law from being enforced, saying it was “riddled with imprecision and ambiguity.” The law, passed during the 2021 legislative session, was a priority for Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans who accused social-media platforms of

censorship. DeSantis made the issue highprofile after former President Donald Trump was blocked from Facebook and Twitter after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In part, the measure seeks to prevent large social-media companies from barring political candidates from their platforms and would require companies to publish --- and apply consistently --- standards about issues such as blocking users. The industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association filed a lawsuit in May, contending that the law would violate First Amendment rights and harm companies’ efforts to moderate content. Hinkle sided with the groups, finding that they “are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim that these statutes violate the First Amendment.”

with increasing severity. Feral hogs live throughout Florida in various habitats, but prefer moist forests and swamps, as well as pine flatwoods. They are omnivorous and feed by rooting with their broad snouts, which can cause extensive damage to the area. Feral hogs are not native to Florida. Historians believe explorer Hernando DeSoto first introduced them as early as 1539. They can weigh more than 300 pounds and travel in herds of several females and their offspring. Hálpata Tastanaki Preserve is located at 15430 S.W. HWY 484 in Dunnellon. For more information, please call the District’s Land Management section at 1 (800) 423-1476 or (352) 796-7211, ext. 4467.

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Goin’ back to Tally A series

PART FOUR

Editor’s note:

Two members of the Marion County Legislative Delegation, Representative Stan McClain and Senator Jennifer Bradley, did not return multiple attempts to coordinate and schedule interviews, so we could not featured them in the series. By Matthew Cretul matthew@ocalagazette.com The fourth and final part of this ongoing series highlights a member of the Marion County Legislative Delegation in the Florida House of Representatives, Rep. Brett Hage. Below, Hage discusses some of his individual priorities, considerations for policy creation and support, as well as thoughts on various areas as Florida’s legislative session gets underway in Tallahassee.

Representative Brett Hage

Visit https://bit.ly/hagebills for a full list of bills sponsored by Representative Hage for the 2022 session. Brett Hage represents Florida House District 33, which contains all of Sumter as well as parts of Lake and Marion Counties. In addition to being a legislator, Hage lists his occupation as a Residential Developer. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Samford University in 1997, where he also played collegiate baseball.

On what he believes are the major overall priorities for the session Hage says the previous legislative session was a busy one, and as a result, he does not see the current session moving at such a breakneck pace. “I think you’re gonna see a very slow policy [session],” he said. “I think that the speaker accomplished 99% of his priorities last session, and the last session was a big one for us all, myself included. So I feel like you can’t have a big session every session.” While he said he doesn’t expect to see a large amount of legislation making its way through the process, Hage echoed previous lawmakers featured in the series when he highlighted two main tasks that must be accomplished before the session ends in March. “The two major responsibilities that we have, really the only things we have to be successful on this year is passing a balanced budget, and then redrawing these redistricting lines. So I think you’re gonna see less policy go through the system because the efforts are going to be spent on those two major, major priorities that we have to do and we’re called to do as Florida legislators,” he said. In addition to passing a balanced budget and finalizing a redistricting plan, Hage says his focus will be on getting Governor Ron DeSantis’s plans passed. “I’m going to support the governor and his initiatives, I can tell you that,” he said. “I

believe in him, and I believe in the initiatives that he runs this year, so you will see me support that.” Hage detailed areas where his priorities are in line with the governor’s proposals. “They are continuing to keep Florida free, continuing to protect our rights, protect us from more voter fraud, potentially, and we will be addressing abortion after 15 weeks. I am a pro-life guy, so whatever I can do to support that I will certainly be doing,” he said.

On his individual priorities

Hage said, unlike many other lawmakers, he doesn’t have a long list of individual priorities when it comes to proposing legislation. Instead, he looks for legislation he feels will adversely affect his district, and then the state as a whole, and works to make sure it does not pass. “My priorities are very simple. I joined the Florida Legislature to play defense and to block laws that don’t make sense from the common-sense perspective,” he said. “A lot of people come to Tallahassee with a big, big agenda. This is my fourth session. I’m one of those representatives that just sits back and watches legislation pass or not pass, and then I jump in to protect my constituents to ensure the best possible lifestyle that we can have. And I think too much government’s bad. I’m a big conservative and I think less is more.” In Hage’s view, the government does have a role in everyday life, albeit a limited one. “I think you’ve got to have government to protect us and to keep us safe with our state law enforcement officers. Society needs rules and guidelines to follow and I don’t disagree with that, but I think that it should be as minimal as possible,” he said. He specified he doesn’t look to only block bills proposed by the party opposite, but any bills that he believes will harm his district. “My colleagues can run bills that can negatively affect the constituents in the tri-county area that I represent. And that’s what I look at.” While he respects his fellow legislators, Hage says his allegiance is to his district, not them. “My constituents sent me to Tallahassee, not these other lawmakers that I’m blessed to work with, they didn’t send me up here,” he said. “So if I’ve got to slow something down that’s got some momentum that can negatively impact us in Marion County, then by golly, it’s my job to step up, regardless of if it aligns me or not with other House members.”

On HB 145 Recreational OffHighway Vehicle Weight Limits (Added to Tourism, Infrastructure & Energy Subcommittee agenda)

While he is trying to limit the legislation he introduces in this session, one specific bill Hage proposed is the House companion bill to SB 474, Recreational Off-highway Vehicles, which Senator Keith Perry proposed in the Senate. Hage says the bill is an attempt to look forward at where off-road vehicles are headed and afford the newer, electric vehicles the same considerations as

older, gas-powered ones. “Well, the focus of this for me is to run a cleaner side by side. This bill, if passed, would allow those specifications and the weights of those units to be legal to run [on the trails],” he said. “I just think it’s cleaner, and I think it’s the direction that this country is going in. So it shows that we’re trying to stay ahead and keep up with the times in the direction that the state of Florida and the country’s going in, looking at cleaner ways to operate.”

On growth and the economy

Hage said the growth that not only Marion County is undergoing, but the state as a whole is on a level rarely seen, and he credits leadership in Tallahassee for putting the state in the position to grow. “The reality is the boom that Florida is experiencing now under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis is unparalleled,” he said. “People are moving to the state of Florida because this is a free state. People are moving down here because we have a great governor in place, we have great legislators in the Florida House of Representatives and the state Senate.” Hage said multiple areas of his district are seeing growth, adding that he thinks it’s a good sign, as long as there is balance. “I’m a pro-economy guy. I’m a small business guy, I’m a business person. So I want to help with all things that can help grow our local businesses and our economy. And we are certainly growing in The Villages in a big, big way, and so I want to try and support those efforts with a level of fairness. Fairness between the businesses and the constituents.” Progress, according to Hage, is much better than the alternative. “I’m going to support the growth because that’s who I am and that’s what I believe in. I believe, if you’re not growing, you’re going backward,” he said. “And so I feel like all things have to grow to prosper and to be something versus staying stagnant. If you stay stagnant, I think ultimately you wither up and die just like a plant without water.”

On working with the members of the Marion County Legislative Delegation

Hage said he’s been fortunate to be a part of the Marion County Legislative Delegation, and all its members share a common purpose, making the county the best it can be. “I try to work side by side with the other delegation members to support Marion County and support their efforts to show my support to Marion County,” he said. Hage said like other members of the delegation, he leans heavily on his faith. In addition, he says coming from the same party allows them to share a similar mindset. “I’m very like-minded with [Rep.] Joe [Harding] and Senator Baxley and the other [Republicans]…I think you’ll find us all equally yoked in our

conservative values and really, genuinely wanting to do what’s best for the people,” he said. While the majority of the delegation are members of the Republican party, Rep. Yvonne Hinson is the single Democratic member. Hage says that despite the party difference, he appreciates the opportunity to work with her as well. “Representative Hinson is a big part of our delegation. And she’s grounded in that same commonality as us,” he said. “Yes, different paths, different ideology, different process, but at the end of the day, she lands where we do a good portion of the time, even from an ideological standpoint.”

On committee assignments The different perspectives are something Hage sees as a benefit to any proposed bill working its way through various committee stops. He believes it is “the process created in the Florida Legislature for voices to be heard. It gives you the opportunity to take a product and make it better each step of the way,” he said. “I think we have a great process, it works. And oftentimes a bill can start one way and ends up a totally different way due to the many minds and eyes that are able to see that particular piece of legislation through the entire journey,” he added, saying his committee work, much like his legislative approach this session, will be pared-down by design. “I have a smaller set of committee assignments this year, by request to help with the workload that I’m carrying…I just can’t be on seven committees and do what I do,” Hage said. One committee he has served on, dating back to his start in the legislature is the Commerce Committee. Hage said it aligns well with his career as a businessman, and he appreciates that he can translate his realworld experiences into the policy creation process. “I’ve been on [the Commerce Committee] from day one since I got into the House. And I hope I get to stay on it until my time runs out in the Florida House,” he said. While he said he has a wealth of subject matter knowledge in the world of business, Hage says another of his committee assignments allows him to come in contact with an area he does not have near as much experience with. “I’ve loved being on the Criminal Justice Committee because it’s a world that I don’t live in and I don’t get to see much of. I love our law enforcement officers, I love learning about the legislation early on in the game that we’re trying to do to support that group of folks in our society,” he said. Hage said another of his committee assignments is similar to the Criminal Justice Committee in that it’s not an area he’s fully immersed in. But he says it’s an area that directly impacts his district. “Same thing with the Insurance and Banking Committee. I don’t really run in the world of insurance and banking,” he said. “And I’m trying very hard to help get the

Brett Thomas Hage Elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2018 Committee Assignments: • Commerce Committee • Insurance & Banking Subcommittee • Criminal Justice & Public Safety Subcommittee

insurance rates in line, especially with fake subcontractors and roofing contractors, specifically in my area of The Villages, which is where these guys come in and try to take advantage of the elderly.” The committees, according to Hage, are vital to the process. But he says how the proposed legislation is worded is of equal, if not more, significance. “It is of utmost importance that we get the language right. The language is what matters most in the way it is written in those bills because the interpretation can sometimes lead us to unintended consequences if we don’t get it right,” he said. “And let me tell you, we don’t get it right all the time. In sometimes we have to back up and punt. But that’s the beauty of the committee process. Hopefully, when we get a product to the finish line we got the language as right as we can humanly possibly get it to have the best positive impact on all parties involved.”

