Soldier Surprises Sibling at School
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Strong start: Price, Rays roll past Blue Jays in opener /B1 TUESDAY TODAY CITRUS COUNTY & next morning HIGH 83 Mostly sunny and LOW warmer. 50 PAGE A4 www.chronicleonline.com APRIL 1, 2014 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community 50¢ VOL. 119 ISSUE 237 Houston: Time to retire that will require a multi-year com- resigning until he got the call Mon- Crystal River city manager brought mitment to address, and the city day morning. would be best served by a manager “I’m very sad about it,” Farley who can make a commitment to be said. “He’s going to be hard to stability during eight years on the job here to see those issues to conclu- replace.” sion,” he wrote. “At this point in my Crystal River held the infamous MIKE WRIGHT for good July 18. life, I am not that person.” reputation as a city manager revolv- Staff writer Houston, who at eight years at the Houston said he turns 63 in July ing door when Houston came out of helm is the longest-serving Crystal retirement to apply for an opening. CRYSTAL RIVER — Andy Hous- River city manager in the past 25 and thought now was the time to re- Andy sign. He told council members he He had spent 30 years working for Houston ton is retiring again. years, informed council members by the city of St. Petersburg and was Eight years after he gave up his phone calls Monday morning and would stay longer if more time is longest-serving needed to find his successor. living in Georgia when he and his Crystal River first retirement in 2006 for a job as provided a resignation letter as wife Susan decided to move back to city manger in Crystal River city manager, Houston well. Mayor Jim Farley said he had no the past 25 announced Monday he would retire “There are issues facing the city idea Houston was thinking of See HOUSTON/ Page A5 years. NEWS After returning from Afghanistan BRIEF Child drowns in Lake Rousseau Soldier surprises sibling at school A 19-month-old Ho- mosassa boy died Sun- day morning when he apparently drowned in Lake Rousseau near Dunnellon, according to the Citrus County Sher- iff’s Office. Eli Brecheen and his parents, Lee Allen Brecheen and Betty Jo Fleming, were visiting friends Saturday on Riverbend Road. The friends said they could stay overnight in a trailer on the property. Fleming told authorities all three were sleeping in the living room when Brecheen woke her up at about 9:15 a.m. Sunday and asked where Eli was. They started looking for the child when Brecheen found Eli lying unrespon- sive in the lake out back. Eli was placed on the dock while his dad started CPR. DeRosa firefighters and Nature Coast EMS personnel continued resuscitation efforts as the boy was transported to Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center. Efforts to save the child continued at the hospital for almost two hours after the call had first been initi- ated; however, they were ultimately unsuccessful. The sheriff’s office is in- vestigating the child’s MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle United States Army Specialist Bryan Trefry surprises his little brother Joseph Wickson on Monday afternoon in the Forest Ridge Elementary death; no foul play is sus- School cafeteria. Trefry has just returned from active duty in Afghanistan and is home with his family for two weeks. pected, officials said. —From staff reports NANCY KENNEDY “ looks up to me, like a role model,” Trefry INSIDE Staff writer We’re 11 years apart, said in the school front office while every- one waited for 12:30 p.m. to surprise Joe. BEVERLY HILLS — Nine-year-old Joe and I think Joe looks up to “We’d play video games together, and I al- STATE & LOCAL: Wickson didn’t know what to think. me, like a role model. ways tried to do things with him that were April Fool? One minute he was eating lunch in the “ fun for both of us.” cafeteria at Forest Ridge Elementary While he was in Afghanistan, Trefry used April Fool or faux? Take Bryan Trefry our quiz./Page A3 School like he always does and the next Facetime video calling to connect with his minute he felt a tap on his shoulder. U.S. Army specialist home from Afghanistan. mom and brother, but Joe still continually Then suddenly, cameras flashed in his asked his mom, Karen Wickson, “When am NATION & WORLD: face, his mother and grandparents were the brothers hadn’t seen each other in about I going to see Bryan? When can he come to crying — and then he saw his brother. a year. Florida?” Army Specialist Bryan Trefry has been in Trefry, 20, lives in Plymouth, Mass. Afghanistan for the past nine months and “We’re 11 