Jobless Rate on Decline Unemployment in County Falls to 6.6%; State Rate Drops Too
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1A SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2013 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $1.00 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM Homecoming 6-year-old genius SUNDAY EDITION Queen crowned finds tests ‘easy in Fort White. 5A peasy as pie.’ 6A ‘MIXED MESSAGES’ to handle city fire department dispatch Combined Communications Center and Public Safety Building, the same location County: Lake City officials services Oct. 1 despite “mixed messages” respond automatically to city fire emer- from which the city currently dispatches say one thing about unified from city officials. gencies with county resources. LCPD officers. However, City Manager Wendell On June 28, County Manager Dale The county’s understanding was that dispatch, staffers, another. Johnson says that the city’s intentions Williams sent a letter to Johnson saying the city would handle its own fire dis- By STEVEN RICHMOND were made clear through documentation the county plans to terminate the interlo- patch services beginning Oct. 1. However, [email protected] and correspondence throughout the year. cal agreement effective Oct. 1 in response county officials are unclear if that will in As of today, the county and city are to the requests of Johnson and LCFD Fire fact happen. County Safety Manager David Kraus told participants in an interlocal agreement Chief Frank Armijo. “They never officially told us one way county commissioners that the Combined whereby the county will dispatch Lake The city then set in motion plans to Communications Center will still be able City fire protection services through their dispatch city fire services from their own DISPATCH continued on 3A A smokin’ good time Jobless rate on decline Unemployment in county falls to 6.6%; state rate drops too. By TONY BRITT [email protected] Unemployment in Columbia County fell for the first time in three months in August, showing a four-tenths decrease in the local jobless rate. According to information released Friday by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, Columbia County’s unemployment rate for August was 6.6 percent. In July the figure was 7.0 percent. Florida’s unemployment rate in August fell a tenth to 7.0 percent, while the nation’s jobless rate was Photos by AMANDA WILLIAMSON/Lake City Reporter 7.3 percent. Kristah Couey and Ethan O’Hearn dig into ribs cooked by Wellborn-based Fenced-In BBQ during a break from the work day Saturday. The two Local officials said the decrease helped owner Lawrence Rentz dish out his barbecued fare at the Smokin’ Pig BBQ Fest. The two-day event ran Friday and Saturday at the in local jobless numbers is based Columbia County Fairgrounds. on people returning to work at school and other seasonal factors. “Our seasonally adjusted 5th annual Smokin’ Pig draws hungry crowd employment (due to the school employment, tourism, and agricul- ture) has leveled out as all of our Good eatin’, good schools were back in session dur- times for folks at ing the month of August and the tourist season saw its close (for the the fairgrounds. most part) on Labor Day, bringing our current unemployment rate By AMANDA WILLIAMSON down to 6.6 percent this month [email protected] from 7.0 percent in July of 2013,” said Denise Wynne, Florida Crown efore she could Workforce Board Lead Employer bite into a slab of Services Representative. ribs at the Smokin’ Wynne said there is an excellent Pig BBQ Fest, chance the local unemployment Sarah Ripple had rate will continue to decrease as Bto wait for her husband — the new job opportunities become barbecue connoisseur — to available in Columbia County. arrive at the Columbia County “With several new employers Fairgrounds. opening their doors in Columbia The Smokin’ Pig lasted County during the month of Friday and Saturday, featuring September, including Michael’s a wide array of competition and CiCi’s Pizza, we do expect to barbecue teams from across see a decrease in our local unem- the Southeast. The event was ployment numbers,” she said. “We a World Qualifier and a Jack certainly hope that trend contin- Daniel’s championship qualifier. ues, and as we are heading into Guest tasted samples of ribs, the holiday shopping season when chicken and pork from local merchants traditionally hire their favorites like the Budmeisters Firefighter Austin Thomas checks the temperature inside the grill for the Black Helmet BBQ competition seasonal staff, we at Florida Crown cook team and Fenced-In BBQ. team, while teammate Greg Sund holds open the lid. The four men of Black Helmet BBQ represent the Lake Workforce Board expect to see this “Anything barbecue, my hus- trend continue into December.” band will tear it up,” Ripple said, City Fire Department. In August there were 30,967 speaking of her husband David. looked at every barbecue menu it. The husband takes his barbe- While waiting for David “Last year when we came, we and the prices. We even smelled cue very seriously.” PIG continued on 6A UNEMPLOYMENT continued on 7A Vol. 139, No. 168 OpinionPeople. .. 