Car Flips Down Ravine of FDLE Probe Soccer Group Under Scrutiny in Recent Years
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WEEKEND EDITION FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JUNE 27-28, 2014 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | 75¢ Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM CYSA is target Car flips down ravine of FDLE probe Soccer group under scrutiny in recent years. By ROBERT BRIDGES [email protected] The Columbia Youth Soccer Association is the subject of a criminal probe by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, an FDLE spokes- person confirmed Thursday. FDLE Communications Director Gretl Plessinger said the investigation was ongoing and declined further comment. CYSA has been at the center of controversy since it was revealed $52,000 went missing from the group’s accounts in 2010 and 2011. An independent financial review showed $52,688.20 in undocumented reimbursements between October 2010 and September 2011. A formal audit was not possible because numer- ous financial documents were missing, reviewers said. According to the review, former CYSA president Scott Everett reported that “most of the financial records and doc- PATRICK SCOTT/Special to the Reporter uments pertinent to a financial Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputy Juan Cruz examines the scene of a rollover crash on State Road 47 Thursday morning. Joyce Ann Simpson, 67, of audit were destroyed and not High Springs was airlifted to UF Health Shands. available for audit due to vandal- ism at the organization’s facility.” At a September 2013 CYSA High Springs woman flown to Gainesville hospital board meeting, Everett said CYSA facilities had been bro- By EMILY STANTON St., was driving north at 11:20 a.m. near the overturned. It stopped facing north on its ken into twice in the three [email protected] intersection of SW George Glenn when she roof, the report said. months before the scheduled drove across the southbound lane to the west Simpson was wearing a seat belt and was audit. A High Springs woman was airlifted to a unpaved shoulder, the report said. not suspected of drug or alcohol use. The County Commissioner Ron Gainesville hospital after her car crashed Simpson’s 2008 five-door Saturn then vehicle’s airbag did not deploy. Williams asked for a forensic into a ravine off State Road 47 Thursday, struck a road sign, FHP said. She traveled An estimated $4,500 in damage was caused audit into the missing funds, according to a Florida Highway Patrol acci- back to the roadway and into the east unpaved to the vehicle. but fellow commissioners dent report. shoulder. An update on Simpson’s condition was not voted not to pursue the matter, Joyce Ann Simpson, 67, of 5560 NE 56th The car drove down an embankment and available at press time. citing costs. They said a foren- sic audit – in which examiners try to recreate the lost docu- ments – would likely cost more than the missing funds. Looking back at TS Debby It is not known if the missing funds are the subject of the UWSV observes FDLE probe. 2nd anniversary Perry Sauls, who took over as CYSA treasurer in January, of the disaster. said he has spoken with FDLE agents but does not know the By MEGAN REEVES direction the probe is taking. [email protected] “I can’t speak to what was going on before January,” Two years after Tropical Storm Sauls said, but welcomed the Debby dropped 30 inches of rain investigation. in a single day, Columbia and “I couldn’t be more pleased Suwannee counties are saying to have a chance to get the slate goodbye to her. clean, get it over with, whatever Suwannee Valley Long Term transgressions there were, and Recovery Committee, an arm of make sure the public knows that United Way Suwannee Valley, held JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter the people in charge now are a Remembering Tropical Storm Rita Dopp, executive director of the United Way of Suwannee trying to straighten things out,” Debby ceremony Thursday at the FILE Valley, thanks Mike Williams of PotashCorp-White Springs he said. “We’re working hard to A car sits in a partially-flooded road in the during the Remembering Tropical Storm Debby event held at the regain the public’s trust.” aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby in 2012. DEBBY continued on 3A LifeStyle Enrichment Center on Thursday. This Sunday June 27 June 28 vide shoes for children in need. If you have any questions or YOUR WEEKEND God and Country Day Denim and Diamonds Love INC 5K would like to register, please call First Baptist Church of Lake City Christ Central will host a wom- Love INC’s “Kickin’ It for Kids the Love INC office at 386-364- will observe “God and Country en’s conference entitled “Denim 5K” will take place Saturday at St. 4673. This event will help gather Day” on Sunday, June 29 at 10:30 & Diamonds” Friday at 6 p.m. