VOLUME 7 ISSUE 5
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MLK events Pages A6, B2 January 23 - 29, 2026
Development bills get go-ahead
Sen. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, is sponsoring two bills being watched by environmental groups. By Jim Turner The News Service of Florida
P Then a state representative, Stan McClain, now a senator, speaks during a Marion County Delegation meeting in Ocala on Jan. 6, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/ Ocala Gazette file photo]
roposals that would allow single-family homes on some property zoned for agriculture and make it more difficult for local governments to increase impact fees started to move forward Jan. 20 in the Florida Senate. The Senate Committee Affairs Committee approved two bills by Chairman Stan McClain, R-Ocala,
that are being watched closely by environmental groups. One measure (SB 686) would allow owners of what are known as agricultural “enclaves” in counties with populations under 1.75 million to put forward plans for singlefamily housing that are consistent with land-use requirements of adjacent parcels. Such enclaves are generally agricultural land surrounded by development. Only Miami-Dade and Broward counties have more than 1.75
million residents, based on 2025 estimates from the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research. McClain said the proposal is about “property rights.” “Someone that owns a piece of property should be able to come and certainly enjoy the same benefit of a decision made by a governmental body that was made for his neighbors,” McClain said.
Investigation paints a picture of deeper culture problems at MCFR
See Development, page A2
“It’s negligence at this point” Two Florida lawmakers aim to force counties to strengthen 911 infrastructure with bills this session
Deputy Chief of Marion County Fire Rescue Robert Graff, left, and Chief James Banta, right, listen during a Marion County Commission meeting at the McPherson Governmental Complex in Ocala on June 20, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]
Examples of “normalized deviation”come from across the department, with a selective response from leadership. By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
T The bills remove the ability for local disputes to stall progress. If county leadership cannot agree on a unified system by Jan. 1, 2027, the law will automatically designate the sheriff as the entity responsible for all operations. Under this “sheriff default” provision, all 911 operations “shall be integrated under the sheriff,” and state emergency funding will be redirected solely to that office.
he grievance filings submitted by two fired Marion County Fire Rescue supervisors argue they were terminated without fair access to evidence — but they also describe a department culture where misconduct was normalized long before the Nov. 16, 2025, hazing incident that sparked criminal charges for four and a wave of separations. The Station 21 case began as a criminal investigation into the alleged hazing of a firefighter, Kayne Stuart, resulting in four MCFR workers being arrested and six others being fired. Two of the supervisors on duty the night of the incident, Capt. Victor Payette and Lt. Fred Bowers, are seeking full reinstatement, back pay and expungement of their termination records, according to documents filed last week and reviewed by the “Ocala Gazette.”
See 911, page A8
See MCFR page A3
Rep. Daniel Alvarez – R, Hillsborough County, presents a bill before Civil Justice & Claims subcommittee March 27, 2025. [Meredith Geddings/Official Florida House Photo Gallery]
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalgazette.com
T
wo substantially identical bills filed in the Florida House and Senate propose a definitive end to the fragmented 911 system that investigators identified as a critical failure during the 2018 Parkland shooting. By mandating unified dispatch centers, the state legislators hope to override decades of local bureaucratic
turf wars to prioritize speed and interoperability. HB 1427 filed by State Rep. Daniel Alvarez, R-Hillsborough, and SB 1586, filed by State Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Pinellas, move beyond recommendations to strict statutory mandates. The legislation requires that by Jan. 1, 2029, every county in Florida “shall provide 911, emergency call, and dispatch services from a centralized 911 call center” operated either by the county or a regional entity.
Love on the line
recent interview at her home in Ocala. Helen said there was an anticipation of getting a return letter from Gary on every trip to her mailbox. The letters were a tangible expression of the couple’s feelings for each other, which they could read over and over, she said. She is the daughter of refugees who, as displaced persons during World War II, were transplanted from their native Ukraine to Haltern, Germany, where Helen Slotwinski was born in 1946. The family
This Ocala couple’s wartime correspondence led to a lifetime of marriage. By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
H
elen Slotwinski’s patriotic urge to write a letter to a serviceman during the Vietnam War in 1966 led to a 55-year
marriage to Gary Fye and a love that has extended to a second generation and beyond. “War is terrible but some good came out of it,” Helen Fye said about her marriage to her U.S. Marine Corps “pen pal” and later husband during a
Helen Slotwinski Fye looks over some of the many letters sent to her by her pen pal, and later husband, Gary Fye, during his service in the Vietnam war.
See Love on the line, page A2
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