Trial Testimony Turns Technical Bullard Still Couldn’T Move from the Neck Down
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1A SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $1.00 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM Fundraising Cici’s Pizza SUNDAY EDITION season kicks coming soon off at CARC. 6A to Lake City. 1C Father’s Area water issues walking down aisle take center stage awes bride Father’s Day will possess special meaning for both local man and his daughter. By AMANDA WILLIAMSON [email protected] ind from the Dominican Republic coast ruffled the lacy fabric of Jennifer Hampton Hoysradt’s Maggie Sottero wedding Wdress. Her bouquet of pink roses blos- somed vibrantly in her hand as she made her way toward a gazebo surrounded by friends and family. Arm-in-arm, Hoysradt walked beside her father, Ronnie Bullard — a man she couldn’t have imagined the day without. But months earlier, surgical compli- cations almost meant her big day would have slipped by without him. “I think this wed- Photos by JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter COURTESY State Rep. Elizabeth Porter (right), R-Lake City, and state Sen. Charles Dean (center), R-Inverness, joke with state Secretary of the ding has Ronnie Bullard walks his been, I Department of Environmental Protection Hershel Vinyard (left) during a legislative tour of the Santa Fe River on Friday. daughter down the aisle while believe, recovering from a paralyzing his inspi- spinal cord injury. ration for State lawmakers tour Santa Fe River the last year,” Hoysradt said. “There was a chance that he wasn’t going to go, and honestly Environmental officials I was devastated. ... You never envision stress need to protect and your dad not being there.” In March 2010, Bullard fell 10 feet from conserve springs, streams. a ladder while trimming trees in the yard of his Lake City home. A limb swung By AMANDA WILLIAMSON toward him, knocking him from his [email protected] perch. Instantly, he let go of the chainsaw. Landing on his head, he was paralyzed Dark-brown water flowed over the from the neck down. The accident hap- boat ramp at the U.S. 129 bridge outside pened at about 4 p.m. on his day off from Branford on Friday. Beyond that, several Century Ambulance as an emergency pontoon and skiff boats waited to load medical technician. about 50 state legislators, their assistants He was home alone. and area scientists for an educational tour Repeatedly calling for help that didn’t on the Santa Fe River, which remains in come, Bullard’s voice became hoarse. peril despite the high water levels. Finally, an hour later, his youngest son The Suwannee River Water arrived home to find his father lying Management District organizes the trip in the yard, unable to move. Doctors annually, highlighting a different section diagnosed Bullard with central cord syn- of the region’s water system each time. drome, a condition caused by a pinched This year, the trip comes just before the spinal cord. management district releases its data on “It was one of those days where your minimum flows and levels, and just after Boats carrying state legislators tour the Santa Fe River Friday. The lawmakers were out mom calls over and over and over again,” Hoysradt said. “And I thought, ‘Okay, TOUR continued on 3A to get a better look at the rising water levels and how they affect the area. what’s going on here?’ When I found out, I threw clothes in my car and just left.” When Jennifer arrived at the hospital from her home in West Palm Beach, her dad was coming out of surgery. Ronnie Trial testimony turns technical Bullard still couldn’t move from the neck down. “It was really hard to see him that way,” Law Enforcement crime scene technician tered around who saw she said. “You always picture your dad as Crime scene technician lasting most of the day. The third day of the attack on Thomas this strong person. ... But he’s determined describes evidence she testimony lasted about five hours ,with and how inmates and to get better and I think that’s a testament the jury being released about 1:30 p.m. correctional officers collected following attack. to who he is.” Testimony is slated to resume after 8:30 responded. Friday’s tes- Margaret Bullard, Ronnie Bullard’s By TONY BRITT a.m. Tuesday. timony included another wife, said her husband had to relearn how [email protected] Franklin is being tried for the March witness account of the to walk. Central cord syndrome could be 2012 stabbing death of Columbia County incident and the investi- Franklin considered permanent because Ronnie After putting more than a dozen people corrections officer Sgt. Ruben Thomas gation that followed. Bullard will always have troubles with his on the witness stand the day before, the III. John Durrett, assistant state attorney, muscles, she said. prosecution in the Richard Franklin capi- When the trial began Wednesday, tes- questioned inmate Robert Lynch about Because of Ronnie Bullard’s determina- tal murder trial changed gears Friday, timony centered around what correc- what he saw on March 18, 2012. tion, he was able to set aside the limiting testimony to two witnesses. tions officers’ responsibilities entailed Lynch was serving out the remainder The trial became more technical, with and where the knife that killed Thomas testimony from a Florida Department of came from. Thursday’s testimony cen- TRIAL continued on 3A DAD continued on 7A Vol. 138, No. 359 Opinion . 