BY DAN HILDEBRANMonitor Editor

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, March 7 – Hannah Virginia Wacha won the 51st Miss Keystone Heights High School Scholarship Pageant at the school’s auditorium Saturday night.

Judges also handed Wacha the interview, scholastic and most-talented awards.

Racheal Carr won the Leadership Award. The 11 contestants also voted to confer on Carr the Congeniality Award.

“Queen of the Nile” was the theme of the pageant and featured an opening dance performance by the contestants, the reigning Miss KHHS, Moriah Combass and pageant sweethearts: San Anderson, Tyler Teague and Matt West.

Carr was the third runner up in the pageant. Katelyn Kendrick was second runner up and Kameron Starling was first

runner up. The other contestants were

Marah Lowery, Kiley Dannels, Autumn Bell, Miriah Maxwell, Keirstin Marney, Caroline Dixon and Alyssa Wilson.

Wacha is the daughter of Darren and Michelle Wacha of Keystone Heights. She is the captain of the KHHS Dance Team, the president of the

Key Club and is a junior class representative. She also is a member of the National, Math and French Honor societies.

Wacha serves as a member of the Dance Company of Gainesville as well as Chance to Dance.

During the evening wear competition, Master of Ceremonies, Jared Velazquez

asked Wacha about her involvement with Chance to Dance.

“Chance to Dance is a community outreach program that was started by the Dance Company of Gainesville,” replied Wacha. “Our mission

lrmonitor@bellsouth.net • www.StarkeJournal.comDeadline Monday 5 p.m. before publication • Phone 352-473-2210 • Fax 352-473-2210

USPS 114-170 — Keystone Heights, Florida Thursday, March 12, 2015 42nd Year — 45th Issue — 75 CENTS

BY DAN HILDEBRANMonitor Editor

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, March 5 - The Keystone Heights City Council agreed to a workshop with the Keystone Heights Volunteer Fire department, during the council’s March meeting. The council delayed setting a date for the workshop because Mayor Tony Brown and Council Member Marion Kelly were not at the March 5 council meeting.

Fire Department Chief Kevin Mobley said his organization wants the workshop to explore options under which the department could resume responding to emergency calls.

“We would request,” Mobley told council members, “just that you would consider scheduling a workshop to answer any questions, solve any problems and potentially put us back to work for the city.”

The Keystone department, an independent, nonprofit corporation, has not answered emergency calls for service since April 2013, when the Clay County Commission stopped dispatching its crews.

Also in April of 2013, the city council turned down a request from the department that the city take over the organization.

In other business, during its March 5 meeting, the council also:

Agreed to parking relief for a potential Family Dollar store at Cargo Way and SR 21.

Developer Jason Lewis said the city’s rules now require one parking space for every 200 square-feet of retail space, which would require the new store to have 41 parking spaces. He requested the city allow the store one space for every 250 square feet, which would only require 33 spaces. He added that if the city granted the request, the developer planned to construct 35 spaces at the store.

Council member Steve Hart

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Keystone Fire Dept. gets 2nd hearing with city

Hannah Wacha crowned Miss KHHS

One dead, deputy shot during Putnam Hall drug operation

PUTNAM HALL, March 10- The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said four deputies opened fire on a man attempting to run them down with a car, killing the driver and injuring a deputy.

Andrew Anthony Williams, 48, of Hawthorne was pronounced dead at UF Health in Gainesville.

According to sheriff’s office spokesman Hancel Woods, on March 6, deputies and detectives were conducting a reverse drug sting operation in the Putnam Loop area of Western Putnam County. In the initial phases of the operation, 10 drug sales were made and 10 suspects were placed under arrest.

At approximately 10 p.m., the eleventh drug sale was made to a suspect later identified as Williams. At the completion of the transaction, deputies identified themselves and attempted to place Williams under arrest. Williams accelerated his vehicle rapidly in an attempt to flee and went a short distance before striking a tree. He then backed quickly away from the tree in the direction of deputies before going forward and again accelerating rapidly while turning toward several deputies. Four deputies, nearly simultaneously, fired at the oncoming vehicle, striking Williams an undetermined number of times. Sheriff’s

Keystone Heights Fire Department Kevin Mobley asks for a show of hands of people who attended the city council meeting to support the fire department.

Sheds lost in White Sands Road fire

Melrose business group discusses proposed Dollar General

(Left) MBCA President Joe Rush and Putnam County Property Appraiser Tim Parker discuss a proposed Dollar General store in Melrose with Deborah Massey, whom said she plans to organize opposition to the project.Grocery.

