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ALACHUA ‒ Summer is here and school is out, leaving children with limited activities and social interaction with other children—and parents with few options to watch their children on work days.

For some parents it becomes a choice between working to earn an income or staying with their children when school is out. To help parents and offer a variety of activities and programs to children, the City of Alachua's Recreation and Culture Department, in partnership with the Children’s Trust of Alachua County, is providing eight weeks of summer camp June 6 through July 29.

The camps are held at the Legacy Park Recreation Complex, which offers an indoor area with basketball courts, a stage and classrooms for movies and learning activities as well as a concession stand. Outside offers an all-inclusive playground, sports fields for soccer, baseball and football and park benches for outdoor meals.

The camp offers an opportunity for children to make their summer break from school an “adventure” to be remembered and also to burn off all that energy that youngsters seem to have an endless supply of, and hopefully build a few new friendships along the way. Camp activities include sports games, music and dance, various games, playground time, artwork, splash park, swimming, movies, weekly field trips, and more.

The camps runs every weekday and over 180 elementary and middle school students signed up for both half-day and full-day sessions. The full day program runs from 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are part of the package in compliance with the Alachua County School Board's summer nutrition guidelines.

Although the program costs $400 for the entire course, the Children’s Trust of Alachua County sponsored 100 full and partial scholarships based on household income and need, so that everyone had an opportunity to participate in the program.

The camp is an example of Alachua’s focus on providing resources, opportunities and activities that benefit local residents and provide opportunities for youth.

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ALACHUA COUNTY — Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton is notifying voters about changes in the upcoming 2022 Primary Election. A visible change is that envelopes for vote-by-mail ballots in the 2022 Primary Election will not be pink as they have been in previous elections due to a shortage of colored dye. The top and left borders of the envelopes will now have pink markings.

Vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed to domestic voters with an existing request on file by July 14. Overseas ballots will be mailed to voters with an existing request on file by July 8.

The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for the 2022 Primary Election is 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13. Vote-by-mail ballots can be requested online, in person, or by phone, fax, mail or email. Until the deadline, vote-by-mail ballot requests will be filled as they are received. Any registered voter can sign up to vote by mail.

The Supervisor of Elections Office must receive domestic vote-by-mail ballots by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Aug. 23. Voters who vote by mail are encouraged to mail their completed ballot well in advance of Election Day to give the ballot ample time to arrive at the Supervisor of Elections Office before the deadline. Voters should also verify that their voter information and signature are up to date before they return their ballot if they have moved or their signature has changed.

Any voter who does not sign their vote-by-mail ballot or whose signature on the vote-by-mail ballot certificate does not match the signature in their voter record will be contacted by the Supervisor of Elections Office and provided the opportunity to correct their ballot. Per Florida Statutes, voters have until 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25 to complete an affidavit to correct a vote-by-mail ballot that does not have a signature or has a signature that does not match the voter's signature on file.

Voters can deliver completed vote-by-mail ballots to the Supervisor of Elections Office, located in Gainesville at 515 N. Main Street during normal business hours — 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Voters can also use the Secure Ballot Intake Station located outside of the office’s main entrance. The Secure Ballot Intake Station will be available at the Supervisor of Elections Office Aug. 8 through Aug. 22 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Election Day, Aug. 23, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Additionally, Secure Ballot Intake Stations will be available at all seven early voting locations from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the early voting period of Aug. 13 – Aug. 20. Voters have until 7 p.m. on Election Day to return their vote-by-mail ballot to the Supervisor of Elections Office.

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ALACHUA ‒ Brianna Denise Thomas, 19, Gainesville, and Shaniya Nycole Wilson, 18, Alachua, were arrested on Thursday, July 14, following a fight in the 14200 block of Northwest 156^th Place in Alachua.

At about 4:30 p.m., Alachua Police Department officers responded to reports of an altercation involving multiple parties. The victim, who reportedly recorded much of the incident on video, reported that Wilson, Thomas and others approached her vehicle “aggressively.”

Multiple witnesses reported that Wilson was holding a knife and that there were many bystanders nearby, including children. One witness reported that once it became known that the police had been called, Wilson ran away from the scene, dropped the knife, then came back and continued the dispute unarmed. Officers searched the area and reportedly found the knife nearby.

Thomas allegedly beat on the window of the vehicle while making threats to “beat” the occupant. She was charged with simple assault and released on signature bond.

Wilson was charged with aggravated assault and was released on her own recognizance.

