A child loads a pumpkin onto a wagon at the pumpkin patch in Alachua. Thirty percent of the profit from sales helps impoverished families.

ALACHUA - Dave Risi spent the better part of an afternoon walking through the pumpkin patch located right off U.S. Highway 441 in Alachua, just past Hitchcock's. With his wife, he watched his 13-month-old daughter go through the patch and admire the pumpkins.  

“She's having a good time,” he said. As much as she enjoyed the pumpkin patch, though, it has a purpose other than light-hearted fun.  

For several years, the First United Methodist Church of Alachua has organized the pumpkin patch, which features hayrides, games and a hay maze up until Halloween. It sells pumpkins and pumpkin-based treats to raise money to help rebuild homes in the Appalachian Mountains.

Some of the houses the church has helped rebuild in the past were without septic tanks or even floors, said Brett Bultemeier, whose wife is the youth director for the church.

“It's kind of shocking,” he said.

Bobbie Ellis went on one of the church trips to the Appalachians. When she went to deliver food to a family, she was upset by what she saw.

“They have nothing,” she said. “I have never seen somebody so poor.”

Seeing the conditions the family lived in caused her to cry, she said.

The pumpkins are grown by the Navajo people in New Mexico, Bultemeier said. The Navajo set the prices and take 70 percent of the profits, while the other 30 percent goes toward helping the less fortunate, said Anne Gay, a member of the church.

This is the 13th year for the pumpkin patch, but it still seems to be popular.

Over the span of an hour, Bultemeier said he had seen seven or eight whole families come to the patch, which is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. The busiest times are when school buses bring in children during the middle of the day, said one volunteer.

During a Monday evening a parent and her child loaded up pumpkins of all sizes onto a little wagon. The money from the pumpkins is desperately needed to help the less fortunate, Anne Gay said. There are many ways to help, and some are as simple as buying a pumpkin, she said.

"That's why we're here, to share with others," she said.

#     #     #

Email cmckinney@

alachuatoday.com

ALACHUA – When the group of people was walking along the sidewalk by U.S. Highway 441 in Alachua, the noise of traffic could be noticed more easily by some than others. Without vision, the other senses they rely on had sharpened.

Saturday, Oct. 12 was the 14th annual White Cane Walk in Alachua, organized by the Alachua Lions Club. Members of the community gathered near the fire station and walked to the Alachua Boy Scout Hut to raise awareness for Florida’s White Cane laws and to educate people on the challenges the blind have to overcome in daily life.

Florida’s White Cane law requires drivers to come to a full stop when approaching an intersection where a person with a red-tipped white cane is walking.

Some of the participants wore blindfolds on the walk and had a guide help them reach the destination, simulating blindness.

At 9 a.m., the walk began.

“There’s a curb right here, angel,” said one father to his blindfolded daughter, navigating the path.

When the walk ended, activities were set up for children to learn more about how the visually impaired handle ordinary tasks.

Maxine Stallings, from the Alachua County Council of the Blind, said she hoped the White Cane Walk helped everybody realize the blind and visually impaired can be accomplished individuals like anybody else.

“We just do our daily routine a little differently,” she said.

Stallings showed the children how she pours water in a glass by putting her fingertip inside the edge and waiting until she can feel the water reach it.

Joan Miles printed out children’s names for them in braille. She has been going to the White Cane Walk in Alachua since it was started by Alachua Assistant City Manager Adam Boukari for his Eagle Scout project.

The walk shows people how much the blind have to rely on their other senses to get by, Miles said.

“They have to really tune in,” she said. “It shows them how scary it can be.”

Reginald Howard showed off an app for his iPhone that can quickly scan a dollar bill and let the visually impaired person know how much cash they are holding.

“Can you imagine someone handing you money and you didn’t know what it was?” he asked the children around him.

He put a Bluetooth headset in one of the blindfolded children’s ears, then handed him the iPhone. Howard instructed him on how to scan the money so the value could be told to him through the headset.

“It gives them an idea what it’s like,” Howard said, “but it doesn’t let them fully understand.”

Nico Marrone, 18, said the walk taught him to not take his eyesight for granted.

“We can take our blindfolds off, but they can’t,” he said.

For his work with the White Cane Walk, Adam Boukari was given the Millennium Award from the Council of the Blind.