BY DAN HILDEBRANMonitor Editor

Members of the Melrose Business and Community Association, during the group’s March 10 meeting, discussed

the possibility of a Dollar General Store opening near the intersection of SR 21 and SR 26.

Putnam County Property Appraiser, Tim Parker, told the group that the Putnam County Planning Commission

has scheduled a 4 p.m., April 8 hearing to discuss rezoning the parcel from residential to commercial.

Parker added that even though

See MASSAGE, 6A

Firefighters from McRae and Keystone Heights responded to a structure fire on White Sands Road the afternoon of March 10. According to Clay County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Raleigh Zike, a pair of sheds burned to the ground during the blaze. No one was injured in the fire. Zike said that according to preliminary information, the structures caught fire while a man was burning leaves in the yard.

Hannah Wacha, after being crowned Miss Keystone Heights High School. Also pictured are (l-r) Moriah Combass, Abby Darty, Jessica Grimaldo and Katelyn Kendrick.

See WACHA, 4A

See CITY, 5ASee SHOOTING, 2A

BY DAN HILDEBRANMonitor Editor

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, March 7 - The Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum hosted a pioneer in women’s aviation, a former worker in a wartime aircraft factory and two leaders in the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter during its March 7 fly-in and cruise-in at the Keystone Heights Airport.

The museum hosted the quartet to celebrate Women’s History Month.

Kathleen “Kay” Hilbrandt, a Women’s Air Force Service Pilot during World War II, Betty Bishop, a worker at the Bell Aircraft Niagara Falls facility in 1943, Konnie Beauregard, regent of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Col. Samuel Elbert Chapter and Sue Plaster, regent-elect of the same organization, talked about their experiences.

Kay HilbrandtHilbrandt told the crowd

that she started flying soon after finishing high school. However, soon after she started, government officials shut down the East Coast and 50 miles inland to civilian aviation, because of the war in Europe.

After her home airport, the Staten Island Airport, moved its operations to Pennsylvania, she secured a job in the facility’s office, excepting flying time as part of her compensation. Hilbrandt parlayed that experience into qualifying for the Women’s Air Force Service Pilot program.

Commonly known as WASP pilots, the women flew military aircraft between factories, ports and 120 airbases across the United States. Some also flew cargo and assisted in combat training missions.

Hilbrandt’s WASP class, the 19th, was the final class trained.

“We flew PT-17s, PT-13s and the AT-15,” she said.

After training in Sweetwater, Texas, she helped trained cadets.

After the war, Hilbrant earned her instructor’s rating and trained returning soldiers under the GI bill at Mellor-Howard Seaplane Base and Lambros Seaplane base in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

After three years, she landed a job as a secretary at Bendix Aviation.

She also kept flying and became active in the Ninety-Nines Inc., the International Organization of Women Pilots whose first president was Amelia Earhart.

Through the Ninety-Nines, Hilbrandt raced in a Powder Puff

Derby, from Torrance, California to Wilmington, Delaware. She and her partner place 26th out of 76 airplanes.

“That was our first race,” she recalled, “and we felt we did pretty good.”

Hilbrandt remains active in WASP reunions and plans on attending a large reunion in Sweetwater, this May.

Betty BishopBetty Bishop started working

on aircraft by affixing the cowls to the underbellies of P-39s.

“I wasn’t any good at it,” she said, “so they got rid of me. They sent me over to the P-63s, where I stayed.”

She said many people, over the years, have thanked her for her contribution to the war effort.

“Really,” she said, “I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just thinking about a paycheck at the time.”

However, she said the work was enlightening and rewarding.

On the assembly line, Bishop found a niche, inserting shoes into the landing gear within the wings of the aircraft.

“My hands were small enough to fit into the little hole to put the shoes in, so the landing gear could come down,” she said. “I think that’s the only reason they kept me on, because I was the only girl on the wheel gang.”

Bishop also worked on the breaking and ballast systems of the aircraft. However her primary job was with the landing gear.

Bishop added that she and her coworkers often left hand written notes in the cockpits of the aircraft along with their names and addresses.

“We’d get an answer back,” she said. “Somebody would find it overseas.”

The P-63 Kingcobra was designed to replace the P-39 Aircobra. However, the U.S. military declined to order P-63s after its development, because officials deemed it inferior to the P-51 Mustang. Bell eventually found a customer for the P-63 in the Soviet Air Force. So, the aircraft that Bishop worked on wound up in the Soviet Union.

