Grand opening a homerun

Newberry Commissioner Jordan Marlowe throws out a first pitch during opening ceremonies at Nations Park.  Photo by Suzette Cook special to Alachua County Today.

NEWBERRY – The parade in honor of the Nations Park opening invitational tournament may have been fueled by the largest marching assembly in the city’s history.

“It was a fabulous opening ceremony. I think it’s the longest parade we’ve ever had—we almost lapped ourselves,” said Mayor Bill Conrad, who spoke at the park’s opening ceremony Saturday morning.

“I dedicated the fields to our youth and the sport of baseball and the family values that have always been a part of Newberry,” he said.

“The facility is a very unique design so it becomes a different kind of game.

“The fans are all along the sidelines and out toward the outfield.

“There’s no noise at home plate. It’s more a coach and kids’ game.”

Conrad was optimistic about how the parking was synchronized. Even with upwards of 400 cars moving in and out at one time in the complex’s parking lot, there were no lines or congestion.

“We didn’t do a head count, but you could tell there were thousands of people,” said Keith Ashby, Newberry’s city manager. He has been met with a barrage of emails and phones calls with praise for the opening weekend.

“Probably one of the best things was that we were able to validate the technology. We have been reporting nationally that we have state of the art fields with an underground piping system.”

Despite the rainy weather, players were back out on the field within 30 minutes after the rain stopped. Every game was played on schedule.

“The players and the parents seemed to have loved it,” Ashby said.

“It was a great success.”

In addition to Conrad, several other officials delivered speeches as well, including Congressman Ted Yoho and Commissioner Joe Hoffman who talked about a positive vision for economic development. Stephen Davis, who donated the 80-acres that is now Nations, also spoke.

Several commissioners threw the opening pitches on each of the 16 fields and Alachua County Commissioner Lee Pinkoson joined spectators along with City of Archer Mayor Frank Ogborn and City of Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper.

“I think the facility stands out in the number of ball fields and the number of teams that they can attract for a tournament at one time,” Ogborn said.

“I was there for the initial shovel in the dirt,” he said.

“It’s come a long way from there, and I can see where it’s going. The best is yet to come,” he added.

Mayor Gib Coerper of the City of Alachua remarked about the community effort involved.

“All 16 fields were being used and that in itself takes a lot parents, grandparents, friends and family,” he said.

Five organizations from Newberry High School ran the Nations concession stand and were able to keep some of the profits, including the softball and football teams and the cheerleaders.

The brain behinds this operation, Lou Presutti who brought New York its Cooperstown Dreams Park, could not have asked for a better first of many tournaments.

“It was unbelievable,” he said.

“People were raving about it. Everything was over the top.”

Nations’16 fields overflowed with 120 games across two days. The more than 60 teams were broken up into five age categories, designated by age from 9 years to 13. Sunday ended with five Georgia and Florida teams crowned tournament champions.

The Georgia Bateman team took the win in both the 9- and 12-year-old age group. Wesley Chapel Storm team took the win in the 10-year-old age group, Piranhas Baseball team won in the 11-year-old age group, and North Florida Gators were victors in the 13-year-old age group.

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ALACHUA – Alachua-based biotech company Nanotherapeutics, Inc. has secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense that could be worth about $360 million.

The company was awarded a $135,834,018 cost-plus-fixed-fee incrementally-funded contract by the U.S. Army to develop and manufacture drugs and vaccines to combat bioterrorism. If all options are exercised, the total award over 10 years could reach $360 million.

Expected uses of the drugs and vaccines include treating military populations against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks and outbreaks of naturally occurring emerging and genetically engineered infectious diseases.

The development and production of these drugs and vaccines will be done locally in Alachua. A large development and manufacturing facility will be built in Alachua, with an estimated completion date of March 19, 2015, said Patti Breedlove, associate director of the University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator.

“It’s wonderful news for the whole community here,” Breedlove said. “It will put a spotlight on Alachua.”

Nanotherapeutics officials could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The company, located at 13859 Progress Boulevard in Alachua’s Progress Corporate Park, currently produces new drugs and makes existing drugs stronger through nanometer-scale particle technology.

Nanotherapeutics was founded by James Talton in 2000 under the name Nanocoat Technologies. It was renamed Nanotherapeutics in 2002.

Nanotherapeutics was a resident company in UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator for almost nine years. The company was admitted to the incubator on Jan. 3, 2000. It graduated from the program on July 30, 2008, relocating to a new building in Progress Corporate Park, which fronts U.S. Highway 441 and borders San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park.

Additional information is expected to be released by federal officials in the future.

