If you canoed the Sante Fe River last weekend taking advantage of the long holiday, you might have been floating alongside of world-renowned cave diver Rick Stanton.

Rum 138 co-owner Doug Jipson said the European diver came into his kayak and canoe rental shop near Rum Island asking to explore the river from above instead of beneath the surface for a change.

“He asked ‘Can you take us up to 441 to dive,’ ” Jipson said about Stanton’s request. “He has dived every springs,” Jipson added. “He’s the number one rated diver out of Europe.”

So Jipson said he dropped Stanton and his crew off at Hornsby Springs near Camp Kulaqua.

“He’s always been beneath,” Jipson said. “Now he’s going to be above.”

Jipson and his wife Merrillee opened Rum138 one year ago. “It’s our anniversary,” Jipson said.

“We have seen a huge growth because we are smack dab in the middle of all of the springs. I turned 40 people away on Saturday.

Meanwhile, at Rum Island, snorkeler Jim Allen and his granddaughter Mia, 8, said they were searching for creatures. “We come here to enjoy the flora and fauna Allen said with his mask still on as he climbed out of the water.

A canoe was approaching sporting an American flag and paddlers Andrew and Sarah Kittrell of Jacksonville were trailing behind their friends from High Springs. The Kittrells were being watched by 10 turtles perched on a branch and a Blue Heron.

Over at Itchetucknee Springs State Park, employee Jimmy Decker was trying to squeeze as many tubes and rafts onto the flatbed of the tram hauler as possible so he could get the next 75 passengers back where they started.

“Memorial Day weekend is when we start the tram service,” Decker said.

Lisa and Justin Daniels of Jacksonville have just reached the end of their float down the Itchetucknee as they introduced their daughter Paisley, 2, to the experience. “She sat on my lap the whole time,” Lisa said.

Now Miss Linda Lynch is manning the booth below the tube tree her employee Rudy made. Lowe’s Tubeland was hopping all weekend and Lynch was enjoying a plate of hot dogs and fresh cut watermelon.

Lynch is a co-owner of the business that’s been in the family for years, she said. “My grandparents started it.”

“Sundays are always slower to start,” Lynch said about the weekend. “Part of the river is still closed.

“Best time is to come during the week,” she advises to avoid crowds. “It starts Memorial weekend through Labor Day weekend.”

Over at Poe Springs things are going smoothly. “It was busy,” said Vernest LeGree, Acting Parks Open Space Superintendent for Alachua County. “A lot of activity, not overcrowded. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and there was a steady stream of people coming and going.

LeGree said new steps replaced the old steps into the springs that had started to erode. And he noted that water levels were still above normal.

“It’s pretty high, he said. “There’s three or four steps going down into the springs.”

River Ranch Water Park lifeguard Jeremie Thompson, 16, of Lake City, was enjoying the start of his second season at the water park of Camp Kulaqua.

“It gets crazy when the summer camps come in,” he said. “The heat is the most challenging and the funnest park of the job is the slide,” he added.

“You get to go down it at the end of the day.”

Joseph Shook, 18, is waving cars down on Route 27 trying to entice customers to stop at the Ichetucknee Tube Center. His day started at 7:30 a.m. and lasts until about 3 p.m., he said.

He describes his job. “It can range from when a customer pulls up you tie the tubes on for them, to greeting customers,” he said. “It depends on the situation.”

Shook bows and waves his arm as if to give permission for the next car to pull up curbside.

“Since I’m waving for hours, I might as well enjoy myself,” he said.

“Those blue ones right there,” he said as he pointed to a stack of tubes, “Are really comfy and they’re two dollars more.”

Back to Kulaqua River Ranch where Manager Jeanette Queen said they had a good turnout. We’ve had 300 to 350,” she said.

“Our next community days are June 22 and 29.

We’re starting to catch on and trying to make it where we’re out in the neighborhood more,” she adds.

“There’s all locals here. If they aren’t a local, it’s because they came with a family that is local.”

Back in Alachua, one-year-old Christopher Torres won’t budge from the circle of fountains squirting all around him. He is soaked and sporting a Superman shirt. His parents heard about the Splash Park on Gainesville Word of Mouth on Facebook.

Manning the facility is City of Alachua employee Kade Talton who is double checking the pH and chlorine levels. He just emptied a filter and jotted down the readings in a log.

“My job is to keep it clean and make sure the chemicals are right,” Talton said.

It is Christopher’s first birthday and he is still sitting in the circle of sprinklers and he couldn’t be happier.

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ALACHUA – An Alachua man was arrested recently on several drug-related charges stemming from an ongoing investigation by the Gainesville/Alachua County Drug Task Force with participation by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Vonzell Demond Howard, 31, was arrested and booked into the Alachua County Jail on May 12, on several counts of drug possession and possession with intent to sell. Howard, who lives at 13912 N.W. 142nd Place, Alachua, is also charged with maintaining a drug dwelling.

At the time of his arrest, Howard was out on $25,000 bond for a previous arrest on Sept. 19, 2013. His earlier case was still pending when his bond was revoked and he was rearrested on May 12.

Gainesville Police Department and Alachua County Sheriff's Office arrest records show Howard was in possession of morphine, oxycodone, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis. The total bond amount for all charges is set at more than $3.6 million.

Howard was arrested on three warrants. His first warrant was for trafficking in cocaine, a felony of the first degree, carrying a bond of $50,000.

His second warrant was for drug possession with intent to sell Schedule III or IV drugs, a felony of the third degree and maintaining a drug dwelling, a misdemeanor of the first degree, carrying a bond amount of $5,100. During a search of Howard's home, investigators found morphine and oxycodone.