She said that as the war wound down, so did production of the P-63. . She was transferred to the preflight area of the factory, where she assembled armor plating.

“I got to see an awful lot of the construction of the entire plane,” she said, “because they let us wander around and check it out. It was very interesting.”

Bishop said that during her time at the Niagara Falls facility, the factory began work on the military’s first helicopter, in addition to one of the first jets Bell manufactured.

“They wouldn’t let me touch that,” she recalled, “so I stuck, pretty much, with the 63.”

Bishop said that after a 17-year effort, one P-63 has been restored and is awaiting FAA permission to fly.

Bishop said she has been promised a ride in the restored aircraft.

“But I’m not sure I want to ride in a two-seater that small.”

Wings of Dreams founder Bob Oehl said Bishop and women like her made a significant

contribution to the war and forged a new role for women in the workplace. He added that Bishop and her colleagues were immortalized by the cultural icon, Rosie the Riveter.

Konnie BeauregardKonnie Beauregard described

herself as an Air Force brat. “My dad was career Air Force,

a pilot, and my brother was in the Air Force for eight years as a B-52 pilot in Vietnam for four tours,” she said.

She said the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, also known as DAR, is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

“We are the oldest and largest patriotic, women’s lineage and service organization in the world,” she said, “with over 177,000 members.”

The Col. Samuel Elbert Chapter of Keystone Heights was organized in 1985 and is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Beauregard pointed out several, well-known members of her organization, including Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, Mamie Eisenhower, Astronaut Rhea Seddon and Jeannette Piccard, the first woman to pilot a balloon into the stratosphere.

Beauregard also talked about some of the significant achievements members of her organization have completed over the years.

“DAR members donate millions of dollars each year in communities, giving service to veterans, students and citizens, as we serve our threefold objectives of historic preservation, education and patriotism,” she said. “Our motto is God, home, country.”

“We are not tea-sipping ladies of leisure,” she added, “but dynamic women patriots

who love the United States of America.”

Sue PlasterSue Plaster is the regent-

elect for the Col. Samuel Elbert chapter and is also a realtor for C.B. Isaac Realty, specializing in lake front properties.

Plaster told the audience about her mother, a WASP pilot.

World War II started three days after Plaster turned 11. Since both of her parents were licensed pilots, the conflict had a huge impact on her life. Her father joined the military and toward the end of the war was killed when saboteurs destroyed two engines of the plane he was piloting.

Plaster traveled with her mother, Natalie Ellis Fahy, whom graduated with the fourth WASP class in 1943.

During Fahy’s training, Plaster spent her sixth-grade year staying with a family in California. She visited her mother twice, once during spring break and the second time after she was out of school.

Once Fahy completed her training in Sweetwater, the family was reunited in Dallas. However, because of her parents’ busy schedules, the three were rarely together at the same time.

Because of an acute housing shortage in Dallas, the military put the family up in a hotel. Plaster remembered the inn as first class, with movie stars Clark Gable and Tyrone Power staying there also.

“If they got on an elevator while I was down there, I would run to get on the elevator like I had to go to the room,” she remembered. “I never got any further than riding on the elevator with them, but for a 12 or 13-year-old girl, that was a lot of fun.”

The following year, Fahy was transferred to Palo Alto,

California, where she was assigned to tow targets for anti-aircraft drills.

Plaster visited her on the weekends, and remembered the environment in California as much stricter then she enjoyed in Dallas.

While in Palo Alto, in December 1944, Plaster and her mother were visiting two other WASP pilots at the home of one, when a telegram arrived. The WASP program had been disbanded.

Plaster said she recalls the abruptness of the communication, and the manner in which the women were left to fend for themselves.

“It was really sad, the way they were treated,” she said. “No money to get home. Thirty-eight

of them were killed (during the war effort, mostly in accidents). The WASPs got the money together, wherever they were, to ship the bodies home. The government did nothing for them.”

The military’s treatment of the women in the program is well known. The 38 killed were denied military honors for their funerals, and the survivors did not receive veteran status until 1977. The WASPs were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.

Plaster said that even today, she occasionally runs into the discrimination that her mother endured during the war.

2A Lake Region Monitor • Thursday, March 12, 2015

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Wings of Dreams Founder Bob Oehl introduces the panel for Women’s History Month during the organization’s March meeting at the Keystone Heights Airport. (L-r) Betty Bishop, Sue Plaster, Key Hilbrandt and Konnie Beauregard.

office personnel at the scene administered emergency first aid to Williams while rescue crews responded to the scene. Williams was transported to UF Health in Gainesville where he was pronounced deceased.

