Local

LCPD conducting DUI checkpoints

NEWS STAFF
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Law enforcement officers will be on the lookout for impaired drivers this weekend. Looking to reduce the impact of impairment-related accidents, the Lake City Police Department is leading a multi-agency DUI checkpoint program Saturday at six locations across the city.
Toby Witt voiced his opposition to raising the county’s fire assessment fee during Tuesday’s special County Commission meeting. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)

Toby Witt voiced his opposition to raising the county’s fire assessment fee during Tuesday’s special County Commission meeting. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)

Balanced county budget ready for hearings

JAMIE WACHTER
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Columbia County’s budget is ready for its public presentation. At a special meeting Tuesday morning, the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners offered no alterations to the county’s budget heading into its Sept. 8 preliminary budget hearing.

Lake City drug dealer sentenced to 5 years

NEWS STAFF
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
A Lake City man is facing five years in federal prison for dealing crack cocaine and possessing a firearm. Edrick D. Jackson, a 28-year-old, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.

Pedestrian safety ordinance to take effect

TONY BRITT
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Lake City Police Department officers will be cracking down on pedestrian and motorist interactions on local roads. The Lake City Council passed an ordinance in April as a result of a traffic safety study outlining the hazards pedestrians face when they interact with vehicles.
A downed crosswalk pole sits on the sidewalk near the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Lake City Avenue Monday afternoon after a single-vehicle crash took it down Sunday morning. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

A downed crosswalk pole sits on the sidewalk near the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Lake City Avenue Monday afternoon after a single-vehicle crash took it down Sunday morning. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Youth basketball coach killed in crash

TONY BRITT
Monday, August 29, 2022
A Sunday morning crash has the Columbia County basketball community in mourning. Javontae Foster, a 27-year-old youth basketball coach and assistant at Lake City Middle School, was killed in a single-vehicle accident Sunday morning on the western side of Lake City.
Elizabeth Davis (from left), 16, and Wren Wilkerson, 13, 4H Four Paws members get baking tips and help from Candice Green as the teens work on creating animal treats for dogs on Saturday. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Elizabeth Davis (from left), 16, and Wren Wilkerson, 13, 4H Four Paws members get baking tips and help from Candice Green as the teens work on creating animal treats for dogs on Saturday. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

4H Four Paws barking up the right tree

TONY BRITT
Monday, August 29, 2022
The smell of baked treats wafted through the air in the Columbia County Extension Service Office on Saturday morning as close to a dozen volunteers and children used cookie cutters to cut shapes into the dough. There were angel shapes, heart shapes and of all things, paw shapes.
Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Tomi Brown (right) talks with Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd Monday afternoon. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Tomi Brown (right) talks with Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd Monday afternoon. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Secretary of State drops by for election office visit

TONY BRITT
Monday, August 29, 2022
Office and building renovations at the Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Office were completed weeks before the primary election, but a special guest on Monday got the full tour anyway.
First responders arrived at the scene of a shooting incident around 5:05 p.m. Friday near Melrose Park Elementary School, cordoning off the intersection of SE Putnam Street and SE Baker Avenue. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

First responders arrived at the scene of a shooting incident around 5:05 p.m. Friday near Melrose Park Elementary School, cordoning off the intersection of SE Putnam Street and SE Baker Avenue. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Daytime shooting injures teenager, gunfire rocks neighborhood twice in 18 hours

TONY BRITT
Friday, August 26, 2022
A 19-year-old was shot during daylight hours at a house on Southeast Putnam Street in Lake City Friday afternoon. The scene was near the same location where a spray of gunfire damaged a parked vehicle late Thursday night, according to the Lake City Police Department.