On the proposed Northern Turnpike Extension

One issue that every member of the Marion County Legislative Delegation will be faced with is the proposed Northern Turnpike Extension (NTE). Hage said conceptually the idea has merit, but he needs more details before moving forward. “In theory, it makes great sense, right? We do need another road north other than I-75 and I-95. But I do have concerns,” he said. “I voted for the study to be done in last year’s session, and I still support the study portion. I don’t know how I feel about it turning into a reality. I want to know more specifically where it’s going to travel, and I don’t know the answer to that yet.” To Hage, the study portion of the project was necessary, but he said he’s still a bit hesitant to embrace the project all the way through. “It really affects us in Marion County…I agreed to fund the study because you’ve got to do your due diligence, right? But I would like to understand more as it develops before I would say, ‘Okay, let’s go do this.’ I want to see the impact that’s gonna have on the people that I serve,” he said. Hage agrees with Senator Dennis Baxley that he’s neither pro nor anti-road, but instead is focused on improving the process. “I know they put out four proposed paths, and they really need to narrow the scope to two so we can see the true impacts on our constituents. I want to see the actual game plan, and we don’t need four different game plans,” he said. He says also shares Representative Joe Harding’s frustrations that some don’t fully understand the process, and funding a study is not the same as approving the entire project. “We just approved the study. We didn’t say go build the road. We said let’s study and bring it back to the legislation,” Hage said. “Let’s see the implications of this so we can make a better educated decision. And that’s where we’re at…I want to do the homework so we can understand what implications it has on our people.”

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

State Proposal aimed at investment in vehicle charging stations By Jim Turner Florida News Service

proposal that would direct Florida utility regulators to encourage private investment in electric-vehicle charging stations got backing Tuesday from a Senate committee, despite a concern that it might be beyond the regulators’ jurisdiction. The proposal (SB 920), which cleared the Senate Regulated Industries Committee, comes as some major electric utilities have gotten into the chargingstation game. Bill sponsor Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, said the proposal seeks to create a “fair, open competitive market” and will face some changes, but it won’t block utilities from ongoing efforts to operate charging stations. “I think by opening this up and making sure that everybody has a seat at the table, make it a competitive, free market-based enterprise system, have the (Public Service Commission) oversee that from certain

rulemaking, that we’ll get ahead of this,” Perry said. “We could set the trends for the nation really. We can do this, but we have to be proactive.” Perry’s bill would direct the Public Service Commission to propose rules by the end of this year that would offer a “competitively neutral” manner of creating electricvehicle charging infrastructure, which includes reasonable and affordable electric rates for utilities. The commission would have until Jan. 1, 2024, to adopt the rules. But a Senate staff analysis of the bill said the Public Service Commission is unclear how it can “prioritize and encourage private investment, or stimulate competition and customer choice in a market that is outside of its jurisdiction.” The analysis also said, in part, that there could be a financial impact on utilities if existing electric-vehicle infrastructure would have to be removed from the rate base or provided through separate, unregulated corporate affiliates. Utilities have become

increasingly involved in charging-station issues as the numbers of electric vehicles have increased. CleanEnergy.Org reported in December that sales of electric vehicles in Florida increased 53 percent --- to 3 percent of all cars sold --- from July 2020 to July 2021. Last April, Tampa Electric got Public Service Commission approval to spend up to $2 million to purchase, install, own and maintain 200 charging stations. In December 2020, Florida Power & Light was given the green light for a five-year pilot program intended to add “fast charging’ stations that included the utility being able to charge 30 cents per kilowatt hour for motorists who charge vehicles at utility-owned sites. In 2021, the commission agreed to allow Duke Energy Florida to establish a permanent electric-vehicle program as part of a ratecase settlement that will see $62.9 million spent over the next three years that includes continuing to run existing charging stations from a pilot

File Photo

program. The Senate proposal has support from the Florida Retail Federation and the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association. Lobbyists for those groups have expressed a need to do away with any advantage utilities might now have through charging-station plans that have already been approved by the commission. Lawmakers in the 2020 legislative session directed the Florida Department of Transportation to develop a plan that encourages the expansion of charging stations along the state

highway system. The state later designated $8.6 million to add 34 fastcharging stations along Interstate 95, Interstate 4, Interstate 75, Interstate 275 and Interstate 295 as part of $166 million Florida received as its share of a $14.7 billion settlement between Volkswagen and the U.S. Department of Justice over emissions violations. An identical proposal to Perry’s (HB 737) by Rep. David Borrero, R-Sweetwater, is awaiting action in House committees.

Court sides with minor in parental consent case

File Photo

By Jim Saunders Florida News Service

divided state appeals court has cleared the way for a 17-yearold high school student to have an abortion without getting approval from her parents, finding that she

was mature enough to make the decision. The 2-1 ruling Tuesday by a panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal overturned a Hillsborough County circuit judge’s order denying a request to waive a requirement in state law that minors receive parental consent before having abortions.

The law, passed in 2020, provided what is known as a “judicial bypass” — a process in which minors can go to court to seek waivers from the parental-consent requirement. Appellate rulings in such cases are relatively unusual. The minor, identified only as Jane Doe to protect her privacy, is a high-school junior who said in the case that she wants to go into the military and ultimately become a nurse. In seeking the parentalconsent waiver, she said she was too young to become a parent, did not have sufficient income and would not be able to pursue her goal of going into the military, according to the ruling. The panel majority said the minor’s “testimony demonstrates that she possesses an ability to assess the consequences of her choice and the risk it entails, as well as the intention to reassess her decision after direct consultation with her physician.” It also said she met requirements in the law to receive the judicial bypass. “For appellate purposes, it is not necessary for the members of this panel to agree with her conclusions or to approve them,” said the 22-page ruling, written by Judge Darryl Casanueva and joined by Judge Susan RothsteinYouakim. “Rather, it is appropriate to

measure each conclusion against the terms legislatively pronounced as factors to be considered. This record demonstrates that the petitioner’s testimony regarding the statutory factors was precise, explicit, and lacked any hint of confusion. It is of sufficient weight to entitle the petitioner to the requested relief.” But Judge John Stargel, in an eightpage dissent, wrote that Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Jared Smith “had the opportunity to personally observe, inquire, and interact with the minor child to determine whether there was clear and convincing evidence that she met the statutory requirements” before denying the judicial bypass. “The majority discounts most of the trial court’s concerns regarding Doe’s credibility and demeanor as a witness, overall intelligence, emotional development and stability, and ability to accept responsibility,” Stargel wrote “The trial court is in a unique position to determine the credibility and demeanor of the witness. This court has long recognized that the trial court’s findings, including those regarding the minor’s demeanor, may support a determination that the minor did not prove that she was sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy.”

Orlando to host US final home World Cup qualifier in March By The Associated Press

he United States will play its final home World Cup qualifier at Orlando, Florida, on March 27 against Panama. The U.S. Soccer Federation announced Wednesday that the match will be at Exploria Stadium, where the Americans beat Panama 4-0 on Oct. 6, 2017, also their next-to-last qualifier. Needing only a draw in their finale to qualify, the U.S. lost 2-1 four days later at Trinidad and Tobago, and the Americans‘ streak of seven straight World

Cup appearances was stopped. The U.S. is 4-0 at Exploria, which has a capacity of 25,500 and opened in 2014. This game against Panama is between qualifiers on March 24 at Mexico and March 30 at Costa Rica, where the Americans have nine losses and one draw in qualifying. The Americans lost 4-0 in their last qualifier at Costa Rica in November 2016, causing the USSF to fire coach Jurgen Klinsmann and bring back Bruce Arena. The U.S. is second in qualifying with 15 points after eight games, one point behind

Canada. Mexico and Panama have 14 points each, followed by Costa Rica (nine), Jamaica (seven), El Salvador (six) and Honduras (three). The Americans play El Salvador on Jan. 27 at Columbus, Ohio, Canada three days later at Hamilton, Ontario, and Honduras on Feb. 2 at St. Paul, Minnesota. The top three nations qualify for this year‘s World Cup in Qatar, and the fourth-place team advances to a one-game playoff in June against the Oceania champion, likely New Zealand.

The Associated Press

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

House panel gives initial nod to controversial abortion proposal By Ryan Dailey Florida News Service

espite fierce objections from Democrats who argued the proposal is unconstitutional, a Florida House panel on Wednesday approved a controversial bill that would prohibit doctors from performing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The proposal, approved by the House Professions and Public Health Subcommittee in a 12-6 vote Wednesday, closely resembles a Mississippi abortion law that is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. The court heard arguments in the case last month. Democrats on the committee peppered Republicans with questions about whether the bill measure violates the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision --- which some advocates for abortion access fear is on the line as the Mississippi law is weighed by a court dominated by conservative justices. Rep. Erin Grall, a Vero Beach Republican who sponsored the bill, said “that will be a decision for the courts.” Grall told the panel that the significance of the 15-week limit on abortions proposed in the bill was based on being “consistent” with the Mississippi law. “I believe that we have a unique opportunity in the fact that the Supreme Court is considering 15 weeks right now, and this would allow Florida to save as many babies as possible, as soon as possible,” she said,

later telling the committee that the measure could equate to “saving 5,000 babies a year” if it passes. Grall and Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, filed similar 15-week abortion proposals on the first day of the 2022 legislative session last week. The abortion restriction has quickly emerged as one of the most hotly contested issues before lawmakers. Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signaled that he would sign the measure if lawmakers pass it during the 60-day session, saying that he’s “supportive of 15 weeks” and finds the restriction “reasonable.” The bill does not include an exception for victims of rape and incest, drawing ire from Democrats and opponents of the measure. Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat who formerly worked at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said she shared a story with her colleagues about a mother who was a victim of rape. “She is still navigating the trauma of that decision. She is proud to be a mother, but she doesn’t want other people to be stripped away of the option to end their pregnancy. This bill is not moderate. It is extreme,” Eskamani said. The measure would allow abortions after 15 weeks if a fetus is found to have a “fatal fetal abnormality,” which the bill defines as “a terminal condition that, in reasonable medical judgment, regardless of the provision of life-saving medical

ALAN YOUNGBLOOD/Special to the Gazette

Anti abortion protesters clash with Abortion rights protesters near the intersection of South Pine and Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala, Florida. The pro Trump protesters showed up at the protest that was organized by the Abortion rights group.

treatment, is incompatible with life outside the womb and will result in death upon birth or imminently thereafter.” Critics of the bill took aim at a provision that would require two doctors to certify in writing that a fetus has a fatal abnormality before clearing a termination of a pregnancy. But Grall argued that the two-physician requirement is an “important component to maintain the integrity of the exception, so it is not overused or abused.” The bill also seeks to create regional infant-mortality review committees that would analyze infant mortality rates, trends and causes in an effort to develop recommendations aimed at reducing deaths. The measure also would provide pregnant women

and women who may become pregnant with information about the risks of using tobacco. Rep. Michele Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, said that Republicans were attempting to be “clever” by wrapping those provisions --which several Democrats on the committee said their party has championed in the past --- into the controversial proposal. But Rep. Jenna PersonsMulicka, a co-sponsor of the bill, said those sections of the measure are intended to help the health of prospective mothers. “We focused on improving the quality of care that mothers and children get before and after birth. And we focused on education that not only impacts infant health but maternal health as well. Every baby deserves an opportunity to live,” Persons-

Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, said. The House measure faces two more committees before heading to the floor for a full vote. Stargel, whose bill has not been vetted by a committee yet, told reporters last week that she was urged to get an abortion when she was a teen but did not have the procedure. “Many people recommended that I have an abortion and told me that I wouldn’t be able to accomplish things and that my life was going to be destroyed,” she said on Jan. 12. “I don’t fault those people, they were doing what they thought honestly was the case. But many, many women defy those odds, and many of these babies go on to do successful things.”