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Live new tennis shoes for children for STARTS a.m. Congressman Ted Yoho will and Saturday at 8 a.m. Breakfast, Oak at 7:30 a.m. The entry fee the 2014-2015 school year. Please be the guest speaker. A covered lunch and dinner will be served. is one new pair of tennis shoes. help in any way you can. New dish luncheon will follow the ser- Call 386-755-2525 for ticket infor- This is the kickoff drive for Love tennis shoes may be any size, HERE vice. Call 386-752-5422 for more. mation. INC’s annual shoe drive to pro- children’s or adult sizes. Vol. 140, No. 103 Opinion . 4A CALL US: TODAY’S WEATHER LOCAL SPORTS (386) 752-1293 Faith . 6A Obituaries . 5A Lions Club World Cup SUBSCRIBE TO THE REPORTER: 94 70 Advice & Comics . 3B presidents pass soccer mania hits Voice: 755-5445 Puzzles . 4B the gavel, 5A. Lake City, 1B. Fax: 752-9400 Partly cloudy, 2A 2A LAKE CITY REPORTER DAILY BRIEFING FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JUNE 27-28, 2014 Page Editor: Emily Lawson, 754-0424 QUICK HITS Scripture of the Day “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take ven- geance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” — Leviticus 19:17-18 Thought for Today If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives. — Lemony Snicket, pen name for Daniel Handler (born 1970) Winning Lottery Numbers Cash 3: (Thursday) 3-1-5 Play 4: (Thursday) 3-0-9-7 Fantasy 5: (Wednesday) 3-7-13-28-34 See an error? The Lake City Reporter corrects errors of fact in news items. If you have a concern, question, or sug- gestion, please call the editor. Corrections and clarifi- cations will run in this space. Thanks for reading. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter Submissions Mingling at the mixer The Lake City Reporter accepts photographs and caption information to run at the discretion of the editor. Rob Carter (left), VyStar regional vice president shakes hands with Frank Starnella as Sherri Cassidy, VyStar Credit If you would like to see your organization in the news- Union vice president, talks to Constance Buchanan during the Lake City-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce mixer paper, send the picture and information to associate Thursday at the VyStar Credit Union. editor Emily Lawson at [email protected]. Woman accused of eating weed in patrol car COCOA She told the trooper she didn’t eat the whether he had hired an attorney. boy’s legs out from under him will not he Florida Highway Patrol says a pot, but video suggest otherwise. Braly was finishing up a Florida vaca- face criminal charges, prosecutors said 33-year-old woman DUI suspect ate But she now faces tampering with evi- tion by taking pictures on the beach with Wednesday. T approximately 11 grams of marijua- dence charges in addition to DUI. her son, daughter-in-law and friends on In dramatic footage that surfaced na while in the back of a patrol car. Tuesday night. The Florida Highway online last month, Officer Jermaine Jones Troopers say Tavish Kay Smith Suspect in fatal Fla beach Patrol says Doolan was speeding when the of the Boynton Beach Police is seen crashed her pickup truck on June 13. crashed through a gate and tollbooth on approaching the boy, who is standing Smith was arrested on DUI charges, crash bails out of jail an approach to the beach and hit Braly. with his hands restrained, and delivering her car was searched and troopers found DAYTONA BEACH — A 35-year- Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim a sweeping kick that causes the boy to a baggie of marijuana, which was placed old man has bailed out of jail following Montes told the Daytona Beach News- fall to the ground. The state attorney in the patrol car’s center console. Smith a crash that left a tourist from North Journal that Doolan is a truck driver with for Palm Beach County investigated the wiggled out of her handcuffs when the Carolina dead. no local criminal history. incident, saying in a memo on the case trooper wasn’t looking, and grabbed the Shawn Patrick Doolan faces DUI man- that the boy had been “disruptive and marijuana bag. She ate most of it before slaughter charges in the death of 45-year- No criminal charges for profane” and had chest-bumped another returning the bag. old Elizabeth Braly who was visiting from officer, but had not been injured in the When she scratched her nose, the Hendersonville, North Carolina.