1A SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $1.00 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM Belk marks Ailing girl gives SUNDAY EDITION 125th year fair earnings to in business. 1C help other kids. 1D A year after Debby Principals in the trial of Marshall Lee people still in awe Gore are (from left) lead prosecutor Bob Dekle, Judge E. Vernon Douglas and lead investigator Neal Nydam. They are awaiting the execution of the convicted rapist and murderer. Gore is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Monday at Florida State Prison. Execution Monday for man tried here Two principals in case say they will observe carrying out of penalty. By DEREK GILLIAM [email protected] Twenty-five years ago, the skeletal remains of a human were found in the Many still grapple woods near Pinemount with idea that so Road. The body was stretched out, face much rain could fall down with its arms bound together. in such a short time. The lead investiga- Gore tor for the Columbia By AMANDA WILLIAMSON County Sheriff’s Office [email protected] 25 years ago was Neal anoes sliced through the water, Nydam. He said when skeletal remains carrying sandbags across the are found, there’s added difficulty in flooded front yards of Lake City’s putting together what happened. southern subdivisions. Houses Identifying the body can be challeng- disappeared under the rising ing, and where and who the person was Cfloods, with only angled roofs peeking out last with is hard to pin down. Nydam, from the dark water. Over the course of then a captain with the sheriff’s office, days, a steady rain covered the Columbia still remembers details of that day — County area as Tropical Storm Debby April 2, 1988. stalled in the Gulf of Mexico. EXECUTION continued on 3A On June 26, 2012, Debby made landfall on the Florida coast, after soaking the state for four straight days while it brewed in the Gulf. The storm deposited up to 30 inches of Jobless rate rain on North Florida, causing an estimated $12 million in damage in the county, accord- ing to local officials. for county “Each storm has its own personality,” said Shayne Morgan, county emergency manage- ment director. “No two storms are exactly inches up the same, and this storm was unlike any- thing I had ever seen. It just sat in the Gulf and didn’t move — dropping buckets and By TONY BRITT buckets and buckets of rain on us.” [email protected] The county was already drenched from Tropical Storm Beryl, which had moved The local unemployment rate through the area the month before. Morgan increased by 0.2 percent in May, buck- believes when Debby arrived, the already ing the trend of lowered unemployment saturated ground and filling water reser- statistics for several months, according voirs couldn’t handle any more rain. to information released from the state “It was unlike anything I had ever seen,” Department of Economic Opportunity he said. Friday. FILE PHOTOS Morgan was working at the emergency Seasonal employment and activities TOP: Homes in the Callaway subdivision were filled with several feet of water during the operations center when Hurricanes Frances could the cause of the increase, offi- flooding caused by Tropial Storm Debby a year ago this week. The floodwater got so high and Jeanne swept through Florida in 2004, cials said. that some residents had to use row boats to reach their homes. ABOVE: Pickup trucks cre- The Columbia County unemploy- ate waves as they creep along U.S. Highway 441 in Deep Creek at the height of the flood. DEBBY continued on 6A ment rate rose to 6.4 percent in May, up from 6.2 percent in April. “The slight increase in unemploy- ment at this time of year is generally attributed to seasonal events such as tourism, agricultural harvests, holi- No trouble seen in dispatch transition days and the openings and closings of schools,” said Florida Crown Workforce By TONY BRITT Manager Wendell Johnson patible equipment,” he said. patch as it does for police dis- Board lead employer services represen- [email protected] said in combination with the “We have kept abreast of tech- patch,” he said. “We’re going tative Denise Wynne. “Florida Gateway upgrading of communications nology and made upgrades.” to put this in place immedi- College ended their spring term on City officials say the city is equipment at the combined The city has budgeted ately... The $80,000 was not May 1, and agricultural employment prepared to dispatch the Lake communications center, the $80,000 in the current fis- for the purpose of making any has been trending down throughout City Fire Department to emer- city has done upgrades on the cal year to purchase updated changes, it was just for equip- the state, while most elementary and gency calls and should be able city’s dispatch system. equipment. ment upgrades due to outdated secondary schools, to include Columbia to provide the service within “We did it to make sure that, “We’re installing a new sys- equipment.” the next three months. had things materialized proper- tem, and it’s a system that JOBS continued on 3A Friday afternoon, City ly, that we all would have com- works just as well for fire dis- DISPATCH continued on 3A Vol. 138, No. 364 OpinionPeople. .. 