His third warrant was filed by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office and carries a bond amount of $3.6 million. He is charged with five drug-related charges including possession of methamphetamine and the purchase of cocaine, both of which are second degree felonies, the purchase and possession of marijuana, both of which are third degree felonies and trafficking in cocaine of more than 28 grams, but less than 150 kilograms, a first degree felony.

Howard has a history of arrests for drug possession, possession with the intent to sell, trafficking in cocaine, keeping a dwelling or vehicle with drugs inside and has either bonded out with a $25,000 bond or was released on his own recognizance in those cases.

At press time, Howard remains in the Alachua County Jail under a combined bond of $3,655,100.

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A rendering of Public at Alachua Marketplace designed by Cuhaci & Peterson Architects Engineers Planners. / 

Rendering special to Alachua County Today

ALACHUA – The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) gave the City of Alachua the green light to install traffic signals near the proposed Publix Super Market construction site.

The signals will be installed for turn lanes near the site, according to Gina Busscher, spokesperson for the FDOT office in Gainesville.

Busscher said the developer still had to close on the purchase, but construction on the property is projected to begin early 2015.

City officials and developers met to discuss development standards and process for the new Publix Super Market, according to Assistant City Manager Adam Boukari. However, site plans have not been submitted yet. “But we do anticipate a site plan to be submitted.” Boukari said.

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SUZETTE COOK/Alachua County Today

Santa Fe High School 1997 graduate and former NFL football playher Adrian Peterson visited Santa Fe High School to speak about his new book "Don't Dis My Abilities" recently.

ALACHUA – Adrian Peterson, 34, is walking down the hallway at Santa Fe High School like he never left. The 1997 graduate and all-star football and basketball player is home after all. Next to him is a student pushing a rolling cart with a box of books on it. This time, Peterson is more than a famous athlete. He’s an author bringing his own book to the Raider media center.

“The library still looks the same,” Peterson says to the students in front of him. “It still smells the same, just the people are different.”

And then he begins to talk of his journey.

“I am living proof of hard work,” he says. “That being from Alachua, Florida, I grew up with a speech impediment, had a big dream and made it to the NFL.”

Peterson started dreaming of becoming an NFL player at the age of six, he says. “But I didn’t get drafted until I was 21 years old,” he adds.

He remembers what it was like struggling when he spoke with a stutter in class. “I always wanted to speak clearly,” he says. “I could hear kids in the background laughing and snickering, and I remembered what my parents told me. ‘You go to school to learn, not to make friends.’ ”

Peterson played for four years as a Raider and won a state title before becoming the first sophomore at Georgia Southern University to win two National Championships in 1999 and 2000.

After he graduated college, Peterson was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round. He played for eight years, including the 2006 NFC Championship season and Super Bowl XLI, and ran for over 1,200 yards in his career.

Santa Fe High invited Peterson to come by and talk about his new autobiography “Don’t Dis My Abilities” which talks about his success as a football player, as well as his current difficulty with a speech impediment and infant daughter’s medical issues.

The visit was made possible by a donation the media center received from Dollar General, Media Specialist Georgeanna Moore, says. “In the fall, we received a phone call from Dollar General saying that we’d been selected as a literacy program they would like to donate to,” Moore says. “So they came out and there were kids in the media center, teachers came in from the copy room. They handed me a check for $40,000.

“So since then, we call it literacy explosion,” Moore says. “We are trying to do something to get the kids motivated to read and into studying.”

A projected image of the cover of Peterson’s book shines on one wall as he speaks. Students are leaning in listening to his stories and advice.

When he wants to make a point he repeats it.

“Start a habit,” he says. “Start a habit. A habit is something that is hard to break.

Instead of going home and getting on your Smartphone or facebook, read a little bit.”

Peterson knew he would need to speak in public one day, he says. So he continued to take speech classes. “In high school, I did interviews with the Gainesville Sun and TV 20, he says. “At Georgia Southern, I went from doing seven interviews my entire high school career to seven or eight interviews in a day with media such as ESPN.

Interviews intensified when Peterson spoke as a Chicago Bear player after games. “In one interview session there’d be 20 microphones, 20 pens and papers, 20 video cameras in front of you,” he says.

“I knew one day I would need to express myself.”

Peterson offers more advice to the students.

“It’s okay to look up to a professional athlete,” he says. “But find someone you can touch. Find someone who does it the right way, every day.”

Go to school, make good grades, take the right classes and put yourself into the right position so when a university calls and offers you a scholarship, you’re ready.”

I am proud of myself for having perfect attendance from 2^nd to 8^th grade,” Peterson says about why going to school is so important. “If you see it and listen to it in class, you’ll learn it.”

A student asks Peterson about how he wrote his book.

“It started off as a hobby,” he says.

“Just put your ideas on paper. Don’t worry about punctuation, just get your ideas on paper. A week here, put it away and come back to it. A month here, in between flights. Off season and then, one day I looked up and I had 30 pages.

“I wrote mostly on the computer, but sometimes when I didn’t have a laptop, I would think of an idea and then put it on my iphone and when I got back to the computer, I would write it out.”

Students asked Peterson about his education, family and current work. “I own a small trucking company, started a youth flag football team in Chicago and stay at home with four kids,” he says.

“I graduated before my last collegiate football game,” he says. “So if the NFL didn’t want me, I still had a plan B which was a degree in recreation and a minor in sociology.”

Students applauded at the end of Peterson’s presentation and he visited with them and posed for photographs before the next class arrived.

Sophomore Austin White said he learned a lot from Peterson. White, 16, plays center on the Raider football team.

“Always keep a strong work ethic,” he said about Peterson’s advice. “School comes first, work hard and stay strong.”

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