Gun Threat Result: Lockdown
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CATARACT SURGERY See ad on pg. 14 Cats sixth in tournament Page 13 ThE BakER COUNty PREss $1.00 90TH YEAR | VOLUME 40 JANuary 21, 2021 COVID UPDATE AT A GLANCE Gun threat result: Lockdown 200 JOEL ADDINGTON MANAGING EDITOR [email protected] more COMMUNITY Following an anon- EVENTS ymous threat spread vaccines through Snap Chat of an State lawmaker impending shooting at visit here Baker County High School arrive January 21 on Tuesday, the campus was locked down about 11 JOEL ADDINGTON 10:00 am a.m. and reopened about MANAGING EDITOR Florida Senator Jennifer an hour later. [email protected] Bradley is scheduled to Major Randy Crews meet with constituents at of the sheriff’s office said Appointments for the county commission no weapons were found COVID-19 vaccinations for building, 55 North Third St., during a search and no those 65 years and older on January 21 at 10:00 a.m. suspect was taken into and high-risk healthcare custody, though the in- workers were expected Virtual active living to open back up Tuesday classes vestigation into the origin of the threat was ongoing morning at 8 a.m. January 21 later Tuesday. The Florida Department “You might assume by of Health-Baker (FDOH) 10:00 am Sheriff’s deputies guard the entry gates during an hour-long lockdown of the BCHS campus Tuesday announced the resumption morning after an anonymous threat regarding a school shooting was sent to students via Snap Chat. Available by computer, See page 2 of vaccination appoint- tablet or telephone, AHEC ments late Monday after- is offering free virtual active noon, saying recipients living classes to teach skills would be booked on a first- needed to become and stay come, first-served basis. physically active. The 12 Initial sewer rehab phase nears end The number of vacci- virtual classes start January MIKE ANDERSON nations administered in 21 at 10:00 am and contin- Baker County spiked ear- ue weekly through April 8. PRESS STAFF ly last week from 21 peo- Please call Northeast Florida ple getting the first of two AHEC at (904) 482-0189 or Aging sewer lines in doses on January 10 to 57 (877) 794-8486 to register. Macclenny’s southeastern people getting the shots on quadrant, where homes January 11 and then to 103 date to the 1940s and ‘50s, vaccinated on January 12, COVID UPDATE have been the focus of a according to FDOH data multi-million-dollar up- January 12-18 online. grade that has left roads Then the daily num- scarred in many sections Positive tests 136 ber of vaccinations locally with temporary bumpy * dropped about 70 percent Hospitalizations 53 patches of lime rock and on January 13 before re- noise complaints from resi- bounding somewhat. Avg. median age 42 dents. There were 54 people The $4.2-million sewer Avg. positivity rate 14% vaccinated on January 14, rehab project began about seven more on January 15 five months ago and city Since March 20, 2020 and 11 more inoculations officials are hopeful it will on January 16. The follow- be finished by the end of Total positive 2841 ing day had one vaccina- summer, though there is no tion and the next day, the Corrections cases 676 guarantee. latest day for which data In a briefing on the status Pediatric cases 208 was available as of press of the sewer improvements time, there were zero. before the city commission Hospitalizations 153 The Moderna vaccines January 12, City Manager — administered in two dos- Deaths 41 (+2) Phil Rhoden said the project es spaced three weeks apart *Current hospitalizations as of 1/19/21. is taking longer than antici- Photo courtesy of the City of Macclenny on Mondays, Wednes- Source: FDOH/AHCA/Baker County data pated, mainly because many Color-coded status map of the ongoing sewer rehabilitation project in the City of Macclenny. days and Fridays at the sewer pipes had burst or A more expeditious solu- are expanded to create new condition of municipal in- health department on West were so fragile that they had Go vote ... tion — one that leaves roads smooth interior walls. frastructures and provid- Lowder Street and on Tues- to be removed via trenches virtually untouched — is the The contractor, Gulf ing “the latest technologies days and Thursdays at Ed dug through the pavement. Where did your placement of inflatable lin- Coast Underground, LLC, available to rehabilitate or Fraser Memorial Hospital “We haven’t made a lot ers through manholes into touts itself as an expert in replace the system,” states on 3rd Street — have been $600 stimulus of progress,” he conceded. damaged sewer pipes, which the field, a construction and the company’s website. in high demand so the 200 “A lot of it has