Local

City owes Helfenberger 12 weeks severance

JAMIE WACHTER
Friday, June 25, 2021
Removed from office and placed on suspension Monday night, Joe Helfenberger will continue to be paid by the City of Lake City for quite some time. Lake City officials finalized the resolution temporarily removing Helfenberger from his city manager post Thursday.
Kaleigh Clements, a Lake City Middle School student, arranges packs of bottle rockets Thursday at the CHS FFA Chapter TNT fireworks tent. Proceeds raised from the sales will be used to help fund the CHS FFA program. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Kaleigh Clements, a Lake City Middle School student, arranges packs of bottle rockets Thursday at the CHS FFA Chapter TNT fireworks tent. Proceeds raised from the sales will be used to help fund the CHS FFA program. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

FFA fireworks stand ready for business

TONY BRITT
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Unpacking, stacking and organizing goods and splays extended to the Walmart parking lot Thursday morning. Students and volunteers spent hours doing the same with fireworks for the Columbia High FFA fireworks fundraiser in a tent in the parking lot.
Lee Pinchouck (left), Rotary Club of Lake City immediate past president, reads the oath installing Meagan Logan as the club’s first female president Thursday. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Lee Pinchouck (left), Rotary Club of Lake City immediate past president, reads the oath installing Meagan Logan as the club’s first female president Thursday. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Logan makes Rotary history

TONY BRITT
Thursday, June 24, 2021
The routine act of installing a new Rotary Club of Lake City president Thursday afternoon was anything but. When she took the oath of office Thursday, Meagan Logan became the first female president in the club’s nearly 100-year history.

Siegmeister trial pushed back

NEWS STAFF
Thursday, June 24, 2021
JACKSONVILLE — The extortion and bribery trial of the former Third Judicial Circuit state attorney was delayed a month. Co-defendant Marion Michael O’Steen requested a continuance Monday, which U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard granted Wednesday, pushing the trial back to September.

Armed robbers remain at large

TONY BRITT
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Going to take a leisurely smoke proved to be more dangerous than the Surgeon General’s warning for a Lake City resident Wednesday morning, when an armed gunman appeared from behind a car and attempted to rob the victim during the morning smoke break.
The remains of the house at 441 Northwest Madison Street after a fire destroyed much of the property in and surrounding the home. (COURTESY)

The remains of the house at 441 Northwest Madison Street after a fire destroyed much of the property in and surrounding the home. (COURTESY)

Late-night fire guts home, displaces family of 5

TONY BRITT
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
A structure fire late Tuesday night gutted a local home and left a family of five displaced. “The house was well involved in the rear and the structure had smoke bellowing out every opening,” said Lake City Fire Department Lt.
Ami Mitchell Fields was named the interim city manager by the Lake City Council on Monday. Fields was fired as the city’s human resources director earlier this month. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Ami Mitchell Fields was named the interim city manager by the Lake City Council on Monday. Fields was fired as the city’s human resources director earlier this month. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Council fires city manager, hires former HR director as interim

TONY BRITT
Monday, June 21, 2021
It’s a new era at Lake City Hall. The Lake City Council removed Joe Helfenberger from the city manager post and suspended him for 45 days at Monday’s regular council meeting.

Crime rate falls in city, county

TONY BRITT
Monday, June 21, 2021
Crime in Columbia County continues to drop, according to the latest data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s 2020 Annual Unified Crime Report which was released Monday.
The LCPD is hosting a “Cuffing Cancer Cookout” next month to raise funds for LCPD Officer Taylor Sapp’s fight against cancer. (COURTESY)

The LCPD is hosting a “Cuffing Cancer Cookout” next month to raise funds for LCPD Officer Taylor Sapp’s fight against cancer. (COURTESY)

Cuffing Cancer Cookout planned

NEWS STAFF
Friday, June 18, 2021
The Lake City Police Department is looking to lock up cancer. The LCPD is hosting a “Cuffing Cancer Cookout” next month to raise funds for LCPD Officer Taylor Sapp’s fight against cancer.