VOLUME 5 ISSUE 31
Deadline to $2 request mail in ballot is August 8!
AUGUST 2 - AUGUST 8, 2024
Three sets of Circuit Court judicial candidates on the August ballot By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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here are three Circuit Court judge groups on the ballot for all Marion County residents this primary season, but only one set of candidates are vying for the
Group 20 seat located in Marion County: Ben Boylston and Barbara Kissner Kwatkosky. The other two seats on the ballot, Groups 13 and 7, are in the Fifth Circuit, which encompasses Marion, Lake, Sumter, Levy, and Citrus counties. Since judges can be
transferred within the circuit, all registered voters in the five counties will have the opportunity to weigh in on the nonpartisan judicial races on the Aug. 20 election. According to the Florida Court Administrator, Circuit Court judges handle “civil
disputes involving more than $50,000; controversies involving the estates of decedents, minors, and persons adjudicated as incapacitated; cases relating to juveniles; criminal prosecutions for all felonies; tax disputes; actions to determine the title and boundaries of real property; suits
for declaratory judgments that is, to determine the legal rights or responsibilities of parties under the terms of written instruments, laws, or regulations before a dispute arises and leads to litigation; and requests for injunctions to prevent persons or See Judges, page A3
Laundromat explosion injures four Governor signs A gas leak is suspected in the incident at the Classic Laundromat on NE 25th Avenue. Photos By Bruce Ackerman Ocala Gazette
death warrant in 1994 Ocala National Forest murder case By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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Clockwise from above: Firefighters with Ocala Fire Rescue clear the scene of an explosion at the Classic Laundromat store on Northeast 25th Avenue in Ocala on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. A firefighter walks out of the laundromat. Bystanders look on after the explosion at the Classic Laundromat store.
By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
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our people were injured and at least two neighboring stores were significantly damaged Tuesday evening, July 30, when a suspected gas leak exploded in a laundromat in a northeast Ocala shopping plaza. Ocala Police Department officers responded around 6:18 p.m. to reports of the explosion at Classic Laundromat at 1423 N.E. 25th Ave, according to Sgt. William Christman. Ashley Lopez, public information officer for Ocala Fire Rescue, said a deputy chief and two battalion chiefs responded to the scene. Lopez said two of the injured persons were transported to a hospital for treatment, one on trauma alert. Two other injured persons were not transported for treatment. Lopez said building and electrical officials were on the scene.
An OFR tower truck, one of multiple emergency vehicles dispatched, was used at one point to give a city of Ocala building inspector a look at the roof of the plaza. Norma Cowan was working at Shell gas/Sunshine Food Mart 202 directly across the street from the laundromat when the explosion occurred. She was waiting on customers when she heard a “boom” and said “the store shook (and the explosion) shook me.” Cowan said she first thought a car had hit the store but when she ran outside she saw the “laundromat engulfed in flames.” A woman who sat across the street from the strip mall as fire fighters completed work identified herself as the owner of laundromat but declined an interview. The Marion County Property Appraiser website lists the name of the strip mall as Hillside Plaza and states it was built in 1973. The website includes a list of tenants as of 2020, which shows the laundromat at the 1423 address and
1427 as Frailejon Venezuelan Food and Bakery and 1421 as Boost Mobile. According to a press release from OFR, also responding to the scene were Ocala Electric Utilities, Ocala Water Resources, Ocala Building Department, Marion County Fire Rescue and TECO Gas. The state fire marshal and OFR Inspectors are investigating, according to the press release. Late Wednesday afternoon, Lopez issued a news release that said the two people who were transported to the hospital following the explosion were released on Tuesday night. “The latent part of the investigation is focused on confirming eyewitness reports and reviewing the building’s structural updates and historic permits to identify the incident’s cause. The laundromat’s dryers were powered by natural gas. The commercial structure housing Classic Laundromat was built in 1973. A laundromat has occupied the current establishment since,” she noted in the release.
Feds target Florida gun rule lawsuit By Jim Saunders Florida News Service
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he Biden administration this week urged a judge to toss out a Florida lawsuit challenging a new federal rule that will require more gun sellers to be licensed and run background checks on buyers. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys Monday filed a 22-page motion in federal court in Tampa arguing that Florida does not have legal standing to challenge the rule, which was finalized in April by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed the lawsuit May 1, in part alleging that the rule will force the state to handle a “surge” in requests for background checks. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducts checks. But in the motion, Justice Department attorneys described such potential effects as “self-inflicted” because the FBI could do the background checks for the state. It said Florida “has made the voluntary decision to add a layer of bureaucracy” and, as a result, does not have standing to challenge the rule.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation operates the federal firearms background check system and offers full background check services to states for free,” the motion said. “The majority of states rely on the FBI to conduct background checks, and those states incur no costs or burdens relating to background checks. The federal government has not forced Florida to conduct background checks; Florida has voluntarily taken on that burden.” Florida and other Republican-led states have filed lawsuits challenging the rule, which is an outgrowth of a See Background, page A3
fter spending nearly 30 years on death row, a man found guilty of a murder committed in the Ocala National Forest in 1994 is slated to be executed next month after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on Monday. Loren Cole is on death row after being convicted of first-degree murder, armed kidnapping, armed robbery and armed sexual battery after he and another man, William Paul, murdered a man and kidnapped and assaulted a woman in the Ocala National Forest. Paul was sentenced to life in prison and Cole was sentenced to death for John Edward’s murder and the other crimes. Despite contesting his sentence more than 10 times, Cole is now expected to be sentenced to death at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29. “The record has been reviewed and there are no stays of execution issued by any court of competent jurisdiction in this cause. Based upon the above-referenced summary of litigation affirming the judgments and sentences of death imposed for first-degree murder, the record is legally sufficient to support the issuance of a death warrant,” wrote Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. On Feb. 18, 1994, Eckerd College student Pam Edwards drove to the Ocala National Forest to meet her brother John Edwards, a Florida State University student, to go camping for the weekend. It was there where they encountered Cole and Paul, who befriended the brother and sister. The pair robbed and beat John and Pam, then killed John and kidnapped Pam, who was sexually assaulted multiple times by Cole through the following night. Cole and Paul tied up Pam and left the campgrounds. Once she was able to free herself, Pam called the police, who found John’s body and subsequently arrested the two men responsible. In 1995, Marion County Judge William Swigert sentenced Cole to death by means of electrocution. Since then, lethal injection has become the more standard practice of execution in Florida. “In January 2000, the Florida Legislature passed legislation that allows lethal injection as an alternative method of execution in Florida. Florida administers See Cole, page A2
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