Victory Lap’ Cleaning up City, County County-Wide Cleanup Day Nets Loads of Tires, Work in Cemetery
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+ PLUS >> Wellborn hosts 27th annual blueberry festival, BELOW COLLEGE SOFTBALL NASCAR FSU takes on Bama in WCWS Racing with friends reignites semifinals Allmendinger’s passion See Page 1B See Page 1B TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2021 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $1.00 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM City aims to douse fire station cost Council OKs manager Council meeting, City Manager The council unanimously agreed be better off waiting for the mar- trying to negotiate Joe Helfenberger informed the Monday to let Helfenberger nego- ket to reset itself. with low bidder. council that the bid from Oelrich tiate with Oelrich to try to extin- Helfenberger then asked for the Construction Company out of guish that escalating cost, caused chance to try and lower the price By JAMIE WACHTER Gainesville — the low bidder for by the covid-19 pandemic. difference. [email protected] construction of the station — “We know prices are going “We’re going to try to get that came in at nearly $3 million. up,” District 14 Councilor Chris down substantially to where it’s a The fire station for the west The city set aside $1.7 mil- Greene said. “Construction prices slight overrun,” he said, adding side of town is just in the planning lion for the station, which will be are through the roof.” one area in which he hopes he can stages, but Lake City officials are located on Hall of Fame Drive, Those high prices had Todd get it reduced is the site prep. TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter already looking to put out flames. as part of its 2020-21 budget last Sampson, the councilman for Greg Smith pulls vines from a continued on 2A palm at Oaklawn Cemetery. More At Monday’s Lake City September. District 13, asking if the city would CITY photos, Page 3A. Pitching in and Taking a ‘victory lap’ cleaning up city, county County-wide cleanup day nets loads of tires, work in cemetery. By TONY BRITT [email protected] From volunteers cleaning up Oaklawn Cemetery and the shores of local lakes to city workers pick- ing up trash along local streets, the cleanup bug was evident in Lake City on Saturday. The cleanup effort wasn’t just confined to the city limits either as a dumpster situated near the Fort White Community Center in the south end of the county provided a site for residents there to pitch in and beautify their community. The effort to change the look of RAY CARPENTER/Special to the Reporter Columbia County, which began as Columbia High’s Caitlyn O’Sullivan says ‘peace out’ to high school during Friday’s commencement ceremony at Tiger Stadium. a city-wide cleanup day, but quickly More photos, Page 8A. morphed into a county-wide clean- up day, took place Saturday and allowed locals to put their efforts into changing the aesthetics of CHS celebrates 439 graduates Columbia County. With the county waiving tippage fees at the landfill, By TONY BRITT School students where given of the Columbia High School ers, family and friends that made the cleanup effort allowed every- [email protected] their diplomas. Two chairs sat in chapter of their life and the end the moment possible. one to participate in the beautifica- a separate row behind the grad- of an era, noting that they always “We’ve delved into who we tion effort. A day they’ve looked forward uation candidates with a cap and knew their days at the school are and what we stand for,” he Terri Phillips, the City of Lake to from the beginning of their gown draped across the chairs were numbered. said, as he noted that not all les- City community program manag- educational career unfolded for — in honor of Brandon Jackson Joshua Cohen, the class vale- sons learned at CHS came from er, sat near the barbecue grill and more than 400 Columbia High and David Tunnel, two members dictorian, continued the senti- books. “Tonight as we celebrate helped pass out snacks as the clean- School seniors Friday night of the Columbia High Class of ment as he gave his address. this journey, let’s not forget the up day wound down, drenched in when they walked across the 2021 who passed before their “Rain or shine, we’re here to people that made it worth it.” sweat like many of the workers and stage and received their high graduation. celebrate life’s long journey and As CHS principal Trey volunteers. school diplomas. Student body president A.J. tonight’s the victory lap,” he said Hosford addressed the students, In a packed to capacity Tiger Kihei, welcoming the audience, to the audience and classmates, CLEANUP continued on 2A