Gov. DeSantis submits redistricting map By Anthony Izaguirre The Associated Press

lorida Gov. Ron DeSantis has submitted a proposal to reshape the state‘s congressional map and carve up districts held by Black Democrats, as the Republican takes the unusual step of inserting himself into the redistricting process. The proposed congressional map, submitted Sunday on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, signaled the governor‘s priorities as the state moves to redraw political maps in the coming months. Governors typically do not submit map proposals but can veto district plans after they pass in the statehouse. DeSantis, who is running for reelection and is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, has largely shaped the legislative agenda in

the Republican-controlled statehouse this year. DeSantis‘ general counsel, Ryan Newman, issued a statement saying their office has “legal concerns” with the current maps under consideration at the Legislature. “We have submitted an alternative proposal, which we can support, that adheres to federal and state requirements and addresses our legal concerns, while working to increase district compactness, minimize county splits where feasible, and protect minority voting populations,” Newman wrote. “Because the Governor must approve any congressional map passed by the Legislature, we wanted to provide our proposal as soon as possible and in a transparent manner.” Among other things, the governor‘s proposal dismantles a north Florida district held by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a

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Democrat, and would break up a south Florida district formerly held by U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, another Democrat. A St. Petersburg district held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist would also be carved up, under the governor‘s plan. In a statement, Lawson called DeSantis‘ proposal “unprecedented” and said “It is evident that DeSantis is trying to restrict minority representation, specifically African American voters.” “I am confident that this attempt by the governor to dilute the voting rights of my constituents is in clear violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution,” he said. State Democrats were quick to criticize the governor‘s proposed map and suggested it could not pass legal muster as currently drafted. “From what I can tell, the governor rolled out his own maps, unrequested, on

Martin Luther King Day that will probably end up leaving less African-American representation in Congress,” Democratic state Rep. Evan Jenne told reporters. Last week, the Senate Reapportion Committee approved a Senate-led congressional map on a nearly unanimous vote, signaling that both parties agree that it is drawn without benefitting a political party or candidate. That plan now moves to the full Senate for a vote. The House Redistricting Committee still needs to approve its version of the congressional map. The Florida Supreme Court in 2015 threw out the state‘s congressional maps, which were drawn by Republicans, in a ruling that said the maps benefitted the party and were drawn with the help of state Republican party consultants.

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

State agencies grapple with worker shortage By Dara Kam Florida News Service

scrambling to fill vacant posts. “I know we are trying everything we can, whether it’s Amid a national worker going to junior colleges for people shortage, state agencies are with trades. We are recruiting struggling to fill vacant positions actively on LinkedIn. We’re trying and retain employees, including to make referrals within our own those who care for some of people and agencies. But we’re Florida’s most vulnerable citizens. trying to use every tool in our Many employees are toolbox,” he told the panel. leaving state government jobs Florida has the country’s because they’re overworked leanest state employee workforce, and underpaid, according to a with a ratio of 85 full-time presentation Wednesday to a employees for every 10,000 Senate committee. residents. A flood of better-paying But the employee shortage positions in the private sector being experienced by businesses that have opened up following throughout the nation is having widespread shutdowns during an outsized impact on state the coronavirus pandemic has government. exacerbated hiring problems, Among the agencies being hit officials from several state hardest are those that care for agencies told the Senate the state’s most-dangerous or Governmental Oversight and vulnerable people. Accountability Committee. The Agency for Persons with The number of applicants Disabilities has vacancy rates responding to state-government between 20 and 46 percent at its job advertisements dropped by four facilities in North Florida, nearly 35 percent over the past Rose Salinas, the agency’s deputy three years, while the number director for budget and planning, of job postings increased by told the Senate panel. 7 percent, Department of The agency has been forced to Management Services Secretary contract with private companies J. Todd Inman said. as it struggles to hire and retain The state is receiving 11.6 direct-care workers, Salinas applications on average for each said. Wages are the main job posting, compared to an problem, but job retention and average of 37 applications per recruitment have become even advertisement in September 2020, more challenging as demands on Inman said. existing employees balloon. Meanwhile, searches for As an example, Salinas said employees continue to skyrocket, that, before the pandemic, with advertisements for state the agency’s Sunland Center jobs jumping by more than 62 in Marianna had 15 vacant percent over the past six months, positions. As of Friday, the facility according to Inman. had 131 vacancies, she said. The secretary said his agency, Direct-care employees working which handles many humanfor the state make about $14 per resources issues for the state, hour, but the agency is paying is among the departments between $47 and $67 an hour to

private contractors to fill vacant slots, Salinas said. “We’re offering the job for $14 an hour and yet we’re paying potentially $65 an hour, so they’re probably making $40, $45 an hour?” committee Chairman Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, asked. Salinas said she did not know how much the contractors are paying employees but that nurse assistants in hospitals generally earn at least $16 per hour. The Department of Children and Families is experiencing similar challenges, agency Secretary Shevaun Harris told the Senate committee. Front-line jobs at the agency are “some of the hardest jobs in state government,” she said. “So it may not be hard to fathom why, coming out of the pandemic as most industries are having recruitment challenges, we’ve seen increased vacancies and turnover and a shortage of qualified or willing candidates for many of our critical class positions,” Harris said. The pandemic also has increased the workload for DCF employees, Harris explained. “As you can imagine, declining workforce numbers combined with an increase in workload only exacerbates the turnover rate. I want to assure you that enhancing recruitment and retention

strategies is at the forefront of our strategic plan,” she said. Department of Juvenile Justice Chief of Staff Heather DiGiacomo echoed the experiences of other agency leaders. “I feel like I could just come up here and say, ‘Ditto,’ right?” she said. DiGiacomo said her agency has a 68 percent turnover rate for entry-level positions. Again, higher-paying jobs and increased workloads are among the main reasons employees are exiting, she said. “Not only are we seeing elevated turnover, we aren’t seeing the same degree of interest in people applying for these positions, either,” she added. Detention officers at the agency make $14.68 per hour, DiGiacomo noted. “I mean, I’ve heard of people leaving detention to go work at the car wash across the street. Is that correct?” Brandes asked.

“I would say that is an accurate statement,” DiGiacomo replied. Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon reiterated hiring struggles at his agency. With more than 18,000 employees, corrections is the largest agency in state government. Dixon said the agency has 5,849 unfilled correctional officer positions, which he called a “significant vacancy rate.” The secretary also said the main reasons are salaries and working conditions. “Because of the void in the workforce, so, too, the conditions deteriorated and the amount of overtime to work and the safety aspect has had a significant impact on our agency,” he said.

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

People, Places & Things Through the looking glass of a macro lens

Flight of the Hummingbirds

Leslie Jean Wengler’s solo show brings one up close to nature and far away from life’s trivialities. By Julie Garisto Special to the Gazette

he “mystic loveliness of childhood,” that feeling of awe untainted by the clamor of ego and society, inspired Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in “Cross Creek” and lives on through the lens of fine art photographer Leslie Jean Wengler. The Ocala-based artist’s first solo exhibition at NOMA Gallery, ”Flora: A

State of Whim,” zooms beyond decorative landscapes and sunsets to a world that flourishes inside the bushes and grass blades, where pistils, petals, stamens and dewdrops share real estate in a colorful, alternate universe. Through Wengler’s mind’s eye and her Nikon macro lens, we get up close to the pearlescence of flowers and plants, cilia and other delicate textures. We get to know the artist herself through her textual

descriptions. It’s a two-fold experience that sets her photography apart as an immediate and intimate experience. “I knew I wanted to be a photographer since I was 9,” she shared, “but most of my inspiration comes from the written word, John Keats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.” Wengler references the otherworldly See Close, page B3

Come along for a fantastic voyage!

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

The cast of Around The World In 80 Days, from left, James Ray Taylor III, Christian Gonzales, Trafton Crandall and Lily Capote, rehearse a scene from the play at the Ocala Civic Theatre on East Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala on Jan. 17.

The slapstick and versatility of Around the World in 80 Days are a real trip. By Julie Garisto Special to the Gazette

ith all the recent pandemic surges, catastrophic events and muckety muck of politics, we need a good laugh. Fortunately for us, Ocala Civic Theatre has obliged with the

uproarious Around the World in 80 Days, opening Friday night. The play’s jokes land thanks to New York-based director and actor Lawrence Lesher flying in to helm the production. Lesher, a longtime friend and colleague of Artistic Director Katrina Ploof, has an upbeat demeanor and makes you laugh as he

laughs with you. Just from talking to him for a few minutes, you get a sense of his sense of humor and comedic expertise as he waxes nostalgic about the Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970s. “We all agreed that it would be fun to kind of bring that Looney Toons sensibility to it,” Lesher said of the

play’s physical comedy. “It's actually much harder than it looks. It's so much about timing and precision.” Lesher’s extensive theatrical experience informs his inner stopwatch. The lifelong thespian performed in the national touring See 80 days, page B3

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Memories of MLK Day

MLK MARCH DRAWS HUNDREDS Annual event was culmination of several commemorative activities. By Susan Smiley-Height

he low temperature and biting winds early Monday did not deter the hundreds of people who participated in the annual MLK March from downtown Ocala to the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Complex in West Ocala. Numerous groups and individual walkers, many bearing signs and banners, made the journey in solidarity and in honor of the revered civil rights leader and icon. As one trio stepped off on the march, they raised their voices in a stirring a cappella version of “We Shall Overcome.” As the march ended at the recreation complex, A Day in the Park commenced, with several community organizations and businesses manning tables and offering information and handouts. Several groups, along with food trucks, offered food and, thankfully, hot coffee and cocoa. Ocala City Council President Ire Bethea welcomed the attendees and called attention to the elected officials and other civic leaders in the crowd. A number of musical and dance presentations followed, with a huge crowd line dancing across the Webb Field lawn to the “Electric Slide.” The event was filled with an air of festivity combined with a solemnity of spirit. Dr. King was honored in various ways, including through prayer, poetry and recitations. Attendees of all ages and ethnicities embraced the celebration and, quite often, each other. The MLK March and Day in the Park were the final activities hosted by the Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Commemorative Commission, which earlier in the week included a prayer breakfast, wreath ceremony, MLK Youth Day and an ecumenical service.

