1 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | 75¢ Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM School finances looking up Thanks to charter tion, the district does not expect below the state-mandated amount would just be our students, and ated with Belmont students, who to require additional budget cuts for the fund balance. However, that would be money we would were initially expected to move students, further to reach a 3 percent fund balance because Belmont Academy intro- have to pay them,” Penner said. from the school district to the cuts not expected. for the end of the 2013-14 fiscal duced a new group of students “If Belmont had ended up empty- charter school. The new students year. into the public school system, ing out Columbia Elementary, or allow the district to meet their By AMANDA WILLIAMSON According to the district’s the district will be receiving more any school, this fiscal recovery fiscal recovery plan, pushing the [email protected] Finance Director Bonnie Penner, revenues than it originally antici- plan would be a lot different.” fund balance to 3.09 percent. a fiscal recovery plan was cre- pated. Currently, the fiscal recovery Penner originally budgeted for After estimating Columbia ated after she realized the district “A big concern was that plan states that district should not County’s public school popula- would end the current fiscal year Belmont Academy students incur any additional costs associ- BUDGET continued on 3A Fair’s ready for your best efforts Entries due Saturday for arts and crafts, baked goods, more. By STEVEN RICHMOND [email protected] ickles and pies can win you a prize when the Columbia P County Fair rolls into town Nov. 1, so long as you submit your arts, crafts or food entries before noon this Saturday. The best fudge will be judged and dresses assessed from Nov. 1-9 as part of a multi-division arts and craft exhibition, showing off local resi- dents’ unique skills with needle crafts, toys, jewelry, baked goods, preserved foods and more. “It’s a tal- Lake City Reporter ent a lot of us Columbia County do not have,” Resources, Inc. said Linda Complex Manager Dowling, Linda Dowling. Complex Manager with Columbia County Resources, Inc. “I like to see the talent that other peo- Photos by JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter A variety of preserved fish are seen in jars at Ichetucknee Springs State Park on Wednesday. Fort White Middle School students participated in ple have.... People are very creative TOP: and want to show off their works.” the 15th Annual Sixth Grade Day by applying their recent science lessons to everyday life. Jacob Howell, 13, holds a turtle. Leona Ratliff, a volunteer with the fair and Dowling’s mother, Fort White’s 6th Grade Day fondly remembered her time as a baking champion, winning the allows students ‘hands-on’ 2009 People’s Choice award for her learning about wildlife. three-layer blueberry cake. “I’d always bring this cake to By AMANDA WILLIAMSON parties and leave with an empty [email protected] plate,” Ratliff said. “Each person that brings in an entry has a story small fishing spider scrunched behind it. People are proud of what his legs to his body as a group they bring in, and they’ll tell you all of curious Fort White Middle about it and what it means to them.” School students peered into Fair organizers also encourage his world during the 15th ladies to submit their finest head annual Sixth Grade Day at the Ichetucknee threads as part of their second Springs State Park on Wednesday. annual Red and Pink Hat Contest, Surrounded by freshwater shrimp and in connection with the Red Hat native snails, the spider was just one of Society. A cash prize of $25 will be the tiny creatures on display at Marc awarded to each of the “largest, Minno’s station on macro-invertebrates. fanciest and craziest” hats submit- Minno, an environmental specialist with ted. the Suwannee River Water Management Submissions will be accepted District, assisted the state park in setting today and Friday from 3:00 to 5:00 up seven different exhibitions on water p.m. in the fair office, and Sat. Oct. quality and wildlife issues facing the Park services specialist Cindy Preston (right) laughs as Fort White Middle School sixth-grader 26 9:00 a.m. to noon in the fair- Ichetucknee Springs. Morgan Hunter, 12, pets a red rat snake during Sixth-Grade Day at Ichetucknee Springs State ground’s banquet hall. Entries will “If we really look, we could find hun- Park on Wednesday. ‘I like snakes. I just don’t like it when its face is near my hand,’ Hunter be judged according to the Modified dreds and