A3 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $2 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM >> SUNDAY + PLUS SOAP 1C ‘Stifled OPERA laughter’ ROLE FOR revisited TIGERS Williams CHS GRAD 4A FEND OFF SITEL HIRING 100 LEE, 1B See 6A Florence evacuees see the sights in Lake City And wonder what’ll be left to go CARL MCKINNEY/Lake City Reporter John Rohatsch of Myrtle Beach, S.C., totes home to when it’s time to leave. 3A his luggage into the Holiday Inn here. Old fire VOTER hoses key to FRAUD kids’ safety? PROBE COURTESY WIDENS State attorney to contact every absentee voter in An easy — and free — Lake City’s District 10. By CARL MCKINNEY [email protected] Everyone who voted by mail in the Lake aid to school security City Council District 10 race will be hear- ing from the Third Circuit State Attorney’s Office, said the agency’s chief, after a Hoses slide over statistical anomaly caught investigators’ hinges, keeping attention in an ongoing election fraud doors closed tight. probe involving the winning candidate’s wife. By COREY ARWOOD Third Circuit State [email protected] Attorney Jeff Siegmeister Any bad guy setting said his office is obtaining foot on a Fort White copies of every absentee campus will have that ballot cast in the race and much harder of a time will contact “every absen- getting into a classroom Siegmeister tee voter in the district,” thanks to a simple, and regardless of who they free, fix provided to voted for. schools by a local fam- “There was a significant number of ily and the county fire absentee ballots in a race with under 700 department. votes,” Siegmeister said. Now Fort White teachers and students Incumbent Eugene Jefferson won with alike have another tool 360 votes to challenger Vanessa George’s at their disposal for 339. securing classroom doors in the event of a PROBE continued on 2A campus intruder. “A teacher can just throw this hose on the door and it won’t be able to open until they CCI inmate can get their keys to lock the door,” said Becca Steele. dies at hands The sleeve fits over the door’s hydraulic of cellmate hinge when closed, making it virtually Mutilated his body as well, impossible to open. according to media report. Safety sleeves will soon be provided for An inmate at Columbia Correctional nearly every room with Institution prison strangled his cellmate, a door that operates gouged the body’s eyes and then strung on a hydraulic hinge the dead inmate’s ear around his neck, thanks to the Steele COREY ARWOOD/Lake City Reporter family and Columbia Becca Steele, pictured here demonstrating how the safety sleeve works, spear- according to a news report. County Fire Rescue headed the local initiative with her husband, Michael Steele, a Gainesville fire The Miami Herald reported that Larry Fort White Station 46. chief. Becca, an accountant, nonprofit director and substitute teacher, has Mark was killed early Thursday at CCI, just children in Fort White middle and elementary schools. She said she wants the HOSES continued on 5A safety measure to be shared statewide. PRISON continued on 2A Vol. 143, No. 381 Obituaries . 2A CALL US: TODAY’S WEATHER (386) 752-1293 Opinion . 4A Puzzles . 2-3B GENIE’S BACK SUBSCRIBE TO THE REPORTER: 92 72 Business . 1C Taste Buddies returns from a summer sabbatical, 1D Voice: 755-5445 Life . 1D Fax: 752-9400 Chance of storms, 2A 2A SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018 STATE BRIEFING LAKE CITY REPORTER COPS KEPT BUSY QUICK HITS 2 shootings, 1 near miss in 3 days Scripture of the Day “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near By COREY ARWOOD unto the thick darkness where God was.” [email protected] — Exodus 20:21 (KJV) Two shootings and one near miss in three days have Thought for Today kept local police wrapped When you have seen one ant, one bird, one up in investigations, and although two suspects have tree, you have not seen them all. been recently identified all — E. O. Wilson, born 1929, U.S. biologist remain at large. Lake City Police identi- fied the second shooting Winning Lottery Numbers suspect of the week Friday Pick 3: (Friday p.m.) 6-6-1 afternoon, and now have a Pick 4: (Friday p.m.) 3-8-5-0 warrant out for the arrest of Fantasy 5: (Friday) 8-15-19-21-26 Charles Leonard Ponds, 38, of Lake City. Ponds, of the 500 block See an error? of NE Leon Street, faces FILE The Lake City Reporter corrects errors of fact in news charges of aggravat- Police investigators search for evidence near the scene of a Monday shooting. items. If you have a concern, question or suggestion, ed assault with a deadly please call the editor. Corrections and clarifications will weapon and possession of opened fire, Lee said. was most recently booked information to