
| What's On This Page: - Novelist captures life in High Springs - FDA warns public of extortion scam by FDA impersonators - Stone Fair set for Alachua Saturday - FDA issues consumer alert on HAPPYTOT Stage 4 and some HAPPYBABY Stage 1 and Stage 2 Baby Foods - DEP proposes new category of unswimmable/barely fishable waters - Telephone solicitation does not benefit Police Department, Sheriff's Office |


| Telephone solicitation does not benefit Police Department, Sheriff's Office Lake City Journal The Columbia County Sheriff's Office has been contacted by several concerned citizens about phone calls they have been receiving soliciting donations for the Columbia County Sheriff's Office and Lake City Police Department. State, county and local law enforcement agencies are publicly funded and will never solicit donations from the community. There is no organization that is affiliated with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office that will seek donations on their behalf. A fraternal law enforcement organization may state that any donations they receive will benefit the agencies. However, any donations to those organizations will not be given to the law enforcement agency. If you receive these soliciting phone calls, please ask for a call back number so that the Columbia County Sheriff's Office can help to clarify the information that you are being told. The citizens of Columbia County can pass along any information to the Sheriff's Office by calling our office at 386-752-3223 or emailing eseifert@columbiasheriff.com. Citizens are always welcome to call Columbia County Crime Stoppers at 386-754-7099 with tips relating to any crimes in Columbia County. |
| 12/30/2009 9:13:00 PM FDA warns public of extortion scam by FDA impersonators The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning the public about criminals posing as FDA special agents and other law enforcement personnel as part of an international extortion scam. The scammers call people – who in most cases previously purchased drugs over the Internet or via "telepharmacies" – and claim to be FDA special agents or other law enforcement officials. The scammers tell the victims that purchasing drugs over the Internet or the telephone is illegal, and that law enforcement action will be pursued unless a fine or fee ranging from $100 to $250,000 is paid. Victims often also have fraudulent transactions placed against their credit cards. The scammers always request the money be sent by wire transfer to a designated location, usually in the Dominican Republic. If victims refuse to send money, they are often threatened with a search of their property, arrest, deportation, physical harm, and or incarceration. "Impersonating an FDA official is a violation of federal law," said Michael Chappell, the FDA's acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. "The public should note that no FDA official will ever contact a consumer by phone demanding money or any other form of payment.” FDA special agents and other law enforcement officials are not authorized to impose or collect criminal fines. Only a court can take such action, with fines payable to the U.S. Treasury. Anyone receiving a telephone call from a person purporting to be an FDA or other law enforcement official who is seeking money to settle a law enforcement action for the illegal purchase of drugs over the Internet should refuse the demand and call the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office at (800) 521-5783 to report the crime. In addition to posing as FDA officials, criminals have posed as special agents of the DEA, FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Customs Service, as well as U.S. and Dominican prosecutors and judges. In response, the FDA, in conjunction with various federal, state, and local agencies, is actively pursing criminal charges. The FDA also reminds consumers to use caution when purchasing prescription drugs over the telephone or the Internet. In addition to the increased risk of purchasing unsafe and ineffective drugs from Web sites operating outside the law, there is the danger that personal data can be compromised. For more on FDA’s concerns about unlawful drug sales on the Internet, see http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ProtectYourself/default. htm. |
| 1/13/2010 11:46:00 PM FDA issues consumer alert on HAPPYTOT Stage 4 and some HAPPYBABY Stage 1 and Stage 2 Baby Foods The FDA is recommending that the public not consume any varieties of HAPPYTOT Stage 4 and certain varieties of HAPPYBABY Stage 1 and Stage 2 baby foods in pouches distributed by Nurture Inc. The firm is recalling these products because some pouches are leaking or swollen. Swollen or leaking pouches may indicate problems with the product, including possible contamination by bacteria that can cause illness, or that the packaging has been compromised and is at risk of bacterial contamination. The varieties of these products that should not be consumed are as follows: HAPPYTOT Green bean, pear & peas, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00127 9; HAPPYTOT Sweet potato, carrot, apple & cinnamon, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00128 6; HAPPYTOT Spinach, mango & pear, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00129 3; HAPPYTOT Butternut squash & apple, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00130 9; HAPPYTOT Banana, peach, coconut & prunes, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00131 6; HAPPYTOT Banana, peach & mango, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00132 3 HAPPYBABY Mango, NET WT. 3.5 OZ. (99g), UPC 8 52697 00134 7 HAPPYBABY Spinach Mango Pear, NET WT. 3.5 OZ. (99g), UPC 8 52697 00139 2 HAPPYBABY Apricot Sweet Potato, NET WT. 3.5 OZ. (99g), UPC 8 52697 00136 1 The above meals are packaged in plastic pouches with plastic caps and are sold at retail stores nationwide. To determine if a specific product is part of this recall, consumers should examine product packaging for expiration date codes between October 2010 and January 2011. These expiration date codes are printed as the first seven characters of a 15-character string. Read more |
| DEP proposes new category of unswimmable/barely fishable waters By Linda Young Director of Clean Water Network of Florida, Inc. Would you like to give some Florida bureaucrats even more control over health and economic matters in your life? Would you like to have even less power in your own back yard and community? Would you like to give away your power to big corporations that have inordinate influence over your elected officials? No? Neither would I, but that’s what the Crist administration is about to do to us. If you are thinking that this has to do with health care or banking “reform”, . . . well, not exactly. It has to do with water quality in your community and maybe even in your back yard. Florida is moving forward at tsunamic speed, to give bureaucrats with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) the ability to downgrade many waters in Florida and to take away the few rights that you now have to protect those waters. Who is giving them this unprecedented ability to seize your rights? They are empowering themselves and they feel no compunction to inform you about it in advance. Imagine that!!! DEP shared their scheme with the taxpayers of Florida on Christmas Eve, ho-ho-ho and we all have until January 21st to read approximately 45 pages of legalese and submit comments. There was one public meeting held on the January 7th, at which the public had an opportunity to discuss the matter and ask questions. Oh, you say that you didn’t know about the meeting? Well, don’t you read the Florida Administrative Weekly on a regular basis so you can know when you are about to be robbed by your government? Read more |
| 1/12/2010 11:39:00 PM Storyteller, singer Tom Shed performs February 11 for Save Our Suwannee Inc. By Barbara Ferguson Save Our Suwannee board member On Thursday, February 11, Florida native Tom Shed delivers a musical look at the history and natural surroundings of North Florida. “A man lost in the swamp,” “Rivers revealing life’s lessons,” and “A town arising from ashes,” are some of the true stories of our lives in Florida. Shed ties the past, present and our future together as we experience nature’s reaction to our human experience." The program begins at 7:30 p.m. and ends about 8:30 p.m. at the Great Outdoors Ballroom, the second floor of the Great Outdoors Restaurant, in High Springs. Read more |