Members of “Kut Different” carry a banner.

Jaeden Te, 15, of Vanguard High School, plays the violin.

People march west on West Silver Springs Boulevard during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day March in Ocala on Jan. 17.

All Photos By BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Azaria Roberts, 11, carries a banner.

Latrice Sweet carries a sign as she marches.

Rivers Oury, 6, gets a piggy-back ride from his father, Ryan.

Nancy Garrison, left, and Cynthia Snavely, right, struggle to control a “Black Lives Matter” banner which turned into a sail in the windy conditions.

Dr. James Henningsen, the president of the College of Central Florida, right, lays a wreath as Officer Malaya Woods, left, and Sgt. Richard Tuck of the Ocala Police Department stand at attention.

People look on during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wreath Ceremony.

Dancers with the Dance By Sheila Dance Academy perform.

LEFT: Scarlett Zaro, 8, of the Madison Street Academy of Arts performs

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Close up yet far away Continued from page B1

No Room in Frame

experience of “Alice in Wonderland” often in her works. She also speaks fondly of the people in her life who helped her along the way, including NOMA owners Lisa and David Midgett, whom she credits as opening up the world of professional fine art to her. Her family also has played a major role. “I was very much inspired by my grandparents,” she shared. “My brother and I would go spend half the summer and camp with Leslie Wengler my grandparents in North Carolina. So, that's really how I learned a lot about nature and hiking and camping.” Nature explorations became a way of life. “I would climb our dogwood tree and I would get on the roof and stare off at the different trees and see the big, tall pine trees as they swayed,” she reminisced. “And I would look at the clouds and see the shapes that the clouds made, how they moved. I would just kind of daydream. … I just needed to go up there and see the world from a different point of view, if only for a moment.” Wengler attended the Ringling College of Art and Design in 2007-08, but a family illness cut her time there short. “National Geographic” recruited her for an internship, but the 2008 recession got in the way. “I was all packed and ready to go and two days before, I got a call that it wasn’t going to work out,” she recalled. Wengler sold her camera equipment and went into the ministry for eight years. “I just kind of ran from the lens for a while,” she said. Wengler credits “National Geographic” photojournalist and Ocala resident Mark Emery as “a big mentor” in her life, as well as Lisa and David Midgett at NOMA, who displayed her work in a 2020 group show when they operated as the ArtCastle pop-up gallery. “I've just been so grateful for this whole process the last two years,” Wengler said. “If someone told me two years ago that I would be doing photography again and selling it, I would've laughed at them.”

Thankfully, that scenario never played out, and we do have Wengler’s skillful details and personal nuances to enjoy today, such astidbits revealed in “Memories of My Aunt Linda,” an intimate view of the hydrangeas by her aunt’s front door, photographed as a final loving gesture, or in the playful “Shrimp,” a zoomorphic view of a pink shrimp flower, or “Just Us Two,” a loving tribute to her late grandfather. “I was walking in a botanical garden. I really felt like my grandfather was with me that day,” she recalled “He passed when he was 93, but I took this photo and I saw the two flowers. To me, they symbolized my grandparents, who were together for 73 years, married two months shy of 70. The buds symbolized their three children. I describe the work as a quiet morning that turned into an evening.” Poetic interpretations, ideas and allusions to literature fill the textual descriptions of Wengler’s work, which you can view on NOMA’s website by clicking on the individual images. They are as much a part of her art as her photos and so impactful that Florida Rep. Joe Harding has selected her works to display in his office later this year. Like Kinnan Rawlings, Wengler shares a devotion to her natural surroundings, borne of humility and perpetual amazement, calling the viewer to action to preserve the world’s natural beauty. “One of Kinnan Rawlings’ most profound statements to me was at the end of ‘Cross Creek’ when she says, ‘Who owns Cross Creek?’ To her, Cross Creek belongs to the ‘red birds,’ the cardinals … ‘the wind and the rain, to the sun and seasons, to the cosmic secrecy of seed, and beyond all, to time.’” “Flora: A State of Whim” is on display until Jan. 29 at NOMA Gallery, 939 N. Magnolia Ave., Ocala. Wengler will be selling her works at the Bluegrass and BBQ festival on Friday, Jan. 21, from 6-9 p.m. at the Tuscawilla Art Park, 223 NE Fifth St., Ocala. Visit nomaocala.com to see her works and read Wengler’s detailed descriptions.

80 days Continued from page B1 production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), which like 80 Days features an ensemble cast playing a rotating menagerie of characters. The director has also established a rapport with playwright Mark Brown, who adapted the classic 1873 novel by Jules Verne, which has been made into films and, most recently, an acclaimed PBS series. Lesher has produced other plays Brown has scripted and understands where his humor is up for interpretation. In Brown’s script, we meet a ruffled and suspendered cast performing the show—a play within a play (like the last OCT production, It’s a Wonderful Life but less emphasized). Lesher suggested 80 Days a couple of years ago to Ploof. She nabbed it and Lesher, which fits in perfectly with this season’s travel theme. “I wanted plays about transformation about what going somewhere else can do to us,” Ploof said. “So, in all of our plays this season, our characters change, they all experience something within the stories we're telling that changes them and alters them in a real, fundamental way.” If you’re new to the story of Around the World in 80 Days, the action-packed romp follows an exacting British gentleman by the name of Phileas Fogg (Trafton Crandall). When told he couldn’t circumnavigate the world in two and a half months, Fogg dispelled the scoffs and "It can't be done" dismissals and bets against his priggish peers. "Hold my tea," he says and makes an outrageous wager to go around the world in 80 days. Joined by a newly hired French servant Passepartout (James Ray Taylor Ill), Fogg and his equally

adventurous manservant are chased by a detective while dashing off to London, Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco and New York. Along the way, they encounter ridiculous delays, derailments, an unexpected elephant ride and other absurd complications. Actors Lily Capote, Christian Gonzales and Megan Wager round out the ensemble who perform 30plus roles. What’s more, the play’s many characters aren’t portrayed according to gender, age or nationality, challenging the audience to use its imagination. It’s an easy reach, thanks to the OCT cast. “We had a number of choices we could have gone with,” Lesher said of the casting. “The role that Megan (Wager) plays, as the detective chasing Fogg is actually scripted for a man, but she just had such a great energy when she came in, and I've worked with her before. So I know that she's a delightful person.” Indeed, Wager pulls it off with her over-the-top Sherlock Holmesstyle cape, hat and pipe. With a raised bent knee and swing of the elbows, she flees scenes in what Lesher describes as the “ScoobyDoo exit.” There are too many hilarious sight gags to mention. From synchronized leg crosses to the “Law and Order” theme song introducing a courtroom scene, to a makeshift elephant cobbled from found objects, you would need to watch this play two or three times to process all the references and innuendos. What’s more, stacked steamer trunks and suitcases, hanging oldtimey lights with a wave-like scrim lighted cleverly in the background, add old-fashioned charm to the set. All credit goes to Melanie Spratt and Kristen Martino for the clever props and stage designs.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Cast members of Around The World In 80 Days, from left, Lily Capote, James Ray Taylor III, and Trafton Crandall, rehearse a scene.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

The cast of Around The World In 80 Days, from left, Megan Wager, Lily Capote, James Ray Taylor III, Trafton Crandall and Christian Gonzales

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Claiming 1 of

our birds

back

By Beth Whitehead Special to the Gazette

arion Audubon Society joins national Christmas Bird Count to support research in bird population and to raise awareness of the dropping number of birds in the US. If you were outside in southwestern Marion County two weeks ago and saw someone squinting through a pair of binoculars and holding his or her phone straight up in the air, you probably witnessed the national Audubon Christmas Bird Count. On January 3rd, the Marion Audubon Society, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, participated in the annual conservation event, photographing and counting numerous species of Florida birds. The Marion Audubon Society count resulted in 5621 total birds spotted with 102 distinct species—this all in the southwestern Marion area. 37

participants in 14 teams scoured residential areas like Westwood Acres and public areas like Rainbow Springs State Park and Dunnellon Airport. According to MAS secretary Barbara Schwartz, the Christmas Bird Count results are reported to Cornell, helpful in “tracking population and migration of the species.” For 121 years, the National Audubon Society has held the Christmas Bird Count in place of the Side Hunt, which in the 1800s, was a popular Christmas day activity where towns hunted and shot every bird and small animal they found and then compared their kills. In 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman offered an alternative, a Christmas Bird Count, where participants take their binoculars to the field and tally up their counts, not their kills. It’s a good thing too, because according to Cornell Lab of Ornithology, America has lost

1/3 of its total bird population in the last seventy years. That’s nearly three billion birds. The Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count is considered the oldest citizen science project at 122 years old. And the Marion Audubon Society has devoted itself to that legacy since 1986 by bringing awareness to the dropping number of birds and the best conservation strategies to Ocala and the rest of Red Bellied Woodpecker Marion County. Their focus, Schwartz said, “is preserving habitat and poison, there’s not going to be any safety for birds.” birds. Number three: bird window “There’s a lot of threats,” collisions—especially in cities with Schwartz said, “One: habitat loss. the high-profile tall buildings, [There’s] lots of development. birds fly into the windows.” That’s huge. Number two: And for the last threat, enter pesticides and herbicides. The Sylvester and Tweety—cats. Even birds have to eat bugs, the birds an indoor-outdoor cat poses a have to eat caterpillars—if they threat to your neighborhood can’t get the bugs or they eat birds, Schwartz said.

MICHELE REYES

Florida Scrub Jay

Bender awarded Marion County Teacher of the Year

People can help protect the local bird community by keeping cats inside, using less pesticides and herbicides, and turning out their lights at night, even in their businesses. MAS hosts educational programs made available on Zoom and YouTube and partners with local organizations like the City of Ocala who they partnered with in construction of the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park. They even have a guide on their website walking you through what to do if you find an injured or orphaned bird. Another resource MAS directs people to is eBird, an app for your phone that records and identifies bird calls. “Over 90 percent of birding is by ear,” Schwartz said. “You can’t always see the birds, but you can hear them.” But MAS’s main attraction is the bird walks they organize in city, county, and state parks, along with their birding kayak trips for college and high school students. The next MAS-hosted bird walk is on Tuesday, January 25th at 10am in Silver Springs State Park, 5656 East Silver Springs Blvd., Silver Springs, FL 34488. Bring binoculars (though if you don’t have a pair, they have some to lend), hats, sunscreen, bug spray, water, and wearing close-toe shoes. For more information or if you’re interested in exploring volunteer opportunities, find an event schedule, general information, and a volunteer form on their website: https://marionaudubon.org.