4A2A CALL US: TODAY IN COMING (386) 752-1293 Business . 1C5A 9192 6471 Obituaries . 5A PEOPLE TUESDAY SUBSCRIBE TO T-StormT-storm Chancechance Obituaries . 6A THE REPORTER: Advice.Advice & . .Comics . .. 5D8B Football Local news Voice: 755-5445 Puzzles . 2B, 3B Fax: 752-9400 WEATHER, 2A8A Puzzles . 2B fundraiser. roundup. 2A 2A LAKE CITY REPORTER SUNDAY REPORT SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013 Page Editor: Jim Barr, 754-0424 Friday: Friday: Saturday: Saturday: Wednesday: Wednesday: 2-22-23-41 12 1-6-13-27-32 Afternoon: 3-0-2 Afternoon: 8-9-6-6 5-8-9-12-23-27 7-46-47-52-57 Evening: N/A Evening: N/A x2 PB 17 AROUND FLORIDA Zimmerman judge: No testimony on 911 call screams SANFORD — The judge Rick Scott another piece of befriended by a man who in the murder trial of good news to boast about offered to take Charish to George Zimmerman said as he edges closer to the buy a snack at the front of Saturday that prosecution 2014 election. the Walmart store. audio experts who point to The state’s May unem- The man is a registered Trayvon Martin as scream- ployment rate was 7.1 sex offender. Sheriff’s ing on a 911 call moments percent — a drop of 0.1 office spokesman Shannon before he was killed won’t percent from the previous Hartley said Saturday that be allowed to testify at month. the 56-year-old man had trial. But the drop is tem- been taken into custody The screams are crucial pered by the fact that the after officers surrounded pieces of evidence because actual numbers of jobs his van. they could determine in the state declined last About an hour later, who the aggressor was in month by 6,200. Labor authorities said the girl’s the confrontation before officials use two different body was found at a Zimmerman fatally shot surveys to calculate the church. the unarmed teenager. two economic measures. Martin’s family contends Additionally, state econ- State gets $8M it was the teen screaming, omists this week released while Zimmerman’s father their own analysis that food stamp bonus has said it was his son. shows a key reason for TALLAHASSEE Judge Debra Nelson the unemployment rate — Florida is getting an ruled that the methods decline in Florida has been $8 million bonus from the used by the experts aren’t people leaving the labor federal government over reliable. But her ruling JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter force or delaying looking how the state is running doesn’t prevent the 911 for a job. its food stamp program. calls from being played at Thorough cleaning If the same number The Department of trial. Ronald Jones, a Florida Grass Masters employee, pressure washes the roof of a building at of people were in the Children and Families She reached the deci- the corner of McFarlane Avenue and Baya Drive Friday. workforce now as were at announced on Friday that sion after hearing argu- the end of 2011, then the the federal government ments that stretched over unemployment rate would has awarded the state a several days this month on last year. Zimmerman is by the board — and then For example, tens of be 8 percent. bonus for the sixth year in whether to allow testimony pleading not guilty. state regulators — rates thousands of homeown- a row. from two prosecution will go up next January for ers in counties such as DCF said that Florida’s experts. One expert ruled Body of missing roughly 1.26 million policy- Broward, Collier, Miami- error rate of 0.77 percent out Zimmerman as the Insurer considers holders. Dade, Escambia and Palm girl found was the lowest in the screamer and another said State law places a 10 Beach who use Citizens to more rate hikes JACKSONVILLE — The nation. it was Martin. Defense percent cap on how much cover only storm-related State agencies across MIAMI — Florida’s body of an 8-year-old girl experts argued there Citizens can raise its rates damages could face a 10.7 the country are required largest property insurer, abducted from a northeast was not enough audio on an annual basis. But percent hike.