call us.” run in this space. Thanks for reading. a firearm by a convicted “As they ran from Ponds, into jail May 25 for grand One man was reportedly felon in connection with a he fired several shots ... theft, counterfeiting and injured in the shooting at Wednesday morning inci- none hit the victims as they forgery charges. SE Putnam Ave. and SW Submissions dent. fled the area,” the release A second LCPD press Avalon St. The Lake City Reporter accepts photographs and caption Two individuals narrowly said. release issued Friday The victim was said to information to run at the discretion of the editor. If you would escaped death at the inter- After officers gathered regarding the third incident have sustained multiple like to see your organization in the newspaper, send the picture section of NE Escambia testimony from those at the of the week, and the sec- gunshot wounds and was and information to Associate Editor Steve Wilson at St. and NE Calhoun Ave. scene Ponds was eventual- ond on Wednesday, which transported by helicopter to [email protected]. after an argument erupted ly identified as the suspect, occurred around 5:30 p.m., UF Health Shands. He is and Ponds pulled a gun, the the release said. included a statement from currently in stable condition, press release said. Florida Department of the police chief. according to the report. Lake City Reporter Public Information Officer Corrections records show “At this time it does not The suspect in that shoot- HOW TO REACH US BUSINESS.............. 754-0419 Main number ........ (386) 752-1293 Mike Lee said calls were Ponds is on active felony appear that this shooting is ing is unknown, LCPD said. Fax number .............. 752-9400 CIRCULATION made to dispatchers around probation through June related to either of the pre- Police are asking for Circulation ............... 755-5445 Home delivery of the Lake City Reporter 10:40 a.m. of shots fired 2021 for theft and forgery vious incidents this week,” the public’s help and said Online ... www.lakecityreporter.com should be completed by 6:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, and by 7:30 in the area. When officers charges he received in May. Chief Argatha Gilmore said. for anyone with informa- The Lake City Reporter, an affiliate of Community Newspapers Inc., is a.m. on Sunday. arrived they found a man Columbia County Jail “We will continue to exhaust tion to investigator Garrett published Tuesday through Friday and Please call 386-755-5445 to report any Sunday at 180 E. Duval St., Lake City, problems with your delivery service. and woman who said they records show Ponds has all leads in identifying the Register at (386) 758-5451 FL 32055. Periodical postage paid at had been in a verbal alter- been behind bars all but shooter and the motive, or call the anonymous tip Lake City, FL, Member Audit Bureau of In Columbia County, customers should Circulation and The Associated Press. call before 10:30 a.m. to report a cation with Ponds before he two years since 2010, and but encourage anyone with line, (386) 719-2068. service error for same day re-delivery. All material herein is property of the Lake City Reporter. Reproduction in After 10:30 a.m., next day re-delivery whole or in part is forbidden without the or service related credits will be issued. Eugene Jefferson. was requested through a re-election bid. She took a permission of the publisher. U.S. Postal In all other counties where home delivery Service No. 310-880. is available, next day re-delivery or PROBE The complaint came from state-registered third party plea deal to avoid convic- POSTMASTER: Send address changes service related credits will be issued. Gladnell Jackson, 73, whose in May, the same time tion for a total of 29 election to Lake City Reporter, P.O. Box 1709, Continued From 1A Lake City, FL 32056. Circulation ............... 755-5445 great nephew, Sylvester Jackson’s voter registra- fraud-related crimes, includ- ([email protected]) Publisher Todd Wilson ..... 754-0418 Warren, is in a relationship tion was updated. The third ing 19 felony counts of ille- ([email protected]) Home delivery rates Compared to races in with candidate George. party was identified by a gally obtaining absentee bal- (Tuesday–Friday and Sunday) NEWS other city and county elec- Jackson alleges she was number, 12-127 — which lots. Another woman, Linda 12 Weeks................... $26.32 Editor Robert Bridges ..... 754-0428 24 Weeks................... $48.79 tions, the ratio of absen- walking to her house when Florida Department of State Ivery, also faced charges ([email protected]) 52 Weeks................... $83.46 tee ballots to polling-place Betty Jefferson approached records identify as Betty and struck a similar deal.