VOLUME 6 ISSUE 13
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Willy Wonka playing at CF
MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2025
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Entities at odds over land clearing Photo: Maniesa Fletcher, 29, died in the custody of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on March 14. [Facebook]
Guy Marwick, director of the Felburn Foundation, shows a map of the land that is being cleared. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
Young woman dies in MCSO custody, details remain undisclosed By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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29-year-old Ocala woman has died while in the custody of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the latest person to die while being incarcerated in the Marion County Jail. Maniesa Fletcher died at the AdventHealth Ocala Hospital at 3:59 p.m. on March 14. The circumstances surrounding her death have not been released by MCSO, but the woman’s brother said the family was notified by MCSO that Fletcher was brain dead the day before being pronounced deceased at the hospital. Fletcher is the 31st person to die in MCSO custody since 2021. She had been held at the jail since Sept. 10, 2024, awaiting trial on charges of assault on a law enforcement officer and depriving an officer of a weapon or communication device. Nationally, an average of about 1.40 deaths occurred annually per 1,000 incarcerated people in jails, according to the National Institute of Health. Given that Marion County Jail holds an average of 1,600 to 1,700 inmates at a time, and 31 inmates have died since January of 2021, the annual average of deaths in the jail is about 4.4 deaths per 1,000 incarcerated people per year. See Young woman dies, page A2
Guy Marwick, director of the Felburn Foundation, talks about how protected land is being clear-cut in the Silver Springs Forest Wildlife Management Area that is managed by the St. Johns River Water Management District just north of the intersection of State Road 40 and County Road 326 in Silver Springs, Fla. on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
A conservationist is upset with a governmental agency over property within the Silver Springs Forest Wildlife Management Area. By Susan Smiley-Height susan@magnoliamediaco.com
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ocal conservationist Guy Marwick was seeing red among the greenery in an area of the Silver Springs Forest Wildlife Management Area this week. On Wednesday, March 26, Marwick, speaking by cellphone, said the St. Johns River Water Management District was “clear cutting” land that would be replanted as a “pine plantation.” The area is on Highway 326, about ½ mile from the intersection with State Road 40 and near the Indian Lake State Forest. It is within the Silver Springs Forest Conservation Area.
Marwick, the founder of the Silver River Museum and founder/director of the Felburn Foundation, said the foundation had donated $250,000 to SJRWMD to help preserve the land. “So, I have some skin in the game,” he said. Danielle L. FitzPatrick, Regional Media and Communications Coordinator, Strategic Communications and Engagement with the district said the recent clearing in the area is part of a habitat restoration project aimed at restoring the property to its natural state. “Over time, fire-sensitive, shade-tolerant plants have displaced the fire-adapted, sunloving species that historically thrived in this
ecosystem—a process known as mesophication. This shift alters habitat conditions,” FitzPatrick wrote in an email on March 26. “The St. Johns River Water Management District is actively restoring the area by reintroducing longleaf pine, a species that once dominated this landscape. This effort will help reestablish the natural ecological balance and allow for the return of prescribed fire as a management tool. Fire plays a critical role in maintaining healthy, resilient landscapes by reducing invasive vegetation, promoting native plant growth, and improving wildlife habitat,” she wrote. See Land clearing , page A9
Trailblazing female captain dies in Ocala Capt. Virginia Ferguson was the first female and first Black woman to hold a United States Coast Guard captain’s license in Florida and the first female glass-bottom boat captain at Silver Springs. By Susan Smiley-Height susan@magnoliamediaco.com
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ne of Marion County’s most remarkable women, Capt. Virginia Ferguson, has passed away.
Ferguson was born Sept. 11, 1941, in Donaldsonville, Georgia, and grew up in Homestead, Florida. Her family later moved to Ocala to join other family members who were already here. She died March 25, 2025, in Ocala.
Ferguson was the first female and first Black woman to hold a United States Coast Guard captain’s license in Florida and the first female glass-bottom boat captain at the Silver Springs Attraction.
She is survived by her children, Youlanda Green Jones, Robert “Rocky” Green and Jessica HadleyBrown. She was predeceased by her son Bobby Eugene Ferguson and See Female captain dies , page A2
Maniesa Fletcher, 29, died in the custody of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on March 14. [Facebook]
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INSIDE:
Letters to the Editor .................... A3 School superintendent ................ A4 Fire assesment fees ...................... A7 Lake Weir middle ......................... A8 Murder mystery ........................... B3
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