1A SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 2013 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $1.00 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM Gaming store Teens on mission SUNDAY EDITION rises from to help victims the ashes. 1C of TS Debby. 1D Police nab Two face suspect CONDEMNED charges after chase in arson Witnesses say alleged car at motel thief was texting as he ran Man, woman to escape FHP troopers. allegedly set fire By STEVEN RICHMOND using gasoline. [email protected] By STEVEN RICHMOND A speeding car thief was put behind [email protected] bars after a brief chase through Lake City, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Two individuals were Around 10:30 a.m. Friday, Joshua Ryan arrested in connection Palmer, 24, of Gainesville, was speeding with a January motel fire northbound on Interstate 75, an FHP sparked by a love triangle, press release said. sheriff’s deputies report. When Trooper James R. Taylor attempt- Tykeycia Chariel Hines, ed to pull him 21, of 286 SW Dante over, Palmer Ter race, refused to stop a n d and began driv- Terrance ing recklessly, A n t r o n the release said. G l o v e r , Taylor placed 27, of 626 a “be-on-the- NE Davis lookout” call for Ave., were the 2006 silver charged in Glover V o l k s w a g e n connec- Jetta. tion with Troopers ran a fire in the vehicle’s room 3 of tag and discov- the Sands ered it had been M o t e l reported stolen, on East according to the D u v a l Hines release. Street on A few Jan. 20. Courtesy FHP moments later, Columbia County Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Stephen Sheriff’s deputies and the Sgt. Stephen Coody W. Coody spot- Columbia County Fire holds onto car theft ted the vehicle Department arrived at the suspect Joshua Palmer, near U.S. 90 and motel, saw flames through Real Road and the window of room 3 and of Gainesville, after attempted to forced entry into the room Palmer’s capture Friday make a stop, the to put out the fire, the CCSO after a car and foot release said. arrest report said. chase. “I followed Following a six-month him behind the investigation, it was deter- Photos by JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter Applebee’s and Moe’s over there,” Coody ABOVE: Convicted murderer Richard P. Franklin between assistant public defender Jonathan Austin mined the fire was started said. “I tried to sneak up on him, but he with gasoline, the report spotted me and took off.” (left) and Public Defender Blair Payne as Third Circuit Court Judge Paul S. Bryan sentences him to said. According to FHP, Palmer attempted to death on Friday. BELOW RIGHT: State Attorney Jeff Siegmeister consoles Paula Thomas, whose son No individuals were jump the curb between Moe’s and Waffle was slain by Franklin at the Columbia Correctional Institution in March 2012. harmed in the fire, which House to make an escape. However, the caused approximately vehicle’s undercarriage got caught on the $23,000 in damages, accord- curb, at which point Palmer fled on foot, ing to the incident report. the release said. Prison guard’s convicted killer According to investiga- tors, Hines was involved CHASE continued on 7A formally sentenced to death in a relationship with the room’s occupant, Deandre Judge Bryan orders Sellers, but was afraid he Old caboose execution, as jury was seeing other women. had recommended. ARSON continued on 6A finally moved By TONY BRITT [email protected] Sales tax to Fort White Third Circuit Judge Paul Bryan sentenced convicted holiday By AMANDA WILLIAMSON murderer Richard P. Franklin [email protected] to death Friday for the 2012 stabbing death of Columbia shoppers Rusted and abandoned, the 1920s-era Correctional Institution offi- train caboose sitting behind the Challenge cer Sgt. Ruben Thomas III. fill stores Learning Center on Northwest Labonte Franklin’s sentencing hear- Lane chugged off to a new home Friday. ing was held 10 a.m. Friday in By STEVEN RICHMOND Approximately a year ago, the Columbia Courtroom 2 at the Columbia [email protected] County School District donated the unit to County Courthouse and lasted the town of Fort White. However, due to more than an hour. Back-to-school supplies logistics and funding, the caboose never Franklin, who was dressed and electronics were the made it. in light blue prison inmate focus of many shoppers Through the help of former school board clothing, stoically stood and looking for great deals dur- member Glenn Hunter and Columbia stared forward as Bryan read ing Florida’s sales tax holi- County Tourist Development Council the final portion of his 20-page day weekend. executive director Harvey Campbell, the sentencing order. “The bulk of the business