IRS Scandal Seen As Leverage
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1A SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2013 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $1.00 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM Local women Relay For Life SUNDAY EDITION commemorate fighting cancer Pearl Harbor. 7A on the links. 1C IRS scandal seen as leverage Republicans look to use furor over federal tax enforcers singling the uninsured afford coverage will be fun- That official apparently switched roles out conservative groups will ensnare their neled through the tax system. At the same before internal alarm bells went off about furor as path to new attack biggest target: President Barack Obama’s time, the IRS is also responsible for penal- the problem. But feed all that into today’s on federal health care law. health care law. ties on individuals and employers who fail frenzied world of online speculation, and There is a link, but it may only be coinci- to comply with the law’s requirements. red-meat associations are irresistible. By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR dence. No one appears to have connected But the really tantalizing connection In Saturday’s weekly GOP radio and Associated Press the dots factually, and it’s unclear whether is that a former head of the office that Internet address, Maryland Rep. Andy they will. subjected tea-party groups seeking tax Harris tried to make the connection. WASHINGTON — Political scandals The Internal Revenue Service has a exemptions to tougher scrutiny is now “If we’ve learned anything this week, have strange ways of causing collateral major role in carrying out the health care running the tax agency’s division in charge damage, and Republicans are hoping the law, because financial assistance to help of implementing the health care law. IRS continued on 3A Local Giving her final lessons FWHS jobless graduate rate dips slain in in April Brandon Small drop masks Store video leads steady hiring by police to suspect area employers. in brutal stabbing. By AMANDA WILLIAMSON By DEREK GILLIAM [email protected] [email protected] Unemployment in A 2004 graduate of Fort Columbia County dropped White High School was bru- approximately two-tenths tally murdered in Brandon, a of a percent during April, suburb of Tampa. falling from 6.4 percent in Wilkin Mieses Baker, 27, March to 6.2 percent in was cut or stabbed 35 times April. and had his Despite the drop in the throat cut, county unemployment fig- according to a ure, the local workforce Hillsborough also dropped from 31,035 in C o u n t y March to 30,769 in April. S h e r i f f ’ s Even though workforce JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter Office news numbers are falling, Denise Columbia City Elementary School principal Lana Boone, who is retiring after 41 years on May 31, reads ‘Commotion release. Baker Wynne, lead employer in the Ocean’ to students in Pam Hunter’s kindergarten class at the school on Tuesday. ‘I’m a teacher at heart,’ she A land- services representative at said. ‘Teaching comes naturally to me.’ See Page 1D for a feature story on Boone’s career. scape worker found Baker’s Florida Crown Workforce body Tuesday morning Board, believes Florida and behind a storage facility. Columbia County are still Hillsborough County detec- experiencing job growth. tives arrested Washington “People are still look- Beltran on charges of first- ing for work, and we are Deadline near for 2012 taxes degree murder and armed placing them in positions robbery in connection with daily. We placed over 75 Delinquent property tax rolls. issuance of a tax certificate. Baker’s death. individuals in positions for Brannon said There are five taxing author- According to the news the month of April,” Wynne owners have until May tax sale certifi- ities that use property tax pay- release, Beltran and Baker said. “It’s a common mis- 31 to pay past-due bills. cates will be issued ments for their budgets: City are believed to have met for conception that the unem- against properties of Lake City, Columbia County the first time Monday night ployment numbers only By TONY BRITT with unpaid 2012 Board of County Commissioners, at 10:47 p.m. at a fast food include those people who [email protected] taxes at the close Lake Shore Hospital Authority, restaurant near where Baker are receiving re-employ- Brannon of business May Columbia County School Board was found. ment assistance benefits, The Columbia County Tax 31. and the Suwannee River Water Detectives verified the two commonly referred to as Collector’s Office has advertised A tax certificate is an interest- Management District. men were in a convenience unemployment benefits.” more than 4,000 accounts for which bearing lien on property for unpaid Tax deed applications