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
Three Rivers'
ICHETUCKNEE VIEWS
About Fort White and County
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
Novelist captures life in High Springs
By Anna Quintana
For The Herald

HIGH SPRINGS – History is more than old buildings.

For Bobby C. Jones, history is the
story of people in those buildings.

With his debut novel, A Conformation
of Family: Paul’s Testament, Jones
tells the story of High Springs, of the
events that took place and the people who shaped its history.

Through the eyes of a 7-year-old
boy, Jones takes you back to the
early 1960s in High Springs, full of
tobacco fields, old buses and hard
work, and on a journey as the boy
discovers his culture and the
importance of family.

“I looked at a lot of history books in
this area, and it’s only about the
buildings,” Jones said. “I didn’t want
to write a history book, I wanted to
write a story of the people that lived
here.”

Growing up, Jones has always had a passion for telling stories, and writing a
novel seemed inevitable.

For more on the story
‘Stone Fair set for Alachua Saturday

ALACHUA – Arrowheads from Florida’s very first residents, as well as the
bones of mammoths and other ancient animals found in the area, will be on
display Saturday in what organizers are calling a display far better than what
can be seen in any museum.

The Third Annual Alachua Stone Age Fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Alachua Woman’s Club at 14565 S. Main Street in
downtown Alachua. Three speakers will be featured at the event.

Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for kids under 12 years of age.

The event will showcase arrowheads, bones and pottery fragments found
locally on land and in water, as well as items found throughout the country.

For more on the story