New Date New Location

By Joel Bronson joel@ocalagazette.com

presents

eah Bender of West Port High School has been awarded the Marion County Teacher of the Year for the 2021-22 school year. Bender, an English Literature and Composition teacher, expressed her gratitude for winning the award. “I’m incredibly grateful for the recognition, but I think winning teacher of the year for Marion County is more about me representing the hard work of my students,” Bender said. “I also want to recognize my students’ past teachers who are doing the real and

PAUL NISTICO

oundtrack of your life Nate Rodriguez

with Felix & Fingers + The Paintman an Evening of Music, Art, Entertainment Dance & Sing-along

Thursday March 10 6 p.m.

Jordan Peterson

Leah Bender

difficult day to day work. I’m just a placeholder for their success.” Bender has been a teacher in Marion County for eight years, all at

West Port High School. She currently teaches AP English Literature and Composition, AP Capstone Seminar, and AP Capstone Research.

Dale Henry

World Equestrian Center Expo I 1750 NW 80th Ave, Ocala, FL 34482 Tickets: $100 VIP/$35 General RSVP today to (352) 291-5143 or cmoody@hospiceofmarion.com

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

FLORIDA

Florida

FACTOIDS

GOES FOR

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.

22 IN ’22!

In just a hundred years, this town boasted of its train depot, a prison, a “charcoalery,” and a Shakespearean connection. It is: A. Hamlet B. Avon C. Romeo D. Juliette The longest battle of the Indian Wars was fought in this tiny Florida panhandle town from December 1817 until March 1818. It is: A. Osceola B. Okefenokee C. Ocklawaha D. Ocheesee Originally a stage stop in the forest and named for its lake, it morphed into a real “ghost town” after the big freeze of 1894-95. A. Astor B. Citra C. Paisley D. Kerr City The name game? This Highlands County town of 2,000 near Sebring got its name because it rhymes with our state. It is: A. Zorida B. Lorida C. Eldorado D. Dorito Billy Bowlegs, the colorful Seminole chief slept here, a town that was once in Marion, Levy and Alachua Counties. It is: A. Zuber B. Billyville C. Archer D. Wacahoota

10.

With a population of just four souls, it is Florida’s smallest town, but has a world-famous mailing address. It is: A. Christmas B. Disney World C. Lake Buena Vista D. Magic Kingdom You’ll probably be able to smell the legendary Big Foot skunk ape, AKA Sasquatch of the Everglades, near his Collier county hometown of: A. Ochopee B. Naples C. Loch Ness D. Miccosukkee

WORD FIND

This is a theme puzzle with the subject stated below. Find the listed words in the grid. (They may run in any direction bu always in a straight line. Some letters are used more than once.) Ring each word as you find it and when you have com pleted the puzzle, there will be 18 letters left over. They spell out the alternative theme of the puzzle.

Across the ditch Solution: 18 Letters

If you’re on a quest for Sebagos, Red Lasoda, Yukon Gold or Russets, you’ll find them all near the St. Johns county town of: A. Hastings B. Penney Farms C. Spuds D. Satsuma We all know that the oldest town in the U.S. is St. Augustine, but this Alachua county town, born in 1821, is the oldest inland town in Florida. It is: A. Waldo B. McIntosh C. Lochloosa D. Micanopy Here are four real oddly-named Florida towns and one (in the Panhandle) claims to be the mother of Academy Award-winning actress Faye Dunaway. it is: A. Lulu B. Doctor’s Inlet C. Fluffy Landing D. Two Egg

Albany Auckland Best Bluff Bungy jumping Devonport Dollar Eltham Fauna Fiords Flora Geysers Gold

Gore Invercargill Keas Kiwi Lakes Levin Mackenzie Mako Maori Milton Mokai Mt Cook Nelson

Nikau Oamaru Otago Otira Paeroa Patea Rotorua Sheep Tekapo Travel Trout Volcano Whangarei

Solution: Queenstown in winter

That’s the headline — Florida’s population will pass 22,000,000 this year! That’s the story and they’re sticking to it. However, the real Florida story is behind those headlines of exponential growth, in 250 little towns and burgs and crossroads (many with barely-pronounceable oddsounding names) that are unique, each with a history in and of themselves. That’s this week’s puzzle, all about some of Florida’s “story towns,” many in our own neighborhood.

Answers are on page B7

COMING FEB. 4: Florida & the Presidents. Contact Bob Hauck: bobhauck39@gmail.com

Creators Syndicate 737 3rd Street • Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 310-337-7003 • info@creators.com

Matheson History Museum 513 E. University Avenue Gainesville, FL 32601 352-378-2280

ANSWERS TO PUZZLES ON PAGE B7

Date: 1/21/22

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

LOCAL CALENDAR LISTINGS

community JAN. 21

Marion County Friday Market

McPherson Government Campus Field, 601 SE 25th Ave., Ocala 9am-2:30pm Shop locally fresh fruits and veggies, cinnamon buns, jerky, freeze dried treats, olive oils, and seafood; recurs every Friday.

JAN. 21

Ties & Tiaras: The Princess and The Frog Marion Theatre, 50 S Magnolia Ave., Ocala 7pm Presented by The Marion County Children’s Alliance (MCCA), Ties & Tiaras will be a special movie date night downtown for fathers (or father figures) and daughters! Enjoy free popcorn, soft drinks, photo booth fun, special treats, and Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” (Rated G). This event is free, but registration is required. Doors open at 6pm, film starts at 7 pm. For more information or to reserve your ticket, visit mariontheatre.org or contact kelley@ mcchildrensalliance.org.

JAN. 22

Community Garden Replant Day

Community Garden, 2233 W Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala 8:30-10:30am Get your hands dirty at the Ocala Wellness Community Garden replant day! Plan seasonal seeds and clean up garden plots. For more information about the garden and how to purchase your own garden plot, visit ocalafl.org/garden.

JAN. 22

Yoga in the Park

Sholom Park: 7110 SW 80th Ave., Ocala 9am Stretch out by the Sholom Park stage; recurs every Saturday morning. Visit sholompark.org for details.

JAN. 22

Ocala Downtown Market

310 SE Third St., Ocala 9am-2pm A variety of vendors offer local fruits and vegetables, meats and seafood, fresh pasta, honey, and arts and crafts. Rain or shine; recurs every Saturday. Visit ocaladowntownmarket.com for more information.

JAN. 23

Ocala Polo Club Winter Games

Florida Horse Park, 11008 S Highway 475, Ocala 1pm Matches start at 1pm. Chairs are suggested, food and drink are welcome. Tailgating at polo is the perfect venue to enjoy amazing equine athletes with your family and friends! For more information, visit ocalapolo.com.

JAN. 25

LMS Network Breakfast Networking Meeting

Equus Inn, 3434 SW College Road, Ocala 8:30-10:30am Connect with other local business owners and professionals, share ideas, exchange referrals, and help each other’s businesses grow! Complimentary breakfast. RSVP at eventbrite.com.

government JAN. 21

West Ocala Redevelopment Advisory Committee Meeting

City Hall Council Chamber – Second Floor, 110 SE Watula Ave., Ocala 3pm If accommodations are needed for you to participate in this meeting, call (352) 629-8287 two days in advance so arrangements can be made.

JAN. 25

JAN. 21

Tuscawilla Spring Art Park Series: Bluegrass and BBQ

Tuscawilla Art Park, 213 NE Fifth St., Ocala 6-9pm Enjoy live musical performances by Grammynominated bluegrass musicians The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys with Applebutter Express as well as local artisans, a cash bar, and food from Big Lee’s Serious About BBQ and the Smoked Biscuit Company food trucks. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit ocalafl.org/artpark.

JAN. 21

Cote Deonath as Elvis: 68 to Vegas

Circle Square Cultural Center, 8395 SW 80th St., Ocala 7pm Ocala resident Cote Deonath brings the numberone Elvis Presley tribute to remember. The concert will benefit Habitat for Humanity of Marion County. For more information, visit csculturalcenter.com.

JAN. 21

Lee Ann Womack

Reilly Arts Center, 500 NE 9th St., Ocala 7:30pm Country music star Lee Ann Womack has sung for multiple presidents and performed awardwinning duets with everyone from Willie Nelson to John Legends. With six albums and international chart-topping singles to her credit, Womack has earned six Country Music Association Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards, a Grammy, and more. Tickets start at $30. For more info or to purchase tickets, visit reillyartscenter.com.

JAN. 21-29

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain Marion Theatre, 50 S. Magnolia Ave., Ocala The documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a worldrenowned cultural icon. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at mariontheatre.org, by calling (352) 351-1606 or at the door.

Power Hour Book Club

Belleview Public Library, 13145 SE Highway 484, Belleview 10:30am Make new friends and talk about books! Join in-person or call to join via Zoom. Call the listed library for more information. You are welcome to attend one or all! For more information, visit library.marionfl.org.

JAN. 25

The Shores Market

Silver Springs Shores Community Center, 590 Silver Road, Ocala 5-7pm The indoor farmers market includes farm fresh goods, artisan food products, and arts and crafts vendors; recurs every Tuesday. Visit fb.com/theshoresmarket for more information.

JAN. 26

Forest Readers Book Club

Forest Public Library, 905 S Highway 314A, Ocklawaha 10:30am Join the club and turn the page! Make new friends and talk about books! Join in-person or call to join via Zoom. Call the listed library for more information. You are welcome to attend one or all! For more information, visit library.marionfl.org.

JAN. 26

Wednesday Midday Market

Ocala Downtown Market, 310 SE Third St., Ocala 1-6pm Browse organic produce, microgreens, fresh-baked

breads, and more. Food trucks such as Tom’s Taste of Chicago, Jimmy’s Philly Cheesesteaks, and Kona Ice Ocala join the fun; recurs every Wednesday. Visit facebook.com/OcalaDowntownMarket for details.

JAN. 27

Farmers Market

The Town Square at Circle Square Commons, 8405 SW 8th St., Ocala 9am-1pm Join us for a wonderful selection of fresh seasonal produce from local growers as well as baked goods, plants, handmade soaps, and much more; recurs every Thursday! Visit circlesquarecommons.com for more info.