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MONTEOCHA ‒ The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is currently investigating a single vehicle traffic crash which resulted in one fatality. On July 10 at approximately 10 a.m., units from Alachua County Fire Rescue, LaCrosse Fire Rescue, ShandsCair, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol responded to a single vehicle accident in the Monteocha area of Alachua County.

A red Mitsubishi Eclipse sedan was traveling north on Northeast 21^st Street near Northeast 181^st Place, when for reasons unknown, the vehicle traveled off the east shoulder of the roadway at a high rate of speed and struck a large oak tree after reportedly rolling over. The vehicle suffered significant structural damage and came to a rest after impact. Both vehicle occupants were ejected during the crash.

FHP reports that a 33-year-old female was pronounced dead on scene and the second occupant, a 23-year-old female, was transported via helicopter with life threatening injuries. Names of the individuals, both Gainesville residents, have not been released. Neither occupant was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. The cause of the accident and which occupant was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash is under investigation by the FHP.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Louis Bryan Bass, 19, was arrested on Saturday, July 2, and charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect with great bodily harm after his three-month-old son was transported to the emergency room with a brain bleed and a bruise on his torso.

First responders at the scene reported that they found the baby unresponsive and that he had signs of a traumatic brain injury.

Bass had been caring for the baby in the hours preceding the 911 call. When deputies told him that the injuries were consistent with shaking a baby, Bass reportedly said he was stressed and that the baby cried a lot, but he denied shaking him.

Bass is being held on $400,000 bond.

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ALACHUA ‒ People shopping at Alachua’s Hitchcock’s grocery store may be in for a surprise. The store’s parking lot may appear typical with its marked off parking spots and cart corrals. But for those taking a closer look, an array of shiny almost sci-fi-like white structures dotting the perimeter of the store’s property along U.S. Highway 441 says otherwise.

Blame it on rising gas prices or concerns about climate change, but there is undoubtedly an increasing demand for hybrid and electric cars. With An average EV car getting about 250 miles on a full charge, and with the burgeoning sales of EV cars, a growing problem is the limited number and availability of public charging stations.

And that’s where Hitchcock’s, Tesla and the parking lot sentries enter the picture. As the largest manufacture of EV cars, Tesla has created a network of 35,000 Supercharger stations to support their vehicles. The stations are located on major routes near convenient amenities and gas stations to create a network to support longer travel and road trips.

Tesla had already built stations in Gainesville and Jacksonville, but not to the north in rural Florida, leaving drivers in North Central Florida with the only option of driving to major hubs when not charging at home.

Hitchcock’s owner Carlos Alvarez is also a Tesla owner, and he saw a need for a supercharging station in the Alachua/ High Springs area and the surrounding rural communities. Alvarez believed the location of the store, close to I-75 and along U.S. Highway 441, offered an ideal spot for a station. It took over a year of negotiations, but Tesla finally agreed to build a station at Hitchcock’s and cover all costs. The City of Alachua provided access to the City's power supply, and two months ago, 12 stations of Supercharger stalls were installed along the north perimeter of the Alachua Hitchcock's parking lot.

Daughter of Carlos Alvarez, Giselle Alvarez says, “We saw a need for the station for the community and travelers, so we made the offer to Tesla. In our opinion this was a good concept and has proven to be very successful with multiple cars there every day.”

Using the Tesla app, Tesla owners can view Supercharger stall availability, monitor their charge status or get notified when you’re ready to go after charging. For trips, they can enter a destination on the car's touchscreen and the Trip Planner app will automatically calculate the route with Superchargers along the way. However, the key to the whole system is providing stations along the way.

While Tesla provides the station for their car owners, the charging stations are not free, but offer a much lower cost than gas, especially with this year’s surge in prices. Electric vehicles are less expensive to fuel than gasoline powered vehicles. The average person drives between 10,000 and 15,000 miles and spends between $1,400 and $2,100 on gasoline per year. In comparison, the cost of electricity to power a Tesla over the same distance is up to four times lower.

Over the six-year average length of car ownership, that's between $6,600 and $9,600 in gasoline savings. The average Supercharger cost of $0.25 per KW to fully recharge a Tesla or other EV car for 250 miles of range costs approximately $22. The stations are free to any Tesla owner who bought their car before 2018.

The Supercharger network allows EV drivers to plug in at a convenient location, take a break, do a little shopping or get a bite to eat. “This station not only benefits the citizens of Alachua and High Springs, it also provides travelers on I-75 a chance to explore our community and businesses after using the station,” said Giselle Alvarez.”

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