NEWBERRY –Nations Park will hold its Columbus Day Classic tournament Oct. 11 to13, and its Halloween Bash tournament Nov. 2 through 3.

While this may be considered business as usual, the Newberry City Commission has been having preliminary discussions about renegotiating the entire process of running Nations Park, said City Manager Keith Ashby.

The Newberry Department of Parks and Recreation, Gainesville Sports Commission, United States Specialty Sports, Elite Pro Ball Academy and girls softball programs have been involved in the discussion.

“Depending on how they renegotiate the process, we believe the Gainesville Sports Commission may end up being the mangers of the field in operation.

If all goes well with the new contracts, the first tournament put together under the new arrangement will be in December, Ashby said.

The sports commission has started to discuss bringing in events to the park and forming new partnerships, said executive director Joleen Cacciatori.

In addition to the two upcoming tournaments, Perfect Game will hold its North Florida qualifier super 25 series on Nov. 23 to 24.

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NEWBERRY – Although the sky was cloudy last year on June 5, Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc. still spotted Venus start its eclipse of the sun through telescopes set up behind the Easton Newberry Sports Complex. That could have been the last chance some of them would get to see Venus’ transit in their lifetimes.

For about two years, the club has been meeting at this location behind the baseball fields, a small facility called Newberry Star Park, said Any Howell, club president.

With help from Doug Eng, club secretary and Easton Foundations outreach director, and the Parks and Recreation Department, the club now has eight observation pads to stand their telescopes on and a place to store equipment.

“Most members are recreational astronomers,” Howell said. “They enjoy looking at the stars and the moon and observing and learning about the heavens.”

The club is dedicated to public outreach and invites everyone who is interested in the moons and stars to attend International Observe the Moon Night on Oct. 12 at the park from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

It holds school outreach events, like the one at Hidden Oak Elementary School that will be on Oct. 10. Members bring their telescopes for the kids to show them the stars and the planets.

The idea is to regularly schedule school and public outreach events to stir up interest and astronomy education for the community, Howell said.

“We want to get Newberry schools more involved as well. If we can use the Star Park as a base to educate kids,” he said, “that would be fantastic.”

The organization, through cooperation with state parks, is planning to host a star showing for visitors at Big Shoals State Park.

The community is welcome to attend the club’s public meetings held usually every second Tuesday of every month at the Florida Museum of Natural History. One exception is the meeting on Oct. 8, which will be at the Santa Fe College’s Kika Silva Pla Planetarium. University of Florida astronomy professor Elizabeth Lada will speak about stellar clusters and our origins. The November meeting’s topic of discussion will be aimed at helping beginners choose a telescope.

The Alachua Astronomy Club, started in 1987 by Dr. Howard Cohen, a retired UF professor, became incorporated in 1997. It has 100 members and celebrated its 25th anniversary last December. Membership dues vary for individuals, ranging from $12 to $100, depending on age and college-enrollment status, among other factors.

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(L-R) Gentle Carousel Trainer/Owner Jorge Garcia-Bengochea, Billy, an unnamed orphan and Marine Raftopoulou, volunteer coordinator at Gentle Carousel Greece.

HIGH SPRINGS – Travelling from the small town of High Springs to a mountain orphanage in Greece is a journey most horses probably haven’t undertaken.

Members of the local organization Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses have returned from Greece after helping set up Gentle Carousel Greece, a therapy-horse program to focus on special needs children and children living in orphanages. Charity founder Jorge Garcia-Bengochea and members of Gentle Carousel Greece met with nuns running isolated mountain orphanages to explain the therapy program and how much it could help the children in their care.

They were encouraged by how well the program was received and look forward to regular Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horse visits with the children in their remote settings.

Because the orphanages are so isolated, the children get little exposure to the outside world and visitors, Garcia-Bengochea said. Visits with the children help broaden their perspective on life. In addition, miniature horses live quite a long time. The children will grow up with the same horses throughout their childhood in most cases, he said.

In Greece, adoption is not an option for children without parents. They stay in orphanages with other children and the nuns until they are adults. “They are a family unit. The older children help take care of the younger ones like they would in a regular family setting,” he said.

The Greek Olympic Equestrian Team contacted the High Springs group, asking if they could set up a sister program in Greece.

“They were willing to provide stables, full-time trainers, vehicles to transport the horses and sponsorship money for their program if we would consider setting up a program for them,” said Debbie Garcia-Bengochea.

Greece has a strong equestrian history and honors one of the most famous actual horses of antiquity, Alexander the Great’s horse Bucephalus, on Greek coins and statutes.