JAN. 28

Discovery Center Date Night

Discovery Center, 701 NE Sanchez Ave., Ocala 6:30-9pm Discover a new way to date night! Explore the new Brain Games exhibit at this hands-on date night by challenging your date to giant games. Enjoy light refreshments and explore the Discovery Center in a unique experience just for adults. $30 per couple. Visit mydiscoverycenter.org for details.

JAN. 28

Friday Foodie Fest at Lake Lillian

Lake Lillian Park, SE Robinson Road, Belleview 5-9pm Centered around various food trucks, families can come and enjoy music, free activities for children, and shop with local business and craft vendors while enjoying yummy food; recurs monthly. For details, visit ocalamarion.com/events.

JAN. 25

Ocala Marion Transportation Planning Org.

Marion County Board of County Commissioners Auditorium, 601 SE 25th Ave., Ocala 4pm

JAN. 28

Airport Advisory Board Meeting

City Council Workshop on Attorney’s Services

arts

JAN. 25

Airport Terminal Aviation Building, 1770 SW 60th Ave., Ocala 3:30pm If accommodations are needed for you to participate in this meeting, call (352) 629-8401 two days in advance so arrangements can be made.

THROUGH JAN. 22

JAN. 26

Ocala Recreation and Parks Administration Bldg., 828 NE Eighth Ave., Ocala Lisa Russo studied under a traditional oil painter to learn the techniques and methods from the 1600s. Fun fact: She also holds a U.S. patent for a convertible canvas that creates 3D effects. Visit ocalafl.org for details.

Reilly Arts Center, 500 NE 9th St., Ocala 7:30pm Acoustic guitarist and Grammy nominee Leo Kottke performs at the Reilly Arts Center. For more info or to purchase tickets, visit reillyartscenter.com.

Lisa Russo | European Elegance

An Evening with Leo Kottke

JAN. 27 JAN. 25-26

CF International Film Series

Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala 2pm College of Central Florida, 3001 SW College Road— Building 8, Room 110 7pm This year’s first film will be Agnès Varda’s “Cléo from 5 to 7,” with screenings on Tuesday, Jan. 25, at 2 pm, at the Appleton Museum and at 7 pm at the CF Ocala Campus. The public is invited to the 60th Anniversary Kickoff Reception at 6:30 pm and Professor Holmes will introduce the film at 7 pm. Dr. Rebecca J. DeRoo, author of “Agnès Varda between Film, Photography, and Art,” will host an online film talk and question and answer session via Zoom on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 12:30 pm. All films will be shown Tuesdays at 2 pm at the Appleton Museum of Art and at 7 pm at the College of Central Florida unless otherwise noted. For more details, visit cf.edu/filmseries.

Heart of the Horse: Photographs by Juliet van Otteren

Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm The beauty and complexity of horses is revealed through 40 black-and-white photographs by Juliet van Otteren. Visit appletonmuseum.org for more information.

Wynonna Judd with The Big Noise

Reilly Arts Center, 500 NE 9th St., Ocala 7:30pm Respected by the millions of fans who are drawn to her music and undeniable talent, country music artist Wynonna Judd and her band, The Big Noise, have sold over 30-million albums worldwide spanning her remarkable 34-year career. For more info or to purchase tickets, visit reillyartscenter.com.

JAN. 28

Reilly Noir Series: Juan Rollan – A Love Supreme

Reilly Arts Center, 500 NE 9th St., Ocala 7:30pm Juan Rollan, a Jacksonville based saxophonist, is a premier musician in the southeastern jazz circuit. Join Rollan as he performs a humble offering of gratitude to John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” a sublime four-part suite that is considered to be one of the greatest jazz albums and compositions of all time. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit reillyartscenter.com.

JAN. 26

THROUGH FEB. 6

Circle Square Cultural Center, 8395 SW 80th St., Ocala 7pm With superlative vocals and musicianship, dynamic enthusiasm, and a genuine love of the pop/ rock classics they perform, The Bronx Wanderers recreate the magic of an era. For more information, visit csculturalcenter.com.

Ocala Civic Theatre, 4337 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala 2pm and 7:30pm Adventures abound in this whirlwind farce! Explorer Phileas Fogg embarks upon a quest to travel around the world in 80 days to win an outrageous wager. Five actors play 39 characters in this hysterically fast-paced comedy. To purchase tickets, visit ocalacivictheatre.com.

The Bronx Wanderers

THROUGH APRIL 24

Around the World in 80 Days

THROUGH APRIL 24

Garden Party: Botanical Paintings by Susan Martin

Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm Florida artist Susan Martin’s photorealistic canvasses explore the botanical world by concentrating on small portions of plant life. Her detailed explorations, influenced by the photographs of Russell Lee, can be observed in her sharp, clean examination of the subject, her preference for strong contrast that reveals surface quality and detail, and an emphasis on composition that comes from years of work in black-and-white. Visit appletonmuseum.org for details.

THROUGH JULY 31

A Strange and Picturesque Country: Etchings by Earl H. Reed

Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm Prints from the permanent collection by Earl Howell Reed. Although a largely self-taught artist, Reed’s work can be viewed in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Visit appletonmuseum.org for details.

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Colorful Camellias Coming to Ocala

The Ocala Camellia Society hosts its free annual flower show Jan. 29-30, with plants for sale and hundreds of blooms expected for judging. By Belea T. Keeney Special to the Gazette

American Camellia Society and manages the national organization. Why camellias? magine having a half million camellia “They’re easy to grow, easy to maintain, blossoms in your yard. Some with plus no protection is really needed here ruffled petals, some with smooth unless there’s a hard freeze. And camellias petals. Some small as a daisy, others as really have no major pests,” he said. large as a dinner plate. Imagine lush “With roses in Florida, you’re spraying shades of wine, magenta, pink, fuchsia, every week in summer,” Weidman said of white, cream and even yellow, and mixed dealing with fungus, pests and disease. flowers with stripes of beautiful color. For Camellias don’t require that level of care. Patrick Andrews and Bob Weidman of When much of the landscape is brown the Ocala Camellia Society, it’s not just a and drab, camellias offer a colorful point of fantasy—it’s a reality. beauty in the winter garden. They tend to Some of those blooms will be on display have deep green leaves that show off their at the Ocala Camellia Society flower show blooms in a dramatic way. taking place Jan. 29-30 at the Ocala Golf “Most importantly, they reward you Club. Show organizers expect hundreds of over and over again with flowers in the flowers to be entered in the show, which is wintertime,” Andrews said. Andrews and Weidman live on a lot free and open to the public. with dozens of long-lived grandfather oak And that estimated half million flowers trees that provide a perfect environment figure? It’s based on, “Oh, I’d say north of for their camellias. The site offers dappled 2,300 plants,” Andrews said with a laugh about the number of shrubs on their 9-acre shade, a somewhat protected ecosystem property in Citra. “Between seedlings, air and rich, acidic oak leaves that essentially layered plants and mature shrubs, yeah, self-mulch their plants. we’re close to 2,500 I would say.” Andrews thinks the Ocala area is Mature camellias can bloom with perfect for camellias. hundreds of flowers each season. “In my experience, we have the best climate for growing camellias. We don’t The pair have been growing, collecting have the hard freezes as often as even and developing new cultivars in camellias Tallahassee or Atlanta, where you might for more than three decades. They are key have a plant die all the way back to the members of the Ocala Camellia Society and Andrews is current president of the ground,” he noted. Once they are established and healthy, camellia shrubs can handle even a hard freeze. “Though you might lose some flowers, it’s unlikely to ever lose the whole plant,” Andrews conceded. For gardeners new to camellias, Andrews offered some expert advice: “My recommendation is to buy them at our show,” he said with a laugh, but then added, “No, seriously, we get them from an independent grower in Georgia—County Line Nursery—so they’re a good fit for this area. Plus, we can educate buyers about the flower and you see them in bloom, so you know what it looks like in flower.” Andrews and Weidman both recommend buying BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette from independent nurseries. A honeybee flies in to pollinate a Magic City Camellia on the property owned Big-box stores, they both by Patrick Andrews, the president of the American Camellia Society and Bob said, don’t have a broad Weidman in Citra on Dec. 28, 2021.

ROSE DERKAY

selection of plants and the plants may not The past two years have been be well cared for in transit and while on challenging for everyone and Andrews display. Plus, independent nurseries know thinks this has helped garden societies what they’re selling and can offer hands-on everywhere. advice and information. “With current social restrictions and Several varieties are good for beginners, people just being more careful, gardens they said. The “Miss Lillian” is an Ocala are becoming really important in people’s native plant, cultivated by the late Lillian lives,” he said. “For avid gardeners, and Clarence Gordy in the 1990s, and it’s camellias are an easy-care perennial a consistent winner at shows. Its creamy that will give you beautiful blossoms for white petals have a pink tinge on the edges years to come.” and it’s an upright growing plant that is Start out with one or two plants and vigorous and hardy. you’ll probably have a couple dozen Andrews also recommends the “Happy flowers. Get hooked on camellias and Birthday” variety. Another Florida native, eventually you might have a half million it originated in Lakeland in the early 1970s. flowers of your own. It’s a large flower with dramatic fluted, ruffled petals and a large yellow anther in the center. Some “Happy Birthdays” can grow to be plate sized, he noted. The Ocala Camellia Society club “is one of the most vibrant clubs in the United States,” Andrews said. “We have a great group of people. At the last meeting we had 27 people, which is a good showing. You don’t have to even have a camellia yet to join the club. BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette Some members A Nanshan Purple Jade Camellia flower is shown on the property owned by Patrick have only one or Andrews, the president of the American Camellia Society and Bob Weidman. two plants and some have dozens.” The club meets monthly September If you go: through March at the Marion County What: Ocala Camellia Society show United Way office. and plant sale The show will have club members When: January 29 & 30. Show opens available to answer questions and offer to the public 1-5 p.m. Saturday and advice. Additionally, the club is hosting a 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; camellia drawing for a free camellia plant. plants available for purchase “And if you join the local and national 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. clubs at the show, the fee will only be $10 Where: Ocala Municipal Golf Course, and gets you an entry into another plant 3130 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala drawing,” Andrews said. Cost: Free The $10 discounted membership fee Enter blossoms: Show entries also ties people into the reciprocal garden accepted 7-10 a.m. Saturday program that allows free visits to botanical Learn more: gardens such as Bok Tower Garden in https://bit.ly/Camillas-american Lake Wales, Harry P. Leu Botanical or find the Ocala Camelia Society Gardens in Orlando and the American on Facebook. Camellia Society’s collection at Massee Lane Gardens in Fort Valley, GA.

music nig ghtlife nightlife

ANSWERS FOR PAGE B5

JAN. 21

Cactus Jack & The Cadillacs The Town Square, 8413 SW 80th St., Ocala 6-9pm Enjoy live music and dance to the Cactus Jack and The Cadillacs! For more information, visit circlesquarecommon.com/ entertainment.

