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Project1:Layout 1 6/10/2014 1:13 PM Page 1 Volleyball: Lecanto tops Citrus in 3 tight sets/A6 WEDNESDAY TODAY CITRUSCOUNTY & next morning HIGH 88 Mostly sunny and LOW warm. 68 PAGE A4 www.chronicleonline.com SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community 50¢ VOL. 125 ISSUE 351 County steps up to help woman Donations pour in to assist grandmother searching for new home to raise two grandkids NANCY KENNEDY care of her grandchildren after $10,000 was raised through Go- check to the Sandra Ingram alone, and now I find out I’m Staff writer the death of their mother, galva- FundMe to go toward a livable Fund and drop it off or mail it to blessed. It’s a good feeling to nized people across Citrus mobile home on her property in Sandra Ingram c/o the Citrus find out you’re not alone.” By mid-morning on Tuesday, County to help her. Homosassa, which would re- County Chronicle, 1624 N. Mead- A GoFundMe account has Sandra Ingram’s head was spin- Donations large and small place the travel trailer she and owcrest Blvd., Crystal River, FL been set up at https://tinyurl. ning, she said. began pouring into a GoFundMe her two grandchildren are in 34429. com/y3vvt97q. The story about the 66-year- account on her behalf and oth- now — a trailer that is beyond “I can’t believe it,” Ingram Contact Chronicle reporter old newspaper carrier in the ers called the Chronicle all day repair. said in a text message to a Nancy Kennedy at 352-564-2927 Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, edition, asking how they could help. Many said they didn’t want to Chronicle reporter. “It does my or nkennedy@chronicleonline. who is doing all she can to take By 4 p.m. Tuesday, nearly give online but would write a heart good ... I thought I was all com. NEWS BRIEFS Life Interrupted: ‘We’ve leared to pivot’ Citrus COVID-19 update Therapy center Fourteen new positive cases were reported in Citrus County since the adapts to virus latest FDOH update. Five new hospitalizations were restrictions reported; two new deaths were reported. NANCY KENNEDY To date in the county, Staff writer 2,660 people have tested positive (including eight Editor’s note: Every one of us has had our life interrupted by non-residents), 277 have the coronavirus pandemic, been hospitalized and 88 some more than others. have died. We asked people to tell us Free food about how their lives have been interrupted, in ways large or distribution small, and how they’ve han- Wednesday dled their situations, how it has changed them. Beginning at 9 a.m. As we continue the series, Wednesday Sept. 23, the “Life Interrupted,” we’re still public can receive food at looking for stories. the Crystal River Mall If you have a story to tell and parking lot (by the former would be willing to share it Belks store) — drive- with our readers, email Jeff through only. Bryan at jeff.bryan@chronicle Monetary donations online.com or Nancy Kennedy are needed to continue at nkennedy@chronicleonline. feeding Citrus County com. residents. Please con- I I I sider donating through o pivot means to Citrus United Way (www. change direction, often suddenly. citrusunitedway.org), T For Tim and Sherrie Ram- Community Food Bank of say, their business partner Citrus County (www. Pete Navarro and the entire communityfoodbankof staff at the Achievement Cen- citruscounty.org) or the ter rehabilitation therapy New Church Without center, when the coronavirus Walls (www.newchurch pandemic hit, that’s what they withoutwalls.com). did. — From staff reports What they do as therapists is hands-on and up-close, from physical therapy and therapeutic massage to occupational and speech Sheriff therapy. And even though theirs is an essential business and they weren’t mandated to shut needs their doors, they still had to figure out how to continue doing what they do while keeping their clients, many of them high-risk to begin with, comms and themselves safe from the spread of the virus. “We panicked for a minute MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle and then everyone pivoted,” officers Pete Navarro, president and chief physical therapist at Performance by Achievement, works with Jennifer Sherrie Ramsay said. Rautenkranz Thursday morning, Sept. 10, 2020 in Inverness. His patient is recovering from arthroscopic BUSTER knee surgery. See PIVOT/Page A2 THOMPSON Staff writer Tiana Jarrell’s eyes scoured a cluster of computer monitors Foundation set to discuss criticisms from audit with maps and details on 911 calls. Her hands glided Report from court clerk inquiry singles out several issues with organization across keyboards, ready to take a sudden FRED HIERS Circuit Court’s chief auditor, told conflicts of interest and failed to hire auditors, to conduct audits of phone call for help Staff writer