According to Woods, Williams had a long criminal history with multiple previous charges for drugs, fleeing, eluding, resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer.

Sergeant Robert Nelson was also wounded in the arm during the incident. Investigators concluded Nelson was struck by a shot fired by another deputy.

The four deputies who fired shots during the incident have been placed on administrative leave. The investigation of the shooting is being conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

SHOOTINGContinued from 1A

Wings of Dreams observes women’s history Month

See PLASTER, 3A

29th Annual Community Interdenomina-tional Lenten Services

March 11, noonEveryone is welcome. Lunch

is provided by the host church each Wednesday during Lent and is served at noon, followed by music from local talent and dynamic messages from local ministers. Freewill offerings

will be accepted for the meals provided.

March 11, Community Church of Keystone Heights, Speaker: Pastor Terry Robertson of Faith Presbyterian Church, Music: Bound to Soar

Knights of Columbus

Lenten Fish Fry

Friday, March 13, 4:30 to 7 p.m.

St. William Catholic Church. Proceeds benefit Lake Area Ministries and the ESE Department at Keystone Heights High School. Dinners cost $8.50 and may be eaten in the church hall or taken out.

Garden Club of the Lakes

Monthly meeting

Thursday, March 12, 10 a.m.

The Garden Club of the Lakes will host Care Valleau from Green Cove Springs at its next meeting on March 12 at 10 a.m. Valleau will demonstrate how to make planters using the hydrotufa method. Members and guests can make two, 4 x 6 inch planters. The cost is $5 to cover materials. Valleau will also have planters for sale. Prices will vary depending on size.

The planters are wonderful gifts and are great for succulent gardens and small plants.

The Garden Club of the Lakes meets at Faith Presbyterian Church in Midway, at S.R. 21 and Southeast C.R. 21B.

Melrose’s 8th Annual Open Air Arts

Public viewing days: Saturday and Sunday, March 14-15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Reception and art sale: Saturday, March 21, 6-9 p.m.

More than 50 local and regional artists will participate in a marathon of creativity in and around historic Melrose in March to capture in their artwork the town’s charming architecture and lush natural landscapes in the 8th Annual Open Air Arts.

The public is invited to watch and listen on Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. as participating artists, working live on-site in various mediums, tackle some of the challenges of working outdoors, such as changing light and dynamic weather conditions. As they work, artists also will share glimpses of their creative process with visitors. Artist demonstrations will be given in Heritage Park and at other sites in the Melrose area throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday.

As part of the festivities this year, a new event, the Quick Draw, will be introduced on Sunday, March 15. This singular event is open to anyone with their own art supplies for a $10 entry fee. The two-hour event will have artists all creating together in one group from 2-4

p.m. in Heritage Park, selling their work directly to the public and competing for cash prizes.

Be sure to return the following weekend for the Open Air Arts Reception and Art Sale on Saturday, March 21 from 6-9 p.m. The public is invited to meet the artists, view and purchase completed artworks at four participating galleries in Melrose. An exclusive Patron’s Award Reception, from 4 - 6 p.m., for pre-purchase sales commitments, will give attendees first choice of the artworks offered for sale.

This week-long, outdoor event, which is free and open to the public, was founded by and is hosted and produced by the artist’s cooperative at Melrose Bay Art Gallery. Other Melrose art galleries, Artisan’s Way, Gallery 26, and the Melrose Art and Cultural Center, are also participating in the event. Proceeds from art sales will support these galleries and keep the arts alive and thriving in Melrose.

Friendship Bible Church

The Joy of Access

Sunday, March 15Friendship Bible Church

Missions Conference. Guest Speakers, Rev. Jim Baker, Rev. Larry and Mrs. Huddleston. Begins March 15th at 10:30am. March 16, International Dinner at 6:00pm (Iraqi and Eastern European covered dish meal) March 18, Street Market and Café (in fellowship hall), March 19 Rev. Jim Baker to speak at young adult meeting. For more information call 352-473-2713.

Keystone Heights Heritage Commission

Oral History Expert

Saturday, March 14, 2 p.m.

The Keystone Heights Heritage Commission is kicking-off its new oral history program to preserve living memories of the community. In conjunction with Clay History Month, the Commission is pleased to announce that Dr. Paul Ortiz, Director of the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, will speak to the public at the Lake Geneva Beach Pavilion on Saturday, March 14th at 2pm.