Stadium, 439 Columbia High called the ceremony the closing as he acknowledged the teach- CHS continued on 7A Wellborn Blueberry Festival attracts vendors, visitors from all over Florida By MORGAN MCMULLEN professional sports champi- The 27th annual Wellborn we weren’t sure until we [email protected] onships. So naturally, there Blueberry Festival opened did everything and got the was a bit of apprehension its doors and shops to folks information from the coun- Annita Leonard thought around throwing a huge from all over Florida and the ty and the state. Once the it may not happen. party for the community in rest of the country Saturday Strawberry Festival hap- Back around January, the coming months. morning for a full day of pened in Suwannee County when she and the rest of Now, with just over 40% music, games, vendors, a (in February), that’s when the Wellborn Community of Floridians fully vaccinat- parade and, of course, blue- we decided we were going Association were plan- ed and with over 50% with berries. for it.” ning the 2021 Wellborn at least one covid vaccine “We decided, in January, The morning kicked MORGAN MCMULLEN/Lake City Reporter Blueberry Festival, the dose, the stage was set for to start doing our planning off with a blueberry pan- Jim Bezaire flips a batch of blueberry pancakes covid-19 pandemic had a return to normalcy for as if it was going to hap- Saturday morning. More photos, Page 6A. halted everything short of small-town festivities. pen,” Leonard said, “but FESTIVAL continued on 7A Vol. 147, No. 57 Obituaries . 2A CALL US: TODAY’S WEATHER (386) 752-1293 Opinion . 4A Advice & Comics . 5A SUBSCRIBE TO 94 70 THE REPORTER: Sports . 1B Voice: 755-5445 Fax: 752-9400 Scattered storms, 2A Classifieds . 3B 2A TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2021 LOCAL LAKE CITY REPORTER FGC holding one-stop enrollment event QUICK HITS Scripture of the Day Staff report The event is open for n Apply for admission; n Learn more about cam- new, readmitting and pro- n Apply for financial pus services like TRIO and “Before the mountains were brought forth, Florida Gateway College spective FGC students and aid; tutoring. or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the is offering prospective stu- offers the chance to begin n Complete placement Students can also learn world, even from everlasting to everlasting, dents a one-stop option for or complete the enroll- testing; during the enrollment day thou art God.” enrolling in classes. ment process in one day. n Meet with FGC aca- how they can get up to — Psalm 90:2, 4 (KJV) The college’s One-Stop College staff from across demic advisors; $2,021 when they enroll at Enrollment Day will be campus will be on hand at n Register for classes; FGC for the fall semester. held Thursday from 8:30 the event to assist those n Pay tuition bill or sign For more information a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the prospective students with up for payment plan; or to reserve a spot at the Wilson S. Rivers Library the following enrollment n Take a campus tour; event, visit www.fgc.edu/ and Welcome Center. steps: n Obtain student ID; onestop or call 386-752-1822. Thought for Today Well done is better than well said. — Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American politi- CLEANUP overgrown vegetation at kill an animal, so I wanted “People from around cian Oaklawn Cemetery. to keep that from getting this area use tires all the Continued From 1A He said the church had into the ground and any time,” she said. “If you’re close to 100 volunteers par- extra paint cans I could driving these roads, you Winning Lottery Numbers “It is awesome,” she said. ticipating in the cleanup bring over here.” go through them pret- Pick 3: (Sunday p.m.) 0-9-1 “We had so many turnout effort. Harnen said it was ty quickly. A lot of peo- and community looks so He said church represen- important to have events Pick 4: (Sunday p.m.) 0-5-0-8 ple have tractor tires that good.” tatives met with city offi- such as the cleanup day Fantasy 5: (Sunday) 2-4-7-15-18 they’ve brought out too and Phillips said city employ- cials and they let the city event so the refuse can be ees were at the site by officials know they planned disposed of properly. some things that they use See an error? 7 a.m. preparing for the to volunteer in the effort. “It’s a tremendous for equipment. I’m not sur- The Lake City Reporter corrects errors of fact in news event and the volunteers “They shared with us opportunity to keep the prised at all. I’m real happy items. If you have a concern, question, or suggestion, showed up and took part in that they wanted to have a environment clean without that they’re ending up here please call the editor.