Local

Members of the Columbia High School color guard introduce girls to the activity during a clinic Saturday. (COURTESY)

Members of the Columbia High School color guard introduce girls to the activity during a clinic Saturday. (COURTESY)

CHS color guard hosts youth clinic

TONY BRITT
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Although it was the weekend, there was still lots of spinning and choreography work taking place at Columbia High School. A color guard clinic introduced 19 young girls to the activity Saturday at the multipurpose building on the CHS campus.
Columbia High School senior Shamarria Bowles will sing the national anthem Friday at the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp baseball game and could have the opportunity to perform at a future Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Columbia High School senior Shamarria Bowles will sing the national anthem Friday at the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp baseball game and could have the opportunity to perform at a future Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Bowles performing national anthem for Jumbo Shrimp

TONY BRITT
Monday, April 3, 2023
A Columbia High School senior is ready to deliver her first pitch for a professional sports franchise. Shamarria Bowles, an 18-year-old CHS student, will be singing the national anthem before the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp’s game Friday against the Durham Bulls.

$25K+ embezzled from FW Gun Club

NEWS STAFF
Monday, April 3, 2023
FORT WHITE — A member embezzled more than $25,000 from the Fort White Gun Club, while also stealing funds from a Bell church, according to authorities.

Wellborn man caught on way to teen meetup

NEWS STAFF
Monday, April 3, 2023
A Wellborn man was arrested Monday morning on his way to meet a teenage girl in Lake City. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children unit arrested 33-year-old Terence Lawrence on Monday after performing a traffic stop.
Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Tomi Brown (standing) makes the rounds at a dinner honoring election workers. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Tomi Brown (standing) makes the rounds at a dinner honoring election workers. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Poll workers thanked, recruited

TONY BRITT
Monday, April 3, 2023
The 2024 election season is still months away. The Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Office, though, is already making plans for the upcoming election cycle.
A college recruiter speaks with a prospective student at last year’s Florida Gateway College career fair and transfer day event. (COURTESY)

A college recruiter speaks with a prospective student at last year’s Florida Gateway College career fair and transfer day event. (COURTESY)

FGC hosting career fair, transfer day

NEWS STAFF
Monday, April 3, 2023
Florida Gateway College students will have the chance for a face-to-face encounter with their future today. The college is hosting its annual Spring Fling, career fair and transfer day from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. today on the pedestrian walkways near the Student Center on the Lake City campus.
Chris Candler, co-owner of Halpatter Brewing Company, holds one of the cans of Seymour Finnegan’s, the brewery’s first cans set for distribution. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)

Chris Candler, co-owner of Halpatter Brewing Company, holds one of the cans of Seymour Finnegan’s, the brewery’s first cans set for distribution. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)

Halpatter ready to ship out first batch of cans

JAMIE WACHTER
Friday, March 31, 2023
It’s one of the questions Halpatter Brewing Company hears most when they attend festivals and other events: Where can I buy this? The answer is finally close for Chris Candler and Jonny Frazier and the rest of the Halpatter crew.
Richardson Sixth Grade Academy Principal Lisa Lee was all smiles Thursday as she was honored as a 2022-23 Principal Leadership Award winner by Florida TaxWatch. (COURTESY)

Richardson Sixth Grade Academy Principal Lisa Lee was all smiles Thursday as she was honored as a 2022-23 Principal Leadership Award winner by Florida TaxWatch. (COURTESY)

RSGA’s Lee earns statewide ‘leadership award’

MORGAN MCMULLEN
Friday, March 31, 2023
A local principal has been recognized for going above and beyond her scope to help out her students. Richardson Sixth Grade Academy Principal Lisa Lee was honored Thursday by Florida TaxWatch, earning a 2022-23 Principal Leadership Award for her work in helping her students.
Fort White Elementary School won the 2023 Kiwanis Battle of the Brains on Thursday. Team members, in front, include Sarah Rafael (from left), Wyatt Chism,Tucker Ayers and Brayden Blalock. They are joined in back by Stephanie Lunde, Dr. Marilyn Gassett, Alan Gatzke, John Kasak, and James Carter, the president of Lake City Kiwanis Club. (COURTESY)

Fort White Elementary School won the 2023 Kiwanis Battle of the Brains on Thursday. Team members, in front, include Sarah Rafael (from left), Wyatt Chism,Tucker Ayers and Brayden Blalock. They are joined in back by Stephanie Lunde, Dr. Marilyn Gassett, Alan Gatzke, John Kasak, and James Carter, the president of Lake City Kiwanis Club. (COURTESY)

FWES wins Battle of the Brains

NEWS STAFF
Friday, March 31, 2023
The Columbia County School District hosted its 2023 Kiwanis Battle of the Brains on Thursday afternoon where fifth graders from 10 elementary schools competed in five preliminary rounds.
Elder Carter Snow (from left) helps Sisters Kimberlie Palmer and Tara Wallace secure their bikes on a bicycle rack on Thursday afternoon in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints parking lot on Old Country Club Road. The missionaries were taking part in Transfer Day where they were pairing-up with new companions to conduct their mission work. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Elder Carter Snow (from left) helps Sisters Kimberlie Palmer and Tara Wallace secure their bikes on a bicycle rack on Thursday afternoon in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints parking lot on Old Country Club Road. The missionaries were taking part in Transfer Day where they were pairing-up with new companions to conduct their mission work. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

‘Transfer Day’ sends Elders, Sisters on new missions

TONY BRITT
Friday, March 31, 2023
A sense of excitement, joy, wonder and that feeling of exhilaration associated with new beginnings permeated from teens and twenty-somethings in a church parking lot Thursday afternoon.