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HIGH SPRINGS – The High Springs City Commission is expected to restore monthly salaries for commissioners and the mayor at the Thursday, March 28, 2013 commission meeting. Resolution 2013-D, which would have made restoration of their salaries retroactive to the beginning of the 2012-2013 fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2012, failed to pass during the March 14 commission meeting.

While commissioners were in favor of restoring the salaries, some expressed displeasure at making the retroactive date the beginning of the fiscal year. Mayor Sue Weller and Commissioners Bob Barnas and Linda Gestrin defeated the resolution with a 3-2 vote and instead directed City Attorney Scott Walker to present another resolution at the March 28 meeting in which the retroactive date is set at March 1, 2013.

City Attorney Walker modified the wording as directed and it will now appear on the March 28 agenda as Resolution 2013-E.

Commissioners have been receiving $100 less in salary each month since October. If Resolution 2013-E is approved as anticipated, each commissioner will return to their previous salary amounts.

This fiscal year, commissioners have each been receiving $400 monthly and the mayor has been receiving $450 monthly. Adoption of the resolution would return those monthly salaries to $500 for commissioners and $550 for the mayor.

Salaries for hourly employees, which had been reduced at the beginning of the fiscal year by 6.07 percent, were reinstated earlier this year and made retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year.

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HIGH SPRINGS – A proposed resolution guiding elected official civility culminated in a heated confrontation between two High Springs city commissioners and the tabling of the resolution to a later commission meeting.

At the March 14, 2013 High Springs City Commission meeting City Attorney Scott Walker presented Resolution 2013-C for consideration, which was designed to establish a code of conduct and ethics for the mayor, commissioners and other charter officers. Walker prepared the resolution following comments previously expressed by Vice-Mayor Scott Jamison and High Springs resident Suzie Ann Clark regarding the lack of civility on the part of one commissioner toward members of the public and fellow commissioners in his blog.

Walker said he researched what some other cities included in their civility resolutions, reviewed the City of High Springs Employee Handbook to see what was expected of the City’s employees and also incorporated language from Jamison’s earlier comments to create the resolution.

In presenting the resolution, Walker said there had been some controversy in the past and the resolution came out of a desire to help with this issue. He further emphasized that more and more cities are now crafting civility expectations into formal statements for their elected officials.

Commissioner Bob Barnas said the resolution was “one-sided” and a violation of his right to free speech. He further expressed displeasure that City Attorney Walker took it upon himself, without the consent of the entire commission, to create the resolution because of one commissioner’s comments.

Commissioner Linda Gestrin agreed that the resolution was an attack on free speech, adding it was a form of bullying.

Walker disagreed, stating he did not feel it was a violation. “The intent was to head off divisiveness,” he said.

Jamison said he believed that public officials are held to a higher standard and should at least “adhere to the same level of civility that we hold our employees to.”

Jamison added, “When someone enters into public office, it is a 24-hour a day position.” Stating he was in favor of the resolution, Jamison said, “The resolution does not deny anyone the right to voice their opinion,” but it should be expressed civilly. “It isn’t too much to ask for the commissioners to be just as respectful of the citizens as the citizens are expected to be to the commissioners.”

Mayor Sue Weller commented that the Commission is the “face of the City and we have an obligation to present ourselves in a manner becoming the position.” She requested the resolution be tabled to allow commissioners time to review it and take a further look at it at the next meeting.

Commissioner Byran Williams moved to table the resolution and Mayor Weller passed the gavel to Vice-Mayor Jamison and seconded the motion.

Following several minutes of citizen comments, pro and con, and a suggestion that the resolution be incorporated into an existing document, Comissioners Barnas and Williams got into a heated discussion.

Barnas claimed he knew which way the vote would go. He read the third principal of a local citizens’ group, Concerned Citizens for a Better High Springs, which was written in November 2012. He said that Mayor Weller, Vice-Mayor Jamison and Commissioner Williams’ names appear on the list and they “seem to be the new majority.” Barnas further said they are going to vote on a resolution that was put forth months ago, where meetings were held to talk about civility and code of conduct.

Williams challenged Barnas’s allegation, asking how someone can say how he is going to vote. Williams said that he, like the other commissioners, had just been given the resolution that night and had not had a chance to review it yet.

“If truth be known, I was going to vote against it,” Williams said. “This is the kind of stuff that tears this city apart.” He added that assuming how a commissioner will vote is “disrespectful,” and asked, “When are we going to grow up?” He suggested it was time that the citizens and commissioners came together to do what was best for the City.

At that point, Williams called the question and the proposed civility resolution was tabled with a 4-1 vote with Jamison casting the no vote.

It is expected that matter will be discussed again at the March 28, 2013 commission meeting.