A3 + PLUS >> Lifesaver, Opinion/4A CHS SOFTBALL CHS HOOPS Girls down Boys to face Buchholz Lincoln again See Page 5A See Page 5A TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2020 | YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1874 | $1.00 Lake City Reporter LAKECITYREPORTER.COM Who should BABY SAVED Summers Elementary run the jail? Ex-PTO CRC to take chief stole on the issue $7K for car Charter review group meets tonight at 6 p.m. payments, By CARL MCKINNEY [email protected] Should the sheriff contin- say cops ue to run the county jail, or should that responsibility fall on an appointed department ‘Glitch’ in PayPal account head who reports to the to blame, Jason Rix claims. county manager? Members of the public By TONY BRITT have a chance to voice [email protected] their opinions on the mat- ter tonight at a meeting of TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter The former president of the the county charter review The woman authorities say left a baby unattended in a car Monday afternoon sits in the parent-teacher organization at board, which is considering vehicle at Lake City Plaza as the baby’s mother holds the child. Summers Elementary School was a proposal that would wrest arrested on larceny charges Friday control of the jail from the after he allegedly spent more Columbia County Sheriff’s than $7,000 of the Office and create a new coun- Passerby sees child left in car, group’s funds on ty department to oversee the personal expendi- facility. tures, including car The charter review board makes life-saving call to cops payments. is seated once every eight Jason Luke Rix, years. It is tasked with Charges haven’t yet City Plaza saw an infant in a actually injured or hurt in 30, of Northwest vehicle, not running and oth- anyway, but had been left for Wood Lane, was reviewing the charter and been filed pending Rix proposing changes, which DCF probe, say police. erwise unattended, and they an unknown time in the vehi- booked into the will ultimately go before the believed the infant possibly to cle unattended.” Columbia County Detention Facility voters in the form of a ballot Lee said authorities spoke at 11:55 a.m. and released 70 referendum. By TONY BRITT Unhappy but unhurt, to an older family member minutes later on $5,000 bond, jail The charter board meets [email protected] acting as the child’s caregiver records show. it’s not clear how long when the incident occurred, According to Columbia County 6 p.m. at the School Board First responders rescued baby had been left as well as the child’s mother, Sheriff’s Office reports, on Administrative Complex, 372 a baby left unattended in a in the car at Lake who came to the scene a Tuesday, Feb. 18, the school’s prin- W. Duval Street. car Monday afternoon as the short while later. cipal was informed that the PTO The County Commission child’s caregiver shopped City Plaza. Authorities also contacted bank account card was being mis- is responsible for the jail, but nearby. the Department of Children used by Rix. has selected the sheriff to Units from the Lake City be in distress so they contact- and Families, which launched The PTO treasurer went to the serve as chief jailer in charge Police Department, Lake City ed law enforcement and fire an investigation of its own. bank to retrieve the organization’s Fire Department and Century rescue,” said Sgt. Mike Lee, “At this time, there are no financial statements, as the state- JAIL continued on 2A Ambulance responded to the Lake City Police Department criminal charges pending for ment was reportedly missing from scene at Lake City Plaza at public information officer. the moment, pending the out- the school’s finance book and the 1:37 p.m. “The child is in healthy con- funds were not adding up. “A shopper here in Lake dition at this time, was not INFANT continued on 2A A review of the bank statements City, county showed the missing funds totaled mull joint $7,180. The misappropriation meeting site SUSPECT NABBED PTO continued on 3A By CARL MCKINNEY [email protected] FHP: Columbia County and Lake City officials are thinking Woman run about getting joined at the hip. over, killed As both governments search for new offices to by boyfriend’s house their departments, an idea to build a set of con- pickup truck joined headquarters was met with a posi- From staff reports tive reception from city Less than 10 hours after his and county girlfriend fell to her death from his representa- Ford pickup, a Lake City man was tives during jailed early Sunday for leaving the a joint meet- scene of the accident that claimed ing Monday her life, FHP