4A2A CALL US: TODAY IN COMING (386) 752-1293 BusinessOpinion . 5A4A 9186 6467 Obituaries . 5A PEOPLE TUESDAY SUBSCRIBE TO ChanceT-Storm of Chance storms Obituaries . 6A THE REPORTER: AdviceAdvice. & . .Comics . 3D8B Nutcracker Local news Voice: 755-5445 Puzzles . 2B, 3B Fax: 752-9400 WEATHER, 2A8A Puzzles . 2B auditions roundup. 2A 2A LAKE CITY REPORTER SUNDAY REPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2013 Page Editor: Robert Bridges, 754-0428 Friday: Friday: Friday: Friday: Wednesday: Wednesday: 1-7-25-44 2-10-12-25-29 Afternoon: 3-6-5 Afternoon: 3-0-2-2 14-15-23-36-49-50 N/A (13) Evening: 0-3-0 Evening: 1-5-9-6 (x4) PB XX AROUND FLORIDA Embry-Riddle offers master’s degree in drones DAYTONA BEACH Helping owners — Secured inside a room you need a U.S. passport to rent their vessels enter is a modern arcade of war machines. MIAMI — Getting out on It looks like a gamer’s the open sea, wind in your paradise: A comfortable tan hair, enjoying the ride with leather captain’s chair sits your family and friends. behind four computer mon- Then there’s the boat itors, an airplane joystick payments, storage fees, with a red “fire” button, a fuel, maintenance and keyboard and throttle con- repair — these costs can trol. The games here have quickly sink the dream of great implications. Across boat ownership. the world, a $20 million Ahoy, mates — a new Gray Eagle drone armed breed of boat-sharing ser- with four Hellfire missiles, vices is entering the hot ready to make a sortie into South Florida boating mar- hostile territory is taking ket. commands from a worksta- San Francisco-based tion like this one. A gradu- Boatbound.co set up its ate from this room on the East Coast headquar- campus of Embry-Riddle ters on the Rickenbacker Aeronautical University in Causeway in Key Biscayne Daytona Beach could be and launched nationally in in that other room in as June. About the same time, little as six months with a Cruzin.com finished a pilot master’s degree in piloting ROBERT BRIDGES/Lake City Reporter program in Dania Beach drones, his hand on the and went live with its site, joystick, making $150,000 Truck fire and there are a handful of a year. other national competitors Welcome to the new basic This semi tractor-trailer caught fire on East Duval Street just west of Main Boulevard Thursday. No one was hurt. “We smelled eyeing the Sunshine State. training, where the skills to [smoke] in the building,” said Joyce Williams, who works at N&W Cleaners nearby. “That’s when I went in and called 911.” Williams Locally based startups fight the War of Tomorrow said the truck driver attempted to control the blaze with a small fire extinguisher and when that didn’t work, tried using bottled water. Fun2boat.com, Boatyard. are taught in private class- Lake City Fire Department first responders were on scene quickly and put the fire out. The cause of the fire wasn’t clear. com and Boatsetter.com rooms today. Embry-Riddle are getting ready to launch this fall became the first in their own variations on the the country to offer post planes to mini helicopters the health department were going to the school to the Exotic Pet Amnesty concept. graduate education in this less than 2 feet across — to to sanitize Manatee Bay pick their children up. Day on Saturday in Coral These companies make field. play a role in the civilian Elementary. Springs. Pet owners can it possible for boat own- “We’re trying to prepare world. Students at the school drop off their exotic rep- ers to rent out their boats our students so they’re in Weston have reported Amnesty day tiles, amphibians, birds, when they aren’t using ready to operate at the symptoms including vomit- for exotic pets fish, mammals and inver- them — for many peo- highest levels,” said Dan School sanitized ing, diarrhea and fever. tebrates at the event free ple that’s a considerable Macchiarella, department as dozens fall ill The principal sent a let- CORAL SPRINGS — of charge. Domestic pets chunk of time. There are chair of aeronautical sci- ter to parents urging them Instead of releasing exotic — such as cats and dogs 12.2 million boats regis- ences at Embry-Riddle. WESTON — Cleaning to keep any sick kids home pets into the wild, owners — are not accepted. tered in the United States, But as with so many crews are at work at a South and encourage their chil- can surrender their nonna- Penalties for not hav- yet the average boat gets things that begin with a Florida elementary school dren to wash their hands tive animals at an event in ing the proper license to used just 26 days a year, military purpose, these where dozens of students frequently.