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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.
Eastside Elementary School. (FILE)

Eastside Elementary School. (FILE)

CSD promoting half-cent sales tax for new schools

TONY BRITT
Friday, August 26, 2022
Less than a week after the primary election, Columbia School District officials are gearing up of the general election. The school district is in the beginning stages of launching a campaign seeking voter support for a half-cent sales tax that will be on the Nov. 8 ballot as a referendum item.

Vehicle shot two blocks from school

NEWS STAFF
Friday, August 26, 2022
Gunfire late Thursday night hit a vehicle within a few blocks of a Lake City elementary school. According to the Lake City Police Department, officers responded to a call of gunfire on SE Putnam Street around 11:48 p.m. Thursday.
Columbia County Fire Chief Jeff Crawford speaks during Thursday’s budget workshop. (TODD WILSON/Lake City Reporter)

Columbia County Fire Chief Jeff Crawford speaks during Thursday’s budget workshop. (TODD WILSON/Lake City Reporter)

County setting fire to outdated assessment rates

JAMIE WACHTER
Thursday, August 25, 2022
The cost of fire protection in Columbia County is going up. How high remains to be seen as the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners continue through the budget process for the upcoming fiscal year.
Perley Richardson (left), who has served as a Rotary Club member for 50 years, talks to Frank Loughran on Thursday evening during a ceremony honoring Richardson and his service to the organization. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Perley Richardson (left), who has served as a Rotary Club member for 50 years, talks to Frank Loughran on Thursday evening during a ceremony honoring Richardson and his service to the organization. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Service above self: Richardson honored for 50 years of Rotary service

TONY BRITT
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Whether it was staying at bed and breakfast inns in 13 countries, climbing the pyramids in Egypt, helping shear sheep or traversing through roundabouts in other parts of the world, Perley Richardson has experienced a lifetime of adventures as a Rotary Club member.

Fort White teen arrested on latest gun charge

NEWS STAFF
Thursday, August 25, 2022
FORT WHITE — A video of a teen smoking marijuana and wielding a firearm has landed a juvenile in jail. Kellen Woolf, a 14-year-old Fort White resident, was arrested Wednesday after authorities were tipped off about the video, according to a Columbia County Sheriff’s Office release.