the Chronicle that she will per- appropriately store records for its investments. and relay the emer- form a follow-up audit in three public access. While Barclay found many pol- gency to appropriate Criticisms leveled against the months to see if the foundation I The foundation failed to icy violations and problems with responders. Citrus County Community Chari- begins implementing the internal make some documents available the foundation, the foundation’s Jarrell’s first shift table Foundation by county audi- audit department’s to the public on its website as it errors did not meet criminal alone “on the floor” of tors included a slew of grant, recommendations. said it would to the Internal Reve- levels. the Citrus County financial, policy and operational Some of the problems the audi- nue Service when filing its 501(c) “In the course of the audit, Sheriff ’s Office’s 911 violations. tors reported in their 35-page re- (3) documents. there was no fraud, waste or Communications Cen- The foundation members are port concluded that the I Charities that received foun- abuse found,” Barclay told the ter inside the Emer- slated to take up the annual audit foundation: dation grants repeatedly failed to Chronicle. “However, there were gency Operations by the Citrus County Clerk of the I Failed on occasion to follow report their use of the money by opportunities to improve (with re- Center was July 4, Circuit Court and Comptroller its own grant policies, and on one the foundation’s deadline. gards to) internal controls and 2020. and discuss the foundation’s re- occasion funded a local charity in I At least one foundation com- compliance policies.” Independence Day sponses during their regularly violation of its own policies when mittee held meetings and con- The IAD audit also noted the seemed somewhat fit- scheduled monthly meeting 6 p.m. it allowed the charity to apply for ducted business without a infractions were not new, but ting, as it marked the Thursday. money more frequently than quorum. many were similar to those that end of Jarrell’s 700 Auditors cited nearly a dozen allowed. I Former foundation members the auditors found during previ- hours of paid intake policy or operational violations I Failed to adhere to its own in- continued to have access to finan- ous years. The auditors in this re- training after her hir- and noted that many of the non- vestment rules. cial information. port reviewed foundation activity ing in February. profit’s problems singled out I Made bylaw changes without I Meeting minutes did not re- between Oct.1, 2018, to Sept. 30, Jarrell was drawn during the foundation’s audit a the Citrus County Hospital flect foundation members’ ap- 2019. into the job because of year ago were not fixed or recom- Board’s approval. proval to changes to its investment “Most of the findings and its parameters, mendations were not I The foundation failed to re- portfolio or to some spending. observations noted by IAD during implemented. cord its board voting results, as I The foundation’s investment See OFFICERS/Page A2 Robin Barclay, the Clerk of the well as spending, board member committee did not conduct, or See AUDIT/Page A9 Classifieds . .B8 Crossword . .B14 INDEX Sports A6, A7, A8, A11 Obituaries . A5 Comics . .B7 Editorial. A10 Lottery Numbers . A7 TV Listings. .B6 Horoscope . A4 Entertainment . A4 Lottery Payouts . A7 A2 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 LOCAL CITRUS COUNTY (FL) CHRONICLE therapists, our job is to help they can do it, too.” staff wears a mask and clients thing,” he said, “but it’s also people become functional and Since the pandemic first hit, are encouraged to do so, and been the neatest thing ever, es- PIVOT independent and able to adapt the Achievement Center re- they practice social distancing pecially the way everyone on Continued from Page A1 to situations that aren’t ideal,” mained open. Although the as best as they can, such as our staff has stepped up to the she said. “If anyone can do it, number of in-person appoint- with group exercise. Some gym plate to support our They went from hands-on, up- we can, because that’s what we ments drastically went down in activities, such as MMA-style community.” close to remote telehealth — do with our clients anyway, the beginning, they are now boxing, are temporarily on Navarro added, “We’re always rehab therapy via computer modifying things and finding increasing. hold. pivoting, depending on the screen. ways to do things differently if “Even before the pandemic For speech therapy, the thera- needs of the community ... the “It was something we had necessary.” hit, we knew it was coming, so pists wear either a clear mask or needs are always going to be dif- been talking about for a while, So, they “turned on their ther- all the PPE (personal protective a clear face shield.