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Today's News

  • Bronson city elections will be held September 12

    By JOHN TYLER NILSEN, Citizen Correspondent

    Town clerk Pamela Whitehead announced three qualifying candidates for the town council’s open seat during the Aug. 7 council meeting. First District Councilman Aaron Edmundson said he will retire, leaving his seat open. Edith Brown, Robert Partin, and Virginia Phillips are the qualifying applicants. Mayor Bruce Greenlee, fifth district, and Vice Mayor Beatrice Roberts, third district, will run unopposed for their re-election bids. The city election will be held on September 12.

    Parks and Recreation director Curtis Stacy announced divisions for fall youth sports. Contact football includes 8U, 10U, and 12U teams. Flag football will be available for ages 7 to 10. Youth soccer will include 6U, 8U 11U teams. Girls’ cheerleading will be available for ages 6 to 12. Stacy announced girls’ volleyball would be added to for fall as well. Signup for all sports will be held Aug. 12 at James H. Cobb park.

    • The date and time for Trunk or Treat activities is Oct. 28 from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

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  • College of Central Florida to host open house Friday, Aug. 11

    The College of Central Florida Jack Wilkinson Levy Campus, 15390 N.W. Highway 19, will host an open house celebration Friday, Aug. 11, from 2-4 p.m.

    The first permanent facility for higher education in Levy County, the campus features a comprehensive student center, campus bookstore, student lounge, health and wellness area, a large multi-purpose room, a multidiscipline science lab, classrooms, computer labs and faculty offices.

    The college is offering 100 scholarships valued at $500 each to students who want to be among the first to attend the new campus. To be eligible, students must take six or more credits at the new campus when classes begin Aug. 21. The scholarships are available to new and returning students, as well as students enrolled at another college or university.

    The scholarships are a one-time opportunity to celebrate the opening of the campus, which is the first permanent higher education facility in Levy County. The $30 college application fee will also be waived for students to plan to attend the new campus.

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  • Chiefland FFA meets to plan for the future

    By KATE SHERIDAN, Citizen Correspondent

    The Chiefland FFA Alumni Chapter held its monthly meeting Aug. 1 at the Chiefland High School Ag Barn.

    During the treasury report the budget and expense sheets were reviewed. The minutes read from the previous month and the next order of business was the upcoming elections. Lack of attendance due to the summer months with families and members being out of town has pushed back the elections back to the Sept. 5, with the hope of all open seats to be filled. The topic quickly turned to motivation for attendance at the alumni meetings.

    Ideas were discussed for representation at the upcoming open house at the high school and Chiefland Middle School with an information table where flyers will be available to students and parents.

    New business was opened with Chiefland Middle School Ag Teacher Matt Detloff requesting a donation of 50 percent of the admission fee for each of the six students who will be attending the Chapter President Conference scheduled the last weekend in August. A $300 donation was unanimously approved.

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  • Suspects arrested in connection with Williston homicide

    By Lt. Scott Tummond

    The Levy County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division (CID) has made two arrests in connection with the home invasion homicide that occurred in the early morning hours of Friday, Aug. 4, in Williston.

    Homicide victim James Patterson and shooting victim Ramon Patterson were confronted by armed suspects who opened fire inside the home that night.

    On Tuesday, CID investigators executed two simultaneous search warrants in the Lincoln Heights subdivision off of County Road 318 in east Williston. As a result of these search warrants, multiple people were interviewed and two juveniles have been arrested.

    Jalen Keyshawn Days, 18, and Andrew Lee Robinson, 17, were taken into custody and have been charged with first degree murder, home invasion robbery with a firearm, and aggravated battery with a firearm.

    Both have been booked into the Levy County Detention Facility and will be transferred to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Gainesville later today.

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  • June home sales look good

    By DR. EUGENE GIBBINS
    DGL Board of Realtors

    A large white house with black shutters made its way south on NE 80th Avenue Tuesday, Aug. 1, near the Levy County Sheriff’s Office, causing people to make double takes.

    The home was built in 1958 by Linus Sache of Chiefland. Sache was Donna Shipp’s uncle, brother to Shipp’s mother Muzeta Sache Wilkerson. Upon Linus Sache’s death, Wilkerson purchased the home and moved it across a pasture to her 10 acres. When she died, Donna and her husband, Danny, bought the house and moved it to Bronson in January 1990.

    The remodeled house with added porches, the house sat on five acres for 27 years. After acquiring 30 acres in Levyville, and loving the white house, the Shipp’s decided to move their house instead of building another one.

