We Insure HOMES Jane DiLoreto Agency 215-2121 3701193-01 District 3-3A Golf Tournament – SPORTS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2013 WWW.CLAYTODAYONLINE.COM VOLUME 45, NO. 41 75¢ Child sex sting results in 17 arrests By Eric Cravey what they thought were underage children. The men arrested range in age from 20 to “They would show them attention or af- Managing Editor However, when the men arrived at the un- 53 and are being held in the Clay County fection or make them a promise of a gift GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A five-day sting disclosed location used in the sting, they Jail on $100,000 bond each. or simply show them attention through a investigation has resulted in the arrests of were met with officers waiting to arrest CCSO Col. Craig Aldrich refused to dis- trying time,” Aldrich said. 17 men for sex-related charges. them. At least two suspects were current close specific names of the websites used in He said without operations like these, Led by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office active duty military. the sting, instead saying they are probably children who spend inordinate amounts and agents from the North Florida Internet Officers went to popular online chat sites “you use every day.” Posing as teens of time online can become prey for preda- Crimes Against Children Task Force, men sites, forums and e-commerce sites and or pre-teens, officers were “befriended and tors who will eventually meet them, abduct travelled from as far away as Alabama, posed as underage children in the sting enticed” into chat conversations with those Pennsylvania and Georgia to have sex with known as “Operation Wrong Destination.” collared in the sting, Aldrich said. SEE STING, 27 Equipment supplier sues School District in federal court By Eric Cravey Managing Editor Equipment Co. Inc. is seeking “damages in JACKSONVILLE – Claiming the Clay Coun- excess of $75,000, exclusive of costs, in- ty School District reneged on a contract it terest and attorneys’ fees,” in a suit filed entered into a year ago, an Alabama kitch- Aug. 7 in the Middle District of Florida in en equipment supplier is suing the district United States District Court in Jackson- in federal court. ville. The suits alleges the District entered Mobile, Ala.-based Mobile Fixture and SEE LAWSUIT, 12 What was old is new again Former Town Manager John Bowles named interim manager By João Bicalho im town manager. Former Town Manager Staff Writer John Bowles, who left the job in 2010, was STAFF PHOTO BY JOÃO BICALHO Awaiting one of her favorites ORANGE PARK – Shattering the idiom that selected from three potential candidates Kaylee Satcher, right, sits with her mom Maegen Satcher whom Kaylee credits for getting her ‘you can never go home again,’ the Orange for the job of interim manager in the wake hooked on the young adult novels of author Sharon Draper. On Oct. 24, Draper is scheduled to Park Town Council has plucked a name do a community reading event on Fleming Island. See story, page 6. from its past in order to fill the job of inter- SEE COUNCIL, 23 INSERTS USA WEEKEND HUMANA HARDEE’S NEWS AMERICA COUPONS SAVE $ –INSERT 125 2 CLAY TODAY • October 17, 2013 COMMUNITY CLAYTODAYONLINE.COM by Clay County Mary Jo [email protected] Memories [email protected] Sometimes Clay County’s social history comes in small servings Often history comes in little pieces – in fragments – and there never seems to be a would probably expect to sleep in their bigger story that the little tidbits can nd a beds and be sung songs all night. place in. But they are just too good to lose. Back in the 1870s, Robert and Ade- In the 1940s, farmers ordered baby line Hogarth were young, newly married chickens and ducks by mail to be shipped and working hard to carve out a life and by train. It was not unusual for crates of a future at their homestead southwest of fuzzy, peeping poultry to arrive at the train Green Cove Springs in a sparsely popu- station too late in the afternoon to get word lated settlement called Sharon. In the late 1930s and early ‘40s, the Orange Park post o ce was on the north side of Kingsley to the buyer. Their days were lled with back-break- Avenue opposite the Woman’s Club in what was probably the town’s rst retail strip center. In the winter that caused a problem be- ing hard work from before daylight to dark. cause the post of ce was heated by a cast Then by the ickering light of the replace break and time to talk and just sit still. When the wagon stopped, they would iron