Project1:Layout 1 6/10/2014 1:13 PM Page 1 NFL: Bucs welcome bye before season-ending stretch /B1 TUESDAY TODAY CITRUSCOUNTY & next morning HIGH 54 Mostly sunny and LOW cold. Freeze possible at night. 32 PAGE A4 www.chronicleonline.com DECEMBER 1, 2020 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community 50¢ VOL. 126 ISSUE 54 NEWS BRIEFS City to eye beach options Citrus COVID-19 update Inverness council to look at adding shoreline amenities to downtown parks According to the Flor- ida Department of Health, FRED HIERS to review the possibility of public hearing at 5:30 p.m. along the shore line. evident, along with the ef- 22 positive cases were Staff writer a beach at one of the two at city hall, 212 West Main In addition, visitors to fects of erosion due to boat reported in Citrus County parks, developing a water- St. Inverness. Liberty Park climb over wakes, Williams said. since the latest update. People might soon have craft management plan to “There’s great pressure the concrete wall to get to “What steps does the No new hospitalizations the chance to get their feet protect the shoreline and to have access to the water the water, he said. city need to take to man- were reported; three new wet at either Liberty or how to best use the shore- at the parks system,” Wil- “It’s pretty clear what age the situation?” would deaths were reported. Wallace Brooks parks in line for watercraft. liams told the Chronicle. they want,” Williams said, be a question for the study, To date in the county, Inverness. The cost of the study by Williams said that boat- “We don’t have to do a sur- Williams said. “We can’t City Manager Eric Wil- Michael Czerwinski, P.A. of ers are mooring their boats vey to figure that out.” turn away. ... You can’t 4,753 people have tested liams will ask his council Environmental Consul- along the shore of Big Mooring boats at Wal- allow that level of erosion positive (including 25 bosses Tuesday, Dec. 1, tants, would be $28,910. In- Lake Henderson at Wal- lace Brooks Park has been to continue.” non-residents), 413 have 2020, to approve hiring a verness Council will meet lace Brooks Park and happening for the past 20 been hospitalized and Lecanto engineering firm for its regularly scheduled swimmers use the water years and the erosion is See PARKS/Page A7 171 have died. Entries needed for Cutest Elf Photo Contest Do you have an Elf vis- Food pantry: Help us help others iting your home this holi- day season? Share the creative, funny adven- tures of your elf in the Chronicle’s Cutest Elf Photo Contest. I Enter a picture of your Elf getting into spir- ited mischief now thru Dec. 8. I Entries are open in two categories: family and business. I The family photo with the most votes wins a four pack of tickets to Kirby Family Farm. I Vote for your favorite photo from Dec. 9-21. I There will be a ran- dom drawing from all who participate for a $50 shopping spree! To enter, visit https:// tinyurl.com/y3a3j3b7. DeSantis says schools remain open in spring Florida schools will re- main open in the spring, offering educations in both brick-and-mortar and MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle virtual classrooms. Beverly Hills resident David Desautell dawns Kris Kringle gear as he helps other volunteers pass out food and drink Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis at the We Care Food Pantry’s mobile food pantry near the Beverly Hills Civic Center. The mobile food pantry will continue its stop in Beverly made the announcement Hills each Tuesday for the foreseeable future, providing dry goods, milk, water and some meats for those gathering for the drive-through pantry. during a news conference Volunteers begin distributing food at approximately 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, expanding original state orders on how schools Pandemic means more people than ever need help this holiday season reopen during the fall amid COVID-19. Special to the Chronicle volunteers, and as has been the They worked with their which their clients struggle to put DeSantis said there case many other times, the neighbors and agency partners food on the table and keep up are changes to the initial The holidays are upon us county came through and al- to distribute an additional with their monthly bills, leaving order, like requiring once again, but this year has lowed We Care to bring in addi- 218,203 pounds of product, very little left for Thanksgiving school districts to notify been different. 