thousands of living things in this said. Danish System (red, white and blue ecosystem,” Minno said. ribbons), with exceptional and best- “What does that tell you if you find As the groups gathered at each station the PARKnership program with the of-show entries winning cash prizes. thousands of macro-invertebrates in – snakes of North Florida, Ichetucknee Ichetucknee State Park, the annual Sixth No entry fees are required. the spring?” Valerie Thomas, FWMS archaeology, water quality – students Grade Day lets the entire class of sixth- For more information, contact PARKnership Coordinator, asked her learned how the curriculum they had been grade FWMS students leave the classroom Linda Dowling at 386-752-8822 or group of sixth-grade students. absorbing in their sixth-grade science class [email protected]. “It’s healthy,” the group chorused back. fit with the real world. Organized through WILDLIFE continued on 3A Suspect behind bars for ‘poking’ man with knife By STEVEN RICHMOND Deputies arrived at the home Johnson said he placed a kitch- According to deputies, Johnson At least two witnesses report- [email protected] of Terrell Leman Johnson, 46, en knife in his pocket before leav- said the man hit him in the side of ed hearing the victim say, “You of 200 SE Hanover Place, after ing his home to help a neighbor the head, prompting Johnson to didn’t have to stab/stick me, I A Lake City man was behind multiple eyewitnesses say they move a bed, the report said. pull out the knife and “poke him” just wanted to talk,” before see- bars after allegedly stabbing, or saw and heard an altercation Johnson then said he saw a man one time. ing Johnson and multiple men as the suspect put it, “poking” a between Johnson and another walking down the street toward Deputies said they saw two deep flee the scene, the report said. man with a kitchen knife Tuesday man Tuesday evening, according him, directing several loud com- lacerations in the victim’s side evening, CCSO reports. to the arrest report. ments at him, the report said. under his blood-stained shirt. STABBING continued on 6A Vol. 139, No. 191 Opinion . 4A CALL US: TODAY IN COMING (386) 752-1293 74 45 People. 2A PEOPLE FRIDAY SUBSCRIBE TO Sunny Obituaries . 5A THE REPORTER: Advice & Comics . 3B Paddlin’ down Local news Voice: 755-5445 Fax: 752-9400 WEATHER, 2A Puzzles . 4B the Ichetucknee. roundup. 2AWEATHER 2A LAKE CITY REPORTER DAILY BRIEFING THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013 Page Editor: Emily Lawson, 754-0424 Celebrity Birthdays n All-pro quarterback Y.A. Robertson is 39. Wednesday: Wednesday: Tuesday: Tittle is 86. n The Cheetah Girls’ pop Afternoon: 1-4-5 Afternoon: 8-4-5-2 4-5-16-27-32 n Actor Kevin Kilne is 65. singer Adrienne Bailon is 29. n “Law & Order” doctor BD n Rapper Aubrey Drake Wong is 52. Graham is 26. PEOPLE IN THE NEWS n "Duck Dynasty" star Korie n Actor J.J. Johnston is 19. Underwood to star in ‘Sound of Music’ Thought for Today “Love doesn’t just sit there, like NEW YORK he end of the year looks busy a stone, it has to be made, like for Carrie Underwood, and bread; remade all the time, made T she couldn’t be happier. — Ursala K. Le Guin The six-time Grammy-winning new.” singer will host the Country Music Association Awards for the sixth time. You can see her singing the opening on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” And for one night in December, she’ll Scripture of the Day star in a live television version of “The Sound of Music.” “Bear ye one another’s burdens, The 30-year-old star told the Associated Press on the red carpet and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Tuesday night at the TJ Martell — Galations 6:2 Foundation gala, where she was one of the night’s honorees, that she ner- vous doing something she’s never done before. But then she realized, “None of us have. This is a live show JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter Lake City Reporter HOW TO REACH US on TV. So this is definitely a chal- BUSINESS Paddlin’ down the Ichetucknee Main number . .(386) 752-1293 lenge for all of us.” Fax number . .752-9400 Controller Sue Brannon. .754-0419 She said the live singing and acting Kayakers enjoy the scenery as the prepare to paddle down the Itchetucknee River Circulation . .755-5445 ([email protected]) was like “going to a Broadway show, Online . www.lakecityreporter.com CIRCULATION on Wednesday. The Lake City Reporter, an affiliate of but you’re in your living room.” Community Newspapers Inc., is pub- Home delivery of the Lake City Reporter “The Sound of Music” airs Dec. lished Tuesday through Friday and should be completed by 6:30 a.m.