pot-bellied stove and the chicks would Adeline sewed, shelled peas or scrubbed Robert would stop and run in the tavern be back in their yard in Sharon and it was not survive overnight without heat. Post- the oor while Robert repaired harnesses on the way out of town and have a mason time to bed down the faithful beast, unload mistress Mae Byers schlepped the chicks, and sharpened tools on the narrow porch jar lled with a gentle brew for the two to the wagon and try to grab a little more crates and all, to her kitchen at home by the light of a kerosene lantern. share on the way home. sleep before the next day dawned and they to nestle in the warmth of the kerosene One Saturday, about mid-afternoon After a while they climbed to the back started work all over again. heater for the night much to the delight of they hitched up the wagon to their hand- of the wagon and curled up on sacks of Descendents of this hardy, happy pio- granddaughters, Glee and Judy. me-down horse and begin the roughly 10 our and feed grain. Soon exhaustion swal- neer couple still live in Clay County. Farmers collecting their shipments the mile trip into Green Cove Springs to buy lowed the pair like a gentle wave and the See? Both these little slices of Clay next day jokingly complained that the little supplies. The trip to town was their only old gray mare carried them home. County life are just too good to miss. puffs of down were hopelessly spoiled and bers and associated staff in what’s called material breach of contract, Mobile Fixture Lawsuit a “shade meeting” after the Oct. 15 school has suffered damages.” from page 1 board meeting. However, he was unwilling The equipment company retained Jack- to discuss details of the suit or how he is sonville law rm Marks Gray to represent into a contract to purchase “kitchen preparing to defend the case. it in federal court. By press time, Mike equipment in the amount of $129,449.42,” “I am unwilling to discuss anything Bittner, attorney for Marks Gray, had not as part of last year’s kitchen expansion about ongoing litigation as it is counter- returned calls for this story. and remodeling project at Ridgeview High productive,” Bickner stated in an email to The suits marks the third dalliance with School. Clay Today. “Additionally, the whole point litigation this calendar year for the School “The School Board materially breached of a shade meeting is so that ideas can be Board. This summer, Allston, Mass.-based the contract by failing to accept the kitch- exchanged privately. By law no one in atten- AEI Speakers Bureau asked a municipal en equipment and/or pay Mobile Fixture dance at that meeting is allowed to disclose court judge to order the Clay School Board for the kitchen equipment ordered by the what was presented, discussed or decided.” and Nancy Racine, purchasing director, to School Board,” states the lawsuit. The suit claims that Tod Sweatland, fa- fork over $7,000 for a broken contract fee According to the complaint, Mobile Fix- cilities project manager for the School Dis- on behalf of speaker Murray Banks of Un- ture had been brought into phase two of trict, provided Mobile Fixture with a pur- derhill, Vt. Banks claimed the district was in the Ridgeview renovation project as a sub- chase order on Nov. 7, 2012, which allowed breach of contract over a plan to have him contractor with AC General Inc., the lead the Alabama company to go ahead and come to Clay County on June 11 and July contractor on the project. And, after having purchase the equipment for the remodeling 31 for a fee of $17,500 to provide teacher submitted all of the required liability insur- project. However, it was not until March 14, and administrator training. The Banks suit ance and pricing, was approved to be a sub- 2013 that the School District noti ed Mo- is still up in the air. contractor on Oct. 22, 2012. bile Fixture that it was cancelling the proj- And on April 18, Superintendent Char- “It’s one of those things that, since it’s ect or had purchased the equipment from a lie Van Zant Jr. led a complaint in circuit in the works, I can’t comment on it,” said different vendor. court asking a judge to rule on who had the James Connell, assistant superintendent “The School Board has refused to pro- authority to write job descriptions – him or for support services, whose department ceed with its contractual obligations to ac- the School Board. The Board and Van Zant oversees school construction and renova- cept the kitchen equipment and/or pay Mo- reached an agreement in mid-May to end tion projects.