Bullets take Lightening strike second place destroys retired in first meet couples’ outdoor of the season grilling station See page 11 See page 7 75¢ JUNE 21, 2012 THURSDAY ThE BakER COUNty PREss 83rd Year, Vol. 11 | Winner of 5 state awards for journalism excellence in 2011 Driver of Arrested hijacked after man truck is is beaten left here severely A Sanderson couple is The Jacksonville Sheriff’s charged with felonies in the Office this week had no new in- beating of another man the formation on a truck hijacking evening of June 12 on Bill Da- that occurred in Baldwin early vis Rd. on June 12. Warrants were issued fol- The driver, who was bound lowing the incident for William and kidnapped by two male (Clay) Davis, 42, and Selena suspects, was dropped off un- Roberts, 39, who both reside harmed across from the Mac- at the same clenny Walmart minutes later. address on There have been no ar- Mallie Da- rests in the case and police do vis Rd. not not know the whereabouts of far from a tractor-trailer loaded with where Mr. deli meat that was taken form Davis alleg- the parking lot of the McDon- edly beat ald’s in Baldwin on US 301 just his cousin south of Interstate 10 about Jerry Da- 2:45 am. vis, 30, of Driver Clarence Few Jr., Glen St. 40, of Lady Lake, FL said he PHOTOS BY JIM MCGAULEY AND JOEL ADDINGTON Mary. stopped that morning to con- Above, (from left) Jan Shivers, JoAnne Burger, Mr. Da- William Davis duct a safety check, was ap- Allison Broughton, Marcus Rhoden and Mark Ly- vis turned proached by one of two black ons gather at the courthouse before distributing himself in at county jail and males who pointed a chrome flyers opposing the proposed sand mining plans Ms. Roberts was arrested at her revolver at him. on June 16. At left, the packed Baker County residence. Mr. Few said he gave the Commission meeting room in Macclenny where The victim, who was treated man, who was accompanied by mining company consultants lobbied for their at Fraser Hospital for multiple another black male driving a projects and local residents urged commission- lacerations to the head, told late model grey Ford Mustang, ers to vote against them during a public hearing Deputy Patrick McGauley he an unknown amount of cash that lasted more than three hours the evening of arranged to meet with Ms. Rob- before the two forced him into June 18. erts that evening near the inter- the sleeper cab of his truck and section with Reid Stafford Rd. tied him up with a nylon rope. When he was dropped off by They also placed a white T-shirt a relative, Mr. Davis said he en- over his face. tered a waiting 2005 Hyundai The kidnappers then drove Puts off vote on sand mines occupied by Ms. Roberts, and nearby to get fuel and one of MIKE ANDERSON many of whom had to stand during the pro- we can’t give that up.” she drove a short distance be- them exited the truck before it PRESS STAFF ceedings because there were only 45 chairs After more than three hours of testimony fore stopping and exiting the continued west to the SR 228 in the room, were against the mining plans from mining company officials and hearing vehicle, ex- Macclenny exit, where Mr. Few A jam-packed Baker County Commission and urged county commissioners to side from a parade of homeowners on the oppo- plaining was dropped off in a vacant meeting room on the evening of June 18 left with them. site side of the issue, county commission- she “lost building across from Walmart. no doubt where the vast majority of people “What is the actual benefit to the coun- ers rejected a motion to deny the mining her phone.” He freed himself and ran in attendance stood on two proposed sand ty?” asked Macclenny resident Pat Shannon, requests and postponed a final decision for The vic- across 228 to the store park- mining proposals. adding that the mining companies would use two months. tim then ing lot where he made contact They wanted them buried and gone. billions of gallons of water while only em- Old Castle Southern Group, a Tampa- said his with Jamie Journey of Glen St. It didn’t seem to matter how safe or harm- ploying a handful of workers and adding a based company, plans to mine 193 acres of cousin ex- Mary, who called police. less to the environment the applicants prom- negligible amount to the county’s coffers in a 437-acre tract it leases from DuPont east ited the The truck was loaded with ised the mining would be, nor that the mined taxes. of SR 228 about two miles south of Inter- trunk