Local News

So many of the details of Mike Joyner’s extensive career in law enforcement – particularly his heralded undercover work – will never be available for public consumption.

Joyner, who has served as a Levy County Commissioner since 2011, and has been called an expert in undercover drug investigations, has been everything from Chief Deputy in Jefferson County, a captain in the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office, a lieutenant in the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, and bailiff and agriculture investigator in Levy County.

While some of the details of that work might remain exclusive for his closest friends, the broad contributions of Joyner’s career are now being recognized in a big way. The Florida Intelligence Unit (FIU), which has trained officers since 1961, has announced a new annual award to go to the officer of the year.

They’re calling it the Mike Joyner Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award.

The lives of Michael and Kaye Gaither are a series of trials followed by blessings. The overarching trial is that Michael; the most kind, sweetest, loving man in the eyes of his family, is in heart failure, and Multiple Sclerosis. The blessing is that he is under the care of Haven Hospice, an organization for which Kaye, Michael and his service dog, Honey, are volunteers.

A trial is that Honey, who will be eight years old Jan. 22, is in the terminal stages of a fungus-born disease. The blessing is that on Monday, she made her 89th appointment with veterinarians at the UF Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville. Honey is a certified full mobility, PTSD medical service dog. She and Michael are members of team No. 001 in a critical VA research project and the two are inseparable. Honey picked up the fungus as a puppy, before she came to the Gaithers.

Michael suffered a heart attack in January and has struggled to breathe for a long time. During his career, he was an electrician in textile mills and he repaired vehicles as a civilian employee for the National Guard.

Three Chiefland men make an annual endurance ride on motorcycles to raise money and awareness of the needs of some long-term nursing home residents.

Brad Groom and Bruce Bryant have donated about $9,000 in the past five years.

Groom said that through their proud donors, the 2017 Iron Butt ride raised about $1,500 upon completing the Southeast 1,000. The two men created that route, which is not listed with the Iron Butt Association as a sanctioned ride.

The money raised is split evenly between eight needy residents living in Tri-County area nursing homes. The residents of Ayers, Cross City, Tri-County and Williston nursing homes must be long-term residents truly in need of financial assistance as determined by either facility case managers or social workers. The Iron Butt team has no input on who receives the donations.

A former Chiefland Elementary School custodian arrested April 4 after a hidden camera was found in a staff restroom is expected to plead guilty Dec. 13 as part of a plea agreement.

According to an open letter to CES staff and faculty from Andrea Muirhead of the Levy County State Attorney's Office, Perez will plead guilty to two counts of video voyeurism.

The agreement calls for Perez to receive 18 months in prison followed by eight years probation. During his probationary period, Perez must write a letter of apology to the faculty and staff at Chiefland Elementary School, have no contact with CES faculty and staff or campus, enter and successfully complete sex offender counseling, perform 200 hours of community service within the first two years on probation, and possess no camera, video camera, or surveillance equipment unless the recording devices is manufactured as part of a smartphone or computer.

There were no images of children in the seized videos though there were short, edited video clips of women using the bathroom. Some women were identifiable and some were not.