Pirates boys hoops attempt to thwart Sharks /B1 WEDNESDAY TODAY CITRUS COUNTY & next morning 000DF1W HIGH 76 Patchy fog early, then LOW partly cloudy. at VILLAGE PAGE A4 TOYOTA SEE IT 55 ON PG. D6 www.chronicleonline.com DECEMBER 5, 2012 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community 50¢ VOLUME 118 ISSUE 120 Progress: Our plant is safe MIKE WRIGHT pany’s decision to only pay a por- pany’s security force, including a Franke wrote. Staff writer tion of its property tax bill. fire brigade, provides protection Dawsy announced last week he In a letter to the Chronicle, Jon around the clock. had canceled a mutual-aid agree- CRYSTAL RIVER — Progress Franke, vice president of the “Please be assured that the ment with the company and could Energy Florida officials said se- Crystal River nuclear plant, said current situation does not affect no longer guarantee prompt noti- curity at the power plant in the company has a contract with our ability to protect the public’s fication of a plant emergency to northwest Citrus County remains the sheriff ’s office to provide or our employees’ safety or to no- residents and business owners in strong despite Sheriff Jeff Dawsy emergency planning and support tify residents in the unlikely proximity to the plant. canceling a mutual-aid agree- for the power plant. event of an emergency at the ment in response to the com- Franke also wrote the com- Crystal River Energy Complex,” See PLANT/ Page A9 Trees light up business for local lots Fraser firs remain favorites PAT FAHERTY whatever needs to be done Staff writer for the customers.” He said they have been It may not be Christmas- selling trees since the day like weather, but it is defi- after Thanksgiving and nitely Christmas tree will continue until they season. sell out, which he esti- Live fresh-cut Christmas mates could happen be- trees began showing up tween Dec.15 and 20. They around Citrus County late brought in about 1,100 last month and tree lots re- trees this year for both lots. ported sales have been They also sell fresh-made steady. wreaths at the Inverness To many, selecting a real location. Christmas tree locally “Prices are a little lower means buying a North this year,” he said. Carolina-raised Fraser fir. “They’re going from $15 According to the North and up. We’re trying to Carolina Christmas Asso- help the economy.” ciation, it is the most pop- Christmas trees may be ular species of Christmas a sideline at Connolly’s tree in the nation and a Sod and Nursery, but the regular choice for the holiday spirit has taken White House. over. In addition to a selec- Walter Bevington thinks tion of Christmas trees, the Fraser fir makes the they have wreaths, poin- perfect Christmas tree. He settias, Christmas gift bas- said it’s long-lasting, easy kets and decorations. to maintain and has soft “They hold their needles needles and a signature well,” Kathy Connolly said blue-green color. about the Fraser fir. He has worked at the She said they’ve had L&L Homosassa tree lot customers come from last off U.S. 19 at Crystal year attesting to how long Chevrolet for the past 25 the trees stayed fresh. years. They also have a lot Connolly’s uses the on State Road 44 on the Christmas tree sale to con- west side of Inverness. nect with their customers “We’re having a very and attract new good year,” Bevington said. people who might not “People haven’t been bick- otherwise visit a nursery ering or trying to barter too much, we’re having a real See TREES/ Page A9 nice time.” Inverness resident Bobbie He said about 90 percent Farnham selects a Fraser of business is repeat cus- fir Christmas tree Tuesday tomers coming from as far with the help of Lukas away as Hudson and Rich at the L&L Tree Farm Spring Hill. lot in Inverness. The life- “If you have good trees, long Inverness resident people don’t mind driving said she was looking for a to get something that’s tall tree for her home. nice,” he said. “And we do MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle INSIDE EDUCATION: Shortfall burden slightly lifted ‘In Cold Blood’ Thorpe presents revised figures to commission killers probed CHRIS VAN ORMER contested accounts. Be- from Solid Waste and Utili- Staff writer cause of that, I have re- ties from 5 percent to 6.8 duced the shortfall for the percent. A little good news was General Fund to $4,994,005.” Phase two would affect in Florida case presented about the The shortfall for the Gen- the next cycle of the budget. Chips county’s budget crisis eral Fund had been “This is going to give the caused by Duke Energy’s $5,569,441. As a result, the board plenty of opportunity Investigator wants to