said. Helfenberger night at City Ryan LeBoss, Hall. 44, of SW Randall CARL MCKINNEY/Lake City Reporter Terrace, remains The city has secured free Suspect Breon Walker, 29, is led to a waiting cruiser after being apprehended by deputies. land from the Lake Shore incarcerated on Hospital Authority on the $100,000 bond, corner of Franklin Street and online records show. Marion Avenue for the con- Fled traffic stop, hid near 5 Points LeBoss struction of a new City Hall. His girlfriend, The current City Hall was Eileen Bocca, 48, Ocala, was taken Bystander bitten by K-9 Chevrolet passenger car on officials say. to UF Health Shands where she built in the early 20th century Interstate 10. The driver, A law enforcement dog, and faces a number of struc- by accident, says CCSO. died, according to an FHP news 29-year-old Breon Walker, Drago, inadvertently bit a release. tural problems. sped away from the traffic female bystander during the Meanwhile, the county Just south of the U.S 441 exit By CARL MCKINNEY stop and exited onto U.S. chase. houses its departments in a on I-75 in Alachua County at 5:05 [email protected] Highway 441, according Walker ran through a drive- courthouse annex and rented p.m. Saturday, LeBoss swerved space at an office complex off Authorities late Monday to the Columbia County way on Northeast Oak Forest onto the grass shoulder with West U.S. Highway 90. morning chased a runaway Sheriff’s Office. Glen, passing two people and the passenger door open and City Manager Joe traffic stop suspect into a The deputy pursued him ducking behind some sheds. Bocca “hanging out of it,” the Helfenberger’s proposal is for quiet neighborhood north of onto Tammy Lane and then A woman outside the home release stated. She was reportedly both governments to build Lake City. down Colvin Avenue, where began waving her hands and dragged for several hundred feet Around 11:10 a.m., a Walker bailed out of his vehi- CITY/COUNTY continued on 2A deputy pulled over a silver cle and ran on foot, sheriff’s CAUGHT continued on 2A FHP continued on 3A Vol. 145, No. 248 CALL US: TODAY’S WEATHER Obituaries . 3A (386) 752-1293 Opinion . 4A SUBSCRIBE TO Sports . 5A THE REPORTER: 74 59 Advice & Comics . 7A Voice: 755-5445 Showers likely, 2A Fax: 752-9400 Classified. 8A-9A WWWWW 2A TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2020 LOCAL LAKE CITY REPORTER opportunity to speak to If the shakeup is JAIL whether or not the sher- successful, jail employ- INFANT Continued From 1A iff should be responsible ees would work for the Continued From 1A for the operation of the County Commission, QUICK HITS jail,” charter board mem- not the Sheriff’s Office. of the facility’s day-to- come of the DCF investigation,” ber Glenel Bowden said Those who decide to day operations. Lee said. at a finance subcommit- stay on could end up Scripture of the Day That arrangement Lee said the fire department tee meeting last week. with different healthcare can make for some rescued the child within five min- Since the sheriff is plans and other changes “Set your affection on things above, not on tense public standoffs utes of arriving at the scene. an elected official inde- to their benefits. things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your between the sheriff and “The child was awake and pendent of the County Still, “this is a conver- life is hid with Christ in God.” county commissioners, upset, but it was not injured or Commission, disagree- sation worth having,” according to proponents hurt in anyway,” he said. — Colossians 3:2-3 (KJV) ments over how to Hunter said last week. of the proposal. “How long the child was in run the jail have been “And as the people of “Given the political there before that is unknown,” he known to devolve into a this county know, I atmosphere over the added. Thought for Today “political melee,” County will support whatever years, and given the The child’s mother, who Attorney Joel Foreman decision they come to. I I will preach with my brush. amount of the budget declined to give her name, arrived said at last week’s sub- look forward to working that goes toward the at the scene shortly before a DCF — Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1859-1937, U.S. painter committee meeting. with the Charter Review detention center, I think representative. But the plan is likely Commission to do what’s it would make sense for “I thank them for that,” the to meet stiff resistance. best for our county.” the voters to have the woman said of the citizen who saw the child in the car and first Winning Lottery Numbers responders who rescued the child.