Local News

"Unbelievable!"

Osborn "Oz" Barker's reaction to being elected as Levy County Property Appraiser may well sum up the feelings of the county's Republicans as they won two offices for the first time in history.

In addition to Barker, who unseated incumbent Democrat Francis Akins, voters chose Republican Robert "Bob" Hastings as county school superintendent.

In the only other county races, incumbent Democrats Tony Parker and Danny Stevens held on to their seats o the county commission.

Indians' head coach Ajay Ulmer said Chiefland played very well in the first half of the 49-13 loss to Ocala Trinity Catholic, but that still doesn't make losing OK.

"We had some breakdowns in the second half, some missed assignments," he said. "Our practice on Monday is going to be pretty intense - we have to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen again."

That said, Ulmer is very proud of the Indians' play in the first half, which Trinity escaped carrying a bare 14-13 lead.

The Town of Bronson Council hired a new town clerk last week during a special meeting called to fulfill the hiring process. More than 30 applications were submitted for the position.

Before the final decision was made, the council interviewed the top six applicants. Kelly Brettel's first day as the new town clerk will coincide with the town meeting Nov. 3. Brettel has 20 years of accounting experience and has already read the clerk manual in preparation of her new job.

Interest is high in the Nov. 4 election as 21.6 percent of Levy County's registered voters have cast their ballots by absentee or in early voting as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Supervisor of Elections' office.

The tally:

4,913 absentee ballots requested

3,435 absentee ballots received

2,203 early voting ballots cast

The total for the early and absentee ballots received is 5,638 ballots of 21.69 percent of the county's 25,983 registered voters.