Refreshments will be served.Dr. Ortiz, also an Associate

Professor of History at the University of Florida, is the current President of the Oral History Association. He received his Ph.D. in History from Duke University in 2000.

He writes frequently for the popular press and has been interviewed by ABC News, the Washington Post and the BBC to name a few. His latest work is entitled: “Our Separate Struggles are Really One: African American and Latino History,” to be published by Beacon Press as part of its ReVisioning American History Series.

Dr. Ortiz currently directs the

Thursday, March 12, 2015 • Lake Region Monitor 3A

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“Where grooming is not only our profession it is our passion”

She said that while returning from Boston last week, her flight from Miami to Gainesville was delayed because the pilot became sick.

Sometime later, she saw a blond woman in a blue uniform enter the aircraft. She said to

some of her fellow passengers, “that must be our pilot.” However, some replied, “can’t be, she’s a woman.

Plaster told them that her own mother flew warplanes during World War II and suggested her cabin mates update their views on women aviators.

Plaster said that as the plane made its final approach into the Gainesville Regional Airport, it descended to within 12 feet from the ground before suddenly lurching up back into the air.

The copilot came on the intercom system and explained that a Cessna had ventured onto the runway, and the pilot aborted

the landing to avoid a collision.Plaster said that after the

flight, she made her way to the front of the plane and noticed the door to the cockpit was open. She saw the blond woman in the blue uniform and said, “Nice flying.”

Wings of Dreams activitiesOver the past few years,

Wings of Dreams has hosted its monthly fly-ins in a large hangar adjacent to the airport’s offices. Growth by one of the airport’s tenets forced the museum out of the hangar. It hosted the March fly-in under tents behind its museum.

Founder Bob Oehl said that as soon as the Missionary Aviation College completes construction of its hangar at the end of Runway 5, Wings of Dreams will begin hosting its fly-ins in that facility.

Oehl also told the breakfast gathering that the museum now owns a solid rocket booster from NASA’s space shuttle program. Oehl said the artifact is now at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and that he is making arrangements for transportation to Keystone Heights. He added that the museum has also acquired a NASA Learjet 28 and five space shuttle tires.

Oehl said he and co-founder Susan King are also working to acquire a NASA observatory dome, now in Melbourne. He said the dome would be a admirable addition to the museum’s growing astronomy program, now led by Dr. Francisco Reyes, associate scientist at the University of Florida’s Department of Astronomy.

PLASTERContinued from 2A

Fahy

Melrose church celebrates Black History Month

St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church held a black history program: “A Dream, Cause For Action,” on Feb. 15. John Alexander was the guest speaker. Pictured are (left) Alexander and Pastor Alvin W. Oliver.

See HISTORY, 4A

4A Lake Region Monitor • Thursday, March 12, 2015

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is to teach elementary school students how to dance, and at the end of the year, give them an opportunity to perform in our annual production of ‘The Wiz.’ My goal is to be a mentor and a positive role model to the students, and it makes me so happy to see the smiles on their faces after they perform ‘The Wiz’.”

During the Feb. 28 Miss KHHS talent competition, Wacha performed “Kitri Variation” from the ballet: “Don Quixote en Pointe.”

During her farewell address, outgoing Miss KHHS, Moriah Combass, said her year as the title holder helped her mature.

“Participating in, and being crowned Miss KHHS has changed me,” she said, “and I like to believe the change has helped me grow as a person, a daughter, a friend, a student and a community member.”

Combass recalled some of the appearances she made as Miss KHHS, and said interacting with students at Keystone Heights and McRae Elementary schools were among her fondest memories.

“The kids’ reactions have been the best,” she said. “I may not have been a Disney princess, but I view that as a positive thing. These young people recognized I was one of them, that I lived in their community, got dirty

playing sports, shopped at local grocery stores and that I did something as simple as make time for them.”

“This past year,” Combass continued, “I realized that making a difference in other peoples’ lives, has made a

difference in mine.”Combass also praised Pageant

Director Lynn Dickinson and Assistant Director Jeannie Peoples for developing her communication skills and leadership potential.

“I cannot thank you enough for the time and effort you have put into making a queen out of an ordinary, everyday girl,” she said. “These two ladies are the ones who deserve to wear a crown, all year long.”

Miss KHHS Scholarship Pageant contestants, (l-r) Caroline Dixon, Katelyn Kendrick and Keirstin Marney, performing the pageant’s opening number: “Walk Like an Egyptian.”