years apart, and I think Joe See SURPRISE/ Page A5 Scott signs Florida GI Bill Sweetbay stores The News Service of Florida converting to Tension builds PANAMA CITY — Flanked by military veterans, members Winn-Dixie North and South Korea of the Florida National Guard fire hundreds of and lawmakers, Gov. Rick Scott PAT FAHERTY artillery shells into each other’s waters. signed into law on Monday the Staff writer /Page A12 “Florida GI Bill,” modeled after the World War II-era pro- The Sweetbay stores in Inverness and INDEX gram and intended to make Crystal River will close for a week while Florida the most military- they are converted to Winn-Dixie stores Classifieds . .C11 friendly state in the nation. this month. Comics . .C10 The wide-ranging measure Bi-Lo Holdings, parent company of Bi- Community . .C7, C8 (HB 7015), rushed through the Lo and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, an- Crossword . .C9 Legislature the first week of nounced Monday that on Saturday, April Editorial . .A10 session as a priority of House Special to the Chronicle 12, it will begin to rebrand 18 Sweetbay Entertainment . .A4 and Senate leadership, pro- Gov. Rick Scott, signs House Bill 7015, which creates the stores throughout the region. Horoscope . .A4 vides university tuition “Congressman C.W. Bill Young Tuition Waiver Program.” To his The list includes stores in Spring Hill, Lottery Numbers . .B3 waivers for veterans, pays for right is the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Inverness. Ocala, Gainesville and The Villages. The Lottery Payouts . .B3 military and guard base im- stores are scheduled to close on Saturday, Movies . .C10 provements, is expected to the U.S. Air Force and has we only ask for that which we April 12, and reopen on Friday, April 18, Obituaries . .A6 help increase employment op- been lobbying lawmakers earned, by virtue of our serv- as Winn-Dixie stores. TV Listings . .C9 portunities for veterans and al- since September on behalf of ice, (to) be there when we get “Upon reopening as a Winn-Dixie, we locates $1 million a year to sell student veterans, said the bill home,” said Sloan, who is believe customers will be pleasantly sur- the state to veterans. will draw other veterans to now a political science and prised to see that we have been working Andrew Sloan, a Georgia Florida’s universities. native who spent six years in “We served our nation and See BILL/ Page A5 See STORE/ Page A5 A2 TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2014 LOCAL/S TATE CITRUS COUNTY (FL) CHRONICLE After one year, he’s still in awe City manager-in-training has immersed himself in the history and workings of Inverness NANCY KENNEDY Staff writer Meet Eric Williams ■ TITLE: Inverness city manager-in-training/assistant city INVERNESS — After one manager. year on the job as Inverness city ■ SALARY: manager-in-training, Eric $66,000. Williams is still in awe. ■ HOMETOWN: Mobile, Ala. In one year’s time he has im- ■ COLLEGE: mersed himself in the history Mississippi State University. and operations and projects of ■ FIRST-EVER JOB: Gardberg’s Fine Furniture during high the city, attended meetings and school doing everything from flipping oriental rugs to deliveries events, gotten out into the com- to furniture repair to inventory control. munity learning about the vari- ■ FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Mississippi State University ous neighborhoods and the Bulldogs. people who live in them — and went toe-to-toe with the Human- ■ FAVORITE TV SHOW: “Parks and Rec.” itarians when he evicted a ■ FAVORITE QUOTE: “It’s not the years in your life that count. colony of feral cats from Whis- It’s the life in your years.” — Abraham Lincoln pering Pines Park. “That was challenging and a real learning experience for me, Dale Malm (community devel- land management and make an but it all worked out and I still opment director), who was new impact here.” stand by it as the best decision at the city. At the time we were DiGiovanni said Williams has for the park,” he said. dealing with a new Publix and been an asset even in his first Also in his first year, he and O’Reilly’s, a future Panera, we year. wife Jessica had a baby boy, had Wendy’s tear down their “He understands planning Kent, who is now 5 months old. building and rebuild — that’s and he knows how to get things Since April 1, 2013, big for any planning director, done,” he said. “He’s got a Williams, 32, has been in train- and two heads are better than good background in how gov- ing to be city manager in three one.” ernment works and how it to five years — if hired by city As for Whispering Pines needs to run.