“We considered it carefully before agreeing to do it. We knew we couldn’t afford to set up another program anywhere. The cost of transportation for the two of us back-and-forth to Greece and sending our horses to Greece was a major concern,” she said. “However, they were willing to pick up the entire cost of setting up the program and had an extensive amount of public and governmental support. Plus, this would remain our program. We will train the trainers and oversee every step of the program because it is a Gentle Carousel program.”

The couple said they would like to have been able to set up other Gentle Carousel programs in the United States, but the charity is operating on a shoestring as it is. “We just couldn’t afford the cost to set up a program without outside help,” she said. “While we do get donations to our charity, both Jorge and I still work to be able to maintain the program we have now,” she said. “In addition, some of our sponsors have withdrawn their support because we decided to set up a sister program in Greece. They were disappointed we didn’t do it here first, but there was just no way we could do that financially,” she said.

Better known nationally and internationally than locally, the Gentle Carousel founders received an overwhelming welcome on their recent trip to Greece. “We went over to train the trainers, talk to the people involved and the nuns at the orphanages to help set up the program,” said Debbie Garcia-Bengochea.

During their visit, the Mayor of Rafina, Yiorgos Chritopoulos, expressed support for the organization.

“Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses have long supported the sick, the elderly and those living in difficult situations in the United States,” he said. “It is my honor to now welcome this special charity to Greece where they will be an encouragement to the most vulnerable members of our community and bring a common bond of hope between our two countries.”

George Frangogiannis, two-time national show-jumping champion and a member of Greece’s national team welcomed the couple.

“I am thankful that young children challenged by sickness and the elderly of Greece, who might never have the opportunity to know the love of a horse will now have that experience,” he said.

While the Garcia-Bengocheas are back in Florida, they are Skyping with the Greek trainers as they work with the horses in Greece and are preparing to send six more of their own trained horses over to Greece soon. The couple will go back to Greece to work further with the Greek trainers and get the program started.

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ALACHUA – John Maloney watched from the audience as his stepdaughter, Kaylee Mines, followed in his footsteps and took the pledge.

Kaylee, a fifth-grader at Alachua Elementary, was one of almost 30 students to become a part of the safety patrol in Alachua during a ceremony, which took place at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 20 at Alachua Elementary School. The students were called up in three groups and took the pledge to honor and uphold the responsibility given to them through this title.

The newest wave of safety patrols was sworn in by Joel DeCoursey Jr., chief of police at the Alachua Police Department.

“She has wanted this for over a year now, and it’s really something that makes her mother and I very proud,” Maloney said.

The main goal of the program is to maintain order in the school as much as a student can, DeCoursey said. There is a reason these kids were chosen and placing this kind of trust in them is only going to help them to grow, he added.

The young students pledged: “I promise to do my best to report for duty on time, perform my duties faithfully, strive to prevent accidents, always set a good example, obey my teachers and officers of the patrol, report dangerous student practices and strive to earn the respect of fellow students.”

It was really something special for Maloney to experience watching Kaylee become part of the safety patrol, just as he had done when he was in school, he said.

Alachua County has been a part of the program for over 35 years, DeCoursey said. It is a country-wide program as well, he added, and it acts as a reward for fifth-grade students who can meet the standard.

Kelly Maloney, Kaylee’s mother, was proud her daughter has been able to meet that standard and has a desire to help others.

“I know that they only pick the best students to receive this title,” she said, “and it will be great for teaching her how to handle this type of responsibility.”

Christine McCall was another mother on hand at the ceremony where her daughter, Allison McCall, also joined the patrol.  

To be selected, a student has to have good grades, act in a mature manner and do the right thing, McCall said. This will be something that teaches her to behave well when other people look up to her, she said.

Each student is assigned a post, and they ensure that the safety rules of the school are upheld in that area, said Eva Copeland, principal of Alachua Elementary.

One of the posts a student could receive is the car-pickup area. This is the zone where parents can get their children after school. A safety patrol would be responsible for making sure that each student got to his or her car safely at this post, but they would probably not open doors or load students, Copeland said.

DeCoursey has been involved with the program in the city for over 20 years and he has seen it be a tremendous help for some students. It gives them a sense of pride in something. They all had to work for this and seeing that work culminate in this reward really means something, he said.

There is an additional reward for the children. At the end of the year they will be going on a trip to Washington D.C. as a part of the program. About 1,300 students from around the county take the trip every year. It’s basically a bonus for them, DeCoursey said.

Most of them don’t really care that it is Washington D.C., they just enjoy the excitement of going on a trip, he said.

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