Today's News

A Russian newspaper reported the future had come to its village with the speed of the past. Three months later, that future arrived in Chiefland personified by a German man on a Norwegian electric bicycle.

Robert Mohr, 41, left Oslo, Norway, May 16 at noon with the hope of riding into the Guinness Book of World Records on a Buddy Bike Model M2. He expects to finish during the Street Life Festival in Munich on Sept. 9-10.

He got the idea of circumventing the globe because he wanted, “to do something pollution-free in my life. The environment is so polluted and it’s getting worse. This is the way to show that you can travel on electric bikes like this, so you should be able to do this in your hometown.”

Though he is not a hardcore environmentalist, he became sensibilized to pollution while studying geography for his job as a logistics writer, “But I’m not a Greenpeace member, but I think it’s important to leave this world not like we found it because that’s impossible, but at least so our children and grandchildren can survive.”

The Chiefland football team faced a steep enough challenge for its opening week in taking on rival Trenton, a school that entered last Friday having defeated the Indians seven straight seasons by an average of 29 points.

But then a flu bug devastated the program, even sidelining its head coach, during the week in the run-up to the game.

After the game kicked off, the Indians found themselves mired in yet more adversity, as they turned it over four times in the first half on fumbles – including on fumbled snaps on three consecutive drives – to help the Tigers leap to a 28-0 lead.

The game was teetering on the brink of becoming another lopsided Trenton win, the kind it’s enjoyed in five of the previous seven years, and every year since 2013, when Chiefland hung tight with the eventual state champions in a 17-14 loss.

But then something happened.

Junior quarterback Wyatt Hammond twice connected on long plays with fellow junior Kirk Williams, including on a 32-yard touchdown pass that saw Williams leaping at the goal line to haul in the score with 1:12 remaining in the opening half.

Levy County needs a new courthouse, but the project is too cost-prohibitive at the moment.

That’s what Paul Silverman, trial court administrator for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Appeals, found in exploring the courthouse’s infrastructure needs and the options available.

However, he concluded there are affordable short-term options available to address its pair of most pressing security needs.

Silverman provided an update to the County Commission on Aug. 22, arguing for a plan to convert a room next to the Clerk of Court’s office into a small courtroom for hearing cases from the Circuit Court in order to alleviate traffic between litigants, judges and others in the hallways between hearing rooms and waiting areas.

Silverman said there is $1.3 million available in state grant funding to put toward a new courthouse or renovations. In discussing courthouse priorities with various officials, Silverman said there’s a consensus that favors a new courthouse, but opposes spending the $1.3 million on renovations.

The citizens of the Gulf Hammock area, located around 17 miles southwest of Chiefland along U.S. Highway 19, want their official identity back.

With the blessing of an endorsement letter from the county, which was won unanimously at the Levy County Commission meeting on Aug. 22, the people of Gulf Hammock appear to be inching toward one of their major goals, which is the re-establishment of an original boundary and zip code to reflect Gulf Hammock.

The prelude to that endorsement was a July meeting in Gulf Hammock between area residents and county officials. They discussed complaints over emergency response times to the area as well as regaining their postal community status as Gulf Hammock.