Wacha also wins interview, scholarship and most-talented awards Continued from 1A

Hannah Wacha (center), receiving the Most-talented award from Moriah Combass. Also pictured is Racheal Carr, winner of the Congeniality and Leadership awards.

Miss KHHS 2014, Moriah Combass, takes her final walk.

Samuel Proctor Oral History Program in Gainesville. The Program is named for its founder, a prominent scholar of Florida history and a pioneer in the field of oral history in the United States. It collects oral histories with the purpose of preserving eyewitness accounts of economic, social, political, religious and intellectual life in Florida and the South. So far the Program has gathered more than 5300 interviews, making it one of the largest oral history archives in the United States. Major projects have focused on Florida county-specific history, military and women’s history, business and economic development, water and environmental policy, WWII, SEC, Sports and University of Florida history.

On March 14th, Dr. Ortiz will speak to residents of Keystone Heights about the importance of oral histories for the sake of current and future generations. Keystone Heights is a relatively new town, developed in the mid-1920s to attract winter residents to North Central Florida’s Lake District. The planned community was platted and created by civil engineers from Pennsylvania and still boasts dozens of its original homes. Many of its older residents can recall its earliest settlers.

The site for the lecture is the Keystone Heights Beach Pavilion, one of the town’s first structures, built in 1924. The Keystone Heights Heritage Commission plans to restore the Pavilion in time for the City’s 100th anniversary in 2025. For additional information, contact LaDonna Hart at 352.281.8237.

Melrose Library

Paws to Read featuring Clyde the Wonder Dog

Friday, March 13, 4 p.m.The Melrose Public Library is

excited to welcome back Clyde the Wonder Dog for the Paws to Read program. Clyde will return on Friday, March 13th at 4 p.m., children will be able to read books to Clyde. Clyde is a trained therapy dog and has experience at hospitals and nursing homes. He is warm, furry, and loves stories! Children are encouraged to give him a treat after they finish reading. Although large in size, Clyde is very gentle and gives little kisses. Children and their caretakers should plan to arrive early so that the children can choose their book before Clyde arrives. He is very popular with the young and the young-at-heart. The young-at-heart will have an opportunity to visit Clyde after the children finish reading with him. Clyde’s visit ends promptly at 5:30 p.m.

Clyde is a special breed called the Leonberger. Despite their large size and lion-like appearance, they are calm, gentle, sweet, and great for children. Leonbergers make excellent therapy dogs, and Clyde is top-notch with his training and experience! For more information about this breed (or to discover other dog breeds) visit the American Kennel Club’s website: http://www.akc.org/breeds/leonberger/index.cfm.

Bring the whole family for this free and fun Putnam County Library Program.

The library is located at 312

Wynnwood Avenue (behind the post office) in Melrose.

For more information call the library at (352) 475-1237. Also, check out the Library System’s new website, www.funinputnam.com, for the full event calendar for all branches, as well as many other resources.

Friendship Bible Church

March Madness

Saturday, March 14Fourth Annual March

Madness 3 vs. 3 basketball tournament. To sign up please visit http://www.fbcma.org/ (main page) Friendship Bible Church 352-473-2713.

Friends of the Keystone Library

Book Sale Fundraiser

Saturday March 14, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

At the library - come on out!

Veterans Memorial Pathway

Brick salesThrough April 15The Veterans Memorial

Pathway is selling memorial

veterans bricks now through April 15. Bricks ordered before the deadline will be installed in time for the May 25 Memorial Day ceremony.

Please mail your order to P.O. Box 595, Keystone Heights, FL., 32656. Make a check payable to

HISTORYContinued from 3A

See BRICKS, 5A

Answers Resource Center held its Fifth Annual Benefit Banquet at Trinity Baptist Church on Feb. 20. The night included dinner, a silent auction and speeches by CEO JoAnna Weldon and Kim Aldridge, executive director of Communities in Schools in Bradford County.

Weldon told the crowd that Answers is raising its profile to non-pregnancy clients, and launched an Answers Girls Club in February to help teens become empowered and assertive.

Answers Resource Center has been serving women in the Lake Region since 2011 with pregnancy testing, confidential counseling, community resource referrals and abortion recovery support.

said that he was on the planning and zoning board when Dollar General constructed its new building on Green Way.

He told the council that during that process, the planning and zoning board gave Dollar General flexibility in applying the city’s parking rules.