4A CALL US: TODAY IN COMING (386) 752-1293 Business . 1C5A 9194 6472 Obituaries . 5A PEOPLE TUESDAY SUBSCRIBE TO T-StormPartly Cloudy Chance Obituaries . 6A THE REPORTER: Advice.Advice & . .Comics . .. 5D8B Army anniversary Local news Voice: 755-5445 Puzzles . 2B, 3B Fax: 752-9400 WEATHER, 2A8A Puzzles . 2B celebrated. roundup. 2A 2A LAKE CITY REPORTER SUNDAY REPORT SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013 Page Editor: Jim Barr, 754-0424 Friday: Friday: Saturday: Saturday: Wednesday: Wednesday: 15-17-19-28 10 11-21-22-25-32 Afternoon: -1-9-1 Afternoon: 9-6-2-2 2-29-35-37-41-42 16-22-23-42-55 Evening: N/A Evening: N/A x3 PB 32 AROUND FLORIDA Attorney: Jury can be seated for Zimmerman trial SANFORD — A defense and 96 children — rang- holding the dog for obser- attorney in George ing in age from 6 to 18 vation. Zimmerman’s murder trial — between 1914 and 1973 said at the end of the first at the Arthur G. Dozier 6-vehicle crash week of jury selection that School for Boys. Records he thinks a jury could be indicated that 45 indi- kills couple seated by the middle of viduals were buried on the MARY ESTHER — Two next week. 1,400-acre tract from 1914 people died and six others After five days of the to 1952, while 31 bodies were injured in a crash selection process, 29 were sent elsewhere for near Hurlburt Field. potential jurors have burial. The multi-vehicle crash passed through an initial USF associate profes- happened Thursday near round of questioning about sor Erin Kimmerle said the main gate of the U.S. what knowledge they have it’s unclear whether there Air Force installation. The already gained through are more children buried westbound lanes of U.S. media and other means in unmarked graves on Highway 98 were closed about the fatal shooting the property. And that’s for almost five hours as of 17-year-old Trayvon only part of the reason the Florida Highway Patrol Martin in a Sanford, Fla., why the researchers are investigated the crash. gated community. seeking DNA from at least The FHP reports Kurt “I know it’s slow-going seven family members and Graetzer, 66, and Pamela to the outside, but it’s not asking for state permits Graetzer, 63, were killed in slow-going to the inside,” JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter to exhume the human the crash. They were stuck defense attorney Mark remains on the site. in traffic about 1:25 p.m. O’Mara said. “I think it’s Making a splash Thursday when a box truck working out pretty well.” A.J. Skinner, 11, raises a spray of water as he travels down a water slide Thursday at the Police say pit bull driven by Devin Endersen O’Mara said that Lake City Youth Activities for Boys at Teen Town. hit them from behind. Zimmerman, the former attacked baby The impact sent the neighborhood watch lead- Graetzers’ Honda Element er, has been eager to have punishment process. That who have exhausted their tion in the last month. A HOLIDAY — Animal into a truck driven by the actual trial process process has been criticized judicial appeals have been third man — Marshall Lee control officials in the Steven Williams. Williams’ begin. for allowing some con- awaiting execution for an Gore — is scheduled to be Tampa Bay area have taken truck then hit a car “He’s very encouraged demned inmates to remain average of 22 years. executed on June 24. custody of a pit bull they driven by James Calbert because it’s finally on the for decades on death row. “An inmate who has say attacked a 10-month Jr. Calbert’s vehicle then way. He’s been waiting for The “Timely Justice Act been on death row for old baby. struck a truck driven by 16 months for this process of 2013” creates tighter 22 years has had a fair Reform school Sheriff’s deputies said Clifford Holmes. to start. He’s looking very timeframes for appeals and opportunity to discover all probe uses DNA the baby’s mother was out- The Northwest Florida forward to the resolution post-conviction motions of the evidence needed to side her home in Holiday Daily News reported the and the acquittal,” O’Mara and imposes reporting challenge his conviction, TAMPA — Researchers on Friday afternoon box truck continued after said.