JAN. 26

The Smoked Biscuit Company The Juniper General Store, 6998 US-27—Suite 112, Ocala 4:30-8:30pm Hosted by The Juniper General Store, The Smoked Biscuit Company food truck will be serving up deliciousness—come fill your belly! Visit facebook.com/thejunipergeneralstore for details.

1. C Romeo

Florida

FACTOIDS

2. D Ochesee 3. D Kerr City 4. B Lorida 5. D Wacahoota

COMING FEB. 4:

6. C Lake Buena Vista

Florida & the Presidents. Contact Bob Hauck:

8. C Spuds

bobhauck39@gmail.com

10. D Two Egg

7. A Ochopee 9. D Micanopy

Sudoku

Newsday Crossword

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Boost in Women's Open purse, are men's majors next? By Doug Ferguson Associated Press

he U.S. Women’s Open is nearly doubling its prize money to $10 million, an announcement that was celebrated across golf and

genders. The LPGA Tour this week starts its 73rd season of running a league all on its own, and no one begrudges the players finally getting paid big money for its biggest major, or the plan for them to play at storied courses. “My first thought was, ‘Good for them.’ It's great to see the women's game getting the attention it deserves,” said Webb Simpson, who won the U.S. Open in 2012 when the purse for the men was $8 million. “I think they're in a great spot. Even so, it wasn't long before Simpson and other men raised a question that has been brewing for several years and gained renewed traction with the Women's Open deal. What does this mean for them? The year after Simpson won his U.S. Open, the USGA signed a 12-year television contract with Fox Sports worth just over $1 billion. The deal began in 2015, and the prize money for the U.S. Open that year was $10 million, only $2 million more than when Simpson won. “My next thought was if they're doing that, great,” Simpson said. "But I think the players have a general understanding of how much money they make at each U.S. Open. I would like it go way up. I'd like to see ours double. We're seeing The Players Championship at $20 million this year. I think the tour has put a healthy pressure on the majors to increase as well. “Here's the deal,” he said. “We all know

they have it, or the ability to do it without compromising their business model. As a player, it makes us happy not so much that it's more money, but I feel like they're showing us respect.” It's not just the USGA, which is getting attention because of what it announced for the women. The U.S. Open purse last year was $12.5 million, the largest among majors. The Masters and British Open offered $11.5 million, while the PGA Championship purse was $12 million. The PGA Tour this year has seven events worth $12 million or more. The announcement is a not-so-subtle way for the tour — especially with The Players going to $20 million — to motivate the majors to raise their stakes. “They want to do that because it's our flagship event, but I think what I've heard from the tour is it also should continue to push the majors to match us because of the caliber of tournament they should be,” Jordan Spieth said. “The purse should represent that.” At the heart of the conversation is how much money the majors are making from PGA Tour players at their championships. Income from the U.S. Open helps pay for the other 15 events the USGA runs this year, all of which lose money. It's no different with the PGA of America or The R&A or even Augusta National, which runs three amateur events and the Drive, Chip and Putt for kids. Brandt Snedeker first started beating the prize money drum in a players meeting at Torrey Pines after the USGA's television deal with Fox. He believes if PGA Tour players are responsible for the majority of the USGA income, they should know where it goes.

He isn't expecting a big increase this year from any of the majors, no matter how high the prize money at the PGA Tour climbs. “That's been the tour policy for so long," Snedeker said. “Instead of addressing the elephant in the room — four tournaments we have no control over — keep punching up The Players to push them to keep up with us. They've always been lagging behind The Players. I don't know at what point they have to start catching up.” The USGA annual meeting is Feb. 19, which is the same week the PGA Tour is playing for a $12 million purse at the Genesis Invitational. CEO Mike Whan would rather wait until after that to discuss what the USGA has in mind for the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, this year. The majors are about prestige. That's where legacies are created. A green jacket is more meaningful than greenbacks. And players aren't going to boycott a major if the money isn't what they think it should be. “It’s not the money issue I’m upset about. It’s an honor to be at the Masters,” Simpson said. “But as the game has evolved, and their revenues have evolved, I think the purse should evolve, too.” Billy Horschel, who describes himself as a big fan of the LPGA, believes every major purse should be at $20 million. One player suggested the majors go even higher because they're the biggest events, each with a TV contract and the biggest galleries, selling the most merchandise. And that's where the conversation starts. More than a response to the women are questions about how much the majors make and how much they pass along to players who drive revenue.

“I don't think the men are going to be upset if we don't get a massive boost,” Spieth said. “It's great for the game what's happening with the U.S. Women's Open. I think it will draw more eyeballs because of that. It's more taking a look through all the other major championships and saying, ‘What makes sense?’

New ER Now Open

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Board certified physicians and specialty trained staff

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JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Sports Funks honor Betty White’s legacy Contribution given to Humane Society of Marion County By Joel Bronson joel@ocalagazette.com

etty White was not only a beloved actress and pop culture icon, but also a lover of animals and one of their biggest advocates. In one example of White’s philanthropy, it is estimated that she

raised roughly $1 million for animal rescue and rehabilitation programs in Australia after devastating wildfires destroyed sensitive animal habitats. The outpouring of love and adoration for White launched a social media movement known as the Betty White Challenge. Many fans and animal

advocates took to social media to encourage fans to donate $5 to their local animal shelters in honor of White’s 100th birthday on January 17th. Dory Funk, Jr. and his wife, Marti, accepted the challenge. Dory is a legend in the professional wrestling world, having held the

NWA World Heavyweight Championship for over four years. Funk also spent much of his career in Japan wrestling for All Japan Pro Wrestling for over twenty years. The Funks operate the Funking Conservatory, a wrestling school for See Betty, page C2

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Dory Funk Jr. feeds treats to a dog as he and Marti Funk visit with adoptable dogs and cats at the Humane Society of Marion County on Jan. 17.

Dunnellon girls too much for Meadowbrook, win 66-45

Lawmakers tie national anthem to sports money By Jim Turner Florida News Service

forward, scored six points and hauled in a team-high ten rebounds for the Lady Mustangs. Dunnellon head coach Chris Thompson was pleased with the way his squad came back strong from what he called a slow start. “The girls struggled tonight in the first half, but finally pulled it together and finished strong,” Thompson said. “This was a good

lorida lawmakers moved forward Tuesday with a plan that would connect playing the national anthem at sports events to state and local dollars. The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee backed a proposal (SB 1298) that would require Florida professional sports teams receiving government money to play the national anthem before every home game. When asked by Sen. Victor Torres, D-Kissimmee, if any teams don’t play the anthem, bill sponsor Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, acknowledged he didn’t know of cases in Florida where “The Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t played before games and other events. “This is just to make sure, as a proactive approach, that people continue to play it,” Gruters, who doubles as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said. In voting against the bill, Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, called the proposal an overreach into private enterprise that appears to have little to do with the anthem. “We‘re pushing ourselves out there as a free state. All about freedom. All about limited government. However, you get to pick and choose when you limit government,” Powell said after the meeting. “In this instance, I think it kind of borders on government overreach. It’s the opposite of what I‘ve been hearing. And we just need to be consistent in our messaging, especially if it‘s being pushed by one particular political party. Just be consistent.” The proposal, which drew no public comment, mirrors a Texas law, dubbed the Star-Spangled Banner Protection Act, which went into effect in September. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in

See Lady Tigers, page C2

See SB1298, page C3

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Dunnellon’s Tatiana Matthews (24) splits Meadowbrook defenders Lanina Murillo (4) and Cianna Parchment (5) as she drives to the basket during a game at Meadowbrook Academy in Ocala on, Jan. 18.

By Joel Bronson joel@ocalagazette.com

he Dunnellon Lady Tigers proved too much for the Meadowbrook Lady Mustangs on Tuesday night, as the visitors came away with a 66-45 win. The one-two punch of junior guard Kmari Williams and sophomore forward Tatiana Matthews led Dunnellon to victory.

Williams scored 21 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished a game-high five assists, while Matthews scored a game-high 34 points and pocketed four steals for Dunnellon. Meadowbrook fought back multiple times to cut the lead to single digits, led by freshman guard Angel Ross who scored 21 points and snagged nine rebounds in the loss. Bianca Powell, an eighth grade

GAME OF THE WEEK

Belleview Lady Rattlers set to host Citrus in hoops contest By Joel Bronson joel@ocalagazette.com

he Belleview Lady Rattlers are set to welcome the Citrus Lady Hurricanes on Friday in what will be Belleview’s senior night. Belleview enters the week at 11-5 overall, with a 3-1 record in 5A district 5 play. Senior guard Laniya Johnson leads Belleview in scoring at 19.6 points per game. Freshman forward Aaliyah Armbrister paces the Lady Rattlers in rebounds, pulling down 8.4 per contest. Citrus is led by junior Jillian Landgraf, who is averaging 19.2 points per game. Senior Ashtyn Morris is second in scoring at 13.4 points per contest.

Belleview head coach Gary Greer is excited to congratulate his seniors on a career well played. “We graduate six seniors including Laniya Johnson who is having one of the best single seasons in school history,” Greer said. “This whole group has an opportunity to contend for a second ever district title if we can continue our great defense and timely shooting.” Greer also stressed the importance of playing a possible playoff opponent. “We are looking forward to measuring up with a possible playoff opponent and hope we are continuing our successful season thus far as districts approach,” Greer shared. Tipoff between Belleview and Citrus is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Belleview’s Laniyah Johnson (24) drives to the hoop as she is defended by McKeel Academy’s Morgan Daniels (24) during a game in Belleview on Dec. 17, 2021.

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Lady Celtics

Lady Tigers outpace MBA Continued from page C1

hold on in OT battle with Father Lopez,

game in preparation for our big game against district rival North Marion.” With the loss, Meadowbrook drops to 9-4 on the season. The Lady Mustangs will host St. John on Jan. 20 with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. Dunnellon moves to 17-2 on the season and will host county rival North Marion on Jan. 19. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m.

49-46

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Dunnellon’s Keiara Thomas (22) reaches in to try and stop Meadowbrook’s Sade Smith (11) from making it to the basket during a basketball game at Meadowbrook Academy in Ocala on Jan. 18.

Trinity Catholic’s Dasanni Bentley (11) drives to the hoop past Father Lopez’ Andreya Bridger (22) during a game at Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala on Jan. 14.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Dunnellon’s Paige Powell (10) takes the ball away from Meadowbrook’s Angel Ross (10).