“My philosophy, at the time,”

he told his colleagues, “was that the business knows if it’s going to have enough parking, or it’s going to have disgruntled customers.”

The project will now follow the city’s normal procedures for new construction, including approval of the site plan before the planning and zoning board.

Expressed support for a proposed splash park.

Troy Stephens, president of the

Friends of Keystone Parks, said the project would cost between $350,000 and $400,000. He said that under his proposal, the city would provide land for the park, and participate in its design. He said his organization would raise the money for construction costs, in addition to maintenance costs for the first four years of the park’s operation.

He added that his group has already lined up other partners

for the project, including financial institutions, private corporations, designers, contractors, engineers “and a long-term, nonprofit, locally, that has agreed to be our financial funnel and accountability partner.”

Stephens said that the park

would draw families from surrounding areas. He added that now, many Lake Region families travel to out-of-town recreational facilities, like the splash park in Lake Butler, for family activities.

Passed the city’s sign ordinance.

During a public hearing prior to the vote, some Keystone Heights business owners said they did not have a full understanding of the ordinance. One business owner questioned the need for the city to regulate window signs.

Delayed filling two vacancies on the Keystone Airpark Authority Board.

Airpark Authority Chairman, David Kirkland recommended the council appoint Jeffrey C. Hathorn and Chad A. Rischar to the board.

However, several council members said they wanted to delay the vote because Mayor Tony Brown and Council Member Marion Kelly were not present, and they felt the appointments should be approved by the entire council.

Passed a proclamation supporting the 29th Annual Clay County Fair.

Approved a donation to Project Graduation.

Accepted a $105,373.50 bid from John C Hipp Construction to resurface certain roads in the city in 2015.

Unveiled a new sign for the Leona Terry Azalea Park.

Veterans Memorial Pathway.The cost is $35 per brick for 18-

21 characters per line, including spaces for personal information. Call Joan Jones at 904-894-8411 for more information at any time.

You may also pick up order forms at the Keystone Heights City Hall on Lawrence Boulevard.

If you are looking for a beautiful gift to give your veteran, whether passed away, still in service or retired, these engraved bricks make an everlasting gift for a birthday, anniversary or other occasion.

Melrose Library Association

Melrose Folks by Kirsten Engstrom

Throughout MarchThe Melrose Public Library

is excited to announce that we will be displaying the works of Kirsten Engstrom in our display case for the month of March. Ms.

Engstrom started out working as a model for an art class—the students would sculpt her out of clay. Although she initially was afraid that she “had no talent”, witnessing the metamorphoses in clay changed her mind and she signed up for a class in clay.

The clay figures Kirsten creates reflect her ever-present personal involvement in everything she does. There is a quality in her work that moves people to touch into their own joy and beauty; it is this interactive quality that makes her work unique and fun. Kirsten has even observed children talking to my sculptures, insisting, “They are alive”.

Kirsten lived, worked, and exhibited in Spain for 20 years and directed an art gallery and school in Palma de Mallorca, Spain in the early 80’s.

Her happy, hope-filled sculptures range from 2” to 17’ and are made of reinforced concrete and high fire clay. Each piece takes 2 weeks or more, 3 days of which are spent firing them in a kiln. My work can be seen locally, nationally and internationally.

Visit the Melrose Public Library and enjoy Ms. Engstrom’s works for yourself; they will be on display in the case until April 1st, 2015.

Clay County Agricultural Fair

ContestsHey Clay County, have

you always wanted to enter something in the fair, but didn’t know how? Well, it’s easier than you think. The 29th Annual Clay County Agricultural Fair invites adults and children to

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City Manager (left) Terry Suggs and Council Member Steve Hart unveil a new sign for the Leona Terry Azalea Park.

Vice Mayor Paul Yates reads a proclamation of support for the Clay County Fair, while Fair Director Pete Sutton looks on.

CITYContinued from 1A

BRICKSContinued from 4A

See FAIR, 6A

300 attend Answers banquet

Answers Resource Center CEO JoAnna Weldon. Photo by Christy Prowant Photography.

enter the many contests: 4-H , FFA or open shows. All of the competitive exhibits information and entry forms are listed in the exhibitors’ handbook on our website at www.claycountyfair.org

Share your talent and you could win ribbons, rosettes, money, plaques, or trophies.

Our popular Hay Bale Decorating Contest for groups or clubs has a pre-registration requirement and a cutoff date of March 10.