2020 has been a tional food and household which equates to 2,182,030 turkeys, Christmas trees and year of ups and downs, of loss items, increase their mobile parents if a student is meals. This is a record-breaking presents for their children. and hope, of bending but never pantries, and helped them number of meals served by We We Care is calling upon Citrus struggling with distance breaking. Citrus County, like the serve their neighbors in need as Care in a single month. County again to not only help learning. Students will rest of America, has been hit they have never done before. They were able to bring their them maintain their current also have to return to hard and we are still desper- In addition to their 2,600 trucks to Homosassa, Chassa- schedule but add more mobile in-person schooling if par- ately looking for a light at the monthly clients from all over Cit- howitzka, Ozello, Crystal River, pantries throughout the county. ents don’t work with end of this very long tunnel. rus County, they were able to add Hernando and Beverly Hills. Please find it in your heart to school districts to create While the We Care family has mobile pantries and bring truck- The need in Beverly Hills was donate to We Care, any and all an education plan. seen its share of struggles, they loads of food into neighborhoods great enough that they have donations make a difference. If have also seen what makes Cit- that needed it the most. made it a permanent mobile you are unable to donate, they 5-year-old dies rus County shine. When this In October alone, We Care pantry location. are always in need of volun- from injuries pandemic hit in March, Citrus added an additional 17 mobile This is all wonderful news. teers. Mail donations to 5259 W. County stepped up. They made pantries serving an additional However, the fight is not over. Cardinal St., Homosassa, FL in wreck a plea for donations and 2,522 families. Holidays are already a time in 34446, or call 352-503-2079. A young girl who was critically injured in a Mon- day, Nov. 23, 2020, wreck on County Road 491, north of West Hampshire Boulevard, died from her Pandemic policy, relief COVID cases rise injuries Friday, Nov. 27, 2020, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. According to a Florida funds on county agenda at jail, countywide Highway Patrol (FHP) re- port, the noontime crash MICHAEL D. BATES pandemic and have extended that BUSTER a week before then. occurred Monday, Staff writer emergency declaration over successive THOMPSON Oliver said 84 inmates Nov. 23, 2020. months. Staff writer have since recovered from A 17-year-old girl from From COVID to CARES, county com- Also on Tuesday’s agenda: the virus as of Nov. 30, and Ocala was driving a missioners have a packed agenda for I Citrus County has about $4.7 mil- COVID-19 cases within a total 225 COVID-19 tests sedan south on C.R. 491 their Tuesday, Dec. 1, meeting. lion remaining from the first two phases the Citrus County Deten- were completed with four while a 60-year-old County Commissioner Ruthie Schla- of the CARES Act funding and commis- tion Facility inmate popu- results pending. bach will ask about amending the coun- sioners are recommending $1 million A dozen housing pods woman from Ocala was lation spiked over the ty’s emergency declaration to allow for go to the Citrus County Chamber of week, leading to more out of the facility’s 30 were stopped ahead of her in gatherings greater than 50 people as Commerce, $450,000 to the local United under quarantine Nov. 30, an SUV, according to the quarantined cellblocks. long as the square footage is sufficient Way and $550,000 to other worthy non- Since the pandemic’s according to CoreCivic FHP report, which doesn’t to allow for it and the action maintains profits as determined by the Board. onset, the CoreCivic- spokesman Ryan Gustin, ID involved motorists due Centers for Disease Control and Pre- Commissioners have provided managed jail in Lecanto an increase of three since to Marsy’s Law. vention social distancing guidelines. CARES grants to more than 500 busi- has documented 137 posi- Nov. 23. FHP’s report states the Currently, county gatherings are lim- nesses, plus making rent, mortgage and tive cases of the infectious Gustin said the suspen- teen didn’t slow in time ited to 50 people or less. Tito Rubio, ad- utility payments for individuals facing disease, according to sion on jail visits is ex- for the SUV, which led to ministrator of the Florida Department economic hardships due to COVID-19. County Administrator pected to stop by the end her sedan striking the of Health in Citrus County, will be avail- I Commissioners will discuss using Randy Oliver on Monday, of the week, but jail staff SUV’s rear.