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  • LCSO adds K-9 Unit to roadways

    By LT. SCOTT TUMMOND
    LCSO Public Information Office

    Sheriff Bobby McCallum announced recently the addition of Molly, the newest member of the K-9 Unit at the Levy County Sheriff’s Office. The addition of Molly to the unit was made possible through a generous donation of $5,500 made by Barbara Snow on behalf of the U.S. War Dogs Association, Southern Chapter 2. Snow, executive director of the Southern Chapter, is not only a concerned citizen of Levy County, but also an active participant in the Levy County Sheriff’s Office program. She believes the K-9 Unit is an essential component to the safety and wellbeing of the community. She presented the donation to Sheriff McCallum July 28. The sheriff accepted the donation and expressed his sincere appreciation on behalf of the agency and the citizens of Levy County.

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  • County adopts tentative millage rate

    Levy County was on its way to being unable to pay its bills by the end of 2019, according to budget figures presented by Finance Officer Jared Blanton at the tentative millage meeting Thursday, Aug. 3, in Bronson.

    Recent moves by the county commission – most notably, an uptick in millage, a new gas tax, department cuts and reallocations, and, going forward, a cap on employee insurance plans – have helped paint a more optimistic financial future for the county.

    The board passed a tentative millage resolution at the meeting that will keep the millage rate at 9.0. The resolution passed unanimously, on a motion by Matt Brooks, backed by Rock Meeks.

    The final millage rate can be lower than the tentative rate, but it can’t exceed that number. While it’s the same rate, it will generate $641,000 (approx. 3.1 percent) in additional tax revenue – and costs to taxpayers – thanks to rising property values.

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  • Six more caught in second sweep

    By SCOTT TUMMOND, LCSO Media Relations

    On Saturday evening, Aug. 5, and into Sunday, the Levy County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit and Uniformed Patrol Division continued high intensity narcotic interdiction in the Cedar Key/Rosewood area. K-9 Supervisor Sgt. Kevin Kinik with his partner, Zombie, and Deputy Gary Garboski with his partner, Molly, along with multiple patrol deputies made six additional arrests Saturday and Sunday in the sheriff office’s continued drug interdiction efforts.

    Shaune Cherry (10/08/81), of Cedar Key, was arrested for possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Sgt. Kinik conducted a traffic stop at the Dollar General in Rosewood and found Cherry to be in possession of three grams of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. His bond was set at $15,000.

    Robert Cherry (01/09/99), of North Carolina, was arrested for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Sgt. Kinik conducted a traffic stop in front of Robinson’s Seafood.

    Deputy Garboski, with his K-9 partner, Molly, discovered marijuana in the vehicle. His bond was set at $1,000. 

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  • LCSO arrests 3 in first drug sweep

    By SCOTT TUMMOND, LCSO Media Relations

    The Levy County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force and Uniformed Patrol Division conducted a targeted drug enforcement operation Thursday, Aug. 3, in the Rosewood/Cedar Key area which began Wednesday evening and continued into Thursday morning.

    Citizens who reside in these areas of the county have filed complaints of recent drug activity in their neighborhoods and Sheriff Bobby McCallum answered their call.

    Early Wednesday afternoon, K-9 Sergeant K. Kinik conducted a traffic stop in Rosewood and with the assistance of his K-9 partner Zombie located marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.

    The driver was issued a notice to appear in court for both misdemeanor violations and released at the scene.

    Shortly afterward, DTF investigators made a traffic stop on SR 24. DTF investigators arrested Chad Hammock (2-21-78) of Cedar Key for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia; and Heather Woods (8-13-91) of Cedar Key for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

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  • IFAS ‘science’ protects lawns, not springs

    By Bob Palmer, Florida Springs Institute

    For five years, researchers from UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have presented highly flawed recommendations to city and county commissions all over the state. Many commissions concluded that IFAS’s advice constituted “sound science” and voted accordingly, ignoring contradictory evidence from concerned citizens deemed less “scientific” than IFAS. However, it’s now apparent that IFAS’s positions are closer to junk science than sound science. And sadly, the upshot of heeding IFAS’s advice has been further degradation of already impaired springs, rivers, and estuaries.

    The issue is lawn fertilizers, the stuff we spread in our pursuit of perfect greenness. Nitrogen fertilizers may help grass grow, but they also bleed into the environment, threatening our waterways with unwanted pollution and algal gunk.

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