“It’s an honor,” he said. “This has been close to my heart for the last 14 years.”

As the event ended, a young Cub Scout could be seen escorting Reginald Howard across the street to the post office. Crossing the street, he signaled for the incoming cars to stop, and they did.

#     #    #

Email cmckinney@

alachuatoday.com

HIGH SPRINGS – In a hurricane or other serious emergency, the High Springs Police Department (HSPD) is now able to reach stranded travelers, ride over flooded streets, remove or run over fallen trees and reach people in difficult to access locations, with the help of a donation from the United States Department of Defense (DOD).

The police department spent about $2,000 to pick up a nearly 22-ton, $600,000 armored vehicle from Camp Shelby, Miss.

The DOD has about 20,000 armored vehicles coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Their only use in this country would be for police departments and emergency situations, said High Springs Police Chief Steve Holley.

The vehicle, known as the BAE Caiman, is semi-aquatic and can travel in water almost four feet deep. It was built in 2008 for military use and has only 7,000 miles on it, Holley said. With a diesel engine and transmission similar to an RV, he expects it to last many years into the future.

Previously, the city has not had a four-wheel drive vehicle.

The BAE Caiman is equipped with an infrared headlight system, a Halon fire suppression system to stop the spread of flames, self-inflating tires, a 75-gallon gas tank and has ballistic protection.

The purpose of this vehicle is to provide emergency services in emergency situations. In a rescue situation, the BAE Caiman will hold 12 to 15 people, which is important when several people may be stranded during a storm, Holley said.

Though the vehicle was built for war, its purpose in High Springs is peaceful, he said.

“It will not be used during routine patrol and has no weapons," he said.

In the coming months, HSPD will be coordinating with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, which also received one of the vehicles, and the Gainesville Police Department, which is expecting to receive one soon, to obtain appropriate training at Camp Blanding.

“Although it is not difficult to drive, we want to be well-versed in all of the capabilities of the vehicle so it can be fully utilized during major emergencies,” Holley said.

#     #     #

Email cwalker@

alachuatoday.com

ALACHUA – With the scent of popcorn and funnel cake lingering in the air, Santa Fe High School had a show to put on.

Crowds of mothers, fathers, distant relatives and even bus drivers for the bands cheered on the 17 marching bands competing for the top spot from 10 a.m. Saturday morning until 10 p.m. that night on Oct. 12 for the 18th Annual Southern Showcase.

Some parents volunteered to run ticket booths, shirt stands and the concessions office, but others preferred to support their band from the stands.

Antoinette Hunt and her husband, Randy Hunt, have sold hotdogs, hamburgers and barbecue at the showcase for the last two years.

“Each year it’s better and better,” Antoinette Hunt said.

The couple has supported Santa Fe High School since 1988 when their own children started school, Randy Hunt said.

Sitting in concrete seats sporting shirts that matched school colors, parents screamed and clapped as the event went on.

Between sets, the crowd would rush quickly to the nearest concession stands to get a drink or popcorn, and then dart back to their seats so they wouldn’t miss the next performance.

While most of the band students’ parents are volunteers, the showcase was so large it needed more people to help.

Two hundred Alachua residents helped in the showcase.

Local volunteers joined to keep the event running smoothly by packing and driving equipment to the field. Even some of the alumni come back to help set up equipment.

The showcase pulls in about 3,500 people every year, and this year it even had band members from the 1960s that live across the country come back to see their band compete, said Michelle Kays, a parent and volunteer at the event.

Parent Tracy Short, who was volunteering at a ticket stand, said the event was something that many locals look forward to every year. With five high school marching bands participating in the competition every year, the turnout continues to keep Santa Fe High School’s showcase as one of the top in the region, Short said.

Even the bus drivers for the bands look forward to seeing the bands every year.

Cindy Hall, a bus driver for Clay County, watched the band she delivered to the event. She has been driving Fleming Island High’s band to Santa Fe High School’s marching showcase for 15 years. The show always proved to be fun, she said.

The showcase hit its last note around 10 p.m. While some of the crowd dwindled, the rest of parents and volunteers helped clean up and pack the remainder of this year’s showcase.

#     #     #

Email eotero@

alachuatoday.com