exhume A lawsuit is challenging failure to pay its tax bill in shortfall for road resurfac- starting January to discuss the legality of “locator” full. ing has dropped from your reaction to a potential chips in student Continuing to work with $734,000 to $659,359. The Li- underpayment for the next bodies of Kansas murderers IDs./Page C1 accounts, County Adminis- brary Services shortfall has year,” Thorpe said. “I have trator Brad Thorpe has re- dropped from $345,230 to made a change. Based on Associated Press throughout the years, but it INDEX vised some of the numbers $311,554. the board’s discussion at the remained unsolved. Now, a Comics . .C7 he presented Friday at the “Because it was an emer- emergency meeting you OSPREY — At the end of detective is trying to prove Community . .C5 county’s emergency meeting gency meeting and there wanted to keep in water 1959, two families of four — the men executed in Kansas Crossword . .C6 in phase one of his action was a lot going on that day, I quality, so I did.” one in Kansas, the other in were responsible for the Editorial . .A8 plan. At Tuesday’s regular want to re-emphasize to the The increase in profit Florida — were brutally Florida slayings. Entertainment . .B6 meeting of the Citrus board that if you take this transfer fee of $2,242,234 murdered. “It’s like putting together Horoscope . .B6 County Board of County action today, this current and the decrease in the rev- Two men were arrested, a jigsaw puzzle,” said Sara- Lottery Numbers . .B4 Commissioners, Thorpe budget is balanced,” Thorpe enue save more than half a charged and executed in the sota County Sheriff ’s detec- Lottery Payouts . .B6 slightly lifted some of the said. million dollars on the short- Kansas case. Writer Truman tive Kimberly McGath, who Movies . .C7 shortfall burden. The recommended action fall. By accepting this, Capote captured the hor- began re-investigating the Obituaries . .A5 “I have revised those was to amend the first phase Thorpe said, “this will buy rific tale in his iconic true murders of Cliff and Chris- Classifieds . .C8 numbers based on informa- of the action plan by delet- you time to make adjust- crime book, “In Cold tine Walker and their two TV Listings . .C6 tion I have received from ing the item of deferring ments to next year’s Blood.” young children in 2007. the tax collector,” Thorpe lake restoration and water budget.” The Florida murder of McGath said evidence said. “They received an ad- quality projects to save Commissioner Scott two parents and two chil- points to two men ditional $630,285.74 from $1,174,920 and increase the dren was investigated by Progress Energy for the un- one-time profit transfer fee See COUNTY/ Page A9 dozens of detectives See CASE/ Page A2 A2 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012 CITRUS COUNTY (FL) CHRONICLE New C.R. council members CASE Continued from Page A1 who are now in a Kansas cemetery for executed pris- oners: Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. DNA recovered from semen found on Christine Walker’s underwear could be compared to the re- mains of Smith and Hick- ock, said McGath. She is working with Kansas au- thorities to petition a judge Associated Press there to approve exhuming In this Jan. 6, 1960 file photo, Perry Edward Smith is led by the bodies of the two men. police officers into the courthouse at Garden City, Kan. Linking long-dead killers Smith was arrested in Las Vegas and charged with first de- to unsolved homicides is gree murder in the slaying of four members of the Herbert becoming more common. Clutter family at their farmhouse in Holcomb, Kan. Fifty years In Chicago, the Cook ago, the Clutter murders inspired Truman Capote to write County Sheriff ’s Depart- “In Cold Blood.” A Florida detective wants to exhume the ment is trying to find out bodies of Edward Smith and accomplice Richard Hickock to whether serial killer John see if there is evidence linking the two men to the 1959 Wayne Gacy could be re- murders of four in a rural community south of Sarasota. sponsible for any more deaths. Officials there are pair was involved in the The detective found wit- entering murderers’ DNA Florida murders has been ness statements — and profiles into a national considered since 1960, ac- talked to people who are database shared with other cording to records released still alive — who said they law-enforcement agencies. by the Sarasota Sheriff ’s saw Smith and Hickock in The move is based on an Office. the Sarasota area around ironic legal distinction: The After Smith and Hickock the time of the Walker mur- men were technically listed killed the Clutter family in ders.