been conven- payment go? may be leaking but have engineering firm that spe- However, the labor-in- new doses will go fast. tional [more time-consum- not collapsed. The liners cializes in evaluating the The first shipment of ing] replacements.” See page 3 Bills/debt 33% vaccine to arrive here in late December was 1000 Savings/investment doses, according to Jor- Clay, Duval men face sex assault complaints dan Duncan, community 29% health nursing director at The sheriff’s department filed sworn the residence the teen shares with her initially accusing them of having sex FDOH-Baker. Everyday expenses complaints on two out-of-county men grandmother in north Macclenny, and with her, then recanting. She said more vaccine 14% said to have engaged in sexual activity sent to the state lab in May. On January 7, Det. Burnsed notes is expected weekly, but with a 16-year-old female in mid-May, The results were made available to that the grandmother and the 18-year- the number of doses may bakercountypress.com 2020. BCSO on January 4. old who was at the residence that eve- change based on the num- The delay in filing the complaints The two men reportedly went to the ning in May came to the sheriff’s office ber of doses the State of that named Shannon Asbell, 25, of teen’s residence on April 25, where she with copies of Facebook messages be- Florida receives from the Green Cove Springs and Dwayne Hen- was present with two of her friends, 18 tween Mr. Asbell and the grandmother, Centers for Disease Con- Police dricks, 24, of Jacksonville was due to and 15. The 16-year-old said she met during which he offers multiple times to trol and Prevention. She a DNA analysis by the Florida Depart- them at a Baker County High football pay her $20,000 to drop the complaint said vaccine allocations are ment of Law Enforcement (FDLE), ac- game in the fall, 2019, and she asked against him and Mr. Hendricks. The based on the county’s pop- chase cording to the report by Detective Clay them there with the intention of selling 18-year-old witness said the 16-year- ulation age 65 and older, Burnsed, who was assigned the case. her grandmother’s ring. She changed old had Mr. Asbell to the residence an- Samples were taken from bedsheets at her story during questioning by police, ends with See page 3 See page 2 suspect crashing Page 4 Page 2 The Baker County Press Thursday, January 21, 2021 Lockdown: at BCHS on Tuesday Covid: Hospital From page 1 the wording it could’ve been stays rise sharply another student or students From page 1 kidding around. That stuff is not funny. It takes a lot of which is 3,979 residents. has had 2841 residents test resources and disrupts the FDOH data shows that positive for COVID-19 and functioning of the school,” through January 18, 1046 41 deaths due to corona- said Major Crews. “... Hope- people here had received the virus, the most recent be- fully we can find out where first dose and 59 had com- ing a 71-year-old male and it originated from and if pleted both doses, for a total 77-year-old female. we do, we’ll take action, of of 1105 vaccinations. There have been 153 total course.” hospitalizations among local COVID-19 hospitalizations Parents meanwhile residents with COVID-19 spike flocked to the campus and through January 18. parked outside the gates in The state’s Agency for Among juveniles, the hopes of reaching their chil- Health Care Administration confirmed case total was dren, whom they were text- reported 53 county residents 208. ing and talking to via cell were in the hospital battling Local schools had eight phone. COVID-19 on January 19, a new infections for the peri- Parents line up outside the gates to BCHS late Tuesday morning, day after the county added od between January 10 and Though BCHS se- many communicating by cell phone with students inside. nior Brayden Jackson 17 new confirmed cases of January 16, the latest period “It’s kind of just shock down. mous social media message was thankful nobody was coronavirus. for which school COVID-19 and awe. Full of emotions. The scare made him with overtures of threats harmed in the incident and It was late last week that figures were reported by I really don’t know how to think back to September, to the school. While these for the quick response from daily COVID-19-related hos- FDOH. explain it,” he said when 2019 when a 15-year-old threats were vague, based authorities and faculty, he pitalizations rose sharply to During that week, three asked how he and other classmate wrote down on the message and out of said he was nonetheless 32 after months of less than new confirmed cases were students were feeling about plans for a mass shooting at an abundance of caution, “devastated” by it.