products destined for the Pub- areas eventually would be reclaimed. It also “It just doesn’t add up,” he said. “I’m con- state 10. The firm, which owns a road-pav- where he lix Warehouse off Beaver St. didn’t matter how much of an economic im- cerned about whether my grandchildren and ing company and a concrete plant, also has had been between Baldwin and Jackson- pact they claimed the operation would have great-grandchildren will have enough water a contract to buy another 700 acres, which hiding and ville. in the county. Selena Roberts to drink. Water is a precious commodity and began beat- Most of the approximately 80 people, See page 2 ing him about the head with a ratchet handle, both while he remained in the car and after Macclenny will spend $550K he exited and was knocked to the ground. Deputy McGauley noted for tract to spray sewer sludge that Jerry Davis was bleeding from both his ears and eyes, MIKE ANDERSON it was shut down some 15 or so ground as fertilizer. Last year, and various parts of his head. PRESS STAFF years ago. Now, those neigh- the city produced nearly 3 mil- He refused transport by rescue bors are facing a new threat to lion gallons of liquid sludge. to Fraser, and later was taken The closed Steel Bridge land- their peace of mind, if not their Frank Darabi, the city’s con- there by a private vehicle. fill has worried nearby residents health. sulting engineer, said the ma- Jerry Davis also said the two for years because of contami- The Macclenny City Com- terial is an organic fertilizer assailants took a bottle contain- nants that monitoring wells mission, after listening to con- containing phosphorous and ing 60 Oxycodone pills from his have detected at the site since cerns and objections voiced nitrogen, and free of pathogens pants pocket and tossed it to by residents on the evening of and metals that have been re- the roadside. When it was re- June 12, moved forward with moved in the wastewater treat- covered, it had three pills in it. a $550,000 plan to buy 114 ment process at the city’s sew- The officer also spoke with acres of pine forest in a sparse- age plant. Kayla Thompson, 23, of Sand- GOP voter ly-populated area off Steel “There will be no surface erson, who said she and the vic- Bridge Road as a place to dump runoff going to anybody’s prop- tim had been staying at William millions of gallons of sewage erty and no odor,” Mr. Darabi Davis’ residence. Both suspects ranks are wastewater “sludge” yearly. said. “If there is no odor at the returned there after the in- Up to 50,000 gallons of sewer plant there will not be an cident, and she said William the slushy, mud-like material odor out there.” Davis was “covered in blood” growing would be trucked to the site He said the city’s wastewa- See page 2 Area shaded in yellow is the property where the city intends to dump sludge. locally in each week and sprayed on the See page 5 bakercountypress.com COVERING BAKER COUNTY SINCE 1929 lead-up to ONLINE POLL RESULTS % The county’s most professional and extensive source for news, classified, display and real estate listings Should the Baker 60 NO 904.259.2400 •• 904.259.6502 Fax County Commission % vote in favor of the 35.4 Yes primary % www.bakercountypress.com proposed sand mines? 4.6 Undecided Page 6 Visit our website and vote each week in our online poll. [email protected] Page 2 The Baker County Press Thursday, June 21, 2012 The Baker County Press Page 3 COMMENT JUNE 21, 2012 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR CONTacT US Letters are welcome, but must contain the signature of the writer, a telephone number and city of residence. By phone at 904.259.2400 or by fax at 904.259.6502. You can stop by our office located at 104 S. Fifth Street, Letters must reflect opinions and statements on issues of current interest to the general public. Macclenny, FL or mail your submission to PO Box 598, Macclenny, FL 32063. The newspaper reserves the right to reject any material which in the newspaper’s judgement does not meet standards of publication. We are available online at www.bakercountypress.com Board needs to be resolute and do due diligence County commissions of old seldom if ever had to deal with heady zoning and growth issues. In fact, a commissioner could hold office for decades (as some did), and never have to face a jammed meeting room of people, most of whom are there in opposition of things like sand mining, bio-waste incinerators and sludgy spray fields.