can be store on the same road as Statewide, unemploy- property owners did not pay their taxes. The lien will accumulate made after a tax sale certificate the storage facility through ment levels declined from 2012 property taxes. interest every month until either is two years old. Then the holder surveillance footage from the the March rate of 7.5 per- Tax Collector Ronnie Brannon the lien is satisfied or a tax deed of that certificate has the right to store. cent to April’s rate of 7.2 said there were 4,520 accounts application is requested. Tax sale request a tax deed application. A In the video, Hillsborough percent, the lowest since advertised in the Lake City certificates are sold on properties tax deed application is the process detectives saw that Baker was September 2008 when it Reporter for 2012 unpaid property with unpaid taxes in order for the by which the property is sold to wearing a gold chain neck- was 7.0 percent, accord- taxes. local taxing authorities to receive the highest bidder. After a tax lace. ing to state Department of The total is 106 properties less their budgeted revenues. No title When Baker’s body was Economic Opportunity fig- than were listed on the 2011 unpaid to property will be lost with the TAXES continued on 3A recovered, he was missing the ures released on Friday. gold necklace, a bicycle and Neighboring counties, $100 cash, the release said. except for Baker County, Investigators further dis- have lower unemployment covered that Beltran had an rates than Columbia County. outstanding warrant for felony Alachua County’s unem- Field of violation of probation. ployment rate for April fell Detectives went back to the to 4.8 percent from 5.1 in flowers crime scene and learned that March. Gilchrist County’s Beltran had recently been rate was 5.5 percent, Union Thousands seen at a nearby apartment County’s 5.6 percent and of coreopsis complex, the release said. Suwannee County’s 5.7 per- flowers carpet After searching the apart- cent. Baker County’s rate an 8-acre field ment complex, Beltran was was 6.2 percent. in front of Pat found near Baker’s bicycle in Union and Gilchrist coun- Stevens’ home a stairwell of an apartment ties have lower unemploy- on Branford building. He does not live at ment rates because they Highway. The the apartment building and is are less densely populated believed to be homeless, the than Columbia County, said flowers are release said. Wynne, a representative of often mistaken After his arrest, Beltran Region 7, which does not for black-eyed confessed to the murder, the include Alachua, Baker and Susans. release said. Suwannee counties. According to the release, Florida’s unemployment detectives recovered bloody JOBLESS continued on 3A JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter MURDER continued on 3A Vol. 138, No. 339 Opinion . 4A CALL US: TODAY IN COMING (386) 752-1293 Business . 1C5A 9190 6466 Obituaries . 5A PEOPLE TUESDAY SUBSCRIBE TO ChanceT-Storm of Chance showers Obituaries . 6A THE REPORTER: Advice.Advice & . .Comics . .. 5D8B McCartney City council Voice: 755-5445 Puzzles . 3B, 5B Fax: 752-9400 WEATHER, 2A8A Puzzles . 2B starts big tour. coverage. 2A 2A LAKE CITY REPORTER SUNDAY REPORT SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2013 Page Editor: Jim Barr, 754-0424 Friday: Friday: Saturday: Saturday: Wednesday: Wednesday: 2-4-11-32 8 1-5-9-16-29 Afternoon: 9-2-4 Afternoon: 1-6-7-5 5-6-13-33-35-40 2-11-26-34-41 Evening: N/A Evening: N/A x2 PB 32 AROUND FLORIDA Scott trumpets unemployment drop TAMPA — Gov. Rick against his mother. child’s mother, Kierra Scott — who has made Monet Hayes Laird, is his handling of the state’s responsible for the abuse. economy the main thrust Men rescue He says she’s blaming his of his re-election campaign disabled vet client to get a lesser sen- — got more to boast about tence. Laird pleaded guilty on Friday. LEALMAN— Two good last year to child neglect The state’s unemploy- Samaritans are being charges. She testified ment rate dropped to 7.2 praised after authori- against Webber. percent in April — put- ties say they rescued a Testimony suggested ting Florida below the disabled veteran whose the Cordero Anthony national average for the wheelchair rolled into a Webber Jr. suffered abuse second straight month. southwest Florida pond. for weeks before his death National statistics showed Lealman Police say 79- in November 2011. An that Florida had the third year-old Robert Lunay was autopsy showed he had largest jump in jobs in the sitting in his wheelchair broken ribs that were in nation behind Texas and overlooking a pond Friday the process of healing and New York. night when his wheelchair that he had suffered mul- Scott touted the num- slipped and he fell into the tiple head injuries. bers at a stop at a Tampa water.