Open shows include:Fair Theme Art Contest,

Creative Arts (adult and youth divisions include quilting, baking, canning, scrapbooking, woodworking, sewing and needlecraft, and more), Honey Show, Horticulture Show, Painting and Photography Show, Dairy Goat Show, Meat Goat

Show, Egg Show, Poultry Show, Rabbit Show, and the Red Hat Competition. See rules and online preregistration at www.claycountyfair.org.

Creative arts (adult and youth), horticulture, painting and photography entries will be accepted through online registration and on Sunday, March 29, 2-6 p.m. and Monday, March 30, 3-7 p.m., at the Clay County Fairgrounds. Rules and preferred online registration are at www.claycountyfair.org

4-H/FFA Contests & Shows:4-H Horse Show, 4-H Projects

Exhibit Show, 4-H/FFA Dairy Show, 4-H/FFA Livestock Judging Contest, 4-H/FFA Poultry Judging Contest, 4-H/FFA Rabbit Fashion Show.

Contests include: Hog Calling, Husband Calling,

Diaper Derby, Toddler Trot, Talent Show, Chess Tournament and the Miss Clay County Fair Scholarship Pageant.

Some shows have early entry deadlines, some require pre-registration and others are on-site. See the website for details. For complete details of the rules, dates and entry forms of each contest and show, visit our website at www.claycountyfair.org/exhibitors-handbook.htm or call the fair office if you need assistance @ 904-284-1615.

Kiwanis Club of the Lakes

Easter sunrise service

April 5At Keystone Beach. Speaker

is Steve Connor from Fresh Start Fellowship. Music by the Fellowship Praise Band. Offering to benefit Lake Area Ministries.

AMVETS Post 86

Gary Hayman Memorial Poker Run

April 12, 11 a.m.All proceeds go to the Geary

“Top Pop” Hamon Memorial Fund, to benefit the Keystone Heights High School JROTC and

the Patriot Guard Riders. Cost is $15 per person and includes one poker hand, barbecue dinner and music and fun at the post. Stops include VFW Post 8255 in Middleburg, VFW Post 1988, in Green Cove Springs, VFW Post 334I in Palatka and AMVETS Post 19 in Fort McCoy. For additional information call the post at 352–473–7951.

6A Lake Region Monitor • Thursday, March 12, 2015

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Melrose residents awake the state

Doris Nabors, June Beverly, and Gloria Sumner were in Melrose Tuesday evening traffic holding signs to show support for Awake the State, a nonpartisan event showcasing five issues of concern: expanded healthcare, a clean energy act, a water protection act, a living wage amendment, and an anti-corruption act. Photo by Marihelen Wheeler.

Massage business now at proposed Dollar General site

Lake Area Massage now rents a building where a proposed Dollar General Store may be built. The parcel is north of Chiapinni’s Gulf Station and across S.R. 21 from Williamson’s

the land is now zoned residential, it is listed as a commercial property on the county’s future land use maps. He also said the land surrounding the proposed site is zoned commercial and that now, a massage business is operating on the parcel.

Deborah Massey, and several other MBCA members, vowed to oppose the project.

However, Joe Rush, MBCA’s president, said that for now, the association would take no official position on the proposal.

Rush and Parker also talked about a proposed community redevelopment agency for the Putnam County section of Melrose. Rush outlined the basics of a CRA’s formation, governance, financing and operations. He said he was looking for volunteers to explore the proposal and to represent Melrose’s interest in the agency to the Putnam County Commission.

Parker told the association that the city of Palatka has three

CRAs. He said one, in the South, Historic District, has revitalized the neighborhood.

Parker added that two of the most beneficial programs in the South, Historic District are grants. One, a $10,000 grant available to homeowners seeking improvements to their properties and the second, a $5,000 matching grant.

“So a homeowner with $5,000 can obtain $20,000 in grant money for improving their properties,” he said.

Continued from 1A

LRM Legals 3/12/15

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALEPersonal property of the fol-lowing tenants will be sold for cash or otherwise disposed of to satisfy rental liens in accordance with Florida Stat-utes, Self Storage Facility Act, Sections 83.806-83.807. Auction will be held on 3/31/15 at 10:00 a.m. at Mel-rose Mini Storage, 827 N. SR 21, Melrose, FL 32666. Phone (352) 475-5000. All items may not be available on the date of the sale.Tenant Name, Crystal Walker, Unit# 52, Description, house-hold.

3/12 2tchg 3/19-LRM

LEGALSFAIRContinued from 5A