Betty White challenge fuels donations

By Joel Bronson joel@ocalagazette.com

Continued from page C1 prospects to train and learn the art of becoming a professional wrestler. Some of Funk’s prominent students include WWE legends Mark Henry, Lita, Kurt Angle, and Edge. The Funks visited the Humane Society of Marion County on Monday to spend time with the shelter’s animals and donate in Betty White’s memory. The Humane Society of Marion County is a non-profit, no-kill shelter dedicated to the care and protection of animals. Dory and Marti visited with staff and animals alike, sharing treats with the dogs and hugs with old friends. “We love dogs, we love cats, we love all animals,” Dory exclaimed. “We wanted to make a contribution in memory of Betty White and all the hard work she did for animals all over the world,” Marti said. The Funks adopted two dogs, Mary, a Yorkie mix, and Milton, a Dachsund mix, from the Humane Society of Marion County roughly a year ago and the two have become loved members of the Funk family. “Miss Mary is the boss, she has such personality,” Marti shared. Eddie Leedy, executive director for the shelter, was pleasantly surprised

RIGHT: Trinity Catholic’s Heaven Sanders (3) drives to the hoop as she is defended by Father Lopez’ Sydney Downey (4).

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

ieley Bateman carried the load for the Lady Celtics, scoring a gamehigh 25 points and pocketing ten steals, as Trinity Catholic held off the Father Lopez Lady Green Wave in overtime 49-46. Trinity Catholic’s leading scorer, Rose Gravel, got into early foul trouble that limited her minutes in the first half. With Gravel out, Father Lopez was able to take advantage in the paint. Junior center Alana Francis filled the stat sheet with 22 points, six rebounds and five steals for Father Lopez to lead the Lady Green Wave to a 26-21 halftime lead. Gravel made her presence felt in the second half, scoring 12 of her 14 points in the second half. The insertion of the Lady Celtics leading scorer helped chip away

at the Father Lopez lead. Trinity Catholic utilized a strong press, forcing turnovers that allowed Trinity Catholic to tie the game at the end of regulation, 42-42. Bateman would steal a Father Lopez pass and score for a 44-42 Lady Celtics lead. Gravel hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to three with one minute left in the extra frame. Francis would hit two free throws to cut the Trinity Catholic lead to one with :46 left, but Gravel would nail another two free throws to seal the win. With the loss, Father Lopez falls to 11-6 on the season. The Lady Green Wave will host Mount Dora Christian next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Trinity Catholic moves to 16-3 on the season and will host North Marion next Tuesday in a matchup of two of Marion County’s best girls’ basketball programs. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.

Dory Funk Jr. and Marti Funk feed treats to “Malibu,” an adoptable dog at the Humane Society of Marion County in Ocala on Jan. 17.

Photos By BRUCE ACKERMAN Ocala Gazette

BELOW: Trinity Catholic’s Kieley Bateman (10) drives to the basket past Father Lopez’ Madi Kollar (5).

Supplied

Dory Funk Jr. with his two dogs, Mary, a Yorkie mix, and Milton, a Dachsund mix.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Dory Funk Jr., center, gets a hug from Amanda Thurber, the director of Humane Education, as Marti Funk, left, talks with Eddie Leedy, the executive director, second from right, and Mary Wrye-Rutt, the financial director, right.

with the turnout from the social media movement. “We have been pleased with the turnout. The Humane Society has received so many donations today,” Leedy shared. If you would like more information about the Marion County Humane Society, you may visit the shelter at 701 NW 14th Road in Ocala or visit http://thehsmc.org.

Trinity Catholic’s Kieley Bateman (10) battles for the ball with Father Lopez’ Sydney Downey (4).

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

Forest boys

come up short

versus PK Yonge,

59-58

Forest High School’s Brandon Baxley (2) falls to the floor after his shot is blocked by P.K. Yonge, in the 4th Annual MLK Basketball Tournament, at Forest High School, in Ocala on January 15.

By Joel Bronson joel@ocalagazette.com

Forest High School’s Naylan Rhem (13) and P. K. Yonge’s Randall Robinson (1) with the tip off at the start of their game.

he Forest Wildcats controlled much of the game against PK Yonge on Saturday, but could not hold on in the end as the visiting Blue Wave narrowly escaped with a 59-58 road victory. Senior point guard Mason Mascaro scored 17 points and Junior center Naylan Rhem scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots for Forest in the loss. Forest head coach Mike Hoffmann was disappointed but optimistic after the loss. “PK Yonge is a really good team and we were playing very well,” Hoffmann said. “Unfortunately, we sputtered late and lost a game we should have won. I have full confidence that we will learn from this and get better for the stretch run coming up.” PK Yonge moves to 10-6 with the win. The Blue Wave will host Bell on Monday with a 5:00 p.m. scheduled tipoff. With the loss, Forest falls to 13-6 on the season. The Wildcats will travel to North Marion on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

Photos By CYNDI CHAMBERS Correspondent

Forest’s Naylan Rhem (13) puts up two with P.K. Yonge’s Seth English (5) guarding.

Forest High School’s Tayvion Jones (4) tries to put up two against P.K. Yonge.

SB1298 would require anthem at games Continued from page C1 November 2020 instructed his team to stop playing the national anthem before home games, an action that came after a number of players breached NBA rules by kneeling during the anthem in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and to protest against systemic racism in the U.S. Cuban’s directive went unnoticed for a month, but the resulting uproar from conservative pundits quickly

resulted in the Texas law that Gruters seeks to emulate. Florida’s measure would prohibit government agencies from entering agreements with professional teams without written verification that the anthem would be played. Gruters’ proposal seeks to ensure the anthem would be played before such things as preseason, regular-season and post-season professional baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer and football

games. Also, the requirement would apply to NASCAR and IndyCar events held in venues with at least 75,000 permanent seats and professional golf tournaments. Failure to play the anthem could lead to teams or venues being required to repay government money they received. A similar House bill (HB 499), filed by Sen. Tommy Gregory, R-Sarasota, has not been heard in committees as the annual legislative session entered its second week.

File photo from Florida News Service

Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, is sponsoring a bill aimed at ensuring the national anthem is played at sports events.

JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2022 | OCALA GAZETTE

SCORE BOARD SELECTED MARION COUNTY

HIGH SCHOOL

SPORTS CYNDI CHAMBERS/Correspondent

Forest High School’s Naylan Rhem (13) is fouled on his way to the basket in the game against P.K. Yonge, in the 4th Annual MLK Basketball Tournament, at Forest High School, in Ocala on January 15.

RESULTS JAN. 10 - 15

Results were gathered from FHSAA.com and compiled by Joel Bronson

BOYS BASKETBALL GIRLS BASKETBALL SCORES SCORES Jan. 10

Jan. 10

Saint Francis 56 Redeemer 53

Dunnellon Forest

65 25

Jan. 11

Ocala Christian Bell

41 24

Redeemer Saint Francis

43 37

Heart North Marion

59 48

Forest 80 Dunnellon 51 Buchholz 64 Vanguard 58

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Redeemer’s Jocelyn Meyer (10) shoots for two as she is fouled by St. Francis’ Lexi Bhatia (13) during a game at Redeemer Christian School in Ocala on Jan. 10.

PK Yonge Trinity Catholic

49 38

Redeemer Classical Prep

66 21

North Marion Leesburg

64 20

Jan. 14

Williston Belleview

69 26

Dunnellon Newberry

57 47

West Port Forest

3 1

Trinity Catholic Heart

57 41

Oak Hall Dunnellon

4 0

Jan. 12 Dunnellon Citrus

84 68

Jan. 11

Jan. 12 North Marion Lake Weir

Jan. 13

58 30

North Marion Bradford

49 37

Jan. 13

Wildwood Redeemer

60 28

Belleview Lake Weir

51 31

North Marion Vanguard

52 27

Jan. 14 Lake Weir Belleview

75 50

Gainesville West Port

52 42

Forest Vanguard

50 47

Hawthorne Trinity Catholic

58 48

North Marion Cocoa

46 24

Redeemer First Academy

49 6

Jan. 15

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Williston’s Ed Wesley (1) shoots for two over Belleview’s Zaekwon Studivant (1) during a basketball game at Belleview High School in Belleview on Jan. 11.

GIRLS SOCCER SCORES Jan. 10 Umatilla Lake Weir

6 0

Bishop Snyder Trinity Catholic

4 1

Jan. 11 West Port Lake Weir

6 0

Forest Dunnellon

11 1

Trinity Catholic Father Lopez

8 0

North Marion Belleview

9 1

Jan. 12 Forest West Port

2 0

Vanguard North Marion

7 0

Belleview Dunnellon

8 0

St Johns Country Day Trinity Catholic

7 0

Jan. 13 North Marion Lake Weir

5 0

Jan. 14 Vanguard Forest

2 0

Jan. 14

PK Yonge Forest

59 58

Vanguard Forest

52 17

Cocoa Vanguard

56 54

Trinity Catholic Father Lopez

49 46

Sports Leadership North Marion

49 48

Belleview Springstead

50 32

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Redeemer’s Sadie Wilke (0) shoots for two as she is defended by St. Francis’ Izzy Scarpatti (22) during a game in Ocala on Jan. 10.

BOYS SOCCER SCORES

Vanguard 4 North Marion 1

Jan. 10 Lake Weir Umatilla

6 2

Jan. 12 Lake Weir Dunnellon

8 0

Belleview Lake Weir

4 1

Forest Vanguard

2 1

Forest Dunnellon

9 1

West Port Belleview

3 0

Jan. 11 BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Williston’s Nekhei Seabrook (4) shoots for two as he is defended by Belleview’s Cori Johnson (4) and Elijah Hilbert (0) during a game in Belleview on Jan. 11.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Redeemer’s Rebecca Diblasi (33) drives to the hoop past St. Francis’ Olivia McDaniel (10) during a game in Ocala on Jan. 10.

Trinity Catholic’s coach, Matthew Moyer, works with his players on the bench as they play Father Lopez during a basketball game at Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala on Jan. 14.

CYNDI CHAMBERS/Correspondent

Forest High School’s Xzavion McCoy (0) is fouled by P.K. Yonge in the 4th Annual MLK Basketball Tournament, at Forest High School, in Ocala on January 15.

BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Gazette

Trinity Catholic’s Kieley Bateman (10) steals the ball from Father Lopez’ Alana Francis (20) as Trinity Catholic’s Kaitlyn Maybaum (21) and Delaney Baker (12) converge on defense in Ocala on Jan. 14.