project is moving full steam ahead. In June, a jury of seven men is in the kids corner,” said W.W. Gay Mechanical Inc. donated its and five women took about 90 Tanya Snook, one of the services through Florida Crane Rental, minutes to recommend the managers at Belk. “So far, providing a crane and two moving trucks death penalty for Franklin, we’ve done better than last to transport the 50,000-pound caboose to who is a two-time convicted year.” its new location at the Fort White historic killer. The jury recommended Tina Williams and her train depot. the death penalty by a 9-3 daughter Abby, 16, were The caboose originally came to the margin. a prison. the DOC personnel wore their looking for back-to-school Lake City Kindergarten Center about 40 A week earlier, the same During Friday’s sentencing work uniforms and were easily clothes at Belk on Saturday. years ago to provide education and a rec- jury convicted Franklin of first- hearing, the courtroom gal- identifiable in the courtroom. Williams said they prob- reational site for the school. Thousands degree murder for Thomas’s lery was filled with Florida Blair Payne, Third Circuit ably would visit the rest of of children explored the caboose over the death. Franklin was also con- Department of Corrections public defender, who the stores in the Lake City years, Hunter said. victed of felony battery and personnel and Thomas’s Mall, as well. possession of contraband in friends and family. Many of DEATH continued on 3A CABOOSE continued on 3A HOLIDAY continued on 7A Vol. 138, No. 134 OpinionPeople. .. 4A2A CALL US: TODAY IN COMING (386) 752-1293 BusinessOpinion . 5A4A 9193 6473 Obituaries . 5A PEOPLE TUESDAY SUBSCRIBE TO T-StormT-storm Chance Obituaries . 6A THE REPORTER: Advice.Advice & . .Comics . .. 5D8B Sprinkler Local news Voice: 755-5445 Puzzles . 2B, 3B Fax: 752-9400 WEATHER, 2A8A Puzzles . 2B protection. roundup. 2A 2A LAKE CITY REPORTER SUNDAY REPORT SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 2013 Page Editor: Jim Barr, 754-0424 Friday: Friday: Saturday: Saturday: Wednesday: Wednesday: 18-19-27-35 21 5-11-21-24-31 Afternoon: 4-6-8 Afternoon: 6-8-8-6 4-8-17-20-51-52 8-24-39-49-59 Evening: N/A Evening: N/A x2 PB 5 AROUND FLORIDA Speaker wants hearing on ‘stand your ground’ TALLAHASSEE — State dards known as “common return to normal after a House Speaker Will core.” major flooding over the Weatherford is calling for Stewart, who is cur- July 4th holiday week, a legislative hearing to rently chancellor of pub- state emergency manage- review the state’s “stand lic schools, started her ment officials said. your ground” law. career as a teacher in “Helping communities Weatherford made the Hillsborough County in return to normal after a announcement in an opin- 1975 and has been a prin- disaster is our first prior- ion piece he wrote for The cipal in Ocala and as well ity and this assistance is Tampa Tribune that was as deputy superintendent an important first step in printed Friday. in St. Johns County. She that process,” said Florida The Wesley Chapel served briefly as interim Division of Emergency Republican does not sup- commissioner before Management Director port repealing the law that Bennett was hired late last Bryan W. Koon in a state- became an issue in the year. ment. shooting death of Trayvon Gov. Rick Scott Martin. He also added that announced on Friday that he could never envision Man dies while the state had received the repeal of the “stand diving in spring a Presidential Disaster your ground” law being Declaration to assist passed by the Florida OCALA — The body of counties affected by House. COURTESY a man who went diving at severe storms and flood- But Weatherford said the Ocala National Forest ing. Holmes, Walton and he wants a legislative com- Music camp for kids has been recovered. Washington counties are mittee to look at whether Jason Yeh was reported covered. the law should be made These banjos are just some of the instruments kids will get to try during the Suwannee Spirit missing Friday afternoon. The state estimates clearer and whether it is Kids Music Camp Aug. 9-11 at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak. For infor- His body was found there was $29 million dam- being administered fairly. mation, call (386) 364-1683, email [email protected] or go to the SOSMP website at Saturday morning by age. “We shouldn’t be scared musicliveshere.com. members of the Marion of a debate or having an County Sheriff’s Office Man charged honest conversation,” sures dealing with racial call for a hearing was not State Board of Education Underwater Recovery Weatherford said on profiling and the use of based on their continued members voted quickly Team.